Brennen Wilkinson: Squint | Furnace Fest 2025 Series

Cullen and Mason chat with Brennen Wilkinson from Squint. They chat about why the band started, the hardcore scene, Brennen's influential albums, and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Today we've got Brennan from Squint. Brennan super excited to
chat with you. I literally I think it's been less
than one minute since I've ever seen your face. Uh,
and I already know that. I think I'm just gonna
like you, just saying, like, just immediate vibes alone. Just
a big fan of you, know, big fan of you.
You picked the right member of the band, you know,

(00:50):
because the other guys, Yeah, I'm sure, I'm I'm sure
I don't get the right vibes from the right the
other guys in the band, but at least you, I
get the right vibes from faces alone. Very they you know,
they'll turn you off. But yeah, well there's a reason
why I like You're like, you're the singer of the band, right, yep, Yeah,
well there's a reason why they're singing the van the

(01:11):
band because you know, of course, like you got you
got to be the most attractive dude in the band
if you're gonna want to be the singer, right.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Especially Mason has a terrible male gaze.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
He just he just now honestly, really, what do you
mean by like that I gaze at the men terribly,
or that I like I can't help, but like I
can't help but stare at the men like.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
What terrible And it's terrible because you're judging that based
off of their looks.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Now, humbly, we're pretty pretty good looking.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Group of guys, you know, I'd say, yeah, honestly, so
very in shape. I can tell you that too.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
You guys all look like you could potentially be Irish
brawlers from the eighteen hundreds if you just changed.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
All those you know, I definitely I think I have
both of those things in my bloodline. But yeah, no,
we you know, we just prioritize our health. And you
know it's also you know, like when you're touring non stop,
not NonStop, but you know you're touring pretty regularly, and
you know, you just gotta take care of yourself, you know,

(02:17):
and you never know, you know what's going to happen,
so you have to, you know, stay physically fit.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
And you know it's true, but those tornados from the
gas station are calling your name.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
You know. I mean, as long as you're hitting your
protein goals, you know, get it by any means necessary,
you know. And we've we've got a vegan in the
band and he's still hitting his goals. So literally no
one has any excuses, you.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Know, so it's clearly no excuse. No, I mean the
man Darren's chickpeas.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
So you know, I will say I've actually I have
literally thought about this before, just because Colin and I
interview so many different kinds of bands, and you know,
almost all the bands that we interview are are touring bands.
And I have thought about this before, where at some point,
if you have enough dietary restrictions, you just aren't able
to be in a band.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, it coulds hard.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
At least you're not able to be a band at
a like a sort of like the kind of band
that would like tour in a van rather than the bus.
Like you're just at some point you're just you're not
able to be in a band like vegan. Okay, Like
there's maybe enough exceptions out there, at least in this
world now, likeeah, maybe twenty years ago that probably didn't exist,
but now it probably is possible to like be a

(03:30):
vegan in a band that's like touring in a van.
But I will say, like if you were gluten free
and dairy free, well, I guess like most vegans are
dairy free. But like if you're gluten free and a vegan,
good luck, you're screw. Like at that point, it's like
you're just like you're just sucking down water the entire tour,
Like I just like don't know what else you're gonna.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Be able to eat.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
I've I've seen it firsthand with when we were the
first time we went over to Europe. We toured with
our label mates and from Belgium called fever Child, and
their singer is gluten free, like bad, you know, like
he will have bad stomach problems if he does it.
We found out and because nowhere, you know, they were

(04:11):
like gluten free, you know, like this is pasta. You know,
we don't know what gluten is and you know, and yeah,
Jehan paid the price multiple times.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
But but have.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
You ever toured with somebody who's gluten or not gluten
into Have you ever toured with somebody who's lactose intolerant
but decides to eat some lactose?

Speaker 3 (04:31):
No, luckily, because I've had.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Some dorm mates that like that, and they're not particularly great.
And I can't imagine like on a bus or a
van like that would be great either. The closest I've
come to that was we toured with my old band,
toured with a band from Florida called the head Creeps.
I'll name them because the guy with them wasn't in
the band.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
I don't want to out him in.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Case he's still vegan or anything, but basically their merch
guy after the Saint Louis show, you know, indulge in
quite a bit of substances and stuff and uh blacked out,
as some would say.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
And we didn't know he was a vegan guy.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
And we all had a bunch of barbecue and stuff
and he ate a ton of it. And next morning
woke up not knowing why his stomach was in knots
and everything. We were like, I don't know, man, Like,
you know, we ate pretty late, that might be why.
And he was like, we ate, but what did we eat?
You know? And we're like telling him we had ribs
and mac and cheese and all this stuff, and oh yeah,

(05:30):
he was pretty upset with himself. So, like I said,
I'm not gonna you know, I don't want to out
the guy, you know, by name or anything, because I
believe in his conscious state.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Of mind, you know, he has good intentions.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
But and we didn't know, you know, otherwise we wouldn't
obviously have you know, intervened. But we were just like, yeah,
but if you're hungry, have so, you know. So that
was the closest I've come to that. And yeah, but luckily,
I mean, how how does one stay in shape on
tour for a band like Squint? Like, are like you
just trying to outrun the like what.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
What is it? No? We keep see in shape. We
we work out a lot on the road.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
We have if we're going overseas or anything like that,
we'll bring like resistance bands stuff like that. There's also
a lot of like especially in Europe and stuff. They've
got a lot of gems in the park, you know,
you can do some pull ups on some monkey bars,
you know those kind of stuff. Yeah, even just like
plush ups in the green room. Like really uh, you know,

(06:29):
from like a like from a lifting standpoint, you're not
so much trying to gain muscle on the road as
much as you are just kind of maintain you know,
because a lot of times, you know, even if you
strive to hit, like you know, eat as much as
you need to and all that, Like you said, it
can get pretty expensive pretty quick when you're on the
road and you don't you're not cooking for yourself, you know,
and trying to eat all the stuff that you know

(06:51):
you do back at back at home.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
I think if we're not careful, this is going to
turn into a Joe Rogan podcast episode.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
So not no, no, agree, we'll move the other direction
down with that. But being strong is awesome for the record,
and it's.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Being strong is awesome.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
It's you know, especially if you're in hardcore. My goodness,
Like it's a workout just to play a show. So like,
if you're strong, it just like gives you an advantage
to be able to at least like make it through
a show. And you're like, don't feel like you're like
yeah no. Actually, a couple of weeks ago, we played
a show and I kind of it was a wake
up call that I need to start hitting the cardio
again before this upcoming tour.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
So I've been doing that.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
We've I'm sure we'll talk about it a little bit later,
but we've got a new record coming out here in
a couple of months, and I I've been not loudly
singing it, but singing it to myself while I run
on the treadmill, so I can Okay, was it Culin
We just interviewed somebody like a couple months ago.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Who does the same thing, So Johnny Booth.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Actually, I don't think the interview has come out yet,
but it's it's it's actually a really popular artist.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
I think it's no.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
It was the guy from one of the metal core
bands that's huge, Like not I prevail, but it's kind
of like in that vein anyway, Like we just interviewed
a suit We haven't released the episode yet, but it's
like a super famous metal core artist and he does
the same thing where while he's like running, like he'll
go out.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
For a run or whatever, and then he'll like literally try.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
To scream because he's a he's like the the unclean
singer in the band. Yeah, and he'll like he'll do
like the screaming while he's literally running, and that's like
how he trains for the shows. Well, it's that's reassuring
to hear that you know that I'm not the only
one doing this weird thing. But I'm also not yelling
at full volume. I don't want to paint some picture
because I've been a planet fitness you know, so not

