Five Fits With: Relentless Brooklyn-Based Band Model/Actriz
It’s tough to classify Model/Actriz, but when I first heard them, I was instantly gripped by their driving, pulsing, intense sound. They formed in 2016 and released their first album, Dogsbody, in 2023 to strong reviews. Their new record, Pirouette, is dramatic and polished, leaning more heavily into dance and pop influences and taking in to account some of the lessons they learned while touring in support of their debut. Music is my first love. Style, clothing, and fashion came later. One of my great joys in life is bridging the two.
Model/Actriz definitely bridges the two. The band cares about how they look, individually and cohesively, which is something you don’t always find in rock and punk-adjacent genres. Some of the band’s members have even modeled (vocalist Cole Haden did once for Esquire, and bassist Aaron Shapiro began his career modeling and still walks in Thom Browne’s runway shows). Below, I talk to Model/Actriz about their foundations, their name, how they dress for live performances, and plenty more.
Fit One
What is the story of Model/Actriz? How did the band start? Why the name? How did you first arrive at your sound?
Ruben: Me and Jack had loosely known each other since we were kids, and when we both moved to Boston, we actually started being friends. We were bored and inspired to start playing music, so we crammed in a tiny little drum room. Jack would bring in the amp and we'd be on top of each other playing, making sounds. We started writing songs that naturally found their way into the dance-punk idiom. When we were looking for a singer, we went to a solo show that Cole was playing with his art pop project, and were just totally floored. It was definitely more punk than the punk stuff that we were doing, so we asked if he wanted to play music with us. We sent him some demos, and our first rehearsal Cole came out swinging. It was pretty clear to all of us that it was working and fun. That was the first time in this project where I was like, “Oh, this could be an actual thing.”
What year did you guys officially start?
Cole: We played our first show in April, 2016.
Jack: Our friend Sam came up with the name years before. When this band started, immediately off the bat it was just like, we're going to call it Model/Actriz. Unfortunately, there was a supergroup called Model slash A-C-T-R-E-S-S, so we had to work around them.
Ruben: It was also just the name of our group chat, this spelling, and we just ran with it without really thinking about it because it wasn't really a real band.
Cole: I think it was when we agreed to do our first show or it was when we made the Instagram page. It was when I found out what the name of our band was.
Fit Two
Was the writing and recording process different for your new album, Pirouette, compared to your debut?
Jack: This one is a little more off the cuff.
Cole: With our first album, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to really make it a thesis statement about why we needed to exist. What was the point of us four playing music together under this project? Not that our previous releases didn't exactly speak to that, but it took us so long to get to the point where we were writing our first record that I think we had a lot more experiences as a group than most people have when they go into writing their first album. We had a lot to cover. With this album, we still made the effort to outdo ourselves and there was some pressure to keep moving forward, but I would say we didn't take great pains to do so.
Aaron: We all really wanted to experiment and surprise ourselves. That was the main goal, and I think we achieved that.
Ruben: It came naturally writing something that felt different from Dogsbody because by the end of Dogsbody, it felt like we had truly exhausted every single possibility that we could with that sound palette and that set of limitations. We needed to write something different. It just wouldn't have been possible to write something similar in the same way.
Aaron: It was also homing in on a vibe that we got from touring Dogsbody. The material that came from Pirouette was us trying to sharpen a certain feeling from the first live show.
Ruben: With Dogsbody, the shows were more fun and communal than the music maybe suggested. The album came across as pretty dark with inner turmoil…
It's heavy.
Ruben: Yeah, it is heavy both emotionally and physically. So this was us leaning into that, having fun at the shows, and wanting to have a communal joy.
Cole: I've always smiled during shows, but smiling to Dogsbody looks maniacal and fearsome whereas smiling to Pirouette, just having fun, actually captures our show’s communal joy. It's not confrontational; it feels more like a warm embrace.
Fit Three
How do you all manage your creativity and influences and styles and opinions cohesively?
Ruben: Barely.
Cole: All the songs come out of playing together for hours on end, and then we whittle it down from there. As far as generating music, it's not that difficult to find a throughway because we're really just playing music and we're not questioning it in the moment. The harder conversations come as you focus on what the shape of the finished piece is going to be. But we could play music for hours and it would all sound like Model/Actriz.
