Album Review: Sarchasm "Sarchasm"

Album Art by Mikhail Castro

When I got the email in my inbox from California’s punk band Sarchasm with the link to their new self-titled record, I couldn’t be more thrilled. I learned about this band just from being friends with some adjacent Bay Area bands like Pity Party & awakebutstillinbed, and I’ve been hooked ever since I first listened. The band consists of Stevie Campos-Seligman (they/them) on drums & vocals, Mateo Campos (he/him) playing guitar and singing, and Alex Botkin (he/him) playing bass guitar and also offering some vocals. On October 9, 2020, the world was given the great gift of Sarchasm via Asian Man Records.

The album starts off with Wither (In D) with the punchiest guitars, group harmonies, and a very catchy melody. This song MOVES so many times over already being only one minute and a half into it. That’s some of my favorite songwriting right there. Then we go into one of the record’s singles Scorpio Texas Ranger which Mateo explains is about the toxic behaviors in the music scene, and the never-ending rat race of social media competing for attention, “likes,” and retweets. Tracks Belong and I Hate It Here caught my ear, while listening through the record with the organ/synth tone completely sending me. There was a lyric too in each song that made me feel like they were writing these songs from my brain; “I just wanna meet someone like me,” from Belong and “Without you I might be nothing but at least I can be nothing alone.” I’ve personally tried to write a lyric exactly like this, and Sarchasm nailed it. I Hate It Here is such a good punk song. Then Blacklist kicks in with just Stevie on drums, and I swear this beat always gets me hyped up, and when the rest of the band comes in, I am not disappointed. They do a great job keeping the vibes going & up. Normally this far into a record, I truthfully start feeling bored, but not with this one. There’s nothing predictable musically, so it’s fun not knowing what to expect!

Photo Credit - Jonathan Botkin

“We started writing this record almost immediately after finishing recording for Beach Blanket Bummer Pop (2019). Because Beach Blanket was so long in the making, we were already stir-crazy and ready to start working on new stuff. When all of us lost our jobs and school went virtual in March 2020, it actually afforded us the privilege to finish writing this new record in a way that we wouldn’t have otherwise - sending demos back and forth as we sheltered in place, and building on each other’s ideas in a way that probably wouldn’t have happened if real life had continued the way it was going. We quarantined together down in San Jose to record the album at District Recording with Ryan Perras in July, and put it out through Asian Man Records in October. The response to Sarchasm has been astounding. We had no idea what releasing a record during a weird year like this would entail, and our philosophy all year has simply been: fuck it, there’s no rules, let’s just do it the way we want it done. “ explains the band.

Photo Credit @dinothegirl (instagram)

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UPCOMING LIVESTREAM GIGS:

• December 11 - The Complex Winter Formal 2020; a benefit for the Alameda County Food Bank.

• December 12 - Cold Wrecks’ annual Matannukah event

• December 20 - Year of the Fist’s 3rd annual Fistmas benefit show; a benefit for the Ivy Room in Albany, CA. Streaming on Facebook and Twitch

• December 27 - Our own annual This Year Sucked Festival

-If you had to describe yourself as a Broadway Musical, which one would you choose?

Godspell, because the story is increasingly hard to follow but the music maybe slaps. Also all three of us have been pit musicians in different iterations of Godspell, and it seemed right.

- What was the first album you ever bought yourself?

Mateo - American Idiot (Green Day)

Alex - Straight Outta Lynnwood (Weird Al Yankovic - his mom bought it but he chose it)

Stevie - Mooched off of Mateo’s music collection and possibly has never bought music whoops

- Dream Tour: If you could book a dream tour & open for any 2 artists, who would it be?

Mateo: Green Day and Pansy Division, but in 1995

Alex: Metallica and Primus

Stevie: Paramore and Against Me!