Cut of the Day: Summer Cannibals, "Go Home"

The Portland grunge-punk three-piece gets heavy for its Kill Rock Stars debut.

Summer Cannibals could always be described as "heavy," but in the past it was more like "heavy as a sack of kittens" than, say, a truck full of cinder blocks. (Don't worry, in this metaphor, all the kittens are alive and well.) That is to say, while the guitars were always crunchy, and Jessica Boudreaux could always snarl with the best of 'em, the band's attack was typically cut with a melodic sweetness. With "Go Home," the first taste of the Cannibals' upcoming Kill Rock Stars debut Full of It, it brings down the full Hammer of the Gods, crushing and shredding in a way that sounds closer to Sons of Huns than anything they've done before.

Full of It is out May 27. Summer Cannibals' first Portland show of the year is at Bunk Bar on March 4. In April, they go on the road with the Thermals (who've got their own new album on the way), with Boudreaux also taking the stage with the headliners as an honorary fourth member. It'll be interesting to see if they can replicate the upcoming record's apparent burliness being down a member: Guitarist Marc Swart is longer in the band. Something tells me they should have no problem with that.

Willamette Week

Matthew Singer

A native Southern Californian, former Arts & Culture Editor Matthew Singer ruined Portland by coming here in 2008. He is an advocate for the canonization of the Fishbone and Oingo Boingo discographies, believes pro-wrestling is a serious art form and roots for the Lakers. Fortunately, he left Portland for Tucson, Arizona, in 2021.

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