Getting Weirder With POSITRONIX
I understand the concept of time just as well as the average childless 40 something who has been hanging out in basements watching DIY bands for more than a couple decades—which is to say, decently okay—but I was a bit shocked to realize that Philly four piece POSITRONIX have been making music together since 2019. I remember being just so wowed the first time I saw them play. Here was a band combining manic, dance floor post-punk with this antagonistic “you can’t tell us what to do” weird pop energy and it was incredible to watch.
Seven years later and the band keeps getting better. Despite the fact that they share members with the seemingly always-on-tour Zorn—as well as Cult Objects, Mopar Stars, and more—they just put out their fourth release, a 12” EP on Abandon Everything Records called Miss Universe, and did a short run out to Chicago and back. We sat down with Max (bass) and Amelia (vocals) to discuss the band’s history, their new album, and Thursday’s record release show at Launderette Records in Port Richmond.
Brent Davis
Yoni Kroll: I can’t believe you’ve been a band for so long already! How does that make you feel?
Max: In some sense it kind of just happened. I don’t feel there’s been any real effort needed to keep it going. I think we move pretty slowly and we’re all kinda involved in other stuff so this has been a constant for all the members.
Amelia: The band wouldn’t exist, it wouldn’t be POSITRONIX, if one of us dropped out. You can’t really replace any of us. The uniqueness of it is the appeal for me.
Yoni: How did the band come together?
Amelia: Max, Bill, and Ande were already jamming together. I posted on Twitter that I wanted to sing in a punk band. Max and I barely knew each other at the time but he just replied to my tweet. It felt like a good fit from the beginning. I was pleased because they let me be weird with it.
Yoni: I feel like Philly is just such a great place to be a weird band, especially because there’s no uniform sound that everybody tries to ape.
Amelia: I think we’ve always had trouble knowing where we fit in or what scene we fit into. But also we’re starting to lean into that a little bit.
Yoni: The new album feels more poppy and… I don’t want to say more refined, 'cause that sounds like a negative thing. But it’s a bit less raw sounding than previous releases. There’s also some power-pop vibes, which I love.
Amelia: Max writes the song skeletons and I feel like he came to us with poppier and more melodic [stuff] than he normally does.
Max: This time around I was just trying to simplify in terms of structure and riffs. In the past my songwriting has not been intentional enough to the point that it could get meandering and just lack a center.
Amelia: I like that too, though. I feel like it works and I’ll find a way to anchor it with the vocals.
GRIPPER
Yoni: Are there any bands that are, like, totally approved by POSITRONIX? What do you listen to in the van?
Max: We love DEVO that’s for sure. The Sound.
Amelia: Bill and I are both really into Marked Men and Radioactivity and all the bands that circle that scene. Bill really likes pop punk. We were listening to a lot of that in the car. I didn’t realize how much he likes pop punk! [laughs]
Max: Oingo Boingo, Gang of Four.
Amelia: We’ve talked about covering Gang of Four or DEVO in the past.
Yoni: Obviously doing a Halloween cover set takes a lot of practice but if you could just fast forward through that part and pick any band to perform, what would it be?
Amelia: Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull in full.
Yoni: Tell me about the record release show. Gripper I know cause they’re the local but what’s the deal with the touring band Telehealth? They’re from Seattle, right?
Amelia: Yeah. I like them. It’s this anti-corporate skronky pop-rock. Very catchy.
kzoobici
Yoni: What’s a local band that you haven’t had a chance to play with yet but would like to? And you can say The Dead Milkmen. (Editor's Note: little known fact but Amelia is Rodney Anonymous’ niece.)
Amelia: [while laughing] I was thinking of asking him! True nepotism. I haven’t really pulled any strings just yet. I think my uncle is afraid to hit me up to play because he thinks that I’ll think that he’s uncool and turn him down.
Yoni: I feel that I’ve seen you on a lot of mixed bills. I guess that goes back to what you were saying about how it’s hard to fit POSITRONIX into a box.
Amelia: A lot of our friends are in the punk scene and we were playing a lot of hardcore punk shows when we were first starting out and we were the odd ones out. Ironically I feel like this new record is a bit more straightforward and the first song sounds like a hardcore punk song but now all the punks have rejected us! [laughs] No, they haven’t rejected us. But I feel like we’re too weird sometimes for those bills.
Max: We gotta get weirder.
Amelia: One thing that I want to mention is that with these five songs I tried to write lyrics that were pretty overtly political and of the time that we’re in. I like playing with bands with that same ethos who are on the same page [regardless of genre.]
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