On Saturday, May 26, Discrepancies brought their high energy act to L-Treyns in Keokuk, Iowa. This was one of many shows the band has performed in support of their debut album The Awakening, which was re-released via InVogue Records on March 23. The band took time out of their busy schedule to sit down with me prior to this show to discuss a plethora of music-related topics. The band consists of Antonio Metcalf on vocals, Garrett Weakley on bass, Addison Bracher on guitar/vocals, and Steve DeClue on drums and all members were active during this interview.
DeClue: I know the first question! How did you get your start as a band? Okay, I’ll take that kick drum! (all burst into laughter)
Bracher: That’s hilarious!
Fernetti: No, no, my first question for you guys actually is, well, I hear A LOT of different sounds and possible influences in your music and can form a lot of comparisons in listening to your guys’ music, so what bands or musicians do you consider your influences?
Weakley: It’s going to be different for everybody. We might as well go around the table! Antonio start us off?
Metcalf: My influences would be, well starting at the beginning, Tupac, Nas, Eminem, Lupe Fiasco, more along the lines of hip-hop for me. Stuff like that. Steve’s would be Limp Bizkit and Taylor Swift…
Declue: Well, that’s pretty spot on! (laughs) No need to change that!
Weakley: I would say for myself, I think it changes all the time, but when we started out I would definitely say Linkin Park. They are definitely up there. Northlane would be a huge band for me. It kinda changes all the time. The more we write the more we listen to different stuff, but when we first started definitely those bands.Those would be my top two.
Bracher: For new stuff, I’m into Beartooth a lot. I don’t know. We’ve been listening to the new Fever 333, although I may be the only person in the band who is into them (laughs), that’s really digging them right now.
DeClue: Yep! You are!
Bracher: Hey, I try to broaden our horizons!
Fernetti: No, I like that album. I’ll admit the first time I heard one of their (The Fever 333) songs, I didn’t know what to think of it. But, I like it now! Now, the first time I heard your guys’ music, it was a link to a Youtube video. I had a buddy tell me I had to check you guys out! It was a link to the “Prevail/Wake Up” videos, two songs put together and are always packaged together when you see them. Was it planned that way? Were the two songs written together?
Weakley: I wrote “Prevail” originally as an instrumental and then Addison took it from there and we took it to the studio and it underwent quite a few revisions from there. Antonio then took it and wanted to throw lyrics on it, kinda wanted to see how that felt. Once he did it, and once we gave it a shot, it turned out better than we thought, and so we were also working on “Wake Up” at the time and the way the two blended together, it just made sense. We put the two back-to-back on the record with a synthesizer, so when it came time to film, it just made sense to put the two together, the two videos together. So, that’s why they’re merged like that.
When we were writing, I wrote “Prevail” first and had no thoughts whatsoever of “Wake Up” but as it progressed, I don’t know, we unintentionally put them together.
Fernetti: Nice! I love hearing stories about how certain music develops and appears the way it does, both on records and video presentation! Next…the Warped Tour! How excited are you guys that you landed a few dates on that!
Weakley: Really stoked!
Bracher: I’m super stoked!
Weakley: What about you, Steve?
DeClue: Oh, man! We get to go down in history. I mean, it’s the last one. The Warped Tour is hot, it’s always in the summer, you don’t get a lot of sleep. I need to work on getting in shape! (laughs) So, I’m eating Taco Bell three meals a day, you know, carb cycling!
Fernetti: Is there any bittersweet feelings with this? You’ve landed the Warped Tour, but as you just said, it’s the last one…
Bracher: For me, yes actually. I mean, it’s one of those things when you get into music, you’re like, “Man, one day I hope we can get on that tour”. You know, we have four dates this year and it would be nice if that could turn into say ten next year, but this is the last time. It is bittersweet. But, we are definitely still super honored to have this opportunity.
Weakley: Definitely. I’ve been going to the Warped Tour since I was a kid, since I was little enough to where my sisters had to drop me off just so I could go. Antonio’s never been, actually…
Metcalf: This will be my first one! My first one and I’m playing it.
