BODEGA

“I never thought of us as a post-punk band,” stresses Ben Hozie, singer and guitarist in the  NYC-based band BODEGA. “I just thought of us as a conceptual rock band.”  This might come as a surprise to those who’ve been following the band over the last several  years. BODEGA’s previous albums 2018’s Endless Scroll, 2022’s Broken Equipment, and  2024’s Our Brand Could Be Your Life, drew well-earned comparisons to post-punk icons like Talking Heads, the B-52s, Devo, and Sonic Youth.  “Post-punk is conceptual punk, so that lent itself to our thing early on,” says Hozie, “but at the end of the day, it’s about our songwriting.”  Truthfully, the post-punk tag hasn’t been apt for some time now. Our Brand Could Be Your Life,  a rerecording of a 2015 album by an earlier incarnation of the group called Bodega Bay, was  more inspired by classic indie rock bands like Pavement and Guided By Voices. Last year’s Rot  in Helvetica, by the group’s alter ego NODEGA, saw them go in the opposite direction, delving  into the sound of classic hardcore punk like Black Flag and 7 Seconds.  BODEGA’s new album, All Inside Aquarium, sees the band stray further than ever from these  post-punk origins. The group’s goal was, “Let's go back to melodic tunes, let's be more of a  proper rock band,” Hozie explains. Sonically, the band aimed for “this late ‘80s/early ‘90s Stone  Roses-meets-Jane’s Addiction thing, with more riffing and guitar solos.”