SeeYouSpaceCowboy...

A Los Angeles-based outfit who blend punishingly heavy hardcore and politically minded art-punk into their own self-described “sasscore,” SeeYouSpaceCowboy rode a series of well-received EPs and 7” releases into a deal with Pure Noise Records. In 2019, the label issued their full-length debut, The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds, followed two years later by The Romance of Affliction. The group’s sound continued to evolve with songs abruptly shifting between mathy technicality, raw deathcore, and melodic emo on their third set, 2024′s Coup de Grâce. Taking their name from a phrase in the 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop, SeeYouSpaceCowboy formed in 2016, its members coming from various hardcore and screamo bands like Flowers Taped to Pens, René Descartes, and Letters to Catalonia. Although shredded vocals constitute a part of their approach, SeeYouSpaceCowboy have resisted the screamo tag from the very start, instead pitting heavy musical elements of hardcore and metalcore against a curious vocal delivery that involves frontwoman Connie Sgarbossa alternating her screams with brassy, semi-melodic shouting that the band refers to as sasscore. An array of anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and pro-LGBTQ themes also infuse their music, which first found its way to fans at the end of 2016 in the form of a demo CD-R release. Although the group’s foundation shifted a handful of times in their first few years, it coalesced around a core personnel of Sgarbossa on vocals, her brother Ethan Sgarbossa on drums, and guitarist Jesse Price with a handful of different bassists coming in and out of the band. SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s first proper release was a 2017 7” EP called Fashion Statements of the Socially Aware, followed later that year by the single “Atrocities from a Story Book Perspective.” They returned a few months later in early 2018 with SYSC//SGKF, which was a split single with Kentucky’s Second Grade Knife Fight. Another lineup shift occurred in tandem with their 2019 signing to Pure Noise Records. Ethan Sgarbossa was replaced on drums by Brian Prosser and new bassist Cameron Phipps was welcomed into the fold just prior to Pure Noise’s release of the compilation Songs for the Firing Squad, which collated the band’s previous releases and added two newly recorded tracks. Their proper studio debut, The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds, arrived later that year, followed by the EP A Sure Disaster in May 2021, the latter a split release with labelmates If I Die First. That November, SeeYouSpaceCowboy issued their sophomore album, The Romance of Affliction, which added elements of mathcore and deathcore to their potent mix. The band’s cover of Saosin’s “Seven Years” appeared on the 2022 Pure Noise compilation album Dead Formats, Vol. 1, after which they began to build toward their next album cycle. 2023′s “Chewing the Scenery” continued to blend melodic sections with technical shredding, emo, and visceral hardcore. It served as the lead single for the group’s third album, Coup de Grâce, which arrived in April 2024. ~ Timothy Monger