Obliterating the barriers between hardcore and noise-rock, with a baked-in vein of Guided By Voices-style melody, Militarie Gun’s music is confrontational purely because it’s doing something completely different to what people expect from Ian, who has spent recent years cracking skulls open with the unwaveringly intense powerviolence of Regional Justice Center.
On their recent run with Touché Amoré, Vein.fm, and Scowl, they were the odd band out in everything but attitude. “I'm very used to an adversarial relationship with audiences, and being unable to tell whether or not they're enjoying something,” Ian says. “But, at the same time, Militarie Gun still has an atypical sound. We'll have people coming up, comparing it to literally any type of aggressive and melodic music. The spectrum can be as insulting or as complimentary as possible.”
It's striking just how fully formed Militarie Gun felt when the demo came in spring 2020, and debut 7” My Life Is Over a few months later. This was something new and untested, but Ian inhabited its skin with total commitment, playing every instrument and delivering each hook with an attention-grabbing bark.
Ian began working on Militarie Gun as soon as COVID got its hooks in, resulting in a Regional Justice Center tour being pulled. He went to the practice space for hours every day, assembling songs that were manifesting in unexpected ways. Across those stifling weeks and months, as his normal life of touring and making music videos faded from view, the project started looming large in his mind, like it might be something to actually pursue properly.
“I'm a big demo sender,” he says. “When I make one, I send it to like 20 people and that's my first audience. I was like, 'Yeah, I'm not gonna do a band with this, but I think the song's pretty cool. Do you think it's cool?' And they were like, 'Yeah, it's sick.' And I'm like, 'Oh shit, everyone thinks it's sick, I should go write more?'
“I put out the demo and it seemed like it clicked in a way that was more instantaneous than anything else I had done. Part of it was the feedback that made me [realise], 'Maybe there's potential in this.' And then I'm such an obsessive that I went harder than I possibly could.”