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Considered one of the primary architects of today's contemporary punk landscape, the mercurial St. Louis-based artist Martin Meyer (of Lumpy and The Dumpers, BB Eye, and Fried E.M. notoriety) is still the leader of the pack. Comparable in some ways to the godfathers of DIY pop—Jonathan Richman, R. Stevie Moore, Martin Newell, or Scott Miller—his latest band Soup Activists is a delightful diary of one man's pop obsessions. On the band's debut LP Mummy What Are Flowers For?, Meyer worked with Sweeping Promises to take the recording techniques somewhere greater. Tracks like "Jeffrey Jarvis," "The Times," or "Chaos Girls" embody offbeat pop from the heart, but like the shambolic smirk of Chris Knox or the shadowy eccentricity of Dan Treacy, these songs that sound like scrappy lost artifacts burst with multicolor brilliance. Across the band's latest EP cassette Ambrosia and Linens, Meyer shies away from the sun beamed jingle-jangles and chippy-chappy British accent in favor of a dense and cavernous mix of '90s-inspired power pop wit that's sung with a ethereal sweetness, à la The Rentals, Guided By Voices, and The Super Friendz. Take tracks like "Typical Flowers" or "Skeleton Fight Song"—they pull all the pieces together with their cagey melodies, earworm hooks, and fuzzy distortion, but consciously embrace darker textures and dissonant sonics. That's the charm Soup Activists represents—the gangly outsider who refuses to remain the same character he had been a decade earlier. We recently spoke with Meyer all about the recording project's origins, how it expanded into a five-piece band, and how the debut LP wears its '60s pop allegiances on its sleeve.
How exactly did Soup Activists begin and what was it like it later expanding into a full-fledged band?
Martin Meyer: The band version started with the "not so punk" friends I made in the past few years or friends I've known since high school. They're all musicians and I had all these songs so it just made sense to invite them along. I previously formed this giant lineup when we opened for Bikini Kill last year, mostly just to bring all the friends along. I continued that for a year but felt stuck with it and needed to downsize. I felt terrible since I didn't want to let anyone down, but I had to make the call. The current band is now a five-piece—Ani plays keyboard and sings, John plays guitar, T.J. is on bass, Kathleen is our newest drummer, and I play guitar and sing lead. Being a vocalist especially playing pop music is really hard and it's the complete opposite of being a punk singer. It's a new setting for me and I'm still trying to figure it out.
I really enjoy the '60s jangle and mod pop charm of Soup that's reminiscent of The Cleaners From Venus, TVPS, and early Who. What started the whole four-track affair?
Well I got a four-track recorder in 2015. I was messing around with that for a few years, recording the first Dumpers 12" on it. But then I don't know... I never really learned to practice my craft as like an engineer or something. But with Soup, I've been wanting to get better at recording, which is why I went into a studio for this last record, which was an amazing experience. I got to credit the band Home Blitz for inspiring this project. That's Daniel DiMaggio's power pop band and he's been doing it for close to 20 years. So much time has passed on since he started the band that's gone into obscurity, but those recordings are so good. I then suddenly got more into the bands you mentioned plus Dolly Mixture, The Breeders, and The Rentals.
What can you tell me about the first tape Useless Sounds. What do you recall from recording those songs in November-December '20?
You know I like songs on that tape, but overall it sounds pretty shitty and some of the songs are kind of whatever in my opinion. I had been making demos for years, but I had never finished anything. And during the pandemic, I was like, okay, I just need to finish this, even if it's not great, just to get me back putting out stuff again.
My favorite song from that tape is "I Should Have Never." What's the story behind that one?
Yeah, that's my favorite song on the tape too. It's about my friend who overdosed and passed away in 2017. It's just really about my feelings dealing with that.
Your second tape Riling up the Neighbors continues your process from improving upon your home recording techniques between the months of February-September '21. What are your thoughts looking back on these recordings?
I was going through a really bad breakup for two years and a lot of songs on that tape came out of that. So looking back, I don't like that tape very much. I got a Yamaha MT8X 8-track recorder around then, so it was fun to be able to add more layers to the songs.
Did some of the earliest Soup songs appear on the Medieval Soap Operas tape?
Yeah the last song "Trinket" is the earliest one. I couldn't decide how to do the vocals over it, but I knew I wanted to finish it eventually. And then Soup manifested a few years after that so I decided to finish it then. Regarding the rest of the tape, I recorded those songs on a four-track recorder with Casio drums between 2017-2022.
The first Soup Activists show took place April 8th, 2022 [the set was recorded and fans can listen to it here]. Before the live band came about, you played that show entirely by yourself. What are your memories from that?
I was playing alone to a backing track, so it was just me, a guitar and microphone, and a four-track. It was sort of a train wreck [laughs]. My guitar strap failed on me right as the first song started, but I came out of that okay. I covered the Ramones and Guided By Voices. Also The Serfs played that night too and they were amazing.
Your full-length debut Mummy What Are Flowers For? was originally released on tape last fall, but then was given the wax treatment earlier this year. What was it like recording these ten songs with Caufield Schnug and Lira Mondal of Sweeping Promises?
The record was supposed to be a long time ago, but before we toured Europe, we just put out the rough mixes on tape through Mangel. It was such an honor and privilege to record in a studio, especially with Lira and Caufield, who are such sweet people and really talented musicians. Lira is also a professionally trained vocalist so I had her sing backing vocals on a couple songs—she really makes the record in my opinion. Their home studio is soundproofed so we recorded most of the songs until the middle of the night. Also the studio is loaded with lots of really nice equipment with tons of pedals, amps, mics, and synths to choose from. They had this Farfisa organ from the sixties that I really loved. It was a total dream.
