Crashed Out Interviews: Couvo

Empty Country streaming everywhere today!

Couvo (koo-vo) is a Brooklyn-based indie rock musician whom my friend once described as “ripped with the voice of an angel.”

Readers, you be the judge.

Couvo made his official debut in 2020 when he released his first full-length album When All This Ends—a crooning, heart-wrenching collection of songs that should absolutely feature on the next mixtape you make for your ex-girlfriend.

In 2022, Couvo released his second full-length album, The Drinks Are Always Free in Purgatory, later accompanied by a short film with the same name. The Drinks Are Always Free features some of my personal favorites from Couvo, including his beer-soaked power ballad “Bar Bathroom” (which he eventually released a fucking sweet-ass ska version of, upon selling out one of his first of many major shows).

But my ultimate favorite of Couvo’s discography is his just-released Empty Country—particularly the title-track, “Empty Country,” as well as the song I scream most often in my car, “Why Do You Want.” Definitely give this album a listen (and then another, and another). Go to his shows—see if we can get him to release more ska.

I met Couvo through what feels like a bizarre combination of both happenstance and kismet. It turns out that his alma mater is the university I currently work at. I discovered this fortuitous coincidence after stumbling on an interview, between Couvo and a beloved professor in our shared department, published some years back.

Weirdly enough, I was teaching a class on the rhetoric of punk and hardcore at the time. And here was this local punk, who had recently graduated from my department, rocking the fuck out in Brooklyn. I sent him some neurotic message on Instagram and we met over Zoom and chatted all things music—favorite bands, controversial opinions, and, above all, why this shit matters.

Since that infamous Zoom call, I have had the great privilege of calling Couvo a friend. But beyond that, Couvo is an awe-inspiring community-builder, musical artist, and someone who still believes in the power of rock ‘n’ roll to move hearts and minds.

So, a special shout-out to the effortlessly talented Couvo for answering my questions. We could all learn from your wisdom.

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1. For those of us new to Couvo, tell us a little about who you are.

“Springsteen energy with reverb and rent anxiety,” according to ChatGPT.

2. If I’m remembering correctly, Something Corporate is a big inspiration for you. What is it that you admire about them? Besides the fact that Andrew McMahon is such a cutie.

I have a very distinct memory of the first time I heard Something Corporate. It was the summer going into fourth grade, and we were on vacation in Hampton Beach. For people who don’t know what Hampton Beach is—think of Coney Island, except New England. My brother was in his hotel room, blasting “Punk Rock Princess,” and somehow that combination of pop punk power chords, piano rock, and the kind of overdramatic romantic lyricism only an angsty, horny teenager can write all fused together into a sonic concoction that absolutely rewired the way my 9-year-old brain worked.

That’s where it started. After that, I became obsessed with Something Corporate’s catalog. There were these recurring themes of love and loss and nostalgia that, for better or worse, deeply shaped the way I thought about how a song should operate.

3. Tell us about your song “Empty Country” and its relevance to the current political climate in both New York City specifically and the United States broadly.

To talk about what that song means to me, I have to first briefly mention Don DeLillo’s Underworld (here’s a fun party game: drink every time Couvo mentions DeLillo).

The novel tells the story of the US as a global force throughout the Cold War. But it does so by examining the small, personal moments throughout the lives of several Americans in ways that seemingly have no direct connection to anything overtly political.

Underworld profoundly changed the way I write, and I think its influence shines the strongest in “Empty Country.”

The song is the old “poor-boy, rich-girl” story everyone knows by heart, set right here in America, in this day and age, amidst the backdrop of our imperialistic empire teetering on the edge of its decline—the kind of political chaos that makes the wealthy threaten that they’re going to run off to another country.
In the song, a woman is threatening to flee to Berlin (and who hasn't heard that ultimatum from a woman living in Greenpoint?). And the narrator (call him me if you like) is forced to stick it out here in this country, as a part of the first generation who’s allegedly worse off than their parents.

Despite all that, as the song goes, there’s no revolution out in the streets.

4. What is it about writing and playing music that feeds you? Why do you do what you do?

In the increasingly entropic world we all live in—where there are so many forces that fragment your attention, and ultimately your life, into smaller and smaller pieces—the only way to survive is to find something you love and fully devote yourself to it. (Within reason, of course. No one needs to starve to death just to make a point.) For me, it’s music.

I don’t know if it’s the right choice, but it’s the one I made. And it’s the one I’m sticking to.

5. Who has been your favorite artist to perform with?

Too many to keep track of… Glom, Wetsuit, ok tyler, Hipsy Gap, Hey Again, Endearments, to name a few of a lot. There’s also a lot of local bands I haven’t played with that I think rip! Loose Buttons, Hudson Freeman, vern matz, Thesaurus Rex, wakelee, Skorts, Nautics—and that’s only scratching the surface.

6. What is in-store for Couvo these next few months? Can we expect new music or some upcoming shows?

I’ve just put out my latest album, Empty Country! Besides that, I’ll be playing regularly both in and out of NYC. If anyone reading this lives in Canada, I’ll be playing Quebec City on 8/9 and Montreal on 8/10.

7. For those of us who want to get connected, where can we stay updated?

Follow me on IG: https://www.instagram.com/couvomusic/

And sign up for my email newsletter. THAT’S truly the best way to stay connected to the whole Couvo Enterprise™: https://couvo.beehiiv.com/

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