The Static Brian Interview
Table of Contents
Interviewed on 11.29.25
The holidays ended and I left my hometown at 7 in the morning because I had a 2-hour drive back to Philly to scoop up Anwar and Aidan and then a drive straight to the gig in NYC. In NYC, where Brooklyn meets Queens was this eclectic screaming monster of a bill held at the Stone Circle Theatre and presented by Persephone Rises. Before the gig, Static Brian and I sat down nice and cozy outside in a running car on quiet street, so I may extract the information I and others might desire to know.
I hope karaoke was fun guys. I just had to get back that night.
Sidenote: This bill was absolutely insane. If you like emo/screamo/hardcore check out all of these bands. I must recommend In Jest. Unreal.
Jibberish… something about Michael Jackson
Anwar: Put the volume down a little bit.
Are you guys ready?
Anwar Yeah, we’re ready.
Jasmine: Yeah. Enough Michael Jackson. Enough, enough, enough.
Aidan: Anyway.
Jasmine: Alright.
What’s up, Bratic Stian?
Aidan: What uppp?
Jasmine: Boyyyyyyyy, what the hell, boy?
You guys came a long way from the first show I saw you guys at The Kennel Philly. Do you guys remember that show?
Anwar: Wowwwwwww.
Aidan: Jesus Christ. That was a whole year ago.
Brandon: I just remember telling you to come to that shit. That was like…
Anwar: That was probably our worst show ever.
Brandon: That was the weirdest show ever, for sure.
Jasmine: No comment!
Brandon: And that was like the 1st one you pulled up to, it was like, fuck, like… Because I feel like I saw you after the dimmer show at Page. I was like, “Yo, we got a show in like a month you should definitely pull up and…
Aidan: It’s definitely like… it’s one of those things where you just kind of doing whatever show you can get. Because I think we just recorded our fucking, you know, EP that time. Wasn’t it out?
Anwar: No, that was way before we recorded anything.
Brandon: That was like 2 months before we recorded. That was in September.
Anwar: That was one of our 1st shows.
Aidan: Oh damn. Oh, never mind. Never mind.
That’s not usually…, I usually start off with this question, okay?
Q1: What’s your name? What do you play, and what’s your musical background? #
Jasmine: Um, my name is Jasmine. I play guitar and vocals as well. I haven’t really been playing guitar that much. But I’ve been playing piano since I was 5, and then I went to a music school for like 4 years. I’ve played so many different instruments. I started playing guitar in 2020, and I actually initially wanted to be a drummer. I was telling Jason that today. I initially wanted to be a drummer, so I would go to the band room during lunch and, like, try and drum by myself. It was so bad. I gave up.
I feel that.
Jasmine: Hehe, and I play guitar. So yeah, that’s my musical background.
Brandon: Uh, my name’s Brandon. I play bass for Static Brian, and sometimes back up vocals now. And a little bit of guitar, hopefully, soon. And my background is primarily in saxophone. Like I started playing saxophone in band when I was 9, and then did band and marching band, and that’s how I met Aidan in middle school. Transitioned to bass in high school. And then I’ve kind of only been playing bass ever since. And, oh, I wanna play guitar, and I have a drum set, and I’ve been kind of grinding on drums, because Aidan’s really inspiring. Try and play some drums, you know, trying to do it all.
Nice.
Jasmine: I love Bjork. (<- I thinks that’s what was said.)
Anwar: My name is Anwar. I play guitar and do backup vocals sometimes. Not that much anymore, but I…, my music background is… I actually sang in the choir in like elementary school, and then I played drums through middle and like early high school, like percussion and band and orchestra from my school. Then I stopped early high school. I stopped everything for a while, and then I picked up guitar my senior year of high school after quarantine. And, yeah.
Aidan: So mine is a little bit less interesting. I didn’t do a lot of jumps.
Jasmine: *whispering ‘Who are you though?’
Aidan: Oh, sorry, Aiden, I’m the drummer.