(08:40):
what but uh, but I do try to match sure,
rap the weights there much less scream Yeah, yeah, match
my breathing to it as much as possible, and uh,
you know, just uh because that's that's the main the
hardest part. When you're on you know, stages, you contend
to get carried away, especially if you're me and like
I've always been like a masher and stuff like that

(09:00):
growing up, so I tend to move a lot. And
you know, you don't want to have high energy at
the beginning of the set and then be winded halfway through,
So you know, just planning ahead as much as possible
and acclimating your body. It's the fact that you're going
to be, you know, putting it under that kind of
stress for twenty minutes to however long, you know, but

(09:21):
for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, So I have to start by saying, I think
I think you guys are criminally under listened to.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Just judge.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I use YouTube music and I was I was looking
at your streams and I was like, well, these guys
are They've got to be bigger than you know, X
Y and Z band just based off of listening numbers, right,
And I'm looking at the YouTube music numbers. I'm like,
oh no, it's not. This is this is criminal, this
is this is absolutely a travesty. It can't it can't

(09:55):
be well, thank you. Yeah, you guys have absolute everything
that that that you need to be there, like like
to be like one of those classic new artists that
come on the scene and just completely show up and
show out. Great guitar tone, great lyrics, great music production,

(10:22):
uh really really tight playing. I'm just blown away. Is
that is that kind of a feeling that you're that
you have as well from your perspective.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Well, first off, thanks so much. That that means a
ton you know as far as uh all that goes.
I mean it it's one of those things where you know,
it's obviously you always want more kind of and you
know you always not even in a selfish way, but
it's just like I'd like to be playing for more
people because that's more people I can interact with. And
you know, but you know, hardcore in general and uh

(10:57):
squit you know specifically are like hardcore now is in
a place where shows are bigger than they've ever been
as far as you know, I'm concerned. So while you know,
while on a certain spectrum it's like, yeah, dang, I
wish we were bigger. I wish we were getting larger
tours and larger tour packages and stuff like that. You know.
On the flip side, I'm still you know, playing to

(11:19):
more people than I ever have in my previous bands
on tours and stuff like that, and by that metric,
you know, I'm very successful, you know. And not to
bring it back to the gym thing, but there's a
good thing I was told when I was younger, and
it's the gym mentality, and it's that there's you know,
there's always gonna be someone who's stronger than you, and
there's always gonna be someone who's weaker than you. And

(11:41):
like if you just chase that always being the strongest,
you're never gonna be happy, you know, because there's always
going to be that guy who, you know, even if
you get to be top dog in your gym, there's
just gonna be one guy who walks in one day
and is just like and then you know, you're back
to just wanting and wanting and wanting. And so while
it is like important to like aspire for things, and like,
you know, we always try to push it and we
always try to make sure that we're moving in a

(12:03):
progressive direction as opposed to regressive. You know. It's still
just like I stop and take a step back, and
I'm like, I'm I'm in you know, Budapest right now
because I wrote some songs with my friends and so like,
hell yeah by that metric alone, like I'm extremely successful,
you know, And like I had said, we'd love to
get on some you know, if any you know, larger

(12:27):
bands or anything like that, are you know, listening, Like
we do want to like get on larger tour packages
and stuff like that and have the opportunity to play
in front of more people that may not know our music.
But at the same time, I book all our tours
stayside myself, and just the fact that I can email
somebody and say, hey, I play in this band from

(12:47):
the Midwest. You know, you've probably never heard of us,
and they go, oh, dude, I was just listening to
your stuff. Like that's so surreal, you know, and so
different than when I was seventeen years old just cold
emailing random people being like, you know, my three cord
power violence band needs a show.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
In a basement. Can you please help me?

Speaker 2 (13:10):
You know, like.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
I will say, like, I think part of this is
just like.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
The music industry, and maybe maybe this has always existed.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Maybe this is a newer thing in the music industry.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'm not a historian in that way, but at least
at some point and it's still probably is like this
where Like there could be a pop artist, for example,
like I don't know, like think of any super famous
pop artists that you ever Sabrina Carpenter.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Right, who just like.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
As soon as she makes an album, it's gonna be
the biggest thing ever. Like for her debut album, it's
just it's gonna be big, it's gonna get into the Grammys,
it's gonna likely go number one on the Billboard, just
because of the infrastructure that's around her, right, Like that's
a common experience for pop artists, Whereas like a hardcore artist,

(14:07):
like when we look at like some like someone like Turnstile, right,
like Colin and I about to see Turnstile Turnstiles at
this level now where they're like they're getting some commercials,
they're obviously like hitting.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Billboard top two hundred stuff. They're like.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, like they're getting interview, like the big, big interviews,
Like they're at a point where it's like and it
took them, however many years, like probably at least ten years, right,
like like Turnstile has been a band for over ten
years now, right, Yeah, for sure, it took them that
many years to just get to that point, and they're
still not even at like a Sabrina Carpenter level, right.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
And it's just like it it's just because of the.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
The dynamic of the music industry and what kind of
music you're making, and so like I think about it
that way where it's like y'all are just like in
a music industry genre and world where it's just like
it's gonna take a long time before you even like
get to that like level if you can even get lucky,
right like we think of like like I mean just

(15:04):
like Knock Loose is getting big right now, right Like
they played Jimmy Kimmel.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Look like they were playing like literally like shows for like.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Three people ten years ago like that, that's how long
it's taken them to get to this level where now
they're playing like Jimmy Kimmel or whatever. So it's just
like it's one of those things where it's just like
you're in that world where it's just it's going to
take a long time. And and so like that's sort
of my encouragement for you all is like it's amazing
like where you all are at right now, and it's
just it's one of those things where it's like you're

(15:33):
in a world where it's just like it's going to
take some time if you want to get to that level.
And yeah, like I think there's something rewarding about that.
Like you know, I think about like you guys were
talking about, like you know, you're talking about like Jim
people like like the people who have like worked their
asses off, like typically those people that they just it
took them time.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
It just takes them time.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
And then you get to that point where it's just
like now you start to see some of the fruits
of that labor. Definitely. Yeah, Like I mean those bands
specifically that you're talking about, you know, like my old
band you know, like played some shows with Turnstile back
in twenty twelve, and like since then, they really haven't
I mean, like you know, idiots will tell you that
they've changed their sound, but like they haven't really, Like

(16:16):
i mean like if you listen to the you know,
the first stuff they put out or step rhythm or
anything like that. It's all just this is like natural progression,
you know. And same with bands, you know, like I'm
sure when you met them in twenty twelve, how was
that three thirteen years ago?

Speaker 3 (16:31):
Now like twenty twelve, I bet you.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
I guarantee I could be wrong, but like I guarantee,
if you met those guys in twenty twelve, you could
just see, like these guys are talented even then, and
and they had already like I mean, they had been
a band for a while at that point, you know,
like they were probably on their second or third record
at that point, at least seven inch wise, you know.
But same thing with Knocked Loose. I have a friend,
I'll shout him out. They're an awesome metalcore band here

(16:54):
from Saint Louis called Blistered Spirit. A couple of them
used to be in a band when they were younger
that I remember them telling me. They were like, we
just played in this garage in Louisville and the opening
band was awesome, they were. They sent me the flyer
and it was you know, all the bands with all
their logos and then at the bottom in Times, New
Roman has said Knock Loose you know, and just seeing
where the romance, seeing where that band is now, you know,

(17:17):
and also just knowing that you know, again they didn't.
I mean obviously they both bands have gotten better, they've
refined their sound, they've matured, but they're still just doing
what they do. So it's like with Squint, you know,
it's you know, I'm sure we maybe could you know,
change stuff to what is hot right now or what's

(17:39):
you know, and and maybe get some more numbers out
of all that, but we're just going to keep, you know,
like doing what it is that we do because you know,
we like it, and like if people come around to it,
they will, and if they don't, you know, if it
never happens, it never happens. And another thing I was
going to say is also like and if, like, especially
if any younger bands sen of this, like numbers are

