Although its members hail from California, Blowout has established itself as a fixture of Portland, OR’s burgeoning punk scene. The band has spent the last couple of years playing any venue that would host them, in addition to throwing shows at their own house—affectionately christened “The Pound Pit.” While Blowout has since moved out of that house, Pound Pit shows have become the stuff of local legend: for a little over a year, the group’s house was a DIY guidepost and the venue of choice for touring punk acts like Tony Molina, Winter Break and Alaska. 

Blowout released their debut LP No Beer, No Dad on August 5th of this year, a split release between Lauren Records and Making New Enemies. One of the album’s highlights is “Pound Pit”—a song that pays tribute to the hallowed, defunct house venue. The group’s influences are worn proudly on their sleeves—Laken Wright’s crystalline vocals are reminiscent of Lemuria’s Sheena Ozzella, while Travis King and Brennan Facchino’s noodly guitar interplay evokes emo legends Cap’n Jazz—but they’re far from mere imitators. While plenty of Blowout’s nü-emo peers are content just passively sentimentalizing their bygone adolescences, No Beer, No Dad is an affront to the ineluctable realities of adulthood: “Maybe I’ll get a job someday / Maybe I won’t smoke as much, or drink as much, or give a fuck,” Wright sings sardonically in the anthemic refrain to “Cents Cents Money Money”. 

Myspace caught up with Wright and we talked about her band’s influences and the process of writing and recording No Beer, No Dad. You can check out our complete interview below.

Hometown: Moorpark, California

Homebase: Portland, Oregon

How long has Blowout existed, and how long has everyone in the band known each other?

We played our first show at the now-extinct Habesha bar, in Portland, Oregon in 2014. I think we can mark that as an official starting point. Nick, Travis, and I met in San Luis Obispo, California around 2008, where we were all living at the time. It wasn't until late 2014 that we met Brennan by playing with his old band Donkeylips, which is right around when we asked him to join up with us. 

I see Blowout frequently categorized as “emo” or “pop-punk” by music writers, but I can’t think of very many bands who actually embrace those labels since they can imply a lack of artistic maturity. How does the band identify itself? What do you think is the most accurate way to describe your music?

Labeling our music is something that's never been easy for us, nor have we found anything that works well enough to get the point across. We really don't feel we are quite pop-punk or emo. Fuck the labels I guess. Is that punk? I don't know, call us a rock band, that's vague enough.

What are some of your biggest influences?

Saves The Day, Cursive, Hop Along, Radioactivity

What were some of your first influences? 

Kriss Kross, Alkaline Trio, The Cars, Sade, Minor Threat

There was a pretty big waiting period between your last EP and the LP, to the extent that I even saw the record sarcastically compared to Guns ’N Roses' Chinese Democracy. Are you still excited about the material on this record? By now, do you already have enough new material for a second LP or a followup EP?

We are still very excited about No Beer, No Dad, though we've been playing the songs live for some time now. We've got a few new songs we have been playing live that we are stoked on, so we are eagerly looking to put together a split, or EP once this summer tour is over. We haven't decided what just yet.  

Is there a consistent thematic thread that ties all of the songs together? 

I think the consisted thread is really just the mundanity of life. Breakups, shitty friends, partying, being called out for being a loser. We just wanted to make music that was fun for us to play live, and all those elements were a perfect fuel for the fire.

What is your favorite song on the record and why? 

"Green Couch." It's the most fun for us to play. We enjoy how each part progresses to the next, all building up into this anthemic ending about partying all the time. Stylistically we believe it's a good representation of what we believe and want our music to be. 

A lot of modern punk or emo bands just sort of idly bemoan their youth, but I feel like Blowout is actively rebelling against adulthood in a way that specifically reminds me of The Replacements. How much of that is an affect and how much of it is a real philosophy the members of the band adhere to?

I definitely wouldn't say it's our philosophy. We all work and pay our bills. We're just rejecting antiquated views on what being an adult is. We don't need a family and career to feel validated.

What’s next for Blowout? Djent? Raga rock?

For now, just more recordings, and more shows in the very near future.