The members of Philly punk band Open City have all been in multiple beloved bands over the years–to name a few, vocalist Rachel Rubino fronted Bridge and Tunnel (and very recently did guest lead vocals for On The Might of Princes); guitarist Dan Yemin is of Paint It Black, Lifetime, and Kid Dynamite; bassist Andy Nelson is also of Paint It Black, as well as Ceremony; and drummer Chris Wilson is of Ted Leo + the Pharmacists and Titus Andronicus–but Open City never rests on the laurels of “members of.” Like all of those other aforementioned bands, Open City are a force of their own, and their sophomore album Hands in the Honey Jar (Get Better Records) is a masterful hardcore and post-hardcore album. It’s their second album but first written collaboratively with Rachel, who joined after the music for the band’s 2017 debut LP had already been written, and it pulls Open City’s wide array of influences–Swiz, the Faith/Void split, Lungfish, Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Chain of Strength, Embrace, Pissed Jeans, and a lot of others–into something that stands on its own, separate from all of Open City’s forebears and the members’ other well-known bands. It’s a dark, menacing record, with both personal and politically/socially conscious lyrics that really mean something. It gets better with every listen, and knowing the intriguing context behind these songs only makes the album hit even harder, so we’re very grateful that all four band members took the time to give us an extensive track-by-track breakdown.
Stream the LP and read on for what Rachel, Dan, Andy, and Chris had to say. And stay tuned for the first Paint It Black album in 10 years, coming 11/3 via Revelation Records.
“GASSED”
Andy Nelson: Nota Bene: It’s a widely known fact that it’s good luck to start your punk record with the word “fuck”.
Dan Yemin: While the ghost of Swiz likely hovers mere inches above anything we create, this song in particular was an attempt to evoke the aspects of Jason Farrell‘s guitar playing that have always been the most compelling for me. It goes without saying that on Jason’s worst day and my best day, the man can play circles around me. But the whole endeavor landed in a place that I felt really good about. When I first heard Rachel’s vocals I was like, “damn if this isn’t an album opener, I don’t know what it is.”
Rachel Rubino: When I first heard this track I loved how the angular guitar riff perfectly accented by the drums comes in and feels like driving around a little too fast a little too late at night. The melodic part after the break felt a little challenging for me, as I really struggle with the fear of writing a part that sounds too predictable or dare I say “too poppy.” I decided to lean in and write something that I’d never feel bad singing. It feels a bit triumphant which isn’t usually how I’d choose to kick off a record, but it just felt right to put this at the top and “pick up where we left off.” I also think Andy and I (maybe all of us?) agree that opening a punk record with the word “fuck” awards 10 million punk points, but I’d have to check with the overlords on that stat.
Chris Wilson: In the autumn of ’19, I did a two and a half month long tour with Titus Andronicus. We had a week off in the middle of it, and starting at 8:00 AM on one of those days Yemin and I got down all the drum tracks for these songs. Me being totally fried from all that time on the road, and this being one of the last songs we wrote for the record, I was totally shocked by how good it turned out when I heard the final result.
“LUKEWARM”
Andy: Given that the music for our first long player was in the can before we even had a vocalist, this new record, which by contrast was written as a collective unit, almost sounds like a different band to me. Or maybe a whole new band is a more accurate way of putting it. Years ago, our friend Pierce from Soul Glo interviewed us for MRR (which in turn shuttered the month before the piece was slated to run, presumably due to concerns about being able to print enough copies to keep up with demand for our issue), and I remember him saying he could really hear each of us in our music. That comment stuck with me, but I never really heard it in that same way until we finished the new one. On this song in particular, I hear us, playing together.
The other day I was reading an interview with our friend Ned in which he spoke about the connection between the sort of solipsism and selfishness inherent in making music by yourself and our culture of selfishness at large…I’ve never had interest in making music without other people, and I wonder if that’s because while a band can be a lot of things, I’ve always thought that at its root, it’s about a collective act. Living through an era of increasing alienation, that in and of itself feels like a meaningful endeavor.
