My Son the Doctor’s New Wave Punk

The short way to describe the band, My Son the Doctor, is that they are a 4-piece swaggering new wave punk band from Brooklyn; the longer version tells a more complete story.

Dad Time EP – Album Art

The band is Brian Hemmert on vocals, Joel Kalow on guitar, John Mason on drums and Matt Nitzberg is on bass. They first hit the scene in Brooklyn, back in 2019, where they played spaces all over the borough. In the Summer of 2020, they released their first recorded songs, Dad Time, a four-track EP.

My Son The Doctor/ photo by Sara Laufer / courtesy of the artist

They told Brooklyn Roads that “Joel, Brian, and Matt all grew up in Northern California and met in high school”, where they played music in various bands. What brought them to the East Coast was what they described as starting “a minor Brooklyn coup in order to snag John to play drums in this project, which we formed in 2018.”

My Son The Doctor’s members were influenced by styles and genres of music they all grew up listening to music from classic rock to Steely Dan and Jazz, which influenced their sound and described them to Brooklyn Roads:

Brian said his was a “strange mix…The Presidents of the United States Of America, Pavement, Minutemen, Spoon”.   Joel said his was “classic stuff from the ’ol dad rock collection (Beatles, Stones, Zep, Velvet Underground, etc.) and then more specifically artists like Pavement, Guided By Voices, Big Star, The Replacements, Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis, That Dog”. John’s was “Bloc Party, big band jazz, Steely Dan, Dubstep? while Matt ““grew up with a weird mix of Motown and Black Sabbath”.

On Stage / photo by Brian Stootthoff / courtesy of the artist

My Son The Doctor described their sound as “like Spoon, but younger and hotter,”. The name of their band gives off a quirky vibe, as it is not a typical name for such an ensemble. The members however, say there is a backstory to their name. “It’s an old Jewish joke, so we’re paying homage to our roots. Our parents are proud of our wealth.”

Living in Brooklyn has helped their creativity immensely, due in part to the sense of music community around them. “There’s just a ton of bands and competition to get great,” they said to Brooklyn Roads. “It’s given us access to a community with a huge spectrum of sounds and approaches to music, all of whom are supportive and excited about the process even in the face of a brutally cynical industry.” With their favorite Brooklyn venues to play being Our Wicked Lady and The Broadway, you’ll be able to catch them there and other places this Spring and Summer.