[Almost] All-around Breakdown: 14 Bands/Artists Discuss Their Submissions for New Balladeers, Redefined Screamo Comp. (Secret Voice/deathwish, Inc.)
Painstakingly orchestrated over a two-and-a-half-year period by Jeremy Bolm (Touché Amoré, Hesitation Wounds, The First Ever Podcast,) Balladeers, Redefined showcases 31 Screamo/Screamo-adjacent bands both new and old hailing from all across the world. It saw a wide release just this past Friday on Bolm's own deathwish, Inc. imprint, Secret Voice Records now available on bone with splatter, mustard with red splatter, and Coke bottle green-colored vinyl, digital, T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, and zip-up hoodie formats. We recently sent out a five-question fact-finding questionnaire. 14 of these bands/artists graciously got back to us for a partial Balladeers, Redefined track-by-(almost every)-track breakdown. Check it out below and go pick up a copy of Balladeers, Redefined on your preferred format of choice and with that said, "LET'S F***ING GO!!!"
"Word of mouth can be a powerful thing. Featuring new and unreleased tracks, Balladeers, Redefined was originally going to be a small handful of bands, but before long, we found ourselves with 30+ who were all bringing their originality and brilliance to a genre held special by those who've found it. Every band recommended another band. The D.I.Y. network behind Screamo & [Screamo]-adjacent Indie or Hardcore is like few others and that alone is a wonderful inspiration. This compilation brings together bands from all over, older and newer. From bands comprised of musicians who've been spearheading the sound, like JEROMES DREAM, Zeta, Gillian Carter, Hundreds of AU (members of You and I), NØ MAN (members of Majority Rule,) and TERMINAL BLISS (members of Pg. 99) to younger bands, like SOUL GLO, Record Setter, Infant Island, Boneflower, for your health, Slow Fire Pistol, nuvolascura, FRAIL BODY, THIRDFACE, Senza, MASSA NERA, and many more," Secret Voice shares.
I. How do you personally know Secret Voice founder Jeremy Bolm (Touché Amoré, Hesitation Wounds, Weird: The Weird Al Story) and/or how did you get involved in Secret Voice's 31-track Screamo compilation, Balladeers, Redefined?
Tom Schlatter (Hundreds of AU): I met Jeremy many years ago backstage at a Thursday show. We were both doing guest vocals for the show. We kept in touch afterwards and crossed paths on various tours.
MASSA NERA: We've been in touch with Jeremy via social media over the years. He emailed us one day, asking if we wanted to be part of this. Saying "yes" was a no-brainer; especially, since we were already practicing extremely frequently in preparation for our last record (Derramar | Querer | Borrar.)
Edie Quinn (coma regalia): I don't know Jeremy personally, but did get an email with some very nice words from Jeremy asking us to be on the compilation. Of course, I took that opportunity to ask Jeremy to do a vocal track on the De Facto Enscripture album I put together, as well.
Heavenly Blue: Jeremy reached out to our old band, Youth Novel, on submitting to the Balladeers, Redefined compilation. That band had a few track skeletons in the queue that we'd started during the writing process for our 2021 album, self-titled. After discussing with the other remaining members (Maya Chun, Jon Riley, [and] Nathan Whittle,) we changed our name and brought on new members Kris Lane, Mel Caren, Juno Parsons, Mac Porter, and Andrew Coughlin to round out the current eight-member iteration of Heavenly Blue. In a roundabout way, this compilation is was the impetus for us to write new music and form this group.
Seb Alvarez (meth.): I randomly got an email from Jeremy about contributing to the comp. during [The Pandemic] Shutdown, which, actually, couldn’t have come at a more perfect time 'cause meth. really needed a spark to work on something. Not the most exciting story, but it helped us crawl out of the COVID creative hole for sure.
JEROMES DREAM: We met Jeremy in 2019 when he invited [JEROMES DREAM] (J.D.) to play some shows with Touché Amoré. We were just coming off a tour with Loma Prieta, so it worked out perfectly—it was a really fun tour and everyone in Touché are such sweethearts. So, when Jeremy asked us to contribute to this release, it was a no-brainer.
Boneflower: We've been T.A. fans for a long time and we even covered one of their songs when we started as a band. When Jeremy wrote us the email, we were super-stoked about being part of the comp.
Logan "Logi" Rivera (Gillian Carter): Jeremy hit us up back in 2019 or 2020, I think(?) and I instantly said, "yes."
