Local punk-rock-with-horns heroes Six Percent celebrate 25 years of kicking out the jams
Six Percent. // Courtesy the band
This Saturday, March 25, at the RecordBar, long-running punk-rock-with-horns band Six Percent celebrates the physical release of last year’s Death of Yesterday EP, along with the band’s 25th anniversary.
While Six Percent hasn’t necessarily been active the entire time, it’s still an impressive accomplishment for any local act to still be kicking after forming in the ’90s. Part of that reason is that they’re doing this mostly for fun, says the band’s drummer, Jeremy Angotti.
“We formed in 1995 while we were in high school and we played a ton over the next years,” Angotti explains via Zoom one afternoon. “Then, as it does, life happens and members leave and members come and go, so we disbanded for a while.”
That was in the early ’00s, but sometime in 2010, the former band ended up getting together for some drinks one night and decided to do a reunion show. As Angotti puts it, it was supposed to be one show but it just didn’t stop. Part of that was due to the fact that 600 people showed up for it, and then sometime after, Six Percent scored an opening slot for The Smashing Pumpkins at the Buzz’s Beach Ball Ball later that summer.
“It just kind of kept going,” Angotti recalls with some amazement. “Then we ended up recording our first EP since 1999, which had a pretty good response, so we kept playing. We just keep going. It’s just for fun. We just love to play.”
That EP, The Years, came out in 2012 and even though Six Percent regularly pops up on shows around town, Death of Yesterday does mark their first recordings in a decade.
While little seems to have changed stylistically for the band in the intervening years, with the new EP carrying on Six Percent’s penchant for anthemic choruses and big riffs, those who saw the band when they first started might be surprised at what the ska band which formed in ’95 has become.
“When we started out, we were pretty much a ska band,” acknowledges Angotti. “But all of us come from different music backgrounds–some of us are really into hardcore, punk rock, hip hop, straight-up rock–and I think as we got older, we just started not really caring what anybody thought about the band and we just started kind of playing what we wanted. It was a natural progression into just blending all these different things we all love.”
Despite the pedigree of the band’s earliest recordings–Six Percent’s first CD was tracked in the JoCo Ska Studios in the basement of the Gadjits’ childhood home and the last thing they recorded before they breakup was recorded with Andy Action of 2 Skinnee J’s–they are unfortunately unavailable.
Still, both The Years and Death of Yesterday were recorded with Josh Barber, the man behind records from The Devil Wears Prada, Norma Jean, Demon Hunter, and others, which gives them a serious heft.
Appropriately enough for this combination album release/anniversary show, Six Percent chose to share the stage with people who have been close to the band for these 25 years and people with which they had lasting friendships:
“Large is longtime friends of ours from the same hometown,” Angotti explains. “We actually started around the same time, so we wanted to bring those guys out. Steve Ewing, the frontman for the Urge? We have played more shows with the Urge than I could even count. We just wanted to get those guys involved with the show as well.”
As far as what this show means to Six Percent, Angotti says that it’s a testament to just never giving up on that rock ‘n’ roll dream, even as the constant underdog: “Even though we’ve done all of these things through the course of the years and played shows we could only dream of, it’s kind of that underdog story of, ‘We’re still here, and we’re still making music, and we’re gonna continue to do it probably until we can’t anymore.’”
It’s not a surprising statement for anyone who’s ever seen Six Percent. Even if they’re playing to an audience unfamiliar with who they are or what they do, the band gives every performance their all. It’s impressive to watch dudes pushing 40, hitting a punk rock jump in the air with a guitar or trombone, and you can really tell that when Six Percent gets on stage, they’re having a blast doing it.
“Trust me, if I had the ability to quit playing music, I probably would’ve by now,” Angotti jokes as we wrap up our call. “But it’s just one of those things, and it gets in your blood and you need it to function. I wouldn’t trade this for anything, regardless on whatever level we do it on. These are my friends. These are my brothers, I love playing music with them, and it’s just something we all really, really enjoy. I think at some point, it became less about chasing that brass ring and more about just doing what we love.”
Six Percent’s 25th anniversary and release party for Death of Yesterday is at the RecordBar on Saturday, March 25, with support from Havana Dan, Large, and the Steve Ewing Duo. Details on that show here.
