A Preteen Punk Band From Mill Valley Takes on AI

On a rainy November Thursday, a familiar suburban scene is playing out in a Mill Valley basement: Three blonde boys are bashing away on guitar, bass and drums, working on a new song called “Mr. America.”

You can’t call this the land of the free
If you’re only free if you look like me
Justice is a joke and you can never win
You can’t call this the home of the brave
Too many guns, too many graves
We shouldn’t have to fear that the end is always near

Heady stuff from three kids who aren’t even close to being able to drive.

Knights of Molino are a new punk band composed of middle schoolers Erik and Tommy Birmingham, 11 and 13, and Rowan Campbell, 12. They recently reached moderate viral fame for another track in which they didn’t shy away from speaking their minds. In October, their scathing takedown of generative AI, “Take Back Control,” went spinning across Bay Area and punk-rock TikTok. It’s currently at 240,000 views and 2,500 comments: definitely not Mr. Beast numbers, but pretty impressive when you consider none of them even are allowed on TikTok yet.

@knightsofmolino TAKE BACK CONTROL – an original song we wrote about artificial intelligence in music and art. We are really proud of this song – please listen to the whole song and let us know what you think! #punk #punkrock #originalmusic #teenband #standupforwhatsright ♬ original sound – Knights of Molino

But those interactions aren’t from their peers (at Mill Valley Middle School, rock is out and pop and rap are in, they say). They’re mostly from adults inspired to see young people picking up the Bay Area punk torch and rejecting the creep of technology. “AI is taking over the arts and it is vile,” agrees one comment. Another: “We need more of this human creativity and true punk.” More still are various versions of “the kids are alright.”

“Take Back Control” is just one of just a handful of songs Knights of Molino have written in their short career. The product of one of the Bay Area’s many rock-centric music programs, WOW Music Studios, the band formed when Tommy and Erik started playing music, back when they were single-digit ages. During pandemic shutdowns, the brothers took online lessons, and within about a year Tommy was writing lyrics. They officially became Knights of Molino when they added Rowan last year.

It was quickly apparent to their parents that these guys were good. Really good. “They’ll do a song, and I’ll be like, ‘That’s amazing. That’s it. I mean, there’s no way they’ll be able to write another one,’” says Erik and Tommy’s dad, Gavin. “And then they’ll just write another one. And I’m like, how do you do this?…[And] you haven’t even started, like, living life yet.”

This summer, Knights of Molino started booking shows at venues and festivals even adults are trying to break into: Porchfest in San Rafael and San Francisco, Petaluma’s Phoenix Theatre and San Francisco’s Hotel Utah.

Then came “Take Back Control” and a deluge of attention. It wasn’t the first time they’d posted the video — “We always made a joke [that it was] the algorithm stopping it,” cracks Erik — but this time, TikTok surfaced it to the right crowd. “We look at the demographics … and it’s white men in their 50s; the original punks in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s,” says Gavin.

“Take Back Control” comes at a time when people are starting to question AI’s integration into every aspect of daily life, from word-processing software to refrigerators. There’s been much speculation in the media recently about a potential AI bubble burst. Locally, commuters on San Francisco streets have been puzzling on social media about the nearly-nonsensical AI billboards that dot the city’s landscape.

Knights of Molino’s biggest concern is AI’s slow encroachment onto the very teenage endeavor of writing songs in your bedroom. AI-created music is on the rise, hitting Billboard charts and even cutting record deals. In a genre that prizes authenticity and earnestness, Knights of Molino see it as an affront to their creative process. “People have been creating music for like 40,000 years or something like that, and it’s just made to be created by humans,” says Rowan.

For the record, they’re not totally anti-AI (“It has [some] good uses,” admits Erik), but they’re increasingly horrified by its infiltration of music and the inability of many to discern it from the real thing. “The problem is not many people can recognize AI as fake,” Erik continues. “And I feel like that’s one of the reasons we made the song, [to] help people realize that AI’s stealing human thoughts and emotions, and, like, human hard work and time.”

“We put emotion and feeling, heart, experiences and all that into writing these songs. But when AI does it, it has nothing to go off of,” Tommy adds. “’Cause it’s not human. Robot on a screen. How is it supposed to connect with humans?”

Once again: They are 11, 12 and 13 years old.

But don’t mistake Knights of Molino’s existence for a “cute kid” story. They’re shockingly eloquent, sharply informed and, when it comes to running band practice the day of our interview, as put-together as many adults. (“It goes pre-chorus,” begins Erik as he demonstrates a new riff to Rowan. “I’ll count you in. It starts with the verse.”)

Their hard work and beyond-their-years professionalism is paying off: In January they’ll record their first EP at the recently-reopened Plant in Sausalito. Yes, that Plant, the place where Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac and Huey Lewis and the News cut classic albums. They’re also in talks about booking a show at 924 Gilman, the legendary, all-ages punk venue in Berkeley. “Just, like, seeing that’s where Green Day got famous, and bands like that, I feel like that’d be a good next step,” says Erik, adding that Knights of Molino see themselves making music together for a long time. “Just playing as many shows as we can, just to get better.”

But that’s for later. After practice, Rowan and Tommy rush out the side door to go play on the trampoline. Erik has homework.