Juan Pablo Castillo (joliette): We met Jeremy the very first time we ever played in the US (and anywhere outside of Mexico, for that matter). It was in Austin back in 2014 at SXSW. We couldn't catch Touché Amoré live that time, but we met him outside of the venue where they had played and gave him a CD of our first full-length LP, titled Principia. Later that year, we were able to see them play live in Gainesville, FL, at THE FEST.
We were invited to play there and we took the opportunity to see many bands we hadn't had the chance to see live until that weekend. Then, in 2017, they came to play to Mexico City and that was the first time we could, actually, hang out in person with Jeremy. We, also, made a lot of great friends during those years, who, also, happen to be friends with him, the guys from Loma Prieta, Tiny Moving Parts, and Birds In Row, to name a few. We felt really excited and flattered when he contacted us to invite us to participate in this awesome compilation a few years after we hung out in Mexico City.
Carrion Spring: 13 or so years ago, one of our earliest members, [Thomas "Thom" Debruhl], briefly met Jeremy at a show out here in Portland, I believe, [at] the now-defunct venue called Rotture, and he said the interaction was very kind. Jeremy had asked us to be on the comp., which came as a huge honor. Being a West Coast band, we have some dear friends who are, also, friends with Jeremy, so there are very few degrees of separation.
Juan Chi (Zeta): First and most importantly, thank you for considering us for this questionnaire. We appreciate your time and energy. We met Jeremy back in 2017. We [played] a show together; Zeta opening for Touché Amoré, Gouge Away, and Single Mothers. We have always [known] about their music and learned about Secret Voice through Gouge Away's album, Burnt Sugar (produced by Jeremy,) and SOUL GLO's album, Songs to [Yeet] At The Sun, (both released by Secret Voice.)
I had the opportunity of chatting with Jeremy during an episode for [The] First Ever Podcast. And not long after that, we got the invitation to be part of the Balladeers compilation and it was a no-brainer. [It] is an honor to be part of such an amazing group of bands. All the bad-a$$es of Screamo are in here.
Blake Hall (Slow Fire Pistol): We know Jeremy through our bands playing together throughout the years. I think the strongest connection would be through Hank [Pratt's] (guitar/vocals for [Slow Fire Pistol] (S.F.P.)) previous band, Dead In The Dirt, and Jeremy's awareness of that band. Pretty early on in S.F.P., we played an Atlanta date of a Touché Amoré tour. He's always seemed to be a supporter of our band ever since the beginning. We became involved in this comp. through Jeremy reaching out to Hank and asking if we'd be interested in recording a song for it. We were all very into it.
Mason Caldwell (Senza): We don't personally know Jeremy Bolm! We got involved in the compilation by being recommended by other bands and Jeremy reached out to us. It was definitely a huge honor to be included and when we got that email, it was very exciting.
Eyelet: We don't know Jeremy personally. He asked us to be on the compilation via a label we work with.
II. What were some of your greatest sources of inspiration and influence while creating and recording your submission for Balladeers, Redefined?
Hundreds of AU: We were writing a batch of songs heavily inspired by Portraits of Past. We opted for low-gain single-coil guitars, lots of reverb, and stuck to a more melodic chord structure. Out of the batch of songs, we set one aside for this comp.
MASSA NERA: Lyrically, [Aeryn Jade "A.J." Santillan] was writing from a place of personal experience. Musically, we were, actually, thinking of Shudder to Think, specifically, in regards to the extended, looping 5/4 section ("apologies are meaningless...") A lot of the songs on Pony Express Record (1994) feature these incredible, off-kilter looping passages. We didn't quite do that, but such an idea served as the initial spark. Toe was, also, an influence, specifically, for the last section!
coma regalia: I don't know that there was a specific inspiration for the track, in particular, but I remember asking Steve [Roche] when he mixed it to make the end vocal sound like "it was from a You and I record." I think that's even more fun because Tom [Schlatter], our bassist, was in that band.
Heavenly Blue: Heavenly Blue records ourselves and draw from a wide range of influences. This song, stylistically, draws heavily from early 2000's European Screamo; notably, Louise Cyphre & La Quiete and 90's Post-hardcore, like At The Drive-In. Our overall sound and song-writing draws heavily from Noise Rock, No Wave, and more [Experimental] sensibilities, with some of our collective favorites being The Locust, Doomsday Student, and Machine Girl.
meth.: We pulled from a lot of different places, but this song in particular, we wanted to create something that just felt really gross and heavy. Zack [Farrar] had recently acquired a waterphone and it really added that extra push of horrific textures we were looking for.
