Atlanta punks Upchuck are a band built on rage, resilience, and community – and right now they’re unstoppable. Fronted by the ferocious KT, the five-piece have been turning heads on both sides of the Atlantic with their incendiary live shows. Their new album I’m Nice Now — produced by Ty Segall and out 3 October on Domino — captures all the chaos of their live sets, fusing punk urgency with grunge, hip hop, and even flashes of Cumbia. Lead single 'Tired' sets the tone, KT spitting frustration at America’s endless cycle of injustice over riffs that bite like barbed wire. Fresh from a riotous run of UK shows, KT sat down with me to talk about the rowdier-than-expected UK crowds, her unlikely roots as a cellist, and why sometimes being “nice now” is an act of survival.
Cassie: Lovely to meet you KT! You’ve just landed back home in Atlanta after your UK tour! How did that go?
KT: Sick! I think, like, I don’t know, for some reason I feel like people just fuck with us a little bit more over there, so it’s normally like a rowdier crowd, and there’s more support, I think, than in the states.
That’s interesting to hear that the UK crowd are more rowdy than in America! Well done the UK!
I think all the shows were really good. I guess at Green Man, I wasn’t really expecting to see that many people in the crowd for some reason. So that was kind of crazy. And Bristol shows … just gnarly, just rowdy! And everyone, like everyone was just moving. So definitely one of the more memorable ones.
Yeah, there’s a good scene down in Bristol! Well, I was in Atlanta a couple of months ago, actually, but I was on a family holiday with my kids, so I didn’t get chance to go to any gigs. So tell me what I missed. What Atlanta bands should we be listening to right now?
Dang. That’s a good question. It’s hard to keep up with what is actually still going on in Atlanta, since we’re like, never really here! I know the homies in Psychic Death and The Spores, but those aren’t like fem-lead.
I’ve heard you say previously that the Atlanta’s DIY scene is kind of a bit of a melting pot of punk bands and rappers and indie kids all colliding. Do you think that kind of cross pollination is part of the reason why Upchuck sounds the way it does?
Oh, for sure. I think, yeah, that’s the epitome of why we were even able to meet each other.
How did you come together then?
So, Mikey [guitarist Michael Durham] and Chris [drummer Chris Salado] were the first ones to start it. They, like, work together, in something like construction, okay? And I think Hoff [guitarist Alex Hoffman] ended up going with them and the bassist [Ausar Ward] as well. And I was working with the bassist, and he was like, ‘hey, I’m in this band, and we’re looking for a singer, like, if you want to, like, come check it out and try it out!’ And so I went over to Mikey’s, and I just seen, like, these men sitting on the couch, and they’re, like, writing lyrics. And I’m like, ‘Whoa, what?!’ Didn’t know it was going to be like this! But kind of once I recorded my part, I think, like, it all just kind of clicked for everyone. And we were like, man, okay, I think we should take this seriously.
Is it the first band that you’ve been in?
Yeah. I used to play cello. I was really into orchestra. That’s the closest I got to performing, before!
I could have gone like 1,000 guesses before I would have got to cello as your background. You still play?
Yeah! Still got it, somewhere.
So the album! I thought there’s punk and also a kind of a 90s grungy sound to the album. Were you deliberately drawing from different influences?
We were speaking to another interviewer the other day, and we were asked questions about, like, our writing process, and more and more I was like, ‘Wait, we’re kind of mad chaotic!’ Because there really is, like, no thought process behind it. It’s kind of just like a practice session, and it just gets created and made. We all just come together and sync up on that right there. But I think whatever is going on, like, instrumentation wise, when it comes to the to the boys, because I just play whatever they write. But when it comes to my writing, I’m just writing about whatever is literally happening in real time, or what I’ve dealt with in that process of writing. You could see the different levels of growth within that process, yeah.
And, wow, ‘Tired’ as the as the opener – it’s quite a ferocious way to open an album!
I think it’s, it has to do with, like, even the whole ‘I’m nice now’ concept. It’s upsetting. I’m kind of getting over yelling the same shit over and over again, preaching the same lesson, shit not changing, and watching real time shit get worse. The way that they have things set up over here in the States is just back-to-back-to-back bullshit, to break you down, and keep you weak, keep you defeated. But, at the end of the day, I’m tired of these tactics. I’m tired of these games. I’m tired of this ongoing and forever. It seems like the troubles never end.
You’ve got this huge US run coming up. Have you done a tour this big before? Are you good at touring? This sounds terrifying to me.
Yeah! For the most part. I think anyone would get aggravated off of being in someone’s space for that long. Sometimes we’ll just get to the end of the tour and be like, ‘Man, okay, actually, like, I do miss my crib. I do miss my bed.’
What’s your best tip for keeping yourself sane on the long drives?
I just sleep a lot. Try and get as much sleep as I possibly can, and eat healthy, and, you know, not get sick, get some rest, so I can continue out the rest of the show just as good as I just started out.
Yeah, stay healthy!! So what’s next for you, after this tour?
I know we have plans of wanting to go other places like Mexico and Australia, but for now, it’s just one tour at a time.
Upcoming Upchuck live dates
Fri 26th September – Palmer Events Center, Austin, TX
Sun 28th September – Levitation, Austin, TX
Mon 29th September – Ruins, Dallas, TX
Wed 1st October – Launchpad, Alburquerque, NM
Thurs 2nd October – The Underground (Nile), Mesa, AZ
Fri 3rd October – The Whistle Stop, San Diego, CA
Sat 4th October – Sardine, San Pedro, CA
Sun 5th October – The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
Mon 6th October – Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
Wed 8th October – Star Theater, Portland, OR
Thurs 9th October – Black Lodge, Seattle, WA
Fri 10th October – Shrine Social Club Basement, Boise, ID
Sat 11th October – The DLC at Quarters, Salt Lake City, UT
Mon 13th October – Moe’s Original BBQ & Bowl, Denver, CO
Wed 15th October – Subterranean, Chicago, IL
Thurs 16th October – Third Man Records, Detroit, MI
Fri 17th October – Bottlerocket Social Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
Sat 18th October – Elsewhere (Zone One), Brooklyn, NY
Mon 20th October – Foto Club, Philadelphia, PA
Tues 21st October – DC9, Washington, DC
Wed 22nd October – Static Age, Asheville, NC
Fri 31st October – Goat Farm, Atlanta, GA
Tues 4th November – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, UK
Weds 5th November – Pitchfork Festival @ Village Underground, London, UK
Thurs 6th November – Wharf Chambers, Leeds, UK
Sat 8th November – Simple Things Festival, Bristol, UK
Sun 9th November – YES, Manchester, UK
Tues 11th November – Brussels Botanique, Brussels, BE
Wed 12th November – Point Ephemere, Paris, FR
Thurs 13th November – Skate Cafe, Amsterdam, NL
Fri 14th November – Hafenklang, Hamburg, DE
Sat 15th November – Copenhagen Loppen, Copenhagen, DK
Sun 16th November – Berghain Kantine, Berlin, DE
Tues 18th November – Bumann & Sohn, Cologne, DE
Wed 19th November – Bad Bon, Dudingen, CH
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