Header image credit: @aaronxyoungmkii
I don’t think most people realize what a weirdly large state North Carolina is. It may only be the 29th largest in total land area, but it’s also very oblong, spanning from the Smoky Mountains and the sea. Getting from somewhere like Asheville or Charlotte to the coast can be a 6-7 hour trip. That’s just a long way of saying there’s a lot of room for bands like Charlotte-based emo band blankstate. to branch out when they’ve gotten too big for their home scenes.
In fact, that’s how I first learned about the band. Their consistent booking around the state in 2024 led to a post-Thanksgiving gig at The Pinhook with cuffing season. Sadly, timing and illness got in the way of me catching that show, delaying a great chance to become a believer in what they bring to the fifth-wave emo genre with their new EP, LOTUS.
It took a while to find some time to chat, but the moment came before their show with cuffing season and glitchy math-rock duo Cloutchaser at Huron Stage. We caught up while fans, friends, and locals streamed into the cozy basement. After our interview, the trio — Faye (she/her; bass), Seth (he/him; drums), Jacob (he/him; vocals/guitar) — went and all but tore the place down.
I’m not exaggerating when I say there isn’t another up-and-coming band in NC that I am more excited about than blankstate. Each member is immensely talented and capable of performing their often outrageous parts like you’re listening to the EP. With more tour dates ahead in 2025 — including Japan?! — they are laying the groundwork to blow up nationwide.
Image credit: @lilarosser
Y’all are kicking off 2025, having released a new EP [LOTUS] in the last few months. How has it been playing the new songs?
Jacob: It’s been so crazy fun. We spent a long time pushing the music that we had that was on the lower energy side as hard as we could to be high energy. Now we finally have more music that matches how we are anyway. It’s been fun.
Seth: We spent a long time telling people, “Come see us live because it’s different from the recorded stuff.” It’s cool to have songs that sound like what we actually are and represent us better. And it definitely makes the shows feel more comfortable.
Do each of you have different songs from LOTUS that you like to play more, or is there a clear consensus?
Jacob: Someone just asked me that the other day, and I have no idea. They’re all very different but very engaging. Playing any of these songs is like 100% brainpower the whole time.
I would say the most dynamically ranging song is our set opening song, “being very brave”. That one is a ton of fun because it covers all the bases.
I feel like that song is a good first impression for anybody who hasn’t seen you before. But also, if people have been keeping up with you, it’s like a “look how far we’ve come” moment compared to the early stuff.
Jacob: Totally.
Faye: I’d say my favorite is either “being very brave” or “catburger!!!”.
Do y’all hit the Navi sample [on “catburger!!!”] live?
Faye: Yes, we do!
Oh god, I’m excited for that. [laughs]
Seth: “catburger!!!” is my favorite to play right now because it feels very forward-moving the whole time. It has enough dynamic range but also feels like it’s moving strongly.
As an outside observer, y’all have been playing out a bunch in 2024. What has been your experience bouncing around the state each weekend for shows? Any noteworthy gig stories or just fun trips from being on the road so often?
Seth: I remember a specific show where I said, “We have to stop playing in our home city and start playing around somewhere else.” It’s good to space your shows in different cities so people keep coming to them. But we played in our hometown of Charlotte all the time.
We had this one show at the Milestone where we were opening for this touring band that was coming through called Troubled Minds. But we were all in the worst mood ever for some reason. Faye slept on the couch for almost the whole show. Then we played to nobody, it was cold, and we went home. I was like, “We gotta change something.”
From then, I started booking us all around so that we were playing often but in new areas. And it’s been cool. It’s weird having friends across a whole state. Now, we have people we know all across North Carolina, and it’s so fun.
Jacob: It makes me feel well-traveled, even though I’m always in North Carolina. I know so much more about different music scenes in different cities. It feels cool to be engaged on a broad level.
There’s also something fun in trying to gamify it in my head. Like, “Oh, these people don’t know who we are. So I need to convince them in half an hour that we don’t suck really bad.”
Faye: 2024 was a wild year for shows but also so much fun.
How did you book all those dates in so many different cities and towns?
