Exclusive Interview with QUIZBOY

After almost a full year since his last single, “Bella,” Quizboy has returned with an EP and teases a new album that is currently being made and is scheduled to be released in early 2023. One song from the Decemberists’ cover album, which was released as a three-song EP on Bandcamp but had distribution problems, became a stand-alone single on streaming services. The song “Not Like The Others You Know” on the A side is about standing up to narcissistic abuse. On the B side, “Brave a Storm,” a song about suicide, the lyrics were intentionally written to be understood from the perspectives of both those who are suicidal and those who are caring for those who are suicidal, in an effort to show that both parties experience the same pain. Check out the EP “Not Like The Others You Know” and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

QUIZBOY: Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I was born in Nampa, Idaho outside of Boise, bounced around a lot as a little kid but grew up most of my life in Reno, Nevada. So, for all intents and purposes that’s what I consider that my “hometown.” I currently live in the Portland metro area on the Washington State border. “It,” in terms of music, got started by my grandfather giving me my first electric guitar at 12 years old. It was put together my parts he would buy at yard sales week after week. I didn’t have stable home life as a kid so me and my brother were dropped off in Oregon summers at a time at my grandparents’ house and they needed something to keep us occupied with. That became rock and roll and guitar.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

QUIZBOY: Self-taught on everything from writing to playing to production to “business.” All happened through experimentation, networking with others, and curiosity. Once I learned the concepts of “fifths” and could play power-chords it was all over from there. You can play a punk cover of almost anything at that point.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘QUIZBOY’?

QUIZBOY: Long answer. Sorry.

At an early age I wasn’t allowed to listen to much music, I’ll try to spare you the therapy version of that, but from what I was exposed to my favorites at a very early age were Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride, Eddie Rabbit. The Beatles were a paradigm shifting thing for me in terms of what music could be. I was a “latch key” kid of the 90s and a product of the hip hop and gangsta rap culture, so I also love and have a deep appreciation for hip hop. Tupac is my number one if I were to throw out a top five, him or Ice Cube. However, in terms of what my musical tendencies reflect most when I write, that would be rooted in weird, noisy punk rock. The weirder and noisier the better. Obviously, you hear a lot of Nirvana in there, that was an incredibly important influence for me at a pivotal age. Bad Religion is another I’d rattle off the top with, Alice in Chains, The Reatards, Every Time I Die. At one time was very into the Danzig fronted Misfits and every era of Black Flag. Got into Metal quite a bit too, my favorites in that phase were Pantara, Killswitch Engage, The Bled, lots of the first decade 2000s screamo and metalcore stuff.

Quizboy. The name. There is a little bit of an undertone to it, but the general upfront answer is that it is an homage to “Billy Quizboy,” a character from the Adult Swim cartoon “Venture Bros.” He was an oddball character, an outcast, smarter than what he got credit for, but undeniably a reject and a loser. So, I kind of identified with that and liked the name. The part most people might not realize is that beyond the surface of that general concept, is that I also think of it conceptually as a projection of my “inquisitiveness.” I was going for something like “Poindexter” or something like that. As I mentioned before, I didn’t have much of a stable home life, let alone any kind of “formal” training or encouragement, so the idea that I’m even sitting here answering questions about being a “musician” is a bit ridiculous in my imposter-syndrome riddled mind. The only reason I write, play, produce, any of this stuff I’m doing right now, is out of pure curiosity and appreciation. Inquisitiveness. Hence, Quizboy.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

QUIZBOY: Eh, I don’t know. I guess I’d hope that someone would take away some introspection out of it. Hopefully it can resonate with somebody somewhere in the way it kinda does with me when I’m getting it out of my system. I’d describe it as weird, chaotic, anxious, cynical, sad, and angry.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as Post-Grunge?

QUIZBOY:

Oh yeah for sure. The “call-out” I call it. First thing that comes to mind when people take the time to hear my stuff is say, “wow, it sounds like you like Nirvana!” Which doesn’t bother me. I obviously love that band and they are important to me on so many levels. I do try mix it up from time to time within what I’m capable of. I’ve learned some piano, the screaming I do is nothing like Nirvana, that comes more from the Metal or Screamo affinities. I don’t spend a lot of time consciously thinking about my “sound.” I really try to let the inspiration flow as-is. As I mentioned before, I’m too much in my own headspace about those sorts of things and I’d never get anything written if I spent too much time on it.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

QUIZBOY:

