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Express interview to help you discover as many of today's most interesting bands as possible - this time, OR DOES IT EXPLODE, Emo/Post-HardCore/Post-Rock from Madison, WI/USA - Interview with Shawn (Bass/Guitar/Vocals).
Hello - Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music?
I’ve been into music for as long as I can remember. Before I was in school, I listened to bands. Mostly what was popular or what was around me. Adults around me were into country, and at five I already recognized that stuff wasn’t for me. I liked the rock! The heavy stuff with screaming. My step-dad was a musician, so there were always musicians and instruments around. I didn’t want to play guitar because he did, but I ultimately ended up playing because we were poor and that was the instrument available for free in the house for me. No drums to be found. I just found that music was where the emotion was.
Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
The band started a bit after my previous band ended, almost ten years ago. I was looking for some fresh musicians to play with. Erik Rasmuson—our drummer—was a friend of my wife’s, so I asked him. We started the band with an otherwise different lineup. Brandon Boggess—other guitarist—joined us from a Craigslist post in Dec 2019 just 3-4 months before the pandemic hit. So, for his first year in the band we couldn’t play out. Our bassist, J Granberg, joined about a year after that when our bassist at that time got fed up with not being able to play out. J and I have known each other for many years but never played in a band together. Our bands used to play together. This band needed to happen to get me back into music after a couple of years not being in one. I missed it too much! My previous band was a pretty angular post-hardcore band, so I wanted to give this one a little more heart and melody while still keeping the edge.
Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
I would say we are a mix of Post-Hardcore and elements of Midwest Emo with our own flair. We definitely try and push the boundaries of genres. I joke that I don’t have the ability to write the same song multiple times over like some bands. Some bands do that amazingly well! But I can’t. We throw in some Post-Rock and alternative/indie elements as well.
Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences? How important are the lyrics for you? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics?
Post-Hardcore bands like La Dispute, Touche Amore, Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, and Thursday were really important to me. Late 90s Midwest Emo like Mineral, Jazz June, or Sunny Day Real Estate. Math Rock like early Maps and Atlases or This Town Needs Guns. Screamo/Skramz bands—especially now. Frail Body, Snag, Coma Regalia, Respire. Lyrics are incredibly important. We try and explore the human experience. From the social to the political. From systems to the personal. We’ve written a lot about privilege and hegemony. But we’ve also reflected on our personal experiences, sometimes our personal traumas in more cryptic ways. It’s so important for the listener to feel like what we’re doing is REAL and honest, personal, and emotional.
Imagine someone who doesn't know your band at all and wants to get interested in.. Which release would you recommend to start with, and why?
Assuming this comes out right around the time of our release (on June 18th, 2026), I would start with the newest record. It’s the best we’ve put it. There are some really powerful songs on there, reflecting on the times we’re living in. It also displays the array of sounds we explore. Swan also does a really good job of showing off our various sounds, so that’s a good spot as well.
About your latest release?
Our album, Realities Disguised as Symbols, is coming out on June 18th. It’ll be available on Vinyl, CD, and digitally on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms. We recorded it in February of this year at Electrical Audio in Chicago; Steve Albini’s studio (RIP). It was a really magical experience. Jon San Paolo did an amazing job tracking and mixing, and it sounds killer. There are 13 songs, coming in just under an hour. The artwork was crafted by us. I edited a photo our previous singer, Katya Pierce, took. It has a really dark, moody, and absurd feeling.
Future plans?
We’re embarking on a short mini-tour June 18th-21st to Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, and Chicago to release the album. We have a number of other shows booked throughout the summer. We’re starting to write our next album. With Katya leaving shortly after recording this album, we’re also practicing with a new singer. So, hopefully she will join us in the near future!
Your most insane dream with the band would be?
We had the privilege of opening for Pile last year, so that was pretty far up there. We were trying really hard to open for La Dispute when they came to town. That would have been a dream. Maybe next time! If we’re talking dream, how about opening for Fugazi if they ever regrouped?! (Hmmm.. Don't forget to warn me, I don't want to miss that ! Ed.)
Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ?
Our last album was release show was definitely our best. It was packed with a loving audience. We were on our game, and we got to have all the guest musicians who appeared on that album join us—Cello, Violin, Flute, and Trumpet. That was a magical experience. Worst concert? Probably the show in a small coffee shop where we had a fill-in drummer performing with us. We got there, and the venue had sold off their PA. So, the local band had to go get what they could from their practice space. Then, the input jack on my amp broke right before we started, so I had to use someone else’s amp and distortion pedals. Everything that could have been off, was. The other band and crowd were awesome though, so it wasn’t a total loss.
Next live-appearance(s)?
June 18th at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee, WI! Album release, baby!
Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name?
Madison, WI has an amazing scene right now! Breaking into the regional/national market are Tiny Voices and Excuse Me Who Are You. Sex, Fear, Dad Bods, and The Present Age are some of our local favorites. We Should Have Been DJs and Hottt Probs are playing our album release show in Madison. Dear Mr Watterson and Friendly Spectres are also faves.
What’s the question you’ve always dreamed of answering but have never been asked? Just a heads-up: I’m also waiting for the answer that goes with it...
Well, does it explode? (just kidding we get asked that all the time). Yes, it does explode. (Haha, well-done ! Ed.)
https://idioteq.com/or-does-it-explode-realities-disguised-as-symbols/
Studio B at Electrical Audio has a two-story concrete live room with natural reverb the engineers build half the record around. Drums come back wider than they went in. Vocals catch the room’s tail. Or Does It Explode spent a week chasing it on Realities Disguised as Symbols, their fourth full-length and first for Middle-Man Records.
The Madison, Wisconsin band wrote Realities at the same time as last year’s Tales to Needed Outcomes. The two were always conceived as a pair. Tales was the quieter melodic one, recorded at Pachyderm in rural Minnesota, polish baked into the studio’s nature. Realities was meant to be its heavier, darker companion, and Chicago was the right place for it.
“The ethos of Steve Albini and the studio in general is to try and capture the band in their true element, as close as possible to how you would hear them live,” guitarist and vocalist Shawn Bass says. “That felt like the right approach for these songs.”
Jon San Paolo recorded and mixed. Dave Eck mastered. The vocals went through an AKG c12, which Bass calls the greatest sounding vocal mic the band has ever recorded with, including the one they used at Pachyderm.
Between takes, San Paolo shared stories: Neurosis recording in Studio A and the thunder of their drum tone, Sunn O))) shaking the building, Kim and Kelly Deal being genuinely wonderful humans down the hall. Dave Grohl came up. So did Foo Fighters and Russian Circles.
The walls are covered in notes to Steve and the hijinx of other bands. The halls are lined with art by Jay Ryan, who recorded there with his band Dianogah. The same general space had previously held Don Caballero, Neurosis, and The Saddest Landscape, among hundreds of others. “It was totally a humbling and inspiring space,” Bass says.
The shape of the record sits in a vein anyone who came up on Dischord catalogues will recognize on first listen. Angular rhythms that lock tight and then break open, vocals that move between sung and screamed without warning, dark undertones threaded under even the lighter stretches.
The Midwest emo twinkle from Tales hasn’t disappeared, it’s just underneath. Hook-based songs sit beside heavier ones. The Italian zine Rockambula called The Medium is the Message something that “could easily be a Dischord classic.”
Tone Madison ranked Tales to Needed Outcomes as one of the top 20 Madison releases of 2025, writing that Or Does It Explode “explore compositional subversion with confidence (and highly-technical instrumental ability), leading to a memorable listening experience that points to an enticing future.” Realities works the same vein from a heavier angle.
The record was not designed as a concept album, but the throughline was hard to miss once the pieces sat next to each other. The recurring themes track the encroaching authoritarianism and oligarchy taking hold in the USA, set against the backdrop of wars and humanitarian crises elsewhere. Social and political commentary through a humanistic lens, as has always been the case with this band.
