Forked River is not a big place, but on most weekends there is a show, sometimes two. In one small New Jersey town you can find Cheeks DIY, a venue that pulls bands from all over the country, a new recording spot called Loud Dog Studio, a record label in Poor Man Records, and Yearbook Records tying the whole thing together. Bum Ticker come out of that pocket, and their self-titled debut EP is now up on Bandcamp and Spotify.
The band are Kris on bass, Dorothie on vocals, Jocelyn on guitar and vocals, and Dan on drums.
Kris has played in emotional hardcore band Stential before and throughout Bum Ticker. Dorothie and Jocelyn spent time together in a previous hardcore punk band, and when that one folded they decided to start their own thing. Dan is the outlier: Bum Ticker is his first and only project so far. They found him on TikTok.
Poor Man Records put them on their first show, and after hearing the songs, invited them to record and release the EP on his growing label. They tracked it at Loud Dog Studio, who the band describe as “sweethearts. Totally capable and intelligent in everything they do!”
Four songs, and each one is aimed at something.
“Forever 35” is about age not mattering: do what you love, even if you are in your 40s, never too old for it.
“Mansplain” started with one particular person in the local scene but widens out to anyone in punk who talks a lot and follows through on none of it, who says they are one way and turn out to be the opposite.
“Cowbell” is named for exactly what you think, because there is a cowbell in it, and the song is about a drug dealer and the damage they leave behind. It doesn’t stay there, though. By the end it flips to the dealer’s side, the idea that they aren’t always bad people, that sometimes they do bad things because they are, in the band’s words, “fucked up in the head mentally.”
“Fuckboy” is about creepy dudes hitting on you in a bar or a club or a venue, and it puts it plainly: “why is your erection pointed in my direction dude? Keep that shit to yourself.”
Around them the scene keeps moving, with names like Kirkby Kiss, Omen Grey, Terror Toons, Breakluck, Cur, Pigeon Tar, Cryptic Swarm, Waffle House of 1000 Corpses, Buffout, Defy You, Potter’s Field and indeyevid all in or near the area.
Stream the EP below and go say hi if you are anywhere near Forked River on a weekend.
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