Recently I was able to catch up with the bassist from Greyed Out for an interview about the band’s new music, their recent live show appearances, as well as what the future holds for the band. Greyed Out is comprised of past members of This Time Next Year and recently released a great two-track single called ”Broken Like an Arrow” and “No Dice.” Greyed Out are planning to release a lot of new music in the next few months to come, and are signed to Negative Progression Records.
Thank you for your time today, Tony! You guys just put out a new single called, “Broken Like An Arrow,” that Chorus.FM just premiered. So can you tell me about the songwriting process for this one?
Yeah, for this song, and actually for all the songs, Denis (guitarist) comes up with the bones to the song, like the riff, and he’ll bring it to practice and we all kind of build on it. And then Pete (vocalist) comes up with all the lyrics, melodies, harmonies, and then we all kind of build on it, talk ideas, and kind of roll with it. So it’s kind of a group effort, which I think is pretty cool.
Nice. So I understand you guys self-released an EP before for the music and the new partnership with your label. How’s the partnership going with Negative Progression Records?
Yeah, it’s been awesome. It kind of all happened really quickly. Our drummer reached out <to the label> and Imean, we’re all fans of Negative Progression of what they’ve put out in the past. Like Counterfeits is such a rad band, and they <the label> have a lot of good bands. But anyways, James reached out and he sent him the two songs that we just put out. And then he went back and listened to the EP before, and he was into it. We set up a Zoom meeting, and right away we understood each other really well. He understood kind of what we were getting at, at this point in our lives of not being a full-time band, but people that still love to play music. And then as soon as the singles came out, he was super helpful. I mean, he got the song premiered with you guys! And we got the other one on another website.
Yeah, I understand. The other track was called “No Dice.” That was more of a faster song. So how did that song kind of come about, and do you think it will translate well live?
Yeah, so we’ve played two shows so far as Greyed Out. And we played that song both times. And I mean, it’s hard for me to talk <about the fan reactions> because I’m up on stage playing, but it we’ve all grown up playing in hardcore/punk bands. So playing fast music is kind of like second nature, so I would hope that it translated well. You’d have to ask people that are watching, but we played a show last weekend, and if it felt like we played it well. That’s kind of like our go-to; fast, punk music. It feels like it kind of happened naturally, you know?
Yeah, and I understand some of the band members used to be in the band called This Time Next Year. So some members toured with bands like New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, and bands like that. What would be a dream collaboration, or partnership for Greyed Out?
That’s a great question. There’s so many. I guess a dream scenario would be to tour with Fireworks again. That’s like, my favorite band ever. But yeah, it’d be cool to tour with Set Your Goals again someday. All those bands that are still active that we toured with in the past, like New Found Glory, The Wonder Years, and Fireworks would all be great to play shows with again.
Are there certain bands or artists that you watch today that you feel are doing something that’s kind of transcending genre lines?
Yeah, there’s a lot, man. I mean, I’m just like a huge music nerd. The one that’s the most impressive that comes to mind right away is The Story So Far. They started as a fast pop-punk band, and they still do that, but they’ve also kind of progressed, and have gotten to a point where they’re like a professional, big time band. That’s just incredible for me to watch.
Do you have any producers in mind as you guys continue to write under this new record label?
I think everyone in the band would probably have different ideas of a dream producer. I think realistically for us, we’re working with Ben Hershfield at New Tone studios. So I would imagine we’ll probably keep working with him. But as far as dream producers, I mean, there’s so many. This Time Next Year did a record with Brian McTernan.
Oh yeah, I actually had an interview with him about a year and a half ago! I connected with him on his project called Be Well.
Be Well, rips! That was what we were there for, I think a month and a half doing that record. And it was like one of the best experiences of my life. I would love to do something with him again, especially now that we’re like, a little bit older, more mature, and we have more of an idea of how to be a band, and how to read songs.
That’s sweet. Do you guys have any plans to either get back in the studio soon or tour extensively on the two track single? What’s your plan for the rest of the year?
We’re gonna keep writing and recording. I think, for the near future, we want to keep doing singles. Maybe two, three songs at a time. Because I feel like the attention span for music is a little bit different than it used to be. If you go on Spotify, and you look at a new record that a band has out, the number of “plays” really drops off after like the first three or four tracks. So we kind of want to change things up and maybe just release a few singles every couple of months. And then eventually do love to a full-length. I’m sure we will at some point. But that’s in the future. And then as far as touring, we all have careers and full-time jobs. I have a kid. Our singer Pete has a kid on the way, so a big time tour probably is out of the question. But there are short <touring> runs that we want to do. And then we’re going to try to get on some festival stuff. We’d like to do Sound and Fury next year, and we’re going to do Riot Fest.
And you guys are West Coast based, right?
Yeah, the Bay Area, like all around the East Bay Area.
Oh, nice! So that would make a lot of sense for some regional tours, and there’s a lot of great venues to choose from.
And we’ve played twice so far. But you know, we forgot how hard it is to book shows as a new band…
Then also, there’s the great “restart to touring,” where the pandemic has slowed everything down to a halt for a while. And then everybody’s trying to pick up the pieces and try to fill in dates. So yeah, a lot of bands are struggling with that.
Yeah, it’s almost like everyone’s starting over. Except for bands that are really established that do well. For newer bands, it’s kind of harder to get started and get shows, but we have some stuff we’re working on for a couple of weekend runs in the fall. And then whatever else that kind of comes our way, we’ll take it.
Excellent. So the last question I have for you is that every band has a story to tell with their music, so what do you hope is the story that you want to convey with Greyed Out?
That’s a great question. I mean, it’s hard for me to speak for the other dudes, but we’re all pretty close. We’re all pretty good friends. But for me, I just want to be a band that makes good songs that connect with people, either musically or lyrically. Or both. I kind of think we’re kind of coming into this project just like students of the genre. And trying to blend all of our influences into a cohesive project. So we wanted to do the songs from an era that’s more mid-tempo and catchy. We all love fast, catchy, pop-punk like Lifetime and Kid Dynamite. So we kind of want to do it all but blend it in a way that makes sense. So for us, I’d like to come across as a thoughtful band that writes songs that people can connect with and that are worth giving a shit about.
Definitely, so thank you so much for your time today, Tony. Any last words for your fans?
For anyone that’s taking the time to listen, thank you so much! At this point in our lives, and after not being a full-time band anymore, the fact that anybody would click a link to listen to us means a lot. And then as far as other bands to look out for, I’m super into Super Glue, which is Brett from Fireworks’ side project. He’s writing some really cool stuff. And then there’s this band from the North Bay Area called Spice. That’s another one that I’m super pumped about to see what they do.
Alright, thank you so much. And if you ever come to the East Coast, I’ll try to get to a show!
Yeah I hope so, man. Thanks so much for doing this, and take care.