’68: Give One Take One

In mythology, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform through an inherently superhuman ability that breaks the laws of science as we know it. In music, shapeshifting is the ability to colour outside the lines of genre convection, causing creative chaos in a world built on paint-by-numbers patterns. Every era of music has a handful of shapeshifters that slip on by, trailblazing through their careers like they’re the leading star of a blockbuster car chase. One such example is multi-instrumentalist Josh Scogin, who has spent his entire life blurring the boundaries between the very constitution of a genre. From his time as a founding member of mathy-metalcore pioneers NORMA JEAN to his days as the Christian-themed melodic hardcore punk of THE CHARIOT, Scogin has defied the odds. As one half of noise-rockers ‘68, alongside drummer Nikko Yamada, Josh smashes the meaning of genre to pieces once more on their third full-length, Give One Take One. 

“I like to try to keep surprising myself as well as the listener, just like any good story or book or movie, without twists and turns there’s really no point,” explains Josh, pleased at the notion his creative process is even somewhat unconventional. “I don’t think any great phenomenal art has ever came from sitting in comfort, so sometimes you’ve got to go with your gut instinct. it’s this barn-burning idea that just came out of you and you couldn’t even keep up with it, like sometimes it’s nice to go ‘this is where we would go via the last record’ or ‘this is what feels right, then pop, let’s take a turn.’ It starts with keeping us surprised and keeping us challenged and keeping us uncomfortable because that is what will keep things fresh for us but I think the obvious conclusion is that it translates hopefully to the audience and as with any great art, people can take what they want from that and do what they want.”

If keeping things fresh is ‘68’s modus operandi, then Give One Take One knocks it out the park with a home run and then some. If you’ve ever wondered what the dance-punk disco desolation of DEATH FROM ABOVE would sound like synthesised through QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE’s boogie-riddled stoner-rock, this is the closest you’ll get. “This album has a bit more of a dance vibe, you kinda shake your butt to it, and like, that wasn’t intentional, I didn’t think ‘ooh, I want to make something you can really shake your booty too’ but these riffs kinda came out and I was just along for the ride because I’ve never done an album you can shake your tailfeathers to, so it became what it became.”

Whilst it might take the listener by surprise, it’s entirely intentional for Josh: “I like to set people up on a rug and yank it out from them, with little pitfalls and secret things you don’t expect, and hopefully they’re not weird for the sake of being weird, hopefully they find a cohesion there that makes sense and that harks back to the live show.”

We may still be in the midst of a global pandemic that’s put the music industry in a cryogenic pod, however a lack of live shows has played plentiful into the hands of ‘68. As a band who thrive on their thrill-seeking adrenaline-junkie performances, they weren’t even planning on putting a record out so soon after 2017’s Two Parts Viper, as Josh explains: “we dropped the record and then we just toured pretty much non-stop on it, and that’s what we were doing when 2020 hit and then we just came to a halt, like the whole music industry.” 

Coming to a halt, however, was a blessing not a curse for the band. Taken away from the comforting confines of a tour-bus, Josh found there was time to write in ways he’d never imagined, bringing new-found freedom to the ‘68 machine. “I hate to say anything positive about such a terrible time for a lot of people, but typically I’m trying to write whilst balancing different tours or you know, maybe even getting some of the lyrics on the road, but with COVID-19, I had nothing else to do, there was nothing on my plate, I didn’t even have to go grocery shopping, groceries were being brought to us so it was actually rather comically peaceful for such a terrible time.”

As much as the chaos of our current climate has benefitted ‘68, their eyes are wide open to the experiences of others. Give One Take One was originally written and recorded pre-pandemic in 2019, however once COVID-19 sailed across the shores around the world, they quickly shelved it’s release for no reason other than to support those around them as Josh explains. “It was supposed to come out in 2020, and then it was like ‘well that’s dumb’ because obviously the world was in a shock state so it would’ve been dumb to release this and be like ‘yo, rock and roll’ and everybody’s going ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna eat this week.’”

It’s this train of thought that ‘68 glide through their metaphorical wonderland on the tracks of Give One Take One. All of the trivial tropes that Josh has built his forward-thinking shapeshifting reputation on are here, but there’s a world-weary consciousness to his storytelling that takes on a whole new meaning in these times. 

“It’s a very simple idea that if you take it for literal, and I usually don’t write very literal, I try to keep it on the nose, but in this sense give one take one, it’s like it’s okay to take one if first you have given one,” dissects Josh, explaining further. “it’s like with traffic, you’re all merging and there’s no rule, no one’s ever said ‘this is how you merge’ there’s always the idiot who shoots out ahead but essentially most people will let somebody go and then they’ll take the next spot.”

The further Josh thought about it, the deeper down the rabbithole he climbed until he was terraforming a battleground for his brain. His simple ideas suddenly found themselves applied to criticisms of politics and class, as Josh explains. “We were under different administration here in America and it was like a weight on our shoulders to be like ‘how did that happen.’ In general, humans were getting to a pretty wild place, and not that we’ve fixed that by any means, but this idea, it’s so simple, like give first. it’s a little like the golden rule, treat others as you would yourself; give one and then take one, not give one and take thirty, there’s so much that goes with that when you start talking about the 0.1% of the wealthy, like good grief, how much does someone need to feel like they’re important. It’s something I wish humans would take on board. it’s okay to take, but don’t be dumb about it, and don’t forget to give, and give first – I think the world would be a better place if we could embrace something as simple that.”

Simplicity is something that seeps through the themes that are threaded throughout Give One Take One. If a single trip is your kind of audio travelling, then that’s fine. For those of you who fancy a return flight, you’ll find the devils are in the details. It’s something Josh is infatuated with instilling in his music. “There’s a lot of proper Easter eggs, things that are just exciting for me to know exist and sometimes people pick up on them, sometimes they don’t. There’s plenty of things I’ve purposefully put in there to pay homage to someone, or something, or even some of my past work, there’s always little Easter eggs that some people will never find that’s just for myself and sometimes it’s personal life stuff and there’s also stuff I think people can find, and there’s stuff that comes purely as a challenge to myself.”

Whether there’s Easter eggs to unwrap or boogies to get down to, ‘68 continue to captivate and capture the essence of old-school rock-and roll with the pomp of punk rock. In a world where everything’s going wrong, there’s nothing like dancing to the apocalypse. 

Give One Take One is out now via Cooking Vinyl. 

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