After the summer release of “Switch,” Atlanta’s Scattrbrain return with “Bombs Away” — a new single from their upcoming record Scattrbrain and the Unwavering Self-Doubt. The project brings together rapper Grip, Grouplove’s Daniel Gleason and Benjamin Homola, and indie musician Mallbangs. It’s not a side hustle or a label experiment. It’s a band, started quietly, now taking shape in full.
Grip began writing it during a stretch when making hip-hop no longer felt like enough. “I felt like I needed a new outlet, or way of expression,” he says. “Sometimes the adversity of a challenge can help you process what you’ve been going through. I’ve always wanted to push boundaries musically and this felt like the perfect time to start.”
The switch toward punk happened gradually. “We had previously created an EP somewhat in the vein of hip hop,” Grip recalls. “One of the records on that project stood out and leaned very punk. We kinda just agreed that was a direction we wanted to go in from that point.”
View this post on Instagram
That direction led to something looser and more unpredictable — a sound built around guitars, texture, and personal tension. “The record reflects the freedom of exploring a new genre,” he says. “It’s loud guitars but it’s also cinematic textures. It deals with personal struggles that most of us go through on a day to day but has hooks that make you want to sing along. Heavy but lighthearted.”
Grip has always worked on his own terms, and Scattrbrain follows that same instinct. “Punk means doing what you want when you want and how you want regardless of the outcome,” he says. “That’s the way I’ve moved my entire career and now the sonics kinda reflect that attitude. It feels like being back for the first time.”
The band formed through small Atlanta connections. “I saw Mallbangs perform at a venue in Underground Atlanta a few years back and that’s pretty much how I got connected with the rest of the band,” Grip says. His own background in local open mics — at places like The Music Room on Edgewood and Apache Café — still shapes how he approaches collaboration. “Being part of that underground scene gave me my love for smaller acts just trying to make a name and be discovered.”
Reactions to Scattrbrain’s early material have been steady and curious. “People seem to be blown away,” Grip says. “Not only by the shock factor of Grip being a rapper and executing this sound but how cohesive the project is and how nostalgic it feels.”
“Bombs Away” sits somewhere between that surprise and familiarity — a track that doesn’t chase reinvention, just a clearer way to say what’s already been there.
