Show Me the Body talks hardcore music and community ahead of local shows

For New York-based hardcore punk rock band Show Me the Body, the live performances aren’t just about crowd participation but rather an ever-growing showing of solidarity from fans across the United States and abroad.

The band, currently consisting of vocalist and banjo player Julian Cashwan Pratt, bass and synth player Harlan Steed and drummer Jackie McDermott, cut its teeth by playing smaller local gigs before moving on to early sets at major events including the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio in 2017 and out on the European festival circuit as they’ve been embraced by a global audience.

“When we play, there is no sense of icon,” Pratt said during a recent phone interview as the band is out promoting its third album, “Trouble the Water,” and has local stops at Brick by Brick in San Diego on Feb. 26, The Observatory in Santa Ana on Feb. 28 and at The Regent Theater in Los Angeles March 1.

“All the children and the people at the shows know it’s for them and belongs to them,” he continued. “It’s lovely to meet kids from other countries that see us and feel like it belongs to them too.”

The band has a lot of respect for its music community, which informs how and where they perform. Pratt has expressed his disdain for the strict 21-and-older clubs in its native New York and the band strives to make the shows as accessible to fans of all ages whenever possible. Show Me the Body often performs free and impromptu shows and in the past has pulled up to play in alleyways, abandoned buildings, dance halls and even under the Manhattan Bridge during a storm, just to bring the people together.

During that performance under the bridge, Pratt recalled that when the rain and law enforcement arrived, the fans watching helped them pack up and protect their gear.

“The whole idea of playing outside, doing something that is for free and a little more lawless, but not overtly dangerous and isn’t so cut and dry, takes a little more work,” Pratt said. “The story of these scenarios is less about building a fanbase and more about building an insular community family. When you need help and are doing something fun and different, the people who step in are the people with whom you establish long-life relationships with.”

The approach of occupying any space for a show is one of the founding principles of punk rock and its DIY philosophy. Providing accessible shows is also part of that history, Pratt said, and the idea is to keep things more true to the scene that elevated the movement.

“We think of punk rock, and even rock and roll on a larger scale, as an American folk tradition, so our goal is not to sound like other people, but to further the tradition of punk rock and hardcore and add to the lineage and the history of this beautiful music,” he said.

Show Me the Body’s all about uplifting its community. The band’s 2017 “Corpus I,” a collaborative mix tape, featured several of the band’s friends including Princess Nokia, Denzel Curry and Dreamcrusher. Steed said that the project initially started because the record label they were working with asked them to record a single, but they got carried away in the studio.

“It was just really putting on our friends,” Pratt said. “When we say that, we really mean that we establish relationships with other people because we like their music, imagination, and outlook on reality. We’re proud to know these people, not just because we like them, but because we appreciate how they interpret reality through their expression.”

That sort of cross collaboration of artists set the foundation for Show Me the Body and friends to establish CORPUS, a collective of artists and organizers that soon formed their own space, label and studio. Its focus on community programming and empowerment paved the way for Corpus Family in the summer of 2019. It provides New Yorkers with studio access, self-defense classes, book clubs and helps organize coat drives and mutual aid projects.

Show Me the Body’s latest album is amplified by its dedication and respect for their community and fighting back against anything that threatens it. Like its two previous albums, the third release is armed with a violent mix of noise, sludge, hardcore and hip-hop, but doesn’t skimp on grooves and melodies. Steed’s bass and synth effects give the band a grandeur that allows them to combine juxtaposing sounds seamlessly over its heavy drums. Pratt’s vocals carry a cadence that is reminiscent of the frontmen of the U.K. punk bands of the ’70s and often goes into a spoken word style over the riffs of his amped-up banjo.

Lyrically, “Trouble the Water” delves into topics such as gentrification, police brutality and anarcho-distribution of wealth and although these conversations are sharp, Pratt said they’re not trying to be political.

“We don’t consider ourselves concerned with politics as much as we concern ourselves with what we think is right,” he said. “It doesn’t have to do with the binary of left or right conversation, but more about standing up for ourselves and others.”

Show Me the Body

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28

Where: The Observatory, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana

Tickets: $25 at Livenation.com

Also: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26 at Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., San Diego. $25 at Ticketweb.com; 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 1 at The Regent Theater 448 S. Main Street, Los Angeles. $25 at Ticketmaster.com.