Clock-Out Lounge Presents: The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis Deface the Currency Tour Sat April 18th Doors 8:30 21+ $22adv/$25dos https://themessthetics.bandcamp.com/album/the-messthetics-and-james-brandon-lewis Deface the Currency, the new second collaborative album from the Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, grew out of a simple intuition. The group — with saxophonist Lewis joining the core Messthetics lineup of Brendan Canty on drums, Joe Lally on bass and Anthony Pirog on guitar — was on tour in the summer of 2025 when Canty knew it was time to go back into the studio. This configuration of the band had debuted on record the year prior, releasing an acclaimed self-titled album via Impulse!, the legendary jazz label. But as the quartet logged serious time on the road, the drummer felt their chemistry evolving, so he called up engineer Don Godwin and booked a couple of days at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland, where The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis was recorded. Deface the Currency preserves the tightness and variety of its predecessor, but across the album’s seven tracks, it reveals new levels of confidence and risk. On pieces such as the title track — named after a quote from Greek philosopher Diogenes that speaks to challenging societal norms — and a new version of “Serpent Tongue,” which first appeared on the Messthetics’ self-titled 2018 debut, the quartet reaches ecstatic peaks that convey fun as much as ferocity. More than any earlier statement by the band, the record seamlessly melds the sounds that make up its collective DNA, from punk rock to free jazz and funk, balancing compositional precision with palpable improvisational fire.