Chattanooga Punk/D.I.Y. mainstay drops new album
In a public Facebook post, Future Virgins guitarist William “Billy Joe” Johnson wrote that when the band’s new album Doomsday Raga was recorded it seemed cynical, but today, “it’s probably borderline whimsical.”
“I think most of the songs are personal,” said Johnson, following up via email. “But maybe that personal side [is often] born out of the political climate. This record was recorded under Obama and released under Trump, and the shadow is darker and wider now.”
“’Ex-Pats’ was not intended to be political, but was about personal alienation,” said guitarist/vocalist Ashley Krey, who wrote the bulk of the songs on Doomsday Raga. “Now it sounds like we want to get out of the U.S.”
Similarly, the title track from the group’s third full-length album (not counting last year’s compilation of early material, Dirty Smiles) examines ideas on a personal level, rather than being about a global crisis.
“Doomsday Raga refers to a man(child) bent on dragging everyone around him into his own pity party,” said Krey. “[It’s] especially tiresome when he is a musician and you have to sit through his songs obsessed with his lack of recognition.”
“I like hearing the promise of growth in lyrics,” said Krey. “It’s a waste of time to dwell on outside accolades and waning musical success when really it’s your choice to live the life of an independent artist.”
The quartet formed in 2006 and quickly became a beloved mainstay of Chattanooga’s punk/D.I.Y. underground, with an invigorating live presence and urgent, hook-laden recordings that capture that energy.
“When the band first formed, Ashley lived in Pensacola, FL. and would make the trip up to Tennessee to practice about once a month,” said drummer Cole Champion.
“He would mail us tapes of songs he had recorded, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar or piano,” said Champion. “We all loved the sound of these demos and would often talk about doing a more stripped-down song on our records, but it just never happened.”
“Friends would often ask for copies, and I think Ashley finally dubbed off a handful of tapes of some of his demos a few years back,” said Champion. “That was the main inspiration behind including the acoustic track [‘Old Man Charlemagne.’]”“I can’t remember if I lost some kind of bet, but against my protests, I performed ‘Old Man Charlemagne,’” said Krey. “It’s a slippery slope to shift gears from an upbeat punk record into a ‘Hey listen to my poetry’ ballad.”
“But in the atmosphere of experimentation, I went with the group decision, and all in all, it worked,” said Krey. “The lyrics go into such untouched topics as life from cradle to the grave, Bildungsroman and childhood being unfair.”
Doomsday Raga is a split release from Let’s Pretend Records (Bloomington, Ind.) and Recess Records (San Pedro, Calif.), available on vinyl and as digital downloads, and it was recorded in October 2014, shortly before Johnson took an extended trip to India and a few months before Champion’s wife accepted a job in Indiana, spurring a family move.
“Getting together has been harder than I originally anticipated and has only happened a couple of times so far,” said Champion. “We are currently planning record release shows in Bloomington and Chattanooga and hope to do more later this year.”
Future Virgins bassist, Mike Pack, also handles recording the group, and the band ended up recording at Pack’s original studio on MLK Blvd., above where the Coin-Op currently is located, which was the group’s first practice space.
Doomsday Raga was engineered with help from local musician Matt Bohannon, mixed with the renowned Athens, GA. engineer David Barbe at Chase Park Transduction and mastered by John Golden at Golden Mastering.
“Something not readily obvious about the record is its genesis in a spirit of begrudging compromise,” said Krey. “We were looking ahead to a big change with Cole moving six hours away.”
“After being a group for 10-plus years, we had accumulated a good amount of material on the cutting room floor,” said Krey. “Some of the old songs had been favorites in their heyday, but for whatever reason never made it onto records.”
“With such a new chapter approaching, we all opened ourselves to one another’s input and song selection,” said Krey. “I think the album is better for the trade-offs, back room deals, midnight betrayals and painful years-long disagreements.”
“I got depressed, Ashley got a chorus pedal, Cole moved away and Mike, he didn’t change at all,” said Johnson.
Future Virgins photo by Zach Beiser