Two years after the release of their breakthrough album ‘Life Under The Gun’ – a record that put them on the map as one of the most exciting hardcore bands in recent memory – Militarie Gun are back with their highly anticipated sophomore release, ‘God Save The Gun’. Out today (October 17), the album not only marks the follow-up to the 2023 record that established them as “at the forefront of hardcore’s radical next wave”, it also introduces an introspective new chapter for the group.
Musically, they are pushing their sound into new horizons; tracks like ‘Daydream’ see them backed by strings and channelling an Eels-eque melancholy, while ‘Laugh At Me’ introduces new, playful riffs reminiscent of the ‘00s British indie scene. To top it off, Shelton’s lyrical content is unquestionably his most personal yet.
For onlookers, the album arrives at a time when the members should have been riding high. For the past couple of years they have been commanding stages worldwide, receiving high praise from Post Malone, and opening for the likes of Limp Bizkit and A Day To Remember. Yet, despite the accolades that many can only dream of, the writing process for this new LP came at a trying time for the frontman, who found himself facing a battle with alcohol addiction and using the new material to confront his demons.
This diaristic approach remains at the core of ‘God Save The Gun’, and has led to the band developing what is undoubtedly their most emotionally-raw, yet self-assured release to date.
“I worked on this record for so long that I saw my perspective really change over time,” Shelton tells NME over Zoom. “It definitely is painting a picture of desperation and the need for salvation. It’s the desire to put my hands up into the sky and have [my struggles] taken away from me… and the unfortunate reality that none of that can happen.”
Shelton shares how the band tried to steer clear of external feedback, reveals the one thing that sets Militarie Gun apart from their peers, and debates if this search for a more optimistic new chapter could reinvent their sound going forward.
There are some pretty heavy themes that you tackled throughout this record, did taking these personal battles into the writing sessions allow you to confront them?
Ian Shelton: “Yeah, I consciously decided to stop talking out loud about some things day-to-day [and save it for the writing process]. I used to offhandedly throw out traumatic stories or talk about my past more than I do now. Then, when I stopped talking about it out loud, it came through even more prominently in the songs.
“I think songs are the appropriate place to communicate those things, so it was the right move. These things went from being everyday topics and became something specifically meant for the music, and it got more focused in its intention. So many things had been bothering me for a long time, and this was the way to finally root through it.”
It may be deeply personal, but that isn’t to say that this is a timid record. Both the instrumentals and the conviction of your vocals are at their most brazen yet. Did you notice this juxtaposition as you were working on the album?
“It was definitely something [I was aware of]. I am very under-stimulated by a lot of music happening now. I don’t think it has much to say, so it’s very important to me that our songs say the absolute most that I can stand to say. I don’t wanna leave anything on the table.
“I will confidently say crazy shit, always. That’s kind of my thing! I’ve always said something that usually is left unsaid and made everyone uncomfortable. I’ll do it confidently in the moment, and then I go home and I think, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ We actually cut a song from the album called, ‘I’ve Said Too Much’, which is about that exact thing! It’s that hangover moment of ‘I can’t believe all these things that I’ve said and done throughout the day.’
“The album is meant to be just as critical of me as it is meant to be critical of anyone else though, and we have a high bar for what we’re willing to put out into the world, both lyrically and musically. We even cut six songs from this album without releasing them to fit with that.”
It takes guts to scrap songs because they aren’t exposing enough…
“Yeah, it’s maybe the opposite of what other bands might do. They might cut all the stuff that is too vulnerable, but that’s the stuff we choose. The stuff that isn’t vulnerable enough, we’d cut off the album. That was the way that it ended up working. If it was less intense and less personal, it got cut.
“We love those songs, but it was done because the emotional context for them was not the same as the songs that made it. We had a song with Mannequin Pussy called ‘World’s Always Burning’ that we took off the album, and I’m obsessed with that song! I want it out in the world so bad… but it didn’t have the same thing to say as the rest of the record. For us it’s all about keeping track of what’s important in the body of work and staying loyal to what the record is trying to say.”
It’s one thing to dive into themes of addiction, frustration, and self-doubt during the writing process, but it must be something else to see these songs go into the world and notice people’s response. Is that something you thought about at the time?
“No, I actually never think about that part. It’s funny, I’ll get nervous about it musically, but I never get nervous about it lyrically. In that way, I feel comfortable. The state of oversharing is where I live, so I don’t think twice about it. But musically I’ll be like, ‘Oh no, we’re trying something on this song and it’s gonna piss people off.’
“The song I’ve been most nervous to release was ‘Throw Me Away’, just because it’s such a big sounding song and I thought some people were gonna be mad about it. I never get afraid of the lyrical elements though. I’m always going to stand behind that.”
How has the response been so far?
“‘B A D I D E A’ seems to be one of our biggest songs already, and ‘Throw Me Away’ is getting great reactions. People are listening. People have bought the record. Now I can’t wait for people to receive the record in person and see what we did.
“I think that we did an effective job of laying out the path to this record’s sound. Look at a song like ‘Daydream’ – had we not done the ‘Life under the Sun’ EP, it would seem very out of nowhere, but we tried to leave a breadcrumb trail of our influences. We left little sample sizes to be like ‘Here’s what we’re trying right now. So don’t be surprised when we make a record and it sounds like this’.
“We try to not isolate our audience, but instead try to help bring them along the journey that we’re trying to take. We try to make our next move a little bit more obvious, instead of being like ‘Suddenly we’re doing something way different’. Overall though, it seems like people are really excited for the record and I just can’t wait for them to have it.”
Few bands see the success that you did with your debut album. Is it somewhat daunting to drop the follow-up to that record?
“No, because we were writing this record before ‘Life Under the Gun’ came out! I was writing the music ahead of public perception, because I think it’s really easy to get caught in a feedback loop going ‘This is what people like about us, so we should keep doing that’. Instead we try to continually write so that we are just on our own wave and thinking about what makes us happy, not thinking about what makes the world happy.
“If this record was trying to be like the last record, it would not be anywhere close to what it is now. Throughout this whole period leading into recording this album, we knew that these were better songs than before, so there was no pressure. It was just about us not letting things get in the way of intuition, allowing ourselves to still be naive, and open to thinking that maybe the stupidest answer is the correct one.
“We’re not allowing people to get into our heads. We want to do this on our own terms no matter what. If we write a song that we love that turns the entire world off, we’re cool with that. We’re trying to write songs that we are comfortable performing every night for the rest of our lives. That’s the goal. It’s about reaching that point of ‘I don’t give a shit if you are booing us while this song happens. We love it.’”
What do you hope people take from this record?
“That you don’t need to have big world-breaking events to make a conscious change in your life. The record is very much structured like a movie, and it’s meant to have an ending, and that ending is meant to be uplifting. So I hope that people feel sad as the record’s happening, and then I hope they feel uplifted by the final track.”
By the end of the album it feels like you’ve made a conscious decision to start a new, optimistic chapter and step away from self-destructive tendencies. Do you think that shift could lead to a new sound from Militarie Gun?
“No. The thing is, we’ll always have a little bit of that hero’s journey element to our music, and you always have to have the darkness to have the light. I also don’t think there’s any reality where we’re just making a light record… I’m too dramatic of a person! Even as all this is happening, I’m still going to be convincing myself how terrible my life is, so it’ll always have dark elements like what we have now.”
‘God Save The Gun’ is out now on Loma Vista.