A few months ago, I was chatting with Weymouth drummer JP D’Argenio for an interview when he name-dropped Old Suns. They were one of those bands I kept seeing playing with fellow amazing artists, but not spending enough time with. After that call, I threw on their then-latest double single, “Gasoline / Hypernova”, and fell in love with their grungey, shoegazey-inspired sound.
In short, the band brings everything I loved about artists like Superheaven and Basement. The riffs are infectious, the drums blasting, and the vocal melodies hypnotic. It’s clear how much the Triangle four-piece has worked to refine and sharpen their skills, especially considering that none of the members are playing their “default instruments.”
Their latest EP, PERMANENT BLUR, showcases a group that’s found its voice through collaboration and honesty, crafting songs that capture the energy of their increasingly dynamic live shows. It’s rare to see a band so comfortable with vulnerability, both in their music and in how they talk about their creative process.
Back in August, I met up with the guys before a fantastic set at Local 506 to discuss their musical origins, the evolution of their sound, and what it means to build something new from the ground up.
What have y’all been listening to lately?
Halston (drums): I just listened to the new Greet Death album [Die In Love].
Damon (guitar/backing vocals): White Reaper has got a new record out soon. They’ve put two songs out and it reminds me of the movie Grind. I’m really riding that nostalgic vibe.
Colin (bass): I’ve been on a Dan Reeder kick lately.
Aaron (vocals/guitar): Those new Deftones songs are killer. I also just found the second From First to Last album [Heroine] at Lunchbox Records and bought it, so I’ve been listening to that. It’s the one no one likes, but fuckin’ Wes Borland plays bass on it.
What is the first musician that you remember discovering on your own and obsessing over?
Aaron: HIM was the one for me. My dad was in hair metal bands but he always kept up with new releases. Every time a band like them or Deftones put out a record, he would buy it and then drive around listening to it.
The first albums I remember buying myself were Love Metal by HIM and something by The Chariot. And those were wildly different listening experiences.
Damon: The first band that I got into for myself without outside influence was Linkin Park. And it was my personality from 5th to 9th grade. If you can’t tell from my blonde hair, I’m still Chester Bennington-influenced.
Colin: I have an older brother who got into stuff that wasn’t what my dad listened to. We loved “Weird Al” Yankovic when we were kids. He started listening to The Chariot, Heavy Heavy Low Low, and Fear Before the March of Flames when I was in 5th grade.
One time, we were at FYE, and I saw a record by a band called Silverstein [When Broken is Easily Fixed], which is also my last name. I bought it and we played it over and over again on this long car ride. That’s when I knew what music could be; it kinda opened everything else up.
Halston: My sister kind of just fed me her taste until I was in middle school. The first band that got me real pumped to think playing music was cool was probably Sum 41. There’s this embarrassing video of me and my cousins pretending to be a band, lip-syncing “The Hell Song”.
Colin: I feel like their “Fat Lip” music video sold a dream that you could get a bunch of people who were like you in a place and just have a lot of fucking fun, but it just never happened. [laughs]
What led y’all to find your instruments and start writing music?
Aaron: On my tenth birthday, my dad took me Mars Music (RIP) and told me to pick something. I went straight to the guitars and my dad, who can play almost anything, was trying to teach me some stuff. But I was like, “This sucks. I don’t want to do this.” We made it to the drum room and I was more invested in that, so I got a drum set and just played in my room for a few years.
Damon: I had two uncles like an angel and devil on my shoulders. One of them is a professional jazz saxophonist and the other is a, for lack of a better term, burnout who happened to play guitar. When I hit that point in grade school where you have to pick an instrument, I started playing saxophone, but I really wanted to play guitar.
In hindsight, I wish I had kept up with the saxophone. [laughs]
Colin: My dad’s side of the family has a lot of Yiddish theater musicians. That’s actually how they got to the US. Growing up, they were like mythological figures. We had a piano in the house and my grandma, when she lived with us, would teach me. Mostly, it was her sitting there trying to remember the song, getting frustrated, and cursing in Russian.
I gradually started learning piano and, because I was a fucking cool guy, got into jazz when I was in 4th grade. I picked up the trumpet and played with people who were a few years older than me. Slowly, I got led to this style of music. We had enough kids on our block who played instruments, so we started a band called Thorn. It was just a bunch of 7th graders trying to play Slipknot and failing.
Halston: A lot of my cousins play music, so anytime I would visit family there was always instruments around. I had a pair of drumsticks but never had a drum set. My friend was like, “Hey, do you play an instrument?” and I just said yes because I owned a pair of drumsticks. I went to his house and he had guitars and a drum kit, but I didn’t know how to play anything. So his dad taught me how to play “Back in Black” and then we wrote a couple songs. I was like, “I should learn how to do this for real. I’m a musician now!”
