Artist Watch: Friendship Commanders
Featuring friends, colleagues, players, composers and their music outside of The License Lab catalog
Photo by Jamie Goodsell
Release Title: Hold On To Yourself
Genres: Hard Rock, Doom, Stoner, Desert Rock, Sludge, Grunge
Quick Description: Powerful and melodic hard rock featuring soaring female vocals and relentless drums, tackling themes of surviving abuse and challenging the patriarchy.
For Fans of: Soundgarden, Chevelle, Dillinger Escape Plan, Deftones
Power, strength, resilience. That’s what you’ll hear in the opening blasts of the amped guitars and defiant drums on the newest release from Friendship Commanders, Hold On To Yourself.
The sound is reminiscent of 90s era Seattle hard rock and grunge; melodic and infectious while maintaining an intensity that draws in the listener and can support even the heaviest moments on screen.
Singer/guitarist Buick Audra’s incredibly dynamic and compelling voice absolutely soars over beds of heavy, distorted, raging riffs. Jerry Roe blasts the drums with relentless authority and holds down the complimentary bass, perfectly filling out the sound of the band to create a hard rock behemoth that explodes in a supernova of passion and energy much bigger than a two-person lineup would seem to indicate.
But Hold On To Yourself is more than just a fantastic sounding rock record that would be at home in any club around the world (though they are that too.) The EP’s title is a personal mantra of Audra, the band’s primary songwriter and an abuse survivor who has chosen to dedicate this work to other survivors. She has a habit of writing it down every morning as a reminder. Audra says, "This has been especially true during times of dealing with unsafe family members, abusers, or unwell people. With a past of self-abandonment, holding onto myself has to be a focus in everything I do. It's a good reminder and I always need it. It just seemed like the right set of words for this record." This sentiment is especially present in the closing track, “July’s Revelations.” By taking away the wall of guitars and drums, the lyrics become more exposed and vulnerable while maintaining the strength you feel throughout the EP.
In this body of songs, Friendship Commander examines the world around them, their part in the problems and potential solutions, and challenges the redundancy and the complacency of the current patriarchal system. Audra belts it out on “Anywhere (From The Nameless Bride).” The title in parentheses indicates a lesser person status, a second-rate citizen. "It's how I feel way too much of the time," says Audra, "It's time to call it what it is."
Though these songs can dive through the depths of darkness, confusion, fear, and anger, there is an ever-present wisdom and strength, ending in victory through personal reflection and acknowledgment. Friendship Commanders have something to say, and it is, in a phrase: Hold on to yourself.