The freewheeling garage punk duo BANGZZ has no trouble coming up with memorable chef’s-kiss song titles. Take its 2019 EP, Fresh Cuts, which leads with “Pretty Is a Trap,” and then follows with “Your Boyfriend Is Bringing You Down,” “Don’t Touch People,” “Never Speak of Marriage as an Achievement,” “Big Ol’ Dicks,” concluding, finally, with “I Just Can’t.” (Sorry, it felt crucial to list all six songs.)

Today brings another assertion that’s hard to disagree with: “Hell Is Other People.” 

Premiering exclusively on the INDY Week website, the video single features guitarist and vocalist Erika Libero (who is also the co-founder of Chapel Hill’s Manifest music festival) slathering her face with ramen noodles and pretending, in a campy YouTube channel setup, to perform a self-lobotomy with a butter knife to “remove all negative thoughts from her head” as drummer Jess Caeser (Pink Flag, Dirty Little Heaters) offers commentary.

Dark, for sure, but BANGZZ’s brand of punk noir is all scuzzy, irreverent riot grrl catharsis as Libero wails, “I don’t wanna be human/I don’t wanna feel/I don’t wanna be human/I don’t wanna be real.” 

In another timeline, the duo would be releasing the album and hitting the road for a tour. But that’s not the story of this year, so BANGZZ is leaking more singles (and more multimedia collaborations) one by one, until the album’s slated 2021 release. Most recently, it contributed the more mellowly titled song, “Love,” to the December Tracks Music Library compilation. 

Watch “Hell Is Other People” below. 

Follow Deputy Arts & Culture Editor Sarah Edwards on Twitter or send an email to [email protected]. 

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Sarah Edwards is culture editor of the INDY, covering cultural institutions and the arts in the Triangle. She joined the staff in 2019 and assumed her current role in 2020.