Summer Cannibals aren’t wasting any time. The punk-flecked four-piece from Portland hit the ground at full speed, their 2013 debut album No Makeup catching people completely off-guard in their hometown and beyond. In just a few short months, Summer Cannibals earned deserved props from some of their heroes—including a ringing endorsement from the Thermals—opened for international touring bands like Chvrches, and found themselves at #2 on the coveted “Best New Band” list in Willamette Week. “Summer Cannibals are able to bash through dirty and catchy guitar riffs and then peel back at a moment’s notice with total control,” wrote the Portland Mercury.
Now they’re back with their second full-length, the raw, to-the-point Show Us Your Mind. As before, Summer Cannibals come armed only with the things they need: fuzz pedals, razor-sharp riffs, and songs that get stuck in your head the first time you hear ’em.
The group formed around guitarist/vocalist Jessica Boudreaux and guitarist Marc Swart in 2012 after the two met at a session at a local college radio station. They’d each dabbled in different musical genres and techniques before forming New Moss Records and concocting the Summer Cannibals sound together. That sound is fueled by Boudreaux’s songwriting chops and the band’s full-volume fervor, the lifeblood of which flows most fluidly during live performance, where energy is king.
To capture that live spark, Summer Cannibals recorded Show Us Your Mind at Portland’s hallowed Jackpot Studios with Larry Crane behind the board. Editor of renowned recording journal Tape Op, Crane’s a veteran and a living legend, having worked with Elliott Smith, Quasi, and M. Ward, as well as bands that have specifically informed Summer Cannibals’ sound, such as Sleater-Kinney. The group recorded and mixed to tape, working quickly to capture the momentum and eschewing unnecessary ornaments and studio frippery that would obscure the potency of the songs. “I loved working with Larry,” says Boudreaux. “He knew when to suggest things and when to hold back. He had so many great stories. And he liked that our songs were short.”
“We wanted it to sound as live as possible,” adds Swart. To that end, the whole band tracked together, overdubbing as little as possible in order to match the whip-crack excitement of Summer Cannibals’ head-turning live shows. Of course, a few tricks had to be employed, such as when Swart overdubbed some feedback after he couldn’t get close enough to his amp during the live take. “It felt really unnatural,” he says, “but then Larry told me the Ramones did it.”
The songs on Show Us Your Mind may sound like they have their roots in the garage, but Summer Cannibals have always sounded best on the big stage. In a single week, they opened for both the Black Lips and Chvrches, two diverse bands that both connected with Summer Cannibals’ ferocious but fundamentally poppy sound. Chvrches even took the guitar-wielding rockers on tour as an opening act.
“The first time we ever played ‘Something New’ [Show Us Your Mind, track 2] was on the second night in St. Louis in front of thousands of people,” Swart says. “We were too scared to do it the first night. But Chvrches’ fans were great. They looked us up before the show and they knew all our names. At some shows, they even started chanting Jessica’s name. We signed autographs—I signed somebody’s cell phone, which was really weird.”
The Chvrches tour was a perfect trial for the band’s developing live presence, which grew effortlessly to reach the corners of the larger rooms. “It gave us perspective on our older stuff, in terms of how far we’ve come and our musicianship,” says Boudreaux.
Swart agrees. “I’m excited that the band keeps getting more focused. We’re at the point now where we can just crank it out without getting distracted.”
Show Us Your Mind is both a continuation of the straightforward statement-of-purpose on No Makeup, as well as serving as an effective introduction to the band’s ultimately catchy clang. These are pop songs played at air-raid volume, serving as a simple tonic for day-to-day frustrations.
“It’s music that has been made for a long time. It’s not like we’ve discovered some brand new thing,” Boudreaux says. “But life is short. Why not play music that makes you feel free, and crazy, and like you can do whatever you want?”