Off the back of their second proper EP, teenage noise-rockers Sogg have confidently asserted themselves as one of the most exciting and interesting bands in the Ōtepoti music scene. Their sound is explosive, sonically tending toward the crushingly loud, heavy and dense. Ollie (vox, guitar, and noise, he/him) and Rue (drums, they/she) asked Noelle (she/her) to join them on bass for originally just one show at the beginning of 2023, but she’s since stuck around. They credit a little bit of sibling nepotism and one unnamed local musician’s “nostalgia for his own shitty high school bands” for getting them their first gigs.
Despite thinking of their older music as “terrible” and “still quite childish”, their debut EP, ‘Kill Yr Opressor’, was released when the members of the band were just fourteen and fifteen years old – which really makes you think about what you were doing when you were that age. “Half the time we would play shows just to do funny things,” Ollie explained to Critic Te Ārohi, reflecting on the band’s earlier days. Now though, their music now is one of the most staunchly developed sounds happening in Ōtepoti – all at just the age of seventeen.
Compared to the relatively straightforward hardcore of their first release, the band's recent ‘Freezer Thaw’ (released as part of the local 4EPs project), shows a remarkable development into a more weighty style inspired by Sonic Youth and High Dependency Unit. The band were even lucky enough to open for HDU at Pioneer Hall at the end of last year. Despite the understandable terror of being in the presence of such a major influence on their sound, and being asked to play only “like two weeks before” the gig, Sogg managed to pull off an incredible show.
They describe their sonic style as “if Steve Albini was a really annoying little kid and really bad at writing music”’ and “pure unadulterated rage [...] if no wave was made in Dunedin”. Their music draws a lot of older local influences alongside all-timer bands like Black Flag, Shellac and “Filth by Swans… but also not like Filth by Swans”. It’s clear that great South Island bands like Gordons, Die! Die! Die! and the aforementioned High Dependency Unit are all present in Sogg’s mosaic of musical style. Sogg reports that the contemporary local and all ages scene has had a noticeable effect on their approach to playing and how they write the songs, as well as how they carry themselves. At the Radio One-presented Pioneer Hall show earlier this year, Sogg were supported by a selection of the best of their peers in the all-ages scene. It really is a team effort for musos down in Dunners.
Ollie explains that he gets a lot of inspiration from the noise shows too, a sentiment supported by Noelle and Rue – and there’s a lot of noise shows in Dunedin if you know where to look. They both agreed that finding ways to “digest” noise music into a more traditional rock sense is “quite a cool thing to do”. They added that a “noise thought process” is an interesting way to build dynamics and layers within a song, starting from quite a minimal base – evident in how they, as a three-piece, can create such a grand sound.
Just for that added interest, Ollie also builds his own guitar pedals, describing this as a way to be “connected to the sounds and to experiment”. Noelle compared this to “if the chef who prepared the fish also forged his blade”. Very wise indeed.
As part of the 4EPs project, Sogg recently played two sold-out shows at Pioneer Hall and The Crown (despite not being old enough to be Crown show punters regularly), and last weekend played the second part of the tour – two shows in Ōtautahi, and one in Geraldine, of all places. They encourage you (yes, you) to buy a CD and then “put it on torrents. Upload it to Soulseek”. Noise for the people.
Having gotten an impressive headstart in one of the most alive-and-kicking all ages scenes in the country, whatever Sogg cook up next will be, in all likeliness, pretty fucking cool. The trio are sure to keep creating inventively-noisy-no-wave-shenanigans, and Rue noted they’ll “save the crazy stories for when they happen… at Kebab World Geraldine”.
Check them out on their Bandcamp, or snag a physical copy of 4EPs from a good record store near you, and follow them on instagram (@soggnz) to stay in the loop about upcoming shows and experiences.
