Bodega’s Ben Hozie on songwriting: “We want to make music that sounds like New York”
In this age of nostalgia, New York enjoys a pretty legendary status among music fans. The lineage that began with the jazz of the Harlem Renaissance and continued through to Bob Dylan, CBGB punk bands and ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ indie rock cemented the East-coast city as a beacon of incredible grassroots music. But all of that happened decades ago. The New York of Taxi Driver is no more. In the current climate of sky-high rents and gentrification, is there still the potential for grassroots music to thrive in the Big Apple?
Well, since their debut album Endless Scroll in 2018, Bodega have been flying the flag for NYC in the modern age. A ruthlessly original outfit, flirting with art rock, post-punk, indie and everything in between, Bodega is the brainchild of songwriters Nikki Belfiglio and Ben Hozie. Over the years, the group have established themselves among the most exciting grassroots bands to emerge from the concrete jungle of NYC for decades, and they are set to reaffirm this reputation on the upcoming album release Our Brand Could Be Yr Life.
Across the Atlantic, in a city famed more for David Hockney and J.B. Priestley than Andy Warhol or Arthur Miller, I was poised to talk to Hozie about his band and the upcoming album. Inevitably, as is the case when any two music nerds collide, the conversation soon devolved into a colossal analysis of songwriting, New York’s musical lineage and the role of the city in the modern age. Talking to me via Zoom from a room plastered with various artworks and artefacts of Bodega’s history, Hozie appeared as the archetypal New Yorker despite being an adoptee of the city.
As the conversation progressed, New York seemed to be an unavoidable topic, as though the group’s music was invariably linked to the streets of Manhattan. It struck me that, although Hozie and the band are so firmly entrenched in the cultural landscape of NYC, their music has cultural appeal. After all, I had been a devotee of Bodega for years. I can remember walking to a dreary secondary school in a Bradford suburb with Endless Scroll in my earphones, yet what connection could I claim to New York? None.
So, just how much of Bodega’s output is influenced by the American city?
Hozie explained that he has something of a love-hate relationship with the art scene of NYC. Upon initially moving to the city, he noted that “for a scene that prided itself on being separate from straight mainstream business practices, it was maybe even more hyper-capitalist driven”. So that might go some way to explain the diversity in Bodega’s sound, as they do not seem remotely interested in conforming to the expectations of New York’s scene.
In spite of their love-hate relationship with NYC, Bodega are certainly not willing to cast aside the rich lineage of music and culture within New York. As Hozie attested, “I’m proud to be part of that lineage that comes from, let’s say, like the Greenwich Village from Bob Dylan through The Velvets, Ramones, Sonic Youth recently, Parquet Courts.” Adding, “We’re kind of like ambassadors for a certain version of New York.”
This was clearly something Bodega had been thinking about for some time, and they have dealt with it at length through their music. ‘NYC (disambiguation)’ from their previous album, Broken Equipment, and the incredible ‘City is Taken’ from the upcoming record are particularly notable examples of the band dealing with mixed emotions surrounding their chosen setting.
The former track was reportedly written by Hozies fellow vocalist Nikki, who found inspiration in the disappointment of New York idols. “It was kind of a shock to realise that they were all extremely apolitical.” he explained, “Like, there’s like a pretty famous clip online of Patti Smith being asked about, you know, whether she cares about city policies or whatever, and she’s like, ‘Absolutely not’, she could give a shit less.” Adding, “In her defence, you’ve got to put OG punk rockers in context, like their whole thing was sort of Warholian ironic stance of saying no to everything.”
Patti Smith seems to be a hot topic within the Bodega camp, and that should come as no real shock. In addition to pioneering the punk genre which Bodega clearly holds dear, she also represents that cool image of 1970s New York that many look upon with a sense of nostalgia. Seemingly, Ben’s beef is more about the idea of Patti Smith than the individual herself. “If you go to The Strand – I know she used to work there – she’s got her whole corner of the shop with Patti Smith memorabilia”, he explained, “not just her books and her poetry, but all these coffee table books, celebrating back when New York was cool. It’s like its own cottage industry of just selling us nostalgia.”
These ideas of corporate nostalgia run throughout Bodega’s discography, often in a pretty confrontational way. To call Bodega apolitical would be ridiculous. Their material has always been staunchly anti-capitalist and revolutionary, but there is more nuance to it than that, according to Hozie. “I’m more interested in what I would just call phenomenology.” He said, “It’s like, let’s take a look at our own thoughts and our experience of the world and let’s see the hidden structures behind them. Which is sort of a political practice, but it’s also just a metaphysical practice.”
After delivering what could have formed the beginnings of a university lecture on the history and limitations of being a ‘New York band’, Hozie concluded, “It is limiting.” However, he also added that “one of the goals of Bodega is we want to make music that sounds like New York.” Explaining, “Not only that, sounds like all the great New York stuff that we like, but actually gives you the experience of what it’s like riding on the train and being super caffeinated. Just that higher frequency state of alertness and a buzzy rush always happening.”
If that is the goal, then Bodega have certainly achieved it. From their early work to the upcoming record, the band have possessed unparalleled intensity within their sound, particularly evident during their live shows.
The intense confrontation of Bodega, thankfully, shows no signs of going away, but Our Brand Could Be Yr Life is distinctly more mellow in its musical style. According to Hozie, that was a deliberate choice within the band, “I personally, as a songwriter, was feeling kind of boxed in by – I guess what you could call – post-punk and feeling like a lot of the music I was actually listening to was more melodic.” Continuing, “I want to be able to take our audience to different places, and hopefully, they go with us, you know.”
Many of the tracks on the new record were actually first recorded years ago, as Bodega Bay – the spiritual predecessor to Bodega – though they have been reworked and re-recorded for the new release. Although the new album marks a turn to melody rather than an intense wall of noise, the songwriting certainly has not suffered. Hozie’s commitment to songwriting remains as uncompromising as ever, with the singer affirming, “I guess I inherited a certain rock tradition where a three-minute pop song is not just like a throwaway jingle, it really means something.”
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