Features

Punk rock has always been about speaking truth to power, an attitude that was fully embraced by Debt Neglector right from the start. Since forming in 2016, the Florida-based quartet has been blending razor-sharp hooks with an unapologetic attitude, taking aim at systemic injustice, political corruption, and personal struggles alike. Now, the band is gearing up for the release of their latest full-length album, Kinda Rips, set to drop on April 4, 2025, via Smartpunk Records. Their latest single, "Tough Luck, Kid!", gives you a good taste of what’s to come—more of the pissed-off, high-energy punk that Debt Neglector has built their name on.

We got the chance to talk to bassist/vocalist Alex Goldfarb to talk about the new album, the band’s relentless drive to speak up, and what is up with them only 'kinda' ripping.

PRT: What’s with the ‘kinda’ in the album title? Is that you being modest? Because Debt Neglector has totally ripped right from the start.

Alex: Haha that is very kind of you! We honestly just thought the album title was funny. Our songs are so serious all the time, that it felt like a nice juxtaposition to have the album title be kinda dumb and provide some levity for once. I like that it’s not a very confident statement, and that mirrors how I feel about myself a lot of times. 

PRT: You hit the ground running release-wise with an album in 2017, EPs in both 2018 and 2020 and your second album in 2021. How come it took four years this time around? Is that a result of life getting in the way?

Alex: I’d say that life for me has definitely changed a lot. I became a dad almost three years ago and that’s been an amazing and challenging experience that takes up a lot of my time, energy, and mental space. But I think the biggest reason for the length between releases is that we really took our time writing this time around. I probably came up with 20 different ideas for songs along the way that we whittled down to my best 10. Pfister wrote a few as well and we ended up with the 13 tracks on the record. We did actual pre-production this time so that we could be as prepared as possible when it was time to track it in the studio. We had some delays during the recording process that slowed us down too. At one point Burns got really sick after we played SXSW in 2024 and he couldn’t sing for about a month because his voice was completely shot. Ultimately, I think we were more concerned with getting it right this time, instead of rushing to get it released. 

PRT: I’m sure you all have a lot going on in your lives besides Debt Neglector. Is it hard to find the time for the band when you have to deal with careers, family,…?

Alex: It is hard. I personally find it difficult to be away from my wife and son when we’re traveling to do shows. I feel like my son is growing up so fast and I don’t want to miss out on anything. We’ve had to be a lot more strategic about things when we’re booking shows. I don’t think it’ll be possible for us to do a lot of long tours, so trying to get on festivals and plan shorter trips has been our strategy lately. We just did SXSW again in Texas and are playing Pouzza Fest in Montreal in May. It’s a way for us to get somewhere with a high concentration of people that could come check us out, without having to spend a ton of time away. It’s not super cost effective, but we all have day jobs anyways, so it’s not like we’re trying to make a living playing punk rock. Burns has a couple of young kids, Pfister plays in another band called Virginity, and Zach always has a ton of stuff going on as well so we all just do our best to juggle everything and make it work. 

PRT: My first thought when I heard the new album is that it still very much sounds like what we’re used to from you guys, but just slightly less frenetic this time around. Is that just me? Or was it a conscious decision to change things up some more?

Alex: I think I tried to simplify some things in my songwriting this time around but still keep it interesting. In the past I was hesitant to let things breathe, or play certain chord progressions, and maybe tried too hard to keep people guessing when listening to us. This time I sorta told myself, it’s ok to let the catchy stuff be catchy and to not feel the need to ALWAYS throw in some weird chord or transition to upend the expectation of the listener. A song like Tight Lips is so simple that I had trouble letting it be when I wrote it. It’s only two parts and a handful of chords. I wanted to add another part, or a different chord, and the rest of the band sort of told me to shut the fuck up. Which was totally necessary because I like that song a lot as it is now and it’s really fun to play live. 

PRT: You’ve never been a band to hold back in your songs about things that frustrate or anger you. Do you even know where to start with what is happening in the USA now?

Alex: I think America’s only way forward is an abandoning of our two party system and a populist revolution that puts people first. Our rights, protections, and stability are being eroded every day and people are scared right now. The democrats have shown that they’re not interested in any actual change or helping regular people. They just try to please their corporate donors and put on a good show. The republicans have largely become actual fascist extremists. But the lynchpin of all of it is that people here are unhappy. Life in America is getting objectively worse and harder year after year since I’ve been old enough to be aware of it. Our country is so highly propagandized to fight a culture war against each other over immigration, or trans rights, or whatever the target of the day is, that they ignore the fact that there’s billionaires robbing us blind, exploiting our labor, and pulling all the strings in our government to enrich themselves and their friends. I don’t see how things will possibly change unless people use their collective power to demand real action with something like a general strike. 

PRT: With everything that is going on since Trump is in office,  have you already found yourself thinking ‘maybe I shouldn’t say this or that’? 

Alex: I haven’t. Maybe I should? But I’d rather go down swinging at the people screwing us over than feel like I held back in speaking my mind. There’s that famous poem “First they Came” where it reads “First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist…” and it goes on to talk about Trade Unionists, Socialists, Jews, etc until there’s no one left to speak out. I feel like we’re in that time right now. I sort of stole that idea for a line in Tight Lips where I say “If nothing’s all we do, next they’ll come for me and you.” As a white, cis male, I may not be the target right now. But if we don’t show support and solidarity for all marginalized people, then who will have your back when the time comes? And that’s not a selfish idea, it just comes from the idea that we’re stronger and better together.   

PRT: Also new this time around is that some of the lyrics are of a more personal nature like the pressures of fatherhood, insecurity, and dealing with mortality. Did you find those more challenging to write? 

Alex: Honestly, I found the personal songs a little bit easier to write this time around because at least with the fatherhood thing it was something new to dig my teeth into. And the song about my mortality is very intertwined with the thought of “Oh fuck, I don’t want to leave my family in a bad spot or not be there to protect them if something were to happen to me.” For the political songs sometimes it can feel like beating a dead horse so I need to find a new way or angle to discuss these issues that are persisting in our lives. I’ve been writing political songs in this band for 9 years and very little has changed for the better! At the root a lot of the political songs can point back to greed and exploitation whether it’s the healthcare industry, American imperialism, or media manipulation. Finding new ways to express those ideas without rehashing the same territory can be tricky sometimes. 

PRT: What’s up next for Debt Neglector once the album is out?

Alex: We’ve got Pouzza Fest in Montreal in May and are planning some weekends of gigs later in the year. Got another festival that hasn’t been announced in October, and possibly one in November as well. We’re just trying to juggle everything in our lives and fit in as much music as we can whenever we can.