Meet Jersey's SCREENAGER

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Vinnie Pinn Project. This is my girl, This is

(00:36):
my Jersey Girl. She goes by screen ager and she's
playing at the Webster Theater. Screen Ager. Very cool name there,
Jersey girl. Let's do this. Hello, Audrey, Am I saying
it right?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Kind of, Adri, But that's totally it's.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Not kind of it's wrong. Then he help me with this,
Adri Mayella.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, yes, the last new spa on are you Italian?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Vinnie? I feel like you and I like to go
to school together. And I've been passing your notes for
weeks and I'm fifty eight. It's kind of creepy, but
it's Adri Mayella New Jersey's own. But she goes by
screen ager and look, I'm a huge fan, can't you tell?

(01:28):
Huge fan? Oh? Thank you caught you less than a
year ago Cafe nine, because I'm a fan of Park National.
He's been on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Cool.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, So that was a great triple bill, but it
was like a midday show. It started at about four
o'clock in the afternoon at Cafe nine. And you remember
that I went to check out Park National and before
Park Nashal, I think you you were second. So Inner
Love comes on and I'm with my twenty two year
old daughter and she she flipped for inter Live. I

(01:59):
did to. They're great. They're fantastic, but so good. I
found you to be the look. It was a great
triple bill. Each act brought their own thing. But I
left like, what's up with screen Ager? You're going to
I think you're going to be huge. I actually I
think you're going to be huge.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
And I'm not surprised to find out that that rock
comes from Jersey. It makes a whole lot of sense
to me. There's a Jersey vibe to it. What I
am surprised though to find out, is and you're coming back.
We get you at the Webster in Hartford. You don't
have a full length though. It's nothing but EPs as
far as screen Ager is concerned, right.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, that's correct. I only really started putting music out
with last year. About this time last year, the first
EP came out, hoping to do more next year. I
guess balktally for this year.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Well, and as far as that EP is concerned, there
was like four songs on it, right, So you're that fresh.
I mean I watch your clips when you post them,
and you are captivating live on stage at Cafe nine.
It seems like you've been doing this for a long time.
That's amazing to hear that it's only been a year
that you've been doing this.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
How old are you, Adrian, I'm twenty three, and I
mean not to say. I think like digging around, especially
in like the DIY scene over here in Jersey, has
been something I've been focused on for more than a year,
for sure, But I think it took a minute for
us to get like the recordings together and stuff like that.
But I mean, if you ask anyone over here, we

(03:31):
have been digging like all around for ever. So I
guess the music aspect is like the newer part, but
I do feel a little bit vetted on the like
the live aspect. So it's been like a weird like
situation of like putting all the puzzle pieces together for me.
But finally I feel like there's stuff to that stuff

(03:54):
on the internet at least that like speaks for itself,
and then you can also keep like playing shows and
just like all of it together.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
But yeah, thank you, Yeah totally. I mean Black and
Blue is one of my favorites. You know. The interesting
thing is you say you're twenty three. I'm talking to
Screenager twenty three. I think once that full length comes out,
I mean, you've been doing these great bills, this one
that we're getting in the website. You turned me on
to have Mercy because that's killer music too. I didn't

(04:23):
know about that.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
So funny.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yes, thanks cool.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
I look up to those guys, so that's so funny.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Oh, they're fantastic. What a great sound they have too,
And again a little disparate. I mean you're on these
really interesting bills, but once you put that full length out,
you're about to go. What are you going to do
when you're twenty six years old and they're like, good
morning America says we're going to have screen ager on.
Are you going to come to regret the name the

(04:49):
name of your band? Will you ever change the name
of your band?

Speaker 2 (04:54):
I think the name of the band in might be
the reason why like certain doors of opened, whether that's
out of like curiosity or like maybe even like discussed
with the name, like you know what I mean it.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
I think.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
I thought of it when I was like in high
school and I just before I'd even learned how to
play guitar. I was like that'd be a cool band name.
And then I ended up learning how to play guitar
over the pandemic actually, and I was like, well, that
can be my band name. So I don't know. I
don't think I'll ever change it because I think it
like draws people in and then I think there's ways

(05:31):
to capture. I guess like the in my hope, I
would like to capture with like the visual aesthetics of it,
like the young adult like teen experience, or at least
like the female teen experience. And I think it's kind
of sitting in that way, but it's also a little
it's very silly also, so yeah, that might be interesting.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Well call me a screenager because I am one. So
I hear you on that. But that was a question
that I that I had. So you released a striker
that's the name of the EP, and people can step
that up if they like. And I would imagine because
I feel like I've gotten more more than just black
and Blue in school. I feel like there are a
couple other songs that I've gotten, so maybe it would