Dan: It always feels like a technical and emotional challenge to combine our Revolution Summer worship with our penchant for velocity. Embrace and Rites of Spring always seemed so clearly aimed at putting the full-speed-ahead approach of hardcore in the rearview mirror, so it can feel like a bit of a gamble to combine that time-and-place-specific guitar approach with the percussive dynamics of the preceding era. If it sounds like I’m overthinking it, welcome to my brain. The way Chris and Andy structured the turnaround/breakdown in the final third of this song really punctuates it perfectly for me. And again, I can’t say this enough, Rachel’s versatility as a vocalist finds a perfect canvas here. She pivots effortlessly between full-on throat shredding, Dischord ‘85 emoting, and riot grrl swagger. As a vocalist myself, I’m struck dumb by a mix of admiration and envy.
Rachel: This was the first song we wrote for the new record! Once again, I loved the hard hitting verses (the intro is extremely classic hardcore – guitar and bass answering each other!) but felt a little challenged to construct a melodic chorus that would rip as hard as the verses- so it came down to a bit of reliance for me on the lyrics to be able to convey with melody how we are in fact quite thoroughly fucked. There’s an ongoing (forever) theme to quote Refused, “that capitalism is indeed organized crime.” It is exhausting, frustrating beyond measure, and pervasive in nearly every corner of our human experience. Until I can fully run away to live off the grid in the woods…I’ll probably continue writing new versions of this song. Downers aside – I believe we can still find and create really good pure pockets of joy to battle the decay this causes. The breakdown at the end of this track absolutely shattered my mind when I heard it (in the best way!), I tried to write a vocal ending strong enough to complement this devastating sick riff.
Chris: As Rachel said, this was the first song we wrote for this record, but the rhythm section breakdown was something that was in flux for a while. It’s one of the things I’m glad we had time to let marinate and mutate over time. I was trying to channel some of that Sean McGuiness (Pissed Jeans/fave drummer) floor tom magic to go along with that sick bass line Andy came up with.. But my favorite thing about this song might be how much the final riff reminds me of Among The Living by Anthrax, and the fact that Yemin has zero clue what Anthrax sounds like.
“FEVER DREAM”
Andy: I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but for me, this band was conceived as a sort of fantasy space — one bonded by mutual admiration and respect, of shared aesthetic and ideological sensibilities. Of course Dan and I have made a lot of records together over the years, but the freedom to explore some new musical territory without the preexisting musical framework or obligations of our other band(s) has been so exciting, and on tunes like this, where it feels like we’re stretching out our legs a bit, the results couldn’t be more gratifying.
The Doctor is far too modest to point this kind of stuff out, so I’ll do it for him — it’s easy to forget that with the exception of our other LP, Dan — who is and deserves to be known as one of the great all-time punk guitarists — hasn’t himself played guitar on a record since the one Lifetime released sixteen years ago (!). It’s a shocking, even upsetting, fact to consider, but he goes all out on this one: This is the best writing and playing he’s ever done. Instantly recognizable as ever, while somehow still full of new moves. It’s fairly staggering, to be honest. For someone who has been imitated and aped ad infinitum (for better or worse), so much so in fact that strands of his musical DNA can now be found in mainstream arena level hip hop & pop music (ethnomusicological dissertation forthcoming), the guitar on this record demands attention.
Dan: The most exciting part of this band is that it’s open to influences from all over our collective record collections, while still being unmistakably punk. Nobody raises an eyebrow when John McGeoch, Will Sargeant, & Johnny Temple all show up (in spirit) on the same track, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Rachel: This is, arguably, one of my favorite songs on the record! It was super fun to track this, and Arthur was such a joy to work with. He was open to my desire to try something a little off-brand, and trusted my vision while subtly lending his guidance at the same time. It created a symbiosis I’m eternally grateful for. I hope it shines through. I loved the structure of this track, and am constantly delighted by the creativity of Dan, Andy and Chris. Dan’s singular note bending around Andy’s driving and slightly dissonant bass resolution, and Chris’s airy drum beat floating through it all. I’m for sure a sucker for a “weird” track….and this one was weird in all the right ways.
Chris: When we did the first LP, I remember Rachel really loving the “weirder” ones we were working on, especially the song “Sofa Drugs.” This one has a similar weird feel to me, and I love that she thrives on that weirdness.
