In 1940 Warner Sallman, a former commercial artist created the "Head of Christ" and through partnerships with Protestant and Catholic publishing companies marketed the image of a white Jesus worldwide. It is maybe the most pushed image of Christ ever ending up on calendars, hymnals, night lights, prayer cards, stained glass, posters, T-shirts and such. Yeah, Jesus Christ, obviously a person of color was white washed.
Fuck me, and now 82 years later, at least in America we are dealing with Christian Nationalists and White Nationalists wreaking havoc and trying to strip away the tenuous separation of church and state within the walls of government. Don't get me started. Do NOT get me fucking started but I did think about this when listening to the brand new track 'White Jesus' from Syracuse, New York's Trauma Cat. The three piece musical provocateurs describe 'White Jesus' as "an irreverent, sarcastic fuzz rock song about the perils of white Evangelicalism".
'White Jesus' is from the bands new album 'The Truth Doesn't Live Here' with the cover of the Trauma Cat apparently holding a dead "don't tread on me" snake in it's mouth (holy shit, so amazing). Not sure if the album has a political thrust but Trauma Cat shoots sardonic barbs and 'White Jesus' certainly does that. From the onset it is a slamming heavy alt rock sound with a sort of glam rock patina. I did oddly think of Depeche Mode (only because of the Jesus reference, personal or otherwise) but the track swings in a pervasive cross generational indie rock / heavy metal way and I thought of a crush, an amalgam of artists like Queens of The Stone Age, Masters of Reality with a side helping of T-Rex.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6P7mIdLRZZlYfF7Pr3BRYj
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdP2TRSRJbXsTfJ2RYAyz_g
https://traumacat.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/trauma_cat/
https://linktr.ee/traumacat
Trauma Cat are equal parts band and absurdist performance art troupe. Hailing from Syracuse, New York, they call themselves “America’s sorriest power trio” — at once a superlative and a Primus-like self-own befitting of the strange, tongue-in-cheek musicians at the group’s core.
Co-fronted by guitarist Ralph Kojig and bassist Roman Pando with drummer Rutger DiBoyere, Trauma Cat’s sound is the bastard child of Cake and Tool, or a modern American answer to XTC — a collage of art rock and progressive rock with shades of post-punk, shoegaze, and powerpop. Lyrically, Kojig’s and Pando’s songs often reflect on religion, death, and the internet.
Trauma Cat self-released their debut album, “Prepare to Apologize,” in 2021. Co-produced by the band and the mysterious St. Julian P. Dingus, the 15-track epic marked the arrival of the trio as an ambitious DIY act to watch. Indie critics cited the band’s sense of humor and technical skill, calling the album “an irreverent and eclectic gem” (NYSMusic) with “detailed lyricism and dynamic instrumental soundscapes” (BuzzMusic). The record, NYSMusic continues, introduced listeners to Trauma Cat’s “hilarious take on the music biz” with a persona evoking “a combination of punk pioneers Devo and Saturday morning cartoon favorites Josie and the Pussycats.”
Since 2021, Trauma Cat have dropped several singles, each one exploring new sonic textures and variations on the theme of truth. In 2022, the trio also released a satirical docuseries titled “The Truth About Trauma Cat,” and a podcast called “The Truth About The Truth About Trauma Cat.”
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6P7mIdLRZZlYfF7Pr3BRYj
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdP2TRSRJbXsTfJ2RYAyz_g
https://traumacat.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/trauma_cat/
https://linktr.ee/traumacat
Trauma Cat are equal parts band and absurdist performance art troupe. Hailing from Syracuse, New York, they call themselves “America’s sorriest power trio” — at once a superlative and a Primus-like self-own befitting of the strange, tongue-in-cheek musicians at the group’s core.
Co-fronted by guitarist Ralph Kojig and bassist Roman Pando with drummer Rutger DiBoyere, Trauma Cat’s sound is the bastard child of Cake and Tool, or a modern American answer to XTC — a collage of art rock and progressive rock with shades of post-punk, shoegaze, and powerpop. Lyrically, Kojig’s and Pando’s songs often reflect on religion, death, and the internet.
Trauma Cat self-released their debut album, “Prepare to Apologize,” in 2021. Co-produced by the band and the mysterious St. Julian P. Dingus, the 15-track epic marked the arrival of the trio as an ambitious DIY act to watch. Indie critics cited the band’s sense of humor and technical skill, calling the album “an irreverent and eclectic gem” (NYSMusic) with “detailed lyricism and dynamic instrumental soundscapes” (BuzzMusic). The record, NYSMusic continues, introduced listeners to Trauma Cat’s “hilarious take on the music biz” with a persona evoking “a combination of punk pioneers Devo and Saturday morning cartoon favorites Josie and the Pussycats.”
Since 2021, Trauma Cat have dropped several singles, each one exploring new sonic textures and variations on the theme of truth. In 2022, the trio also released a satirical docuseries titled “The Truth About Trauma Cat,” and a podcast called “The Truth About The Truth About Trauma Cat.”
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