Jivebomb are all charged up

“Everybody says this about their local scene,” begins Jivebomb guitarist Harper – who, like his bandmates, prefers to go surname-less – “but Baltimore is ahead of the curve on a lot of stuff. It genuinely is super-diverse. All the hardcore guys, the punks and the metalheads, we hang out and influence each other.”

This perhaps explains why Jivebomb’s songs arrive like short, sharp shocks but still manage to come packed with ideas and energy. Everything on their anticipated debut album, ETHEREAL, clocks in at under two minutes, but across its 10 tracks you’ll find industrial blasts of distortion, tangled metallic riffs and old-school hardcore stomping.

“We expanded our options into everything that we listen to and what we like,” says bassist Ethan. “A lot of options opened up because of how we’ve grown as musicians. When we were writing songs, we were like, ‘Damn, we can do a lot of new stuff!’”

Vocalist Kat’s guttural roar is the one constant throughout. Like her bandmates, she doesn’t want or wait for inspiration.

“I'm always writing,” she explains. “Most of the time it’s a matter of matching the sound, or using something I already have. If people make fan art with a certain line, I’m like, ‘Okay, cool. That hit them in a certain way.’ I’m very grateful that I have this outlet [and that] I have somewhere to put this, as opposed to it just sitting in a journal or in my notes app.”

She cites the shift in her approach to writing lyrics as from “telling you directly how I feel, versus, ‘These are feelings, and you can interpret them how you want.’”

While this tactic is clearly resonating with the band’s growing number of fans, Jivebomb still deal in the kind of sonic blunt force that can befuddle even the most seasoned extreme music aficionados.

“We played a death fest in Idaho and we were the only hardcore band,” remembers Harper. “We played for, like, 12 minutes and everybody was… confused,” he laughs.

“We also played a surprise set at a death metal fest in Baltimore on top of a shipping container,” adds Ethan. “There was a bar that was built into a shipping container and they put us on top of that. But it was cool, because we were watching Pig Destroyer play on another stage from on top of the container and when they ended, we were like, ‘Alright, well, now I guess we’re playing!’”

Which proves the quintet – completed by guitarist David and drummer Nick – are nothing if not adaptable. But like all the best punk bands, there’s an uncompromising streak running through what Jivebomb do.

When asked what they hope people make of their music, they all pause before Kat admits, “I don’t know if this is harsh to say, but I don’t care if people don’t enjoy it. I just know that I really do, and I feel really proud of what we do.

“It brings me a lot of joy, hearing the songs and playing the songs. We’re gonna keep on rocking, and you can be with us or against us. It doesn’t really make a difference to me.”

Jivebomb’s debut album ETHEREAL is released today via Flatspot Records. The band play Outbreak in the UK this summer.

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