Fernetti: When I was younger, Warped Tour was almost strictly punk rock. A little different than my primary taste. But, my tastes have evolved over the years and I think Warped Tour has really broadened their offerings, I would really like to make one this summer if possible.
Weakley: Oh, yeah. It used to be almost punk-only, but man they’ve really opened it up over the years. All these bands have been discovered on this tour….
Bracher: It’s definitely a great experience and every year, it’ll be the hottest show you go to.
Weakley: Literally, it’ll be the hottest show! Temperature-wise…
Bracher: People fainting, so many kids on the blacktop waiting for the next band, battling the sun. It’s awesome though! Seeing all those bands there.
Fernetti: You guys very recently signed with InVogue Records. What has changed for you guys since that signing?
Weakley: Umm…Antonio?
Metcalf: No, you take this one!
DeClue: We all make tons of money now and are millionaires!
Weakley and Bracher at the same time: Not true!
Weakly: Not true at all. I think what has changed is that I personally feel more pressure and we have this spotlight on us where it’s time to do or die. Shit or get off the pot, basically. We’re really excited to be with InVogue, because they told us they want us to retain control of how we create the music, make the music you want to do, and just tell us what you need from us.
Metcalf: I would say to it’s definitely more inspiring to have a team that’s backing you and pushing you to work harder and they are working just as hard for you.
Weakley: We did the re-lease (of The Awakening) and the re-release went very well! Our Spotify numbers jumped huge and we were really stoked about that. Another thing that really excited us was InVogue let us do a vinyl re-release of the record and we all wanted our own copy. I put mine in a frame as soon as I got it.
DeClue: I actually ordered two. One for use and I put one in a frame as well.
Fernetti: Nice! What Antonio said leads right into the second part of that question: what were you guys looking for in shopping for a record label?
Bracher: I mean, in working with anybody, we wanted to still be ourselves, to be as real as we want to be music-wise, and I guess not having anybody dictate where we go. We want the right person for that job and they (Invogue) were the right fit. They’ve been in the industry for a while and know the rigors of what goes with it.
Weakley: At the time, we weren’t even really shopping for a label. They reached out to us. And, they reached out at a real good time.
Fernetti: Lastly, guys, you are probably new to most of the Southeast Iowa audience that will be watching you tonight…so for them and anyone else who reads this and might see you in the future, what can we expect from a Discrepancies live performance?
Weakley: A lot of energy! Addison will probably fall over at least once, Steve will drop a lot of sticks, and Antonio will forget to talk about merch on stage!
Metcalf: Thanks for coming out! We got merch! We got CDs!
Weakley: Seriously, we try to be as absolutely high energy as possible!
Metcalf: Crowd interaction is huge for us.
DeClue: We really enjoy people hanging out with us after the show too. You aren’t bugging us; we want to talk to you and hang out afterwards.
Fernetti: Alright, guys! Thank you for spending some time with me and I look forward to seeing your show!
You can check out Discrepancies a the following locations this summer:
June 22 at the Summer Smash Up in West Chicago, IL
June 23 at Rascal’s in Moline, IL
June 30 Vans Warped Tour in West Valley City, UT
July 1 Vans Warped Tour in Denver, CO
July 3 Vans Warped Tour in Maryland Heights, MO
July 5 Vans Warped Tour in Bonner Springs, KS
July 6 at The Riot Room in Kansas City, MO
July 7 at The Ultimate Barn Bash Festival in Russiaville, IN
July 20 at Hijynx in Fort Atkinson, WI
July 21 at Lucky Chance in West Allis, WI
September 1 at Midwest Rockfest in Benton, IL
September 7 at The Revival Music Festival in Maple Park, IL
And, you can learn more about the band via the following site and social media outlets:
https://www.discrepanciesmusic.com/
https://twitter.com/discrepanciestv?lang=en
And lastly, please enjoy the video to the song “Art Of War”
