The Weird Punk of Northern Liberties
The Weird Punk of Northern Liberties
The West Philadelphia trio recount the history of their band
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Early this year I got to interview long-time Philadelphia band Northern Liberties for my Perfect Recognition project on intense aesthetic experiences. The band consists of brothers Justin and Marc Duerr on vocals and drums and Kevin Riley on bass and occasional vocals.
In addition to his role in the band as main vocalist—frequently donning a three-tom drumline kit over his shoulders—Justin is also a visual artist, producing flyer and album art for the band as well as murals, paintings, and drawings outside the context of the group. His recent solo art show, Let the Light Live, at New York City’s Van Der Plas Gallery, is just wrapping up. His obsession with the mysterious Toynbee tiles embedded into streets scattered around cities in North and South America was chronicled in the film Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, which won director Jon Foy the Sundance Directing Award for Documentary in 2011.
I’ve played with Northern Liberties in all my main performance projects: as a solo artist, with Grandchildren, and with Rad Racket. In particular, in the late 2000s, Rad Racket—the heaviest band I was in—played many shows with them because both of our bands were on the heavier side. Here they are playing at the Danger! Danger! Gallery in 2009:
The band’s most recent album, Self-Dissolving Abandoned Universe, was recorded in March 2022 with the legendary engineer and producer Steve Albini, who passed away in May of this year. The album provides the soundtrack to this episode. The recording was made while Marc was having back issues, which he had surgery to correct. Between recording and its release in September 2023, Marc recovered, and the band returned to their live show.
Our interview started with a discussion of intense experiences with art, but within that conversation, the band also delved into some of their background. In the editing room, I chose to reorganize the pieces of the interview so that it starts with their history growing up and ends with the intense discussion. So, if the latter is what you came for, stay until the end.
Keep up with Northern Liberties: