Before their headlining show at Slim’s in San Francisco, California, Fog To Smog chatted with Destroy Boys, a NorCal based punk band. We asked band members Alexia Roditis, Vi Mayugba, Narsai Malik, and Falyn Walsh about their new album, (Make Room), vinyl, the NorCal music scene, and more.
Fog To Smog: You recently released your second album, Make Room. What were some differences compared to your first LP in terms of production and songwriting?
Vi: For production, literally everything about it is a million times better. We have bass, which has made a huge difference. We actually got a real producer on this record, his name is Martin Cooke. He’s worked with Muse and Death Cab for Cutie. He picked us up and we love him.
Alexia: Lyrics are probably the same. Not the same, they’re better than they were, but more advanced.
Vi: I think songwriting as a whole, got better.It became more of a craft for us, as opposed to raw emotion.
Alexia: It’s like, “How do we make this, like, sound good?”Or, better. “How do we make this song good?” is what our focus was.
Fog To Smog: So the album’s title is in the lyrics of “Piedmont”. What is the meaning behind that track, and how does that relate to the title of the album?
Alexia: “Piedmont” is about the people in the city of Piedmont, and the way that they make me feel; which is shitty, and like an outsider all the time. It’s not just Piedmont, in can apply to a lot of different places. It’s just that Piedmont is a super rich place, and not being super rich, I just don’t know how to act, basically. So “Make Room” is kind of like “make space for me. Don’t push me out.”
Vi: When we came up for the title of the record itself, of course I based it off the lyrics, but it also means “we’re here and we’re back and we’re better. So make room for us in the industry.”
Alexia: Also, as non-men making music. Men take up a lot of space in music-
Narsai: Wow, I’m the fucking worst.
Alexia: -it’s kind of saying “make room for people who aren’t you:. Make room for a diverse group of people.
Fog To Smog: “Duck Eat Duck World” was on your last album, but the lyrics are slightly different at the end. What inspired that change?
Alexia: I just thought of Mac Demarco, and I listen to a lot of Mac Demarco, so I just said that. The lyrics have stayed the same, but on the first record I purposefully didn’t want them to be really clear, because I didn’t want people to understand what I was saying. I just didn’t feel comfortable saying that. I wanted it to be so people don’t understand it, unless you really listen. But this album, I yelled it. Like, fuck it, I’m just going to go hard on this one!
Fog To Smog: You guys just announced that you are putting out vinyl. What made you decide to start producing in that medium versus CD’s or Spotify?
Falyn: It’s pretty.
Vi: It’s an important time in our careers to expand. We just signed with a new label, 1-2-3-4 GO! Records, and they specialize in vinyl. We’re actually the first record being pressed in this brand new pressing plant in Oakland. It was just an opportunity that appeared to us, so we just said “fuck yeah!”, and our fans ask for vinyl and we want to give them what they want.
Alexia: Real ass fans need vinyl, so we have vinyl. It’s going to sound really good too.
Narsai: Records are just really cool in general. A lot of people, when they use Spotify or other streaming services, they just download one song off of a whole band’s catalog. Where as when you buy a record-
Vi: – you got to listen to the whole thing!
Narsai: It’s a whole idea, so I like records and vinyl a lot.
Alexia: Plus, it has that grainy low-fi sound.
Fog To Smog: You originally started in Sacramento. How do you think the music scene differ there versus the Bay Area?
Vi: Alexia and I are the only ones who are from Sacramento. Falyn is from Massachusetts, and Narsai is from San Francisco. We were part of the local punk rock scene there. The only thing I can think of to describe Sacramento is 19 year-olds holding like six beers. But there was also a lot of community that we were a part of. A lot of female-fronted bands are coming out of there right now, so it was cool to be a part of that. What sucks is that everything, in terms of local bands, circulated around this venue complex called Cafe Colonial and The Colony, and they just closed. We got our start there.
Alexia: We played a house show, and then we played at Cafe Colonial. It’s like Sacremento’s version of Gilman.
Vi: It totally sucks because everyone could play there, and now there is limited options for local bands.
Alexia: Now, you have to already be popular to play at most of the places in Sacramento. Naked Lounge closed. Bay Area has spaces for smaller bands, whether it is house shows or actual venues.
Narsai: A lot of them are actually closing down though. There was one a couple years ago called Submission. That was the best place to start for a first show. Elbow Room is closing soon, Hemlock is closing soon. Hella places are.
Vi: I guess it’s pretty similar then.
Alexia: One thing about Sacramento is the scene is small, and so you know the people.
Vi: Which is good and bad.
Alexia: Here, it’s bigger, and that comes with its own pros and cons.
Vi: There’s a lot more to experience in our first year. There’s just more shit here.
Alexia: There’s more shows, more bands, more recording studios.
Vi: When you went to a show in Sacramento, you would always see someone you hated.
Alexia: I go to shows here, and I don’t know anyone. You can actually meet new people.
Fog To Smog: How has increasing the band size to four members changed the dynamics?
Alexia: We’re so happy. One big happy family.
Vi: If you’ve been a fan of us for a long time you know it’s always just been Alexia and I forever, with a rotating rhythm section. We finally adopted our two little children and it’s perfect. I wake up in the morning smiling just thinking about it. It’s such a big deal.
Falyn: We had our first band of four travel and play a show somewhere. We drove to LA and played a show. We were just in the hotel elevator and Alexia said, “You know what, we could be stranded on a deserted island, and if it was the four of us, I’d be happy.”
