AN INTERVIEW WITH CAN’T LOSE

4-10-26

PHOTO CREDIT: JONATHAN VAHID

1. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Before we dive in, if you wouldn’t mind introducing yourself and what you do in the band, that would be great!

What’s up! My name is Olin and I am the singer in Can’t Lose.

2. Could you give us a little backstory on the band: when you formed, how you knew each other, what other projects you play(ed) in, etc.?

So the majority of us all met playing in a band called Ghost Fame that lasted from around 2017-2022. For the majority of us, it was our first real band that like played outside of the garage/basement. Our drummer Koomey I’ve known since 2014 and we’ve been in bands together since then. Dom, our guitarist, I met through the singer of that band, and we used to go to UMass Lowell together. Andrew, our other guitarist, we met through going to shows around that time and would join that band for the majority of its time. That band abruptly broke up and it was a sad thing for me, not going to lie. I really wanted to do a band with these guys again since it was like a lot of our first experiences playing “real shows” were altogether. I grew really close with these guys during those years and we really grew up together I feel. It’s kind of crazy to think how much of our lives we have lived all knowing each other.

It took a little while after Ghost Fame ending to get Can’t Lose started, but I’m glad we took the time that was necessary. We recorded the demo August of 2024 and I consider that the actual official start to the band. Jake, our bass player and the newest addition to the band, was friends with us back then when we were doing Ghost Fame. We used to play a lot of shows with his old band Jvmpcvt. Local legends. He’s gonna hate that I mentioned them in this haha. He’s our dude, though, and we needed a new bass player around late last year. He’d been filling in a little bit so it just made the most sense to have him on board. These guys are my best friends and it’s so cool to have known them all for so long and to be still doing stuff together, especially getting to travel to new places most of all. Dom and myself have a punk band called Violent Protest we’ve been doing. Koomey and I play in a thrash band called Death Strider. I also sometimes play with Risk, who Koomey plays drums for as well.

3. What was the vision for the band’s sound? Who would you say are your primary influences?

I think more than anything we wanted to write music that sounded like where we were from. I don’t want that to sound like a pretentious or artistic kind of answer, but it’s true. I mean a lot of the bands we look towards for inspiration with this were Have Heart, Guns Up!, The Carrier, Hammer Bros, Shipwreck, etc. I think when people think of Boston hardcore they often associate it with the sort of tough guy side of hardcore (even though I hate that term haha), which I love and appreciate, but that is not us or who we are. I think there are tons of bands that do that sound perfectly that do it justice because they lived lives like that. Most of us did not. With the music and the lyrics, I really wanted to capture how miserable it can be spending your life in a place like this and never really being seen or understood for who you are. I think people who tend to grow up here come off as closed off when it comes to talking about their problems/emotions or even just how they feel. In many ways I feel like that, and that having an outlet such as this gives me the opportunity to let it all out. There’s stuff in the lyrics on the demo and the new album coming out that I definitely keep to myself. But it all comes out in the music and I think just the feeling of putting all that out there is what inspires creating the music for me. The musical soundtrack to crashing out as the kids say.

Also, once again I don’t want this to come off as pretentious, but I am a very visual person and a lot of our music is inspired by lots of memories and photographs I have in my head of certain places during certain times of my life, a lot of those relating to our time spent in our previous band hanging out in Lowell, Massachusetts for all those years. Lowell is a really beautiful city to me and when I think about the architecture it brings back lots of memories and emotions that help inspire the music.

4. What drew you to hardcore in the first place? Take us down the iceberg.

I was into Warped Tour-adjacent kind of music for a while, probably since I was 10 years old, but it wasn’t until I was 16 that I was first properly introduced to what hardcore was. I was at a local show a few towns over and I saw a kid wearing a grey sweatshirt with a bird on it that said “Have Heart Boston Straight Edge.” I felt like I had heard that word before or heard of that band but immediately I was interested in what that was. It seemed similar to what I liked but was different enough in the same and the aesthetics and was so intriguing off the bat. That night I listened to the Songs to Scream at the Sun record and also checked out Title Fight the same night.

Truthfully, it took me a little while to properly grow into hardcore. but between the ages of 16-18 I got introduced to more and more stuff, and then during my senior year of high school was when I really started the dive into this sort of world. I would say other than Have Heart, Hatebreed, Terror, TUI, Backtrack, All Out War, Earth Crisis and Down to Nothing were among much of the stuff I gravitated towards at first. Looking back at those years, that was sort of a tough time to get into things, the 2015-2017 time period. There wasn’t a ton going on looking back but at the time I didn’t know that. I’m just happy I stuck it through to see where it is today.

5. What have been some of the band’s highlights so far?

I think for me the two biggest highlights are the times we’ve gotten to play the Middle East and any time we have gotten to play outside of the New England area. Playing Montreal last summer and then getting to do a bunch of shows in Florida was so much fun. Just this band existing, too.

