Genre Is Death talks about their new record, 'Attractive People,' and more

Post-punk duo Genre Is Death just dropped a grandmotherfucker (read: when a simple ‘motherfucker’ is not enough) of an album. It’s titled Attractive People and follows a previous debut record, Talk. This newbie is out on In the Red Records, a years-long go-to for real-deal rock ‘n’ roll, including the likes of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pussy Galore, Country Teasers, Action Swingers, and Red Aunts. Stopping myself before I list the whole roster. Martin Bisi recorded this new release, and that’s a whole other scroll I could roll out of the bands he’s recorded, so I’ll mention a few: Swans, Cop Shoot Cop, John Zorn, J.G. Thirwell, and Sonic Youth.

Make music, and comparisons are unavoidable — this duo has gotten its share. Sonic Youth (speaking of them) is often mentioned. It makes sense if that’s what you need. For me, it’s more of a vibe that harkens back to the earliest Sonic Youth releases and the art-punk fury that led their lengthy career. There’s plenty that’s different, though. GID’s programmed drums create a foundation for their noise, but the electro sounds are in the mix, too, adding to the layers that are filled with Ty Varesi’s razor-y riffs. And if we’re gonna talk Sonic Youth, Tayler Lee might maintain some of Kim Gordon’s atonal, you-can’t-kill-me vocals, but when she rages, you’ll find nothing similar to talk about. It’s a palpable anger that is so unforced it’s one of the most refreshing things an old(ish) noise-head like me has heard in a long time.

The band, formed by Tayler Lee (bass and vocals) and Ty Varesi (guitar and vocals), in 2023 may be fairly new, but their urgent, dissonant, and ferocious sound makes them a natural for the label and for finding a spot in the New York scene among veterans like the members of the Art Gray Noizz Quintet, and No Wave pioneer Lydia Lunch, who tapped the band to open some shows on a recent tour after they’d formed a friendship that went more than six months before she saw them play. Lunch also produced their video for the song “I See Red,” which has a swagger reminiscent of a Fetus-Cramps-Lunch three-way.

That set of shows, the band says, was great.

“It felt like it happened in a moment,” Lee says. “We played a lot of new cities, and the crowds were very receptive to us. And we met a lot of really cool people.”

The pair, who are both from Georgia, met while Ty was playing in bands there. “I had a couple of friends I would play with,” he says, “and we’d just fall out and then create a new one, but it was all the same rotation. Then I met Tayler at a skate park, and I thought she looked really cool. She was the coolest person I’d seen in the small town we are from. I invited her over to a friend’s house who played drums. Tayler only played piano at the time, but there was a bass lying around that she picked up, and we told her to play it. She started playing from there, got attached to it, and started learning it.”

They ended up playing with that drummer for four years, but the lack of motion started wearing on them. Ty continues:

“After four years, we just decided to move. We were ready to go anywhere. We were desperate. We thought, ‘let’s go to New York,’ and we did it. We sold everything and found the first spot that accepted us. We came here with no friends, no connections, no nothing. It was just Tayler and me, and we knew we had to figure it out.”

It was an adjustment at first, especially when trying to get out and about and find ‘their people.’ They weren’t immediately impressed with the bands they were seeing, Tayler tells us.

“We were like, ‘This is New York, how are these safe and boring bands doing so well here?’ The two were surprised to see people pack clubs to bands that didn’t have that much to offer.

“It made us think a lot about what we wanted to be like on stage, reminding us of the things we don’t like to do. We don’t want to go up there and just plug our merch and talk about our new video. Trust your audience, they’re not stupid. If they wanna buy your merch, they’re going to do it.”

Not having connections didn’t stop them from playing. They went the route that people take when moving to a new place — jamming with folks from ads and flyers. It went okay, but through that avenue, they still hadn’t met ‘their people.’ So, they started playing with a drum machine.

Admittedly, that took a bit of time to master, as they had to make it their third member and figure out how to best operate it, especially during live shows. They love it and the spontaneity it offers them, especially as two people who perform in the moment and have no desire to deliver a rigid, formulaic performance.

After doing some shows, many of which they felt like the “sore thumb on the bill” with bands they didn’t necessarily fit or connect with, a show came along that wasn’t in “an echo chamber of indie bands.” They were included on a bill with another experimental post-punk act, Live Skull. There, they met longtime NYC musician Ryan Skeleton Boy (currently playing bass in Art Gray Noizz Quintet), and he was on board with what they were doing.

“Ryan was the first person who really, really saw us and just encouraged us so much. He pimped us out to anyone who would listen, or even people who wouldn’t listen. He worked so hard to get people to hear our names,” Tayler said.

“It meant a lot to us, because it’s awesome. Here’s somebody respected in New York and such a kingpin in this scene telling people, ‘you have to listen to this band,’ and we’re thinking like ‘we are nobodies, and here he is making us feel just as much a part of things as he is.’ It makes a big difference to have people do this for you. We knew these were the people we were looking for,” Ty adds.

Skeleton Boy also referred Bisi to them, saying, ‘You have to go to Martin,’ and after the job he did on this release, there’s no turning back. “We wouldn’t even consider anyone else right now,” Tayler says, adding that “he doesn’t cut corners, he actually cares about what he does and what you get out of it.” That experience, followed by a call from Larry at In The Red Records after receiving the act’s songs, has the band in a really great place. They are ready for everything, especially touring the world.

“We are working on new songs, and on top of that, we would love to be on the road full-time.”

So, if you see they’re coming to where you are, make a point to be in that crowd for a sincere soul-shaking, ear-blasting experience. In the meantime, get the record. It’s 12 tracks that keep you in a grip from beginning to end. Current fave: “Lust for Now,” which I feel completes the third point of a triangle formed of Iggy’s “Lust for Life” and Scraping Foetus off the Wheel’s “Lust for Death.” It’s driving, punchy, and like those other two, could easily get you into a cathartic dance frenzy.