JEROMES DREAM: "Reminders to Parallel" was this first song we wrote during the early days of The Pandemic; we had just begun rehearsals and writing again and the song felt like an evolution for the band. In ways, it was, since Sean Leary from Loma [Prieta] was officially playing in the band at that point and this is the first thing we wrote and recorded together.
Boneflower: When we started to write "Phyrric Victories," we wanted to balance the more aggressive parts from our older album, A(r)mour, with the Shoegaze parts from our newer Dolor [/ 遠来]. We don't know if it's noticeable, but Holy Fawn, Deafheaven, [and] Birds In Row are some influences we feel in our [latest] music.
Gillian Carter: We're playing 10 shows around Europe with Touché Amoré in July/August and, then, a few more shows in the USA & Canada. After that, we'll stop playing live and focus on writing the next album.
joliette: We have always been huge Deftones fans and I think the influence in this song is very notorious. They have a knack for making songs in major keys sound crushingly beautiful and that's what we aimed for with this song. We were, also, inspired by how At The Drive-In used to write songs with interesting chord progressions while keeping the intensity levels high.
Carrion Spring: Funny you ask, this might be inappropriate to share and a ridiculous take on "influence and inspiration," but I had eaten a bunch of psilocybin mushrooms while writing and recording this song. At the time, the band was down to just myself (Adam [Ciresi]) and one of our previous drummers (Phil [Degennaro].) We wrote and recorded rhythm guitar and drums pretty quickly.
I spent the next day or so writing and recording bass, lead guitar, and vocals. Our past guitarists are incredibly talented and I strangely convinced myself that I could channel some of their musical prowess while on mushrooms. It felt like it somehow worked lol. The lyrics were, also, written while recording vocals and they are, actually, some of my favorite lyrics I've ever written for the band.
Musically, I wanted it to feel a bit more melodic than many previous darker songs of ours, yet still relate a lot of the frustration and cognitive dissonance that was being experienced at the time. I imagine, similar to some of the other bands on this comp., our song was written amidst The Pandemic.
I have a severe autoimmune disease and even though at the time things were loosening up in regards to COVID, I still had to be extra cautious, so not only did we have to do a stripped down recording in my basement, but the political, cultural, and environmental volatility that continued (and still continues) to spin out of control as The Pandemic ensued had inspired the lyrics of this song.
The title, "Supervisionary," is a play on words, but, also, functions as a double entendre, loosely suggesting how much our lives in this country exist under constant surveillance, while our ideas, largely influenced by ideologies of individualism, all too often fall short of being able to truly envision other possible worlds.
Zeta: We are a very weird band, we believe in fusioning styles of music and we are kind of all over the place. But for this particular song, we wanted to tap in the influences we have from Screamo, Powerviolence, and Post-rock more than anything. We always been heavily influenced by the Japanese legends, ENVY, the south American band, Árboles en Llamas, and the Italian band, Raein. I think that's a good part of the inspiration for this song.
Slow Fire Pistol: Even though it sounds very different from most of our other songs, I don't know if there are any specific influences for the song, "Stolen" that would differ from our regular influences. Our influences are pretty all over the place, but Portraits of Past, Rites of Spring, La Quiete, His Hero Is Gone, and Hoover would be a few that we could all agree on.
Senza: This is a tough one because each of us all listen to such a wide variety of music. What I would say is our greatest source of inspiration for music is the people around us in our lives and the relationships we've formed.
Eyelet: We recorded our track, "Cinders," during a period of time when we were trying to write songs as a three-piece. It was interesting trying to transition from two guitars to one while still making the songs as full as possible.
III. Is your song released, previously unreleased, or newly recorded specifically for Balladeers, Redefined? If it was previously released, where can eager fans find it?
Hundreds of AU: The song is exclusive to the comp., though we did record it live for a video set that we did recently. You can watch the whole set at YouTube.
MASSA NERA: It's previously unreleased! It was written and recorded for this comp.
coma regalia: "FlourFourSeven" is an unreleased track that we recorded and wrote specifically for the comp. Sometimes, our songs wrack up a bit of continuity, so we tried to put together one that stands on it's own a bit more. A "one and done," if you will.
