Call & Response: Friendship Commanders
(11 min)
Friendship Commanders is a hard rock band comprised of Buick Audra (vocals/guitars) and Jerry Roe (drums/bass). They create heavy, melodic rock that tackles topics like surviving abuse and challenging the patriarchy. We chat with the band about their origins, activism, the sound of their newest release, and expanding who represents heavy music beyond wizards and warlocks.
Lab Notes (LN): If you had to boil your musical journey into one sentence, what would it be? (Run-on sentences accepted and encouraged.)
Buick Audra & Jerry Roe: Two partners and friends coming together and realizing their musical similarities somewhat by accident, only to end up on the exact same path, ending up at a much noisier and heavier sound than they ever could have imagined as our values and musical tastes changed together and aligned in such a way that's almost creepy it's so perfect.
LN: For those unfamiliar with your music, how do you describe your sound?
Jerry: We'd describe ourselves as a fuzz-tone-forward sludge metal band with thrashy tendencies and a powerful, power-metal-esque R&B influenced vocal singing personal songs with a covert social justice message.
Buick: I tend to just say “melodic heavy music.” Because some melodic music isn’t heavy, and a whole lot of heavy music isn’t melodic. We’re both.
LN: When did you start making music together and where does the name Friendship Commanders come from?
Buick: We worked together on some projects before starting the band, to varying degrees of success. The band happened somewhat accidentally. We were demo’ing some songs of mine that were on the rock side of the fence, and it just kind of worked. We didn’t pursue playing them live for a bit, and the touring was even a year or two after that. It was a slow evolution. The first time we played live, I don’t think we even had the band name. The name came from a vintage varsity jacket that I found at an antique market and have been wearing as my winter coat for more than ten years. I love the words together. They’re absurdly hopeful and bossy. The fact that we became a band that does generate music about the often painful and confusing concept of friendship is a total coincidence. But it’s true. We do.
LN: You’ve mentioned how your latest release, Hold On To Yourself, is much more layered and produced than previous work. What made you want to explore a new sound?
Jerry: We started as more of a punk band, and as such adopted the genre's ethic of working quickly and striving for live performances. But since we've moved closer and closer towards a slower and heavier sound with Hold On To Yourself, the songs called for it and definitely seemed to benefit from it. There's definitely no one right way to make music, and we really enjoyed taking more time with guitar and vocal layers on this one and plan to continue in this direction. It's still very live - there are no edits and no tuning or anything like that - but we allowed ourselves the time for more takes to get it exactly right, and the freedom to have fun with parts and FX. We never would have gone for the type of vocal treatment Kurt chose on this EP before, but we're so glad we did and couldn't imagine it any other way.
Buick: As the writer, I heard some of the layers when I wrote the songs. Like the backing vocals on the chorus of “The Enemy I Know.” Those have been playing in my head since Day One, but as a two-person band, hard to execute right out of the gate in a live setting. When we made the record, I was like, I’m singing everything I hear this time, whether it can be done live or not. It was super satisfying to hear the finished recordings, especially as mixed by Kurt Ballou. I feel like he provided a lot of depth and space while keeping it heavy.
The fact that we became a band that does generate music about the often painful and confusing concept of friendship is a total coincidence. But it’s true. We do.
LN: We find the combination of your lyrics and the heavy guitar/drums to be extremely powerful and compelling. Obviously some people are into it because they dig the hard rock sound, but writing about themes of surviving abuse and challenging the patriarchy reaches new depths. What kind of impact do you want your music to have on an audience?
Buick: Thank you so much! I appreciate the kind and thoughtful words. The primary thing is that I hope it helps other people who have experienced trauma or abuse to feel like they’re not alone. It’s so important to feel seen and heard in this life, and also to feel represented. Second, part of what I was trying to convey in HOTY, is that I don’t wish to be any other way at this point. Would I be loud and brave if I didn’t have trauma markings or altered neural pathways? I don’t know. I wanted to challenge this idea that all survivors are victims forever. Speaking for myself, I do not wish to undo any of what happened, because I’ve arrived at a place of acceptance with what’s going on now. The gifts and the grievances.
Also, always and forever, I want heavy music to be populated with all kinds of people, and that includes women who are singing about what happened and what it’s like now. Wizards and warlocks have had a good run.
LN: The music video for “The Enemy I Know” is beautifully shot and is a stunning visual companion to the song. How did that come about?
