Brooklyn-based rockers Cup share their hard and heavy-hitting album Nothing Could Be Wrong, released through Aagoo Records.
In late 2017/early 2018, Cup’s lineup underwent a few changes and aligned into a four-piece, with Wojcik on guitar and vocals, Freddie Wyss on bass, Chad Sardashti on synth and guitar, and Kelsey Chapstick on drums, and for the first time, it was immediately apparent to Wojcik that he had finally found the Cup band. This release, Nothing Could Be Wrong, marks a mutation in the ethos of Cup—a move from a single voice to four dynamic voices, each with an equal say in the writing process and direction of the band. The four entered into that same practice space and surfaced months later with many new pieces and an exciting shift in Cup’s sound. In a way, writing this album felt like starting from square one.
Kelsey comes from a heavier metal background, though she has played in bands of many different styles, as does Chad, who is also influenced by surf music, and Freddie is firmly in the world of the jazzy, angular, and avant-garde. Combined with Tym’s punk and psych sensibilities, the new songs took a darker, but more dynamic tone, while keeping some of the original Cup quirkiness.
They wrote furiously for months, then decided to head to Strange Weather, a studio in Brooklyn, to get them all down on tape. Garrett de Block worked as engineer and de facto producer, helping the band get great performances and parts down in single takes. Mark Anderson, a good friend of Tym’s who runs a studio in Denver and drums in various touring bands, mixed, and April Golden at Golden Mastering, who has worked with Aagoo Records before, mastered the album.
Formed in early 2016 in New York, Cup began as the solo recording project of Tym Wojcik, a NY based drummer who found some time on his hands after his previous band went on hiatus. Recorded in a practice room over a weekend, the first Cup release was comprised of twelve minute-and-a-half thrashes of messy garage rock.
After a dizzying six releases in the span of a year, Cup began playing live shows as a two piece with Alex Casella on drums, then three piece with Tim Askerov on synth. They gained the attention of Aagoo Records, who released their seventh and eighth albums, Hiccup and Jitter Visions, all still recorded and mixed by Tym in that same practice room.
In a way, writing this album felt like starting from square one. The Cup process was simple for previous albums: Tym wrote, recorded, and mixed full albums, then he and the band would play shows. Once the current lineup materialized, with Kelsey on drums, Freddie on bass, and Chad on synth/guitar, Tym realized that process wouldn’t work anymore–they would have to all work together to write something new.
Recorded with Garret De Block at Strange Weather in Brooklyn, each song on the album was tracked live to a reel of tape with minimal overdubs. It was mixed by Mark Anderson and mastered by April Golden at Golden Mastering. The result is a sound that feels more organic, the efforts of four people playing songs that they wrote and love together, the songs darker, heavier yet more dynamic, searing yet airy. A sound like Black Angels meets Oh Sees meets The Cramps meets the early desert Queens Of The Stone Age, with maybe a little Gary Numan thrown into the mix. Lyrically, death is a major theme throughout the album, as it always is with everything in life, but also love and the way we connect with others, sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. The way we hope for each other, and how that hope sometimes diminishes over time.
Cup is ready to emerge with their new sound and brash live shows, to bring this record into the world and show who Cup really is, and who Cup can be.
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[…] Whether his musical work could rally cultural will like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring will have to be determined at a later date. But like the gravely hopeful tune, the larger, solo studio album will have, even if indirectly, continued inspiring younger bands. […]