The off-kilter and noisy post-hardcore that Consumer Culture play has been developing through the anti-capitalist ideology and creative vision of vocalist Marshall Veth since 2018, and hit a new level with the entrance of guitarist Paul Joyce in 2019. Joyce quickly fell into the project’s style with crushingly dissonant playing that ultimately proved to pair best with the drumming of his own son, Paulie, who was quickly becoming a formidable player when the pair started playing Consumer Culture songs together. When the band was ready to play again in 2022, Paulie had joined Consumer Culture full time. Bassist Annie Bailey joined in 2024 after having a long-term interest in the project, setting the Baltimore quartet on their present trajectory of consistent performance and releasing new material. 

 

     To date, Consumer Culture has toured from New England to the Carolinas, released two LPs, an EP, a split with Powerwasher, and multiple singles. As artists for arts sake, Consumer Culture wears all of their intentions plainly, representing themselves as, “Anti-capitalist, with lyrical themes and artistic ethos that represent the downstream effects that this way of life has on us all”

 

     Citing Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Sonic Youth, and Mr. Bungle as influences helps contextualize the band’s sound, but their irreverent live presence and uncompromising heaviness distinctly feels akin to that of David Yow and The Jesus Lizard. In 2022, Consumer Culture played their first show out of quarantine, where Veth broke his leg as a result of an ill-fated stagedive, fortunately or unfortunately making it into a recording of the performance being now available on their Bandcamp site. Additionally, Consumer Culture has a well traveled clip of Veth’s antics during a show that has gotten over 4M views on Instagram and almost another million on Tik Tok with a repost from none other than Fred Durst. A still photograph of that video serves as the art for their single “Have You Seen This Man?”, which was released October 3rd on The Ghost Is Clear Records.