When did you first get into music? What got you excited about it?
This is a super common thing among people my age that are into punk and metal: I first got really into music because of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game series. The soundtracks for those games were so good: it’s how I first heard Alkaline Trio, Nas, the Dead Kennedys, Rage Against the Machine, Anthrax, AFI, KRS-One…the list goes on and on.
I started getting excited about music in high school when I started going to shows. I got super into pop punk, emo, and that weird kind of mid-2000s post hardcore that was huge around that time, and I just loved going to shows, whether it was all locals or a big package of touring bands. I’m from Delaware, so there wasn’t much else to do at the time, and something about it was really cool and formative for me.
What was the first CD/album you bought and why?
Smash Mouth’s Astro Lounge. “All Star” was the official song of the MLB All-Star Game when I was nine or ten-year-old and I loved baseball, so naturally I loved that song. The first real album I bought with my own money was probably The Young and The Restless by Good Charlotte. My taste in music used to be so, so good. (laughs)
What was the name of your first band, and what did it sound like?
My first band that actually did anything was called Caseracer. We were a punk band that wrote pop punk or hardcore songs depending on what we felt like that day. We were all super busy with college and other music, and we never intended to go anywhere with it, but we were all really good friends and we made time for it because it was an incredibly fun band to play in. We ended up touring for three weeks one year and we put out two records, and to date it’s the only real band I’ve ever been in. We played our last show a few months ago and I blew out my voice on the third song because I’m apparently an old man now.
Tell us about some of writing you’ve done for VICE.
VICE and my editors there have been incredibly generous in teaching me how to be a writer. I started freelancing for Noisey in February of 2014 and in that time I’ve been given a platform to write about some of my favorite musicians, to do some incredibly cool interviews, and to talk about really, really important issues – such as how much PBR gets crushed at The Fest in Gainesville and a record-by-record analysis of Eddie Murphy’s music career.
They really helped me kickstart my writing career, something I never thought was in the realm of possibility, and I’ll be forever grateful for that. Since then, I’ve started freelancing for other sites as well as Noisey, including VICE.com, The New Republic, Impose Magazine, Deadspin and more, and I don’t think I would have been able to do any of those things without getting my first chance at Noisey.
Who have you found on ReverbNation that’s caught your ear?
I’ve found a lot of cool metal and punk bands on Reverb. Extinction AD is a great thrash metal band from New York that’s on Good Fight Music; Grohg from Raleigh, North Carolina is really solid doom metal band; Sleep On It from Illinois reminds me a lot of American Football, and Giants, a UK punk band, bring me back to those THPS soundtracks.
What are you listening to these days?
Lately, I can’t stop listening to Spraynard, Crash of Rhinos, Laura Stevenson, Timeshares, Beach Slang, You Blew It!, Sharon van Etten, Hop Along, and All Dogs. Every time I think I’m slacking on finding new music, I realize there’s about 20 records that could make a legitimate run at record of the year for me, and another 20 that I would love but I just haven’t gotten around to hearing yet. Also, I’m always listening to Propagandhi, RVIVR, Iron Chic, and Paul Simon’s Graceland.
What makes you excited about the future of Metal and Punk?
The fact that it’s so decentralized and so easy for anyone to pick up and make their own way with it. You don’t need a major label anymore – just write songs, play shows, book shows, and make sure your scene is a welcoming place for everyone (and not just white dudes). You might not get famous, but trust me: your life will be fulfilling. I’m very happy with how punk and metal and rock have come so far since I was a kid, and bands were still trying to find their way on the Internet. Now you can find huge communities of people who love the same music and share the same ideals as you just by logging onto Facebook or a more music-centric site like ReverbNation. It’s a great time to be a musician and to be a fan of awesome music.
Check out some of Paul’s favorite ReverbNation finds below!
