John Robb

I had the privilege of seeing Pop Will Eat Itself a couple years ago, and they were exactly what you would guess from the name: an alternative rock band that dismisses the folly of generically manufactured pop music, and is good enough to back up all the trashtalk it dishes out.

This group actually draws inspiration from a lot of hip-hop groups, such as Public Enemy, Run DMC, and The Beastie Boys, which is great for me since my favorite genre is hip-hop.

Just as the name suggests, there’s a huge counterculture undercurrent in their music and it’s all done quite subtly and organically, with nothing ever forced. The only thing they force is their will on everybody in their audience, with their oppressive energy a constant smothering presence that proves infectious as the entire crows was bouncing with every beat.

These guys may be rockers, but they’ve also picked up a few things about being emcees as they’re experts at getting the crowd involved and hyped up. 2014 is a busy year for Pop Will Eat Itself with both an EP and a full album coming out, so everybody should take a trip out to catch a show on the accompanying tour if it comes to their city.