Tear Here

Reflects on the dark rise and fall of an ambitious rock music collective in the upper Midwest.

Matthew Pitt’s first novel draws from characters introduced in his debut story collection. The rock band Some Assault—comprised of dropouts and hedonists—flails from gig to gig, directed by their volatile drummer Liddy, who careens between foster homes and addictions. She and the band strike up a surprise friendship with Charlie Shales, their remedial algebra teacher. At first, this link is transactional, with Shales seeking drugs and the band seeking a customer. Before long, an odd and meaningful bond is formed.

When Charlie later passes, Liddy orchestrates an elaborate sonic empire, dismissing her own health woes. She recruits new members with targeted zeal, including Oliv, heiress to twin fortunes in condiment packaging and shortbread cookies. Deploying Oliv’s funds to buy a shuttered women’s prison, Some Assault converts the acreage into a farm collective and a massive recording studio dubbed The Hive.

Misfits continue to swell Some Assault’s roster, lured by The Hive’s promise of security and rabid praise: Andy Warhol’s Factory in an Instagram age. However, once the band’s fifteen minutes of fame threaten to expire, territorial violence rises, driven by dark desires to command the public eye at all costs. Chronicled by a member who managed to flee The Hive, Tear Here surveys the fierce fallout of cravings for celebrity that warp into cultish conduct.