RECONCILER DISCUSSES PUNK ROCK AND THEIR ‘THREE SONGS EP’
Punk music has always been a necessity, but perhaps now more than ever. Today’s landscape is full of unbridled uncertainty, unlike anything most people have ever known. Enter Reconciler, a Georgian punk band that thrives off of clever wordplay and sociopolitical commentary. Their newest effort, an EP aptly titled, ‘Three Songs,’ is both daring and familiar. While it traverses familiar punk rock territory, it dares to be itself lyrically, saying exactly what it means at all times. Vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist Joseph Lazzari admitted that making music is just as much of a lifeline for him as it is for fans. Reconciler is a place for him to vent, but he’s constantly evolving, allowing lyrical themes to transform with his life and the current political landscape. However, Reconciler stands out among the crowd thanks to their use of literary devices, like frequent double-entendre sprinkled throughout each mix.
“I don’t have any immediate go-tos,” Lazzari explains of his inspiration sources. “Obviously, there’s a lot of people who inspire me. I’ve always written lyrics very intuitively. I channel an initial chunk that will come to me somehow, and it will just go from there.”
Lazzari is in-line with plenty of contemporary literary “greats.” The stream-of-consciousness writing style has been around since the dawn of time, but it was first defined in 1855 and refined in 1918. It offers an uncanny look into the human mind. Unrestrained and emotional, writers who adopt this method frequently find their footing in outlets like poetry. Lazzari’s songwriting is only a pebble throw away, offering his verses with melodic accompaniment. Similar writers include Virginia Woolf, who is best known for her emotionally evocative work. Lazzari is a big fan of “Bukowski and Hemingway” himself, insinuating a well-read rock band. Still, while free-flowing, Reconciler’s lyrics do contain focus and refinement—even in their boldest moments.
Like most great punk bands, Lazzari is inspired (and often depressed) by politics. One could argue that his literary heroes were too, though their expressions are vastly different than Reconciler’s. The band sneakily also pulls from punk-rock’s cousin: country music. Hear me out…rock music and country music are the center of a venn diagram. One could not exist without the other, and bands like Reconciler, who grew up in the South, pull from those sounds. We agreed that early country artists, like Johnny Cash, were the original punks. Who else would have played shows in a prison, willingly, other than someone who was purely motivated by the political landscape around him? Lazzari suggests that his biggest hurdle as a songwriter is, “not trying to explain the entire record on every track.”
That’s a difficult feat with so many untapped emotions that are just itching to leap out. It’s exceptionally difficult when your community is at stake, like Lazzari’s is. There are a lot of moving parts going around for this snapshot of history. One, specifically, is the risk of peoples’ livelihoods. I am no stranger to this; my bread and butter is within the arts. I am constantly worried about the future of the outlets that I feel so grateful to have. Nobody has job security right now, but it’s even harder to look at the effects head-on, like Lazzari does in his day job. While he isn’t writing for music magazines, his passions are constantly at-risk, but especially now.
“I already know so many people who are working meaningful jobs and the funding has been frozen. I’m a freelance artist—but I do a decent amount of work in the museums, and the museums are losing funding. Every time there’s a political campaign, an artist has to issue a cease and desist to someone who doesn’t get the song,” he laments.
He agrees, though, that music is what will get us through any tough times. Channeling this energy into tracks like the ‘Three Songs’ EP offers the best medicine the world can offer. The band is where Lazzari and his collaborators can find peace, even if only as an escape. There will always be challengers questioning the sanctity of punk rock, typically aspiring to dismantle it. Though the Satanic Panic era saw the worst of it, we’re not out of the woods yet. Still, though not very optimistic, Lazzari is perseverent:
“If there’s no stages to play on, then we’ll just play on the floors. If there’s no electricity, then we’ll play outside. If there’s no electricity, then we’ll play unplugged. If there’s no paint, we’ll use dirt.”