Words By: Octavia Allison
The punk and hardcore scene is alive and well despite being pronounced dead. Artists can flip genres and albums flop, but rock is clawing its way back to the forefront. PUP is proof. IDLES are proof. Those are just a couple bands that have influenced the next generation of rock music, Excuses Excuses. Since 2016 they have been honing their style and just released their first full length album. From the start Kyle Wilton, Trevor Bowman and Jay Nicolls knew that music was “one of those things in life that you just have to do to feel like a regular human being.” Says Wilton. No one said they “had to” play on a pirate ship but they did that too. Excuses Excuses go out of their way to get exposure and experience. That is what separates them from the rest. Their determination got them signed to Known Accomplice Records. Now this is no “rock revival”, rock never died. “There’s so many cool bands right now in rock, I don’t care what anybody says. IDLES, Catfish and the Bottlemen, PUP there’s a lot for sure, Billy Talent, Foo Fighters.” Kyle states. As the band released their album in late August, they get into their creative process. “In the most general sense we can come up with some sort of idea whether it's lyrical or melody or something, instead of trying to make something happen out of thin air. I bring it to them and then that’s when we really start fleshing the ideas out. Trevor is good at coming up with all the little tiny bits in between. We all have our own little parts. Obviously, Jay has to write the drums because we don’t know how the fuck to do that. Whatever sounds right.” I asked how they know when it sounds right? “Usually, it's more just you know when it sounds wrong.” Trevor laughs. “Its like I like all the ideas here but somethings not hitting. Sometimes it's just a matter of playing it enough times together that we’re actually tight and figure it out together. Sometimes we don’t even have to change anything, we just have to keep playing it.” Kyle adds that sometimes songs “go through 3, 4 different forms.” Excuses Excuses are proud of how far they have come in 6 years. “We’ve worked really hard over the years and for a lot of bands it’s the same thing, you have to work extremely hard and never stop, even when you reach small achievements. You have to always keep pushing more or else you kind of lose that drive right? Keep each other focused and keep our eyes like 2 steps ahead of where we are.” Kyle explains. With their album Listen Up out as of August 26th, the band describes their sound as “If you took Billy Talent and the Foo Fighters and Green Day and melted them up in one big pot and stirred it around, you’d probably end up with something pretty close to our new record. It’s called Listen Up.” The album promises gritty vocals over sharp guitar riffs, that keep you head-banging. Excuses Excuses works hard to mark their territory as a future rock staple.
Excuses Excuses
Octavia Allison
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