“More so than perhaps since our civil war,” Bass says, “there is a sense that our democratic experiment is on the brink of failing.”
The songs map where the panic lives. “Do You Feel It Too?” sits with the discomfort that what’s happening now has happened many times before, in other places, to other people, but the closeness of it changes everything.
“Noise in the Quiet” grapples with how to find a path forward against people actively trying to destroy your existence.
“Lucky Even Dead” reads as a guidepost from those who came before.
“A Good Thing” offers a way out through relationships you can trust.
“Shelter” is the most directly personal song on the record. It’s about war and survivors’ guilt.
Vocalist Katya Pierce spent time in Ukraine and Russia and still has friends there. Pierce has since left the band, but their voice runs the length of Realities.
Recording was cathartic, Bass says, in part because the album sat them down inside everything they’d been watching from the outside.
Artwork and layout were done by Shawn Bass and Katya Pierce together. Photos by Landau Creative and Chris and Ali Wade.
Realities Disguised as Symbols is out June 18th on Middle-Man Records, on vinyl, CD, Bandcamp, and streaming.
“We are grateful to Edie Quinn and Middle Man Records for putting this out,” Bass says. The band played with Quinn’s Coma Regalia last fall, and Bass has been a fan of Coma Regalia for years. Middle Man’s catalogue runs through Snag, Closer, Overo, Hundreds of AU, Senza, Respire, and Coma Regalia themselves, among others. “We’re humbled to be in that company.”
A four-day release mini-tour follows the drop:
June 18, Milwaukee, Cactus Club
June 19, Madison, Gamma Ray
June 20, Minneapolis, Zhora Darling
June 21, Chicago, Burlington Bar
“It’s a dangerous time in the USA,” Bass says. “One of the things that we can do is work to create a community of understanding and shared experience.”
https://idioteq.com/or-does-it-explode-realities-disguised-as-symbols/
After its last album, “Tales to Needed Outcomes,” Madison band Or Does It Explode returns this summer with a fourth album, “Realities Disguised as Symbols,” on June 18.
“We’re never going to be rock stars. That’s not our goal. Our goal is to be a band that people find a lot of meaning in,” guitarist and singer Shawn Bass said.
This is the band's first release from Middle-Man Records. They recorded the album at Electrical Audio studio in Chicago. This album goes back to their post-hardcore roots but still has the melodic tones they had on their last album. Guitarist Brandon Boggess, bassist J Granberg, drummer Erik Rasmuson, Bass on guitar and vocals, and vocalist Katya Pierce created this album, which acts as a contemplation of the times.
The band has been prominent in the community by working on Madison DIY For A Cause, at which local bands raise money for charities. The name of the band comes from Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem" ("What happens to a dream deferred?").
The album will be released on vinyl, CD, Bandcamp and other streaming platforms. The band will go on a four-day album release mini-tour June 18-21 in Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis and Chicago.
The Cap Times interviewed Bass about the band’s new album and how the themes are relevant now.
How is this album different from the last?
(The last) album was softer, more melodic and had (a) Midwest emo twinkliness. We’re really proud of it. A lot of the songs that are on this upcoming album, we were writing at the same time as we were practicing the last album. It’s definitely got music that is a little heavier, edgier and more angular.
What was the symbolism in this album?
That is what we’re experiencing in America right now. We’re seeing the creep of authoritarianism or oligarchy coming into America. We’re seeing further repression of individual rights, particularly marginalized communities … and we’re seeing the suffering that’s coming out of that.
How do we continue on? How do we fight what’s happening while also maintaining our own sanity and well-being?
How did it feel to record at Electrical Audio studios?
It was amazing. What Electrical Audio does is capture a band the way they sound live and make that sound as good as possible. They have two studios: studio A and studio B. Studio B is famous for having a two-story live room with concrete walls. It absorbs sound, and you get this giant room sound.
We recorded all of the drums and all the vocals in that room. There were ambient mics placed around the room, and you can decide how much of that room’s ambient sound we can use.
