Gnarcissists— Non-Stop and Figuring It Out As They Go

New York City based band, Gnarcissists, musically pull from the punk and rock genres, all while lingering in the undefined. And with each new release, Gnarcissists continue to evolve and reveal their sound. The band includes Matthew Orr (vocals), James Hernandez (guitar), Matthew Tillwick (guitar), Ben Arauz (guitar), Baby Delgado (bass), and Jerome Peel (drums). Their music is free from the constraints of genre confinement and filled with excitement, featuring brash clusters of noise coming from the three guitarists, thunderous vocals from lead singer Orr, and driving tempos from the rhythm section that shoot right out of the gate within the first seconds. Attend one of their live sets and you’ll experience an evening of unexpected turns, whether being confronted with sweaty, energetic moshing or standing off to the side to appreciate the gritty, rambunctious music coming from the group. 

In November of 2025 the band released their self-titled album, Gnarcissists, spanning fourteen tracks of old and new songs. And now, with over a decade of band experience under their belt, Gnarcissists are gearing up to release their upcoming EP this summer. The forthcoming release features six tracks of new material, marking the new musical era the group is entering. 

I’m curious about everyone's musical background and how the band formed 10 years ago.

Matthew Orr: This is the only band that I've been in. I grew up liking music. I started it with Jerry and Matt shortly after, back in 2016 or 2017. Our first release came out in 2018. We just went to shows a lot. I used to take photographs, and then it turned into, “Oh, I think maybe I can do this.” 

Jerome: I remember our first time when Matt kept inviting me to the studio. It was just him and his buddy getting drunk in the studio. I showed up there and I was like, “Let's make a song instead of you guys just making noise.” I think everybody jumped around. Matt was playing bass for a second. Hilarious. We kind of just took a long time to figure out where our spots were. There was a lot of fooling around.

So when's the next switch going to happen? 

Orr: Any day now. 

Baby: I didn’t know any of this story of how you guys got together. I joined later on.

Orr: We had a practice space in Williamsburg that we were chipping in at, and then eventually me and our old bass player and one other person shared it and we were there almost every day. I was living there for a little bit. It was on top of a pasta restaurant that was Harry Potter themed. Pasta Wiz. We were just there every single day. 

Jerome: Matt bribed Matt to come into the band. 

Orr: Matt was working at Baby’s All Right. Me and Jerry would go to Baby’s for shows and Matt was cooking and he would feed us and then we would all hang out. I would convince him to come back to the practice space with a beer and a fun time. And we would make music. 

Matthew Tillwick: So glad I said yes. 

Orr: A lot of funny stuff happened.

Jerome: Some nudity. 

Orr: It's a very hot, small room. And then we just started making music. We were friends with a lot of other musicians and through Matt and through other people, we would somehow get on bills and kind of kept going. We just didn't really quit. There's been a lot of members of this band or various people floating in and out and this is the longest formation we've had since starting it. 

How long has this formation of the band been together? 

Orr: Two or three years at this point. 

Tillwick: First off, I love music. These two cool guys had me come rock and roll with them. Ten years later, we just put out a record. 

Jerome: I'm Tilly’s biggest fan of his other project.

Orr: We used to just go to his show and kind of force him to the practice space.

Ben: I joined last of all these guys. 

Orr: You joined today.

Ben: I joined a few years ago. But I was hanging out with them drinking and I played in a few other bands and then I wanted to do this. Now I do this. 

Orr: How did you [James] join the band? We’ve never actually talked about this. 

James: It was during COVID and I was working in the East Village, giving out free drinks to everybody. Matt just told me to come to a practice one day, and then I showed up and that's about it. I'm still showing up. I think that was maybe five years ago. It was when they were still doing Soul Scream at Our Wicked Lady and they're closed now. 

Baby: That's the first time I saw you guys play. It was just this big wall of sound. I was like, “Wow I want to play in it.”

Orr: I remember you played somewhere in the city and I was like, “You should play bass with us.” 

James: I played guitar first and then the other bass player resigned. So then I played bass for a second and that's when [Baby] joined because me and [Baby] used to hang out every day.

Baby: I thought I was crazy. Then I met these guys.

James: I played bass for two shows or something.

Orr: And then [Baby], how did you join the band? Through James, right?

Baby: Yeah. I was looking at St. Dymphna's, that same bar we were giving him free drinks at.

Orr: We would go to the Tompkins to hang out in the park. Me and Matt were living on 7th Street at the time in the city. We just got the craziest apartment, we thought our lives were going good. And it was March, 2020. 

