Misc. Day – Sponge In Design

Apart from having a name that brands like a child’s pool toy, Soakie is pretty badass in the way that they carry themselves. From the debut self-titled record with a bright, baby blue cover and some vintage dog-doll hybrid made in your nightmares; Soakie is 13-minute, seven-track ear stabbing that shines like a Melbourne day.

Speaking of Melbourne, half the band hails from Australia and the other half is NYC bred but when the two sides combine, they are a shrieking banshee that cracks pavement through instrumentation. Not only are the four members, Summer on vocals, Nellie on bass, Austin on percussion, and Chumz on guitar a unified presence, but Soakie is entertaining through the beatdown. At every turn, the record spikes and has these rapid-fire dips where the energy makes the listener want to jump off the highest thing nearby, even if there is no crowd to catch them.

The opening track “Nuke The Frats” is a growling and hissing cornered animal that breaks out in about ten seconds. Quickly, the overdriven amps on the guitar and bass are in perfect frequency of turmoil, working to grind these gears of an android machine. Soakie as a band has this tight nature behind their sound, but their energy is what creates such a draw. The vocals alone on an acapella could bring a brick house down with her shouts and cries over blisteringly fast punk rock.

The following track, “Or You Or You” is this exceptional example of just how intimidating the band is as a conglomerate. They start with a lit fire that blazes disguised as the instrumentation which then puts Summer on the main stage to begin her frantic rambles. She explains, “I don’t care what you think, I don’t owe you anything. I don’t care just what you say cause I don’t owe you anyway. I don’t care what you think, I don’t owe you anything. I don’t care what you say, I wish you would go.” This is the hardcore equivalent of serotonin being injected directly to the brain where Soakie is a wrecking crew with battering rams disguised as catchy verses and instrumentation.

But before Soakie packs its bags and hits the dusted brick road, they want to possibly cause bodily harm to the audience a few more times. With tracks like “Ditch The Rich,” and “What’s Your Gender,” Soakie engulfs this anger and wraps it into a digestible and fulfilling meal. The addiction of hearing those rolling drums from Austin and wanting to rip the walls down is a revitalization during this quarantined timeframe in history.

When the walls of Babylon come falling, Soakie will hopefully be there playing as the house band for the theme of destruction. Australia recently has seen an amazing crack in the hardcore community and Soakie is another record that stands as a halfway monument for that movement.

Listen To Soakie Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/Amazon/iTunes