Heavenly Blue: This song was previously unreleased and represents a transitional track between our old band, Youth Novel, and new band, Heavenly Blue. This song features former vocalist, Nathan Whittle, and current guitarist on vocals, instead of our current duo, Mel [Caren] & Juno [Parsons]. This version will only be available on Balladeers and a new, re-recorded version will be on our upcoming LP.
meth.: This song is big ol' new.
JEROMES DREAM: You can, also, find this song on our Bandcamp and, eventually, streaming everywhere.
Boneflower: We specifically wrote and recorded "Phyrric Victories" for the comp.; it can't be found anywhere else.
Gillian Carter: This song was newly recorded just for the comp. We'll most likely put it up for streaming soon after the comp. comes out.
joliette: The song, which is called "Pilates con Poncio (Pilates with Pontius)," hasn't been released in any other form besides the Balladeers Redefined compilation. For now, that is the only place where people can find it online. We are, however, very eager to share this song with the people and can't wait to start playing it as part of our live shows.
Carrion Spring: "Supervisionary" was recorded specifically for this compilation. It was early in the song's emergence and since then, it has slightly evolved as it's been played live as a full-band, taking its full natural shape out in the world. Essentially, this recording is exclusive to the compilation. At some point, it will be re-recorded and included on a future full-length release.
Zeta: "Cascabel" is a track made exclusively for Balladeers Redefined. You will only be able to find it in this compilation and nowhere else.
Slow Fire Pistol: "Stolen" is a brand new, previously unreleased song that was recorded at the same time as three other songs that we'll be releasing on an EP on the same day the comp. is released.
Senza: I'm fairly positive that every song on this compilation is newly recorded and unreleased! We're very excited to have new music released.
Eyelet: No, we recorded this song specifically for this compilation. It is not featured on any other release.
IV. In addition to aside from your own submission, what (is/are) you favorite track(s) from Balladeers, Redefined and why (for each, if you selected more than one track)?
Hundreds of AU: There are so many of our friends bands on this comp., all that really show [some] of their best characteristics with this material. We often play shows with MASSA NERA & closer. We've been fortunate to cross paths with HAWAK, Crowning, FRAIL BODY, coma regalia, and for your health. I always love hearing new material from Carrion Spring, nuvolascura, and Zeta.
MASSA NERA: Honestly, there are so many incredible tracks on Balladeers, Redefined. We can't choose a favorite, especially, since so many of the songs were written by friends of ours. We would, however, like to highlight Infant Island's submission. They're some of our oldest friends and they haven't put out a new song in three years. Their track is the perfect finale for this comp.
coma regalia: I really feel like every band brought their A-game to this, but I guess I'd say I was looking forward to Senza, Carrion Spring, and lord snow the most since it seems like it's been longer since we've heard new music from them. Needless to say, their tracks are all great.
Heavenly Blue: We absolutely love nuvolascura and their track, "Myriad," is amazing. I'd go out on a limb and say whatever they put out next will be the best of the year. It's, also, super-rad to hear the new FRAIL BODY track, "Titus." They're close friends and are huge inspirations for us in terms of work ethic and commitment to progressing the sound of Screamo/Chaotic Hardcore.
meth.: Definitely have to give FRAIL [BODY] a [shout-out]; some of my favorite people in the world and I could listen to [Nicholas "Clem" Clemenson] drum all day. He f***ing rips all over their track.
JEROMES DREAM: The elle track is beautiful.
Boneflower: All songs and bands are unbelievably good, but if we had to choose one, that would be FRAIL BODY, one of our favorite bands in the scene.
Gillian Carter: Actually, I haven't gotten to listen to the rest of the comp. yet, but I will once it comes out. I'm pretty stoked to check out everyone's tracks.
joliette: It's a bit of a tough question to answer because we enjoyed every single song of the compilation. It's [an] honor and a great pleasure for us to be a part of it with so many awesome bands that we look up to. The JEROMES DREAM song, "Reminders to Parallel," is definitely one of our favorites. They're just such an amazing band.
Another couple of bands we'd like to give a shout-out to are Gillian Carter & Zeta. We have played with both bands in several cities here in Mexico and we have many cool memories of us touring with those two bands. They're very easygoing, funny, and extremely talented musicians; definitely awesome people to be around of. Both their respective songs in the compilation are great, some of our favorites, for sure.
