It is almost impossible to describe "Life Under The Gun" without getting tangled in contradictions. Is it unusually aggressive pop music or is it unusually catchy hardcore? Is it deeply intellectual or is it satisfyingly primal? Is it a vulnerable attempt to unpack lifelong cycles of injury, or is it a collection of world-shaking, absurd punk anthems? The answer is clear: It is all of that. It is Militarie Gun.
The link to the video for “Life Under the Gun” is as follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hcyxCwGJHw
Since their formation in 2020, the band has released music at a rapid pace and has been tirelessly touring. And while "Life Under The Gun" feels like a culmination of this hard-earned momentum, the album is inextricably linked to Shelton's past. "I grew up in a household where family members struggled with addiction issues," he explains. "It was an oppressive force. We always wondered: 'Will it be a good day or a bad day? Will the cops show up today? What awaits me at home after school?'". The challenges of his home life were further compounded by living in Enumclaw, WA, a sparsely populated rural suburb where Shelton spent his formative years longing for an escape. In this difficult and suffocating environment, the roots of "Life Under The Gun" grew. As he began learning instruments, playing in bands, and writing his own songs, music quickly became an important outlet for his self-expression, but Shelton couldn't shake the thought that it was also a literal escape route.
What followed was a true flood of creative activity that has hardly waned to this day. After moving to Los Angeles and a spatial forced pause during the lockdown in 2020, Shelton's restless creative drive quickly took over again, and he spontaneously wrote the first songs that would later serve as the spark and starting point for Militarie Gun. The sound was decidedly new for him: firmly rooted in punk and hardcore, but more focused on hooks, with influences like Guided By Voices, Fugazi, and The Jesus Lizard. In 2020, Shelton recorded the debut EP "My Life Is Over" on his own and completed the lineup with guitarists Nick Cogan and William Acuña, as well as drummer Vince Nguyen (Max Epstein played bass on "Life Under The Gun"). In 2021, the two EPs "All Roads Lead To The Gun" (Pt. I & II) were released, and an seemingly endless series of tour dates began. In 2022, Militarie Gun teamed up with Dazy for the critically acclaimed collaborative single "Pressure Cooker", after which the band signed with Loma Vista Recordings and released a digital deluxe edition of the "All Roads Lead To The Gun" EPs with even more new material.
Militarie Gun had essentially equipped themselves for "Life Under The Gun": the kind of debut album that feels like a true arrival, one forged through a lifetime of experience and effort that allows an artist to fully unfold.
The 12 tracks of the album, produced by Taylor Young at The Pit Recording Studio, take the best elements of Militarie Gun's earlier works and amplify them to the highest degree. It sounds massive without sacrificing the punk spark, is full of driving drums, distorted bass lines, and of course Shelton's instantly recognizable roar - only this time everything is bigger and even catchier. "This is how I have always imagined we sound," Shelton laughs. "I always felt that we were a melody-driven band, but I think we have finally achieved what I always intended.”
MILITARIE GUN LIVE 2023
on tour with Rival Schools
03.07. Berlin - Hole 44
04.07. Cologne - Gebäude 9
