Local Athens band, Broken Windows, formerly known as RoHit, has recently begun to really put themselves on the music radar playing at house shows and smaller venues around town. Their big hoorah, however, will be coming on Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 pm at Caledonia with Bourgeois Girl and Nihilist Cheerleader.
The self-described post punk/slacker rock band is made up of four members: lead vocalist Ty Thompson, guitarist Lucas McAuliffe, drummer Drew Hooks and bassist Matt Kraft. While they do have a very interesting sound, that isn’t the most unique thing about them, but rather the desire for their band to have a larger existence than just making music. “I would say that world events kind of influence us, more than we even realize. We’ve all become more serious about wanting our music to communicate something because of the way the world is and we don’t really feel like bands are talking about it,” McAuliffe stated. Currently, they’re trying to lend a hand in some way to the water poisoning situation in Flint, Michigan. They’re in the process of writing a new song about it with hopes of raising money through music to help with the crisis.
In talking with them about the significance behind their name, they all initially laughed because it was nice a little journey for them to pick the right name. Originally starting as RoHit, it was an ode to a good friend of theirs, but they found people had a hard time pronouncing it. Hooks was in the midst of studying the Broken Windows theory at the time they were renaming and as soon as he mentioned that, they all unanimously knew that was it. The literal name brought forth a deeper meaning for each member. As Hooks put it, “[it represents] broken dreams or how even this perspective, how you once saw the world changed and altered because of reality hitting.” McAuliffe was quick to chime in adding, “I think of how, in our society, in the Instagram age, everything has to be squeaky clean and perfect, we can’t have problems and faults and be broken. Our music is about being confrontationally real.”
Each coming from different backgrounds, musically and physically, they all bring something a little different with them to contribute to the almost ever-changing genre that defines them. Initially starting as a noise band when it was just a trio to slowly adding a bit of punk when Kraft later joined them and continuously evolving based upon their circumstances, but always remaining true to being “a mix of existential crises with social consciousness,” Hooks said, obviously with a little bit of music thrown in the mix. Thompson briefly added that from the beginning, he didn’t really want to do songs about girls, “Girls are great, don’t get me wrong, I love them a lot, but there’s already so much. I was hoping to some degree that we could have some level of advocacy in our music….I like music that makes you think, as well as dance.
As they’re really breaking out and making themselves known, they’re excited of what’s to come. Their plan, right now, is to release an LP before summer and follow that up with a tour while continuing to play local shows more often. Kraft said it best with his comment, “We’re gearing up for bigger things. We want to get on the road this summer. We’re not balls to the wall, pedal to the metal, we’re just taking it one day at a time, one step at a time and things are falling into place as we go, so we don’t have to worry about what the next move is right now because things are happening.” It certainly does sound like there are big things in store in for this group.
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