INTRODUCING: Super Sometimes
Any artist will tell you of the challenges of starting out in the music scene. Every generation has it’s set of challenges, as well as advantages, when starting out. This time around those obstacles being financial stability when trying to tour and making a living from your own music, especially in the world post pandemic, yet at the same time the rise of social media and being able to create your own community is certainly beneficial to anyone’s musical journey. In this case, rising pop-punk group, SUPER SOMETIMES, are one such example where a community of lifelong friends, family, and connections to individuals within the rock scene: musician, producer and fans alike, keeps them going.
The trio, made up of Gabriel Muñoz (vocals/guitars), Dylan Guzman (vocals, guitars), and Matthew Ludwig (drums), have just put out their second full-length record, Show The World What’s Underneath, which also marks their first release since being signed to Pure Noise Records, and have a busy year ahead of them of shows and touring, including at the iconic Warped Tour. We managed to sit down with them within their hectic schedule to talk about the record and the things that make them tick as a band.
The album features producer and long-time collaborator, Zach Tuch, a decision that the band believes was the best when it came to creating the record according to Dylan. “Doing songs like Say Something Now with him was kind of like us testing the waters for who we wanted to do the record with, and he was the first person that we like tried doing something with aside from our previous producer who had done almost like everything before that. So, it was just a really great experience.”
“We got along very well, and he really understood like the vision and the direction of the band. We spent like, I think, three days with him recording Say Something Now and All Systems Go, and that was just like a great time, it was immediately like unanimous that we were just like, ‘let’s do the record with him’, like, he’s got it.”
When it comes to their lyrical themes, a lot of it boils down to coming-of-age moments since forming SUPER SOMETIMES and dedicating their time to touring, a choice they made instead of going down the regular route of university when finishing high school. So, it should come as no surprise to hear that the songs are of a personal nature as Gabriel put it. “I feel like with the songs we wrote from the heart. We wrote about things that meant something to us. And when going into the studio, when you already have a song that you really resonate with, that you wrote from the heart, it just like when you sing it you got to put everything into it. And I think like a lot of the lyrics on this record were very, very cool and fun. Like for example, in Make Up Stories, we did like the little chess analogy. And yeah, we just tried different things, but I think the main thing, we just try to write from the heart and just try to write things that matter to us.”
Dylan also adds how these songs SUPER SOMETIMES are writing now are also meant to be a time capsule to look back on years from now. “When we started writing the record, we were like 19 or 20 years old, so like this for us is pretty formative ages in our lives and a very, I mean not nostalgic now, but like definitely what we’ve heard from a lot of like our peers that we look up to is like, ‘you’re in the most exciting, or one of, the most exciting parts of your career right now, like really enjoy it and really try to like journal and, you know, have something to show and remember for it, because it’s not going to last forever. One day you’re going to be, you know, 30 years old, 40 years old, looking back at those times in your life and being very grateful and happy that that went on’.”
When discussing the decisions made and moments that have defined SUPER SOMETIMES as a band, they take a moment to show gratitude for their family’s support over the last few years. “Real stuff though, shout out all of our families,” said Gabriel. “It’s helped us a lot, you know, from Dylan‘s parents driving him to practise when we first started, to Matthew‘s parents letting us freaking make a lot of noise in their basement, and like my parents for always being super supportive and helping us out.
Matthew and Dylan nod in agreement with Dylan. “Yeah, they’re all just like really on board and they saw how passionate we were about this and like how hard we worked for it, and so that kind of made it so that they were equally as proud and passionate about it too. Matthew‘s parents basically tour manage us like back home, Gabe‘s dad, Ricky, like helps us with literally everything, like we can text him at any time and he’ll help us out with something. He’ll get it done. Like they helped us build our van.”
“They sort so much stuff out for us and make our lives so much easier as the touring landscape now, it’s like so hard. It’s harder than I think it’s ever been for like bands of our size to like come up and grind out playing shows, especially in these little clubs, like trying to sustain it. You don’t make very much money, like it’s a grind and it takes a lot of time, and a lot of, you know, tooth and nail, you gotta really fight for it. But yeah, they’ve just been instrumental. We wouldn’t be able to do it without them for sure.”
Yet, regardless of the challenges, there is absolutely no regrets with everything they’ve achieved so far. To put it simply in Dylan’s words. “When it comes down to it, at the end of the day, like we’re just a bunch of kids who love pop-punk music. We love the genre from its inception to the bands that are coming out now, like the whole range and the whole spectrum of it. So, it’s like for us to get to pay homage to the genre as a whole, and to now be a part of it playing festivals like Warped Tour and doing tours with bands that we’re genuinely fans of.”
Show the World What’s Underneath is out now via Pure Noise Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS130 here.
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