When John Patrick Roach typed the word ‘band’ into the Craigslist search engine, he hadn’t played drums in seven years. All he knew was that he was ready for a change: corporate life working for a now-bankrupt digital startup was getting to him, but Roach’s desire to play again was present as ever. For the last few years, he’s been jamming in Social Creatures, a somewhat new band out of Bushwick.
“I left work in an Uber to go audition,” says Roach, laughing. “And I guess I did good enough at the audition, because he texted me after and was like, ‘We have 10 other drummers lined up, and we’ll cancel them all if you’re in.’”
A few years later, the band put out their self-titled debut through a label called BonFire records. Their most popular song from that set, called “Half the Keys,” hit over 200,000 streams on Spotify. The band goes for a kind of cosmic, new-age disco sound — animated by the same synth-sparked beats that burn through the music of bands like Depeche Mode, New Order and Joy Division—yet with hints of the sounds of 21st century indie rock bands like Beach House.
The record was also influenced by lead singer Jono Robertson’s past struggles with drug and alcohol addictions, and past songs have more melancholic words. One called “Blue Lips,” for instance, ends with the haunting line: “Your lips are blue and I pick you up, I’m not fast enough, it’s happening all at once and you won’t wake up.”
These days, however, Roach says they’re embracing a more upbeat approach for their next effort. “This time we want to be a little more dancey,” he says. “And a little more positive in the lyrics.”
Their new single, “Nothing Changes” already stays true to that promise, bringing to mind late-night dancing in an underground basement. Lately, Roach and his crew have been touring to promote this new material.
“It’s really just a lifestyle,” says singer Robertson, on his way to rehearsal inside a tiny studio and music supply store operating out of an East Bushwick warehouse called Red Note Rehearsal. Crammed there with his three bandmates, tripping over wires and synthesizers, Robertson says he’s reminded of just how much he’s given up for the band to take off.
These days, Robertson picks up bartending shifts to pay the rent, in local spots like Five Leaves, Radegast and Sunday in Brooklyn. Still, he says singing in Social Creatures is his main, all-consuming gig. The band is part of a new wave of Bushwick bands that have organized amid the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, which gave them ample time to rehearse.
Robertson had been in a band before the pandemic called “Kindergarten,” which put out an EP and a few singles, but ultimately didn’t work out. As he tells it, he wanted to commit full time to music, whereas he says rest of the band didn’t want to meet up quite as frequently. Robertson decided to rebrand as “Social Creatures,” a band name he says perfectly sums up his new way of thinking.
“It’s a very demanding thing to be in a band that’s been having to make sacrifices to get it all to work,” he says. “It’s not for everybody.”
He released last year’s album while coming out of a very “antisocial, difficult pandemic.” Now, he says: “We’re bouncing all over the country filling little rooms with people all going nuts dancing. It’s music that’s made for when we are all together in a room like that, and that’s when what we do really works best.”
Robertson has been experimenting with synths for years now, and his new band’s very attuned to what they think crowds want to hear.
“You realize while you’re out there and playing a small city, none of the people there have heard you before,” says Jacob Ott, the band’s bassist and its newest member. “It’s just like chipping away 10 followers in Indianapolis, 10 followers in San Diego, etc…and it’s what makes it worth the time.”
Ott has lived in Bushwick for four years now, and is the only member with another full time job; he works as an acoustic consultant for a development firm called AKRF. Roach has lived in the neighborhood for four years too, while Robertson has made it his home for eight. The guitarist, Daniel Tooma, splits his time between Bushwick and Long Island. But all say they feel Bushwick pride, having paid their dues at spots like Our Wicked Lady and Venus in Furs, which shut down in early 2022. Robertson says that some of his best memories are from his days playing the Sultan Room rooftop, when the band endured freezing temperatures and the audience danced to keep warm.
The band also owes a lot to the collaborative spaces they’ve found throughout Bushwick—ranging from odd DIY performance spaces to shared rehearsal studios like Pumps Rehearsal or Red Note, the latter which only charges $20 per hour. During the pandemic, the band shared a lockout space: a small, shabby rehearsal room that allowed 24/7 access. Even as rent hikes escalate and bands can’t afford to make their own permanent studio spaces, they rely on shared or unconventional spots to keep making music.
Just like Roach, Social Creatures’ Daniel Tooma had typed ‘band’ into Craigslist one fateful day.
“Social Creatures was one of three bands that I found [on Craigslist],” he says. “Two of them were in the hard rock genre. And then Social Creatures was this project that was sonically so different. I remember I listened to [their song] ‘Fleeting Joy,’ and I thought, this is awesome. It’s not my wheelhouse. But I want to be part of this.”
The band next plays Elsewhere’s Zone One on Jan. 13, along with Scotch Mist and The Upsides. It’s no Madison Square Garden, but they’re catching speed quickly, they hope to make it to South by Southwest next.
Top photo taken by Kenneal Patterson for Bushwick Daily.
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