Jack: We all try to really trust each other and trust that we're all trying to get to the thing at the heart of the demo or jam or whatever that is—why the song matters—and pass the baton between each other and take turns guiding everyone else towards that pure purpose of the song.
Cole: All of our tastes hit many similar zones, but our particular moods could be totally different on the same day. We might not all want to write the same song in the same day, but we all do many of the same things. We have our own shit, but there's a lot in the middle of the Venn diagram.
You touched on this, but I read a lot online about the burnout of your live performances on your last set of tour dates. How are you going to approach live performances going forward?
Cole: That was the point of touring Dogsbody. We decided at the beginning that we would find out what our burnout point was so that we didn't have to find it later. When we found it, we had already agreed to play 20 shows after that, so we were like, “Well, let's just mark it here and then take note.” It's just really nice as time goes on that shows become more comfortable, touring becomes more comfortable. It will never be glamorous, but also, it's just the shows themselves. I usually end the show with more energy than I began with because what sustains you on tour—the energy you get from the crowd.
Aaron: We're coming off of the longest break we've had since early 2023, and I think that's given all of us a big appreciation for what our lives as true musicians playing in this project are. It's gotten us all excited for being back on the road, seeing people playing shows, but also taking a swing at another album cycle to ring with knowing ourselves a lot better and what's healthy for us physically and mentally and in terms of communication with each other.
Fit Four
What role, if any, does personal style and clothing play in your music and your performances?
Aaron: For Jack, Ruben, and I, it's very uniform. We wear the same shit. We're variations on the same shit pretty much every time we play.
Jack: Super utility.
Aaron: A large part of that is because of Cole's looks. Cole has this presentation that is new and evolving all the time. It's almost like Despicable Me or something like that where there's a head villain and then there's the minions. If we were wearing anything crazy, I think it would look like shit. Because we just wear really monochromatic plain stuff, it elevates Cole's vibe.
Cole: I don't like to wear the same thing on stage. I like making occasions. I just grew up in a world where I love to be surprised, and I'm not to the point where I can surprise people every time. When a pop star would go on a show and debut different looks, that's the world that I want to reference on stage. Even at the beginning of every show, I take out my purse and I put on lipstick as a signal to the audience that I am in charge now.
Ruben: It's your LeBron throwing chalk moment.
Do you guys have favorite brands you'd love to wear on or offstage?
Cole: I love Assembly.
Jack: Vintage in general. I like things that are tour-ready because shoes get cooked really fast on tour. It's also the fun part about touring, getting to thrift and go check out shops in random areas.
Ruben: I have fun with small local brands. It's really exciting when you find something you like that is either from your city or from the city that you're visiting. Something I wore today was an Angel Moon tank top that I got from Retail Pharmacy who styled us for a show; I love that. Especially playing shows in that tank top with a star on it. I love my Salomons. Nothing fits my feet the way they do.
Fit Five
Can each of you give me a non-negotiable album you think everyone should listen to?
Aaron: Arca, KICK ii. The whole KICK series is just essential listening.
Ruben: Nicholas Jaar, Sirens.
Cole: Black Eyed Peas, THE E.N.D.
Jack: Aphex Twin, Come to Daddy.
If you each had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?
Ruben: I would love to wear one outfit for the rest of my life. I love the idea of a uniform and there have been points in my life where I have worn the same outfit for months just because I got attached to it. But I don't know what specifically that would be.
Cole: Here's what I want my tour look to be: I'm going to get a baggy, heather gray Champion hoodie. I'm going to get black Tokyo dad jeans from Pool House. I'm going to get leather mules and nice black socks and a chain. And this hat, and real silver jewelry—or else I'll break out my grandmother's earrings and my messy weekend sunglasses.
Jack: Double-knees and a really thick, solid crew neck. Clogs.
Aaron: Black jeans, white tee, and then fucked-up, expensive Prada derbies.
Ruben: Black Dickies, double-knees. A nondescript pair of Salomons, not the fashion ones. And a slightly cropped, faded black T-shirt.
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