Puddy Knife scrapes and molds its way in the Spokane punk scene

Puddy Knife may be a relatively new addition to the diverse landscape that is the Spokane music scene, but their true origins are from a very different time in the Lilac City.

In 2011, drummer/vocalist Tony Kuchar moved from the lower Puget Sound area to Spokane to attend Eastern Washington University. It was here that a mutual friend introduced Kuchar to two Spokane natives, guitarist/vocalist Jordan Satterfield and bassist Josh Morrisey, who were looking to form a band and needed a drummer.

With all three sharing a love for older hardcore rock with melodic features, they clicked immediately and became known as Loomer.

Through the early 2010s, Loomer became a local staple of a scene that has since seen a drastic transformation. Today, many shows are all ages and a large chunk of crowd goers are in their teens, especially within the punk sect. This wasn’t the case when the three were almost exclusively playing bars and were fueled by a crowd that grew up on the 1990s and 2000s rock that Loomer (and now Puddy Knife) were inspired by. The band actually credits this change and the eager youth as one reason they have continued to play to this day.

After a few years, Loomer would call it quits upon Kuchar moving to Tucson. But about two years ago, he moved back to Spokane with a number of song concepts locked and loaded. It only seemed right to bring them to Satterfield and Morrisey, and just like that a new band by the name of Puddy Knife was born.

Besides being a little older and traversing a different scene of sorts, another difference has been Kuchar taking up most of the lead vocal position – despite being the drummer of a band with fast-paced music. He also acts as one of the main lyricists, and as a result some of his phrases get cut short by the need to take a deep breath.

“It’s pretty exhausting,” Kuchar said with a laugh. “You’re doing a lot of cardio.”

After getting back to playing local shows and fine-tuning new music, Puddy Knife released their debut “Flowers EP” in late November.

The 8-track project is slightly difficult to define, but that’s part of the sentiment of the EP. Although the three have various overlaps, each member also has their own distinct taste. For instance, Kuchar has a passion for hardcore punk while Satterfield enjoys death metal and Morrisey an atmospheric subgenre by name of “sludge.”

While trying to slap a title on their sound, “melodic hardcore” and “hardcore pop-punk” were tossed in the hat, but above all the EP acts as a way to truly preserve this moment in time for the longtime friends.

“I think any project that the three of us work on would inevitably end up in that spot,” Kuchar said. “It’s this time capsule of what the three of us were doing creatively together for two years.”

As the three enter 2025, there aren’t many outright goals on the table. They hope to play more shows and potentially record as Puddy Knife, and maybe they’ll reunite as Loomer a time or two as they did in 2024. Not much is certain, but the group is certain they will continue to create.