Words by Jason Lee
Photo by Julia Travaglia
Whenever we visit our local corporate-behemoth chain drugstore like Duane Reade or Walgreens (same freakin’ thing since 2010!) we always delight in visiting the “sample size” section with its multiple bins full of miniature bottles of shampoo and aspirin and deodorant and shaving cream and sunscreen and dental floss and dental dams cuz there’s something so weirdly pleasing about seeing those itty-bitty bars of Irish Spring and itty-bitty bottles of Listerine all scaled down to dollhouse-suitable sizes and (one assumes) distilled down to a greater potency like a cask-aged Irish whiskey…
…and how’s this for a coincidence (!) there just happens to be a new band on the NYC/Brooklyn scene called Sample Size who lend support to the theory described above esp. on their second and most recent single “Fake Our Freedom,” a distilled-down, full-throttle rave-up that’s fun-sized clocking in at 1:55, opening with a few seconds of downtuned Bleach-worthy bass until the drummer’s opening volley sets the song fully in motion and off to the races with a rush of sandblaster-force snarling guitar ’n’ thrashing rhythm section ’n’ gnashing of teeth…
…with lyrics sketching out what sounds like a dire domestic situation—one where “I don’t want you and you don’t want me” but where it appears an agreement’s been struck to stay together due to finances or children or who knows what (“so let’s call it off / throw the baby out / cause the bathwater makes me want to shout”) as the song’s narrator pleads and ultimately insists: “let’s make a deal / let’s fake our freedom” but hey that’s just our take…
…tho’ one thing we can confirm for sure is that Mister Asylum by Highly Suspect is one of the Sample Size’s fave albums and one could argue “Fake Our Freedom” is like a sample-sized version of some parts of that album, whereas their debut single “Break on Through” (NOT to the other side!) is more like a distillation of two additional self-declared fave records, namely Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Californication and Royal Blood’s Black To The Water Below, the latter of which came out just a couple months ago and is indeed a pretty jaw-dropping album so thanks to SS for the introduction, all of which you check the veracity of yourself…
…and what better way to wrap up this review than to leave you with a few sample-sized capsule bios of Sample Size’s three members ripped straight from the band’s Insta page so first ya got singer/guitarist Jimmy Brewer who also blows a mean trumpet not to mention being a trained actor/vocalist who’s currently appearing on Broadway the Tony Award®-winning musical comedy Shucked which The Wall Street Journal has called “flat out hilarious!” and who got taught how to truly RAWK by his bandmates ‘n’ friends in Pan Arcadia…
Photos by Maddie Barkocy and Abigail Haven
…and then ya got Will Meyers who when not shredding on bass can be found on season one of the critically-acclaimed CW show Naomi (a show “Robert J.” on amazon.com called a “decent surprise” and we always trust Robert J!) plus other shows and plays besides which is how he met Jimmy when they both got cast in the musical SCOTLAND, PA and btw Will has curly hair and a beaming smile and then finally ya got drummer Chandler Frenken who as the officially designated “wild card” of the group is wildly from Ohio, wildly good at MMA prognosticating, and wildly met Jimmy through a friend of a friend plus looks wildly cool rockin’ the cool shades as demonstrated above…