Lancaster, Pennsylvania duo American Motors draw on punk, post-punk, shoegaze and the DIY spirit of underground indie rock to create music that’s as abrasive as it is melodic. Formed in 2023 by guitarist and vocalist Dustin White and drummer Alex Steward, the band return with their second album, Functional Music, a record that builds on the dystopian world of their debut Content, shifting its focus towards the damaged, disillusioned characters trying to survive within it.
Recorded with J. Robbins (Jawbox) at Baltimore’s Magpie Cage studio, Functional Music combines jagged guitars, hypnotic repetition and noise-rock intensity with soaring shoegaze textures and unexpectedly infectious melodies. Drawing inspiration from bands such as Swervedriver, Shellac and The Birthday Party, alongside the gritty storytelling of 1970s New Hollywood cinema, American Motors create a series of darkly humorous, often bleak musical vignettes that still leave room for moments of humanity and hope.
To mark the release of Functional Music, we’ve asked American Motors to share three of the key musical influences behind the album as part of our Under the Influence feature.
Silver Jews – American Water
The greatest lyrical lesson I have learned is how much the first line matters. As far as I’m concerned it’s the mark of a truly great songwriter and this record opens with one of the greatest lines of all time. Period. End of story. I’m not going to type it out here JUST in case you haven’t listened to this record yet. IF that’s the case go listen to this right now then come back to the read the rest. Zevon is an undisputed wizard at this, as “I went home with a waitress just like I always do” illustrates. So is Tom Petty, as his “baby don’t walk away I’m too drunk to follow” always proves (“You think your gonna take her away with your money and your cocaine” deserves a nod as well). It’s easy to get hyper fixated on Berman’s words because they are absolutely genius but there is sooooo much more going on here. The ramshackle vibes that are omnipresent despite the confidence on display. At the end of the day I am, and will forever be, an indie rocker — but in the way referenced in song by Archers Of Loaf and Sebadoh and not whatever the fuck it’s come to mean writ large in 2026. This record captures that vibe. Not just because of Malkamus serving as right hand man, but just something in the air maaaaaaan. There is a story everybody who has spent any time around me is sick of hearing about being at an afterparty and the host saying “play something that reminds you of being in high school” and I put on Pavement’s Crooked Rain. To which they got upset and told me to stop trying to be cool and that they wanted me to play something like The Beatles. I didn’t own a Beatles record till after I had seen Pavement twice. I digress. Any time I get stuck lyrically I will put on a Silver Jews record and just try to leave my own head. The mixture of heartbreak and hilarious is exactly what I’m always aiming for. “When they turn on the chair somethings added to the air” is absolutely brutal after hitchhiking from Odessa to Houston because you have tickets for midnight execution. Steve Earle’s “Billy Austin” also features an execution but the vibe is noticeably different. Ryan Davis is currently keeping this tradition alive and well and finally getting the praise he has deserved for years. Trying to tie up all my thoughts on this record increasingly sounds like random scribbles on a napkin or a bathroom stall because it’s just been in my DNA now for so long that it’s impossible to summate. When we were in hunt for a bassist one of the requirements was that they had to have an answer to being asked “Silver Jews or Smog” (and understand both the question and importance thereof as well). Why can’t monsters get along with other monsters?
Skinny Puppy – Remission
One of the anchor stores of the Charleston Town Center Mall was a Best Department Store. They didn’t sell records, but they had a stereo department. While walking thru Best stereo department in 8th grade I spotted a tape in the stereo department just sitting there. It looked super sick with the halftone printed skull and was by a band named Skinny Puppy. I put it in my pocket. I’ve never been a good shoplifter. I did have a great grocery stealing routine years later at Kroger’s involving having the person watching self-checkout enter a cup of coffee, which wasn’t in the system to self scan, to build trust. To my teenage brain grabbing this tape felt more like I was picking up something somebody left than stealing. In retrospect it probably belonged to somebody who worked in the electronics department. If you’re reading this and it belonged to you I am sorry and I will give you back your tape. When I got back to the log cabin I was living in my brain melted. I hadn’t heard anything like this before. I had heard more brutal stuff in a metal way a la death metal but this was caustic in way that was also I dunno… sexy? I mean as sexy as something can seem to somebody in 8th grade living in a log cabin. This was absolutely a gateway drug. From here you discover Ministry (although their first LP as a synth pop band reigns supreme in my house) and then via Kurt and Thurston your buying a Swans cassette and just throwing your future in the toilet. Then you see Hank Rollins with that tattoo and buy a tape with a horse peeing on it. While recording with J (he also has a tattoo of horse pee pee band) we discussed a lot of various goth to goth adjacent influences — in particular The Chameleons. This record though showed me how you could be caustic and gnarly without being HEAVY and how cool textures were that weren’t just guitars. The delaying bits that make up “Film” are absolutely crucial to my love of delay. Skinny Puppy used the Ensoniq sampler a bunch and I got obsessed with them a few years ago because of the weird sample resolution. On our first record I used a specific pedal, Lossy, to try to get that archaic sampler sound but live with guitar. The influence of UK post punk in general really looms large here and it’s pretty unavoidable, but when I heard this I hadn’t heard any of that yet. So I had no idea where this was coming from or how much their influences would influence me later. The Charleston Town Center Mall now only has an insurance company as an anchor store. In closing few things in this world are greater than dancing in goth bars. Drugs are optional.
Terry Riley & John Cale – Church of Anthrax
Will somebody please make biopic about the making of this record. If not a biopic then what about at least a documentary before these two giants die. The fact that they got all mad at each other and argued which then Riley stoped going to the mixing sessions just fascinates me. I need to see very dramatic reenactment of that. Cale saying something pithy and cutting in his Welsh accent and Riley being sullen in the corner. The sort of overwrought performance that makes all music biopics goofy. The Doors movie does rule though. The reason why this record is so important to me and what we do is the fact that it’s a perfect cross section of so many things I love but takes a sort of rockist approach with it. Hearing Terry Riley’s sick organ washes with DOUBLE DRUMMERS? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It gets almost into some free jazz moments. The first record I ever bought on eBay was when I was attempting to wrap my ahead around free jazz was a Jospeh Jarman solo LP. Then we dip down into some piano and delayed sax on the second track? Let’s fucking go dawg. Bliss out but keep it close to the edge of dissonance. When we first started the band my thesis was “what if a new age tape (that was actually guitar) played over the meanest rhythm section” and while I don’t think we exactly ended up there we have given it our all. Flip the record and you get a John Cale pop song? What? This record has it all! I only accept two answers to the (totally pointless) ‘best band ever’ question and they Can or The Velvet Underground. I feel like they are both flip sides of the same coin as they share a lot in common conceptually, but I’ll save you that screed today. The guitar line in this pop song is amazing and creepy and you could build a The Church song around. “Ides of March” is about as funky as avant-garde gets and the headphone split is bonkers. Then they end the record with more VU vibes but sans vocals. Basically this record allows me to cheat on a list like this and connect a lot of dots of what I love and think is important. It’s also a great introduction and starting point for people who hear “minimalist composer” and wince in pain. If they already love VU, Can, or Sonic Youth you are already at the door. Just open it. Also one of the best abrupt endings of a record ever. Christgau gave it a C. How rude.
