LA-based Provoker have carved a space for themselves in the modern post-punk landscape. Their synth-pop-informed sound is woven through with rich narratives, their songs telling stories that feel as much an auditory experience as they do visual. While other artists redefine themselves album to album, Provoker have been shaping a signature sound and presence across their discography — though it’s anything but cookie-cutter. Drenched in melancholia, their unique, brooding take on pop music is a cinematic and emotional experience, complex and personal. At the recent Pasadena festival Cruel World, they were right at home with gothic icons like New Order and Clan of Xymox. When it comes to new wave’s new gen, Provoker stand out alongside N8NOFACEs and Mareuxs alike, who have proven to be anything but a nostalgia play.
Their most recent album, Mausoleum, is a compelling addition to their catalog. Between distorted, gut-wrenching basslines and the ghostly crackle of synths that enshroud goth-pop hooks, the project sees the band further broadening their sound and scope with tighter, shinier production, and taking a few steps from overt supernatural themes to unpack something a bit more human, albeit dark: isolation. There’s a heartbreaking and painfully relatable sense of longing in the loneliness the album conveys — and, in turn, a sense of catharsis for listeners who really sink into it, and let the sharp vocal swell of a growl to a falsetto or fuzzed-out guitar just wash over.
Read more: 10 questions with Machine Girl
I spent a morning with founding member and guitarist Jonathon Lopez, vocalist Christian Petty, and bassist Wilfredo Palacios. For a band that musically wallow in the concept of aloneness, they did not disappoint. “I don’t hate talking to people, but I just would rather not,” Lopez lets me know. Thankfully, our conversation seemed to have fallen through a loophole. The guys and I combed through not only the making of Mausoleum, but got to talk about Patrick Swayze films and body contortion along the way.
Once you’ve finished an album, how do you feel?
JONATHON LOPEZ: I feel like we try to just shelve it after we make it. We don’t really listen to it anymore. At least I purposely do that because I will get tired of it, and I don’t want to listen to it until it’s out. Because when you’re mixing it also, you’re just listening to it so much.
CHRISTIAN PETTY: I’m listening to it constantly. Kind of the opposite. I’m constantly doing it just to see if I’m going to have any regrets. Like, is this line stupid, or is it just that I’m constantly poisoning myself with it?
Are you tired of it yet?
PETTY: Not yet.
Ah, so you’re trying to get there.
PETTY: [Laughs.] Yeah, I’m working on it. I mean, one song I’m maybe a little tired of. We practice it, and if it doesn’t sound as good in practice, I’m like, “I hate this song now.”
Do you have songs that change once you’ve played them live?
PETTY: We’ve got a lot of songs on this new one [where] there’s no guitar, and the bass is also really minimal, and it’s just me singing and synth. So a lot of standing around. We’re trying to figure out how to translate that live.
How did this album feel unique in the way you went about making it?
LOPEZ: I think it was more or less the same, just making stuff at home and then working on them in the studio with Kenny [Beats] and other producers like Elliott [Kozel]. The creative part is a day or two days, and then the rest of it is mixing and stuff.
Is there any fear around working with new people?
PETTY: There was at first, I feel like, but since they’re our friends, it came naturally. It was pretty easy when we were in the room with Elliott or whoever.
LOPEZ: I mean, if it doesn’t feel right, then [we don’t] work with them again. But it’s always, I think, a mutual understanding. If it doesn’t feel right, it never feels one-sided. I think a lot of people, they want to work with us, and they like our sound, but we’ll be super understanding if they’re like, “I’m not the right fit for you guys.” At least that’s what we’ve experienced.
PETTY: It’s also very loose. There’s not really any pressure. You’re just having fun making the tracks.
LOPEZ: We are also working on stuff so far ahead of time that it gives us very low pressure. If we like it, we’ll make it better, and if we hate it, we’ll just move on. We have songs right now — I’d say enough for another record, for sure, but they’re just not really fully done. But we have plenty of time to sit on it and figure out if we like it or not. We just go in the studio and write songs, honestly. In the early days, we’d have riffs, but now we go in there with nothing in mind, and we just see what happens.
PETTY: But we’ll still make shit on our own, and I’m always making music. Both of these guys are always making music on their own. Then sometimes we’ll just bring in rough demos and build on that. So it’s kind of the same.
LOPEZ: For me, I have to set time aside, and then I’ll just focus on it for a few hours. I try not to think about it when I’m not in songwriting mode, just kind of work on it.
WIL PALACIOS: Usually if I’m alone, I’ll make music.
PETTY: Yeah, definitely. Don’t plan it out.
What, if anything, is different about the new album?