The lineage of bands that we love who’ve recorded there … (it) is mind blowing and humbling to record in the same place as them. A small band from Madison has an equal chance to record in this space as Neurosis, Don Caballero, The Saddest Landscape and more.
How was the album title created?
On this album there’s a song called “Lucky Even Dead.” The inspiration for that song was some individuals who were really important to Katya’s life growing up. One of them was a woman who used a quote from a famous photographer, Claude Cahun — “Realities disguised as symbols are, for me, new realities that are immeasurably preferable.” That quote inspired this title.
What did you learn after four albums?
Recording an album is very different from playing a live show. We’re very comfortable in the live show setting. We’re proud of the albums that we’ve made. Oftentimes we look at the album and it doesn’t always translate as well as we’d hope.
That’s why we chose Electrical Audio. We’ve learned a lot about preparing ourselves for that process, shifting our mental focus from what it’s like to play live to what it’s like to be holed up in a space for a week, and 10-hour days focused on just getting the performance the way you want.
The first couple of albums that we recorded, I recorded myself. We decided we wanted to go to a studio and have somebody else do it because we wanted to have different ears on the songs.
Why is DIY for a Cause Madison important to work on?
I spearheaded the Madison DIY For A Cause series for a period of time in the beginning, and Katya helped with it. It’s going really well.
We originally did them at Neighborhood House, which was a phenomenal setting, but about four or five months ago, we decided to shift them over to the Cardinal Bar. When we did the shows at Neighborhood House, it’s a nice space, but it didn’t have any sound gear or lighting. Shifting over to the Cardinal, they already have their own PA system and sound person.
It allowed me to focus more on getting the bands, doing the promotion and choosing the charities that we wanted to support.
It’s important now because we’re living in a time when resources are getting pulled from people at a faster rate than for quite some time. It’s making a really desperate situation for a lot of individuals. There’s a lot of communities that are at risk of being marginalized in our society.
It’s important to do some action beyond just voting or complaining. It’s something small that I can do that has some immediate results while trying to do those broader things.
What do you hope your listeners resonate with on this album?
I want music to evoke emotion in people, and I’m hoping that we can do that. I hope that the messages that we convey about society, politics and our personal experiences resonate with them.
Music has always been a safe space in a world that isn’t accepting. I hope that our music can be that for anybody listening to it.
Dauntae Green is reporting for the Cap Times in 2026 as a David Maraniss Fellow. He is pursuing a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Or Does It Explode
w/ WSHBDJS, Big Sloth and Hottt Probs
8 p.m. Friday, June 19
Gamma Ray Bar, 121 West Main St.
Tickets: $10 through gammaray.bar
Today, we are thrilled to bring you the premiere of the new album by Madison, Wisconsin-based post-hardcore band …or Does It Explode?! The album is called Realities Disguised as Symbols and features thirteen tracks, including their previously released singles “Instincts”, “False Premise”, and “Baby’s First Rorschach Test”. The album was recorded at Electrical Audio Studios by Jon San Paolo, who also mixed the album, and was mastered by David Eck. We caught up with the band to hear the stories behind each of the songs. Realities Disguised as Symbols will be out everywhere on June 18 via Middle-Man Records. …Or Does It Explode? will be playing a handful of shows in the US later this month. Listen to Realities Disguised as Symbols and read the track-by-track breakdown below!
https://isthmus.com/arts/isthmus-madison-picks-June-18-to-21-2026/
…or Does it Explode? album release, Friday, June 19, Gamma Ray, 8 p.m.: The fourth album by …or Does it Explode? finds the band blending their earlier post-hardcore sound (including some screamed vocal responses) with the melodic, catchy songcraft of more recent albums. The songs on Realities Disguised as Symbols continue the group's explorations of various crises of modern-day life (the USA’s slide away from democracy, global humanitarian failures) through an empathetic lens.
https://isthmus.com/arts/isthmus-madison-picks-June-18-to-21-2026/
Madison, WI’s …or does it explode has spent the past five years carving a space in the local scene with angular riffs, introspective melodies, and a dynamic lineup featuring Shawn Bass (vocals/guitar), Brandon Boggess (guitar), J Granberg (bass), Erik Rasmuson (drums), and Katya Pierce (vocals). Their previous albums, Chrysalis and The Medium is the Message, earned critical praise, with the latter landing on Rockambula’s Top 50 Releases of 2023 and featuring tracks recognized by Tone Madison.
