Genre Is Death, a limitation-destroying noise band formed by Ty Varesi (guitar, vox) and Tayler Lee (bass, vox). Their sound is abrasive yet melodic, using heavy distortion, dissonant riffs, and reverberating vocals to create music that feels both minimal and overwhelming. While comparisons to Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks are inevitable and quite welcome, Genre is Death build’s on NYC’s legacy without repeating it… eschewing nostalgia and nihilism in favor of total sonic liberation.
The pair moved to NYC in August of 2023 looking for something more than their mundane lifestyle of day drinking and playing doom metal in friends' basements… Their move to NYC, coupled with their desire to express something, anything, led to the inception of Genre is Death. The pair hit the ground running, playing anywhere and everywhere they could… However, it was only after a chance encounter with 80s noise forerunners Live Skull that the pair was introduced to the strange underbelly of NYC noise and began playing regular gigs with The Art Gray Noizz Quintet and Lydia Lunch. Since then they have toured with Gogol Bordello, embarked on their first East Coast tour, and played gigs with Cherubs, Bush Tetras, and Jon Spencer. In 2026 Genre is Death will be playing Goner Fest, opening up for A Place to Bury Strangers and hitting the west coast with Jon Spencer, and have just released their debut full length record 'Attractive People' May 1st on In The Red Records. Recorded by legendary sound producer Martin Bisi, 'Attractive People', prods and pushes its listener with tongue in cheek lyrics that accuse and indict their audience, cacophonous guitar shrieks of power and madness, and bass lines that oscillate from funky to erratic dissonance.
Jon Spencer / Genre is death
Casbah
2501 Kettner Blvd
San Diego, CA, 92101