“BLITZ KIDS STAY SICK”
Andy: Before we started playing with Chris, Yemin and I regularly found ourselves at Ted Leo/Pharmacists shows, slack-jawed, watching him play the living shit out of the drums. Post-set, we’d walk away, dazed, fantasizing about what it’d be like to get him to play in a fast punk band. Eventually, we picked up on the growing context clues (eg. Chris, seeming to own only black t-shirts featuring words such as: Econochrist, Die Kreuzen, Void, et al.), sheepishly asked if he’d play fast with us, and away we went. It’s one of our proudest accomplishments that the world can now hear drumming this fast, hard, and yet so thoroughly stylish. Lyrically, this one’s a necessary shot across the bow. “You probably think this song is about you…” It might be…
Dan: This one was a lot of fun. Probably the fastest song we’ve written, and I took a perverse joy at the pained look on Chris’s face every time at practice somebody chose it as next in the queue. Also the most obvious Sarah Kirsch reference on this record, although her influence is literally everywhere. So in the same song we get both drummer-specific sadism and hero worship. So sick. Also it was a total thrill to structure this one as a conversation between Rachel‘s voice and mine. I’m really happy that she invited me to join her. The lyrics were inspired by the seemingly bottomless well of macho posturing in hardcore, as well as the recent resurgence of hardcore punk bands veering into corporate sponsorship territory. I know you’ve got to make a living, but damn it’s a terrible look.
Rachel: This track is such a treat! This one lingered as I struggled to write to it for quite a while. I felt like I just couldn’t hit it in the way the music called for, but I also knew who could. I asked Dan if he’d be open to writing lyrics for this song and collaborating on the vocal placement, and almost effortlessly, he had the PERFECT contribution. It really was such a relief I felt a little silly for not asking sooner! The end result is something I’m super excited about, I loved recording the vocals together and trading off lines! It feels like an extra special gift to showcase Dan’s vocal and lyrical strengths on this ripper of a track. I look forward to more of it.
Chris: We’re a fast band and all, but this is the fastest song I’ve played since probably ’94. And while I did give a pained look every time the song was called and I clicked the sticks, it wouldn’t have the impact it does if it were any slower. Can’t wait to play some shows and see what my natural impulse to play faster in a live setting does to it. And us.
“NO ONE THINKS ABOUT YOU MORE THAN YOU”
Andy: Due to dreaded “schedules” — a sworn enemy of Open City — I ended up tracking all the bass for this record during a show I was playing on a tour with another one of my bands, at a (terrible) venue that just happened to be across the alleyway from the studio where Arthur was working. What are the odds? I loaded in, sound checked, walked 50 feet across the alley, recorded half the record, walked back, played the show (we crushed, thanks for asking), walked back across the alley, recorded the second half of the record, and finished with plenty of time to act like I was helping the rest of my other band with load out (I am without peer in this department). Miraculously, I even made it to Barbuzzo for a salted caramel budino before they closed.
I’m still not sure how I managed to pull that off (I am not very good at the bass guitar), but if pressed, I’d say that we spent such a long time laboring over the writing of these songs, and so many years playing them over and over again in a West Philly basement, that when it came time, it just flowed. I was (and, given the performances, everyone else as well) so in the zone that there are some things I ended up playing on the record, and especially on this song, new lines that came so naturally in the studio that I genuinely asked Yemin after hearing the first mix if someone else had come in and added bass parts (I recall this premise offended him, but I wouldn’t have been mad, like I said, I’m not that good).
I will say this, and I swear on my edge that it’s true — during that brief, first walk across the alley after sound check, H.R. from Bad Brains crossed my path, and we gave each other a mutual nod of acknowledgement. If that’s not good luck on the day you track your hardcore record, I don’t know what is.
Dan: My three biggest guitar influences are Dischord ‘82–‘87, the entire Sarah Kirsch discography, and that sweet spot Sonic Youth hit between 1985 and 1987 where they were first working out how to distill beauty from dissonance. This song was an enactment of the latter influence.
Rachel: It might be no surprise I’m a huge Lungfish fan. I immediately loved how much the cadence of the verses called to mind something that could have been on Artificial Horizon. The repetitive guitar that sort of circles around a drum beat that lays back yet holds steady, it’s near perfection. I think I listened to this song most while walking in the woods and likely wrote a chunk of the lyrics at the same time. Lyrically, there’s definitely a more vulnerable topic that I’m visiting here. The fear of betrayal of loved ones, and how it feels inevitable, yet so lonely regardless of how many times we’ve felt it. Suicidal ideation isn’t something I’m as afraid of as I used to be, but it’s certainly something I’ve battled as long as I can recall.
Chris: Since it was just Dan and I tracking, and the repetitive guitar riff is so slinky, we tracked this with Dan doing a scratch bass track, and it’s another one where on first listen, I was shocked that it sounded like a full band, and not just two dudes messing around with a mid-tempo groove at 8:00 in the morning. Rachel’s high-pitched shouts on the chorus remind me of something you’d hear on the Franklin record Go Kid Go.
“RETURN YOUR STOLEN PROPERTY IS THEFT”
Andy: ‘HITHJ’ wouldn’t approach being the record it is were it not for the absolute genius (and infinite patience) of our friend and conspirator Arthur Rizk. It’s evident throughout, but his, really, unrivaled instincts and abilities are particularly clear on this one. Just listen to that breakdown…
Dan: All I can really say is that I feel like this song covers all the things we do reasonably well. It’s melodic, it’s abrasive, it’s got hooks, it’s got a groove, and it closes with something nasty and pulverizing. I’ve probably said this enough times that it’s become tedious, but Faith/Void is a false dichotomy.
Rachel: Here’s another absolute banger about the failures of capitalism and the fucking heinous narcissism of colonialist conquest and white supremacy. Give Indigenous land back to Indigenous hands.
Chris: This intro is bonkers, and I love that it doesn’t really reference anything that happens after. The drum beat after the pause was a kinda Chicago-style mathy thing I’d mess around with at soundchecks for years and years, but never had an opportunity to use it til now.
“BOBBY”
Andy: Jehu and Chain shared members, you know?
Dan: I’d say that this one is more like squatting in San Diego and Portland than paying rent in Philadelphia, but I hope it’s not too obvious. Is it an annoying habit to write a “chorus,” that’s only 4 measures long? I would think it is.
Imagine my surprise when I realized months after we recorded this that the bass breakdown in this song shares the same 2 notes, in the same order, as, “Just How Much,” by Chain of Strength.
Rachel: Ok, so the very deep cut here is that I had an imaginary friend growing up. Of course I did! I was an only child, but I really longed for an older brother to teach me cool stuff and get in trouble with me. My Mom had a miscarriage before I was born but knew the sex would be assigned male. I think she felt pretty freaked out when I told her I had an older brother named Bobby and he was my imaginary best friend. I definitely blamed a crack in the sink on him and other offenses, like kids do. I don’t know where this story goes really, but as I struggle to understand and find peace with my own gender identity, and find peace with the ways I was raised to be an obedient daughter in an Italian family that modeled love with chaos and deception…let’s say I’m a work in progress and it felt good to write creatively on this.
Chris: If this one was sped up to a million BPM it would have a home on the first Mohinder 7″.
“CARRY US”
Andy: I stole a bass line from one of the best songs of all time (I’m not telling which) for the bridge of this song, and I recall Rachel clocking it at an early practice, which both impressed me as well as caused me to feel a little shame (although not enough to change it). When I finally heard what she ended up writing over it, I couldn’t believe where she was able to take the song, the new dimensions she was able to add.
Dan: I’ve always felt that this song was obnoxiously, unforgivably long, and was surprised to see that the final version comes in at just over three minutes. I feel like maybe my experience of, “time distortion,” might have to do with how many different places this song takes me emotionally. Rachel is such a gifted lyricist and some of my favorite lines on the record are from this song. “Can’t we just settle this like grown men with our hammers and fists now,” and, “Like a marked man, you’re a marksman. You’ve got your ducks all in a row. Line them up and shoot ‘em…” left me reeling first time I read them.
Rachel: I really wanted to get weird with this one, and on that trend, this winds up being one of my favorite tracks on the record. It also gets the honor of holding the title of the album with a little lift of a lyric. There’s (what I assume is a pretty obvious) nod to Pissed Jeans in the verses in a way that delighted me so much to write and deliver vocally. Of course, it has so many other influences bleeding in from all sides, and I was happy to have so much room to explore these different layers and ideas. The end of the track builds to perfection and feels so explosive, but the syncopation of Chris’s drums almost reserve it a little in a way I love. This was a fun one!
Chris: The second song we wrote for this record. My fave thing is that the four hits only happen once (at 0:40), and it’s one of those things I wonder if anyone notices. Like the first one we wrote, we tried a few different approaches to the outro. This one felt the most right.
“DESTINED”
Andy: It took us literally years and a half dozen other candidates to find the right singer for Open City, but performances like this drive home the fact that this band couldn’t have existed with anyone else on the mic.