Seth: A lot of it is finding the spots like Huron Stage, we’re playing tonight. Those DIY spots, houses, basements, etc., are easier to get into. They also have more of a following themselves or a culture around them. Because if you’re like, “I want to play in Raleigh. Let me message this 250-cap bar venue in Raleigh,” they’ll probably just say no or not respond to you.
It also helps if you become friends with bands in other cities because they can help you out.
Is that how this show worked out with cuffing season?
Seth: I honestly don’t remember how the show worked out or when I booked it. I just saw that this house does shows, and we scheduled for January, but like eight months ago. [laughs] I was just like, “Okay, that works!”
But cuffing season are our homies. We actually didn’t become friends until after booking this show, but we ask them to play with us whenever we’re in Durham because they’re very cool and always so nice.
What was the process for translating your live show energy into your songwriting?
Jacob: I feel like, influence-wise, I have always been a huge fan of emo music and it’s just never something I knew how to do. It seemed like there was something in those songs that I could not capture. your arms are my cocoon is a huge guitar influence all over LOTUS. My favorite band of all time is Home is Where, and I think that came through, lyrically, somewhat in the EP, too.
As far as translating a live show into our writing sound, the songwriting process was really just us three getting together and saying, “What’s fun? What do we enjoy doing? Let’s have that take the lead.”
Seth: We literally write by going to Jacob’s bonus room and then jamming or whatever for three or four hours and sometimes at the end we’ll have an idea to record. Sometimes we’ll be like, well, that all sucked. And then that’s it.
Faye: And then we’re like, “Guys, we’re never making a song again.”
Jacob: Oh yeah, we’re cooked. [laughs]
Seth: No joke. About 20 minutes before you showed up for this chat, I went over to Jacob and asked, “How do we write like LOTUS again?” because last week, we were jamming for a few hours and got nothing.
Jacob: Look, I listened back to that the other day, and some of the things I was like, “Oh, we hated on this too much.”
Were there any significant differences in how y’all recorded LOTUS versus other projects?
Faye: LOTUS was the first project we outsourced the recording, mixing, and mastering to. I used to do it in my bedroom for a while, and we built up a studio to do that. That’s how the first two projects were recorded; everything up until “big bad news” was all at my house.
We started recording at SpiceHouse because I didn’t think I could get the sound for the EP we all wanted. They did a fantastic job and made it sound exactly how I envisioned it. The process was very positive, and they helped make that project what it is. Everything about it was advice from them. They suggested new parts, and we worked together to make something we’re all really proud of.
Seth: We kinda knew the people at Spice House before, so it wasn’t hard to build trust in collaborating with them. At the start of recording, they said, “We’re going to give you suggestions, but if you don’t like it, then we don’t like it. It’s what you want to do.” And sometimes, we didn’t take their advice, but others, we did, and it worked out.
I feel like that’s a true collaboration. Ultimately, you’re the ones putting your name on it and playing these songs.
Jacob: For sure.
After a packed year of playing shows with other bands, who are some of your favorite NC acts?
Seth: First off, shout-out to our homies in Rosary, Weymouth, Condado, Slothh, Between Two Trees, and Leaving for Arizona. All are completely GOATed.
Jacob: Also, Dogpark, Demiurge, and Infinity are all amazing.
Faye: Convalescent from Asheville is great. Girl Brutal, too!
Seth: Oh my gosh, this new band from Greensboro called Fifth Floor is so good!
Looking ahead to 2025, what are the hopes, dreams, and plans for blankstate.?
Jacob: We have some of the craziest plans imaginable. We’re taking over the world this next year.
Seth: So, writing, obviously. We want new music by the end of 2025. We have a tour in America, but we also have a tour in Japan, which is crazy.
WHAT?! Tell me more!
Seth: Sometimes, you get the craziest offers. We played with this big emo band from Japan and are working with them to book the tour.
Jacob: That’s not a joke; it’s actually happening.
When are y’all heading to Japan?
Faye: It’s coming up in November.
Jacob: Plenty of time for lots of shows and writing new songs!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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