Pratt and Surey spot a couple of pigeons underneath the Triboro 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 \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 On 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 <\/p>\n \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 The 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 Ultimately, 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 <\/p>\n \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 Pratt with his daughter, Surey<\/strong>Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/cite><\/p>\n How intense was the whiplash of fatherhood?<\/strong> Well, you <\/strong>can<\/em><\/strong> say no.<\/strong> Weren\u2019t you questioning it?<\/strong> The 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> When 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 Nowadays, 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 For 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 You sing the words \u201cradical love\u201d on the album\u2019s first song, \u201cEat for Peace.\u201d How did that concept come to you?<\/strong> On 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 And 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 Now that you\u2019re a 32-year-old dad, though, you have to engage with capitalism.<\/strong> I was thinking about it with my homie the other day like, \u201cMan, it would be easier if we just all were in a cave chilling by the fire.\u201d But then I realized, \u201cThere\u2019s no fucking amps, dude.\u201d I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m man enough to forgo the rock & roll that our crushing Western society provides me.<\/p>\n What would 16-year-old Julian make of you now?<\/strong> Young Julian might also be surprised by how your Corpus crew, which started kind of like a renegade group of friends, now has real community impact.<\/strong> It sounds like you learned a lot from going to ABC No Rio shows, too.<\/strong> What does anarchy mean to you now?<\/strong> What is \u201cDance in the U.S.A.\u201d about?<\/strong> [Our song is] about going through it in this Western reality.<\/p>\n
<\/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
<\/strong>We can say no, but this is what we do.<\/p>\n
<\/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
<\/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
<\/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>[aka 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
<\/strong>One hundred percent. I have to work at maybe the hub of capitalism. It\u2019s just something that we all have to do unless we move off the grid and reject society, which I\u2019m, at least, currently not ready to do yet. And kudos to anybody who is. [I offer] full support to all militants around the world who have left the grid. But I have a young daughter.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>He maybe would call me a pussy. But honestly, I think he would be hyped because Corpus started as just some lost kids hanging out, going to shows, and writing graffiti. Now it\u2019s a small network of real friends that\u2019s like a real family. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m most proud of in my entire life.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>We have a studio, and if you\u2019re from New York and a young person, you get some free studio time. We do \u201cCorpus self-defense,\u201d where we teach kids how to defend themselves and the basics of Muay Thai and boxing in the summertime. So now, Corpus is a small community, youth-oriented organization that lives within New York identity, but also participates in music. We throw shows, and we\u2019ve put out records in the past. But it really operates as a small community organization run by friends.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>One hundred percent. It was my first viewing of an anarchic organization structure. We\u2019re still engaging in militantism, and we\u2019re being organized about it; we can be organized and still be anti-society and improve our lives together. Seeing older folks than me do that through their organizations, whether it be at ABC No Rio or in the streets, had a huge impact on me.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Honestly, it means doing things with your homies. Doing something with my friends, whether it\u2019s a petty crime or an art project or participating in an operation that another organization\u2019s running or trying to run an initiative with our community.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Getting through it. Also, I love \u201cBorn in the U.S.A.\u201d It\u2019s one of my favorite songs. I\u2019m not a big \u201cThe Boss\u201d guy, and I\u2019ll put that song on, and I\u2019m like, \u201cFuck yeah.\u201d It\u2019s so metal to me. And also the Suicide cover<\/a> is awesome too. It\u2019s deranged.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SMTB_3.jpg?w=819\"\/)
Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/cite><\/p>\n