James: It was a strange time.

Orr: We kind of all just bonded a bit and that was the lineup. We didn't really play that many shows then. 

Ben: I think the first time I met them I had done sound at a show that they played. It was in the basement of an Italian restaurant. And so I was there to drink and my friend made me do sound, and then I met them and some of their friends and stuff. I was hanging out with you guys at the bar a lot. 

Baby: That was my favorite show we've ever done.

James: You couldn't see.

Orr: It was an old Italian restaurant that they let us play down in the basement and they filled it full of fog. It was so loud.

Baby: Hang out with us long enough and you can be in the band. 

Well, I have a couple of questions about your self-titled album that you released in November. Gnarcissists, 14 Tracks, which is quite long. I was curious about the creation process of this album? Was it songs that you had written specifically for this album? Was it an accumulation of things that you had done over the last several years? 

Tillwick: Half of them are old. We wrote and recorded the other half on the spot there in the studio. We wrote it the week before and recorded it the week after. We just say, “Yeah, we got songs,” and then write them really fast the week of.

Baby: We were down in a basement for 10 days straight with Gus [Oberg] and Johnny T. And you can't even stand up and it's like the most crazy experience and you're locked in. We recorded the Hare Krishna song. What is it called on the record? 

Orr: Hk Ultra. 

Baby: It was the last song we wrote. We recorded it last and we were in there 10 days straight and we came out of the basement underneath Lucinda’s now, back then it was Heaven Can Wait. So you're in this total bunker and we came out and it was when those Canadian fires were happening and we were doing these chants. We had been down there for 10 days straight and we came out and we're like, “Oh my God, we brought the end of the world with those chants.”  

Orr: That was our wrap, and we came outside and our eyes started burning.

You developed some of the work in the studio?

Baby: Gus is an amazing producer. It was crazy doing it live. Every producer's different. But he did a lot of takes and he did this crazy magic with it afterwards. So it was great.

Orr: Everything that I think has happened to us kind of gets offered and you have to say yes and hit it. We got asked to do the recording. And we were like, “Well shit, we can't say no to this.” But we didn't have enough songs, so the week leading up we wrote most of it then and even some in the studio too. But yeah, we had about probably a week of just kind of practicing and spending time in our practice space. 

Why 14 tracks? 

Orr: I think we wanted to get a polished version of our older songs too. 

Jerome: And they changed, all the members changed. 

Orr: We wanted to try to capture how we play it now. We were like, “Alright, well we have a guy that's willing to spend 10 days with us. Let's just include everything.”

Baby: It's kind of nice to have different versions of the songs too. 

Orr: We included the five older songs.

James: That record took some years off our lives. 

Baby: I ended up in the hospital on that record.

Orr: Almost lost [Baby]. 

Baby: We were having a good time making that one. 

Orr: We would spend twelve hours there a day, just like not seeing sunlight.

James: Yeah, everybody had that thousand yard stare. 

Orr: It was time and place.

Track one, “Dr. Ed,” why did you open with that song? And track 14 is titled, “Intro,” but it's really the outro.

Orr: I thought it'd be funny to have an outro called “Intro.” And then “Dr. Ed,” I think that just kind of set the mood.

Jerome: We also start with that song. 

Tillwick: We play it first every show. That’s why we recorded it first. 

Orr: It's a blend of old and new. 

The sixth track, “Celebrity” is the longest on the album. And about one minute in it takes a very experimental instrumental turn. How does something like that get written into a song?

Orr: It's a lot of nitrous. We used to have this guy that would bring us an actual scuba diving tank full.

Baby: Well, when I first joined them, I had never been into the Grateful Dead. I went to a show with them and it was the first time seeing what a jam could be. And these guys all fucking shred. 

Orr: I think that song is a good example too because we had a previous recording of it that's quite different from the one that is on the record. I think, to not sugarcoat it, we were just in a basement doing a ton of gas and we were like, “Let's have a long jam.” 

Does it change every time you play?

James: Every time is different.  

Ben: Never know what you're going to get. 

Baby: Last time we shut off the lights in the whole venue. You're always stuck to the structure of these songs and it's nice to have a little freedom to go and get weird cause we still play our instruments.

So basically, basement equals crazy things happening.

Orr: Yeah, basically. 

James: Yeah, if you fill it with psychos.  

1, 2, 3 guitars in the band. How do you work out the arrangements? 

