3 Feet High & Rising: New Jersey Emcee Raymond Strife Starts Punk/Hardcore Band Gusset with Wife & Friends
Gusset L-R: Raymond Strife, Sal DiDonato, Bella Mozzarella, and Rob Davis (CREDIT: Bella Mozzarella)
Gusset is a new New Jersey Punk/Hardcore and Nü-metal band that quietly dropped their debut collection of three promising demo recordings over the weekend. Gusset counts bassist Bella Mozzarella, guitarist Rob Davis AKA Blue Rob, drummer Salvatore DiDonato AKA Sal Dente, and vocalist/Punk & Hardcore-adjacent emcee Raymond “Ray” Strife as members. Legend has it, Mozzarella & Davis were once in a band together called Groomers, Davis is currently a member of Pyre, Keeper of The Tale, and Cutlet, DiDonato was once part of Killin’ It, and Strife used to notoriously be a member of CRACK FILLER, Tobasco Cats, and OVER EVERYTHING. We’ve been Following Gusset for quite a while now and have been messaging Strife for updates and then, suddenly, over his birthday weekend, Gusset surprise released DEMOS. There is very little to know and/or be found online, however, we do know that Gusset’s Strife & Mozzarella are, in fact, husband and wife and Sal Dente (@s.didonato) posted this on Instagram coinciding with DEMOS’ release, “started a new band with some friends. We just finished a [3-song] demo. Check it out. Or don’t.” The band, also, shared on their page: “Gusset demos out now, Link in Bio. Less than 6 minutes long. Currently exclusively only [available on] Bandcamp. Art by [Brianna Marion] (@brianna.june.marion).” Marion also serves as the bassist for fellow New Jerseyans Good Fall.
Strife briefly elaborated that “me and Bella just wanted to be in a Hardcore Punk band… the lyrics mostly revolve around trying to change for the better. We have a few more songs written, but wanted to get some [songs] out there and start playing some shows” via text. Gusset’s DEMOS includes tracks titled “Jon Lovitz (Yeah, That’s The Ticket,”) “Ouroboros,” and “Unobtainable” and we can’t speak for the band’s own inspirations and sources of influence, but would recommend DEMOS if you enjoy listening to Henry Rollins era (is there really even any other?) Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, The Circle Jerks, and Bad Religion. It’s hard to say much in the timespan of less than four minutes total, but there is an underlying, albeit breakneck, silver lining theme of positivity and increased self-worth on DEMOS. Honestly, whether you genuinely like any of those artists or not, if you have less than six minutes—actually, more like less than four minutes—we strongly recommend checking out Gusset’s DEMO EP exclusively available on Bandcamp… or don’t! Also, we urge you to go Follow Gusset on Bandcamp and Instagram for continued updates and band, show, release, etc. details.