Carrion Spring: This isn't a "fair" question because I love pretty much love all of the tracks; way too many of these bands are homies and I think everyone did a fantastic job... but, if I were to be forced to cherry-pick one, I'd share that the HAWAK song thoroughly blew my mind—I remember hearing it and having goosebumps during the pause with a quick audio sample, which is immediately followed by a crushing breakdown afterwards. It's just so brutal.
Zeta: "I Blame You" from amitié. is really cool, but, honestly, all of the songs are amazing.
Slow Fire Pistol: It's hard to pick because there are so many fantastic bands on this comp., but, personally, I'm most excited for HAWAK, THIRDFACE, elle, JEROMES DREAM, Carrion Spring, and TERMINAL BLISS. All [of these] bands are great, have never released anything less than great, and their submissions for this comp. won't be any different.
Senza: I'm really excited about the HAWAK & nuvolascura tracks!
Eyelet: At this time, the compilation has not been released yet, so we haven’t heard all the songs yet. All of the songs that have been put out, so far, are really sick and we're excited to hear what everyone else did.
V. What's planned next for your band?
Hundreds of AU: We head off for a short weekend [tour] in August up to Toronto for New Friends Fest: August 4th - Albany, NY, August 5th - Toronto, ON, [and] August 6th - Syracuse, NY. In October, we head down to Florida for [THE] FEST.
MASSA NERA: We have quite a lot planned! A good amount of stuff is in-the-works. We have a couple tours planned for August (one with Habak & Quiet Fear and one with Black Matter Device.) Beyond that, we don't want to go into much detail. Hopefully, everything pans out!
coma regalia: In August, we're releasing a split with snag. from Milwaukee, as well as another four-way split that'll be out on tape soon. This summer, we, also, started recording our eighth album, Hunting Shadows. You can catch us at New Friends Fest, as well along with many other bands from the comp.
Heavenly Blue: We just wrapped a couple tours with Blind Girls from Australia and Venus Twins from New York City, (who are, quite frankly, the most exciting bands making music right now; check them both out) and finished tracking our debut record. Next for us is getting these songs mastered and, hopefully, working with a label that aligns with our values and commitments.
meth.: We have a new record coming out next year and a whole bunch of tours coming up. We are working on something very special for our album release show, as well, so keep an eye out for that. Thanks!
JEROMES DREAM: Follow J.D. on Instagram or keep up on tour, etc. at JEROMES DREAM FOREVER. Thank you!
Boneflower: We're playing 10 shows around Europe with Touché Amoré in July/August and, then, a few more shows in the USA & Canada. After that, we'll stop playing live and focus on writing the next album.
Gillian Carter: We just got back from touring Japan. Next is Europe in late July, then, another tour, which I can't announce yet, in November. Next year, West Coast, maybe?
joliette: We are planning to tour Europe this summer. We are going to be there pretty much for the entire month of August and a few more days in September. We are particularly stoked about this because we haven't toured Europe since 2018 and it's always a great and exciting time. We are, also, planning on doing a proper tour throughout Mexico, our country, during the final months of the year.
Carrion Spring: We are currently about two-thirds [of] the way through writing a new album. Some of these songs are years in-the-making and we have great anticipation to soon share them with the world. We've recently eased back into playing live shows with a new line-up of members and look forward to performing out more.
Zeta: We are about to go on a US tour supporting Sparta & Geoff Rickly [Thursday, United Nations] over the summer. And, hopefully, releasing new music soon.
Slow Fire Pistol: Completely unintentionally, we are releasing a new EP on the same day this comp. is fully released (7/14.) Radiant is a new three-song EP released through Tiger Records & deathwish, [Inc.] with a cassette release by none other than Mr. Bolm himself on Secret Voice.
We're extremely excited to get all of these songs out to the public. We worked very hard on them and they cover a lot of ground in a way that encapsulates what we've always wanted this band to sound like. We'll, also, be joining our friends in Gouge Away on a Southeast run of shows at the end of July. We don't get to play very often, so it's always special to us when we do. Thanks, Matt!
Senza: At the moment, we are currently working on LP2! It's been a long process, but we will release another album in the next year or two, hopefully!!! We'll, also, keep playing shows locally whenever cool bands come through!!
Eyelet: We have a few shows planned for the remainder of the year, festivals and stuff. Aside from that, we're going to try to hunker down and write some new material.