Brian Pretus (PEARS-vocals/guitar)
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2015? (In order 1-5)
- Teenage Bottlerocket - Tales From Wyoming
- Night Birds - Mutiny At Muscle Beach
- G.L.O.S.S. - Demo 2015
- Woozy - Blistered
- Donovan Wolfington - How To Treat The Ones You Love
2. What band did you discover in 2015 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
I actually discovered a ton of good bands this year. Some notable mentions being G.L.O.S.S., AJAX, Decent Criminal, but the most life altering had to be Such Gold. I went and saw them in New Orleans when we had a week off from tour, and they completely raised the bar for me as far as what I want from a band. They're so unbelievably talented, and while I love tons of sloppy, raw, shitty bands, this band's chops are on par with the likes of bands like Descendents. It was really inspiring.
3. How will you remember 2015? (In terms of music)
Definitely better than the last few years. For stuff I like, at least. There's a surge of new talent happening right now that's really exciting to me.
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2016?
PEARS has a new album coming out in spring 2016. It's our 2nd full-length, and it's like 8 minutes longer than the last one. It's roughly a thousand times better than the last one, too.
We'll be touring the States/Canada a ton, Europe twice, and Australia. So you can look forward our demise due to exhaustion and lack of good food.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2016?
The new Direct Hit album. I really don't know what else will happen that year. Lots of bands say they are going to release stuff then they break up so, as of now, I'm insanely stoked for the new Direct Hit album. They've been sending us the demos of it since it's inception, and it's already amazing. All the pop punk kids heads are going to explode, which is a good and bad thing.
6. How relevant is the physical format record/cd/tape in 2015 and going into 2016? What do you see changing in terms of physical vs. digital discussions?
Extremely relevant. Mostly in punk rock, as far as I can tell though. I think the reason punk is still so strong is that bands can kind of afford to pay rent touring because punk fans always have and always will buy vinyl, cds, and tapes. I think it all will just become more and more relevant as people realize how dumb it is to have your entire life on some shitty cell phone. I buy vinyl and collect cds like a crazy person, and half the time I don't even listen to them that often because we're never home, but it's just what I like to do and I don't plan on stopping ever, and if everyone in the world is like me (and they should be, cuz I'm great), they'll probably keep doing the same, and music fans will keep buying music on physical formats.
...I mean... I fucking hope so.
Or else we're screwed.
