Los Angeles trio Calamity The Kid seamlessly blend 90s garage rock with modern indie, on their intoxicating new single, ‘American Muscle’.
Comprising Sam Doniger on vocals and guitar, Jack Gallagher on bass, and Ben Zelico on drums, the three have known each other for a very long time – Jack attended Sam’s fifth birthday party, but the pair became firm friends, bonding over baseball, at the age of 12. Sam later joined Ben’s old high school band, and when that disbanded (not long after Sam came along), the three joined forces as Calamity The Kid.
Setting out as they mean to continue, with a strong kickdrum and verses driven by a fuzzy bass, ‘American Muscle’ takes the listener on an alt-rock adventure punctuated by punchy lyrics and Doniger’s oh so So-Cal vocals.
The song has been paired with a music video which was shot, directed, and edited by Nathan Rocky, which speaks directly to the state of affairs the USA is currently embroiled in. Doniger is wearing an American flag jacket and cowboy hat, setting fireworks alight. Scenes jut quickly between him in the desert on top of his car, walking along the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, servicemen and women getting onto a troop plane, bombs, protests, Iwo Jima, the space shuttle, the Malboro Man, Donald Trump – lots of different ways of demosnstrating “American muscle”. In the words of the band themselves,
“The song is just a story about my friends. It’s about having that little bit of meaning you worked so hard to find taken away from you. The individual experience of growing up in America vs. the American we export.”
‘American Muscle’ is available to download and stream from Amazon, and Apple Music. Find Calamity The Kid online on Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud, and their official website.