(18:04):
important and all that, you know, like you're but like,
don't get hung up on all your Spotify streams and
stuff like that, because I played with We've played with
bands that literally have a million monthly listeners on Spotify
and there's twenty people at the show.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
And on the flip.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Side, there's you know, bands like like Prevention, from Springfield,
Illinois who they've got like a couple thousand monthly listeners
on Spotify, but when you see them live, it feels
like a couple thousand people are seeing all the words,
you know what I mean, and you know, just don't like,
forget what hardcore is. You know, it's not like something

(18:41):
you look at on a screen. It's something you like
experience in a room, you know, so like.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
But that's what I think makes you guys so interesting.
It's like for for most hardcore bands that I listen to,
I love seeing them live, and I could kind of
care less to listen to their record, you know, at
home or while I'm out a run or something like that,
just because it doesn't do the same thing for me. Yeah,
and I don't know if it's like a production thing
or what, but your sound comes through so great on

(19:13):
the record that I want to keep listening, not just
at a live show, which I'm finally gonna get to
see you guys here, but also while I'm at home,
while I'm in the car, I actually want to listen
to it because it sounds good. It actually feels like
there's solid production behind it and a lot of I
feel like the hardcore hardcore genre in general just doesn't

(19:37):
put enough emphasis on that until maybe bands like Turnstile,
for example, kind of started to do that themselves. But
I mean, you guys sound so much more advanced than
a band who's been around for just a couple of years,
and I know that you guys have had a lot
of prior experience in other bands. Do you think that
there would you say that there's been a strong focus

(20:00):
not just making a good record, but also making a
record that sounds good auditorially then like not just being
like a good enough is good enough, you.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Know, definitely, and I'd probably take the least bit of
like credit for that. You know, it's coming from like,
like I said, a hardcore background. I've been very much
like and like I you know, like I said, like
I only own an iPhone, so everything I've recorded personally,
especially for like like Theo's. You know when when Squint

(20:30):
demo songs out, our guitarists will write, write a full
song on guitar, record it with garage band, get the
bass out, record bass. They have you know, tones on
their garage band set from like you know them doing
this in the past and stuff, and then they program
drums to the song and everything like that, and then

(20:52):
they send it to me and record a voice memo
of myself going over it, you know, all their beautiful
tones and production that they work so hard for the
demo to get. I'm like, if you want me to
do a vocal demo, I will, but this is how
it's going to sound. So that's very much my approach
towards you know, and I used to almost take pride

(21:13):
in that, you know, being like, you know, yeah, I
don't need you know, I love the way the Rob
Deal demo sounds or breakdown, you know, like I would
almost prefer something that came out, you know, like like
I sixteen year old kids in New York City saving
their allowance in nineteen eighty seven to record, you know,

(21:33):
in some guy's basement on like trash cans, Like that's
my ideal production. But for something like Squint, it doesn't,
you know, you don't necessarily want that. And as I've
gotten older and I have started to open myself to
like a lot more music that I would kind of
close myself off to in the past, I've started to
really kind of value production and stuff like that. But

(21:57):
I still don't know a ton about it, but especially
our bassis. Actually also he's probably he's the same boat
as me when I was fourteen, actually he was fifteen
and got me into hardcore, so we pretty much have
had the same trajectory. So none of the production is
his doing either, I should say, But our drummer and

(22:19):
our two guitarists both really value production and take a
lot of notice to it, you know, And so when
we're in the studio with whatever producer it is that
we're with, they've always they're the ones who are just
kind of rattling off ideas, you know, and rattling off
certain things. And Ian's constantly like, all right, this part

(22:39):
right here, this guitar tone, we want it to sound
like so much for the after globe I ever clear,
you know, or like and you know, just little things
like that where it's like, you know, they know specifically
what it is that they want. Yeah, I kind of
feel like I rambled on it, but that was general
just okay, cool. It reminds me of like also, not

(23:02):
just the production, but the songwriting. It sounds like it's
speaking to that where it's like it's it clearly seems
like at least for some of some of the other
band members where like they kind of a clear direction
around like the songwriting of like they're gonna write like
these parts and then you're, you know, you're doing.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
Your vocals over it.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
One of the things that like when I and I
try not to I try my best Brennan not to
like do the like this band sounds like this band
kind of thing, like I try not try and try
not to do my bathroom, try to try.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
To do my.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
What what do you think?

Speaker 2 (23:40):
I bet you're gonna say drug Church.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Oh, that's actually really good guess. That's actually probably a
better guess than when I was thinking. But we get
that a lot, but do you really? Yeah, that makes
sense actually honestly like a similar band though, like very
much in the same vein though Brennan, which is another
band that Colin loves.

Speaker 3 (23:58):
Just from the.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Guitar song on writing standpoint, like not the production, I
don't think of it as a production thing, just from
like how the guitars are played. It very similarly sounds
like military gun.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
That to me too, I see that, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
That kind of like straightforward rifts that.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, just like the riffs feel very like military gun
to me, and so and again like not like obviously
you guys have.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
You kind of your own like version of that different stuff.
But but it's kind of the the It's not like
it's not like.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Just chug a chug a hardcore clearly, No, Like there's
a there's a sophistication to the guitar riffs that are
being played that are clearly hardcore riffs, and that that,
to me is what reminds me of like military gun
because it's like obviously military guns, like not just like
doing chug chug hardcore riffs.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
So that's like why I think of it in that way.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
But I'm curious, like for you as a vocalist, it's
not like thinking of guitar riff writing, like but what yeah,
for for you, like, how are you maybe like trying
to differentiate Squint from like maybe like every other hardcore
band that's like doing this like you know thing that
you know every other hardcore band's doing. Yeah, Well, first off,

(25:12):
I was gonna say, we do get like both those
comparisons pretty often, and you know we honestly for a
while it was kind of like aggravating because we were
like and this is I feel comfortable saying that we're
not so much and I don't be in this in
a negative way. We're not so much friends with Drug Church,
like we just we've met those guys, we played with them.
They're awesome, incredible band, live Military Gun. We're pretty good

(25:35):
friends with a couple of people in the band and
stuff like that. But there was never any like intention
going into it.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
You know, sorry, we lost it their fair and it's
not that.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, we actually were like, yeah, are we good?

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Can you say that again?

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Are we good now?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah? You're good now?

Speaker 3 (25:53):
I think so.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Mine still says network is struggling, which isn't good.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
But okay, I I think we're back. I think we're
kind of back.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
The little bar went away, so that's a good sign.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
But yeah, I was just saying we played with the
Drug Church before. They're an awesome band. We don't really
know those guys Military Gun are buddies and stuff like that,
and they're both incredible bands. We definitely didn't like at
the beginning set out to Honestly, we at the beginning
didn't set out to sound like anything, not in like
a pompous way at all. But just like ian I

(26:25):
ran in the een, it was like right after COVID
lockdowns were kind of letting up. I ran into him
at a farmer's market and he was like, I've got
these riffs written, you know, do you want me to
send it to you? And he's always done more like
kind of like emo adjacent, like kind of like promise

(26:45):
ring type stuff, you know, and like he's always been
more in that kind of world of things. So I
was like, well, I can't sing, but I'll do what
I can over them, you know. And so that's really
how the Squint sound just kind of started, was Ian
having these melodic songs and then me just yelling over
them because that, I mean, what I do is my

(27:05):
best attempt at singing, so you know. But about over
time we've also started talking, like, you know, once we
kind of landed on all right, so this is the
sound that we came up with, how do we refine it?
And what do we put into this? And what do
we you know? And so I mean we try to
I think the main thing that we do to try

(27:26):
and set ourselves apart. And this may sound kind of
dumb or lame, but just is really not overthink it
at all, you know, just kind of if everybody just
puts their little bit of ingredients in, it'll always come
out sounding like we do, you know. And it's when
we start to like overthink things that you know, it
starts to kind of muddy things up. And I mean

(27:46):
that's even been like we have a new record coming
out here in a couple months, and we're definitely like
pushing things in different directions, you know, like even further
than on big hand. And when we were writing these
songs a lot that I was nervous that we were
going to lose our sounds somewhat, you know, And with
the end product, it just kind of solidified to me

(28:07):
that if I just do what it is that I do,
and I have the faith in my bandmates that they're
going to do what it is they do, it's you know,
it's going to come out sounding like one of our songs.
And but as far as like Drug Church, A Military
Gun and all those bands go, I think we're all
just pulling from the same tree as far as like,
you know, we're all like all people from a hardcore background,

(28:28):
you know, like Ian from Military Guns been in like
tons of bands growing up and stuff like that. He's
like always been around, you know, and like you know,
Drug Church, as I'd like pat was an End of
the Year and all that kind of stuff. So I
think we're all like vocalists that come from a hardcore
background and have that same kind of approach towards things.