Colin: Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
Image credit: openerphotography
How did the band come together?
Aaron: Colin and I were in a bunch of metalcore bands together. We did our first tour together, which was like four days and barely left North Carolina, when we were like 18 years old. And Damon’s old band, Behold. The Messenger, was doing the tour with us.
In 2019, Damon moved to Raleigh and posted something about wanting to be in a band. I had six demos ready, so I sent them over and asked if he’d want to do something together. Then I reached out to Colin, asking if he’d want to play bass. It was the easiest yes.
Damon: The real text was, “Hey, do you want to be in a band?” Colin said, “I have an acoustic guitar and a keyboard,” and Aaron said, “You’re going to play bass.” [laughs]
Colin: I hadn’t played music in a really long time so over the years I had slowly sold all my equipment, except for a piano and two acoustic guitars. So when he said bass, I was like, “Tight, that is the cheapest entry point.”
Aaron: I knew Halston from his previous band Joy, who I had filled in for a couple times. He played guitar in that band but I didn’t know he played drums until we were looking for a drummer. We had him come to practice one day and it was like, “Cool, you’re the guy.”
Y’all have been prolific since 2022’s No Shape to be Awake. How do you think your songwriting style has evolved over time?
Aaron: That first EP is definitely way more pop-based, to me. It was also something that I had done for over two years, just writing those songs. They all sound a bit different because I was just throwing ideas out there.
Damon: It’s like an EP of eight singles.
Aaron: Exactly. We learned them as they were written and went with it. But I feel like every time we’ve put out something new, it’s been more collaborative. Riffs are coming from other people and the music has a bit more focus on what we’re all in than just what I wrote.
Damon: To understand Old Suns as a band, it’s important to consider the fact that none of us are playing the instrument we’re best or most practiced at. Aaron started off on drums, Halston’s an incredible guitarist, Colin is a jack of all trades, and I consider myself a vocalist before a guitarist. There’s an element of growth throughout every release because we’ve kept getting better at writing in these different roles.
Colin: The longer we’ve played live, the way we approach songs is more of a “How do we capture our live show in a recording?” We spent months recording songs before our first show, so that was very much in a silo. It took time to know what we sound like live and how to replicate that in the studio.
Halston: We’re also pretty honest with each other. We feel comfortable speaking up when we’re not feeling an idea.
Damon: I barely cry when they don’t like things now. [laughs]
I’m curious how you approach building a track list. Like why pair “Gasoline / Hypernova” as double single, but then have them flipped in order on the EP?
Aaron: First off, “Gasoline / Hypernova” sounds better than “Hypernova / Gasoline”. But beyond that, PERMANENT BLUR is like the loosest concept of all time. It was the first time I was pretty adamant about which song came first and last. The middle was flexible, mostly just what order sounded good.
Halston: The way we pick singles is usually going with the songs we want to play out the most.
“Gasoline” and “Hypernova” made the most sense to release sooner.
Image credit: openerphotography
How did you get connected with Kris Crummet?
Damon: There was this opportunity that we had to do the engineering with Jacob Beeson, who did No Shape to Be Awake. It was almost like coming full circle to where we began to see how much we have grown as a band in this span of time.
It was also an opportunity for Aaron to take all the production work he’s done over the last few years and translate it to a full release. The quality of his demos alone has improved to a point where Halston said sometime last year that he “would put this shit out today, it sounds that good.”
Aaron said he wanted to take a stab at mixing PERMANENT BLUR. All of us looked at our bank account and said, “Fuck yes.” [laughs] But he uniquely knows the production we’re looking for because he’s in the band writing the majority of what we’re doing.
Aaron: My buddy Tate Mercer lives in Nashville and plays with a band called Twin Stacks. He does a lot of recording work for bands like Better Off and Chamber. Kris is his go-to mastering guy and I had reached out to Tate, asking if he could connect us. He got back to us super quick; the masters were done in like three days with no revisions.
Who are your favorite local/North Carolina bands?
Aaron: Barrow from Greensboro. I love everyone in that band. Colin and I’s old band played with them back in the day. They just got back together last year, and we played the reunion show. They are incredible at what they do. Most of them are in another band called Rotting in Dirt, which is equally fantastic.
Halston: Geeked, Sweet home, Circle Five, and Jenny Besetzt.
Damon: Demonize is the best band, and not just because Halston and I are in it. Another that has genuinely impressed me over the years is Dull Morning from the Triad. A few of them are playing tonight: their drummer Caleb is playing with Holy Figures, their vocalist and bassist Jonathan is the touring drummer for ASkySoBlack, and their guitarist Owen is in both and a couple of other bands.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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