All: *Chuckling
Aidan: I forgot about the 1st question. Um, I’ve been drumming since I was like in the 4th grade, so I’ve been in different circles regarding drumming. So like marching band, drum line, jazz band, you know, symphonic bands. So I’ve been a percussionist for like, yeah, over 10 years. I got into drums when I was in 5th grade, just doing private lessons and just wanted to be in the jazz band. That’s how I met Brandon too. It was like in the middle school Jazz band kind of thing. And then I took a break from drum set, and I actually really focused on doing drum corps for a couple of years because I was really into playing snare and just doing that kind of stuff. Then I stopped doing that to prioritize being in a band, and that’s why I’m here. And so I’m pretty happy about it!
Word up.
Q2: So, how did this band form? #
Brandon: Uh…
Aidan: Okay, so I’m kind of the middleman in this, where you know… I met Brandon in middle school. We’ve been jamming for like a couple of years. Just like drum set. That’s when he started getting into bass and guitar, and so we would jam a little bit. And then in 2020, I met Jasmine through Brandon, and it was funny because we used to play outside during quarantine, so we’d be like socially distanced. We’re all playing outside in my backyard. My parents were super down for it. So I brought my kit out, and then we would kind of just dick around, honestly. And then a couple years later I’m at Temple now, and I met Anwar when was a freshman, and then we moved, you know, moved in together. Then sophomore year, we formed 80hd, our 1st band with like all of our roommates. It was like a 6-person band.
I remember.
Aidan: So we had a couple shows there, it was cool. So I’ve already been playing with Anwar for like a year at that point. And then Jasmine had a birthday party, and she had someone originally play during her birthday party, but then they had to drop or something. And then she was like, “Uh, can anyone come in to jam?” And so Brandon and I, wanted to do it, and I asked Anwar, and he was like, “I’m fucking down.” He didn’t even know Jasmine at that point. So it was cool where we just kind of fucked around during her birthday party and then Jasmine came up and started to sing and stuff. I don’t know, just like, we have good vibes within the band. So I feel like that’s why we kind of just started from there and kind of never stopped. You know what I mean?
Cool. Well said.
Aidan: Long winded answer.
No, that was a great answer.
Anwar: No, that was solid.
So you guys have amassed a lot of followers on social media very quickly. I’m wondering if this has changed or affected things in the band dynamics and going forward?
Q3: Has the growing social media following changed or affected things in the band dynamics and going forward? #
Jasmine: I think the only time that it’s ever, like, affected things is when we actually were getting shat on, on TikTok, and that’s when we were like, “All right, we gotta figure out how we’re gonna go about this.”
Yeah, tell me what happened on your TikTok!
Jasmine: Dude, it was bad. So pretty much like all of Latin America…
All: Haha!
Jasmine: Fucking hates me. They think I’m like literal Satan in woman form. Uh, and they were very open about that in the comments section. And it was like… That was our 1st time blowing up in a very quick way.
Anwar: Yeah.
Jasmine: I feel like all of our other posts have sort of just gradually grown. But this was like within seconds my phone was being blown the fuck up. Like just hate!
Anwar: We were getting 100s of comments like every second.
Jasmine: And so that was like the only time we sort of disagreed, where I was like, “I really want to turn the comments off. This just doesn’t make me feel great.” Because I’m like personally getting shat on, and then everyone else was sort of like… Well not everyone else, but some people were like, “Okay, we wanna keep it on, just to keep the post getting boosted.” I think that was a turning point for us realizing how we have to move going forward with this shit. Like prioritizing each other 1st instead of the amount of attention we’re getting. I think that was our first ever situation where we had to deal with the amount of attention we were getting within the band, you know?
Anwar: Yeah definitely.
Jasmine: And not just like outside influences.
Anwar: There are different boundaries that we all need to understand within each other because getting that certain amount of attention comes with things, and it’s just like we have to learn how to navigate that. Navigate while still respecting like what each other wants, while also trying to do what’s best for the band.
Jasmine: Yeah, I think it’s just like need. But also like… in comparison…
Anwar: Yeah, are you cold?