Vi: We all get along, we don’t really fight.
Falyn: We bully each other.
Alexia: I try not to participate because it hurts my feelings when it goes too far.
Vi: Narsai and I go off on each other.
Alexia: I just know that if I went off on someone and they went off on me back I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Falyn: I just think it’s a beautiful dynamic, and the universe brought us together, and our souls aligned.
Vi: It’s just nice not scrambling for backbone positions when we’re trying to play a show, and just having people we like hanging out with.
Falyn: We’re all friends, we all hang out. We don’t just get together for practice and never see eachother again. We practice, then we go home and miss each other.
Vi: Falyn brings her dog to my work and we all hang out there. The band of four is working out.
Fog To Smog: What’s your favorite show/venue you have ever played?
Vi: Gilman’s always the best ever, or Telegram Ballroom, where we opened for The Regrettes.
Narsai: Uncool Halloween.
Vi: Wait that was my favorite show! UC Theatre was one of my two dream venues to play, and I’ve been to every single Uncool Halloween. SWMRS are amazing, they adopted us, and we finally got to play one of their fests and it sold out.
Falyn: We got to dress like wizards!
Narsai: We had a good show at Bottom of the Hill in July.
Vi: Our first San Francisco headline, and we sold it out. Now we’re at Slim’s. This venues rad.
Alexia: We played this house show, and house shows are just so fucking cool. I just love being on the floor with everyone else. For me, I just felt so powerful because I was looking at these people and they were going crazy! I could just watch them. It’s a different experience. I feel like all of our shows have good things that happen for different reasons. You can’t compare the UC Theatre and a house show, but they’re both cool.
Fog To Smog: Do you guys have a favorite song to perform live?
Vi: I love “Duck Eat Duck World”. I love that fucking song.
Narsai: I like “Methatonin” because it’s really simple and I don’t have to think much, but it just goes so hard.
Alexia: I’ve grown to love “I Threw Glass at My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Probation”, just because I know it like the back of my hand. Actually, I don’t know the back of my hand very well, but I know this song really well, so I just go really crazy during it. “Probation”, for me, is when I get to just fucking do whatever I want. I can say, “Who wants to sing? Anybody here can take the mic!”
Vi: I kind of forget where I am when we play “Probation”. I’ll be like, “Are we in the third verse?” That’s our oldest song that we still play and we’ve been playing it for three years.
Alexia: I used to dread it, but now I can just get really crazy, so I always look forward to playing “Probation” and Duck Eat Duck World for sure. That shit slaps.
Falyn: I like every song.
Vi: Crowd pleaser! Do you really not have a favorite?
Falyn: I like them all, dude.
Alexia: Pick one. If you only had to play one tonight, which one would it be?
Falyn: If I was on my deathbed and I could play only one Destroy Boys song, I would pick either “American River”, “Methatonin”, “Gold Medal”, or “Duck Eat Duck World”.
Vi: You’re just naming our setlist!
Falyn: I narrowed it down to four!
Fog To Smog: What artists have inspired you during your creative process?
Vi: I just saw a band called Gym Shorts and that just changed my life.
Alexia: Performance wise, Starcrawler, SWMRS, and The Garden. All three of those acts really put on a show. Some bands will go up and play the music, and that’s cool and all, but if you go to a Starcrawler, SWMRS, or The Garden show, you’re going to get a fucking performance. It is theatrical. Singing wise, Lady Gaga and Freddie Mercury are two people that I used to sing to all the time, so they are my influences.
Vi: I’m also huge on The Pixies right now. As I write more music, I have to keep scrapping songs because they sound too much like Pixies songs.
Narsai: There’s so many to pick from, like Queens of the Stone Age, Wolfmother, The Distillers, and Burd.
Alexia: It depends on the song too. I wrote “Vixen” when I was listening to a lot of Against Me and a lot of Joyce Manor. I used to call them “Juice Manor”.
Vi: I listened to the entire Against Me record, Shapeshift With Me and then wrote the “American River” riff.
Falyn: Talking about my favorite bands gives me anxiety. I don’t want to talk about that.
Vi: I plead the fifth on “favorite band”.
Falyn: Yes, I plead the fifth, but I’ve been slapping Jawbreaker recently.
Fog To Smog: Is there any advice that you would give to your younger selves or younger people today just getting started in the music industry?
Vi: Just rock n roll and have fun. I’m so critical of myself now, and I was when I was younger, so I feel like I should just chill.
Falyn: Just let loose, dude.
Vi: For people playing music right now, just write original songs that you love and don’t steal other people’s music.
Alexia: Write what you want to listen to. I slap Destroy Boys. I was in an Uber yesterday and I played “Crybaby” and I was just thinking, “My friends hate me right now”.
Narsai: This might sound kinda lame, but literally just practice.
Alexia: Over the summer I didn’t have anything to do, so I just played guitar and I just go so much better at it.
Vi: What I used to do was learn entire records and play those and play my favorite songs.
Alexia: If you feel shitty about something, write a song about it, because at least then you did something.
Vi: If your songs are bad, just keep writing them. Don’t throw them away. Don’t get down on yourself. You’ll get better.
Alexia: Finish them too. Even if it is shitty, just finish it. You don’t know what something is going to look like until you do.
Vi: Music is like any other craft. You have to practice to get better at it. You should do it because you love it, not for any other reason.
Alexia: Do what you want to do, and don’t listen to anyone else.