(28:49):
And so I mean we all really like you know,
Minor Threat, and we also really like Archers of Loaf
and Seaweed and bands like that, you know, and so
we try just throw all that in the mix, and
you know, you know, I like I I Killing Time
is one of my favorite bands of all time. But
I also love Third Eye Blind's self titled record, And

(29:12):
why can't you throw two together, you know, and mix
it all up and exactly.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Exactly exactly there is something there is something you.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Said about like like you know, I mentioned like Turnstile
and Knock Loose, and you know, Color mentioned Drug Church
and there's Military Guns like all of these bands, right,
like they're all kind of coming from.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
A little bit of a hardcore world.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
But like especially like Turnstile and Knock Loose, Like if
you listen to like their most popular songs, like for Turnstyle, right,
like it might be like Holiday for example, Like that's
a hardcore song, Like that's like it's it's not a
it's not pop punk song. It's not one of their
like kind of shoegazy songs. It's like that's a hardcore song.
Or if you listen to like like Counting Worms, right like,

(29:57):
that's a that is a not lose song, right Like,
they're not like there's no they're not trying to like
appeal to the masses with a song like that, right like,
or or even like you know, if you want to
go to like drug Church, like We'd Pinned is probably
their most famous song, right like, that's that's still like
a very hardcore song. Like they're not like that. That
sounds like a drug Church song like through and through,

(30:19):
like what regardless of like any album like that's that's
a Drug Church sung. So it's just like one of
those things where it's just like like in that world,
like as long as you just kind of stay true
to who you are and you're just good songwriters, you're
you're gonna like you're gonna find success and as long
as you keep consistent to it, and all of those bands,

(30:40):
like I think we can all attest to this, like
whether it's Turnstile, Knock Loose, Drug Church, even Military Gun
even and I obviously I know Military Gun is probably
the newest of those bands, but like most of those bands,
they've been at it for a long time. They've been
working for it for a long time, and they just
like they keep working and they keep working and they
keep working and they like find that kind of that little.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Like breakthrough piece. And definitely and that happens.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
And I feel like, especially in like a streaming like
you know, like modern Time and stuff like that, you
really don't have to. I mean like we're kind of
losing the whole concept of like sugarcoating things in order
for them to go over well, you know, because you
don't need to anymore. Be like Lincoln Park with the

(31:27):
like one. You know, like you got hard, hard riffs
on the record, but you got the one obvious radio
hit with the chorus right, you know, because because you
need to appeal to the kid in the you know,
the thirteen year old me in the backseat, and you
also need to appeal to you know, my mom who's
driving the car so she doesn't change the station, you know.

(31:47):
And but like nowadays when we have like streaming services
and stuff like that that I won't name any of
because they're all evil, you know what I'm saying. But anyway,
like they they go, it's easier for kids to seek
out what it is they actually want, you know. And
I think that's why you're seeing stuff like that. It's
because you know, when people are going to the Knock

(32:09):
Loose you know page or whatever, they're not picking the
sugar Coated single. You know, maybe they're or maybe they're
picking the single, but knock Loose is smart enough to understand,
this is what our fans want. They don't want the
sugar coated chorus. They want hard because that's what we are,
you know. And it's it's like, you know, it's no

(32:31):
one's going to see a scary movie and walking out
and being like, dude, that was not that scary. That
was awesome. You know. It's like if you go to
a scary movie, you want to get scared, and like
people know that now, you know. If you if you
want something hard like that, you know, and if you
want a drug Church song, you're gonna go to the
Drug Church page and you're gonna you know what I mean.
So yeah, yeah, I mean I think about it like

(32:53):
I mean under oath, Like if you go go back
twenty years ago Under Oath, they had a song literally
almost want to Grammy, Almost want to Grammy for Music
Video of the Year, and that was Under Oath, and
that song was, like you could argue, is maybe one
of their most hardcore songs that they've ever released, with
Writing on the Walls, Like if you listen to Writing

(33:15):
on the Walls, it's like it's a heavy song and
they almost want to Grammy for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
they like they actually they lost to probably one of
the most viral music videos ever with Okay Go Okay.
So it's like one of those things where it's like
as long as you just stay true to who you are,
people are gonna care, like like it like and obviously,

(33:37):
like you look back now and like really, you know,
like their only chasing Safety has become clearly the most
famous Under Oath thing, but like you know, at the time,
like that's that was a big thing, and I don't know,
there's just something about like just staying true to who
you are and just writing good music. Definitely will that
will get you, That will get you a long ways
for sure. Yeah, And just like you know, especially just

(34:00):
being true to like you know, the history of not
the history so much, but those who came before you
and all that, and you know, like the genre itself
and you know, don't sell out.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's right. Yeah, well, and that's what I kind of
liked that you were talking about how you're kind of
I don't know if you want to call it the
old soul, but you're the you're the like old school
hardcore guy like you. That's that's like your jam and
the basis right. The rest of the band has different influences,
but they pull in your influences and you're learning from

(34:32):
their influences and then it all kind of turns into
its own thing. And I love that you talked about
how one of your guitarists has a pretty strong emo influence,
because I can totally tell that. I man, there's parts
in there where I'm like, oh, yeah, this feels like
this feels like nineties Midwest emo at times, and I
dig that that's that's something that really appeals to me.
And then you yourself, I don't know, I don't know

(34:55):
how where where this maybe comes from, or maybe you
do it intentionally or not, but you have incredible diction
as a vocalist, which in the hardcore realm. That's not
generally something that you see in my experience, is that
something that you that you intend to do? I mean,
because I can make out every single word exactly what
you're saying, it.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Definitely it's not it's not intended. But I'm very lucky
that I have a voice that, you know, that I can.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Do that with.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
Like in general, my whole like vocal approach, there's as
I've gotten older, I've started doing things like warming up,
but generally there was no approach at all.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
You know.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
I learned to do, not even learned to do, but
learn that I could do vocals just from you know,
being handed the mic at shows growing up, you know,
and I would hear myself on the PA and be like, oh,
that wasn't too bad, you know, or anything like that.
Or And I've always you know, taken a lot of

(35:56):
pride in my own lyrics, but also just a lot
of like I find a lot of in the concept
of lyrics themselves, you know. And I feel like that
can get lost in hardcore just because it is such
a you know, so many voices are so distorted and
muffled and all that, or it is recorded in you know,
a kitchen in the Lower East Side, you know. But

(36:20):
but like I mean it arguably like you know, not
to to my own horde in any way, but like
lyrics are like one of the most important parts of hardcore,
you know, if they might even be more important than
the delivery. You know, like it's you know, like you
can hear youth of Today, but until you're sitting there
and reading the lyric book and understanding what they're talking about,