Initially, Tales to Needed Outcomes was imagined by Shawn as a quieter, solo endeavor—an introspective counterpoint to the band’s typically restless energy. Written during the uncertain early days of the COVID lockdown, the songs reflected a more melodic, reflective side. However, when the band heard the material, they saw potential to expand it into a full-band project, weaving their signature edge into Shawn’s softer concepts.
The result was a natural dive into Midwest emo territory, retaining their sharpness while exploring new emotional landscapes. Recorded over a focused week at the iconic Pachyderm Studios near Minneapolis—famous for hosting the likes of PJ Harvey, Hum, Soul Asylum, Live, and Nirvana—the band brought these songs to life, enlisting Madison collaborators to enrich the soundscape with trumpet, violin, flute, mandolin, and cello.
Threaded throughout the album are Shawn’s inventive tunings, born from a chance attempt at learning a This Town Needs Guns riff. The songs echo the anxieties and reckonings of the pandemic era, grappling with themes of self-examination, community, and structural imbalance. Questions of inclusion, release, and resilience anchor the narratives, drawing on the cultural undercurrents of movements like #metoo and Black Lives Matter, as well as personal reflections on relationships and priorities.
Today, we’re thrilled to premiere Tales to Needed Outcomes, accompanied by a track-by-track commentary from the band and their list of Wisconsin artists you shouldn’t miss.
The band cites a range of influential inspirations, including Animals by This Town Needs Guns, S/T by American Football, Clarity by Jimmy Eat World, Some Kind of Cadwallader by Algernon Cadwallader, Viewing by Stay Inside, New Hell by Greet Death, Music to Practice Safe Sex To by Pool Kids, Rooms of the House by La Dispute, Keep You by Pianos Become the Teeth, and Brother, Sister by mewithoutYou.
The album sees or does it explode leaning hard into melodic forms, but they haven’t discarded their typical intensity. Quiet passages blur with moments of abrupt power, sometimes amplified by improvised takes.
Musicians like Becky and Rin meshed brass and strings with the group’s guitar-driven foundation, weaving surprising layers. The collective approach sharpened the record’s sense of open space, underlining themes of repeated motifs, cyclical reflections, and the raw tension of uncertain times.
Today we are super stoked to bring you the premiere of the new album by Madison, Wisconsin-based post-hardcore band Or Does It Explode?! The album is called Tales to Needed Outcomes and features 12 incredibly dynamic tracks. We caught up with guitarist and singer Shawn Bass to hear the stories behind each of the songs. Tales to Needed Outcomes will be out everywhere on February 1 and you can pre-order it right here. Listen to the album and read the track-by-track breakdown below right now!!
https://www.emmiemusic.com/interviews/ordoesitexplodelocalinterview
Madison locals Or Does It Explode? plan to release their third album titled Tales to Needed Outcomes on February 1st, 2025. In anticipation of this new professionally recorded album EMMIE asked them a few questions:
This interview has been edited for clarity and length
How was the transition from self production to using a professional recording studio?
Katya Pierce (vocals): Fun. Different. Probably the biggest difference for Shawn.
Shawn Bass (guitar/vocals): In the past I've done the recording so I wanted the experience of having somebody else do it, without me having to think about everything. Getting to sort of just be the musician and not the producer was fun and interesting.
Do you think that recording in that professional studio changed your sound at all?