Dan: We were definitely mining British post-punk territory here, in a way that I was really hoping wasn’t too obvious. Then a bandmate of mine (from a different band) whose musical perceptiveness is always on point said that it reminded him of Devo, which wasn’t even on my radar, so go figure. I showed up at the studio when Rachel was recording the choruses for this song and I got chills.
Rachel: When I first heard this track I was honestly so tickled by the sassiness of it! I thought, these guys just wrote the brattiest little riffs and gosh have you ever heard something so perfect? I am truly always in awe of what the players of this project bring to the table, but this was by far the most anthemic party banger they have ever delivered, so I wanted to make sure I could give it as much dynamic sass trash and ass as I could possibly muster. I think in the end their offerings may be more mature than my own, or maybe that’s the beauty of it? It’s sharp but not shallow.
You know I dug right into the Kill Rock Stars discography worship and didn’t downplay it even a little. I had to! What came to me was a pretty direct conversation around queer assimilation. The battle between feeling too queer for some and not queer enough for others, while trying to understand how the fuck to live and thrive and experience pleasure without burning out or selling out or dying is a real…experience. It’s been a hard 15 years.
Chris: I wish I could remember what Dan said when he brought this to the practice space. It was something along the lines of “this is going to seem crazy, but bear with me”. I’ll follow any of these bandmates to the craziest reaches of what they think is crazy.
“EVERYTHING”
Dan: When I first brought this song to practice and we were working on the chorus, Andy said something along the lines of, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do that thing, so shamelessly.” I understood, “that thing,” to mean fully leaning into The Faith and Embrace without beating around the bush at all. So, yeah.
I was happy to see Rachel take on this subject matter as it seemed to be describing a painful set of experiences that she and I had discussed many times over the years. Her lyrics always seem to be weaving together personal narratives that also have broader political implications, and also often seem to be telling an entirely different story at the allegorical level. It usually takes repeated listens before the full shape of meaning reveals itself to me.
Rachel: Should I say it? This is our Revolution Summer. You can fact check with my previous band mates, that I was once gifted an Embrace T shirt that I wore for at least 5 years straight. I’m surprised I’m not wearing it currently.
Lyrically, it’s pretty, you know, straightforward. I experience symptoms of ADHD and a variety of other flavors on the spectrum of neurodiversity. Like so many folks diagnosed late in life, trying to understand how to live with presence and joy can be pretty difficult in the face of constant judgment from others. Lastly, a shout out to Jason Lobrano of Iron Chic is in order. (Long island represent). For the ending of this song, I really had his vocal style in mind.
Chris: This is indeed the most Rev Summer to me. When I heard how catchy Rachel’s vocals make the outro, I wanted it to just go on forever and ever and fade out eventually. Like, I could go for a good three minutes straight of “IT’S ALL IN MY HEEEAAAAD” before it faded out. But that’s just me.
“WOLF”
Andy: This could be apocryphal, but I have a memory of George from Blacklisted telling me once that he loved “lyrics that ask questions.” I’d never thought about it in that way before, but it was an insightful observation characteristic of him, and what’s more, I did too. Ever since, I’m constantly noticing it as a device (Sean McCabe did this a lot, for example…maybe it’s a Philly thing). Rachel does it throughout the record, and it’s a motif that ultimately climaxes here at its close, open ended, chilling.
Dan: This is definitely different than any other song we’ve written, and that’s part of what makes it a fitting closer for the LP. Also because I think the riff at the end crushes. I find the lyrics to be especially harrowing. Made the hairs on my neck stand up the first time I read them.
Rachel: I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to end the record on this note. It was one of the first songs for the album that I had lyrics to. At that time, I was coming out of an extremely painful and abusive situation. This felt like an attempt to start bloodletting.
The song opens so ferociously. The verse leaves room for a mounting tension. I appreciate that writing lyrics can be both incredibly personal and yet, so broadly interpreted a thousand different ways. I’d like to allow that space to exist. There is an envelope of surveillance and manipulation over our lives now that is hard to avoid. Burn your cell phones and live in the woods.
Chris: I haven’t talked about my bandmates nearly enough, and they all brought their A+ game, but Rachel especially killed it. I feel like she tried a lot of new approaches to singing in a hardcore band, and it paid off in a big way.