Brandon: Yeah lol.
Aidan: Hehe.
Anwar: Can we put the things up?
Jasmine: In comparison, that was like the internal factor of us blowing up, but the external factor, it’s been pretty well received of like… I feel like it really hasn’t changed much besides just more people popping out the shows for us and appreciating our music more.
Anwar: Definitely.
Jasmine: But other than that, it’s not like we’re getting like paparazzi down the street hehe. It’s just you know, we’re getting some recognition for our music and I really fuck with that. That’s the outside and the inside it’s like, “How do we deal with the potential hate and the positive and negative attention that we get from that? And how do we optimize it?”
Anwar: Yeah, and also, how do we continue? You know, like as a band? I mean, exactly what you said we optimize the attention that we’re getting.
You guys want to optimize it for sure?
Jasmine: Oh, yeah.
Anwar: Definitely. Definitely.
Jasmine: I mean, you got to take every opportunity. That’s one thing I’m definitely like I push about. I always have. I’ve always been like, every opportunity we get we got to really make it the absolute best. And I think us working so hard on each opportunity that we’ve received is the reason that we are on the route that we are with things with the van. So, yeah.
Anwar: Also, like, one interesting thing about us blowing up so much on social media specifically, like Instagram, is it’s happening so quickly that it’s not translating over to Spotify as much. So that’s something that I’m trying to figure out. You know, people fuck with us, you know? I just gotta get them to move over.
Jasmine: sYeah.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Anwar: To listen to the music and shit, so…
Jasmine: I think our next album is gonna do that.
Anwar: Yeah, because people fuck with all of our music.
Brandon: That we’re posting, and that’s the pull.
Anwar: I’m not posting music that isn’t out yet right now.
Jasmine: I think the mixes that we have for our last project, like the sound doesn’t really match the vibe that we’re putting out now on social media.
Aidan: Oh yeah.
Jasmine: And I think that’s the reason that some people aren’t consistently listening. The shit that we’re putting out now is like way harder, and it sounds more of the sound we were going for. It’s just a different sound than what we initially put out. At least like, the recordings of it. Like when we play those, it sounds similar to the shit we’re making now, but the recording of that is a lot different from how we play these things live. So I think that’s the disconnect between social media and Spotify. I think once we mix our next project the way that we’ve wanted it to be mixed… um no shade. I think the followers will… it’ll translate better on Spotify.
Anwar: Definitely. But I also think that that’s just a product of just how quickly that shit is happening. Like, it’s happening like…
Very, very, very fast.
Anwar: Just very fast, like unreasonably ridiculously fast. So it’s like, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes a little more time for Spotify to catch up with that, you know?
Q4: So what is your guys’ process for writing and recording songs? And who have you been working with to produce your music? #
Anwar: You go.
Jasmine: We’ve still been recording at Studio One at Drexel with Aden.
Anwar: Aden Dubin
Jasmine: Aden Dubin? Duben? Dubin? And then Jason, my boyfriend, me and him have been mixing it. He’s more like the technical mixing. I’m more of like, “Make it sound like this or do like a du du du du” You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Jasmine: So yeah, we’ve been mixing it at our place. Last time Aden and Aly mixed it. And it was great. They just you know they don’t have the exact idea of what we’re going for because they don’t really listen to the type of shit that we make. Um, but me and Jason, obviously, I’m making it, so I know what I’m going for. And Jason is emo as fuck, so it’s definitely gonna sound different. We’re adding a lot more electronic elements to it too.
Oh, cool.
Jasmine: Everything, everything, we have this, like, reverse snare in one of the parts. It’s like, “shyuuugttttt” And then it, like, goes into the song. And then in Secrets, you can hear like a synth in the background, which is a lot different from our first project. Our 1st project was a lot more indie, and softer.
Q: You guys are already hopping on the EDM wave? #
Jasmine: Yeah, lowkey, let’s make dubstep set bro that’s my next move.
Brandon: IDM, bro like… or IMM.
Aidan: Hehe.
