Militarie Gun are a truly uncategorizable band that’s already come so far and evolved so much–but whose story has only just begun.
Led by vocalist Ian Shelton, the band’s debut full-length, Life Under The Gun, is forged by a lifetime of experience and effort, offering 12 tracks that manage to blend the unbridled aggression of hardcore with massive hooks and personality to spare. Throughout the record, Militarie Gun demonstrates their mastery of melody and grit as Shelton interrogates a lifetime of interpersonal relationships through a distinctly blunt, empathetic, and self-aware lens.
We caught up with Militarie Gun at our NYC store for our newest session of Shoplifting. An invitation to roam the racks in pursuit of the recorded material which has most inspired and shaped their sound today. Be sure to check out their debut album Life Under The Gun out now via Loma Vista.
Ian: I picked Courtney Barnett’s Tell Me How You Really Feel. It's a record that when it came out, I was like super, super obsessed with it. The whole record, front to back, has me and I never have owned a copy so I thought this would be a great place to start. It's a record that, when it came out, I was obsessed with and I'd revisit every so often. So now I'll probably listen to it again when I haven't listened to it for probably like a year or two. Then I got The Chisel. What a Fucking Nightmare. This record has the word fuck in it so many times. I've never listened to the full record but I love the singles. I got asked to make a music video for the record, but I'm too busy touring and I regret that I didn't get to work with them. So now I'm getting it so I can finally listen to it. I also got the Gorillaz Almanac, which I'd never heard about. I'm a big Gorillaz fan, very obsessed with Gorillaz. This has information and scripts maybe from that time and it has a lot of art in it as well. They’re a band that's as much about the music as they are the art project. So to have an art book of Gorillaz seems very fitting.
Waylon: My first pick was Food for Worms by Shame which comes with a little flexi and a CD as well. This record came out while we were on tour last year I believe, and we were just listening to it a lot in the van. We got to play some shows with them not too long ago and they're just an awesome band. Great live show. This record is amazing. I didn't have a copy and now I do. My second pick, Pleased To Meet Me by The Replacements, is just like a classic record that everybody loves. And it's just another one that I've always needed a copy of. I'm excited to listen to it on vinyl for the first time.
Will: First album I picked out was the new Green Day, Saviors. Mostly I found it very interesting. “Dilemma” I think is the song that plays on the radio. It sounds exactly like a song from the band Prince Daddy and the Hyena who are friends of ours. Maybe I'm tripping, but I'm just like, holy shit, Green Day is kind of influenced by everyone else right now. So I thought that was really funny, but I wanted to check out the whole record too. Then I got Superfuzz Bigmuff from Mudhoney. I mean, they’re just a loud 90's rock band but this record is also kind of 70s sounding.