What were the inspirations behind the album's opening track "Jeffrey Jarvis"?
Well, I'm in my thirties now and I just recently started smoking weed the first time a few years ago and it would really activate my memories. I was just thinking about people and like events that I hadn't thought of in like 20 plus years, including this guy from my childhood called Jeffrey Jarvis. He went to the same church as me and was kind of annoying. But I hadn't thought about him forever and I just was laughing at the name.
What was it like putting together the music video for "The Times"?
Yeah, we filmed that in May '23 and the school scenes were shot at Harvard University because we had this friend who was going there and he knew all the good spots. We filmed in some classrooms then we shot the rest of the video at T.J.'s house.
How did that European tour go? What were some of the highlights?
It was such a blast. Most members in the band then had never been to Europe and T.J. said it was the best thing he ever did. It was a very DIY tour—I booked everything then my friend from Exwhite hooked us up with a van and some gear. We went to Belgrade, Serbia and back which was insane. It's outside the EU and all the cars and the buildings look super brutalist.
How did the tour go back in the springtime?
It was a great time! Brooklyn was probably my favorite as the lineup was stacked. It was us, Home Blitz, Chronophage, and The Follies. I didn't realize my friend Mike [Liebman] played guitar in The Follies, who previously played in Rik and The Pigs and VEXX.
What can you tell readers about your latest tape Ambrosia and Linens?
I have a bunch of demos from recording the past two years and those six songs are the ones I decided to finish quickly before the tour. I just wanted to have fun with it—there's no keyboard, way less power pop, more '90s "slacker" or whatever like The Rentals or Pixies. It's still Soup.
Is there any song from the record that means the most to you (and why) or you're most proud of?
"Skeleton Fight Song" is about the local DIY baseball team The Skeletons and it sounds like Chumbawamba. It's really dumb, but I'm pretty excited about it [laughs].
How exciting is it that Soup Activists is playing Gonerfest this year?
I'm excited to DJ, especially to a giant crowd. I've only ever did that in small bars and like a friends party so that'll be cool. I've been buying up some records that I'll wanna play. I think I'm going to visit Graceland too with The Schizophonics who I was just on tour along with the Gimme Gimmes when I filling in on bass for Still Animals. I never played big venues before so it was pretty ridiculous, but also really good and really fun.
Did The Schizophonics bring their dog Beanie on the tour?
Yes the dog was on tour and we were chilling with her a lot [laughs].
What were some of the highlights from those shows?
Dude the Gimmes Gimmes lineup was stacked. Dez [Cadena] of Black Flag was playing rhythm guitar, C. J. Ramone on bass, and Pinch [The Damned and English Dogs] was playing drums. Pinch had us all over for a Tiki party at his house in Southern California [laughs]. It was a bit funny being around all these rock 'n' roll heads.
Aside for Soup appearing at Gonerfest in Memphis, where else are you playing?
So we're going to be doing a tour around it—just a quickie, like a week or something. We're playing with Class at The Nest in St. Louis before then have a couple shows after with Etran De L'Aïr from West Africa in Atlanta and New Orleans which I'm really excited about. I got to see them play last summer and they're an incredible live band. While they were playing, they were just smiling at each other the whole time like they were living the dream—it was magical. Then we're playing another show in St. Louis at The Sinkhole with J.R.C.G.
What are your thoughts on the new unofficial Lumpy And The Dumpers compilation tape All Songs Off...?
I don't really know why people want to keep releasing the same Dumpers songs, but if you want to, that's fine. My friend in Germany put that one together and I dug the artwork. I'm proud of The Dumpers, but I don't really need to do it anymore. It's sorta hilarious being older and seeing people remembering your old band. During the Still Animals tour in San Francisco, I went to some bar and I got recognized by this really random drunk guy. I was just shaking my head like, god dammit, why me? [laughs]. While I do miss fronting a high energy band, I am happy and excited with what I'm doing now.
What was it like backing up Jake Robertson for Alien Nosejob's tour around the USA last year?
Oh, it was super fun. I got to play keyboard so it was funny being sorta an add-on guy for the first time. We're all dear friends of Jake and we brought our other friend Will [Harley] from Sydney—it was just like another vacation with your friends.
Before I let you go, what are some of these songs you uploaded on YouTube? East Doncaster High School's "Bad Habits" and Plastic Metals' "It's My Song"?
I was listening to this NTS radio show that Paco of La Vida Es Un Mus does and I guess he gets people in to guest DJ on his show a lot. There was this one episode where this guy was playing ultra obscure punk music and it was stuff right up my alley. So those two songs struck me the most and I wanted to show them to my friends so I just ripped them and put them up on YouTube.
Thank you for your time. Anything fans need to know about Soup or any last words you'd like to share with our readers?
A new Soup album is in the works and it's been coming along really well. Also we're going to be touring Japan next March. My friend Tatsuya from M.A.Z.E. has been helping with that and he's been booking a lot of great American bands recently there like NAG and Electric Chair. I'm really excited for that and I have six months to figure out exactly what to do there while I'm there—everything there seems so sick so you can't lose. Also, come say hi to me at the merch table on this current tour. We'll have some shirts to sell and copies of the new album and tape. Also if anybody out there wants to gift me studio time while on tour, please get in touch.
Ambrosia and Linens is out now on Inscrutable Records.
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