Tuesday 6/16: Bully—"Where To Start"
Today, we share our thoughts on "Where To Start" by the Nashville grunge-punk band Bully.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on "Where To Start" by the Nashville grunge-punk band Bully.
Bully—“Where To Start”
Eric Bennett:
Ah, at long last, Bully have returned to us. Nashville’s finest have shared “Where To Start,” the first taste of their upcoming third record Sugaregg. While it keeps the band’s enthralling basslines, and vocalist Alicia Bognanno’s sandpapery voice is present, it feels different. It has a nervous energy that translates into a cautiously danceable beat. It’s influenced by Chubawumba, which is fitting. They, like Bully, occupy the label “punk”, but are a far cry from the first thing that word calls to mind. “Where to Start” may not have the staying power of, say, “Tubthumping”, but it’s a damn good song and makes me wonder what other chances they’ll take to try something new on the new record.
Eli Enis:
Bully are a band I didn’t fully understand until I saw them live, and Alicia Bognanno had a total command of the stage that just reeled me in the whole time. Although their melange of punk and grunge and indie-rock could be compared to a number of bands both classic and contemporary, there’s no one band who sounds quite like Bully, and I think “Where To Start” is them at their most confident. The song is a total rager with a hefty, fuzzed-out guitar lick and a sweaty hook that manages to cut through everything else. I was already intrigued by the prospect of new Bully music, but now I’m excited.