A punk band out of Beaumont,Texas. Boneless Estate consists of three friends who've been playing together for over three months. They're now in the process of writing and recording for their first ep called Structural Issues and I've had the honor of interviewing the band!
Band’s Backstory
I first asked about the band’s backstory and how they all met one another. The drummer, Damien chimed in discussing how he met Moth while goofing off at a strip mall. They made a bet with one another over getting caught for “suspicious activities” and eventually Damien lost, so as a result he would have to buy Moth a freddy fazbear plush (this was of course at the hight of the Security Breach popularity). The band then proceeded to head into a Buffalo Wild Wings and goof off with one of the workers there. Holding up the plushise and asking “Would you?”. The band would then switch into each others clothes about two more times and repeating the process. By the third time they finally got an answer from the worker and they responded with “see you in 15 minutes” and ran out of there.
Single Backstory
Earlier that week I was sent a demo of a live recording of ‘Living in the car is the worst thing to happen to me since sliced bread’. Moth being the one who wrote the lyrics, I asked him on what inspired the lyrics off of the song. He was kicked out of his parents house early on and that resulted in him living in his car for about two weeks. In his words “the engine and the ac barely worked and it was a bad place to live in”. One of Moth’s most clever lyrics at the end of the chorus is “I'll just sleep with the radio on like it's 2007”. Referring to when the blue tooth in his car wouldn't work so he’d have to listen to FM radio just to fall asleep, and the model of his car being a 2007 Hyundai Chiveron. You can listen to the Band’s live demo on the homepage of our website.
Songwriting Process
While being on the topic of writing songs, The band told my their process of how they create instrumentals and lyrics to go along with it. To quote Moth “I get really really sad and I write in my notes and once i come up with something I will being it fourth to either Damien Phelps or Bren Willis and one of them will say ‘ayo that goes hard’”. For the instrumentals on the other hand, it seems that they come in bursts of inspiration during practice. Moth would just ask to warm up and then it could turn into a whole jam session just because he played something that stuck. Bren also tells me that they'll play whatever comes to mind at first, often improvising to see what sticks as well. Their basslines are also inspired by first wave emo which they use to put into practice.
Underground Show Stories
Interesting things can happen at underground shows, and the band came prepared with a few shocking ones here. Bren was in brooklyn watching a drag/hardcore show when all of a sudden one of the members takes out a flamethrower and starts shooting it into the audience, but it doesn't end there. The day after Bren and another friend go to another show right next to Buc-ee’s. The band was unprepared so they shockingly start to strip naked before playing. Then the unexpected happens, the same person from the brooklyn drag show that had a flamethrower goes on stage and takes it out again to burn all their clothes. Another instance of such is when they went to a Prince Daddy concert and got shot in the leg by a kid. Then Bren had to take the bullet out of his leg.
How The Band Got Their Name
A common misconception about the band is that they got their name from the Boneless Pizza internet meme, but that's not true. An argument broke out over which story was true from either Moth or Damien, so one of two stories occurred. Damien Phelps says that Moth misheard ‘Boneless Escape’ for ‘Boneless Estate’. According to Moth , the whole band agreed on wanting a smart word to go along with a dumb word for the band name, and Moth really liked the word Estate and it wasn't until one of the members said boneless outloud, that's how they got their band name (Either one of those stories or the third one on the live stream that we will keep on there for monetization purposes).
Tom Nook Cardboard Cutout
A deep cut that reoccurs at concerts and throughout the bands instagram is the constant recurrence of a Tom Nook cardboard cutout. “The game stop at our mall was closing down” said Moth “I found a Tom nook and isabella cardboard cut out on clearance and I stole them”. Later on, Damien goes on to say “we had a shitty manager and we threatened to replace him with tom nook if he didn't get us any gigs” and he's been to places such as the stage of Fred Fest ever since that.
If you're in the area of Beaumont Texas, be sure you keep an eye out for any gigs they have. Follow their socials and listen to their ep; Structural Issues, once it comes out.