At this point, I’ve forgotten how long it’s taken me to officially write about More AM Than FM, but of all the punk bands I would want to recommend and to see live, they’d be it. Yep, really! Of all the punks bands, More AM Than FM is my favorite quintessential punk band.
If you’re wondering how someone all the way out on the west coast of the United States found this D.C.-based band, I learned of them when I was doing research for my old blog, perusing Wikipedia’s [not comprehensive – not even close] list of “all-female bands.” It still surprises me that their band name intrigued me enough to forget my research and immediately start listening to them, especially considering my tendency to ignore contemporary bands (not ignoring due to preconceptions – just for the purpose of my blog which documented women in rock music history), but I did and I have ever since been grateful for that impulse.
The first time I heard “Andre,” I was immediately blown away and excited by their sound and the arrangement references to classic punk rock. And as I kept listening to their first EP, I realized, Holy shit. There is not a SINGLE bad song on here! Which is to say, there was not a single song on the whole EP that I didn’t like. While that may not be super impressive considering I was listening to an EP and not an LP (I’ll admit I can be much harder to please when it comes to full-length albums), it was still significant enough to me to continue listening to their next EP. And again I realized there was not a single bad song on it, either. So basically, they don’t have any bad songs.
When I think about them now, since I’ve been listening to them for over a year, I fervently wonder what their first LP will sound like, because based on their EPs alone, I would bet the money I’d set aside specifically for that future LP that it would be COMPLETELY AMAZING (and then I would have enough money to buy their LP twice! SCORE. I WOULD SO DO IT).
What I’ve wanted to write about the most since discovering and falling in love with their music is the way it’s helped me. Yes, it’s punk rock, and it’s not even necessarily that I could relate to all of the subjects that their songs are based on, but at the time that I discovered them I was thoroughly unable to put into words how strong of an effect their music had on me. Now, thanks to hindsight, I feel I can finally justify why I fucking love this band so much.
Transitional periods – lots of laying in the middle of the floor, weeping, feeling like I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing or who I am or why I am and what the FUCK does the world want from me. Cue my discovery of More AM Than FM. Fucking timely.
That’s it, really – long story short. I discovered them a month before I would graduate from college with my BA in creative writing, and while I remember the way my therapist explained transitional periods to me and that it would feel a lot like grieving, her explanation seemed to go in one ear and out while I was worried about wrapping up school and what I would do afterward (because I had literally no idea). So, in spite of the fact that she told me that in good time, I still felt like I was drowning in a puddle of completely unidentifiable feelings. And then I heard More AM Than FM for the first time, and suddenly my feelings had a SOUND. I still couldn’t explain what or even how I was feeling; I just knew those feelings now had musical accompaniment and it was credited to THIS BAND and THIS BAND ALONE.
By the time I’d finished listening to their first EP all the way through I felt like WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG TO DISCOVER THIS? THIS HAS BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME AND I DIDN’T KNOW? WHY?! HOW. On the positive side of things, that’s the beauty of discovering new music. On the bittersweet side, once you discover new music that you LIKE that undeniably speaks to you like nothing else has, you feel like you’ve been missing out this whole time.
That’s what More AM Than FM’s music did for me. This superb trio of punks restored my faith in life, if you will. Their music reminded me that if I kept on keepin’ on, I would continue to have experiences with music where I would get to hear my feelings unequivocally put to music. And that experience is priceless! It’s why I enjoy researching music and artists and bands that aren’t often found or included in the mainstream – because you just never fucking know when and where you’ll find the sound that speaks to your heart. And finding that, and searching for it, is worth it.
Writing for Pearls 