Anwar: Dubstep, dubstep, dubstep, dubstep, dubstep.
Aidan: I. M. M.
What’s I. M. M.?
Brandon: Oh.
Aidan: Oh. Uh…
Brandon: We don’t really have to get into that right now.
Anwar: It’s a can of worms.
Aidan: It’s a can of worms.
Brandon: It’s a new… it’s a new genre. I’m trying to branch.
All: Hahaha!
Anwar: He’s trying to create a new genre.
Brandon: I’m trying to soft launch a new genre.
Aidan: Dude, I got three words for you:
Intellectual Masturbation Music
Anwar: Oh my fucking Goddddd.
Brandon: I. M. M. You know it’s like IDM, but it’s more… it’s more sensual.
Anwar: Groans
Aidan: I got 3 words for you!
Anwar: Please bruh just next question.
You just mean Weezer?
Anwar: Ohhh
Brandon: No, oh, no, no, no. It’s like.
Jasmine: Yeah yesss! Weezer bruh! Skrillex!
Aidan: Yes!
Brandon: It’s like Aphex Twin meets like mouth sounds.
Aidan: Hahaha mouth sounds!
Brandon: ASMR! Asmr.
Anwar: Broooooo!
Brandon: ASMR meets like intellectual dance music.
Oh okay.
Brandon: Yeah.
Alright, cool.
Anwar: Please bro next question bro please.
All right, I’ll slip this one in.
Q5: Remind me where you guys are at in life? #
Like who’s in school still? Who’s working?
Jasmine: I’m in school, bro. I literally commute to New York City twice a week.
Anwar: Yup.
Eww.
Jasmine: Yeah. I go to school here. I’m here fairly often. I’m studying… I don’t even know. Like, right now, I’m still in my psych major, but before I transferred I was doing business, so I think I’m gonna do finance with an art and media management minor. Um, but I go to Pace University, and it’s on Wall Street, so that’s like my plan. Because it’s, like, on Wall Street, so, like, finance, Wall Street, you know? I live in Philly in Center City. Don’t dox me. Uh…
Anwar: I’ll do it.
Jasmine: Don’t, bro. You know those followers are gonna pop out to my fucking house! And yeah so I’m unemployed as fuck. I’m in school, and all I do is play Fortnite, do homework, sleep, and play shows. And cook a lot. Smoke a lot of cigarettes.
What do you cook?
Jasmine: All types of shit, bro. I just made chicken tortilla soup the other day.
Mmm.
Anwar: She be chefing it up, bro. I cannot lie she be chefing it.
Jasmine: I make a lot of steak. I make chicken tinga. I made, um, pastina the other day, but with mushrooms, so, like, a fresh, French mushroom soup pastina. It’s really good. A lot of different cuisines. Indian food. Anything literally. I used to be sous chef, so I’d be whipping it bruh.
All right, how about you guys?
Brandon: We all live together. I work… *pauses
Aidan: I’m in school…
All: Haha.
Aidan: Yeah I’m in school. Yeah, so I’m in school in Philly. I’m pursuing my bachelor’s in communications studies, and I’m pursuing my master’s, like a 4 +one program to get my master’s in media studies in production. I’m currently like a freelance photojournalist too. So that’s kind of what I picked up over the last couple of years when I stopped doing drum corps. I do freelance work when I can, and I’m mostly in school doing work that kind of takes up like most of my time, but it is kind of interesting seeing the rise of people fucking with our music at Temple, like North Philly.
Jasmine: Yeah for sure.
Sidenote 2: As a perfect example I ran into my friend Jere, and told him I was on my way to the library to write up this interview for Static Brian to which he said, “No fucking way.” and pulled out his phone to reveal he was listening to In God’s Eyes at that moment. I had no idea.
Aidan: Because we live a couple blocks away from a lot of the venues. You know, so, yeah, it’s cool.
Anwar: And then I graduated last year. So I’m just taking a gap year while I’m applying to medical school. I’m just working at a research lab right now. Hopefully I get into med school. If not, maybe I’ll take another year and figure out what I want to do, but yeah.
