Knuckle Pups are a four piece from Denver consisting of Tomas Campos (drums, vocals), Olivia Hendrick (omnichord, synth, percussion, vocals), Chelo Aguirre (bass, lead guitar, percussion, vocals) and Oliver Holloway (rhythm baritone guitar, percussion, vocals). Pitching their camp in the space between pop and punk, Knuckle Pups combine peppy energy and catchy choruses with spiky crescendos, using sweet hooks and harmonies to lure you in before raising the tempo and noise levels in cathartic goodness.
The band are set to release their debut EP, San Panino, via Wild Baby Records, and we’re delighted to be able to share the single ‘Bottom Baby’ a few days early. Opening with warm instrumentation, the track kicks into a satisfying rhythm, Holloway’s distinctive delivery at once playful and earnest. There is something idiosyncratic about the cadence of his lyrics too, yet the flow seems organic and uninhibited, as though rising from some place of sincerity, not filtered or edited.
Such an idea marks the track, and possibly the Knuckle Pups style as a whole, and goes some way to explaining their cross-genre sound. Because this is a band operating with natural rhythms, riding the peaks and troughs of energy as they emerge from within the music itself. The journey from indie pop to punk is not so much a change as a logical development, an evolution which tends toward one final swelling transcendence. This is typified by the vocal harmonies at the close of ‘Bottom Baby’, their stirring communal feel like some collective expression of emotion, and one which by its very nature suggests solidarity and compassion.
“Oh, how we roll down to the bottom baby
Out of control, upside the inside maybe
And all the saints and all the men
They march on and capture significant
it’s on their list of things to doYou know why I’m here
You know why I came for you”
