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There once was a group of Philly noise rockers called Plaque Marks. Their tenure was relatively short lived, with the band releasing only one EP—2017’s Anxiety Driven Nervous Worship—and touring a bit. Plaque Marks are gone but PLQ MRX have risen to take their place, pushing the band’s raucous noise rock in new, Funkadelic-inspired directions.
PLQ MRX are somewhat anonymous, as you can see from the band photo below, but rumor has it that members hail from Unsane, Swans, Author & Punisher and Ecstatic Vision and that one member owns Philly venue Kung Fu Necktie. On their debut EP, Cumgitsum, the band members cite Flipper, Funkadelic, Butthole Surfers and ’70s funk as their predominant influences, mixing with their noise rock tendencies for something a little weirder… and louder.
You can get a taste of what’s coming via a premiere of new tune “Lead Poisoning,” which comes complete with a psychedelic music video. Decibel also spoke with vocalist Cleetus Alreetus Alrightus about the new EP, which you can read below.
Cumgitsum is out on April 25 via Reptilian Records.
Members of PLQ MRX (allegedly) play in Author & Punisher, Unsane, Swans and Ecstatic Vision. How did the five of you get together?
It all came about coming together during a downtime between bands. We wanted to create something different with a fresh approach from those bands, digging into a ‘70s vibe with showmanship and theatrics in the forefront.
Given the alleged identities of the band members, it makes sense that there’s a noise rock lean in the songs but what else influences you?
There’s more groove oriented references than going off a basic noise rock approach. The main takeoff, main point of reverence, has been Funkadelic. They started off as an acid rock/psychedelic offshoot of Parliament and continued morphing, absorbing/discarding, changing their sound. That’s what we intend to do.
An earlier version of this band, Plaque Marks, released an EP in 2017. Have you been working on the songs on Cumgitsum since that EP came out?
No, not really. The band line-up has changed over the last six years and was only revived in the last year and a half. Hence we changed our moniker to PLQ MRX. To move away from that previous incarnation. We currently have another album wrapped up and ready to drop in the fall with new music presently being created.
The presentation of the music and art is pretty whacky, whereas noise rock is usually pretty dark. Did you actively set out to make Cumgitsum more lighthearted than average or is that just how you guys write?
Yezzir, it’s a continuum of a direction to move past the noise rock genre which is devoid of humor and histrionics. The costumes, samples, live shows are designed to be a missive to the viewer to say, “What the fuck is this all about?” A shock and awe approach with a level of tension, threat, mirth and mayhem.
We’re premiering the video for “Lead Poisoning” today. Can you tell us a little bit about the song?
Cue the applause to a landmark performance designed to put a pep in yer step, a glide to yer stride. A lovely little ditty to make yer toes go tippity tap, tap tippity. Bob yer head to what’s being said. CUMGITSUM!!
The post Track Premiere: PLQ MRX – ‘Lead Poisoning’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
