Fred Muench wasn’t planning on doing this again.
For decades after his former band, Queens, New York-based hardcore band, Bad Trip, faded out, music stayed in the past for the vocalist. “Yeah, nothing for the last 30 years,” he tells No Echo. That changed during COVID, when unstructured time and the world's events pushed him back toward writing. “I needed an outlet, and social media was not it. I had gone down that rabbit hole in the past.”
What started in a basement with a guitar and no expectations slowly turned into something more. Muench began layering vocals over acoustic sketches, building songs in real time without worrying about structure or outcome. “I was not writing songs for the sake of writing songs. They just kind of happened.”
That lack of pressure became the foundation for Slowrole, a new project that pulls from post-hardcore, shoegaze, and more atmospheric territory while still carrying traces of his past. “It is not classic hardcore. I leave that to Bad Trip if we do something new,” he says. “There is definitely some Bad Trip in Slowrole, though. It is my foundation.”
The turning point came when producer and longtime friend Paul Brill pushed the idea forward. After hearing the material, Brill suggested bringing it into the studio and recording it live with a full band. “I was anxious because I was not writing for this purpose,” Muench admits. “In Bad Trip, I had a crew around me. It was easy. It was more intentional. Here… taking these loosely structured songs and playing live in the studio was definitely different but definitely worked.”
To make it happen, he surrounded himself with players who could translate those loose ideas into something fully realized. Former Bad Trip guitarist Arty Shepard came in early, bringing what Muench calls “magic” to the songs, reshaping simple chord progressions into something deeper. Drummer Chris Enriquez and bassist Eric Adams locked in the foundation, while Ruby Pucillo added vocal layers that expanded the emotional range.
“I am not a musician, I am a three-chord wonder with no timing,” Muench says, half-joking. “When you hear the guitar and vocal versions I did, you say, yes, that is the same song but a raw version.”
READ MORE: Bad Trip bassist Brendan White Looks Back on the NYHC Band's Time Together
The sessions themselves weren’t without friction. On the first day, Muench struggled to find his footing. “I couldn’t sing. I was tight and in my head… saying, this was fucking stupid.” It took stepping back and letting go to get where he needed to be. “I just let go,” he says. “I also realized how much I love just fucking melodic yelling.”
That push-and-pull between control and release runs through the project, both musically and lyrically. Slowrole leans heavily on mood and layering, drawing on artists like Yo La Tengo, Swans, Slint, and PJ Harvey, alongside a more direct energy from Nirvana and Ride. It’s a wide spectrum, but one tied together by feel rather than strict structure.
Lyrically, Muench is still working from the same core instincts that defined Bad Trip, even if the framing has shifted. “Ultimately, I am an optimistic nihilist and have always been,” he says, pointing to a mix of Buddhism, existentialism, and the long shadow of punk’s political voice.
Those ideas show up clearly across the songs. “Fox’s Prey is straight up me being a complacent piece of shit while our democracy fades,” he says, calling out his own inaction as much as anything else. On “Eat It All,” he takes aim at echo chambers and the willingness to accept misinformation: “Hubris has taken over objectivity.”
Elsewhere, “It’s Not Too Much” flips that perspective into something more direct. “It was my reaction to my inaction,” he explains. “People try to be perfect when they take action. Action is action.”
Even at its most introspective, the writing never fully disconnects from the outside world. That’s been part of Muench’s approach since the beginning, shaped by early influences like The Clash, Dead Kennedys, and Bad Religion. “They could highlight such shit going on in the world, but also how we are flawed but need to be better humans.”
Visually, the project reconnects him with another longtime collaborator. Jordin Isip, whose work helped define the look of Bad Trip’s early releases, returns here with artwork that continues that lineage. “He sent me so much… he nailed it. I am so psyched,” Muench says, pointing to Isip’s lasting influence on how hardcore records can look and feel.
Looking back, Muench sees his time in Bad Trip as something that continues to shape everything that came after. “It is only a gift now,” he says, reflecting on touring, playing iconic venues, and being part of a moment that still resonates.
But Slowrole isn’t about revisiting the past. If anything, it’s closer to starting over. “It is like when Bad Trip first started. No real expectations except enjoying the process.”
That mindset has already opened the door to something he didn’t expect. “I also realized I’m getting psyched to play live… which I never thought I would say without Bad Trip.”
For Muench, that might be the clearest sign of what Slowrole is becoming. Not a comeback, not a continuation, but something built from the same core impulse that started it all in the first place.
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Slowrole on social media: Instagram
