SHAGGO — Chores - turn and work

Check out the Backstory behind the album here.

One of the best things about punk rock is the self-deprecation and goofiness. It has been about goofing off and taking the piss since forever. Amongst the serious and subversive fury and fierce politics, punk has always had a tendency to embrace the goofy, sarcastic and silly. Brooklyn’s queer femme-punks SHAGGO carry on this tradition with their debut album Chores (out June 6 via Atlanta Zone Records), a gloriously DIY, tongue-in-cheek record full of charisma and self-awareness.

The band’s January single “Minor League” captures their spirit: a goofy, diabolically catchy indie punk track about someone giving birth at a ballpark, with some speculation about the sexual orientation of Yankees legend Mike Piazza. The music video has an irresistible DIY aesthetic that matches the lo-fi production of the song (more about that in the Backstory).

The album opener, “Big Trash Night” calls to mind the raw energy of Cherry Bomb, with a tight bass groove and propulsive drumming. Like everything about SHAGGO, it’s charming, funny and a little rough-around-the-edges.

March single “I Wanted Fun” is easy to love: a blazing sing-along chorus, an unforgettable bit of call-and-response, and grumpy, funny lyrics (“guess you’re too busy respecting women / To respond to MY TEXT!”). Singer Lucy Rinzler-Day and bassist Carina Greenberg dress up for dates that aren’t coming, jump on the bed, scream lyrics into hairbrushes. It’s pure main-character energy, a scene from an unmade John Hughes movie.

Chores embraces contradiction — sincere and funny, chaotic but carefully, lovingly crafted. There’s a whole lot of charisma here: SHAGGO feels like a band you might catch at a basement show and share a tall boy with in the park afterward. They’re serious about the DIY approach too, commissioning Oriane Brunat for the cover art.¹

SHAGGO’s influences come through loud and clear. There’s a little Sleater-Kinney in the layered shout-singing, a good dose of 70s punk energy, and the introspectiveness of Mitski. The band name itself is a play on The Shaggs, the infamous 60s outsider band whose music was a chaotic mess and whose story was much darker.

Standout track “Lost a Sock (Need a Friend)”is a song about an existential spiral that starts in a laundry room, framing big questions inside small, relatable crises. At its heart, Chores is about melting down, growing up, and finding tiny moments of absurdity and joy in the messiness of everyday life. The songs are singable and raucous—charmingly imperfect in the best punk tradition.

In a way, “Minor League” acts as a metaphor for the band as a whole: SHAGGO isn’t trying to be the best, they’re trying to connect with each other, the crowd, to the weird, unforgettable moments that bring people together. Punk has always celebrated sincerity over perfection, presence over polish, and building a community of outsiders. Chores is a reminder that making noise with your friends is still a sacred act.