“Growing up, I was into hardcore,” admits Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan, 50, warming up to the subject of the three-decade-old North Carolina indie stalwarts’ viciously political new album, What a Time to Be Alive. “And a lot of that music was political. But in terms of writing my own songs when I was 21 or 22, a lot of those songs were about personal things. We would play a concert to get Harvey Gantt elected rather than Jesse Helms, but I never felt I was politically knowledgeable enough to write a song about politics that wouldn’t have been shallow or obvious.”: The events of Nov. 8, 2016, changed that for McCaughan. Watching in disgust as the electoral college handed the nation over to a maniac, songs began pouring out. It only made sense for McCaughan to convene with guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster – plus special guests including Austin’s Sabrina Ellis (A Giant Dog, Sweet Spirit) on single “Break the Glass” – to work out his frustrations in 32 minutes of explosive, melodic guitar rock:: “To see the rot in no disguise,” he hisses on the title track, “the scum, the shame, the fucking lies/ Oh, what a time to be alive.”: It’s Superchunk’s most stringent album since their third, 1993’s On the Mouth.: “Musically, it’s more stripped-down than a lot of our records we made between 1992 and now,” agrees McCaughan. “Subject matter-wise, it’s more influenced by current events. We’ve always had some songs that were, but never this explicitly for the whole record. Because compared to Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, this is a whole new level of fucked-uppedness.: “It definitely feels like a con job, and it feels like a whole lot of damage can be done before anyone else is held responsible.”
Sat., May 5, 8:30pm