Select/Reject are a three-piece rock band from Vienna built on a simple but radical idea: play EVERYTHING you love, reject what you don’t.
Formed from a chance meeting, since 2017, the band has assembled a body of original work that moves freely between folk-rock and heavy metal, deadpan comedy and lyricism — all within the same set. There’s folk songs, punk anthems, metal riff-fests, pop hooks and the inevitabe country song. Select/Reject’s identity is one unbound by genre. They reject the status quo and what they select they play with gusto.
Their instrumentation is deceptively lean — electric guitar moving fluidly from clean to heavily distorted and back, acoustic guitar for songs that call for it, violin, octave ukulele (the “grunge uke”), vocals, and backing tracks — yet the sound is full, punchy, and consistently surprising. The violin adds both texture and melody: weaving through the quieter songs with precision and cutting through the heavier moments with equal assurance.
“A Select/Reject concert is like a journey — and as with the best journeys, the trip itself is the destination.”
Lyrically, they cover ground that few bands dare: climate change, utopia, mortality, relationships in their messy reality, social justice — and, yes, a comedic ode to bad weather and another about unreliable drummers. The writing is equal parts wit and weight.
The Lineup
Robert Emke — Guitars · Bass · Composition
Nicholas Shore — Vocals · Ukulele · Lyrics
Eva Götz — Violin
Select/Reject means never deciding on a category, a style, a tradition — just selecting what’s good, and rejecting what doesn’t fit. Admittedly there’s been more selecting than rejecting — hence the country song.