Photo credit: Logan Jacobs
Body Futures
No Milwaukee rock band lets their freak flag fly quite as high as Body Futures. Sort of noise-rock and sort of power-pop, the group’s sound is almost impossible to describe to the average listener. Unable and unwilling to embrace the uninteresting, the group proudly embraces their outlier status within Milwaukee music scene. The band’s approaching-middle-aged members are considerably older than the average rock show-goer, and they play more shows in Racine than they do here in Milwaukee.
Body Futures released their self-titled debut back in 2014. The four-year gap between albums has given the group plenty of time to grow comfortable with one another and work on their sophomore effort, Maybe it’s Just the Weather, and the band has become more inclined to take risks, both onstage and in the studio. Vocalist and keyboardist Dixie Jacobs describes the band’s bonding as “a relationship-consciousness experience” and says their intimacy encouraged a much more cohesive album. “On the first record, you’re coming from different directions and focusing in on one thing,” she explains. “For the second record, you’re one thing going off in different directions.”
Each member of Body Futures comes from a very different musical background: ’90s indie, dad rock, skate punk and jangle pop are only a few of the genres that influence the band’s unmistakable sound. Jacobs says that variety helps Body Futures stand out among other rock acts. “I think it makes a band more interesting and harder to describe when you’re bringing a lot of influences and preferences in,” she explains. “I don’t want to be in a band that’s easily comparable to another band.”
Though the band often gets tagged with the “noise pop” descriptor, the band says they don’t think of their sound as either noise or pop-oriented. “I don’t want to be loop-holed into one genre, because I like so many different things,” says Jacobs. Drummer DJ Hostettler says Body Futures’ genre defiance further secures their musical niche and ensures their sound is more original. “The bands that interest me the least are the bands you know are just playing to a genre,” he says.
In 2015, Hostettler organized UNINTIMIDATED: Wisconsin Bands Against Scott Walker, a compilation of punky protest tracks against Wisconsin’s unpopular governor. Despite their activism, they refuse to call themselves a political band. “The act of creating art or being creative is a political act in and of itself, which a lot of people don’t realize,” says Hostettler. Jacobs says recent political events have inspired changes in lyrical tones apparent on Maybe it’s Just the Weather. “When you get older and you don’t want to write songs about boys, you start to write songs about men that are trying to blow up the planet,” she says. “I don’t know how I can contribute to fixing all the problems in the world, but I can certainly write a song where someone says, ‘Yeah, I feel that way!’”
Both Jacobs and Hostettler have full-time jobs and mortgages to pay. Those dreaded adult responsibilities may not give them “punk cred” anymore, but both say they welcome aging with open arms. “I’ve always felt like an outsider, so now that I am even older than the ‘cool scene;’ it’s like, ‘okay, cool, so I’m still an outsider!’” Jacobs laughs. “We’re pretty aware that we’re not necessarily going to make inroads with Milwaukee’s music scene because we’re older, and we’re not playing a type of music that’s trendy or hip,” says Hostettler. “That being said, we’ve got our audience. It’s not a large audience, but it’s an enthusiastic audience of people we know.” Jacobs smiles in agreement and adds, “Every city has its weird misfits who are looking for weird stuff to listen to.”
Body Futures play an album release show for Maybe it’s Just the Weather on Friday, Feb. 2 with Out and The Glacial Speed at Cactus Club at 9 p.m.
