Brett Sullivan, the founder of anti-folk/punk band American Anymen, incorporates the brisk acoustic guitar strum of the Violent Femmes with the tossed-off exclamations of the Dead Milkmen on its new incendiary single ‘Selectively Stupid’. The track and its video come off of upcoming album Start My Center, which will be released July 16th. The band will be performing that night at NYC’s (Le) Poisson Rouge in support of the album and will share the stage with The Veldt and A Deer A Horse.
Sullivan formed American Anymen back in 1999 in NYC’s Lower East Side and he’s seen various members come and go, but he remains at its center, raging against the corrupt and broken down institutions in America and sticking it to the powerful few that are at the top of the political and economic pyramid. Sullivan is an equal opportunity provocateur politically, aiming his vitriol at both the right and left wings of government, and pointedly comments on the wide divide between the rich and the rest of society.
Lead single “Selectively Stupid” and its timely accompanying video hit all these targets and much more, homing in on police brutality and the power-tripping of some of those who are in a position of authority. Brief footage of U.S. citizen Freddie Gray being arrested is shown at the start and end of the video (He ended up in a coma while in police custody and subsequently died.), underscoring the message that even law enforcement should not be above the law.
Sullivan is currently joined by Tracy Brooks (Herman Dune) on drums and Harlem-based Nova Luz (The Amputees) on bass. The trio stirs up quite a raucous racket on “Selectively Stupid”, with Sullivan front ‘n’ center, shouting out his expletive-filled lyrics that call out the extreme right-wing and divisive demagogue Donald Trump. The strummed guitars and pushy drum beat drive the song along, with Sullivan, backed sporadically by Brooks and Luz, exclaims, “You’re too fucking wrong / You’re too fucking right-wing.” Later, Sullivan continues on another track, attacking the big corporations that make their employees, “Work harder / Expect less.” Sullivan has plenty to say and he takes a lot of shots on this raw and uncompromising tune.