Gen and the Degenerates - “Girl God Gun”

SXSW 2023 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 3

Pairs Well With…Squid, Wet Leg, Garbage

Heavy 90s alt-rock mixes with UK post-punk on Gen and the Degenerates’ debut EP Only Alive When In Motion, an urgent and fully invested introduction of the Liverpool rock band. “Girl God Gun” is a heads-above highlight, combining spoken-word verses, a catchy grunge chorus, and a nu-metal coda that hits like a sledgehammer. The rest of Only Alive When In Motion seesaws on power-rock and stoner-rock riffs, intense and big and unabashedly itself. That’s the key to Gen and the Degenerates’ music, it’s so close to over-the-top modern rock, but they do it in a way that twists right before you think you have their sound nailed down. It’ll be interesting to see where the band goes from here given the multiple paths they are carving for themselves. An indie rock lineup? A metal gig? Big stages on the UK festival circuit? The potential is there and Gen and the Degenerates really crush each of these angles from note one. Even with just a few tracks, they’ve turned my mind multiple times from “yeah I don’t know about this” to “fuck yeah I’m all in” all within a four minute rock song. This very well may be my first official SXSW set as Gen and the Degenerates kickoff the festivities Monday night at the British Music Embassy @ The Courtyard. (Kevin McStravick)