(36:43):
that's when you'll really understand and you really hear youth
of Today, you know what I mean. And especially in
like I said, a day and age when everything is extreamed,
I feel really lucky that I do have a voice
that's like as crisp as it is, and like that
you can make out my lyrics without having to pull
out the lead or a sheet from the record or
google it or whatever it is that you're doing, you know,

(37:04):
And and you know, just things like you know, like uh,
alliteration and just rhyme schemes and stuff like that have
always been very important to me, even just like subconsciously,
you know, I I've always alongside hardcore and stuff like that.
I've always had a very soft.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Spot for hip hop growing up. It's it.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
It's funny like when I was a lot younger, I
kind of like listened to hip hop in secret because
I was so you know, like adamant about being like
the hardcore metal kind of guy that I didn't want
people to know that I was listening to you know,
Biggie and stuff like that in my room. But as
I've gotten older, I start to like really see how

(37:45):
much you know, stuff like like Wu tang or nas
or any of that kind of stuff has like imprinted.
It's you know, itself in my head as far as
like my flow and cadence and all that and just
you know, my lyrical approach and my you know, alliteration
and diction and use of like certain words. I don't know,

(38:07):
but you know it's.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Dude, you also have like insane and insane. I'm just
basically a record and a half two records here. You
have I countless one liners, like philosophical one liners that
I that I literally have to like pause and like
think about for a moment.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
I'm like, damn, thank you.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
That's that's that's a that's a moment where I need
to digest this for a second.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
That's you know something I definitely strive for. And it's
hard because it's not something you can set out and
just do you know, you can't sit down and go,
I'm gonna write something really profound, you know, profound, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Because if you do, you sound like a total douchebag.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
No, And it's yeah, it's one of those one of
those things too where I've always I try to like
like my all my best songs and all my favorite
one lines and stuff like that, like you said, they're
all I'm very much about, like like delivering things in
a very like you know, using simple words and stuff

(39:09):
like that, but with complex ideas, you know, because I
want the lyrics to be for everybody.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
I don't want you to.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Have to google a word and not know what that means,
you know, and have to decipher what I'm saying, to
decipher what I'm saying, you know, I just want you
to just be like, like you said, you know that
that means a lot, because that's the exact impact I
want is to just have someone be like, you know,
hear that, you know, are you the.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
Fooling or fooled?

Speaker 1 (39:33):
And be like whoa hold up? You know, like you know, yeah,
sing along to it a couple of times. You really yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's almost like seeps into your brain before you even
process what it is that I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, you know, yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
If you're a William Blake fan, Sir William Blake, the
poet engraver, all.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
That stuff not familiar.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
His poetry has a very similar style to me. When
I read it, I very simplistic work, like there's nothing
that's like out out of the ordinary, extremely difficult. It's
written in eighteen hundreds. It should be difficult because that's
like a different language. Yeah, And I read it and
I understand everything, but I don't understand a single thing.

(40:21):
And then I read again and it's like it washes
over you. And the third time now you're like, oh
I get all of this.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
Yeah, and it.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
It really like has that impact that just smacks you
and you're like, Okay, I just need to sit with
art for a while to understand it and to feel
these things as intended.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Definitely, Yeah, yeah, I need to check out his stuff
because that sounds awesome.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
I think you nail it, Like I get similar vibes
from your songwriting style.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
No, I definitely I you know, I feel like there's
a lot of people out there that have like a
kind of like a kindred spirit, so to say, as
far as like the writing style that I have, and
when I encounter it, I'm always kind of like respect,
you know, like or you know, I'll even just like
in pop songs randomly and stuff like that, or or
I'll find where I took things from. Like I'm going

(41:14):
back and listening to all these records that you know,
I heard when I was younger that maybe I didn't
even realize I was absorbing, you know, but it's like
listening to like Stone Temple Pilots again and then I
hear this one Cadence and I'm like, oh, I stole that,
Like like eleven year old me heard that and was

(41:35):
just like here it goes right in the back of
the brain, you know. So it's interesting, yeah, seeing like
the different kind of styles of writing and stuff like that.
How people can you know, kind of naturally come to
them on their own, you know, like me and this
guy from the eighteen hundred who I've never heard of
it has clearly never heard of me, or you know,

(41:55):
it could seep into itself like organically, like the Stone
Temple Pilots example, you know, totally, totally, well, I think
that's like the cool thing about art is Yeah, whether
it's like Stone Tumble Pilots, Squint, or William Blake does
doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
Like it like, there are human experiences that we all experience.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
And we can all relate to, regardless of culture and
regardless of time, And whenever that happens, like there's going
to be artists that are like, hey, like that's the
thing that I'm experiencing, and we're going to talk about that.
So whether that's Squint, whether that's Stone Tumble Pilots, or
whether that's William Blake from the eighteen hundreds, Like you're
gonna just talk about that. And that's like a cool

(42:38):
thing about human experience is you just you talk about
the things that you experience, and you know a lot
of times that's love or that's heartbreak or whatever it
is that we experience just collectively of humans.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
Like that's just a cool thing about being human.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Yeah, that we're all essentially going through the same thing,
you know.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Yeah, the same with different with different different perspectives. There
is one other thing I wanted to ask in relation
to that, to an extent, is there is there an
artist out there, or a songwriter in particular, lyricist in particular,
that when you hear their lyricure, like how the fuck
do you come up with that?

Speaker 1 (43:17):
It's just, uh, there's a lot of like I guess
a good example would be West Sideshold. I've always really
loved everything he's written, and I'm on it admittedly not
even that huge of like an American Nightmare fan, but

(43:37):
lyrically like that band is. You know, I would you know,
like print out background music and just have it as
like a like a coffee book table, probably before I
put that record on, you know, I do. I love
Cold Cave a lot, but his writing in general, some
of this stuff and like some of the just the
like like you said, like the one liners and stuff

(43:59):
like that, he hasn't Old Cave. I'm just like like
chills run over your body, just kind of like God,
that is so good and how did he do that?
You know? Yeah, there's also certain lyrics that like, like
there's there's this one Nase lyric that the other day
we were listening to Illmatic at work. I'm I manage
a kitchen and we were listening to illmatic and I

(44:20):
had paused it right after this one lyric, and I
was like, I could probably write a college thesis off
of that that right there, just that one bar and
how incredible it is, and like, so yeah, I mean,
like lyrically, I love.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
West Ises hul Nas.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
I've always been like when I was a lot younger,
probably fourteen, I got into Bright Eyes and a lot
of the writing the Connor Oberst. Like I've kind of
grown out of listening to them, you know, like their
most recent records, I haven't really delved into or what
I have heard I didn't really grab me, but just

(44:57):
where I was at that age, like his his writing
really made a deeper impact on me than I think
I realized at the time.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
You know, just hell yeah, the.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
Way he approaches choruses and like relates things back to
each other. You know, I do a thing a lot
where you know, it's there's probably a term for it,
but you know, like if a chorus has like four bars,
maybe the third bar is different on my second refrain,
you know, it's something else that it kind of changes

(45:30):
the concept of the chorus. I take a lot of
that from him, you know, And he was also one
of the first lyricists I remember hearing as a kid
and really being like I used to I had a
paper route whenever I first Like I said, I was
thirteen or fourteen when I had this record, and I
remember every morning just the sun coming up and I
would listen to that same record pretty much and just

(45:53):
be like breaking apart the lyrics and my beauty little.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
Brain, you know, just like mind blunts.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
So those are probably like my three lyricists that really
just like continue to like, you know, impress me.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
That's cool?

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Is it funny?

