California Metalcore/Post-hardcore Revivalists SeeYouSpaceCowboy & if i die first Join Forces for "bloostainedeyes" from A Sure Disaster Split EP (Pure Noise Records)
SeeYouSpaceCowboy & if i die first are two California-based bands who are currently making, for lack of a better term, late 2000's MySpace/Hot Topic-era Metalcore & Post-hardcore revival music. SeeYouSpaceCowboy (SYSC) play a gritty, Grindy, Metallic, theatrical version of Screamo they're calling "Sasscore," not entirely unlike what you would have seen on Warped Tour during its heyday or heard blaring from the muffled speakers at your local mall's Hot Topic. SYSC hail from San Diego and consists of frontwoman Connie Sgarbossa, her brother and guitarist Ethan Sgarbossa, bassist Taylor Allen, and drummer A.J. Tartol. if i die first (IIDF) on the other hand, hail from Los Angeles and consists of John Villagran, Kevin O'Neill, Morgan Braden—better known as Lil' Lotus, Lil' Zubin & Nedarb Nagrom, respectively—Derek Bloom, and Travis Richter.
IIDF's members have collectively played, collaborated, or toured with The Color of Violence, From First to Last, Ghostmane, The Human Abstract, I Set My Friends On Fire, Lil' Peep, Misery Club, Open Mike Eagle, Papa Roach, and Senses Fail. SeeYouSpaceCowboy are, supposedly, working on their hotly-anticipated sophomore album for Pure Noise Records and if i die first appear to be unsigned, but Lil' Lotus himself is currently signed to Epitaph. Sorry, but this is all an extremely long-winded way to get to this... earlier this week, SeeYouSpaceCowboy & if i die first announced they'll be jointly releasing a split EP this May on Pure Noise Records. Said EP, fittingly titled A Sure Disaster, boasts two original tracks from each band, as well as a collabortive track from SeeYouSpaceCowboy & if i die first called "bloodstainedeyes."
"We are happy to finally let this project surface, two bands, one group of friends," shares SeeYouSpaceCowboy vocalist Connie Sgarbossa. "It was a lot of fun working with IIDF on this and putting this together, we both take influence from the same era of Metalcore/Post-hardcore, but with us each having our own personal spin on it. So, I hope it serves as an engaging listen." Connie continues: "When we first came up with the idea of doing this split, I really wanted to do a collaborative song. It was something I couldn't really cite many bands doing, if any, that came to my mind in this sub-genre. I wanted to take it farther than just featuring on each other's tracks—a song that combined and took crucial elements of each band and made it something that represented both of us and was cohesive. So, we are all got together and f***ed my apartment up, but wrote this song and recorded it and shot a music video and, somehow, made it work."
Said companion music video for "bloodstainedeyes" was directed/edited by Cameron Nunez with creative direction from Connie Sgarbossa herself. It features both SeeYouSpaceCowboy & if i die first "peacefully" playing together in a room with split walls painted red and white with SYSC on the left wearing white "uniforms" and IIDF on the right all dressed in corresponding red/maroon outfits. Over the course of the 5-minute track, it's an all-out brawl with SeeYouSpaceCowboy's members fighting if i die first's members and vice versa; by the end of it, there's a guitar stuck in the wall, which looks like a Jackson Pollock painting done strictly in blood. SeeYouSpaceCowboy & if i die first's split EP is out May 14, 2021 on Pure Noise Records. Pre-orders for the vinyl version of A Sure Disaster are now available directly from Pure Noise in a variety of color options.