{"id":2417185,"date":"2026-05-14T22:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2417185"},"modified":"2026-05-14T22:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:58:34","slug":"show-me-the-body-singer-julian-pratt-on-new-album-fatherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/show-me-the-body-singer-julian-pratt-on-new-album-fatherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Show Me the Body Singer Julian Pratt on New Album, Fatherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t<\/span>ulian Pratt, frontman for punk-rap bruisers Show Me the Body<\/a>, has a simple request: Show us the pigeons.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe shaven-headed 32-year-old vocalist and banjoist is tromping through Astoria Park, a verdant stretch of Queens along New York\u2019s East River, with his two-year-old daughter, Surey, on the hunt for the city\u2019s most famous wildlife. But since it\u2019s an unusually chilly Friday, at least for May, the city\u2019s famously ample winged rats seem scarce. Luckily, Pratt came prepared. Pratt runs deep with New York\u2019s pigeon community; picture Marlon Brando traipsing through rooftop coops in On the Waterfront,<\/em> and you\u2019ll get the idea. So he knows where to buy 20 pounds of feed, and he brought a pound or two with him.<\/p>\n

\n\tPratt and Surey spot a couple of pigeons underneath the RFK Triborough Bridge, toss the seeds, and before long, dozens of birds are descending on them as they giggle and Surey attempts scattering maneuvers that resemble mosh-pit moves. The birds with white in their tails, he points out, are native to New York. When Show Me the Body released their last full-length, Trouble the Water,<\/em> in 2022, a scene like this seemed unimaginable. Pratt was just another angry New Yorker hectoring calumnies against all forms of authority. Now, he\u2019s another angry New Yorker who\u2019s also a dad.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA lot\u2019s changed, dude,\u201d Pratt says as he seats himself at a table of a nearby coffeeshop, his voice sounding as resonant and \u201cNoo Yawk\u201d as it does on record. \u201cI used to be able to get by on just touring. Now everything is serious. The future is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the table before him is a pair of blistered blue work gloves, which show how greatly his life has changed since he wears them at the day job he had to get around the time of Surey\u2019s birth: hoisting banners for the New York Stock Exchange. Pratt, whose lyrics have always been critical of capitalism, is aware of the irony. \u201cThe only cool part of my job is I get to climb a really old building,\u201d he says. But once the gloves are off, he\u2019s himself again, and the \u201cN.Y.H.C.\u201d tattoo, repping the New York hardcore music he deals in, that he has across his left knuckles is visible once more, as is the chunky \u201cSurey\u201d ring he wears.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cI think my life has gotten better, because I often look back and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, fuck,’\u201d he says. \u201cI cringe. But a good friend always tells me, \u2018Yo, if you don\u2019t cringe at what you did a couple years ago, you\u2019re not making hot shit now.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe hot shit Pratt has going now is Show Me the Body\u2019s upcoming fourth full-length, Alone Together,<\/em> due July 10. The album, which of course features flocks of pigeons on the cover, boasts a tighter, fuller sound than previous releases, thanks in part to production by Kenneth Blume (Geese, Idles) and Klas \u00c5hlund (Iggy Pop, Katy Perry). \u201cKenny was like, \u2018I want you to make the best Show Me the Body record yet,’\u201d Pratt says, \u201cand I believed him.\u201d \u00c5hlund, he says, pushed him to be more authentically himself.<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, the trio \u2014 Pratt, co-founding bandmate Harlan Steed, and recent addition to the drums Nijol Benjamin \u2014 recorded an LP that continues the aggressive bent that made them a concert draw, but with more focus and unapologetic lyrics that support Pratt\u2019s radical politics, which he still practices as part of Corpus, the youth crew he co-founded as a teen. Lead single \u201cDance in the U.S.A.\u201d finds Pratt rapping about how living in America is a \u201cfool\u2019s game but I ain\u2019t one to lose,\u201d over thumping bass and banjo. Another single, \u201cNo God,\u201d finds Pratt singing \u201cSometimes you\u2019ve got to break to figure out what\u2019s at stake\u201d over grinding guitar. And on \u201cSee You Again,\u201d he pays tribute to two friends he lost in the past couple of years, one whom he considered a mentor, and another whom he considered one of his best friends. He still tears up when speaking about them. The way Pratt sees it, his life has changed immensely in the past few years, but he\u2019s the same person, only a better version of himself.<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cI still train a lot,\u201d he says. \u201cI do less drugs, drink less. But I still enjoy life. And I like to think that having a daughter, too, is a creative practice.\u2026 Now we just have to think about every activity just a little bit more to accommodate a two-and-a-half\u2013year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tPratt with his daughter, Surey<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGriffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tHow intense was the whiplash of fatherhood?<\/strong>
<\/strong>It was pretty intense. My child was three months old, and Knocked Loose asked Show Me the Body to go on tour and, like, can\u2019t say no.<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, you <\/strong>can<\/em><\/strong> say no.<\/strong>
<\/strong>We can say no, but this is what we do.<\/p>\n

\n\tWeren\u2019t you questioning it?<\/strong>
<\/strong>Absolutely, 100 percent. But my mother was a filmmaker, and she hustled. I was on shoots as a kid with her. Anything worth doing is difficult.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe band formed when you were 16, and now, you\u2019re 32. That\u2019s half your life so far. What was the point of Show Me the Body in the beginning, and what is the point now?
<\/strong>Dude, the point of Show Me the Body in the beginning was, I was in special-ed school. I couldn\u2019t read good. Everyone told me I was dumb; I thought I was dumb. And I loved punk rock and hardcore music, going to [New York punk venue] ABC No Rio<\/a> and hanging out.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen we started playing shows, I was like, \u201cThis is something I\u2019m good at, and it makes me feel really good.\u201d And I think that\u2019s why I took it so seriously at first.<\/p>\n

\n\tNowadays, it\u2019s become, like, my religion. I\u2019m a Jewish person, and I think Show Me the Body is a form of offering, like a ceremony that has come to mean a lot to me now,<\/p>\n

\n\tFor me personally, it\u2019s much less an expression of anguish and more a vehicle to bring together my friends and other folks who feel as silly and dumb as I felt as a young person and to give them a place where they can be a part of this larger thing that doesn\u2019t judge them. I think the music that we make and the messages that we convey are often for folks who feel out of place in most situations.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou sing the words \u201cradical love\u201d on the album\u2019s first song, \u201cEat for Peace.\u201d How did that concept come to you?
<\/strong>My friend Trevor, who used to hang out at ABC No Rio, his dad was part of the R.A.S.H. movement: the Red and Anarchist Skinheads. And [Lord] Ezec <\/em>[a.k.a. hardcore vocalist Danny Diablo] and Skam [Dust] \u2014 DMS [Doc Martens Skinheads<\/a>] <\/em>guys \u2014 looked out for us when we were kids. Seeing how all these groups operate had a large impact on me. Through the formation of Corpus, it\u2019s transformed to stand for not only weirdos but against capitalism, imperialism, and gentrification and shit like that.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn our last tour, we were in Arizona, and we were talking about the liberation of the Middle East from Zionism. And security tried to jump me, and me and my friend had to fight security.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd the term \u201cradical love,\u201d the beginning of the record, is, \u201cRadical love compels me to fight.\u201d \u2026 Even though we\u2019re in the middle of Arizona, we are engaging with and taking punches from 40-year-old ex-cops who are running security in solidarity with a moment that\u2019s happening thousands of miles away. And it means a lot to us.<\/p>\n

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