Jasmine: You will.
Aidan: Mm hmm.
Anwar: Yeah, I will.
Okay. All right word.
I got a question for each of you guys. All right, I’ll start with Aidan since you just mentioned it.
Q6 (Aidan): Tell me about drum corps? #
Aidan: Oh, like, in general?
Yeah.
Aidan: Uh, yeah, drum corps is a weird ass fucking subculture, man. Like, it’s just professional marching band essentially. So it sounds really nerdy, but it also takes a lot of athleticism, because, you know, you’re marching with like, I don’t even know, like, mm, like…, it’s not…, I mean, a couple pounds.
Jasmine: Why are they always naked?
Aidan: Huh?
Brandon: You mean during their practices?
Jamine: *Drops something Fuck! Yeah.
Aidan: Yeah, because it’s hot as fuck. Yeah, because…
Jasmine: That’s pretty gay bruh.
Because it’s hot?
Aidan: Because this is the thing. It’s like, when you’re doing drum corps, there are some divisions where you spend like an entire summer just rehearsing and performing for like 90 days. And so essentially a lot of drum corps, they travel around the country to perform, and along with that comes the practices at different, like, football fields, schools, high schools, and whatnot. So there are times when I’ve personally been in drum corps where I’m practicing outside in a field marching for like 10 hours a day. So I feel like it’s very different, obviously, than being in a band…
Oh absolutely.
Aidan: Which I appreciate, and I feel like I got what I got out of it… I don’t think I would be the kind of drummer I am without my influence from drum corps. I think it also comes to like my endurance too. Because, you know, when you’re marching for like 10 hours, you just kind of learn to suck it up. You know what I mean? And that’s kind of the culture is just like, all right, figure it out, whatever. Don’t pass out. You know what I mean? So, yeah, I don’t know. It’s interesting. I take different things from drum corps for the band musically, and I guess even like discipline wise.
Cool. I think I could see it. With the endurance, especially.
Aidan: Yeah, dude. That’s what it teaches you, man. Fucking sucks. My homeostasis is all fucked up.
Jasmine: U B Ight.
Brandon: Yo, you sent me something about Michael Jackson, bro?
Jasmine: Chill, bro, chill. That was for after.
Q7 (Anwar): What is your hair care routine? #
Anwar: My hair care routine?
Aidan: Yeahhhhhh.
Jasmine: He won’t let me do his hair bruh!
Aidan: What’s the secret? What’s the secret? Come on, tell him.
Jasmine: I know it. I be using it.
Anwar: My secret is…
Hahaha!
Anwar: My secret is I use uh, leave in conditioner and curling cream.
Jasmine: He uses the Shea Moisture leave in conditioner, the repair one.
Anwar: Yup.
Jasmine: And he uses…
Anwar: And the Shea Moisture curling cream.
Jasmine: And the Shea Moisture Moisture shampoo.
Anwar: Yeah, and the shampoo. And then…
Jasmine: And he combs it with his fingers. Why do I know it?
Anwar: And I comb it with my fingers. Yup.
Jasmine: Yeah, yeah…
Aidan: You don’t need to know it you got representatives here.
Anwar: And I also have this little oil. Like, I usually I do black seed oil, but there’s this peppermint oil,
Jasmine: It’s the Mielle Rosemary Peppermint Oil!
Aidan: Yeah yeah lol! How do you know these bruh!?
Jasmine: Hehehe!
Anwar: Yup! Rosemary oil.
All: Hahahaha!
Jasmine: He uses the biotin moisturizing oil for his skin too.
Anwar: Yeah, the bio life, bio life.
Jasmine: No, it’s biotin, baby.
Anwar: For my face? Yeah. It’s bio life. It called bio life.
It probably has biotin right?
Anwar: Maybe it has biotin?
Jasmine: No bookie. Okay… it does.
Anwar: Okay, okay, okay.
Jasmine: You have a great routine. You look amazing. It’s high as healing.
