Keeping Warm With Push Ups
Photography by Elena Saviano.
I met Grey and Harry - the brother duo behind the New York-based band Push Ups - on the steps of a Brooklyn public school in Grey’s neighborhood. It was an intensely cold, very moody afternoon. Pretty fitting.
They arrived separately wearing suspiciously coordinated outfits that were later confidently denied to have been coordinated (see, however, the harmonized stripes). I call it sibling telepathy or something mythical like that. Schools, Harry would later divulge, as well as churches, are recurrent symbols in their lyricism, though usually not intentionally; they candidly referenced a not-entirely-ideal experience attending Catholic school as kids that would shape their outlook later in life. “Rosary” is one of Push Ups’ self-proclaimed strongest songs and is a stunning representation of their ability to marry deeply personal references with entirely singular storytelling. Grey explained that “Rosary,” despite its religiously suggestive title, is actually written about the ebb and flow of friendship and ended up functioning as a thematic guidepost for the rest of their EP. “Once I had that one, I knew the direction the project had to go in,” he went on. Harry added, “‘Rosary’ is definitely really strong lyrically. It evokes a lot of imagery, which is the overall atmosphere we’re creating with Push Ups.”
Push Ups is one of many creative ventures that Grey and Harry are a part of, and the project was born from some fortunate combination of brotherly happenstance and very intentional, pointed effort. Grey started piecing together Push Ups solo in 2022, writing everything entirely on his own. But “Harry was always involved in Push Ups in some way,” Grey told me. “We grew up playing music together all of our lives so when it eventually came to playing live shows, once the EP was out, he was the first person that I knew would be in the band. Or hoped would want to be in the band.” This artistic alliance undoubtedly flows so well because the brothers see themselves as representing two sides of the same coin. There’s no need to dissect or explain what they’re thinking or feeling to one another. Where Grey can access a wider range of darker, more meditative emotions, Harry can fill in the gaps with brighter, more exuberant energy. Their roots are grounded in the same soil, and this intuitive back-and-forth ultimately makes writing collaboratively very instinctive and uncomplicated.
And their roots are indeed sprawling. Grey and Harry now are now firmly grounded in New York City (or “for as long as we can afford it,” they joked), though they grew up between Northern and Southern California, Portland, Shanghai, Chicago, and NYC. “There are two aspects of New York that have really influenced us,” Harry said. “The New York from our childhood and our earliest memories, when you’re just figuring out what the world is. That’s such a formative time, especially in a place like New York where the whole world is in your pocket. The second is our daily lived experience.” Grey added that the people they meet living in the city, both friends and strangers alike, add endless cascades of inspiration. Most of us can unanimously agree that there’s no conceivable end to the weird and wonderful shit you see on the streets of New York; it’s a notoriously inspiring place, when it’s not jarring or disgusting or extremely difficult.
But Push Ups wants to avoid the pigeonholing that often accompanies being labeled as a “New York band.” They find sliding their sound into a specified category incredibly restrictive. “People really want to pin us to a genre,” Grey explains. “Like, ‘There’s this cool grunge band, Push Ups’ or ‘There’s this cool shoegaze band, Push Ups.’ We’re not really either of those things, though there are elements of that in what we make. We kind of do our own version of alternative rock, but we’re more interested in trying to nail a feeling that’s true to us. If that’s hard to make a playlist around or whatever, so be it.” The association with genres like shoegaze, grunge, pop rock, alt rock, emo (the list goes on) is understandable and pretty spot-on. But what Push Ups is really achieving, and very successfully, harkens back to an older era of dirty, spunky musical excellence with a distinctive and unmistakable modernity. Yes, they’re a rock band, but there’s references to several decades of genre-floating coalescing into their textured guitar riffs and charismatic lyricism. Grey specifically pointed to New York-based bands Taking Back Sunday and Texas is the Reason as influential sonic inspirations.
As we talked shop on Grey’s leather couch under the wise and watchful eye of a giant taxidermy deer head, what really struck me about Push Ups was the quiet but undeniable bond between Grey and Harry. Something definable as brotherly affection: rarely spoken about but palpable; impossible to miss. Perhaps they weren’t even aware of how present their admiration for each other was. They consistently nodded to the other’s brightness or talent, their exceeding artistic capabilities or introspective thinking. There’s something exceptionally special about connecting with one of the first people you ever knew, now in your adult life, as you both pursue the things you love. Of course, siblings brawl and it can be gnarly, but Harry and Grey both exude a tangible warmth that makes it easy to want to see them succeed. Not to be a wet blanket, but you can hear it in the music, and I found it to be very sweet.