TELL Photo credit: Dan Saltzman
“How much more patient can I be?”
It’s a question we’ve asked ourselves quite a bit lately – sitting in the car stuck in rush hour traffic; waiting in line at the post office or grocery store; or simply doomscrolling the night away, thinking about how society requests a certain grace of us that’s rarely ever returned.
And when David Wildman offers up the refrain with a weathered, weary snarl, as he does in TELL’s driving new single “Sweet Proximity,” which we are exclusively premiering today on The Big Takeover, we’re reminded that life is not about naively adhering to a broken social contract, but what we’re ready to do when “the futility of existence,” as drummer Patrick Crann puts it, is simply too much to ignore.
“We’re thrilled and proud to be part of a new grittier sound and punk rock attitude, borne of frustration and anger, that is uniting people from Generation Z to Boomers,” Wildman tells The Big Takeover. “You are going to start hearing more bands and artists taking up the nothing-to-lose attitude, pushing the limits and daring the newly installed fascist regime of Trump and Musk to come after them. We certainly will. And you might only hear about them through the cracks at first, but they will be there, and The Big Takeover will shine the light.”
“Sweet Proximity,” which gets an official release this Friday, kickstarts both a new year and a new fire for TELL, marking the first of two releases that set up a new music video in April for the single’s companion track, “Boiling The Ocean.” The band celebrates the unveiling of “Sweet Proximity” and this new era of music with a release show that same night at Warp & Welt in Lowell, before playing The Square Root in Roslindale on May 9. And the live shows are notable, because what we need more than ever is a human connection to help cut through the stress of the day.
“‘Sweet Proximity’ was originally about the frustration of desiring a connection beyond a face on a computer screen,” Wildman admits. “I’m a fiction writer, so I tend to create characters to make a point. There are three scenarios presented: A stunt driver on a closed track, which represents isolation from himself and the world that he entertains for a living; a guy who loves the lonely girl next door, but neither of them can escape the barriers they put up; and a test pilot crashing into the Earth.”
There, those characters’ storylines unfold with a grand cinematic tension. But where TELL’s 2024 EP Life In Reverse was revved-up and polished, these new tracks, recorded and mixed by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios in Allston, bring a new kind of demented ferocity. As such, “Sweet Proximity” roars out of the speakers, immediately grabs the attention of the listener, and attacks his, her, or their ears like a musical icepick.
“‘Sweet Proximity’ manifests the band’s intense feelings about the current global situation; it’s the drastic sound of things falling apart,” says guitarist Jim Foster, who unleashes one of the grimiest guitar solos to come out of the Boston scene in some time. “It might be an unhinged, disjointed fit somewhat resembling a muscle spasm or near-fatal conniption, but you can definitely dance to it.”
And outspoken heroes like Gang of Four and Richard Hell and the Voidoids might have something to do with that. TELL’s sound – completed by Wildman on vocals and guitars with guitarist Foster, bassist Jay Raffi, and drummer Crann – has always bridged a gap between arena-ready ’90s-era alternative and the dire post-punk sound of the late-‘70s, and this one straddles the same line without truly flying off the rails. It barrels through its 4:30 runtime with a punk rock ethos and a prog rock mindfulness.
“I had originally written it as a haunting, slow thing, but I turned it into a strummy pop song,” Wildman admits. “When we first tried it with the band, Jay poignantly asked if this was really what I wanted to do. I realized it sounded too ordinary, so I took a week and made the rhythm aggressive and sharp and simplified the chords, going for more of a Gang of Four approach. This inspired Jim to come up with a great dissonant part inspired by his hero Robert Quine from Richard Hell and the Voidoids. We quickly had something that sounded unique.”
The single finds TELL going for a more raw, aggressive approach, but without losing the tidal hooks and melodies that quickly defined the band after forming a few years back. Now with a solidified lineup and a creative chemistry that’s developed a newfound cohesion, the quartet is leaning into darker, heavier territory without losing its original activist identity or musical ideology. Each member of TELL attribute that – as well as the expansive, unique sound that is quickly becoming a defining characteristic – to the open-ended collaborations during writing and recording sessions.
“I think there is a rock renaissance in progress,” Wildman concludes. “This is a Margaret Thatcher-ruining-England level of trauma we’re experiencing. Trump and Musk have taken over in what was basically a (barely) legal coup, and it has ignited a wave of rage not seen in years, translating into important and meaningful music being made all over — and mostly under the radar so far. We’re proud to be part of that. We’re also interested in putting together a resistance night somewhere with like-minded bands. Stay tuned.”
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