The New York indie rock trio Jobber features Hellrazor members Kate Meizner and Mike Falcone, and they’re writing fuzz-pop songs about pro wrestling and about the parallels between wrestling and present-day life itself. (A jobber is one of those wrestlers who only ever loses — who exists entirely to make the big stars look dominant. Metaphorically rich!) Jobber’s debut EP Hell In A Cell is coming soon, and we’ve already posted first single “Entrance Theme.” Today, Jobber have shared the EP’s title track.

“Hell In A Cell” is named for the giant WWE cage where the Undertaker once famously sent Mankind plummeting into oblivion. In Jobber’s hands, it’s a sweetly melodic riff-rumble. Director Steve Marucci’s video uses the magic of video games to show us a Royal Rumble in which Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin take on Ronald McDonald and Dr. Robotnik. In a press release, Kate Meizner has this to say:

“Hell In A Cell” is basically an allegory. On its surface, it’s a narrative about a fictional wrestler mentally preparing for a match and questioning whether it’s worth it to put her body on the line for the sake of spectacle, which, in this case, is a match set to end with her taking a 30 ft jump off a steel cage a la Undertaker vs Mankind at HIAC 1998. Pulling back the curtain a bit, the lyrics are pretty personal and came out at a time when my job was having an especially negative impact on my health. I wanted to quit so badly, but in the midst of Covid-19 related layoffs and economic downturn, everyone was being bludgeoned with anti-labor talking points like…. “why are you complaining about your job? You should feel grateful to even have a job!” The lyrics “Am I ungracious?/ Because I won’t turn water into wine/ Am I buried forever?/ If I start speaking my mind” are from the POV of the wrestler, but also came from a personal place, expressing my anger toward workplaces and their horrendous, exploitative treatment of workers.

Musically, I wrote the heavy intro riff of “Hell In A Cell,” when I was listening to the Helmet album Betty on repeat. The intro sounded like the perfect entrance theme for a physically huge, hulking wrestler like Kane or Braun Strowman, and I shaped the song “around” the riff to mirror the cinematic ebb and flow of a wrestling match. Mike F (drums) and Justin P (sound engineer) were instrumental in shaping the dynamics of the song — making the big riff parts sound huge in contrast the quieter parts with delicate guitars and melodies.

Check out the “Hell In A Cell” video below.

The Hell In A Cell EP is out 10/21 on Exploding In Sound. Pre-order it here.