SLUG Picnic: NARC

In a slurry of sound, SLUG Picnic is back for our September showcase featuring NARC, Gag Order, TOTAL CEREAL and MUTIE, who bring a pugnacity of pop-culture, politics and punk. SLUG Picnic takes place on Saturday, Sept. 25, at 230 S. 500 West in Salt Lake City. Tickets are $5. Picnic seating starts at 5 p.m., and music is 6–9 p.m. SLUG Picnic’s sponsors are Dented Brick Distillery, Sparrow Electric, Gem City Fine Foods, Squatters, Les Madeleines and GREENbike.

Comprising Emma Anderson (vocals), Spencer Anderson (guitar) and Tyler Barrani (drums), powerviolence trio NARC released their first record, Personifying the Antithesis of American Values, earlier this year. “We wanted NARC to be darker and heavier,” says Spencer, “more violencey.”

NARC pulls its influences from other women-fronted, three-piece powerviolence and grindcore groups such as Shitstormtrooper, but with a revolutionary fervor. “My last name is Arabic and half my family is from Benghazi. My last name in English literally means ‘outsider,’” says Barrani. “I was raised in post–9-11 America—I’ve never not been randomly selected going through an airport … testing my palms for explosive residue.” It’s the delirium from experiences like these that reverberate out of NARC’s tracks like “Feminine Fuckability as Social Currency” and “Hooded Conspiracy.”

Now able to play live again, NARC is frequently playing benefit shows for members of the community or larger organizations, such as the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. “If it wasn’t for this scene, the people that I’ve met [and] the music that we play, I don’t know where the fuck I’d be in life right now,” says Barrani. The Salt Lake punk scene’s inclusivity is what sets it apart from other cities, according to the band. Whether newly moved to town or having a first experience at a show, “They’re taken care of,” says Barrani.

Editor’s Note: Quotes from NARC’s Emma Anderson have been removed from this version at the subject’s request.