Backed by a slew of eviscerating riffs, irrefutable beats and steady post-punk-inspired bass, Parquet Courts are a band that’s known to bring hair- and spittle-flying vigor to the stages they grace—which, around these parts, includes the Doug Fir, Sasquatch and Pickathon in the coming days and months.
Never taking themselves too seriously—their 2012 full-length debut Light Up Gold contained a song with the lyrics “I was debating Swedish Fish, roasted peanuts or licorice, I was so stoned and starving” (listen below)—Parquet Courts treat their loyal fans (new and old) to the buffet of a simple punk rock quartet—two guitars, bass and drums—having a good time.
Hailing from Brooklyn, N.Y., Parquet Courts debuted in 2010 and have been tearing up venues ever since. Their live shows take riffs from their recordings and extend them into full-on jams as Andrew Savage and Austin Brown pass shredding duties back and forth bolstered by brother Max Savage’s drums and Sean Yeaton’s steady post-punk basslines. This style has recently bled into their recordings as well, first on the title track from their forthcoming album—where the dueling guitar jams of the four-minute hardcore song “Sunbathing Animal” (released in April) make you feel like you've just participated in a high-speed chase (watch the video featuring a mustachioed feline below)—and even more recently on “Instant Disassembly,” a sprawling seven-minute, indie punk opus that trades in Courts’ brand of mashing guitars for something that evokes nostalgia for Pavement.
A Parquet Courts live experience is always guaranteed to be a rocking good time, filling your ears with riffs and the crowd around you with joy, but if the two aforementioned tracks (along with a third track “Black and White”) are any indication, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Those tracks all belong to Parquet Courts highly anticipated sophomore effort Sunbathing Animal, which is due June 3 on What’s Your Rupture? and Mom + Pop and which Portlanders will get a chance to preview when Parquet Courts stop by the Doug Fir Lounge on the second stop of their current tour on Friday, May 23.
And if you’re headed to the Gorge for Sasquatch, you can catch Parquet Courts on Sunday, May 25 from 9:15-10:30pm on the Yeti stage, and then again in August when they play multiple sets at Pickathon.