Jerry: Thank you! I'm somewhat of an aspiring filmmaker and have acquired gear to make videos/shoot films over time, and I'm also very emotionally invested in Buick's past and the experiences that went into this song. We also needed to film it quickly and cheaply, and in a way that still got the idea across. I referenced a lot of music videos from the 90's, which were very sensualist and largely consisted of a static location with the subjects moving in and out of the frame, and went for it with that in mind. Ashley Wolfe and her husband Jay played the parts of the victim and the abuser/abuse enabler respectively, and we shot about 9 takes of us playing together/separately and Buick singing and it all came together in the edit! We're really happy with it.
LN: With the music industry in flux and live shows mostly happening online, how are you adapting to these challenges?
Jerry: It's been tough and not altogether obvious or easy, but we've done a few livestreams so far and it's been all right! We can safely say that live music is in no danger of being replaced by streaming live, as it's an awkward experience and the lack of audience connection is very palpable, but it gets better every time and it's great for us to play our music "on the clock," so to speak. With no breaks and the requirement to move forward and keep momentum going. What's weird for us is our live show is built on volume and power, and we've never been a crowd interaction band. We don't talk at all. We've had to figure out how to address the crowd more while still keeping that vibe going, as it's something we're very partial to. I think we're going to release some more music soon that we wouldn't have otherwise. New recorded music may be more the way to go for us than live-streaming? We'll see how that goes! Ask us again next year.
Buick: I want to add that the livestreams have made us more aware of the inaccessibility of live shows for some, though. Even when touring resumes, I will commit to making the occasional livestream show available to those who—for any number of reasons, from finances to compromised immune systems—are not able to attend in person. I get it. I see and hear you, and I want to do better.
LN: What inspires you? What gives you hope these days?
Jerry: The fact that the world has awoken to racial/civil/social inequity at an unprecedented scale. Regardless of how successful the movement is this year or later, there's no going back to the way it was before. We do think this only could have occurred at a time such as this, with the virus keeping everyone home and the world being shut down for the most part. People are angry and want change, and that's incredible.
Buick: The resistance! The fact that bullies are being forced to change in public, in real time!
I want heavy music to be populated with all kinds of people, and that includes women who are singing about what happened and what it’s like now. Wizards and warlocks have had a good run.
LN: What music are you listening to right now?
Jerry: Splid by Kvelertak, Mordial by Car Bomb
Buick: The Bad Plus, The Aces (I get hung up on their song “Baby Who”), Rhythm Nation by Janet Jackson
LN: What do you do when you’re not creating music?
Jerry: I play video games, watch a lot of movies, go for walks, drink too much coffee.
Buick: I’m an activist and am always doing something or other in the movement. I’m currently very emotionally wrapped up in the TN abortion ban. I have big issues with people who want to remove or challenge another person’s bodily autonomy. Some of it is being an abuse survivor and knowing what it’s like to have little or no agency around what happens with your own human form, but some of it (most of it) is that there is no equality if we don’t have rights to our own physical selves. It’s a big deal. I’m doing what I can to fight it. Outside of that, I’m also a writer of essays and occasional editorial pieces. I’m always trying to learn. I’m currently studying the feminist movements of the 1970s. Just finished Sherie M. Randolph’s book about Florynce Kennedy, an amazing force for change who doesn’t get enough attention, in my opinion.
LN: If you were trapped on a desert island, what 5 albums could you not live without?
Jerry: Superunknown by Soundgarden, The Reality of My Surroundings by Fishbone, Drums and Wires by XTC, Armed Forces by Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Red by King Crimson
Buick: Rickie Lee Jones by Rickie Lee Jones, Fat City by Shawn Colvin, Control by Janet Jackson, Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden, and Germ Free Adolescents by X-Ray Spex
LN: What are three things about you that you wouldn’t want left out of your Wikipedia page?
1. Living in TN very much contributes to what we do as a band and why. The legislative imbalance here (and the culture it panders to) are ongoing catalysts for unrest and resistance. I (Buick) am thrice the activist I was when I moved to TN in 2008, and my feelings are very present in the music of the band.
2. The band is named after a green wool jacket that belonged to a real person who actually lived, and is now gone. Though we didn’t know him, we think of him and credit him with inadvertently giving us our name and creative inspiration.
3. We tried to help.