Erik Rasmuson (drums): I think, to a certain extent. I mean, they have way better equipment like they have ten $20,000 microphones and stuff like that. And, you know, as a home recorder, you just can't afford that sort of stuff. And a $10,000 mic does sound better than a $1,000 mic. Both me and Brandon didn't actually play on our own amps. We use amps that were there, so just certain things like that. That was really nice.
SB: Yeah, I think you both got to use sort of vintage, famous amps that we couldn't get our hands on. So, I think that it changed the sound, because it was literally a different amp than what we typically play.
There are a lot of guest features on the album, how was it collaborating with so many artists?
SB: That was awesome... The first one I recorded was the violin player Rin (Rin Ribble of The Five Points Jazz Collective), and she killed it, and it sounded so amazing. I was like, I actually just got that sound on tape. Like, that's, that's crazy. It sounds so good. So that was a really neat experience.
ER: Yeah. They were all really good, yeah, like all of them. I was like, Oh, wow…
SB: And they're actually all going to come join us at the album release show!
The album was originally going to be a solo project, how has adjusting your sound from your post-hardcore roots to a more midwest emo sound been?
Brandon Boggess (guitar): It was nice to not fall back on feedback and singular sounds as a crutch. You know, find different ways to express myself.
ER: We grew to love the songs a lot as we as we did it, and they took shape in studio, adding layers, adding more instruments, even against my will, but I really like the finished product. It sounds incredible.
KP: Yeah. The funny thing is my partner, and also Shawn’s partner, both of them, I think, don't really listen to so much of, like, the loud kind of discordant music and stuff. They both are like, “Oh, this is some of my favorite stuff” But for me, my background is not in any kind of rock. This is the first band I've ever been a part of. I grew up doing folk music and classical so as a vocalist, I was like, oh, I kind of get to revisit some vocal techniques that I don't get to touch so often when we're doing the louder, heavier, noisier stuff.
Do you want to continue this kind of sound, or do you think this was just a one off thing?
SB: To be determined? I think one of the things that I love about this band, and I think one of our strengths, other people might say it's a limitation, is that we don't set ourselves to have to stay within the genre. We can play with whatever fits. So I think the songs that we've been writing that will be our next album will definitely be a little bit noisier, more angular, a little more leaning into the mathy sides of things. But we had some softer songs before this, and I can't imagine us not having one or two there.
EB: A lot of us come from very different backgrounds musically and also culturally so it can go in many directions. In recent years, I've been playing more of the softer type of music and this is me going back more to the heavy stuff, going back to what I did when I was younger. To me, a lot of these songs just fell right into what I had been doing or close to that style. I would see it going in all sorts of different directions.
What does the title Tales to Needed Outcomes mean to you?
SB: It's a little bit of a joke. I wrote it during COVID, and we were just like, blacked out at home, right? Nothing to do. And I was like, I'm just gonna learn a This Town Needs Guns song. That TTNG song was in a tuning I've never used before and I spent like 30 seconds trying to learn this song, and then I was just like, this tuning is really cool. So I just started writing things and so forever, we just called these the TTNO songs, as in This Town Needs oDiE. When I needed to come up with a name for the album I wanted something that still used those letters. After playing with lots of different words, I was like, okay, that makes sense. So the name I ended up on Tales To Nedeed Outcomes, which I think fits the material that's on there. There's a lot of vignettes, stories, tales on there, right? So we literally had songs talking about things that I think we need to reflect on and change so there is real meaning to it.
KP: One thing is that the wording and the phrasing of it does tie it back into some of the earlier material. It reminds me of a line in Chrysalis. That's like “whispered tail brings rebirth” So I think it's cool that it's still attached to the material, even though people would probably think of it as a pretty different sound from that album.
Having played at many venues across the Madison region, how has Madison's music scene influenced your journey and sound as a band?
SB: I’ve been playing in the Madison scene for quite a while, and I've seen it be a really rich environment, and I've seen it be really in the lows, where there's not much happening, but in the last four or five years, the scene has just been amazing.
