“I’m excited to go on tour with Built to Spill!” says Kassie Carlson, front person of New York art rockers – and longtime PHILTHY phriends – Guerilla Toss, who played their umpteenth show at Johnny Brenda’s less than two months ago, a venue Carlson tells me she’s a big fan of during a recent phone chat: “I like Johnny Brenda’s because everyone’s right there, and it’s got those theatre, spooky, speakeasy vibes.” (She’s previously characterized it for me as one of the band’s “all-time favorite venues.”)
However, Guerilla Toss will already be returning to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection tonight, December 18th, when they open Union Transfer for the aforementioned indie rock legends fronted by Doug Martsch, who Kassie tells me she’s also a big fan of: “I love Doug so much, and the entire band is super tight… I love those lyrics, and those songs are really hard, which is weird because he describes himself as a non-musician. The last show I saw, they were doing a lot of jamming between songs, which I thought was super sick!”
Carlson also says she and Martsch have gotten super close in recent years, first getting acquainted when the two acts were playing Treefort Fest in 2023: “The first time I met Doug was after our show at The Shrine in Boise during Treefort. He was sitting with me and my dog, and we talked for like two hours, until 1am, and then the next morning he called and was like, ‘Do you wanna get breakfast?’ and we talked for like four hours… Eventually, he was like, ‘We should go on tour!’”
Guerilla Toss are currently touring behind You’re Weird Now, their fifth album and second for Sub Pop (also home to Built to Spill), which dropped September 12th, following up 2022’s Famously Alive. Discussing Famously Alive with Kassie shortly following its release, she called it, “definitely our pop-iest sounding album yet,” citing Charli xcx and the “under-appreciated, rare, or semi-rare” female-identified artists she spins on “Rare Pear Radio,” her local community radio show, as her primary influences behind that particular Guerilla Toss sound.
And, during our most recent chat, Carlson admits that the group have still been having fun going further with the catchiness of their choruses, but tells me that the sounds of Guerilla Toss’s latest full-length also seemed to be inspired by their time with a few additional icons of alternative music: “I think it had to do with working with Malkmus and touring with Primus.” Last summer had Guerilla Toss opening amphitheaters for Primus, while production duties on You’re Weird Now were handled by Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus, whose daughter’s band Kassie says she’s also a fan of: “I loved to get to see Lottie’s this year, Stephen Malkmus’ daughter’s band. They’re very ‘90s revival, Ani DiFranco vibes, and she’s such a great singer.”
You’re Weird Now was recorded at Trey Anastasio’s studio, The Barn. So, in addition to Pavement’s frontman, Guerilla Toss also found themselves alongside the Phish guitarist, in addition to engineer Bryce Goggin (who’s worked with Malkmus for more than three decades) and longtime Phish engineer Ben Collette. Both Malkmus and Anastasio actually appear on the album’s second single, “Red Flag to Angry Bull,” which Kassie tells me has proven to be a live sing-along highlight.
“They’re not overbearing at all; they’re super chill,” Carlson says of the veteran crew, who all boast almost impossibly impressive resumes. However, she repeatedly emphasizes that when you’re in the studio with them, the vibes they give are the furthest thing from intimidation: “All those people are really down to Earth, like they don’t know why people like their music, but they do, so it’s almost like they have imposter syndrome.”
*Get your tickets here.
**Listen for Guerilla Toss on Philthy Radio this Friday — 12/19, 9-11pm ET on Y-Not Radio — among my Top 20 of 2025.