(06:14):
You're just releasing like on Spotify, a song here, a
song there.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, it's been like that EP has four tracks on it,
and most of them have just been like around forever.
Like I have friends who just would listen to like
a voice memo of it from a show forever before
it like came out. Those songs have been on the
internet for a while. I used to be more active
on YouTube, and like they've been on YouTube forever. So yeah,

(06:40):
those songs have always been yeah kind of a thing.
But the next EP that I'm putting out or I
don't know what it'll I don't know what it'll be
because I just keep writing stuff that I like, and
I agree that I want more stuff, yeah, but it'll be.
But the next spatch of stuff is like definitely more current.
And I think all those tracks were definitely I wrote

(07:03):
in high school and stuff like that. But the next
round of songs are I want it very funny, feel
more representatives.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
I want some vinyl, but I know, I know vinyl
costs money. You know. The interesting thing is, so I've
been in radio a long time. I did Top forty
radio for about ten years, but I've been doing a
talk show. I've been doing talk radio now for a
good long time. But I do a lot of pop
culture and it's interesting. My Top forty years. You know,
it was interesting to watch the way radio can just

(07:32):
make someone. They could just manufacture stars. All they got
to do is decide. I watched them make the decisions
of we're just going to make this song ahead. And
I'm not that there's anything wrong with that, but I
look at a song like Burner Phone, I mean Burner's
I mean, that's a jam that would be a huge
I don't know how you feel about this, not to

(07:55):
slam her, because she's doing her thing. It's and she's huge,
but like if you open for Sabrina Carpenter and that
crowd heard Burner Phone, it would be the biggest song
of the summer of twenty twenty six. It's it's just
you're that many steps away. I feel that's a huge
that's a huge song. I mean it just it's got

(08:17):
the hook, the title, it's got everything, and I and
I just feel like you're those few steps away from
that happening.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
You know, Thank you so much. That's so funny that
you bring up Sabrina because like, so I was talking
to someone and they like kind of had a similar
thing to say, where like I could open for her
and it kind of would still make sense.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
I think it would work. I don't. Yeah, I didn't.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
I had never thought of that or like myself in
that way. And I think people do like pigeonhole themselves
into like an indie like thing, but I really call
it more like alternative, like pop rock like whatever. Like
it's it's a few different things, and I think like
that's why opening for Have Mercy can make sense to like, Yeah,

(09:05):
so it's I feel I'm in a good spot I feel,
and I haven't always been able to say that, so
thank you. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, how long have you been playing guitar for? Because
I mean you do play mean guitar.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Thank you? Not not that long. I feel like I'm
I always say that I'm like easily the weakest link
like musicianship wise, and my whoever I'm playing was in
my band because I really only picked up guitar two
maybe two years ago. I still, yeah, I used to
be I'm primarily a bassist actually, so I did have

(09:41):
like that head start, I guess, but yeah, kind of.
Still I'm still like I don't really know like what
all the knocks I am to do yet figuring.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
That out, Like yeah, well I think what it is is,
and the reason why it looks like you've been playing
a while is you definitely, you know, like the Cafe
nine is very intimate venue. So it's the Webster. I
don't know if you've ever played there before, although it's
considerably bigger. I mean, Cafe nine is just one of
those cool, little, tiny, little live music joints. The Webster
is a theater, you know, although are.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
You are you at the Underground.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Because there's also the Webster Underground, I don't know specifically.
It's December twelfth, this is the show. Yeah, that's the
little club right next door, which would still be bigger
than Cafe nine. But when I was watching you play,
you definitely you get lost while you're playing. You disappear
into it. So you seemed like someone who had been
playing for a long time because you disappear into it

(10:37):
when you're jamming, you know, oh thank you. You seem
like you get very caught up in the moment. So
I'm looking forward to the show. It's December twelfth at
the Webster again, opening for Have Mercy. And there's somebody
else on the bill.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Too, No, I think, so there's another artist Lake who
I'm not too familiar with but I mean, I trust
I have Mercy's judgment. They've always been super to me,
so I'm excited to check them out too.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
I can't wait. I can't I'm glad to see you again.
I didn't know you're a fellow Italian. You made Vinnychen,
you made me chase you for like six weeks like
a creeper. But I'm a fan. I just love my
tunes and you're coming out with great ones, and I
don't want to get out to this show too, so
I might pester you for the guest list. We'll see

(11:23):
how the webster is.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Of course, I would love that.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Please. Yeah, and it's going to be a great show.
It's adri Mayella. Check out screen Ager, especially on Instagram. Well,
I would steer people to Instagram because I think you've
just got a great Instagram page and want to turn
people onto good tunes. It's screen Ager And I'm glad
we finally connected and you feel better and I'll see
you on December twelfth.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, awesome.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
You all right, Adrie. I've had a burner phone too,
by the way, FYI, all right, take care of the