Band Interview: American Standards

Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life are very proud to bring you an interview with American Standards drummer, Mitch Hosier. The album, Anti-Melody was released early 2017. A record that we referred to as 24 minutes of ‘no fucks’ given hardcore punk. You can read our full review of the album here.

1. Tell us a bit about American Standards. How’d you get started?

The band basically came from a group of people who all had recently left their bands and were looking to do something original, but didn’t really know what that meant. There wasn’t a specific goal in mind for it, just to try something new. The band has also changed members a few times with some people moving to other instruments. However, we’ve had a steady lineup for the past couple of years or so.

2. Tell us about a bit about the themes behind Anti-Melody.

This album was much more personal for Brandon than some of the past may have been. There were a lot of events that happened the past year or two that sort of fed the theme of this album, but a lot of the more political/existential themes from the older songs were still present here. Cancer Eater is a good example of a song that has a really personal theme to it, and it is one of our personal favorites to play live.

3. What are some of your musical inspirations?

We are all over the place when it comes to musical inspiration. Corey is a big Phil Collins fan, Steve is a big Smash Mouth fan, Brandon doesn’t like music, he just listens to podcasts, and I just like beatdown hardcore now. We all come together and agree that we love bands like System of a Down, Converge, and Every Time I Die and these are the most obvious influences in our writing.

4. Hardcore is a bit of a busy genre now. How do you stand out & get noticed?

These days the best way to get noticed is in your band’s live show. We really try to make sure everyone is engaged and having a good time while we are performing. Brandon and Corey barely spend any time onstage during our set. They’re usually out in the crowd getting in people’s faces and forcing them to engage in the show. There are so many shows going on, especially in Phoenix, that we really try to make things unique and leave people saying that they’ve never been to a show like that before.

5. Has the rise of YouTube & streaming services helped or hindered you as a band?

There’s a level where YouTube and streaming services can help, but it seems to dissipate after a certain point. For bands like American Standards it’s definitely really beneficial because a large portion of people don’t know who we are and they accidentally discover us when they are listening to someone similar and we might pop up as a related band.

Once bands are on a more national/international level they might suffer a bit from people using some streaming services rather than buying the album since they’re no longer marketing as much, but relying on record sales and other numbers to keep their project moving along.

6. Do you watch horror? If so what are some of your favourite movies & moments?

Everyone in the band (except me) are super into movies and horror movies alike. Get Out was definitely a recent favourite and everyone really enjoyed the unique take that Jordan Peele took on the horror genre.

7. What are some of your favourite games & gaming moments?

While I may not be a movie goer, I make up for it in gaming habits. Recently I’ve been playing Destiny 2 non-stop which broke a strong addiction to Overwatch. The original Halo trilogy will always be the absolute favourite because of the countless hours spent playing them and all of the good memories with friends associated with it.

8. What is next for American Standards?

We’re attempting to take a break from local shows for a while so we can get some new songs written. It’s so that there’s not a huge break between albums like last time. The problem is that we keep getting cool show offers that we don’t want to turn down. So we end up pushing the break back more to play shows with our friends and with bands that we would want to see live regardless of us playing the show or not. There’s definitely some touring in the future once some music is written so keep your eyes out for that.

You can pick up Anti-Melody now via Bandcamp as well as via Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, Google Play & via Apple Music below. Keep up to date with all their news & check out some of their music via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube & SoundCloud.