Sunbloc - Sound In The Signals Interview
 |
| Danny DeRusso |
I recently had the opportunity to interview Sunbloc. We discussed how they formed the band, new EP ‘Sunday Music’, what they hope listeners take away from their music, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
No problem, thank you for the interest.
Can you tell me how you started the band for those who may be unfamiliar with it? How did you initially become interested in music?
Through a combination of people from prior bands and Craigslist. Sean and Keefer (bass and drums) linked up through Craig and jammed on a pre-pandemic version of Sunbloc that never got out the practice space. With the pandemic, and a couple people moving away things got stagnant as it would. Then we kinda started figuring out next moves around 2021 when things felt more comfortable to do so. Keefer knew Matt (vocals) from a previous band they did together called Spell Runner, Sean and Nic (guitar) are team Craigslist and Sean knew Austin (guitar) from local gigs and invited him to jam one day.
I woke up and got in the car for school. Mom turned on the radio, Longview by Green Day was playing. I said, “turn that shit up mom” the rest is history.
You released your EP ‘Sunday Music’ in February. Have you been pleased with the response it’s received? How does it feel to have it out?
Yeah, people have been saying a lot of kind things to us about it, so it seems like people are digging it which is nice.
It’s sick, we don’t have to think about writing them or recording them anymore, we don’t need to nitpick ’em anymore. Obviously there’s always something you’re gonna look back at and be like “Damn, this and that should have been different.” But we’re happy how it turned out and they’re fun to play live so we’re stoked. On to the next, LFG!
Stylistically, it’s a really interesting EP. What were some of your musical inspirations or influences for it? What do you hope listeners take away from it?
Between the 5 of us there’s a vast amount of influence as one might assume. Half us are big Sonic Youth and Guided by Voices stans, half of us are big hardcore heads who grew up crawling around to Hoax and Mind Eraser. Honestly we’re just trying to smash together Lemonheads and Righteous Jams, so you can mosh while you sing. As far as what I hope the listeners take away from the tunes…
I hope they get to the gig, roll around in the pit, then go home, pick up a guitar and write a riff twice as sick, so they can then have people get to the gig and roll around in their pits. We call that the circle of life.
What was the writing and recording process like for it? Do you have a favorite moment from the studio?
Writing was usually just weekly jams, getting to the practice space with either full rough ideas or just riffs and laboring it to death until it sounded cool enough to get to a recording stage. Some of the songs we wrote and played out, others we just wrote and waited to record them before playing out. We did rent a cabin once, that was sick. Recording we did at Tubby Rub Studios in Albany, NY with our boys Joe and Dan. They rule and helped us out immensely, songs would definitely not have been as cool without them. Lunch time with the boys after doing good hard work in the studio is always the favorite moment!
I really like the song “Gummy”. Can you tell me about writing that song?
Most of the songs are either Keefer or Austin with a riff, or sometimes even whole structures, then everyone else puts their 2 cents in. Keefer came to practice with that beginning guitar riff and some other sections/ideas and we all kinda just riffed on it until it made enough sense. The bridge section was Austin, and we usually wait until the music is all said and done until the vocals come in.
You released a cassette for the EP and it sold out. Is there any chance that you’ll release a second run or potentially a vinyl release at some point?
We have done a second run of tapes, small batch and after that we probably won’t unless someone wants to do it for us. Pressing it would be cool, but again that’s for someone out there in internet land to decide. Hit our line and let us know! 518-714-BLOC
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Albany’s music scene is in a dope spot right now and it feels nice to see cool gigs happening often and people doing the dang thing to make it sick. If you’re a touring band, stop through Albany and find out.
Respect on thy name, Halo Bite, Prize, Cold Kiss, Lemon of Choice, Laveda, Stutter, Wet Specimens, Cinnamon, Male Patterns, Miller Time, Carnwennan, Big Boo, Sigarette, SMD Records, No Fun, ByrdHouse Records, Crisis Isolation. Check out all these things if you’re interested.
Of course thank you to Sound In The Signals for letting us yada yada yadda!
Peace.
Follow Sunbloc:
Follow Sound In The Signals:
No comments: