Sometimes being a music journalist is about keeping a straight face. I hear a lot of cliché statements and bold axioms, such as “This album is going to change things” or “The track reinvents [insert style of music]” or, my favorite, “We transcend genre.”
Don’t get me wrong: I’m here for all those things. It’s just that a lot of times the music doesn’t really back up the talk. I understand, of course, why bands occasionally oversell themselves: In the modern music ecosystem, artists basically have to do everything, including hawk their own work like a used-car salesperson. This is cosmically uncool and spectacularly unfair, but there’s no denying it’s a necessity.
So when Zack James, drummer and half of the songwriting team behind Burlington indie-rock outfit Robber Robber, recently scoffed at the idea of his band fitting neatly into a genre, the cliché alarm went off in my brain.
“We try so hard to steer clear of genre,” James told me as he sat beside Nina Cates, his longtime collaborator and the other cofounder of the band. “We listen to a lot of the new indie rock coming out, and we very specifically try not to sound like that.”
Yet I had to quickly put aside my jaded cynicism after listening to the nine tracks on Robber Robber’s frankly bonkers debut LP, Wild Guess. From opening song “Intro (Letters From the Other Side of the Operation)” to closing track “Machine Wall,” Robber Robber establish a fiercely distinctive sonic identity with equal parts college rock-influenced shoegaze, aggressive post-punk and krautrock-like rhythms.
On songs such as the recent single “Sea or War,” the band juxtaposes a propulsive, hard-charging groove against Cates’ ethereal vocals, creating a mix of grittiness and melody floating above the squall. There’s a familiarity to the band’s sound, but it dissipates into vapor when you try to pin it down. That’s due to the erudite and gloriously unpredictable songwriting that drives the album.
Bassist and guitarist Cates, 25, and drummer James, 24, have had the better part of a decade to perfect their method. The two started playing music together in their teens as part of the Brattleboro band the Snaz. That group split up in 2017, after its members graduated from high school. Cates and James moved to Burlington to attend the University of Vermont and summarily formed the rock band Guy Ferrari, releasing a 2021 EP, Caldera, that gave more than a glimpse of what was to come from the duo.
They changed the name of the band to Robber Robber the following year and added Will Krulak on guitar and Carney Hemler on bass. (Cates has since switched to rhythm guitar but still plays some of the bass on Wild Guess.)
“We moved up here in 2018 and in the last few years have really become interconnected with the Burlington scene,” said James, who also fronts his own project, Dari Bay. “It’s such an organic, naturally occurring scene, too. It’s a community of best friends making great music.”
Indeed, Cates and James both play in other Burlington bands, as well, with artists such as Lily Seabird, Greg Freeman and Dead Shakers.
“It feels like we’re all inspiring each other and pushing each other to go for it,” Cates added. “A lot of small music scenes like Burlington don’t have that benefit, but there’s a real boldness to this scene right now. People here will try things, and that makes all the difference.”
Wild Guess is a summation of the current scene. The band split up the recording of the album, tracking half of it with Benny Yurco (Grace Potter) at his Little Jamaica studio and the other half with Urian Hackney (Iggy Pop, Rough Francis) at his Burlington studio the Box. The band already knew Yurco and were champing at the bit to record with the talented guitarist/producer. They met Hackney after a set at the Waking Windows festival in Winooski two years ago.
“Urian came up to us after the show and was like, ‘You guys are loud!'” Cates recalled with a laugh. “He liked what he heard and wanted us to come record at the Box.”
Recording Wild Guess was not a speedy process. James and Cates were finishing up at UVM, all while playing in their friends’ bands and touring. Even so, “We actually finished mastering the record about a year ago,” Cates said. “We’re so proud of it and just wanted to have everything in order and for the time to be right to release.”
Like the majority of Vermont bands, Robber Robber are a true DIY outfit. Both Cates and James are visual artists who create much of the artwork, including album covers and music videos, such as the one for the single “Backup Plan,” which dropped on YouTube in May.
“These days, bands have to be [their] own graphic designer, videographer and booking agent,” Cates said.
“Fortunately, we actually like doing that stuff,” James added. “Well, maybe not the booking.”
As much of a pain as it is, Cates said she’s getting better at booking tours for the band, and Robber Robber dream of one day launching an all-Burlington tour featuring themselves, Dari Bay, Lily Seabird, Greg Freeman and one of their local favorites, rock band Greaseface.
“It’s all so incestuous. It’d be a touring party of, like, eight people,” James said with a laugh.
In the meantime, the band is throwing a Wild Guess release party on Friday, July 26, at Foam Brewers in Burlington, supported by Greaseface. A tour announcement and another video release are also set for late July as Robber Robber gear up for a big year.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Educated Guess”
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2024.
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