KP: I've noticed just a really surprising degree of openness to musicians who are maybe trying something new. I think it's really important for musicians to be able to express a new idea and not worry that people are gonna get it.
Is there anything you want to see changed in the Madison music scene?
SB: More venues. More people coming out to shows.
KP: That’s literally the only thing I was thinking.
https://isthmus.com/arts/music/or-does-it-explode-mixes-midwest-emo-and-political-awareness/
Madison’s music scene is flourishing right now. “What’s been interesting as a musician in this town for a long time is to see the ebbs and flows, these times where the scene is super vibrant,” says Or Does it Explode guitarist Shawn Bass. “Right now, the scene is killing it! There are so many good bands in Madison right now, it’s awesome.”
At their upcoming show at High Noon Saloon on Feb. 17, Or Does It Explode will bring their explosive energy alongside a lineup that includes fellow Madison-based bands Boxing Day and Mio Min Mio, as well as Milwaukee’s RiotNine and Snag.
Comprised of Bass (guitar/vocals), Erik Rasmuson (drums), J Granberg (bass), Brandon Boggess (guitar), and Katya Pierce (vocals), Or Does It Explode seamlessly merges elements of Midwest emo and post-hardcore, crafting a distinct sound. From clean guitar riffs to the steady rhythm section, every instrument shines through on songs like “The Great Forgetting” — the penultimate track from their 2023 sophomore album, The Medium Is The Message. The album is filled with memorable, melodic guitar hooks on songs like “Symbiosis,” while all five members show off their instrumental prowess during the heavier breakdown on album closer “The Next to Last Time.”
Or Does It Explode morphed out of Our Friends, The Savages, a previous project Bass and Rasmuson were part of. When Granberg and Boggess replaced the guitarists in 2019, Bass decided to take the band in a different direction, and Or Does It Explode was born. “I always envisioned more of a Midwest emo thing, and [instead] we had started veering off more towards a hard rock sound,” Bass says. “It was nice to get back to the roots of where I wanted things to be.” In 2022, Or Does It Explode released their debut album, entitled Chrysalis — a name which Bass says is an homage to the band’s change in sound and personnel.
About a year ago, the band responded to Katya’s Craigslist post while searching for a vocalist to split vocal duties with Bass.
“My biggest reservation in bringing in a singer who wasn’t me was I was really worried we’d get someone who wrote bad lyrics,” Bass says. “It was a huge relief to find a singer who writes great lyrics, is very thoughtful, creative, and has a passion for writing meaningful topics”
Taken from a line in the Langston Hughes poem “Harlem” (which also gave a name to Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play A Raisin in the Sun), their evocative band name is a nod to the kinds of subject matter that inform their music. “I can’t write without thinking about social and political issues,” Bass says. “I wanted something that communicated some political and social message without being too in your face.”
That message translates through their dynamic sound as well, especially in the use of samples on songs like “White Witch,” a track about white privilege. Bass deploys the samples sparingly, which gives their occasional appearances all the more impact. They’re also a way to give voice to other communities. “I’m a straight white male, right? And I can talk about social issues because they’re really important to me but sometimes there’s that issue of people like me talking for others,” Bass says. “I really hope the use of samples gives voice to the community I’m speaking about.” Layering engaging samples of political commentators between vocals from Katya and Bass, the song crescendos to a powerful finale.
Live, Or Does It Explode delivers an engaging performance. They want to ensure shows never feel routine, and they never play the same set twice.
“The shows that I feel the best as an audience member are when I’ve experienced something new and something unique,” Katya says. “It can be a band that I’ve seen multiple times, but if I really walk away thinking, ‘this is a night that is never gonna happen again,’ that is a really special and intimate experience.”
Five Madison bands bring emo, post-hardcore, indie rock, skramz to High Noon Saloon stage for ‘Don’t be afraid, I will be your Valentine’
Four local bands will hit the High Noon Saloon stage for a post-Valentine’s Day concert Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. “A great thing about this show is it is more age-inclusive and exclusively local bands,” co-promoter and University of Wisconsin senior Arthur Machado said.