Q8 (Jasmine): Are you vocally trained and is there a technique to your screaming? #
Jasmine: Yes. No.
Aidan: Great answer.
All: Hahaha!
Aidan: Fuck yeah.
Jasmine: I am vocally trained for singing. Like I said I went to a music school, and I’ve been in choir since I was in 3rd grade and then when I was in choir, I had a music teacher named Mrs. Muse and I loved her. She taught me everything I know. Not everything I know, but she taught me how to listen to music. I vividly remember being in like 3rd grade or 2nd grade and having music class, and she would play us songs, and she’d be like, what do you hear? And that was my first time, or one of the first times I recognized how I listened to music… whatever that’s a whole different story. But your know I was in choir 3rd grade, and then I auditioned to get into my music school because they like audition, and you have to take choir there. There’s a basic choir for everybody that’s in the school, and then there’s concert choir for like the better singers. It’s very very classical training of music. Like, we did a lot of classical chorus songs, and I was a soprano one surprisingly. I smoked way too many cigarettes now, and I am not a soprano at all. I’m an alto.
Aidan: Ah ha.
Jasmine: I’m like a tenor, honestly. Um, but I was a soprano one, and I was one of a few that was a soprano one. I had a really high voice, and I was in concert choir, and we did a lot of warm-ups. I can sight-read music because I read music for my instruments. So I had, like, ear training at the same time. Um, so yeah, that was probably like 7 years of vocal training.
someone whispers: “6-7”
akward pause…
Jasmine: That I did. You know I’ve stuck with it. I mean, I smoke a lot… of things. Uh, well…
All: Haha!
Aidan: Yoo she smoked a lot of different things bro.
Jasmine: Cigarettes and weed. I haven’t smoked anything but that.
Jasmine: Yeah I smoked a lot in the past like 8 years.
Anwar: Kratom.
Jasmine: So, as much as I still use my vocal training for singing, because that was all for singing, my voice is not as great as it used to be. But for screaming, um, I sort of just had researched some ways to go about screaming. I researched it. And, you know, I used it for a little bit, but I also sort of just like did my own way of it. I went about it just like finding the sound that I wanted to produce. When I first started screaming, I didn’t like how sounded. It wasn’t good enough to me. It wasn’t exactly where I wanted it to be. And I noticed as I went on, it sounded better and better. And it’s funny cause it developed… like the trajectory of my screaming has gone the way it has gone because of what I started listening to in the process. Like, the genre that I started getting into, as well as me practicing more. So, when I first started screaming, I wanted to sound more like Catalyst, but now I want to sound more like, super post-hardcore, like metal-core you know?
Yeah.
Jasmine: I went from like wanting to sound like screamo and skramz, like metal-core. So it sort of just has gone through those phases with me of like what I want to sound like. I think the way I really found the exact scream I wanted was one show we played at Fontain I was like super sick. I had a really bad UTI or something and, my whole body was just shutting the fuck down. And I also, had the flu and like, a fever. It was like so bad, but that was like the best scream that I’ve ever had. And I remember looking at the videos and being like, “Oh, my God.” Whatever I did there I need to figure out how to channel that in my vocal cords. I sort of just kept trying to recreate that and then it sort of just transcended into what it is now. Sorry, that’s not a very straightforward answer because it wasn’t a very straightforward process. It was sort of just like me trying to figure out what I wanted, and what sound fit within the music that they were making too. So, yeah, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s ever gonna be done either. I don’t think this is my final scream. I think I could still…
It’s not your final form?
Jasmine: It’s not my final form, bro. Like, I still, I’m always gonna be…
Anwar: Ever evolving.
Jasmine: Yeah, exactly. I’m always going to be very critical of myself as a musician, and always trying to be better. Something else will catch my eye eventually. I’ll get bored of this and then start doing other shit, you know?
Q9 (Jasmine): How’d your religious upbringing inspire your lyrics? #
Jasmine: Whoah!
Anwar: That’s a crazy question to ask after that.
