Like licking a battery, Bully‘s “I Remember” feels good even as it hurts. The song from the Nashville four-piece recorded in Steve Albini’s studio but produced and mixed by singer Alicia Bognanno is the first taste from their new album and it’s fast and nasty-sounding, with a punkish edge that tastes a little sweet even as its serrated edges scar your skin. In short, I fucking love it. “I wanted ‘I Remember’ to be personal, intense and raw, It’s mixed slightly blown out with a heavy use of ambient mics in hopes that the listener will feel the same energy I had while singing it.” We feel it!
Bully does get along well with others, despite the band’s name. They’ve garnered a wave of new fans after their first solid year & a half of performing as a four-piece, particularly around their home scene, Nashville, which can be a tough place to stand out. Their five-song debut EP was released by StarTime International, with a video for the single “Brainfreeze” premiering last month.
Bully is Bognanno’s baby, but the Nashville four-piece are all old friends: she and drummer boyfriend Stewart Copeland were in a college band called King Arthur, which they quit when Bognanno started writing her own material. Copeland was also in Saddle Creek garage rockers Pujol, as was guitarist Clayton Parker. Bassist Reece Lazarus works with Bognanno at cult Nashville bar The Stone Fox. On the road they play Settlers Of Catan and plan routes around independent comic book stores. “I don’t really go out much,” says Bognanno, who seems like an unwaveringly practical person.
The Fat Angel Sings 