Speedy Ortiz

Driven by gnarled guitars and Sadie Dupuis’ literate yet vulnerable lyrics, Speedy Ortiz brings the brash, arty defiance of ’90s indie rock into the 21st century. The band began as the solo project of singer/songwriter/guitarist Dupuis, who released lo-fi efforts like 2011’s The Death of Speedy Ortiz, but as the group’s lineup fleshed out, so did their sound. Their acclaimed 2013 debut studio album Major Arcana added more heft to their music while calling to mind Pavement and Liz Phair. While their music grew more polished, Speedy Ortiz remained committed to activism, frequently donating the proceeds of their releases and tours to progressive charities and creating their most directly political album with 2018′s Twerp Verse. On 2023′s alt-metal and electronic-influenced Rabbit Rabbit, Speedy Ortiz continued to deliver musically and emotionally challenging songs bolstered by a wealth of hooks and choruses.
Dupuis started making music as Speedy Ortiz in 2011, recording songs on her laptop while also working on her M.F.A. and teaching songwriting at a summer camp in Northampton, Massachusetts. Taking the name Speedy Ortiz from a character in the comic book Love & Rockets, Dupuis released the lo-fi Cop Kicker EP and The Death of Speedy Ortiz, an album that ranged from noise-damaged folk songs to the ’90s indie rock-inspired sound that became the foundation of the project’s music.
At the end of 2011, Speedy Ortiz grew into a four-piece featuring Dupuis, bassist Darl Ferm, drummer Mike Falcone, and guitarist Matt Robidoux. The band’s members worked day jobs (as a college writing instructor, a guitar teacher, a librarian, and a burger-stand employee, respectively) while playing shows in and around N.Y.C.’s five boroughs. Early in 2012, they recorded the self-released single Taylor Swift/Swim Fan with veteran producer, mixer, and engineer Paul Q. Kolderie. That June, the band made its debut on Exploding in Sound Records with the Sports EP.
A single for Inflated Records, “Ka-Prow!/Hexxy,” appeared in April 2013 before the July release of Speedy Ortiz’s debut album, Major Arcana. Recorded in four days with engineer Justin Pizzoferrato, the album earned acclaim for its writerly lyrics and knotty indie rock and reached number 30 on the U.S. Top Heatseekers chart. The band supported the album by booking their own tour, and played dates with the Breeders and Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks as well as festivals including Bonnaroo and Pitchfork. In between tours, Speedy Ortiz recorded February 2014′s pop and R&B-influenced Real Hair EP with Kolderie and Pizzoferrato. The band also issued the track “Bigger Party” as part of Adult Swim’s Singles series, as well as the single “Doomsday,” the digital proceeds from which benefited the Ariel Panero Memorial Fund at VH1 Save the Music. Also in 2014, former Grass Is Green guitarist Devin McKnight replaced Robidoux.
For their second album, April 2015′s Foil Deer, Speedy Ortiz wrote songs during a retreat in the Connecticut woods and recorded them with producer Nicolas Vernhes at Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room studio. A tighter and more polished effort than the band’s debut, Foil Deer once again earned critical praise, and Speedy Ortiz won the Boston Music Awards for Artist, Album and Song of the Year. They played shows with Ex Hex, Hop Along, and Mitski among other artists, and donated the net proceeds of their December 2015 all-ages tour to the Girls Rock Camp Foundation. The following year saw the release of the remix EP Foiled Again, which included Foil Deer outtakes as well as reworkings of the album’s songs by Lizzo, Open Mike Eagle, and Lazerbeak. The debut album from Dupuis’ subversive pop solo project Sad13, Slugger, also arrived in 2016.
Following a move to Philadelphia, Speedy Ortiz returned in 2017 with “In My Way,” which appeared on the politically minded benefit compilation Our First 100 Days, and “Screen Gem,” which was McKnight’s final work with the band and a benefit single for the criminal justice reform nonprofit CLOSErikers. After discarding an album’s worth of songs in the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Speedy Ortiz recorded their third album with guitarist Andy Moholt at Brooklyn’s Silent Barn. Mixed by Mike Mogis, 2018′s Twerp Verse featured some of the band’s poppiest, and most overtly political, songs. The album reached number six on the Heatseeker Albums chart and number 36 on the Independent Albums chart in the U.S. Also in 2018, Speedy Ortiz commemorated their tour with Liz Phair by releasing a cover of “Blood Keeper,” an outtake from the Scream 2 soundtrack that Phair penned. Late in the year, they released “DTMFA”/“Bigger Party” as part of the Adult Swim Singles series.
Speedy Ortiz experienced some lineup changes after the release of Twerp Verse: Ferm left the group and former Worriers bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides joined the fold, and Joey Doubek became the band’s drummer after Falcone’s departure in 2019. The following year, Dupuis issued the second Sad13 album Haunted Painting and released a book of poetry, Cry Perfume, in 2022; meanwhile, 2021′s The Death of Speedy Ortiz & Cop Kicker … Forever gathered Speedy Ortiz’s first recordings along with bonus tracks and liner notes written by Dupuis. To make their fourth album, Speedy Ortiz recorded at Joshua Tree’s Ranch de la Luna studio and Tornillo, Texas’ Sonic Ranch with Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin as co-producer and engineer. Released in September 2023, the ambitious Rabbit Rabbit dug into the band members’ early love of alternative metal and the Palm Desert scene as Dupuis confronted her memories of abuse and trauma in her songs for the first time. ~ Heather Phares