“Don’t be afraid, I will be your Valentine” is organized by co-promoters Machado and Waisman Center Community TIES behavior consultant Shawn Bass.
The goal of the show is to promote local bands and give them a space to reach a wider audience. “Most local bands play in basements and house parties, which have barriers due to age restrictions or accessibility issues,” Machado said. “Whereas popular venues, such as High Noon Salon and Orpheum, are almost exclusively populated by popular bands or bands from other cities.”
The show includes different music genres apart from just emo, which is the most common among Madison bands. Machado, a senior in UW’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, sits on the editorial board of the music magazine EMMIE. Machado wanted to be a part of the band before graduating, so he teamed up with other students to create Mio Min Mio, Swedish for “Mio my Mio,” the title of a popular Swedish children’s book.
The band members are all people of color — an intentional choice, according to Machado —to bring some change into the music scene here in Madison.
Apart from working with the university as a behavior consultant, Bass is a guitarist for the band Or Does it Explode, taking its title from the famous poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes.
The band initially grew out of the previous Our Friends are Savages, which after a few changes in members and the arrival of a new guitarist became Or Does it Explode just before the eve of COVID-19. Machado and Bass decided to put together a show after meeting each other at WSUM, Madison’s student-run radio station, where Machado served as director. It would be six months before they could secure a weekend slot at the High Noon.
Their decision involved adding other local bands in Madison to the show including Riot-Nine, a trans-activist band in Madison, Snag, popular for their eco-activism and Boxing Day, famous for their love songs and unique for their trumpet player who is said to be expected on Feb. 17 according to the band’s founder and UW–Madison student, Shayfer Huitt.
The show at High Noon Salon gives a chance for local bands such as Machado’s and Bass’ to perform in a highly accessible, public and safe place, giving them a wider audience.
According to Or Does it Explode vocalist Katya Pierce, who moved to Madison a few years ago from New York, Madison’s music scene has an advantage that many other cities don’t — a chance for local bands to thrive and Machado and Bass are making that happen.
“In a lot of cities, it can be pretty tough for local bands to break into these kinds of venues, but when I moved to [Madison] I went to live shows and was like ‘Oh my God! that’s a local band, that’s a local band,’” Pierce said. “It’s a really special culture. It has been an adventure and I have loved it ever since.”
Pierce first started as a classical musician, but wanting to try out the music scene in Madison, she joined Bass through a Craigslist advertisement and is now their lead singer.
Bass, Machado and Pierce together, along with other members of the show, want to create a post Valentine’s Day theme, featuring a wide variety of music on love, personal experiences and wild tunes, promising a night of fun, romance and strange emotions.
“A brave first date,” Pierce said, for anyone to try.
The audience can expect the show to begin with post-hardcore music from Mio Min Mio, led by Machado, and Or Does it Explode, led by Bass. They will be followed by Riot-Nine and Snag with more bursting music, ending with slower tunes from Boxing Day to end the night with love.
Audiences, apart from fun, romance and wild post-hardcore beats can also expect personal anecdotes and experiences of the musicians. “The political always ends up being personal,” Pierce said. “It is impossible not to engage with [such] themes since they affect your life directly.” Each band has its own story, with people from different lives and different experiences who each have something important to share, something personal and central to their life experiences.
“Some individuals take a stance while other people don’t and ultimately the individuals who take a stance put themselves at the risk of victimization or abuse but still stay driven to take the stance regardless of the risk,” Bass said. “We want to honor and recognize that.”
That is the central theme of the song “In doing So” which the audience can expect to hear. Another such song is “Killswitch” also played by Or Does it Explode, which focuses on keeping cultures alive with myths and rituals.
The show brings together people with different stories — from different journeys and moments of life — some who are still in college, others who passed its steps many years ago, people who come from different states and countries, each with their own unique story to tell. They bring together what is most important to them through music.
The show begins at 7 p.m. with the doors opening at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for $10 pre-day or $15 the night of.
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