Gloom Girl MFG brings punk rock to Nashville with thrashing, urgent EP 'Polycrisis'

Urgent vocals, thrashing guitar licks, ground-shaking bass and heavy drums: Gloom Girl MFG is bringing punk rock to Music City.

After a rowdy album release show — which, yes, included moshing — at Nashville's The Basement East on May 2, the band released their highly anticipated EP "Polycrisis," produced by Cage the Elephant’s Brad Shultz, on May 3.

The EP, recorded in Nashville at Battle Tapes Studio, marks a new chapter for Music City.

Could Nashville be a new punk rock hot spot?

The punk quartet, fronted by singer Paige MacKinnon and featuring Connor McCourt on drums, Ethan Waggoner on guitar and Stephen Sobolewski on bass, formed in late 2021.

In their band name, they decided to give nod to the Gibson Guitar factory, where three of the band members have worked, hence the "MFG," (which was also inspired by the initials in punk band Fontaines D.C.'s name).

After the band came together, they were connected to Shultz, Nashville band Cage the Elephant's guitarist.

"One of (the songs) we previously released, it's called 'Bougie Girl.' That's actually the first song that Brad heard us play," MacKinnon told The Tennessean. "And I think that's what turned him on to the band. And so we recorded it in an actual studio, which was so exciting. He just saw potential in us."

“Absolutely love working with Gloom Girl," Shultz said. "It’s so inspiring to be involved with an artist in the midst of them truly exploring, finding, and pushing the boundaries of their sound.”

At the band's release show, Shultz beamed with pride as he watched them perform.

While the Cage the Elephant feel is present in Gloom Girl's sound, the band's inspirations are all over the map. They range from the aforementioned Fontaines D.C. to the Strokes and Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age, Courtney Barnett, Sleater-Kinney and Radiohead.

The six-track EP brings listeners along on an urgent, upbeat exercise in current, angsty punk and garage rock. But the band's sound can't be confined to just those labels.

"It's us expanding outside of just the garage or punk sound," MacKinnon said of the EP. "We're really excited to show people that there's really not something we can't do."

MacKinnon's voice invokes a mix of Patti Smith, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, Alison Mosshart of the Kills and the Dead Weather.

Fans can even hear a dash of Stevie Nicks' haunting vocals and only the slightest peppering of Avril Lavigne's 2000s angst.

The band's sound has all the facets of what makes punk rock, well, punk rock.

There's intense screaming, there's sonic extremity, a rejection of current societal ideas and institutions, progressive guitar licks, thumping bass and tumultuous drums.

"The first word that pops into my head is urgency," MacKinnon said about the band's sound.

"That ties in with the title 'Polycrisis.' There's just so much going on in the world, and then if you think about yourself, there's so much going on in each of us."

The new record opens with song "Bougie Girl," the one they re-recorded with Shultz. It kicks off with intense guitar licks and hard rock power progressions. The song sees MacKinnon clamoring, "My house is bigger than your baby mama′s dreams," and ends with a haunting distorted laugh.

The EP's second track, "Crimes," is the band's most popular tune to date. It's a moody, provoked track.

"Love ain't nothing but a sad situation / I think I need another new vacation," MacKinnon sings alongside intense bass and boisterous guitar, "It's a crime that you can't get away from."

Another runaway on the new EP is "Batshitlorette," a play on Nashville's never-ending bachelorette parties and a satirical take on the mayhem.

In a playful music video, fans can see Gloom Girl MFG members tailing a bachelorette party on Broadway in their own cowboy hats and sashes. Their mission? To kidnap the bachelorettes and save them with rock 'n' roll, converting them to the punk lifestyle.

"'Batshitlorette' only could be written in Nashville (and) someone living here's perspective," MacKinnon said. "I think it'd be wrong if someone from New York or something was trying to write about the bachelorette parties and, naturally, wouldn't get it."

But the band isn't just a one trick pony with their upbeat, punchy punk songs.

"Damaged" showcases an almost vulnerable, self-loathing numbness. MacKinnon doesn't just scream, she shows here that she can tell stories in song through her edgy, belting tones.

"I'm just a tick in your skin / wearing you down from within / I'm damaged, I'm damaged, I'm damaged," she sings.

The EP's final song, "I Love You," has a similar vulnerability and longing that leaves listeners with a haunting note.

How Nashville's Gloom Girl MFG came to be

MacKinnon, 28, hails from the small city of Lowell, Massachusetts.

From hearing her growling, intense vocals on "Polycrisis," listeners probably wouldn't have guessed that in a past life, MacKinnon thought she'd be a scientist; she used to study biology and chemistry.

MacKinnon moved to Nashville with a previous band that ended up splitting due to creative differences. Her other band had booked a gig at The End, but by then, they had broken up. MacKinnon had already been writing songs and performing with her other band members at that time.

"They asked my previous band to play ... and I was just like, sure, Gloom Girl ... and we just showed up as the new band."

The band added some initials to their name after "Gloom Girl" was already taken on Spotify. They started recording and performing.

And just like that, Gloom Girl MFG took off.

Before the band formed, MacKinnon had lived in Australia for a while. McCourt, the drummer, was traveling the country working on a photojournalism project.

MacKinnon got connected to Waggoner, their guitarist, through a friend, and he brought on bassist Sobolewski. Both were working for Gibson USA.

MacKinnon still works at the custom shop in Nashville.

"Everyone's really knowledgeable about guitars," she said. "I've come to learn quite a bit. We make amazing guitars."

What's it like to be a punk rock band in Music City

Though Nashville is known for its country music, MacKinnon said there's an equally rich rock 'n' roll world in town. Bands like Better Than Ezra, Moon Taxi, Kings of Leon, Paramore, the Pink Spiders and Snooper are some of Nashville's rock fixtures.

There are even some artists who've operated at the crux of country and punk, like Mojo Nixon and HARDY.

"Rock is one of the reasons why I wanted to move down here," MacKinnon said. "It was way better than I could have ever imagined, how loving and supportive people are."

And now, upon the release of "Polycrisis," the group is working on leaning into their punk personas. MacKinnon said that it's been a challenge because it's so new to the band.

"We're really just honing in and trying to become better performers and really using the stage," she said.

To catch the band's evolving stage presence and new music, fans can check them out on their summer tour with shows in Franklin, Knoxville and Chattanooga.

For more information, head to gloomgirlmfg.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville punk rock group Gloom Girl MFG releases EP 'Polycrisis'