LOPEZ: The art is a little different. This whole time, we’ve been writing the same kind of… I mean, it’s like pop music, but it’s not really obvious that it is. Maybe this time it’s a little more obvious because we’re still doing guitar, bass, melodies — give it to Christian, and he writes a melody over that. It’s been the same formula, just less messy. It’s a little cleaner.
PETTY: All the drum sounds are really crisp, and the subs are really deep. The message is the same. I’m always just writing stories based in reality and fantasy, blending the two. So I’m still doing that on this project. I usually write it like an anthology or something. They connect. They’re a little intertwined in some ways, but we usually figure that part out after I’ll just write a bunch of songs about a bunch of different stories, and then we’ll see how they piece together. I made a document on Google Drive, and I paired two songs together. Their themes are the same. They’re talking about different things, but thematically they’re around the same thing. Either isolation or whatever… I kind of always feel isolated, so I think that’s why it comes out so much. I’m not the most social person.
Do you all relate to that feeling, introverted, in a sense?
LOPEZ: I mean, I don’t hate talking to people, but I just would rather not. I’m decent at it. I can do it, but I prefer not to. I don’t care enough.
PETTY: I really care about it, and I want to talk to people. Sometimes I’m in a flow state, and I can do it, but I don’t know. I guess it just depends on the situation.
LOPEZ: I don’t want to be an asshole. I’ll try to talk. I feel like I don’t want to be rude and make it obvious that I would rather not talk. We’re all pretty quiet, I think, in a big crowd, which is funny. [We’re] in front of fucking crowds every night.
I was with Chelsea Wolfe yesterday, too, and she’s also a self-proclaimed introvert who lives in the woods. We were talking about being onstage as an introvert. So what’s your experience? Do you have to go into a different persona or state, being the center of attention?
PETTY: Yeah, I definitely have a character that developed. That’s helpful. I’m not really good at crowd banter yet. I’m always trying every show. It is really hard. When we started, I was just like, “There’s a lot of figuring this out.” I was facing away. There are videos of me that I’m trying to report and get taken down.
LOPEZ: I think also just being around so many people every day, whenever we get home, we’re ready to be by ourselves in our rooms. It’s super exhausting just talking to people every day. Something about it makes you go a little crazy.
What do you do to alleviate that?
PALACIOS: Isolate.
LOPEZ: Alcohol.
OK, fair.
LOPEZ: [Laughs.] No, the traveling is nice. I think seeing all the different cities is cool.
PETTY: My favorite part. I feel like we just find stuff to do in the cities — finding antique malls, traveling together. We all get along well.
LOPEZ: Yeah. I feel like we have enough alone time to offset all the crowds and stuff on the road. There’s a lot of silence in the van between cities or the hotel rooms.
Was there a song on the album that, while you were making it, came together surprisingly quickly?
PETTY: They were all pretty quick. Two hours. I think the only thing that takes a little longer is the writing. But every song that we made instrumentally together was super quick. Thirty minutes. Lyrically, though — probably “Germaphobe” since it’s the most simple, just the guy saying that he’s a germophobe. I went into that knowing what I wanted to write.
Are you a germophobe?
PETTY: No, I’m really filthy. I’m the least germophobic of all these guys. We were in the studio with Mikey Heart, and that was just the first scratch vocal that I had in my head for some reason. I just said, “It’d be funny if this is a song about some guy just terrified of germs.” It’s a goofy song.
Do you feel like you’re still as connected to cinematic themes in your music as you were on earlier Provoker projects?
PETTY: I’m always trying to write a song that’s visual and has a story. So maybe in that aspect it’s always there. And, well, I’d never seen Ghost before. I wrote the song pretty much about that. A ghost or whatever, checking on his lover. Then Elliott pulled up that scene where the guy is like, “I’m not supposed to be here!,” and then he put that in. I watched it after, and it’s a great movie.
What are you most excited for about the tour?
LOPEZ: Traveling, eating food, barbecue. Visiting friends.
Is there a song you’re looking forward to playing live from the new project?
PETTY: Figuring out the new ones. I’m excited to try to get a new routine down. I’ll try to come up with a certain move set throughout each song, and a different character will come out a little. So I’m trying to figure out what that looks like now — how to make it entertaining.
Do you feel like your character has evolved or changed from each album cycle?
PETTY: Yeah, definitely. I want to make this one better, but I don’t know how yet.
How would you describe the last one?
PETTY: The last one was really theatrical, and I do all these crazy faces when I’m performing, and I don’t really mean to do it. It just happens. Then when we get the photos back from the gig, I just look disgusting, so it’s tough. So I got to figure out how to look sexy and also weird.
Body contortion?
PETTY: Yeah, I need to do some crazy things with my body. Pop some bones up a socket. What’s that dance called? Bone crushing or whatever. I got to dislocate my shoulder for this next one.