Guardrail On the Making Of ‘Content’
How does 'Content' reflect your musical journey and growth as a band?
‘Content’ is our first full-length album and our first release with all 5 of our current members contributing to the songwriting process. It has a little of everyone’s taste and influences, and if you know us individually well enough, you might be able to pick out which songs started from which member. We are becoming more mature as songwriters and also know how to take one’s initial song idea and mold it into a proper ‘diet punk’ song. We love the new songs and believe ‘Content’ is our best work yet.
What is your personal favorite song from 'Content' and why?
My personal favorite on the album changes day-to-day but the one I tend to pick the majority of the time is ‘Joke’s on Me’. It’s a slightly different vibe from our fast skate-punk mantra, and it features Alyssa on lead vocals and the trumpet, which makes for a pretty unique pop-punk song. (This is Ken, the guitarist, btw)
Were there any memorable or standout moments during the recording sessions for 'Content?'
We had a very lengthy writing, recording, and mixing process that we wish was a bit more condensed overall but our pre-production trip to work with Nick Diener (of the Swellers and Oneder Pedals) was one of our favorite times as a group. We were tweaking all of our demos with Nick each day, and then also having a blast hanging out at night sitting around a bonfire while having fun, deep conversations about life. I think those moments seeped into the final product of ‘Content’, especially the lyrics.
How did your band members initially come together?
Kevin and I met back in 5th grade when our love for Weird Al and SpongeBob brought us together. After playing together in a handful of bands, Kevin finally came up with the idea to start a punk band. We’ve always loved listening to punk and pop punk and it only made sense that we play it. Might’ve taken a handful of years to realize this but glad we did it. Then over the first few years of a rotating lineup, will eventually find Alyssa, Doug, and Xack through friends and our mutual love for punk music.
How do you balance the artistic aspects of your music with the business side of the industry?
This is a constant battle for us, especially in the modern age of TikTok. We are in our 30s and try our best to post as much as we can, but dang it’s time-consuming and soul-sucking. We’ve always been about quality over quantity but what do you know, that’s the opposite strategy when posting on social media to gain more views, followers, etc. Besides that, merch seems to be the only reliable source of income these days, but it’s also tougher to get people to come out to shows in the past few years. Not sure if COVID had anything to do with it, or if consumers’ attention spans are shrinking due to how pop music’s top songs rotate every week and are forgotten about. The struggle is real for up-and-coming bands but we have to try our best to keep up!