www.facebook.com/qpqband
From: Michigan/Indiana
Sounds like: Emo/Punk
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? How did the name "Quid Pro Quo" come about and is there any meaning to it?
We all have different backgrounds within music! Michael (singer) was a musical theatre kid growing up, acting, taking voice lessons, writing, and helping backstage. Eventually, made his first band in freshman year of high school. That lasted all the way through 2021. Since then he’s kept a low profile until helping form Quid Pro Quo. Kevin (drummer) was also a theatre kid, performing in musicals and plays throughout high school. After he graduated, he started his first band, Satellite 40. Since then he’s helped form Quid Pro Quo, as well as joined a classic rock band called Hourglass. Brando, (bassist) was a band geek who found a love for punk music and skateboarding at a young age. Since then he’s helped form Quid Pro Quo. John’s (guitarist) love for music started with Guitar Hero 3 and jazz band, but would eventually evolve into learning to play guitar in various genres, acting, and songwriting—beyond founding Quid Pro Quo with Michael, Kevin, and Brando, John is also featured in The Chokers (power pop) and Jubi Časta (alternative rock/post-punk).
Ultimately, Quid Pro Quo got our sound through a bunch of different styles of musicians coming together. Michael, being more versed in pop, garage rock, and indie rock; Kevin, being more versed in classic rock, post hardcore, and emo; Brando being more versed in shoegaze, hardcore, and punk; and John, being raised on metal and grunge, later found a love for alternative rock, singer/songwriters and synth pop.
The name Quid Pro Quo came about while we were looking for names that weren’t taken already. We jokingly said that we play in exchange for free beers-an act of Quid Pro Quo. At that time, we realized that wouldn’t make a bad band name!
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
We want people to take away a couple things from our music; that anyone can make and enjoy music, that it could mean multiple things to multiple people, and that it’s okay to feel, and let music make/help you feel. It’s okay to laugh. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be vulnerable.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
We’d describe ourselves as a mixture of post-hardcore, midwestern emo, punk, and rock. As if Sunny Day Real Estate, Hot Mulligan, and Turnstile had an awkward but fun love child.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
This one’s hard. Loving so many bands, it’s hard to pick just three bands we’d love to tour with. I think three bands that we’d love to tour with, and would go well with on a tour would be My Chemical Romance, Hot Mulligan, and Deftones.
5. What's your thoughts on AI generated music?
We aren’t big fans of AI generated music. We feel a robot could never harness the emotions necessary to make an honest song. Sure, it could shell out a two dimensional couple stanzas that rhyme, but it’s dishonest. There’s no feeling(s) in it. That being said, we can almost always tell if a song is written by AI because of the forced generic lyrics, and the dependency on the chorus.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Emo/Punk?
We think that Emo/Punk music is in pretty good hands right now. Heavier music is back on an upswing the last couple of years, and because of that, many different specific types of emo and punk have come out of the shadows. Bands like Hot Mulligan and Movements bring their own unique takes on their genres, while classic acts such as Deftones, My Chemical Romance, and other legacy acts are allowed the freedom to wander from their iconic sounds these days because of the new found room/reception to these “weirder” blends of genres making their way into the genre/scene.
7. What’s the current music scene like there in Michigan/Indiana?
The current local music scene in Elkhart and South Bend are cool. We come from a smaller town in Indiana, so in order for bands and musicians to really thrive, it quite literally takes a village. We’re happy to have some really cool people running really cool venues that love to help the local bands, and almost all the musicians/bands over here want to help each other out in any way they can. That being said, we’d really love to venture out into new territories to play our music for more new ears!
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
In our opinion, streaming services make/have an abundance of money as is, so we don’t feel they really need to take such a high percentage, if at all, of the artists’ money. If an artist/band blows up, realistically, it’s the band and their writing that did that. If not that, it’s how it’s been used on social media a lot of times that takes artists to the mainstream level-NOT an algorithm that wants to decide what people do and don’t listen to.
9. What’s next for Quid Pro Quo?
We are about to release some recordings from a live show we did at the Well Basement in January, we are currently working on our debut EP, and wanting to play more live shows, hopefully getting out to other states and cities, meeting new cool music lovers and musicians along the way.
10. Any shoutouts?
We want to take this opportunity to shout out and/or thank our friends in Hourglass, our friend Ricky Iniesta down in Nashville, Michael’s incredible fiancée Ashley, Kevin’s biggest supporter Jackie, and we all collectively want to take the opportunity to thank our parents and blood siblings. In addition to these, we want to give a shoutout to Jubi Časta, and the Well/the Well Basement in South Bend, as well as Patrick Quigley, for always providing us a space and the opportunity to play and bring people together.
