Remo Drive are among the most controversial bands in DIY music at the moment. People took them a little too seriously when they released their Pop Music EP last year. Now the question on every basement show dwellers’ mind seems to be is Remo Drive emo or pop-punk? The r/emo subreddit went as far to ask Ian Cohen, the Dalai Lama of Emo, this very question when they had him on their podcast. And like the Lama he had a level headed retort, he wasn’t about to make any musical assessment but if they were talking about them then they were probably emo enough.
To try and help their case as being authentically emo Remo Drive is releasing their next album, Natural, Everyday Degradation, on May 31st on Epitaph Records. The most important website in the scene, Is This Band Emo dot com, says that while Remo Drive is definitively an emo band they are also definitely indie rock, and that continues to be true on their two new singles. Two Bux starts off talking about moral musing in a gas station before taking on coming of age, moral conflict, and guilt all in two and a half minutes, which is definitely emo. The lyrics on The Grind are also consistent with emotional hardcore, with a chorus about two people falling out of love and poking fun at someone wearing a meat is murder t shirt under a leather jacket. But Eric Paulson certainly doesn’t sound like he’s trying to sing an emo song. He is a little too polished clearly for some emo fans without even a drip of nasal-ness in his voice. The Grind definitely does sound more Hot Hot Heat than it does Modern Baseball, and it is one hell of a track either way. Is it emo?? Is it indie?? We will never know unfortunately, as the r/emo thread was locked by a moderator after 12,239 pages of heated debate.
Check out the two singles now on Spotify or Apple Music.