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Like how music just like brings us back to like
those visceral memories like you were talking about, like with
that album, you know, like you being probably on a
little pedal bike just like you know, throwing newspapers or
whatever it was that you were throwing. And like I
like I remember, I don't know why, but like for
whatever reason, this album's coming to mind, but a huge
Apple Sea Cast. I don't know if you're yeah, if

(46:33):
you know the Apple Sea Cast. The apples Cast is
one of my favorite bands. But they have an album
called The Illumination Ritual that came out I think twenty thirteen,
and a few years later, I like went through like
kind of one of my first like major breakups, and
I just like I have this visceral memory of listening
to that album as I'm like backing out of a driveway,

(46:54):
and like every time I listen to that album, I
just like feel myself like in my like nineteen ninety
eight MANI Carlo just like backing out of a driveway, definitely,
And it's just like funny how like music like brings
us to that, like in the same way, like you know,
if you smell like somebody and you're like, oh my god,
that like smells my like my grandma or like smells
like my old my old girlfriend or whatever, it is,

(47:15):
like he was like, oh my god, Like you just
like smell or like music or whatever, like like any
sort of sense I can just like bring you back
to something. And so it's just always fun when like
music brings you back to something like that.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
No, definitely that like yeah, that that that feeling is crazy,
you know when you're just like because it's not necessarily
even something that she you want to feel sometimes or
it's you know, not even necessarily something that you understand.
You know, Like I'll hear like a Kinny Chesney song
that my dad listened to when I was like eight
years old, and I'll be like, or, oh, here's a
good example. The other day. Recently, I've been like, I'm

(47:52):
gonna check out Moby, you know, like I.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Just did that last week.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
That's so weird.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Yeah, well, I was just like, you know, I this
guy's like a hardcore guy. I know he used to
he played in like Flipper and stuff like that, and
he seems like a solid enough person and I like
all the stuff that I've heard so far, so I'm
gonna check out. And so I was going through that
I think it's called play the record where he's like
jumping in the air. And when that song Southside came on,

(48:18):
you know that song that's like I can't even remember
how it goes now, but it's just one of those
like the second I heard the chorus, I was like,
oh my god, Like I this was so deeply hold
in the back of my brain from when I was
like seven years old, and like I love this melody
as a kid, but I just forgot all about this song,
you know.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
And yeah, so I had that.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Moment with with Moby there.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
You know, it's fun when that stuff kind of kicks
back up. Similar story to that, almost kind of the
same vein of music as well. Fat Boy Slim's song
Christopher Walking in.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
The Folk.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah, I can't remember. Oh okay, I know what you're saying,
but it's got Christopher Walking in the music video and
he's like loading around in like this this room. I
heard it on the on commercial or something recently, and
I probably haven't listened to it twenty years.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
It's like an acid flashback, you know, you're just like yeah,
I mean I was like, yeah, it hits you out
of nowhere.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
It's like your waste from remember No, I'm all of
a sudden. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
It's also funny going back and listening to stuff that
that you heard when you were a kid now you know,
with the context of everything you have, and like, yeah,
Like there's a band death Wish band from the late
aughts early twenty ten's called Shipwreck AD. They were from Boston,
and I remember just as a kid being like nothing

(49:46):
sounds like this. How do you either write music like
this like this and just you know, not having any
concept of it, and just the other da at the gym.
I went to go check it out. Expect you to
have like the same it's really good. But I was
just like, oh, this this just sounds like like with
like like this sounds like strife with a bunch of
trial throwing it or something, you know, And it almost
was like kind of like took all the magic out

(50:08):
of it. You know, now that I understand how they
got there, and now that I'm just like, yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Oh okay, you know, yeah took all the mason and
I that band was skillet.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
Yeah, but it probably makes you appre like it probably
makes you appreciate like the bands that like are like
still standing out, especially at that time frame. Like the
bands that still stand out, it's like, oh wait, like
they were still doing something. They were doing something different,
like they were doing something unique. They were doing something
that was like no, they're completely out of the ordinary.

(50:41):
And I I it's almost like I have a new
respect for Shipwreck because because I understand, like, oh, I
too love integrity and I love trial, and I would
never think to put those two things together. So like
this is you know, even though young me was just
like what this this is crazy? You know, it's like,
you know, I can't imagine what another like like knock

(51:01):
Loose sounds crazy to me as an adult, but I
can hear it and go okay, you know, like there's
some entombed, there's you know, some of this and there
you know, indecision vocal kind of stuff. But if I
was twelve and I heard that, I would.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Just be like, what dude, you know, yeah, yeah, nothing's
new under the sun, but it doesn't need to be no,
as long as everything's also borrowed under the sun.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
So truly, especially in hardcore, some of the best stuff
that's just it's like tattooing, you know. It's like some
of the best stuff is just preserving the legacy and
the culture and the history and just being like, you know,
when someone's like, you know, your band sounds exactly like SSD,
just being like yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Yeah, yeah, you get it, you know.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
So that should be the approach we start taking when
anybody says we sound like you know, Droue Church or
Military Gun or any of those other bands that I said,
you know, yeah yeah, because those they're awesome, you know.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Yeah. Sweet, Well, are you excited for Furness Fest?

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Yeah, can't wait.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
We actually we'll be touring out there with our friends Space,
who are playing on Sunday. And originally we were supposed
to have a show on Friday with them, and we
were so bummed because we were gonna miss Texas as
the Reason and Jimmy World and Hot Water Music. But
things got moved around. So now our off day that

(52:27):
was Thursday is now Friday. We're gonna make it in
time to see everybody, so can't wait for that. And
then Saturday is gonna be awesome too.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
You're hanging out on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
That's that's when we're playing Saturday.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
I'm sorry, Sorry, you're hanging out on Friday and you're
gonna play Saturday.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
You got it?

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Yeah, Sunday is still up in the air. I think
we we want to stick around, but it's gonna be
hard because most of the bands we want to see
are later in the day, aside from Space check out
Space at two pm, I believe one pm something like that.
But we we got to get a leg up on
the drive too, so we'll play buy here and see
what happens. They don't let me drive the van, so uh,

(53:04):
it's not my not my call.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
What stage are you on again? Do you remember? So
there's the Pond stage, there's the Shed, and then there's
main stage pond.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
That's where we are.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah, pond, Yeah, good good, that'll be fun.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Be fun.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
Yeah, Culin will if you stage dive, Cullen will literally
pick you up and then take you to the pond
and throw you into the water of the pond that sunk.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
And so if you wanna, if you if you.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
Want a viral moment, just jump up, find Culin, jump
into his arms, and then Colin will literally physically carry you.
Because Colin's big enough for this, he will physically carry
you over to the pond and throw you into the pond. Lovely,
all right, cool? Yeah, No, it's gonna be you know,
especially if it's I don't know if it's gonna be
hot day or not, but that might be a nice
refreshing little mid set, you know. Oh did but uh,

(53:58):
just make sure you maybe you're not I don't really
know the battery power of a microphone, but like, maybe
just make sure you're not like holding a microphone when
you do that.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
I don't think it's gonna be wireless. I'm pretty sure
they're all wired.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
Okay, Well, make sure they can check that wire make
sure you let go that wired microphone. And then let
Colin just throw you in the pond. It won't be
my first electrocution, you know, won't be the last.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
But see, there you go.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
It's as long as it's not your last for real.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
So but yeah, you'll catch me in the ten yard
fight pit on Sunday or Saturday for sure. Yeah, and
then yeah, we're just gonna be hanging out Saturday, really
excited for all of it. Our buddies in Secret World.
They're playing on Friday, so anybody who's going that day
check them out. They're coming all the way from Australia,
so show them some later.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
They deserve some American love, that's what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Yeah, which I mean they're they're getting it there. They
just announced they're doing it.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
They don't bring an inlamp Taipan.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
I'm gonna like freak out, like I like, if I
don't feel like I'm about to die from a venomous
I don't really care. I think, Yeah, they think they
keep a snake in one of their guitar heads.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
So I just wanted to you do breakdown, That's all
I want.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
No, they're an awesome band and they're about to be
taken over the world.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
So get a get in on it while you can.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
They're doing a full full US with High Viz right.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Now, and yeah, dude, it's gonna rip. It's a fun time.
Have you ever You haven't ever been? Have you?

