Aiming for Success: Pash

"WE WANT OUR live show to be really powerful, energetic and loud," said Pash bassist Ryan McLaughlin.

He was relaxing after opening for the punk act Strike Anywhere at a benefit show for Jobs With Justice.

"Loud is important," McLaughlin continued. "We play rock — so we gotta rock."

But guitarist Erik Bruner-Yang spun the band differently: "I just say we're a pop band."

Solomon-like, singer/guitarist Meredith Munoz split the difference: "I say 'poppy rock.'"

Live, the D.C./NoVa-based quartet — and especially Bruner-Yang — is indeed a uniquely dynamic force, providing audiences with slightly less energy than OPEC.

Pash will rock you, but despite McLaughlin's best efforts, the group sounds more like a sterling indie rock band with a fantastic singer than, say, Motley Crue.

The quartet uses an experimental sensibility to gird rockin' pop tunes, offers emo lyrics, doesn't shy from dance-punk or gentle balladry and gigs with punk, rock and indie bands alike. Because of all that, Pash seems well-positioned to break out of the D.C. underground and garner crossover appeal.

Pash's second record, "The Best Gun" (Exotic Fever), came out recently, and on Saturday the group will help open The Lab, a new performance space in Alexandria. Proceeds from the concert will go to Zion Project, which helps girls who have been raped and displaced because of wars in Africa.

Express spoke with the Mary Washington-educated alt-pop-rockers about life in Fredericksburg, the Kurt Cobain school of songwriting and the enduring influence of The Dismemberment Plan.

» EXPRESS: What's it like to offer such a dynamic, energetic performance while the audience just stands there?
» BRUNER-YANG: If people don't like the way we sound, they're gonna at least think we look really good onstage. Sometimes people are self-conscious about being themselves, enjoying themselves, at a show. So to make myself feel good, I pretend that they're all smiling on the inside and having a good time, whether or not they're showing it. And sometimes you can feel that, even if people aren't dancing, you can feel the energy in the room. They're there. They want to be part of it.

The one band that I rip-off the most live is probably The Kills. That, and I went to see that dude [Omar Rodriguez-Lopez] from Mars Volta play — I never got to see [his former group] At the Drive In — but those are the two live acts that I aspire to.

» EXPRESS: Pash formed at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg. What's Fredericksburg like? Is it a good music town?
» BRUNER-YANG: There's a lot of bluegrass, but there's like four or five music venues in a town that's only like three blocks long and that's how we "earned our stripes." The Dismemberment Plan went to Mary Washington. They started playing there. Mary Washington used to be a really great place for indie bands to go — Fugazi, Black Flag, Weezer, when they were a small-time band. The people there are real music-friendly. Lot of guitar shops. I love living there. It's nice and slow. You can walk.

» EXPRESS: Jason Caddell from Dismemberment Plan produced your new record. Why'd you pick him?
» BRUNER-YANG: They were my favorite band and Meredith was really into them. [Exotic Fever Records honcho] Katy [Otto] recommended a couple studios to record our first record and Inner Ear's one of the studios she listed. Of course, being from here, we called them up. Jason had just started engineering there and we could get him at a really good rate. For me to work with one of my songwriting idols was really cool. We're a band on a budget: He gave us a good rate on our second record, so we went back.

» EXPRESS: In addition to Dismemberment Plan, you're often compared to Velocity Girl. Did you listen to VG a lot?
» MUNOZ: No. Growing up, I listened to Nirvana, That Dog, Elastica, Hole: grunge and Brit-pop. I wasn't really into the more punky bands. I knew of a lot of them, but I didn't listen to Team Dresch and stuff until I was in college.

» EXPRESS: How has being on local label Exotic Fever Records helped your band?
» MUNOZ: It's good, because it's such a community with EXF. As you can see tonight, we can play more political-based shows. And people who go to these shows are often more open-minded than people who go to see a band that, you know, Pitchfork reviewed really highly. I think that's really helped. ... We may not be super-punk-rock, but we do have ethics and strong beliefs and I think that's what holds EXF together.

» EXPRESS: Ryan, it's unusual to see a bassist playing as many chords as you do. What are you trying to bring to the band?
» MCLAUGHLIN: I grew up playing really heavy music. I like to make this band heavier. They always tell me to turn down. Chords add a lot of melody and a lot of things that wouldn't necessarily be there if I was just playing one string, one note, all the time. A lot of times — since Meredith doesn't play guitar on all the songs, onstage — Erik and I work together as two guitars, rather than as a guitar and a bass. [I do occasionally] play root-notes, I just never play exactly what he's playing, unless it's absolutely called for.
[Drummer] Jon [Bibb] and I have been playing together, on and off, for 11 years. So, we have a really heavy chemistry and the way that he plays and the way that I play are kinda quirky and work together. If Jon and I are solid, Erik can pretty much do whatever he wants and it'll sound OK.

» EXPRESS: What's your band's name mean?
» MUNOZ: It means "make out" in Australian slang.

» EXPRESS: How apropos: Are the majority of your lyrics are about romantic relationships?
» MUNOZ: Yeah, I would say that. With the exception of "Down," which is a political song about this administration, the rest are about how I feel. I work things out with my lyrics.

» EXPRESS: What's the title of your new record mean?
» MUNOZ: "The Best Gun" is a song on the record about a last attempt to get someone's attention and maybe make them think differently about you than they do. ... In the song, she's giving him this gun, saying, "I'm gonna find you the best gun that money can buy. Don't say I don't love you anymore," but that's kinda tongue-in-cheek. When I write, I write these tongue-in-cheek things to me that aren't that way to other people. But that's what it's about: Giving someone this gift that they probably don't want. ... I guess I come from the Kurt Cobain school of thought, where you try to contradict things, where songs follow some logic — but not really. I could see if people would misinterpret things I write.

» EXPRESS: Do you really want to "Kill All the Rich Boys" as your song title suggests?
» MUNOZ: No, that comes from the movie "Rushmore." It's a line Bill Murray says. The guy it's about was this rich jerk, so it's kind of a joke, I guess.

» The Lab, 1819 N. Quaker Lane, Alexandria; with Elevado, Shapes not Sounds and Worn in Red, Sat., 8:30 p.m., $5.

Written by Express contributor Tim Follos
Photos by ShervinFoto.com