We sent Malört & Savior a few questions and got out of the way. Pete, the band’s songwriter and keyboard player, answered with the kind of wit and sincerity that defines the band. Have at it.
Malört & Savior are a Chicago punk band built on bad jokes, shared vocals, and a collective refusal to take anything too seriously. Featuring Taylor on vocals, Tony on bass, Pete on keys and acoustic guitar, Jim on drums, and Brendan and Dan K. on guitars, the band operates like a moving argument between irony and sincerity, fun and frustration. Their name feels intentional and unresolved at the same time, hinting at hometown pride, inherited belief systems, and the messiness of figuring things out in public. Rooted in Chicago’s long winters and rowdy local scene rather than constant touring, Malort & Savior treat songs as a place to test ideas, let meaning slip, and see what sticks — loud, fast, and open to interpretation.
SNQLX: Your band name invites interpretation. When you chose it, what meanings were clear to you, and what were you intentionally leaving open?
MALÖRT: I think it has pretty clearly defined our one main goal- to have a good time. We strive to be a band that puts fun above everything else. So that extends to our name. We wanted our name to be silly and a pun. Plus, we also wanted to pay homage to our Chicago roots, and to our our childhood upbringing on Christian rock, which influences us even today despite all growing into heathens.
SNQLX: There’s an inherent tension between irony and sincerity in punk. How do you personally navigate that when writing or performing?
MALÖRT: You unfortunately just can’t address the delineation between the two anymore. We feel like we live in a post-irony society. No matter how outrageous or a statement you can joke about, there’s some oddball out there who believes it in sincerity. We try to screen our songs to though our relatively level-headed wives (who aren’t chronically online losers like us), and that usually gives us a good idea of whether or not a “joke” line in a song is coming off as a joke. But more and more, we’ve come to accept that art’s interpretation by the viewer is just as important as the intent of the author. So we try not to let it bother us if our songs get misinterpreted.
SNQLX: When things feel heavy or broken, what role does music play for you personally — escape, confrontation, or something else?
MALÖRT: Hot take- listening to music has never made me feel better about life’s low points. If I’m at a bad spot, happy music feels empty and hollow, and sad music makes me feel worse, because listening to it makes me sad because listening to it makes me re-appropriate another person’s sadness into my own situation, often unrealistically.
Writing music, however, has been one of the greatest tools I’ve had for processing tragedy. Finding creative ways to outline my feelings helps me take a step back, take a mental inventory of of life, and categorize the big sad into one easy 3 and a half minute bite sized piece.
SNQLX: Chicago carries its own mythology. How does the city shape the way you think about survival, humor, and identity?
MALÖRT: As a band that doesn’t get around to touring much, Chicago is really the biggest influence on everything we identify with.
Cold dark winters leave plenty of time for brooding and overthinking. Staunch political activism in the city brings hope and faith for humanity and drowns out our inner cynics. A rowdy and crazy local music scene lets us act like total asses in our mid 30’s.
SNQLX: Have your songs become a place to process things you don’t have language for elsewhere?
MALÖRT: Yes! Although most of my mental processing comes from lyrics rather than music, songs are ultimately works of fiction. This allows for expansion and artistic license to say something totally divorced from reality, while still holding a greater metaphorical meeting.
SNQLX: Is there a lyric or moment in your catalog that feels misunderstood or overlooked?
MALÖRT: Yes. Our biggest song “on the day it finally happens” is often taken in a completely different light than we intended when we wrote it. The song was ultimately written from a much more bleak and cynical point of view, but the pesky indomitable human spirit has most people interpreting it as a hopeful optimistic song.
But like we said earlier- the viewer’s interpretation is just as important as the artist’s. So I don’t view this as being “misinterpreted” or “overlooked”. If anything, we’re the ones who overlooked the true spirit of the song and why it connects with people.
SNQLX: What does responsibility look like for you as artists, if it exists at all?
MALÖRT: As we’ve grown to get more influence and online street cred, we’re slowly trying to use our platform for good and not evil.
But this is a tricky subject. We want our art to have a positive impact on the world. We play benefit shows for causes we believe in, write songs we think are funny and poignant, but are very wary to hit people over the nose with our values and beliefs. Not because we don’t hold our values dear, but because we’ve always had something of a disdain for comedy that goes for claps instead of laughs. We can hop up onto stage and list out all the correct opinions on politics, mental health, cultural issues, and the like, but we try not to make it feel like we’re pandering. If you make good art and set good examples, people will come around without preaching.
SNQLX: As you look ahead, what feels most important for Malort & Savior to explore next, creatively or personally?
MALÖRT: Our next song, “She’s In My Prayers” or SIMP, for short, is probably the best song we’ve ever written. We’ve spent over a year and a half perfecting it and getting it right. We’re pretty sure it’s going to be a successful jingle. We hope everyone has as much fun with it as we did.
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