Band: Fotocrime
Song: “Grifter”
Album: Security
Release Date: March 13th, 2026
Label: Artoffact Records
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Bandleader Ryan Patterson said of the track:
“The penultimate song on Security, ‘Grifter’ is a synth-driven punk song that owes as much to Wire as it does Marked Men. There’s probably an acknowledgement due to early Devo, as well the lyrical approach of Rick Froberg. With Fotocrime lyrics, I’ve often been inspired by film noir and hard-boiled mystery novels and ‘Grifter’ falls into this category, while also being an obvious allegory about the monsters in command who are peddling hate while bleeding us dry.
On this track, Benny, David, our trusty Oberheim DX drum machine, and I were joined by drummer Ben Sears (Mirrorless, Whips/Chains) who is a human metronome and master of 16th note hi-hats. My brother Evan Patterson (of Jaye Jayle and Young Widows) came by to play a great synth solo in the bridge and J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines), Amber Thieneman (Fool’s Ghost), and Aon Brasi (Aon Brasi) provide a chorus of backup vocals at the end. J. also plays additional synth and co-produced, engineered, and co-mixed the album, of course. ‘Grifter’ is an angry and sardonic song dripping with syrupy sweet down-stroked post-punk melody. Just how I like it.”