“I remember playing Stalag 13 in 1998 felt like playing Madison Square Garden, and there were probably 10 people at the show,” says a laughing Michael Berdan, vocalist for NYC noise outfit Uniform (whose demeanor is far more lighthearted than Uniform’s sounds would suggest). For those unfamiliar, Stalag 13 is one of the legendary DIY venues once booked by R5’s Sean Agnew, which hosted shows from 1996-1999. Although those days were well before those of Uniform, during a recent phone chat I find out that Berdan actually hails from these parts, growing up in Upper Darby and making himself a regular at the city’s DIY punk and hardcore shows in the second half of the ‘90s before moving to New York in 2003/2004.
However, Uniform – who have been making music for about a decade now – have played a notable number of shows in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection in more recent years, the majority of which at Eraserhood’s holy trinity. “We usually play PhilaMOCA, which is an awesome room. My favorite memory playing in Philly was probably when Rob – who’s a friend now, but we didn’t know him at the time – had a projection of a map with the coordinates of every nuclear test since the Manhattan Project go off in time, making for a 15-minute set that felt very special,” says Michael of his most memorable experience performing in his former hometown.
This August Uniform – currently comprised of Berdan, guitarist and co-founder Ben Greenberg, Interpol touring bassist Brad Truax, returning drummer Mike Sharp, and longtime touring drummer Michael Blume — released their American Standard LP (followed in September by companion piece Nightmare City, which boasts the songs of American Standard, devoid of their “rock elements”) courtesy of longtime home Sacred Bones, whose staff are longtime dear friends of Berdan: “We’ve been a band for a while now, and I have been making music for a long time now, and we have the luxury of being able to just work with friends, but our friends are the best in the business.”
The four songs of American Standard document the self-destruction that accompany Michael Berdan’s lifelong struggle with bulimia, which he discussed in depth with New Noise Magazine and broke down track by track for Consequence. The album has received profound praise from a number of noteworthy publications, with The Wire calling it, “a breathtaking piece of music, which even offers a fleeting trace of atmospheric reprieve among the devastation, only to ferociously erase it with a beautiful and grim burst of blackgaze,” and Treble characterizing it as, “a brilliant achievement… what metal is capable of at its best…”
I ask Berdan if he’s had any favorite reactions to the ultra-heavy (both sonically and thematically) work, whether from critics or fans, and he tells me, “People have written so many kind responses to the record, but I’ve talked about it so much that I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to address them one by one.” He does, however, confess that there have been a few think pieces that he’s especially appreciated (“It makes me feel a lot less alone.”), but quickly goes on to admit, “The thing is, it’s not like I made this for everyone who’s gone through similar experiences. It’s just the record that I felt like I needed to make for myself at the time.”
Uniform have been touring American Standard since playing a Record Release Show at Bowery Ballroom in late August, before spending a week in early September up and down the West Coast, and then the better part of October in Europe and the UK, which Berdan tells me provided an especially memorable experience: “The responses have been overwhelming… The UK was wonderful, we always have a great time there… We do the intro to ‘American Standard’ live, but I don’t have the means to do the echo, but in London the crowd all yelled back the responses, and that felt very special to me, very moving.”
Tuesday night Uniform kick off their last run of dates of 2024, which will have them at Johnny Brenda’s this Wednesday, December 4th. And while Michael tells me it’s been inspiring to see how many people the new songs have resonated with, he also says that he’s not entirely sure what to expect playing the new album (likely in its entirety, but likely out of order) live for many people for the first time: “We’ll be playing places where we haven’t played this material yet. I’m curious to see how it goes over in the Northeast… I don’t have any expectations; I just hope we can do the material justice.”
These dates will have Berdan, Greenberg, and company double-headlining with longtime friend and labelmate Pharmakon (with True Body handling support duties), experimental project of Margaret Chardiet, who Michael can’t say enough about: “She makes some of the most powerful art of the millennium… I’m humbled to get to play with her. I’m looking forward to having my mind blown several times over the course of a few weeks.” And considering that Uniform, like Pharmakon, have experimented with a plethora of sonic subgenres over the course of their discography (largely in the realm of industrial and noise… but in far from a traditional sense of either), I’m curious if Michael has any favorite music to come out this year, possibly in addition to his and Chardiet’s latest (Maggot Mass, which dropped in October), and he has a fairly definitive list.
“Sakamoto’s Opus is probably my favorite record of the year. I’m still kind of reeling from that loss, just as a fan, but what a way to go out… The new Cure record is incredible and just one of the most cinematic records they’ve ever put out, on par with the likes of Disintegration… Concrete Winds, as far as brutal metal goes… Jlin, which is one of the more intrepid approaches to jazz and hard dance music that I’ve ever heard… Meat Beat Manifesto with Merzbow is harrowing from start to finish… Those would probably be my top 5 of the year…”
*Get your tickets here.
