Greg Mendez, They Are Gutting A Body Of Water & Sun Organ Release New Single

Philadelphia's Greg Mendez, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, and Sun Organ release a new collaboration titled “Krillin.” The song arrives with a video directed by Rhys Scarabosio. 

“I met Greg when he lived in Chinatown. In the hallway to his apartment, going up the stairs; the first time I came over to his house, there was a chicken wing on the landing. I came back two months later and the chicken wing was still there. I met Buzz Jordan (Sun Organ) after he played my backyard when he was playing in Nyxy Nyx,” explains TABAGOW's Douglas Dulgarian.

“I had this ‘Krillin' song half written, and I hit up Greg. We decided to hit up Buzz together.” Greg Mendez adds, “Douglas and I tried finishing this song with a metal band practicing on the other side of the wall, but it only started to make sense when we got to Buzz's studio. I love TAGABOW and Sun Organ.” Sun Organ's Buzz Jordan says, “Greg and Doug are the GOATS, it was rad to work with both of them at Blood Red Sky.”

Mendez's self-titled album was released in May 2023 to wide critical praise. It landed on Best of 2023 lists by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Paste Magazine, amongst others, who praised the prolific and thoughtful songwriter's exploration of themes of heartbreak and addiction with an intentional, authentic haze and a quiet, lo-fi urgency. The album is out now via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes. 

Greg Mendez will be hitting the road in the spring and fall on tours that includes dates with Waxahatchee, Snail Mail, Babehoven, Wild Pink, Drop Nineteens and more. All dates below.

ï»żGreg Mendez Tour Dates:

3/12 - Providence, RI - AS220 $

3/13 - Burlington, VT - FOAM Brewery *

3/14 - Portland, ME - Oxbow Brewery *

4/17 - Washington, DC - The Atlantis ^

4/19 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club ^

4/20 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw ^

5/11 - Toronto, CA - The Baby G #

5/13 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club #

5/14 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry #

5/15 - Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village #

5/16 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups #

5/17 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe #

5/18 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's #

9/8 - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore %

$ w/ Number One Babe and Dogs on Shady Lane

* supporting Wild Pink

^ supporting Drop Nineteens

# supporting Babehoven

% supporting Waxahatchee and Snail Mail

TAGABOW Tour Dates:

3/9 - Philadelphia, PA @ Slide Away Festival @

3/10 - Richmond, VA @ The Warehouse $

3/11 - Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club $

3/13 - The Empty Bottle @ Mohawk #

3/13 - KVRX 91.7 FM @ New Guild Coop #

3/14 - Third Man Records x CREEM @ The 13th Floor #

3/14 - Tour Peachy x Brooklyn Vegan @ Hotel Vegas  #

3/15 - Paste Magazine @ High Noon #

3/15 - Tweedy's @ Tweedy's #

3/15 - You Missed It x i Hate War @ Pearl Street Coop #

3/16 - All Are Welcome @ Mohawk #

3/16 - Smart Punk @ Empire # 

3/16 -  Dallas, TX @ Southside Spillover $

3/17 - Little Rock, AR @ Vinos $ 

3/18 - Louisville, KY @ Whirling Tiger $

3/19 - Columbus, OH @ Ace Of Cups $

3/28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby's All Right $

4/25 - Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater %

4/26 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave %

4/27 - Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall % 

4/28 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews %

4/30 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall %

5/1 - Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe % 

5/11 - SLC, UT @ Utah State Fairpark &

6/19 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall &

6/20 - San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater &

6/21 - Austin, TX @ Emo's &

6/23 - El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace &

6/24 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater &

6/27 - San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park &

7/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Sound and Fury @

@ = Festival

$ = Headline

# = SXSW

% = w/ Panchiko

& = w/ DIIV

About Greg Mendez:

For Greg Mendez, reflection doesn't mean a static image in a mirror, or even a face he recognizes. It's more a kaleidoscopic mirage, where paths taken shapeshift with the prospect of paths untread, and the subconscious merges with the intentional. On his self-titled new album, the Philadelphia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist investigates the shaky camera of memory, striving to carve out a collage that points to a truth. But there isn't a regimented actuality here; instead, Mendez highlights the merit in many truths, and many lives, and how even the hardest truths can still contain some humor.

While this is technically Mendez's third full-length album, his back catalog boasts an extensive range of EPs and live recordings. He's a prolific and thoughtful songwriter, understanding the joy in impulse, and shying away from the clinical sheen of overproduction.

Greg Mendez was written in fragments, some stretching across more than a decade, with Mendez reworking old ideas and arrangements, and others blossoming much more recently. The weight of time––and perhaps the anxiety in running out of it––clouds the album, as Mendez prods at some painful experiences from his childhood and early adulthood. The common thread connecting the characters is their evident imperfections, and the various degrees of damage they cause, both knowingly and unknowingly. But where do we draw the line between a good person and a bad person? For Mendez, it's never been that easy. 

“There's a lot of pretty bleak memories in the songs but one thing that I hope comes through is that nothing is ever fully dark,” he explains. While recognizing the severity of certain situations, Mendez is also careful to showcase the absurdity of our reality, and how that can often highlight a softness around the edges. The album's artwork: a Virgin Mary staring at Mendez's name, is a smirk at the serious, where earnesty can still be encouraged, and the light and the dark can effortlessly co-exist.

Throughout the album, Mendez extends an empathetic and relatable hand. The scrappy-pop of “Goodbye / Trouble” waits for “the sound of God,” searching for a sense of love or purpose, but the searcher falls apart in the process.

Mendez encourages us to look beyond the rigidity of a one, true self. Some of the “I's” on Greg Mendez are not Mendez at all but someone unknown, a person formed to explore the shadows in his periphery. Writing from a different perspective doesn't happen intentionally, and Mendez only tends to notice it after sitting with the song for some time. “It's kind of like dreams, where they end up being the stuff that your brain is processing, but you're not aware that you're doing it,” he says. It's an exhale, where Mendez allows his instincts to flourish.

Greg Mendez is an intimate dialogue between the chapters we've experienced, and how they can inform the reality we perceive. It's a reminder that we are constantly shifting, ever-changing selves and that if we ruminate too long, we may find ourselves stuck in the seriousness of it all. Here, Mendez allows us to take the time to notice what happens outside of the framework we may have built for ourselves, and the beauty that can occur when we finally do.

Photo Courtesy of the artists

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