Words by Jason Lee; Photo by Dozen Fingers Photography
From the Blues Brothers (1980) to the surprisingly well-executed reboot of The Muppets (2011) and beyond, the trope of getting the band back together had been a common, um, trope commonly seen in movies and other media, wherein a band of former cronies—whether bank robbers, crime fighters, weirdo superheroes and/or an actual rock band or pop band—get brought back into each other’s orbits, usually thru a sort of hero’s journey undertaken by one or more of the former gang’s members who tracks everyone down one-by-one in order to fulfill some crucial new mission to which the group is ideally suited, whether saving the world and or paying off a financially strapped orphanage’s debt, all the while reclaiming their former glories which of course is the whole point…
…with the implication being that it’s the destiny of the main character or characters to reconnect not only with their old gang of accomplices but also with some crucial aspect of their core authentic identity that’s been lost or is endangered at least and which can’t be recaptured by other means—thus tapping into a deep down desire that many of us have at one time or another, if not near constantly, to get back to our roots and the purity of past desires and ambitions and values/principles before things like jobs, families, and other obligations got in the way for better or worse or both…
…but here’s the thing with the whole “getting the band back together” thing is that happens way more in the movies than in real life which sure with social media it’s near routine for randos or not-so-random personages from one’s past to reach out after years or even decades have passed but rarely with a proposition to put the band back together nor to undertake some grand new mission but instead more like a pleasant bout of nostalgia (hopefully!) with the tacit admission that the past is just that, past, but David Guevara of the band Digamy (sometimes styled “DigamY) feels quite differently about it…
…cuz contrary to most actual band reunions which tend to be all about stoking nostalgia and making a quick buck off said nostalgia if possible, David has dug up his muddy musical roots as a means of moving forwards more than backwards or so it seems and what’s more there’s no easy filthy lucre to be earned (or is there?) seeing as David’s band Digamy was formed in NYC in 2006 and lasted about 5 years with the three-piece gigging around and developing a local following but never “breaking through” to the point where they released so much as a single, granted, such things weren’t so easy back in ye olden days…
…so what led guitarist/lead singer/songwriter David to reenlist his original bandmates you may query—namely, bassist Vlad Berlin and drummer Elijah Catrone—to play out together again for the first time in over a decade or to record a song called “Feed Me” that was first written and performed in 2008, with Dave taking matters into his own hands in the current day laying down tracks in his bedroom using amp simulators and an electric drum kit helping along by all the professional experience he’s accrued over the years as a professional sound engineer and producer in the interim where is a good thing taking the DIY approach cuz otherwise you risk getting sketchy music industry people involved and the next thing you know you’re wearing leather pants on stage…
…but OK let’s let David tell it himself cuz for one thing when it comes to“Feed Me” in particular David explains that ‘Feed Me’ is all about that feeling of not getting what you need…it’s like you’re just left starving and always wanting more, but you know you won’t get it. I think a lot of people can relate to that hunger—whether it’s love, respect, or just finding your place” and even if that latter desire may hit a bit differently for a father co-raising a son with an ex-spouse while attending to his current partner and career versus the desires of a young pup prone to roaming the Lower East Side and Billyburg back in its glory days playing DIY house parties that routinely got shut down by the cops and DIY venues like the legendary Silent Barn while out of his head on acid…
…but still there’s still no denying that “desire is desire” or that “the heart wants what it wants” to quote eminent philosopher Selena Gomez with longing being a sort of alchemical substance that gets diluted and transmuted over the years but doesn’t go away so long as you’re a real one and don’t succumb to having your soul crushed by the bad actors and societal factors designed to do just that, Invasion of the Body Snatchers style…
…and there’s perhaps nothing better for re-lighting the ol’ pilot light of those passions than standing in a packed room with a loud as f*ck rock ’n’ roll band–or funk combo or hip hop crew or bangin’ DJ or polka combo or whatever–crammed up against one wall (of course there’s no actual stage) blasting its inhabitants with pure, undiluted kinetic energy through overdriven amps as the audience breaks out into scuffles and snogging and moshing in equal measure with blood, sweat, and possibly other bodily substances running down the walls as everyone absorbs all that energy…
…with pretty much describes the scene as seen in the video above taken of Digamy performing “Feed Me” in 2010 at none other than Astoria, Queens’ go-to punk rock pub Gussy’s back in the day as preserved thanks to some urban anthropologist of the time (Sebastian Rea in this case) who recorded the whole thing on their Motorola RAZR with the distorted sound quality only making the whole thing feel even more punk as f*ck…
…footage which takes on a certain added resonance when compared to a version of the song recorded just a couple weeks ago at Arlene’s Grocery that’s a little slower and more in tune with fancy stage lights and camera flashes going off, but far from being more slick it’s feels just as gritty as the first video but in a different way—heavier, sludgier, gutbucket punk that’s no doubt reflective of years of accrued hardships both overcome and struggled against which makes for a whole different kind of longing and desire that when one was but a fresh-faced, dewey-eyed yoot and didn’t know any better…
…which is totally in keeping with how “Feed Me” resonated differently in 2008 than today for it’s creator who first wrote the song as a classic pop-punk kind of gripe about a romantic partner who’s perceived to be insufficient in feeding the narrator what they hunger for in terms of physical and/or emotional fulfillment—or maybe just not feeding them their actual dinner on time cuz hey 2008 was a different time—but which now befits a certain generosity of spirit in relation to others and especially his son or again in David’s own words…
The chorus “feed me, need me” boils down to “feed my soul, but also, let me be what feeds yours as well.” “You’re making me want what I’m never going to have” in the 2nd verse is me admitting that while I may want something more, I would never obtain it, because I was locked into a [faltering] relationship. Now, in 2024, it feels like I’m singing these words for my son, who’s got his own battles with life he’s fighting. In many ways, I see my old self in him. It’s become crucial to me to get these songs out into the world as a way to connect with him. To make him understand that he’s not the only one who reaches out for more or who feels starved by the buffet of life.”
…and what better realm than the “punk rock” and its adjacent styles to express such a sentiment cuz punk’s grown up over the years too to the point where it’s oft associated with progressive politics today as if punks were just a bunch of damn hippies all along (tho’ it has its regressive wings too which are only worse) or in other words it’s a tree with many branches spanning from horror punk to hardcore to anarcho-punk to cowpunk to pop-punk to skate punk to Latin punk to Afro-punk to riot grrrl…
…and let’s not forget Brony punk either, whose practitioners are known as Buckin’ Bronkies, but to this day the music’s roots aren’t so far under the surface really nor is the value seen in stripping away all of the chaff and pretense and bullsh*t (the basis of DIY, or some might say, the basis for any truly vernacular pop music) reduced to an essence of pure id, fixated on unmitigated desire and disgust too in equal measure stated in terms of “I wanna” and “I don’t wanna” á la punk’s grandaddies The Ramones and with “Feed Me” Digamy has reclaimed those very I wanna/I don’t wanna primeval roots but with an added overlay of hard-won maturity…