-Interview- (1/25/25)
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? How did the name "Against Everyone" come about and is there any meaning to it?
I got started around 14 years old in 2008 or so when I got my first guitar. Believe it or not, and probably no one would ever believe it after hearing our songs, but Synyster Gates from Avenged Sevenfold is the guy who made me want to start playing guitar. I used to see Bat Country on MTV and was mesmerized by his shredding. I quickly learned that covering blink-182 songs was a lot easier and more accessible! And that’s what lead to me and Nick being in a band and covering blink and ADTR songs and stuff like that. Years went by and we both went our separate and very different musical ways, but in 2021 when our drummer Joe and I were looking for a bass player, we sort of reunited and are still going to this day after all these years.
Our sound is sort of like, a western mass group of musicians who used to play hardcore music and now want to sound like one of those PA bands that were popping off in the 2010s. The title fight, tigers jaw, balance and composure, superheaven kind of bands. I personally noticed that a lot of those bands were either going away or slowing down a bit, and I just want to try to keep that kind of music alive with our own mix of our roots.
And that’s brings me to where the band name comes from. There’s 2 meanings to it. The name is a play on the names of some of my favorite bands that happen to have just one name and it seemed to be the cool thing to do for a while to just have one word that doesn’t even make sense to google and come up with a band, but that’s your name anyway. Such as Basement, Citizen, Turnover, Movements, etc. So we wanted to hop in the one word trend. The W in the beginning, which obvious throws a lot of people off, is a very obscure nod to Your Mom’s House podcast. There was once a debate on the show about how to say the word “one”, and Tom sort of pronounced it almost like Wan in Obi-Wan from Star Wars, almost as if Won and One were pronounced differently somehow. So I thought it would be interesting and weird to spell it with Won instead of One. Kind of stupid, kind of complicated, but I guarantee the only thing that comes up when you put our name into google is us! Sorry for the super long answer, I’ll try to keep the rest of them shorter!
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
Music for me and a lot of others is sort of like a tool to help you get through tough times. I try to make a lot of songs that I hope will help people in the same way that a lot of my favorite bands have helped me. I just want to keep paying it forward. But also, try my best to not to do that in such a serious or preachy way. I like to think there is a nice dash of silliness and “not take yourself to seriously” in there as well. Above all we just want to keep making authentic music with real instruments and something that people can hopefully relate to.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
Our buddy Adam Ape once perfectly described us as “heavy Weezer”. It’s rooted in punk rock or I guess pop punk, with all sorts of influences from those Run For Cover PA bands from the 2010s. Sort of grungy at times, sort of shoegazey at times, a little emo, a little heavy. But trying to not be just one thing. We also take inspiration from A Day To Remember in the way of not being afraid to have 2 songs on the same album that sound wildly different. We have our indie emo side and we have our heavier punk side. So yeah, hard to describe!
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Realistically, I’d love to go on a tour with our “record label” buddies, The Skrims. (the quotes are because it’s more like we share a distrokid account, it’s a very small operation.) Another one would be PWRUP because they’re like local heavy hitters and we’re pretty good friends with some of the guys in that band. Then I’d also say Bag Lady because we played one really cool show with those guys and they’re cool dudes and we need to link up again soon!
My dreamer answer would be, Balance and Composure, Tigers Jaw, Superheaven
5. What's your thoughts on AI generated music?
Save it for the pharmaceutical commercials.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Indie/Emo/Alternative/Punk?
I feel like if people are into bands these days, they gravitate more towards that. I mean, you can’t kill the metal, I know some guys in some pretty successful metal bands, but I personally feel like Hardcore or Metalcore bands just aren’t as popular as the were in the last decade. So I think there’s a little more longevity in the Indie-Punk emo side of things. It’s either that or go all out heavy as you can and there are people who are super into that, but the in between zones don’t seem to be too popular anymore. The whole “scream verses, then have a really nicely sung chorus” seems to be fading a bit in my opinion, and that’s coming from a guy who has 2 Vanna tattoos.
7. What’s the current music scene like there in Massachusetts?
Let’s just say smaller than it used to be. We’re part of a community of musicians that try our best to keep it going, but sadly there aren’t as many venues around here in WESTERN Mass compared to the late 00’s-10’s. It feels like shows don’t even happen as often as they used to. But we still make the most of it and there are still spots around that keep it alive! I’m confident it will never completely go dead.
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
We love that we have our music on Spotify for people to listen to, but fuck Spotify. The music industry as a whole just sucks these days. You pay all this money to record your music and put all this work in just so that one company can own all the music and pay you pennies after thousands of plays. And then if you have a bandcamp and sell your songs on there or ask someone to download it on apple they just respond with “is it on spotify?” Yeah we could sell vinyls, but only now as of this month do we feel like the sound quality of our songs would be vinyl worthy. You have to do it because you love it, because the money ain’t in the music itself! It’s in the merch and playing live! But like I said, we do it because it’s fun and we love it. We ain’t raking in the dough!
9. What’s next for Won Word Trend?
We plan on putting together a sort of mini local “tour” around the end of March and into April to promote this new EP. Hit Worcester, Westfield, maybe Boston or CT if we can set something up. It probably doesn’t count as a tour because we won’t be on the road necessarily, but we want to play as many shows in a short amount of time that are drivable and able to head back home at night and also not mess with our full time work schedules, but try to go further than the usual spots we frequent. So yeah, just keep playing shows and promoting this new EP and seeing where it takes us. Eventually we’ll write some more songs and come out with a full length next, but it’s almost too early for us to start talking about that!
10. Any shoutouts?
Shout out to Horgan Bros, Eric at Mainline Recording, 413 Ska and anybody remotely associated with booking shows in our area, Apeland Promotions, PWRUP, Stay Whelmed Productions, and Great American Ghost because I feel like I kinda sorta mentioned them in a roundabout way earlier. And shoutout to El Cid and The Lighthouse in Ludlow because we play there alllll the time!
