1. Welcome to All the Cores and More! To get us started, would you please introduce yourself and what you do in the band?
Brian: Thank you for having me/us! My name is Brian, and I am the lead vocalist in the band Unmade.
Alex: And my name is Alex. I play guitar and yell sometimes.
2. Where are you guys based out of and how and when did you form?
Brian: We are primarily based out of Virginia, but I am the only non-Virginian based out of New York City. About a decade ago, I moved to Virginia for work, leaving the rest of my life behind in New York. My friend Jared Hart (Mercy Union, The Scandals) was playing in D.C. while I lived near there, and I was eager to see him and meet some of his D.C. friends. He introduced me to Alex and we began our own friendship from that point on. He was playing in a band called Walk The Plank, and worked at Rock N Roll Hotel in D.C., so he knew a lot of creative types in the area. In 2021, we began a very short-lived project with Jared and some others that did not end up getting off the ground for one reason or another.
Alex (with John, the other guitar player in Unmade) and I started sending some music to each other from our respective states, and eventually it had enough legs where they sought out some of their D.C. area friends and bandmates to come jam.
Alex: Yeah, Brian and I had been talking about doing something together for a long time. It just didn’t line up for a while and then of course Brian moved back to New York and it became a bit of an afterthought. When we finally got something going, it fizzled out a little bit. I think that was the catalyst, though. We kept talking about what a possible band could be like. Funny thing is we talked about a D-Beat/Crust band at first, but here we are!
When it really took off I think is when I was hanging out with our other guitar player John. We had gone to see Fiddlehead and End It in D.C. After the show, we went to get food. I mentioned I was trying to get a new project off the ground and John was down for it.
Around the same time, Ryan (Unmade’s drummer) and I reconnected after both of us moving and life happening. Ryan, John, and I had played together in multiple bands over the years so it was the perfect timing. We then needed a bassist and without hesitation we all immediately thought about Rob. He's just such a phenomenal musician.
3. How did you get into alternative/underground music and what artists have been most influential on you personally?
Brian: My brother Jay introduced me to alternative music at a very early age. He is 7 years my elder and I remember hearing “Head Like a Hole” by Nine Inch Nails when I was around 7 years old and loving it. Through him (and 120 Minutes and 89.5 WSOU radio) I first encountered all types of music that moved me from ages 7-12: The Ramones, Bad Religion, At The Gates, Sonic Youth, Helmet, Sick Of It All, The Smiths. I simultaneously sought out things like Onyx, Cypress Hill, Naughty By Nature on my own early on. He took me to my first concert in 1998, the “Hello Nasty” Beastie Boys tour with KRS-One opening. At around age 13 my style began differing a bit as I leaned into hardcore/metal/metalcore/emo and started going to shows on my own at CBGBs, L’Amours, Roseland, Knitting Factory, Maxwells, etc. I grew up in South Brooklyn, so in my area bands like Biohazard, Candiria, and Indecision were household names to me, blending together some of the styles I grew up seeking out. I would also go see Catch-22 and Taking Back Sunday at the Knitting Factory, Tom Petty at PNC Bank Arts Center, Shadows Fall at Irving Plaza, and my brother and I would still go see bands like Superchunk, Bad Religion, Iron Maiden, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Pixies, and Dropkick Murphys together.
It’s tough to pinpoint my musical influences, I grew up exposed to so many artists and different styles and my interest and exploration just grew from there, and that exploration continues. When Unmade was beginning to share our demos back and forth I was listening to a lot of Sense Field, Hatebreed, Catherine Wheel, and Strung Out, and I imagine I drew a lot of influence from those artists during that period.
Alex: I think for me it was my childhood friend Danny. He showed me Dookie when it came out in ’94. Hearing that blew my mind. Then it was Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer. I ended up spending a lot of time at Borders Books because there was one near my house and it had those CD listening stations. So I’d go when I was a kid and just spend hours there discovering new bands. I used to love doing that.
4. What are some of your favorite works outside of music that you are inspired by or inform your music in some way?
Brian: Around the time Unmade began sharing demos together I saw the film composer Hans Zimmer live with a full band and orchestra, and they performed selections from various movies for which he scored, two of which are some of my favorite films: Interstellar and Inception. I’ve read and listened to countless critiques of these films and other Christopher Nolan works, but there’s a really interesting intersection of time, distance, space, morality, and love that Nolan occupies that just draws me in and inspires me.
I recently read There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib which was very inspiring as well. I enjoyed their ability to paint pictures of settings I could envision myself in, and how they presented it in a really interesting format; weaving together themes of life, community, childhood, personal struggles, with basketball.
Alex: For me it's movies. I don’t have a lot of time to these days, but it’s something that I grew up doing a lot of and still try to get it in when I can. My mother has always been a big film buff, so I spent many late nights watching one movie after another with her. I really got into weird dystopian sci-fi films when I was kid like Strange Days, 12 Monkeys, and Mad Max. I always found that aesthetic interesting and just that idea of “what if this was reality?” It frightened me and intrigued me.
5. How would you describe Unmade’s sound to someone who hasn’t heard you yet?
Brian: I would describe our sound as a cross between hardcore and heavy alternative music. That leaves a lot of space for interpretation and allows us to blend into a lot of spaces, which we enjoy.
Alex: Agreed. And I think we’re trying to add an expansive element to this hardcore/rock thing we’re doing. It’s fun!
6. Your debut 7” is coming out on November 10th. What can you tell us about it? What sounds and themes do you explore? Any gigging in support of the release?
Brian: We are all immensely proud of what we have created and can’t wait for it to come out. As a collective, we wanted to explore spaces we haven’t in our previous bands, and create something that we enjoyed listening to ourselves. It had been 10 years since I wrote lyrics while actively involved in a project, and what resulted was an exploration and celebration of failures, successes, mental issues, pain, joys, and the many journeys in between.
Alex: Definitely really excited for it. It was fun journey finally realizing this. Many years in the making. We’re going to be playing in Washington D.C. on January 16th at Comet Ping Pong with Tired All the Time and Tracer. Other things are also in the works and we should be announcing those shows soon.
7. What was the writing and recording process for the 7” like?
Brian: It was interesting, it was my first time collaborating with artists in another state. Alex and John would write some ideas, send them to me in New York, I would go record some scratch vocals, and then send it back to them in Virginia. We jammed as a band for the first time very long after we had begun sending demos back and forth, but we all gelled instantly. Recording was very similar, they recorded with Ben Green (Fairweather) down in D.C. and I recorded vocals with Len Carmichael (Fail You, This is Hardcore, Born Tired) at Trax East in New Jersey. The distance and time between ideas and recordings really gave a lot of chances to make changes or edits to try and make the final product better.
Alex: Yeah, it was a bit crazy. I don’t think Brian and Rob met in person until after the record was done actually. We had done a lot of the rehearsing for the studio without Brian since he was up in New York. Like Brian mentioned, vocals and music were also recorded separately.
When we did finally all get in a room together, though, to start preparing for shows, everything felt so easy and comfortable playing with these guys. While maybe a little bit unconventional, it has worked out well. It’s so much fun playing with everyone in this band.
8. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions! Do you have any plugs, shout-outs, or last words for the readers?
Brian: Thank you for having us! Unmade S/T 7” out November 10th. Check out our buds in Standoffish, Not Gorgeous, Mend, Dosser, and Manik!