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Sep 17, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Moni Martinez

Later this week, Seattle noise punk outfit Anthers are set to share their debut EP, Pedigree Pig, out everywhere on September 20th. Vocalist/guitarist EJ Tolentino, drummer Taylor Clark, and bassist Kevin Blanquies formed the band amidst the Covid lockdowns. As they describe, they aimed to harness the restlessness they were feeling to make the weirdest and heaviest music possible. To that end, the band lists a diverse range of influences, from Gilla Band, Metz, Holy Fuck and Bjork to The Simpsons and I Think You Should Leave.

Anthers have already shared a handful of singles from the record, “Mabel,” “Tsuga,” and “ggbb,” and today they’re back with an early listen to the full EP, premiering with Under the Radar.

Pedigree Pig is often crushingly heavy, offering a singular ear-bludgeoning style colored by searing noise soundscapes, jagged instrumental textures, and unhinged vocal performances. Yet, there’s also a surprising amount of ambition and variety packed into the EP. The opener, “Mabel,” blends buzzsaw noise rock with an industrial edge, while “Bold Mold” feels more akin to a rhythmically restless post hardcore cut. Meanwhile, “Gantuan” plays with subtler electronic textures for one of the EP’s most gothic and sinister efforts while “ggbb” closes the EP with a multi-phased cascade of muscular drumming, incendiary guitar lines, and roared, throat-shredding vocals. The results feel powerful and potent, an unrelenting blast of sound and fury signifying the arrival of an exciting new voice in noise punk.

Tolentino says of the EP, “Pedigree Pig is the product of the three of us getting in a room together, throwing shit at the wall, and seeing what sticks. We get bored very easily with conventional sounds and playing styles so we write, and rewrite, and rewrite. It’s also a slower process because we write everything together. Sometimes we create each other’s parts or at least start ideas for one another. Some of the songs have taken us months to complete because they were just not engaging enough but once they are, it’s such a satisfying feeling.

The band started during the covid shutdown when we were restless and bored out of our minds. As everyone already knows, there were no shows and a lot of venues were dying. Once things started to reopen and the local (Seattle) music scene was trying to reestablish itself, we felt a weird shift in what we once knew. Bands were timid and anxious about being loud (with the exception of a few). We didn’t feel the release we needed from going to some shows and that helped fuel our desire to be as explosive as possible within our own music. Pedigree Pig wasn’t by choice. It was a necessity for our own mental health.”

Check out the EP below. The Pedigree Pig EP is out on September 20th.