Oregon-based punk band, Triple Lutz, embraces a lack of labels in everything they pursue. Their music and their identities are constantly evolving and changing beyond what can be seen inside the box. They work closely with organizations that promote mentorship and community among musicians of all kinds to spread their sound and make connections.

Where are you from?
We are all from different cities originally, but the band was born in Portland, Oregon.

How has your hometown influenced yourself and your art?
Honestly, I think we are all pretty influenced by our actual hometowns and the communities and music scenes we grew up in. I’m from Brooklyn, NY (Asher, Lead Vox) Kay (Guitar, Vox) is from Springfield, OR not too far from PDX. Sean (Bass, Vox) is from Ventura, CA and Lily (Drums, Vox) is from Berkeley, CA. I think Portland and the local scene here has also influenced us quite a bit. I love how the musicians here kind of ricochet off of one another and are always working together and creating bands with different formations. It can get a little incestuous sometimes, haha, but some really cool art usually comes out of it.

What inspired you to get into music?
Personally, music became an escape for me when I was around 11 years old. I have always been drawn to intense emotion in music in almost all genres. Words can express so much, but the musical accompaniment has a power to amplify what’s being said. It contextualizes the message and creates something transcendent. I took piano lessons for years when I was younger, and my 2nd piano teacher really blew my mind when he kind of stripped down modern music to melodies and chords. All of a sudden, everything seemed so accessible and also limitless. One day, when I was 15, my great aunt Betty dropped off a 3-stringed electric guitar and a shitty amp she got at a garage sale, and I think I wrote five songs on it that night. That was probably the real catalyst for me.

How would you describe your sound/genre of music?
It’s so hard to ever talk about sound/genre. I think anytime people tell me what they sound like and then I hear it, I always disagree with their description of it, haha. I like to think of us as a punk band with deceptively intricate arrangements and spectacular breakdowns. Sometimes we lean more 80s hardcore, sometimes more proto punk, sometimes more queercore, sometimes more melodic. Whatever we do, it’s gonna be intense, fast, loud, aggressive, gay and fun.

Who are some of your biggest inspirations for your sound and storytelling?
Hmmmm…our inspirations are really all over the place. I think bands like Cro-Mags, Circle Jerks, Poison Idea, Dead Kennedys and Adolescents have all been particularly inspiring. I had been listening to punk for a large portion of my life before I moved to Portland, but I had my hardcore awakening here, so the music I wanted to make kept getting faster, heavier and darker. I like to think we pay homage to punk heroes of the past while putting a modern spin on things. As far as storytelling, I especially love Keith Morris’ lyrics, delivery, bite and sarcasm. I am constantly experimenting with different songwriting styles and rhyme schemes and perspectives etc.

Your new album “In The Hands of An Angry Mob”, drops Friday. What emotions are you feeling about finally releasing this project?
There are a lot of big emotions surrounding this release. For starters, we recorded this album almost three years ago now, so there’s definitely a big part of it that is like, “FUCKING FINALLY!” But there is also lot of pride because every bit of “In the Hands of an Angry Mob” has had its own importance. Where we recorded, who we recorded with, who mixed it, getting the artwork right, putting a record out on an actual label for the first time (3 labels, really—vinyl on SBAM and tape runs on Dirt Cult Records and Sounds of Chaos Records in Indonesia). The vinyl sounds fucking incredible and I think we’re all just really thrilled to have this moment.

You have been releasing music on Spotify since 2022. What have you learned over those four years that has helped your career grow?
Wow. Uhhhh… Keep going! Sometimes you have to take your time and take a step back and do some more planning. Think bigger. See what resources are available to you. Stop being so scared. Just do the damn thing and don’t stay quiet about your ideas or dislikes. They will come back to haunt you. Of course, you will have to compromise on stuff here and there, but if you have strong feelings about something, honor that and don’t be ashamed of it. Advocate for yourself. Fight for what you want, what you love and believe it can happen—even when there is not a clear path.

You have released three singles so far, with “Trigger Warning” being my personal favorite. How did you decide that these songs would be first?
Well, we knew from the start that “Don’t Wake Daddy” was gonna be a single. It’s just such a bop and the message is even more applicable today than it was when we wrote it. Some of the other songs on this record appeared in earlier versions on past EPs with different lineups and stuff, so we didn’t want to feature any previously released songs as singles. We felt these three songs served as a good sampling of what the album sounds like and gives a real glimpse into the energy we bring to the table. ALSO we have a giant visual accompaniment piece to this record coming out soon. We made a movie that we have been working on for the past year and a half. It’s 15 minutes long, and we wanted to make sure there would be a beneficial crossover, that songs featured heavily in the film were also single-worthy.

Can you tell us the story behind “Trigger Warning”?
So glad to hear you are really feeling “Trigger Warning”! A lot of my lyrics are not necessarily stories, but musings and observations that I have been reflecting on for a time. Usually I’m writing about stuff that pisses me off, things I have been noticing that keep coming up, that keep driving me crazy. For “Trigger Warning”, my target was the reccuring chaos that kept seeping into the local scene here in Portland as a result of the cancel culture mindset. The self-righteousness, the holier than thou attitude, the lack of communication and avoiding directness at all costs. A lot of the time, people who are really shitty and have plenty of baggage are the ones desperate to clear their own names so they want to point out how much worse other people are when they fuck up. Put more simply, it would be nice to see the punk community practice the restorative justice model that they love to preach about, right in their own communities here at home. We still have a lot of work to do.

We love how passionate you are about giving back. Can you talk a little bit about Volume Bomb? What is your involvement like with them?
Sean, our bassist, has been a part of Volume Bomb since 2016. They started as a comp label and he helped get them into doing more events, such as the summer block party which has 50+ bands at 5 venues on one block in SE Portland. About two years ago, Volume Bomb became a non-profit and received some grant funding. This allowed them to expand and become more mission-focused. VB Throws several big shows in PDX throughout the year and has expanded to doing ones in Astoria, OR & Olypia, WA. Volume Bomb will also be throwing an outdoor summer festival celebrating Portland Pride this July, showcasing local gay, queer and trans artists, and Triple Lutz will play there.

You also work closely with the AMP PDX, an artist mentorship program. Can you tell us about them and your work with them?
Sean used to work for and help run AMP when it was a part of a different non-profit. Its founder, Will Kendall, has since gotten funding for AMP and made it its own independent nonprofit. Triple Lutz is playing their benefit show on Sept. 12 at Star Theater.

How and why does music have the capacity to change people’s lives?
Music changes people's lives all the time, through inspiration, relation, resonance, revelation, perspective shift — it can call you out, it can rile you up and make you want to take action, it can encourage you and make you feel like there are other people who have had the same thoughts, it can give you new thoughts. It brings people together. It creates community.

To learn more about Triple Lutz, please check out the links below:
Instagram: @triplelutzband
Apple Music: @triplelutz
Spotify: @triplelutz
FaceBook: @triplelutz

Punk Band Triple Lutz Talks their New EP “In The Hands of An Angry Mob”, Cancel Culture, and Celebrating Queerness