Going strong for a decade, Wisconsin band Tenement's sound stretches from a solid punk foundation into the farthest nooks and crannies of rock & roll. The trio have their fingers in all manner of genre and subgenre. The Tenement "sound" has veered all over the place throughout the band's existence; from the noise-rock sounds of their first and second LPs, Napalm Dream and Blind Wink, to the jangly pop ballads of Predatory Headlights and their recently released self-titled album.
Bandleader and guitarist Amos Pitsch incorporates all manner of musical influences into their recorded work, even dabbling in free-jazz style improvisation. When cornered about his influences, Pitsch gets (un)seriously abstract and accidentally profound on the Weekly: "The same thing that inspires a toddler to chew on crayons or roll its buggy down a flight of stairs. The same thing that inspires a washed-up retiree to mow its lawn for the fourth time in a week. The same thing that inspires a cop to kill at will. A curiosity of the unknown and a search for a meaningful purpose. I'd be lying if I said I were ever explicitly inspired by anything else."
Tenement will be joined for their Florida shows by local malcontents the Golden Pelicans, a reunion that Pitsch is happy about, and he's "grateful for the chance to visit Florida again, even if it's a little hot and wet for us hicks from the frozen tundra." Tenement is a band that lives up to the hype, and to experience their full impact, you have to see them in the flesh. Pitsch sells the band hard-core as "a pain in the ass or a life-changing experience ... depending on whether you came to see us specifically or not."
