Evan Weiss is a music geek, through and through. In a good way. He’s the kind of guy with whom you can reminisce until you've lost track of the night—which now-defunct bands you both saw in some long-closed DIY spot, which seven-inches you’ve spent years combing used bins for, which old flyers you’ve got stored in your parents’ basements. One thing the Chicago-via-Philly veteran can go on a tear about is genres.All of Weiss’ musical projects—Into It. Over It., The Progress, Their / They’re / There—have at some point been lumped into various catch-all genres. Lord knows the dreaded E-word has followed him around. With Pet Symmetry, his new band (yes, another one), Weiss is practically daring you to stick a label on him where it doesn’t belong.The three-piece—also featuring members of Dowsing and Kittyhawk—are releasing a debut album, Pets Hounds, in May and right from the start on “Give Thanks (Get Lost),” they drop a harsh, discordant pile of loudness on you. You immediately think, “Oh shit, this is gonna be Evan’s downtuned doom rock project.” But then the band pulls a fast one on you, jumping into poppier upbeat hooks, while still keeping one foot on that brooding undertone that sucked you in in the first place.That’s the way Pet Symmetry operates—not letting you get too comfortable in any one sound, always keeping you on your toes. Never letting you define them. The sum total of all those bands you reminisced about.
Pets Hounds is out via Asian Man Records on May 19 and its cover features Chris Farren making a very subtle appearance—a trade-off made after he indirectly gave the band its wonderfully puntastic name. Listen to “Give Thanks (Get Lost)” below.
Advertisement