Jasmine: Ahhhhhh! So, okay, so my family on my mom’s side… my dad’s side is not like religious at all. They are all like, very educated atheists. Um, well, that’s not true. One of them was pretty Christian, but she was, like, Presbyterian. That’s not bad.
Hehe.
Jasmine: But my mom’s side was very Irish Catholic. Severely. My grandma… I grew up living for the 1st 8 years of my life, I lived with my grandma and my mom in New Jersey. My grandma is a nun. Or she was a nun before she left the convent to have kids. And she is like, very very religious. I mean, she goes to church every single day at 6 AM. Like, no matter what.
Mm-hmm
Jasmine: And I would go with her when I first lived with her. I was going to church with her almost every day. And I went to CCD twice a week. I was going to church. I lived with a nun. I would pray every morning. I would pray every night. I’d say the rosary twice a day. And my grandma listens to Medjugorje Church. So, Medjugorje is this place in Croatia where there’s a lot of like… It’s very orthodox Catholic, but we don’t call ourselves that. We’re like Roman Catholic, but my grandma’s sort of bordering it. Medjugorje is like this holy place. It’s like the Vatican, but it’s different. Some holy shit happened there. Somebody saw Mary and all this stuff, whatever. So she listens to that live stream of church every single day in Croatian. So I was like listening to that my whole life, and you know when you’re 6 years old, and you’re sitting in church, and they’re telling you that you have to be like this. You’re taught the Bible and you have to repent. When you’re 7 years old you have to repent for your sins. So you have to go up to the priest and tell him all the things that you did wrong. And I remember, like, the amount of fear that I felt when I was walking up to the altar, getting on my knees, and being like, “Forgive me Father, I have sinned. This is what I’ve done.” And him being mad and, like, “You need to say this amount of prayers.” That never sat right with me. That like fear.
Yeah.
Jasmine: And that manifested into a bunch of different aspects of my life when I was developing into who I am as like a very alternative lifestyle individual. And so, I don’t know, I became an adult, and I looked back, and I was like, “Damn, a lot of the things that I’ve done, and a lot of the ways that I felt have…” The source of that has been feeling guilty of not being… for not fitting into the paradigm of being a good Christian, you know?
Yeah I…
Jasmine: And, like, even though I don’t even believe in God…
There’s no guilt like Catholic guilt.
Jasmine: Yeah dude, and I don’t even believe in God. I was 14 when I stopped believing in God. Maybe even a little bit younger, but I was 14 when I finally made the decision. Like, to myself, I’m like, “This is it. I don’t believe in this shit.” But, you know, you start developing sexually. You start developing into a woman. You start being around drugs. You start being around, like, Philadelphia. Like I live in the hood, and then I’m like trying to be Catholic? That just not gonna work, bruh the fuck? But in ways it’s like what’s it called? That Stockholm syndrome, where sometimes I’m like, should I go back to church? Like, should I be better? Like, should I believe in God? Like, will it make me feel better about how the world is functioning right now, or is it just my way out of reality? I don’t know. And that’s something I still struggle with. But anyway.
I can relate to all that.
Jasmine: Yeah. You know?
That’s in your lyrics?
Jasmine: Mm-hmm. *takes a drag It very much is. *blows smoke I mean, some of the songs that I’ve had. Sorry, I’m gonna roll one of the windows down because I’m smoking. This window doesn’t work, so…
Thank you.
Jasmine: A lot of the songs I have, like secrets. Secrets is about repentance. It’s like telling all your secrets.
Anwar: Gotta repent myself. Repent myself.