Tillwick: We usually will either just all play at the same time and whatever happens, happens. Or we'll write a part that can't be played with one person and then there's three of us. So it's usually fine.

Ben: Either we're all playing the same thing or we're all playing different things. 

Baby: We're still figuring it out.

Tillwick: We'll let you know. 

Ben: There's usually an established bass rhythm, whether a few chords or whatever it is. And once that's established, then there's kind of things that go on top of that. Or we all just play the bass rhythm part together. 

Tillwick: At least one of us is soloing at all times in every song. We switch off. But there's a solo basically the entire time.

How does the rhythm section work into that? 

Baby: Just try to hold it down to let them be whatever on top.

Jerome: I've kept it pretty straightforward, and our live shows I think get so crazy that I've never wanted to do anything to over-complicate it. I just want to do a job and get it done. Everything's been so hectic. There's been so many shows where it just gets so out of hand that I'm doing everything I can to just hold a beat with things flying, people moshing on stage, it gets pretty crazy. So I think we've actually settled down a little bit, and now it's time to really figure out some grooves and become a better drummer and a better backbone and a better band. I think now our music has gone into a little bit of a mature direction where shit really matters now. So I think it's time to tighten up for me.

You've just recorded an EP. What inspired the songwriting for that versus how you wrote and recorded your album?

Tillwick: We had less time to write songs this time. Very inspired to write songs the few days leading up to it. As far as lyrics and stuff goes, this is all Matt writing, so he poured himself into the lyrics.

Orr: But this one song was the first time you and I really sat down together and really we were like, “What about this? Oh, do this.” And it was really cool. I think we wrote a lot differently than we have in the past. These are more thought out. It wasn't just going into the room and getting drunk and being like, “Let's try this groove.” But no, honestly, the pressure for this one was, to me, it was a lot more. It was different. It was a lot more like, there's no time for anything. I think we kind of thrive in that a bit as individuals and as a band. And it kind of pushed us. Then we'd bring it to the room, someone would add something, we'd go home, tweak it, sit down, try to write lyrics. This one, I think we kind of did in almost like a week or two. 

How many tracks is this EP? 

Orr: Six tracks. So a longer EP too. But very much a time and a place. And a lot of crazy shit is going on in everyone's lives at the moment. There was crazy stuff happening that kind of brought us together. To me this EP brought the band a lot closer together and there's a lot more heart and ourselves in the songs.

Jerome: It was such an insane studio that we were blessed with. We were just kind of all looking around in awe. 

Orr: We recorded it at Sean Lennon’s home studio in the West Village. It was produced by Ben Romans Hopcraft. He kind of heard the band and was like, “We should record something. I think I can get us some dates at Sean's.” It was pretty wild. We had three days and cranked them.

Baby: It's also a more vulnerable EP too. It's just a little bit deeper.

Orr: I mean it's a pop record kind of. Not entirely, but when you hear you’ll understand.

Ben: It's not sonically a pop record, it's more melodic. 

Orr: There’s a lot more thought in the lyrics and the melodies, and I'm proud of it. 

Jerome: I think Matt's been going through a tough time. So when you go through a tough time, I think you produce the best stuff. And this is, I think, the best music we've ever made.

Orr: I'm really proud of it. 

Your bio says that your sound is “abrasive but direct.” After being a band for 10 years, how does one land there? 

Orr: I guess that’s kind of our songs – sometimes they're ugly, but trying to get a message across or trying to say something. Sometimes they're a little too direct. But I think the newer music is a bit less scream the message in your face and more listen to the lyrics and take away what you take away. I mean, change is good. But I definitely think that that's been a recurring thing. 

What's one goal you each have for the band this year? 

Baby: Shit, stay together. 

James: Don't break up.

Jerome: It would be really hard for all of us to equal out our schedule to all go on a trip. But yeah, I'd like to live with all these dudes for a month. 

Baby: What did you say? 

Jerome: Hang out with you guys for a month straight. 

Baby: Oh Jesus. 

Ben: I agree with all of you guys. I think it would be cool for us to get on the road. 

James: Maybe everybody goes to therapy twice a week. 

Baby: This is my therapy.

Tillwick: I think for me, I'd like us to record again. We just need to record and like what we're doing and for it not to feel like work. And then the goal's done for me. That's it.

Orr: There's always been ups and downs and crazy shit happening. But again, I'm really proud of our last recording that we did and how we did it. It's good. So more of that, more recording and more creating.

Find Gnarcissists on Spotify and Instagram.

All photos by Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)