Since 2016, Sex Scenes has carved out their own space with a mix of mid-tempo hardcore, thrash, and gritty pop hooks. They’ve played with everyone from Jack White to Weedeater, proving their flexibility across divergent punk and rock scenes. Their new album, Everything Makes Me Sick, out today on Big Neck Records, however, is anything but genre tourism. It’s a direct line into mental and physical fatigue, personal limitations, and social exhaustion.
The title came during a van ride on a Midwest tour, just after finishing initial LP tracking in December 2023.
“We started going through each of the lyrics… One of the lines in the song ‘Want & Need’ is ‘Everything just makes me sick.’ Nixing the ‘just,’ we all thought that ‘Everything Makes Me Sick’ was a pretty straightforward and provocative title,” said guitarist Harrison Colby.
Visually, the album’s theme of internal breakdown is captured in a chrome skull vomiting blood. Colby, who also handles the band’s visual art, explained: “I love this image because the idea is so basic but the execution is so intense; almost surrealist… The blood or ‘violence’ is all coming from within and being expelled, like a catharsis. All of us see this band as being a sort of catharsis so even thematically for the band as a whole, it worked.”
The cover, inspired by 70s/80s horror and thriller film posters, channels directors like DePalma and Cronenberg: “There’s a grain and a grit to it… I think having a sort of cinematic quality to our stuff makes sense,” Colby added.
The album as a whole deals with navigating broken relationships, internalized pressure, mental overload, and the dissonance between appearance and reality. It’s about dragging yourself through the routines of modern life while every part of you—mind, body, memory—is actively rebelling. Each track offers a specific window, but the overarching message is clear: burnout, frustration, and the messy road to self-honesty. Vocalist Sarah Turbo said it best on “Want & Need”: “It’s about trying to be free from vice and healthier but the vice is what makes life worth living at times.”
Check out the full track-by-track commentary from the band, offering deeper insight into each song:
“Fed Up”: All of us either have worked or currently work in the service industry and this song was inspired about the toxic drama between coworkers that can sometimes sprout up while working in bars. That was just the inspiration for it but it can really be about any frustration with any sort of toxic relationship. – Harrison Colby, guitarist
“Not Your T.V.” is about being merely a source of entertainment to those around you. Feeling this way creates an exhausting life where every interaction turns into a performance. – Sarah Turbo, Vocalist
“Want & Need” is about a struggle to connect w/ my body and my addictions and my deficiencies. It’s about trying to be free from vice and healthier but the vice is what makes life worth living at times. – Turbo
“I’ll Play Along” deals with a complex relationship dynamic. Specifically, it’s about believing a friend’s narrative of events and their life. But eventually there’s a breaking point when it’s time to speak the truth for the benefit of everyone involved. The intention is to capture the frustration of the lie becoming an outburst and the catharsis of being honest. – Turbo
“Impressive” is about receiving condescending accolades and simultaneously unreachable expectations, sometimes from the same people. – Turbo
“Harder I Try” is about how life piles on and knocks you down and sometimes it feels like it gets more difficult with age as responsibilities are dumped on us. It’s about not being able to mentally catch up because by the time you do, the next challenge is rocking us. – Turbo
“Happy Now” deals with someone not taking responsibility for their terrible actions just because they haven’t noticed the impact they made. – Turbo
“Nothing”: It’s about the inherent value of things vs life. – Turbo
The band’s sound and outlook draw from personal inspirations. Check out the band’s list of their top picks for their major influences below.
Sarah Turbo – Vocals
Danielle Lupin, Parquet Courts and Karen O – Milano
Milano is an album that changed my thoughts on music in general. It is off the beaten path, cartoony thought telling, composed to feel more like a short story than a song. Its dissonant riffs, talk singing, funky bass moments and catchy lyrics make it possibly the COOLEST thing I’ve ever heard
Amyl and the Sniffers – Comfort to Me
What I take from Amyl & the Sniffers, but Amyl specifically, is how to command a room with a high pitched, whiney voice and make it sound powerful and inspiring and sexy. Her energy is electric and contagious.
Harrison Colby – Guitar
Tarpit – Wake Up
I first started going to hardcore shows in Virginia Beach when I was in high school. One of the local bands at that time, Tarpit, put out a seven-inch on Collapse Records (Bob Shedd from Axe to Grind’s label). This was 2004 and it was the first record by a local band that I was truly obsessed with. I still go back to these songs pretty regularly. It’s remained one of my favorite hardcore records and favorite record in general. Sex Scenes’ more mid-tempo, riffy moments are very Tarpit-inspired.
Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales
I came to this album a little late, like around 2019 or 2020. But over the past five years it’s become an all-time fave I keep coming back to. I love the CF albums after it as well but this record is just so important on so many levels. So many genres can trace their lineage back to this album. The music, the production, the artwork, the historical context, the photos of the band from that time; everything about Morbid Tales is perfect. Celtic Frost’s thrashier moments definitely impact the way I write riffs in Sex Scenes.
Mary Joy – Bass
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
When I started playing bass, I pulled up YouTube instructional videos on how to play Black Sabbath songs to further my playing and fuel my songwriting. This album cracked open the door to heaviness, showing me that bass lines could be melodic and menacing, and that the bass could drive like a second guitar, not just sit in the back.
Black Flag – The First Four Years
My life changed the night my friend gave me this CD and told me to listen to it. I’ll never forget listening to Nervous Breakdown for the first time and feeling the visceral rage being channeled through the music. I like to think Everything Makes Me Sick taps from that same well.
Gregg Twigg – Drums
Alkaline Trio – Goddamnit
AFI – Black Sails in the Sunset
Cath Sex Scenes live at the following shows:
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