Jasmine: Can you feel his pull? That’s in like, IM NOT EMO ANYMORE (jk). The lyrics have nothing to do with the title, but both of those songs are about telling all your secrets to the priest, and you know, battling with doing so, and then I’m not emo is about battling with leaving the church. Like, you’ll feel his pull. Like you’ll feel the guilt pulling you back in. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Jasmine: And then telling all your secrets. Like can you tell the difference between the reality of being religious, and then the reality of not being religious? Can you feel the difference? He tells you not to cry, he tells you not to hide from God. So there’s a lot of that. Which is funny, because Family Tree is also about that, but in a different aspect. Family tree is about growing up Catholic and then feeling rejected from your family. Your Catholic family, and thinking that because I’m participating in what you want me to participate in you’ll accept me, but even though I’m sitting here kneeling you still don’t fuck with me because of other reasons, whatever. But, um, yeah, there’s definitely a lot of lyrics in regard to Catholic upbringing and guilt.
Well, thanks for sharing all that.
Jasmine: Sorry, that was a lot.
No, you’re good. Janson recommended that question
Jasmine: Yeah, Janson… I love Janson.
Back to Brandon.
Q10 (Brandon): How long have you been making art and are we going to see any more new pieces on your IG anytime soon. #
Brandon: Ooh.
Jasmine: Good fucking question.
Brandon: Uh, yeah, I’ve actually been getting a little bit back into visual art. I just think that Static Brian’s been taking most of my energy, it’s something I’m really excited about. So I’ve just been kind of like more in a music headspace rather than visual art. But I hope to be in a position where we’re, I don’t know where we can make more one-of-one merch and I can put some of my visual art into some of the stuff that we’re doing as a band. Um, and I don’t know, I think I haven’t really been on Instagram. I think it’s just kind of like a weird place for art. It’s a really competitive like, I don’t know… It’s just like, I don’t think it’s the best place for your art. Like, it’s not the place where…
Instagram Instagram?
Brandon: It’s not the place where someone’s gonna sit with your art and really look at it. You know you have like 15 seconds of engagement where someone’s going to look at this and be like, “Oh, that’s cool.” And, you know, move on? And that’s cool. I think that’s cool. So hopefully you’ll see my art in person if you come to a show, or you’ll see it in real life, like on a building or the Statue of Liberty or… the fucking Empire State Building or something, you know? So hopefully you see some physical art and, I don’t know. I’m not worried about the page.
Cool. Thanks for sharing. We’re almost done.
Q11: What could fans expect to see in the next year? #
Jasmine: Another album…
Anwar: Yeah.
Jasmine: That sounds better.
Anwar: Bigger shows.
Jasmine: Bigger shows.
Aidan: Yeah.
Jasmine: We’re probably gonna play with some bigger bands.
Anwar: Yeah.
Jasmine: And less shows hehe.
Anwar: Less shows! Definitely.
Brandon: You guys gotta pop out!
Jasmine: Less shows, but bigger shows.
Anwar: Less shows, but bigger shows and also that means music videos too because we’ve been trying to do music videos for so long, but it’s hard to do that when you have a show every fucking…
Brandon: Every weekend.
Anwar: Literally every fucking weekend.
Jasmine: Yeah dude, and we’re all fucking busy.
Anwar: So yeah we’re gonna take a little bit of a break from shows, just like slow down on shows.
Brandon: But you can expect more music.
Aidan: Yeah.
Anwar: Yeah, definitely expect a headliner show sometime in January.
Potentially.
Anwar: Potentially.
Potential headliner show in question:
Q12: What do you guys have to say to all the #baddies4brian? #
Jasmine: We love you so much.
Anwar: Shit, what’s up.
Aidan: Damn bruh.
Anwar: Stay bad.
Jasmine: Stay bad, and hit me up!
All: Hehehe.
Aidan: Signature.
Anwar: Stay bad.
Jasmine: Stay emo. Stay pure and stay emo.
Anwar: Exactly.
Aidan: Damn right.
Jasmine: That’s all I got to say to ya’ll.
Shword
Jasmine: I love emo bad-
*Also Quick shoutout to Lily Saperstein. I realize she didn’t get mentioned in this interview, but I don’t think one can get this deep in a Static Brian interview without shouting out all the concert photography/videography she’s done for them!
So follow Static Brian, stream their new music, and get ready for their new record.
Oh, and stay emo!
Oh, and buy me a Ko-Fi if you’d like to see more interviews like these! :)