Subverting the silence of the Pacific Northwest, Spit Locket emerges not with a whisper but with an insurgent roar. This Portland, OR, trio’s fusion of metalcore is a deliberate act of defiance against the sonic status quo, where groove is gospel and rawness is requisite.
Before they’ve even seen their first anniversary, these newcomers have etched their mark on the local soundscape, ready to drop ‘Shattered Reflections‘ onto a scene starving for authenticity today!
Spit Locket declare war on complacency with every chord and chorus. Their sound is a manifesto, a battle cry for equality, tearing through the airwaves with the ferocity of those who fight for feminist, POC, and LGBTQIA+ rights.
Devin Smith, Spit Locket’s guitar-wielding vocalist, offers a glimpse into the personal that powers their political,
“This song sprung from a private jest. My partner chides me for my pre-everything anxiety-induced bathroom breaks. It’s a lighthearted take on a deeper unease born from the systemic strains of capitalist America. The worry cycle – work, bills, credit, debt – fuels my anxiety.
The lyrics in our breakdown throw down a gauntlet: ‘Your game’s the reason for my anxiety piss, and I know one day you’re drowning in it.’ It’s a vision, a hope, that one day, the underclass might just turn the tables.”
Below, we’re pleased to give you an uncut, track-by-track commentary from the band beneath this piece, a raw and revealing behind-the-scenes look at the making of each song.
The Heaviest Day
Sonically, this is our homage to early 2000’s metal and hardcore. It’s built on abrasive riffing reminiscent of Converge, Norma Jean, and Every Time I Die. Panic chord riffing and throat shredding, desperate screams from the very top, make this track embody the themes of the lyrics. It deals with the feelings of being crushed under the weight of your own anxiety, and feeling like everyday is always the heaviest day of your life. The chorus asks the question of “what sort of karmic punishment is my anxiety” and those same sentiments are recalled in the ending breakdown.
Back to Bad
This is our live set opener. We wanted to write something that took the listener in one direction in the beginning, and then suddenly flipped them on their head. We open with heavy, doomy and even whimsical riffs that give way to a double time, stop and go chorus. This is another track that deals with feelings of anxiety. It describes having a saturated vision towards life, but then feeling like it being drained away when anxiety sets back in and you’re surrounded by a monochromatic black again.
Shattered Reflections
This track is one that I wrote when I was thinking a lot about the ideas of masculinity, growing up as a man in modern America, and also a time when there is a lot of violence towards feminine presenting people. It deals with feelings of guilt of being perceived as a threat, and knowing that people could fear you for what others like you have done, and about being aware and adjacent to violence, and yet not being able to do anything about it. It’s about wanting to take back the dignity for other who can’t fend for themselves, and yet knowing that’s it’s not always YOUR battle to fight FOR someone else.
Anxiety Piss
The main riff and musical motif is very deliberate. I wanted to write something in standard time, and yet it feel kind of weird and wonky. The verses deal with opposite sides of economic class. The first with the working class and feeling burnout, unfulfilled desire, and being pulled in too many directions. The second about the upper class and having excess and a lack of care towards anything and anyone but yourself. The breakdown and bridge are essentially fantasy about the working class finally giving whats coming to the rich. The musical motif is reprised during the bridge, albeit a lot slower, giving it a almost hypnotizing effect until it quickly speeds up to waken the listener back up.
