Cole Haden is prowling through the crowd. The lead singer of Model/Actriz, the Brooklyn-based dance-punk quartet, is deep in a throng of admirers in Chicago’s lush Union Park (as part of Pitchfork Music Festival) when he begins to beckon everyone to get on the ground. It’s hard to command an audience of this size. It’s harder when you're outside at a music festival under a scorching summer sun, but the crowd, hypnotized, followed Haden’s call.
There is one hold out, though. Pausing his growling vocals, a more familiar tone came out from Haden. “Dad, get down,” he snipes. After that, we're all on the same page, family included. This sets up a moment of musical catharsis, thrashing drums and thick fuzz and Haden’s menacing drawl morphing into a chant. The crowd bounces and jumps and slams their bodies against one another.
I've heard rumblings about Model/Actriz’s live shows for a while, but had yet to attend one. I had, though, listened to their latest album, Dogsbody, which struck me (and many other fans and critics alike) as a rare feat of musicality, a grisly beast of a project, equal parts awe and terror.
Haden’s background is in musical theater, and he cites Cats as a primary inspiration, lending his punk swagger a dynamic sense of showmanship. Bandmates Jack Wetmore (guitar), Aaron Shapiro (bass) and Ruben Radlauer (drums) bring their own histories in hardcore bands combined with a precise control over their instruments. When all the components come together, they cook up music with the rapid and mechanized pulse of techno, a genre they also cite as an aspiration. “When it's a really good club night, the whole room feels like one organism,” Haden tells PAPER. “That's the kind of show we want to be.”
An organism it was, though maybe a monstrous one. Regardless, it's a pleasure to be in its maw, sweating with a crowd of fans and converts at Pitchfork. It feels extra resonant given that Dogsbody received Best New Music from the infamously influential website, though some of the flashier elements of rockstar success seem to have evaded the quartet. Life has been crazy since the release of their debut, and they’ve toured the world, hitting major shows in Europe and around the US. “It feels like for seven years we were pushing the boulder up the hill and now it's downhill and the boulder is chasing us,” Radlauer shares. But Model/Actriz has the speed and stamina to make it for the long haul.
PAPER chatted with the band right after a memorable performance at Chicago’s Pitchfork Festival to talk dance music, musicals and the glamor and terror of being a rockstar today.
I'm really glad I got to see the show because I've never seen you guys live. After seeing your set, I feel like you’re the most famous band in the world.
Cole Haden: Thank you. That's quite the allusion to draw.
I think because you [Cole] command so much attention and control the crowd so well. How did you develop those techniques?
Cole: You learn from the best. You watch divas live, take those pointers and then you apply it. A little Celine Dion gesture here and there.
What is that?
[Cole raises both arms, palms up]
I like that you made everyone get on the floor. I think you need people to actually give something so they’re brought into the moment.
Cole: Yeah, I like doing that. I just want everyone to feel like they're all in the same place. And that doesn't necessarily always work. But, I like going to the back of the room because I don't want them to feel like they're not as much a part of the show as the people in the front.
And your dad was in the crowd?
Cole: Yes, my dad was here.
Was that distracting?
Cole: No, he was on good behavior.
Does he get rowdy?
Cole: He’s rowdy otherwise. He’s an entertainer.
Do you guys have any feelings about playing Pitchfork? Was this an aspiration?
Cole: We all grew up reading Pitchfork to some degree. I don't know if this was written on my bucket list. I hope they don't hate me for not being gushing about it. It is cool to be a part of it. It’s something that I always saw the lineup for and never went to, and now I'm here. Seeing it is surreal in that way
Aaron Shapiro: It’s independent too. There are not a lot of festivals that are this size that we get to play. They're typically smaller or bigger.
Cole: Our friends are here too.
You have friends playing?
Cole: Water From Your Eyes. Those are our homies — and Carly Rae Jepsen. Our good friend, Carly Rae Jepsen.
You have been grinding for a while, and then the last record seems to have turbocharged everything. Are you able to take in the success and enjoy it or are you on the treadmill?
Ruben Radlauer: It feels like for seven years we were pushing the boulder up the hill and now it's downhill and the boulder is chasing us.
Cole: [To Ruben] That’s good. I like that.
Does rockstar life feel glamorous?
Aaron: It definitely feels like a job, but Al from Water [From Your Eyes] will say, “Every now and then you get that gratitude check” and then you’re like, Oh Fuck.
Cole: It's a huge pleasure and privilege to be able to do what we're doing, and I think we're very grateful for it. But it does sometimes take an active reminder to take a moment when you're on stage. People either spend money or take time out of their lives to come see us. It's a perk, free but [we’re] trying to be very reverent of how special that is.
Ruben: I think if I ever forget that this is amazing and we're so lucky, I'll just see one person or many people who it means a lot to. And it's truly an honor to be able to have that kind of connection with people. That's what it's all about.
Cole: It is not a thankless job. There's a lot of thanks. So it goes both ways in that sense.
I know you all cite dance music as one of your primary influences. I feel like, unfortunately, there's such a gap between music by bands and dance music, especially in Brooklyn now with this dance music boom. How do you think about bridging that gap?
Jack Wetmore: I think that a lot of us come from hardcore backgrounds. Hardcore gets kind of boring sometimes, but we all have a huge shared connection on hardcore dance music and techno. Those two things kind of go together really well.
Cole: When it's a really good club night, the whole room feels like one organism. That's the kind of show we want to be.
Aaron: The reasons that people come together to dance in club spaces is a huge part of our live show. And then in terms of the actual music itself, there's also a huge swath of electronic music and dance music that functions in a club and at home that is super influential to us. That kind of music where you could cook dinner to it, or you could work out to it, or you could dance for 10 hours to it: that kind of shit is really important to us.
Cole: Yeah, my life fits into that more than anything else: the spectacle of nightlife.
Cole, your background is in musicals, right?
Cole: Yes, I'm not from the hardcore background, but yes, hardcore musical theater.
Have you converted anyone into musical theater people?
Cole: They’ve all seen Cats multiple times.
The film?
Haden: Yes, well, from 1998. But one day we'll go see Sweeney Todd together.
I used to test if people I was dating were a good hang based on if they could stomach and enjoy the 2019 film version of Cats.
Haden: I was clutching the armrests of my seat watching it, because it was such a skid mark on the history of Cats the musical. But I still can get down with — well, I don't know if it's quite camp. It's like a little half-baked for me.
Yeah, and there’s the version where they animated the cats’ buttholes.
Haden: The butthole cut? Yeah, I need to go on 4chan for the butthole cut.
Photography: Kenn Box
