It’s no miracle that Jesus Christ Supercar has resurfaced with fresh music filled with sonic layers and dancy beats. The glammy disco-indie outfit—consisting of guitarist Christopher Bachmann, drummer Tom Blood, and bassist Collin McCabe—is known for throwing down some of the grooviest melodies in town, augmented by quirky keyboards, driving percussion, and catchy lyrics. Their latest single, the tenaciously upbeat “French Girls,” offers a glimpse of things to come.
The trio met as teens at Saint Louis University High School and forged a bond based on their passion for music. In 2018, after a few years of being apart, they decided to form a band after McCabe, who had returned to St. Louis, reached out to Blood and Bachmann.
Get a guide to the region’s booming music scene
Subscribe to the St. Louis Music newsletter to discover upcoming concerts, local artists to watch, and more across an eclectic playlist of genres.
“We got rolling based on a few demos Collin made,” says Blood—who has also played drums with Native Sons and LS XPRSS—of the early days of Jesus Christ Supercar. “The idea was that we’d always lean into the indie sleaze and dance-punk stuff we loved. So we ran with it.”
Having honed their power-pop chops with a series of singles and EPs, as well as live dates with Broncho, El Ten Eleven, Cheap Trick, and others, the lads are at it again with Reliable Brake Service, a new EP slated for release on July 22. It’s the culmination of their collaboration with Austin-based producer, singer, and songwriter Mobley and Ben Majchrzak of Native Sound.
Blood and his bandmates couldn’t be more pleased with the fruits of their labor. “The combination of Ben’s insight into us as a band and Mobley’s experience, instinct, and decision-making with the direction of our sound has been a gift,” says Blood. “It was such a pleasure to see how real his consistency was in fleshing out ideas and ensuring there were plenty of options for decisions to be made later. We all felt that our vocal presence greatly improved [by] working with him.”
Mobley’s studio prowess allowed Jesus Christ Supercar to craft songs with a flavor that’s different from their previous work, which Bachmann says has created a more refined, modern sound. “I wouldn’t say we’re trying to do anything new or different, but I think we’ve become more open to having a more polished and produced sound while maintaining our foundational sonic elements of grit and fuzz,” he says.
To date, two songs from the EP have been released, “Rumble,” which came out late last year, and their current uptempo banger, “French Girls.” Their next single, “Rayguns,” comes out in July.
While the new singles mark a glossier sound, Blood and his partners are emphatic about keeping the heart and soul of Jesus Christ Supercar intact. That means sticking to danceable beats that their listeners can groove to.
“We always want people to have the freedom to fluctuate between face-melting, high-speed riffs and the scattered coolness of the light bouncing off a spinning disco ball,” Blood says. “If there’s one thing we’re committed to sonically, it’s a dance-pop cheese base with indie-sleaze sauce. We want to be able to explore deeper feelings in our new songs, expressed in an overture to the raunchy indie stars of the early aughts.”
But maturation and development do not come without their share of trials. McCabe says the band has experienced some frustration from those looking to pigeonhole their sound.
“We run into the occasional pushback of us being ‘too rock’ for the pop kids and ‘too pop’ for the rock kids,” he says. “It makes it challenging to find our audience, but when we find people who get what we’re doing, they love it.”
And there’s plenty of new stuff to love coming down the pipeline. After the release of Reliable Brake Service, Jesus Christ Supercar plans to get back to recording. There are a number of songs already on ice, just waiting for their turn in the spotlight. “Since we have a good number of tunes in the wings, we’re trying to organize some time to get more fleshed-out demos rolling, so we have solid preproduction before whenever we hit the studio next,” Bachmann says.
Blood hopes that listeners are energized by the new material, but perhaps more important, he just wants them to have fun with it. The goal is to produce music that brings joy and exuberance into people’s lives.
“Life is stressful enough as is, and we want to give people the opportunity to say, ‘Hey, that was a cool riff,’ and shake their hips,” Blood says. “We hope our songs are catchy enough for them to repeat a phrase or two when they are bopping around the house or going for a night out on the town.”
With “French Girls” released into the wild through various platforms, the trio is looking forward to playing the songs live this summer. On June 27, they’re supporting ¡Cazadores! at Off Broadway before their own EP release show on July 25 at the Old Rock House.
