Interview: Smooth Brain Embodies Queer Joy and Pure Rage

Tri-state band Smooth Brain plays their first show in Austin, Texas and sits down with Afterglow to talk about being a long-distance band, covering pop hits, and empowering the queer community.

Written by Lauren Stephens

Photo courtesy of Leigh Ann Rodgers

Smooth Brain is a pop-punk five-piece focused on creating a community through music filled with “queer joy and pure rage.” Formed mid-pandemic, the group found a love for making impassioned music together and have since put out a successful full-length album, banger singles, and heavy-hitting covers. There’s no doubt that 2024 will be a big year for the band, as they kicked it off with their SXSW debut and look forward to their upcoming album release.

Afterglow: How did y'all meet, and how did you decide that you were all a good fit to be in a band together?

Jordan: I was in a band with Ben before this one, and we were feeling like we wanted to do something creatively different and really lean into the pop-punk thing. 

Ben: Especially during the pandemic.

Jordan: Yeah it was during the pandemic. We were really feeling a need to scratch that creative itch. I knew Hera because she was in an adjacent band, and Ben was like, “We need someone to shred on these songs.” So, we grabbed Hera. I went to high school with Maryn, I’ve known Maryn for a very long time.

Ben: We played in a metalcore band for a while, the three of us.

Jordan: I cold DMed Izzy on TikTok because we were mutuals, and we were both trying to be alt influencers during that time. I mean it worked out for you [Izzy], it did not work out for me [laughs].

Izzy: Nah not really me either. But I remember getting that DM and being like, “Oh this is going to be so casual yeah sure let’s start a band.”

Jordan: And now we’re in Austin, Texas [all laugh].

Ben: It probably seemed so low commitment during the pandemic, you were like, “Oh yeah, sure.”

Izzy: Oh yeah, I was like, “Sure!” I literally thought [Jordan was] in California or something. I was like, “Oh you’re far away, we’re never going to meet in-person.”

Jordan: I literally saw you were in Philly, and I was like, “Close enough.

Wait, are you all still in different places? How do you make that work?

Izzy: I mean we have our weekly meeting. We try to meet every week and talk about band stuff, which is really important. Before we did that we were kind of unorganized and doing whatever we could, but we try to keep in contact. We have a band group chat; we text like every day.

Hera: We share a lot of Google Drive links.

Izzy: But I don’t mind making the drive up to New York.

Jordan: Izzy is a champ — she drives so much for us.

Izzy: I do, yeah.

How far is the drive?

Izzy: It’s about two hours. Not bad — two hours there and back. Four-hour day, ya know.

Jordan: But even between us [aside from Izzy], we’re not even in the same place. I live in North Brooklyn, Ben lives in South Brooklyn — which is very far from each other — Maryn lives in North Jersey, Hera lives in Midtown Manhattan…

Ben: It might as well be five different states, honestly.

[All laugh].

That's crazy! It’s cool that you guys are able to make it all work. I also know that your primary messaging is centered around creating a positive community. What inspired you guys to focus your band around that, and how do you continue to implement that message throughout your music?

Maryn: I feel like a lot of it is just like we came together and we happen to be a pretty much queer band, I mean, birds of a feather. But, I feel like anytime we’re together, the elephant in the room is, “Oh there's some crazy shit happening out there for all types of queer people.” So it's like, how can we make things better? And I think we sort of landed on fostering an environment where any queer kid could come over, mosh, and just have a good time with people that are like them.

Hera: I was gonna say, we call it pure rage and joy at the same time. We want to have both of those weaning together at our shows, so you can express how you’re feeling with a community where you feel safe.

Jordan: You took the words out of my mouth. I feel like it is about holding a space for both: pure joy and pure rage at the same time. So that anybody who feels angry about the world can kind of bask in the escapism of it, like the thing we’re building, and also scream about how fucked up it is.

Y’all also just covered “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo. How did you decide to cover that song specifically and how was it different recording that versus your usual releases?

Ben: Yeah I heard the song and I was like, “This is the greatest pop-punk song in the last decade.”

[All laugh].

Ben: It was also when people were talking about how it was a rip-off of “Misery Business,” and I was like, “Well why don't we just cover both of them in one song.” So, it’s kind of a meme, but also really fun to play.

Jordan: We were actually talking about how to pitch and explain the song to people, and Izzy was the one who said it's perfect for capturing the energy of 2000s nostalgia and the current scene that's happening. Because there absolutely is a scene brewing right now.

Hera: It was different because it was the first time we worked with a producer with all the instruments and everything. I think you can really hear the progression in our music, and that's gonna be in music to come as well. Like, really clear production, powerful and driving good tones, and great vocals. Izzy’s sounded the best she’s ever sounded on this.

Jordan: Yeah, Izzy keeps popping off, and the world hasn't heard the record yet, but Jesus Christ.

Izzy: I am really excited for the new record, I feel like it’s our best work yet. It’s just different when it's a song that's already out, so there's a reference already, but for our originals, we just give references to songs we like. It was just interesting; a very different experience recording a cover. It was cool, though.

Jordan: We’ve also been playing that song for years.

Izzy: We played it at our first show at Rutgers’ basement show.

Yeah, I remember hearing the “Misery Business” and “good 4 u” mashup, and was like, “Okay!”

Ben: Yeah and our band comes from a meme, so I was like, we can do a meme-ish song.

Wait, how did you come up with your band name?

All: It’s a meme!

Izzy: It took us a long time. We had this long list of band names from 2021, and some of the names are hilarious.

Ben: [Shows Lauren the smooth brain meme] No wrinkles. The less you can think, the less sad you can be.

I love it!

Hera: It goes back to the queer joy and pure rage. Just release your inhibitions, you know?

[All laugh]

Jordan: I will say it’s 50-100 names long. Smooth Brain was the first name on the list and we were like, “Okay, let's try to figure out something that's not a meme.” And we came up with a list of a hundred names and they were all memes, and we were like, “How about we just stick with the thing we started with?”

I was wondering — is this your first time at SXSW?

All: Yes!

You have a show today and a show tomorrow. What are you looking forward to most about being here and playing those shows?

Jordan: I want to take the first one, actually, cause it's personal to me. There's an artist out of Dallas called Penny Bored, [project of Faith Alesia]. I connected with Faith a few months ago about a specific queer-related related issue in the community that we're in, and how they were particularly affected by it. It also affected us directly. I just became very obsessed with the Penny Bored brand because I think they're doing amazing things. Faith is driving four hours from Dallas to Austin to see us tonight, and I think the thing I’m most excited about is to meet them.

That’s awesome. You get to meet people in-person you never thought you’d get to meet.

Hera: I think the thing about today is also that we’re doing a non-male-fronted showcase, and it makes us feel pretty safe. I think it's really cool that Big Picture fostered that environment for us, cause they worked their butts off for this.

Ben: l’m still kinda pissed that we have to do this officially, but it’s cool that we’re doing this.

Maryn: The venue is also fucking sick.

Jordan: I saw the bear Pride flag, and I knew we were in the right place.

Wouldn’t want to play anywhere else! 

Jordan: Actually, unironically, though. Austin is a great city, and I'm learning that being here. But Texas is an issue for queer people legislation-wise. So, having this [showcase] in a place that we know is a safe community, surrounded by safe people that are doing their best to foster this community is crazy important to us.

Hera: We actually wrote a song called, “It's Alright” about trans rights being jeopardized in Texas, and it was a compilation album to help queer people [move] to safe states if they can. We wrote it as a team of mostly queer people, and that was really rewarding. We're playing it tonight, actually.

That’s super full-circle.

Jordan: We didn't even talk about that — the fact that we’re coming to Texas to play this show and playing that. It feels like a crazy full-circle moment for us.

You can follow Smooth Brain on Instagram and TikTok and stream their music on Spotify and Apple Music.

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.