I think perhaps the most important part is being able to document the lives of my friends Drew, Francis and Nikki, who all died way too young. For me, this band has helped a lot with the grief in dealing with the loss of their lives. Sometimes I feel a little too vulnerable about it and worry that it’s putting too much out there. But I very much view this band as a means to keep their memory alive. especially with my friend Drew. He was heavily involved in our lives up until his passing and losing him the way that we did is still something I have a hard time making sense of. So to be able to do this band for him and Francis and Nikki, to me is the greatest honor in the world. Every time we play Middle East, I especially get that feeling that Drew is there with us. And I would like to think he’d be happy to know we are at least still out there playing music. He was a huge supporter of all of our bands and of us as people. So we owe it to him of all people to keep his memory alive.

6. What’s on the docket for the band for the near future?

We’ve got some plans to tour out to the Midwest this June with some friends of ours/Physical Therapy labelmates in the band Neolithic, which is super exciting. Playing a bunch of places we haven’t been to yet. Our next show is with a sort of indie-ish band called Hotline TNT who are incredible and I encourage everyone to check out. The show with them is April 21st in Boston.

As far as music goes, we’ve got a new EP we’ve been sitting on for a little while and that should hopefully be out early summer I want to say. I’m really proud of these songs and feel it’s a big step up from our previous work.

7. What is it about Greater Boston, and one could say New England more broadly, that you think continues to make it such fertile ground for hardcore?

Genuinely I believe because there’s not much to do here. I know that may sound crazy to say but as you know it snows and rains for more than half of the year. Also shit is expensive. Idk. Before hardcore and going to shows I was into skateboarding a lot and I feel like for people like myself, who aren’t normal and well adjusted, gravitating towards something like hardcore just made sense. People can be really judgy here in other facets of life. Maybe I’ve felt that at times with hardcore, but more than anything this always felt like my home more so than hanging out with the football players in my town or smoking weed in the woods or some shit. People (like myself) are angry here and kind of fucked in the head. Sorry that is a wicked scatter brained answer, but to sum it up, I don’t think any city does it like Boston.

8. Who would you put on the Mt. Rushmore of Boston Hardcore (past and/or present)?

I feel there’s a ton of wicked obvious answers for this, but I’m gonna give a Mount Rushmore of bands I feel deserve more credit in their input and should be talked about more. The Trouble, Death Before Dishonor, Wrecking Crew and COA. I don’t think you can talk about BHC without mentioning those bands period.

Also I must mention a really cool underrated band that’s a little more rock and roll worth mentioning is The Outlets. Rick, who started Dropkick Murphys, was in that band. Super cool rock and roll shit from the 80s. I feel like that band would be huge if they came out right now with what’s popular currently.

9. Who are the bands, people, and venues in the scene who are currently really doing it right? Who should we be paying attention to and supporting?

Man there is so much good shit right now. As far as people who really are putting on for bands right now and like sharing the wealth so to speak I’d have to say Tom Z, BG, COA, Birtles, Lee/David, Ash, all these people are bringing great bands to their respective cities and have done so much to help Can’t Lose. As far as bands go some of these may be newer and may not have music out yet but Step First, Hard 2 Kill, ICBM, Stab, Martyris are all doing or are about to do really cool shit. Definitely be on the lookout. Also shoutout to Holder for being such an awesome band full of kids who get it and are about to take over the world. Very proud of those individuals.

10. Okay, last question: if you were stranded on a desert island by yourself and could only have five albums with you to listen to, what would they be and why?

Ok so this is probably a question that would vary day to day as I’m sure it would be for most, but off the top of my head I’d have to say:

-1975-Self-titled

-The 59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem

^ These two albums are very nostalgic for me in many ways. Been there through hard times and good times but when I listen back, weirdly enough, it’s only the good times I remember. I feel like those would be useful tools to have on a desert island.

-The Drug is Football by Vanilla Muffins

^ An album that I’ve been listening to all the time within the past year. More current in my listening taste and overall it’s anthemic and upbeat and reminds me a lot of the music I grew up listening to that my dad put me on to. 

-Sing the Sorrow by AFI

^ AFI is one of my favorite bands of all time and this album has a combination of so much different stuff that I like about them and music in general. There’s sad songs on here but not like sad to the point of kill yourself sad. I’m sure for the cloudy or rainy days on said island this would be much needed.

-Stay What You Are by Saves the Day

^ Ok maybe this one is kill yourself sad. But it’s one of those albums I think similarly to Sing the Sorrow that still sounds and means the same to me now as it did in high school when I first heard it. The closing track “Firefly” is one of my favorite songs ever. Honestly that one song has made me feel ways that not much other music has been able to do. Fuck, I’m gonna go listen to that song right now.

Oh, also I know it’s a sixth, but Disintegration by The Cure HAS to be on there. Needs no further explanation, it’s just the GOAT.