Speaker 1 (55:27):
No? No?

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Okay, not as a fan or anything either.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
No, the lineup's always been awesome, but it especially as
I've gotten older and you know, being in dands as
an adult and stuff like that, it feels like all
my free time kind of goes towards my own band
as opposed to when I was younger, and.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
I would, you know, pack the car with my friends.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
And drive to Philadelphia for this is hardcore or something.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
So sure, well, and there's bills to pay and all
that stuff as well, so exactly, yeah, but stand out
but it well, for that reason, it's always so awesome
when we get to do stuff like this, So big
shout out to Furnace Fence for having us and making
it you know, possible for me to go. So oh yeah,
those guys got great ears for for killer artists, especially

(56:15):
artists that I'm getting the attention yet that they deserve.
And you guys are such a man. But let's get
into your top five most influential albums. Are you ready?

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Yeah? I got him written down, so.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Killer Wow, he's ready to go prepared.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Well, it's it's a list.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
It's a good list, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
Because when when I was making the list, I was like,
do I do my top five favorite of all time
or my most influential for squint And I did the latter,
so I was happy to hear at the beginning that's
kind of what you wanted.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
So good, good, good.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
For number five, I have Blacklisted Heavier than Heaven, Lonelier
than God. Yeah, it's incredibly epic record name I saw.
I saw them when I was very young. Actually, the
song magic on Big Hand is about the first time
I went to a you know, real larger hardcore show

(57:12):
and was just kind of like dumbfounded by everything happening
around me. And that was a Blacklisted concert. So Blacklisted
always have a extremely important place in my heart. And like,
they are a band that's evolved a lot over time,
you know, and every record they have I love. So
it's hard to kind of narrow it down. But because

(57:35):
of basically me finding this record right after seeing them
at that show, just the time that I found the
time in my life when I found it. It has
like a certain like speed and urgency to it that's
just kind of like it's so start and stop and
like break necky that like it just truly like it.

(57:55):
It meshes with the lyrics so well. Like their singer
who is another like huge maybe not so much a
lyrical influence on me, but vocally his delivery.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
Is a huge influence on the way I do things.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
With Squint, he has very self loathing lyrics and very
kind of chaotic and like you know you and with
coupled with the music, you know, like the vulnerable lyrics
and all that just make it seem like you're inside
of this person's mind that's just losing it, you know.
And then like I said, it's just absolute chaos, and
then they'll just snap it back into this hard mosh

(58:31):
part and it's just like.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
It it feels like mental health sometimes, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
It's like things can be such a jumble and such
everything and then one thing like comes through and just
like you know, brings everything back into focus for you.
And that's how like this record can feel for me.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
So love that description.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Thank you, Yeah, I mean I love this record a lot,
even like if you Google. Just like the album, Like,
look at the album art. It's just like some of
the most powerful art I've ever you know, I love
this record, but the number four I've got the Earth
is flat by super Touch. Super Touch is kind of
like a band that gets kind of like slipped through
the cracks. Yeah, I feel like they're like a New

(59:11):
York hardcore band that a lot of people don't talk
about as much as maybe like Gorilla Biscuits or like
Youth of Today. They shared numbers with all those bands,
and Super Touch is like they were very just kind
of like pushing the envelope for the time. You know,
they were very melody driven. A lot of people. If
you listen to the record, look it up, you'll be like,

(59:34):
this isn't even a hardcore band, Like what are you
talking about? You know, it's clean singing, you know, it's
very it almost sounds like rush and stuff like that
at times. You know, but it's like it's just you know,
people similar to you know. It's like this record came
out I think the year I was born. But it's

(59:55):
so cool that there was people back then who have
this similar approach to hardcore that I have now, where
they're not afraid to push the bump, you know, push
the envelope, pull in other influences have acoustic guitars on
the record. This was a big, big record for me that,
you know, Like I said, when my bandmates were like,
we're gonna do some acoustic guitar stuff, I was like
what and Ian was like, you love stuff with acoustic guitars.

(01:00:19):
And listening back to this record, there's acoustics all over
it and it you know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
It's.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Incredible lyrics, like extremely introspective stuff for the time, you know,
especially like in the scene, it was like there's one
of the first songs, like one of the first lyrics
Mark Ryan says, you know, is basically saying he's been
staying up all night drinking and thinking about how things
are wrong. And this is like in a scene that

(01:00:47):
was predominantly straight edge at the time, you know, and
like it's just cool that like he was, you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
Know, just doing things vulnerable and honestly, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
And that's when I take a lot mostly from this record,
and again, incredible album art.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
On this one too.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Hell yeah, number three, I have illmatic by NOAs for
reasons I said earlier, just like the rhyme scheme, the flow,
the visualization of everything that he does. It's just like
you can close your eyes and you can picture being
in you know, like middle of July nineteen ninety five,

(01:01:20):
New York. You know, like you can fry an egg
on the sidewalk, you know, like do the right thing
kind of vibes and just like lyrically, there's so much,
like I said, so much alliteration and stuff like that
that I've taken from nas and uh, so much of
just like the way that I flow over music and

(01:01:41):
the way that my cadences I can credit a lot
to him, you know, and go back to that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Would you almost say like his flow almost has like
a rocking motion to it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
It's is that?

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Is that like a fair statement for Am I crazy?

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
No? I could see that. It's certainly not like an
urgent kind of you know, it's not, No, it's like
the farthest it's easy. I mean, it's I guess it's
not the farthest thing from something like Buster rhymes or something.
But it's like, you know, it's it's very like nonchalant,
but also you know, like it's almost like there's multiple
times where it feels like he's letting the beat go

(01:02:18):
and then he just comes back in on it. And
I feel like I take that a lot to where
And also just even when I'm writing lyrics, I don't
approach them the same way a lot of other people do,
not like a you know, like to my own horn
kind of way, but just if anything more of like
in like a ignorant way, you know, like I don't.

(01:02:39):
I was never formally taught how to write songs, so
like will Will our drummer will always be like, huh, well,
I you know, we got the song map over there
and that's the that's the verse, but she made it
a chorus.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
And I'd be like, oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Well is that cool, and he'd be like, yeah, you know,
it's cool. But it's just like that the next part
is the chorus, you know, and you keep refraining on
the verse and you keep changing but yeah or whatever
you're knowing. So I mean, it's and a lot of
that like I won't understand where I you know, I'll
be like, oh man, that is weird. And then maybe
I'll hear a NAS song you know, later on or
something like that where they do that and I go,

(01:03:18):
oh man, that's where, you know, or you know, like
a like a Dinosaur junior song or something like that
where yeah, you know, I'm like this is where I
you know, like I don't even know what a pre
chorus is, but I apparently wrote one because this J.
Mascus part slipped into my brain. You know.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
I almost think that more more artists in the scene
need to have, you know, an all bars song. You
know how like the greatest hip hop artists they always
have an all bars song.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
What like chorus?

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's just it's just straight bars all the
way through.

