An Interview with COMMON SAGE

Hello everybody, welcome back to our interview series! To start the gauntlet of interviews we ran through for the Stolas headline tour at Pearl Street in Washington, DC, is none other than the Brooklyn-based emo group Common Sage! Let's dive in.

Sean O: What's up? This is Sean O’Donnell of the No Skip Show. We are outside Pearl Street in Washington, DC. I am here with Common Sage! So how would you describe Common Sages' sound to someone who has never listened to you guys?

Julian: Personally, I would say like emotional post hardcore.

Chris: I’d say post hardcore.

Sean O: So I sense some grunge in there, too, a little bit. So speaking of your sound, what bands have influenced you guys over the years to make the Common Sage sound.

Julian: Again, personally, bands like definitely Nirvana for sure, LA Dispute for more like contemporary stuff, Balance and Composure, or MEWITHOUTYOU, but I mean we all like a whole bunch of stuff.

Chris: I think Common Sage is cool cause collectively we all bring a different element of what our influences are to the table. So, like you heard his, me personally as a drummer, I take influences from like early Helmet to Quicksand to bands like Hum. And then you like put it in a pot and stir it up, and that's what you get, yeah.

Sean O: Hell yeah! So, you guys played a variety of tracks for this show. What goes into creating your setlist for this run with Stolas, and how do you guys pick the songs you play?

Chris: We only have thirty minutes to play.

Bryan: Which six songs are the fastest.

Julian: I think it's our like, that's like our most happening, in our opinion, banger songs and like mostly new stuff off of our new album Closer To.

Sean O: You guys are from Brooklyn, New York, Correct? What does your local scene mean to you?

Chris: It means the world to me. These two guys, Julian and Steve, are born and bred New Yorkers. Brian and I are from Philly originally, but we've lived in New York collectively for the past 20 years. And just musically, I mean Saint Vitus, RIP for now, but like venues like that and like our local DIY spots, for New York and Brooklyn in general have meant the world for me. Just like playing, and like you know socializing and like becoming friends with different bands and stuff.

Bryan: There's so many bands out in Brooklyn that like it's crazy, you know, like every day you have shows, local shows, local bands playing, every single night of the week. Like four or five different shows, if not eight or ten, you know, that we don't even know about. So there's always so many shows, so many bands, so it influences everyone to just push it and just be a better band, be supportive of each other, and just play these shows and have fun.

Sean O: And that’s exactly what we’re about at the No Skip Show, we want to push a local scene, and we wanna push like Pittsburgh local music because Pittsburgh doesn't get, since we’re on the east coast, we don't get too much West Coast bands and/or post hardcore bands. Speaking of DIY and local bands, individually, what bands would you like to see get a push from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, or the New York scene?

Bryan: I will push Bambara. I think they’re the best band in Brooklyn right now, and they get a lot of love, but they don't get enough love. I think they should be fucking massive, but you know they're my favorite Brooklyn band for sure.

Sean O: That’s awesome!

Chris: A band called Nite Sports.

Bryan: Get the fuck outta here… And my band.

Julian: I might be in that band.

Chris: You might play drums in that band.

Julian: Uh, I’ll shout out some Staten Island bands. Um, our friends Modern Day Machines, Strega Nona, and King Like Mom are really great. And you know Staten Island homies doesn’t get a lot of love. But in terms of our friends, Stay Inside, Chris from that band used to be in this band; they're a great band. A lot of bands have like disbanded cause of COVID and stuff, but I mean, I've made a ton of friends from Brooklyn, like from the DIY and the scene and stuff. But yeah, there's too many, so many.

Sean O: We love to sincerely push all these bands that these big bands actually mention, we try to just make sure that the scene that they're from, we bring it to our scene, then we bring it to you. So this has been the No Skip Show, we told you you didn't want to miss it, and you didn’t miss much. But this has been several minutes with Common Sage!

Interview by Sean O'Donnell

Transcription by Dylan Tormey