Gutsy three-piece band sell by. are grabbing grunge revival round the throat in their newet release “Social Smoker.” Whilst it has all the marks of a classic indie anthem, it’s hard to overlook their stylish grunge aesthetic and influence. The guitars are draped in distorted chorus and battle with the bass and drums creating a groove that’s manically hard-hitting, whilst the vocal is emotional, image encouraging and awash with their grunge influences. Binding two genres isn’t as easy as some may think, but sell by. perfect it.
Speaking about the release, they told us: “We started writing for sell by. at a particularly turbulent time of our lives, myself (James) and drummer Jamie had recently left a band that was a massive part in both of our lives. This is why we think Social Smoker has a sort of cathartic energy about it. We’ve deemed the song a “bedroom banger” and often visualise angry teens screaming it from the confines of their room.
The song is written about (and for) the sort of people that come to life in the smoking area of a club. The people that don’t fit in, but really try to. We really wanted to make an angsty record and tried to encapsulate as many 2000’s post grunge, pop punk influences as possible. At the time of writing / recording we were listening to a lot of Green Day, Biffy Clyro and early Foo Fighters.
Having spent a lot of time in different studios around the country with our former band, we really needed to feel at home in the recording of this song. We contacted an old producer of ours that we have a close connection to and got straight in the studio a few days after. Recording Social Smoker felt like a release for us, everything we wanted to write about and sound like, just poured into that session and we really know that we have something that people can relate to.”
Being such a new band, it’s quite remarkable how good they sound. Not only are the songs cut throat, but they’re on the road a fair amount, showcasing their tight unit. This is definitely one to watch.