Speaker 3 (01:03:48):
That's so like how I will pre chorus.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
There's no bridge, there's no nothing else, it's just boa.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
That's how most by the way through my beds were
kind of growing up, you know, like Squints really the
first band that I've had that has had like like
kind of like pop song structure and like, you know,
the idea of verse chorus, verse kind of thing. You know.
When I was younger, it was very much like I
don't know, maybe we did have songs that were like that,

(01:04:13):
but it's if we did, it was only because Breakdown
had songs like that, you know, or like you know,
sure we were just going off of that template. You know,
but yeah, number two, then I got I'm Wide Awake
it this Morning by Bright Eyes. Like I said, I've
already I feel like talked about this one quite a bit,
but like, like I said, just the age of finding
this when I did, and like the impact of the

(01:04:35):
songs had on me lyrically, it was one of the
first records that I can really remembering like like sitting
with the lyrics and really being like like replaying a
song because of the lyrics.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
You know, Oh dang, we lose them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
But uh yeah, it's like one of the first records
I can really remember just kind of like sitting with
the lyrics and h like really feeling the depth of them,
you know. And as I said too, you know, it's
just like the lasting effect of that record on me.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
It's something that when I was in my mid teens,
I probably would have never even admitted to liking at
any point, But now that I'm older, I can like
reflect on it and just see how much of an
impact it had on me. And then number one, I
gotta go with Bright Side by Killing Time. It's just
the absolute full package as far as like a record

(01:05:32):
like it kind of honestly as funny as it is
to say, with like stuff like Bright Eyes on the list,
it kind of combines everything that is on this list
into one album.

Speaker 3 (01:05:43):
For me.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
You know, it's like lyrically incredible, it's hard, it's catchy
somehow still you know, like it's it's got melodies and
like hard lyrics that will somehow like creep into your
brain and you'll be humming them late and stuff like that,
and and just the the melody of the record. Like

(01:06:09):
it's such a hard record, but there's so much another
band that considered listing that have similar tendencies as a
band like Crown of Thorns, but the couple bands, yeah,
I mentioned them just because they both do the kind
of thing where it's just like extremely melodic and pretty riffs,
but it's somehow still just so crushing and hard and

(01:06:33):
extremely vulnerable lyrics you know about like heartbreak and things
that you know, ostensibly like a large tattooed construction worker
in nineteen eighty nine wouldn't be opening up about, but
you know, like when I don't know, it's just something
so cool about you know, like the hardness and the

(01:06:54):
softness to it, you know, and luckily we are you know,
it's pretty cool. We're actually playing with Killing Time next
weekend before on tour on our way to Furnish Fest,
will be playing with them in Little Rock. So I'm
super excited about that. And what an honor. What I
love about your list is you know, whether it's like

(01:07:14):
Killing Time or some of the couple of the other
hardcore bands you mentioned, and then like obviously you have
like you have nas, you have bright eyes in there.
It's it's like it's such a it weirdly enough, like
with Squint, like you kind of hear all of those influences,
Like if you're paying attention closely, I think you hear

(01:07:35):
all of that. Like like you mentioned before, like obviously
Squints a hardcore band, right, like, so you hear the
hardcore elements, but then you also hear, like you know,
some of these different hardcore bands that you mentioned like
kind of have these like really interesting dynamic influences where
they're playing their their their their guitar writing is a
little different than maybe it's just like a straight up
like hardcore band, and so you hear a little bit

(01:07:56):
of that, and then obviously you talk a little bit
like vocally like there's kind of the way you Cadence,
maybe some of your lyrics at times is similar to
NAS or like the way that you like go back
on some of your choruses with Bright Eyes. Like there's
just like there's some of these influences where I'm like,
as you mentioned some of them, I'm like, oh, yeah,

(01:08:17):
that kind of makes sense, like totally I can hear that,
Like it actually makes sense so as much as like
so many of the like whether it's NAS or Bright
Eyes or even some of the hardcore beans, like as
much as they're all different from each other, Like I'm like, oh,
I can kind of hear a little bit of that
all in Squint, which is really cool. Like I love
the fact that, like you have this like diverse influential

(01:08:38):
list and you can hear to some degree if you're
paying attention closely, you can hear all of that in Squint.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
Yeah that's awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
I feel like art in general. You know, like I
said a little bit earlier, I kind of closed myself
off to so much stuff when I was younger that I,
you know, was drawn to, but I didn't want to
admit to myself that I was that, you know, now
in hindsight, I'm starting to understand just how culminative, you know,

(01:09:06):
every influence is in general, and you know, like I mean,
it doesn't just stop with even music, you know, like
you can pull all kinds of stuff into you know,
like some of the best aspects of hardcore, especially when
I look back in hindsight, are when bands pull from,
you know, other aspects of other genres and stuff like that.
And you know, like what when Gorilla Biscuits had trumpets

(01:09:31):
on their record, I bet they got in a harmonica.
I bet they got made fun of. But they were
trying new things, and they were doing things differently, and
they were wearing their hearts on their sleeves and so
you know, I wouldn't even say I try to do
that with Squint, you know, if I try to do
anything with it, it's just go into it with an
empty mind, you know, and just what comes out is

(01:09:52):
what comes out. Yeah, Yeah, that's what a true artist
does in my mind. So and obviously I've never made music,
but that's that's how I would imagine, like a really
good artist conceives of their music for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
So I get that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
So, Brennan, what do you want to plug obviously it
sounds like new Squid music will be coming out soon.
Obviously there's plenty of shows coming out. But yeah, what
what do you what do you all want to plug?
I guess I'll meet our Our bassist has like a
new movie coming out soon. He's like an actor guy.

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
Yeah, it's with the what's that dude's name?

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
Brian Cranston, the like breaking bad guy. Yeah, yeah, my bad.
I had to I had to.

Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
Look look at my list real quick too. Let's see
what the guy's name was.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
But yeah, yeah, Jake's playing opposite him, so you'll should
check that out. What like, like what kind of what
kind of like movie or show is this that he
would be playing with Brian Cranson like because like Brian Cranton, like,
and it's not like he's no sloush, Like clearly he
knows what he's doing, you know, the guy, like you're

(01:11:07):
familiar with him, I've never I mean I'm familiar with
his work.

Speaker 3 (01:11:11):
I've never met him. Actually I did take a little
selfie with.

Speaker 1 (01:11:14):
Him at one point, but I've never met him. Other
than like should I keep saying I've never met him.
It's not like I'm like hanging out with the guy.
It has something to do with like a like a
pool shark or something like that. Who starts he like
gets in dad with the mob and he has to
start flipping Pokemon cards to make his money. It's I

(01:11:36):
don't know, you'd have to Jake explained it to me.
But I hope Jake has the right Pokemon cards. I'm
just saying, like, you know, for for.

Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
Jake's sake, I just hope that he he's he's got
the right charzyard.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
I don't even I don't know, but yeah, no, check
out Jake's movie. I forge like, I I don't even
know if it has a title yet, but just google
Jake Lindsay, Brian Kranz Stan and it should.

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
Come right up.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
Well, in addition to that, I mean, no, we're going
on tour, you know, so check us out if you're
out east. We're playing around with our friends in space,
playing with our friends in prim be in New York
City for the Sunday Drive showcase. Just love it that
in Jake's movie is all I can really think of.

Speaker 3 (01:12:28):
Great, wonderful.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Well, we're super stoked to not only see this movie,
I mean, like, I mean, I'm a huge Brian Cranston fan,
so like the fact that I didn't even know that
he was in this new movie. So this, this is incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
So I'm excited for that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:41):
And also obviously Colin and I are going to see
you literally in a week and a half actually, yeah,
like just basically a week and a half, we're going
to see you guys play, and I cannot I cannot wait.

Speaker 3 (01:12:52):
We're gonna freak out. It's gonna be so much fun.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
And you never know, like Colin literally might just like
carry you over to a pond and ump you in
a pond and you're gonna have to deal with that.
Damn Well, all right, Tom, that's what we're looking forward to.
So thank you so much Brendan for chatting Moore a
little bit more about Squint.

Speaker 3 (01:13:12):
And yeah, we're just super site excited to see you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Of course, y'all, thanks for having me