By Keith Walsh
With blistering guitar sounds, pounding bass and drums, and exhilarating vocals by Norelle Green, the self-titled debut album by Stud Count lives up the all the sassy promise of the band’s name.

Located in Philadelphia, and inspired by heroes of vintage punk rock, Stud Count features Norelle Green, her husband Matthew Green and Max D’ambra on guitars, Jake Beaver on bass, and Bret Hart on drums. Fans of OG punk will find so much to love on this album.

The 12 track set hits hard, in all the right ways, with a wall of sound and outstanding musicianship. Norelle’s performances are alternately abrasive and melodic – in line with the tradition of punk rock. Matthew Green says he set out to write songs inspired by the dawn of punk, and 1977 era bands like The Buzzcocks and The Undertones, X and The Germs, along with modern hardcore sensibilities. In our interview, he gives me some background about the band’s inspirations and the album’s creation.

Punkrockbeat:  How did going up to the mountains help tighten up the songs? Was there something about the air and environment there? Did you have minimal gear there, or just a guitar and amp?
Stud Count: Norelle and I (Matthew) wrote a good half of the record in the two months we spent up in the mountains while it seemed like the world may never go back to normal. Philly was straight up a ghost town from March-May 2020, made it easier to focus for sure. Not much gear, just some decent mics and couple guitars. And yeah, the air is for sure nicer in the Poconos. 

Punkrockbeat:  Being younger, how did you discover the earlier era of punk that influences Stud Count? Was there an awesome record store or radio station that turned you on to early punk?
Stud Count: I (Matthew) was about 9 when I found my first pop punk records (See: Blink 182, NOFX, Guttermouth etc). It was an easy pipeline to The Ramones, Sex Pistols etc., especially living outside of NYC. I was lucky enough to have a friend in a neighboring town to discover old punk/start bands with.

Punkrockbeat:  For Matthew and Max: How do you get your guitar sounds? How many distortion pedals do you use? What kinds of amps etc?
Stud Count: Big fan of the sound Marshalls give. Retro chorus pedals, delay, etc really help round the rest out. Depends on the feel of the show, but I actually love the sound of that DI garage rock clean for rhythm guitar. 

Punkrockbeat:  How close to capturing the live sound of the band did the album get?
Stud Count: Very. But you gotta see it live to get the full experience. 

Punkrockbeat:  What was the recording process like? Was it in layers or live in studio?
Stud Count: Layers. 6 weeks of short sessions, piece by piece. We loved working with Zach Miller at Noisewar Sound, couldn’t recommend him highly enough. 

Punkrockbeat:  There’s some great ‘pop’ melodies on the album as well. Do you have any secret, guilty pop favorites?
Stud Count: Guilty pleasures are for posers. Pop is at the heart of punk music; even The Ramones got their name from a pseudonym of Paul McCartney. Everything we have in punk rock started with hooky, ice cream chorded pop rock a la The Beach Boys. 

Stud Count on Bandcamp
Stud Count On Instagram
SmartPunk Records
NoiseWar Sound
Stud Count On Punkrockbeat dot com

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