Image Credit: The Secret Bureau of Art & Design
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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic overtook traditional means of music-making and performance, The Jacklights had plans for a big first year as a band. The new Boston melodic punk three-piece met and formed online between October 2019 and January 2020 (“I think I responded to a Craigslist or Facebook ad,” drummer Steve Patton mentions over our phone interview), and quickly connected through their shared interest in ‘80s and ‘90s pop punk such as Hüsker Dü, Jawbreaker, and Alkaline Trio. “Our original plan,” lead vocalist and guitarist Nilagia McCoy says, “was actually to be playing [shows]. We had a few things booked and were [planning on] recording in the spring. None of that exactly went according to plan.” And while the pandemic stalled the band’s ability to play for live in-person audiences, it hasn’t stopped them from making a bold entrance onto the local music scene.
On October 1st, The Jacklights dropped their self-titled EP — recorded just the previous month during masked sessions at Galaxy Park Recording Studios in Salem — with McCoy providing guitar and vocals, Michael Allen on bass, and Patton on drums. Packing five catchy punk tracks in the span of sixteen minutes, the EP immediately illustrates the energy and social commentary that define The Jacklights. Though McCoy says almost all the songs on the EP “were really the same songs we would have recorded in the spring,” The Jacklights’ topicality with tracks about privileged entitlement and justification for sinister actions makes these songs sound as if written in response to the ongoing events of 2020.
The EP’s urgent relevance is most present on its two character-focused songs from imagined perspectives thematically tied to current affairs. “Productive Member of Society,” a propulsive punk song “from the point of view of somebody who has a fair amount of privilege,” is the most overtly political song on the album. The track’s rapidly distorted power chords and blisteringly fast drum fills slot in fittingly with McCoy’s sneering vocals, taking a satirically biting tone toward people who “are like, ‘I’m not political,’ or say, ‘This doesn’t affect me,’ or keep their head down – that sort of ‘I’ve got mine, fuck you’ attitude.” McCoy’s approach to the song came naturally with this subject matter: “I’m just kind of a sarcastic person, so my response was, ‘I’m going to write a snarky song.’”
The track “Carolyn” operates from a similarly commentative angle, while shaking things up instrumentally with a slinking guitar riff that drives the song’s foreboding atmosphere. Inspired by Carolyn Moore Layton’s role in the Jonestown Massacre as Jim Jones’ mistress, the band uses the subject matter as a jumping-off point to create a song about “the mental gymnastics people can go through to justify believing in awful things.” McCoy finds Layton’s story particularly interesting because “she was this well-meaning woman who ended up joining a cult that initially wanted to change the world for the better” before the cult’s actions became more sinister. “I thought her individual story was interesting,” McCoy says, “but it’s also a larger allegory.”
The EP’s opening pair of songs, however, start things on a more interpersonal level. “Dump Him” instantly kicks things off with a chugging riff, a persistently fast drumbeat, and lyrics about “a friend who was always chasing after guys who ended up disappointing her,” leading into a punchy stop-and-go chorus. “Fall Apart” follows that up with a comparable focus on “having been in a relationship with somebody and trying to stay friends, but things are acrimonious.” It’s here where McCoy sees the song, about “regretting losing relationships,” connecting with the present-day “as it’s [been getting] harder to see people” due to pandemic-related social isolation.
The EP closes with “1AM Radio,” a sprawling, comparatively mellow track that McCoy says was written “right around the time that Mike and I started playing.” Acting as a more hopeful final note against the rest of the EP, the track stems from “a pretty personal place” in McCoy’s rough childhood: “That’s a song that’s basically about finding comfort in music at the end of a shitty day.” Its difference in sound and outlook is one the band knew would make a fitting closer for this release, serving as “an anthemic ending” as Patton calls it.
Image Credit: The Secret Bureau of Art & Design
All the while, The Jacklights hold a tight dynamic as a new group, akin to that of a well-weathered band. The final stretch of “1AM Radio” is a prime example of this, where the band gradually builds up the volume and intensity with each part simultaneously before bringing the EP to a thunderous close. McCoy is quick to emphasize how much the sound and structure of these songs are driven by the rest of the band’s interplay and contributions, saying, “I’m generally the main songwriter, but everyone else comes and brings their own thing to it. All the songs definitely sound a lot different than when it was just me in my bedroom. I like to think it’s a fairly democratic process. That’s why you’re in a band.”
Even with an EP and a virtual performance from the Midway Café under their belt this year, The Jacklights are already plowing forward with new material. “Knock on wood, we’ll be wrapping up another song and releasing that at some point in the winter,” McCoy says. “We’re still planning to get together to practice and the goal is to try to record another EP at some point in 2021.” In the midst of it all, playing music together has been a much-needed reprieve from the various stresses of 2020 for everyone in the band. “It’s brought us closer in a way,” Allen says, with his bandmates all in agreement. “It’s been a good distraction in the midst of all this craziness,” Patton adds. “Getting together and playing music a couple times a week is a good outlet for us all.”
The Jacklights’ self-titled debut EP is out now. Stream it below via Bandcamp and Spotify, and follow the band on their Facebook and Instagram pages.