I think it’s not only important, but it makes for better art, generally speaking. From an artistic standpoint, that’s how many people work through things and convey ideas. I do have several political overtones in my music. Not purposefully though. It kind of just comes out. I came to that realization a bit when doing an interview with Marc Schuster on his blog, Abominations. He had pointed out a lot of things there were implicating political overtones and asked questions about them, so I couldn’t help but think, “well, shit. I guess you’re right.” But like I put it to him, it’s not so much that I’m trying to be overtly political with my tone, as much as it is we as society have politicized things that I’m directly affected by and have opinions about. So, if there’s a political stigma that comes from that viewpoint, then so be it.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

QUIZBOY:

Yeah honestly now I think it does. There was a long time. A really long time where I played music in bands, booked shows, did a lot of really neat stuff for other people’s projects. And that was always a huge regret, because I devalued myself so much that I always put other’s ideas first. I was convinced (again, therapy session is needed for why things are the way they are) my ideas weren’t “good” enough. Weren’t “cool” enough. Weren’t -you fill in the blank- enough. They never were. It would have been such a waste of time to do these types of things for “just my stuff.” There was a lot of neat things that I was fortunate enough to participate in and experience, that I thought to myself, “wow, wouldn’t that have been a cool experience if I did that for something like Quizboy?” I had to finally come to the realization that it doesn’t matter what “good” it is. As much as we draw circles around it, it still is a subjective notion. So be curious. Experiment. Enjoy it. Don’t turn this into another dead-end fucking job. You’re already killing yourself with that and look what good that’s done you. I mean, if I were still hung up on “needing perfect studio time” to make sure everything was “good enough” to satisfy everybody, I never would’ve learned to do it myself. I never would have gotten around to putting anything out. I have an outlet, I learned a skillset, I possess a know-how and business avenues to help other creatives. I’m totally content with that.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

QUIZBOY:

Ebbs and flows. Life. Shit happens. That’s usually the spark of some sort of inspiration. I usually begin the core of a song on an acoustic guitar. An acoustical version, where the arrangement is foundationally structured with some basic melodies. That’s where the ebbs and flows come in. Sometimes I’m in a heightened sense of inspiration, and immediately go to programming drums, drumming myself, or seeing if I can collaborate with a drummer for some stems. And from there, the experimentation with distorted guitar, synth, piano, screamed versions of melodies, etc. start to get toyed with. Sometimes when I’m not feeling that inspired, it can sit in my brain for a long while, sometimes years, before something comes around to nudge me along.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

QUIZBOY: I can’t pick just one. And not trying to be a doomsayer, but I’m going to be anyway, I think there’s still plenty of room for the “worst” to be defined. At least that’s how I try to condition myself for it. Expect the worst, hope for the best. You are catching me during one of the hardest holiday seasons I’ve had to get through. A few of the people closer to me know about some of the stuff I’ve been dealing with, I’ve written about it a little on my personal blog and tap danced around it a little bit in other interviews. Some dark stuff and I’m still working through it. But even outside of “now,” what should I go with? Childhood traumas, my father is in prison right now due to some of those, battles with alcoholism, shit, my dog died during the onset of the pandemic. Not the “put her down” kind of way, we were moving the body out of my daughter’s room and into the car during quarantine. A lot of things in the “life” department. I am committed to enduring though. There’s a spectrum to things, and you need to always be moving towards the middle regardless of whatever end of it you are on, the good or the bad. That’s where you find peace.

Music? Shit. All the complaints in that department start to feel infinitesimal at this point. The main challenges are time and money to dedicate to it. I think we’d all like more of that. If I were steadfastly set on making this a monetary gain at the center of why I do it, there is plenty to complain about when it comes to industry. Elephants in the room honestly. Some of the people causing the biggest headaches for artists, especially from a business standpoint, are what many consider necessary evils. Your Spotify, your Distrokid, etc. Until artists are ready to hold folks like that to task, the challenges will continue. The music industry makes billions of dollars a year. I don’t know the exact figure but it’s some nonsensical amount hard for me to even fathom. The whole “game” of industry is to be the first in line to hold that money. Then spend some of that money and resource to prevent or delay exchanging that money to the next person in line. And there’s a long line. At the very end of it is the artist. So, the most logical solution in my mind is a more direct to consumer market like Bandcamp. However, there are so many pits and perils and mindset changes and behavioral changes that must happen to make that a reality. It’s daunting to think about. Good thing I’m not in this just for money.

10. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?

QUIZBOY: What an interesting question. Honestly, I don’t think anybody cares about my work enough to hate on it or criticize me directly. Watch it get some attention and of course I think that would change. As it would change for anybody. It’s easy to hide in plain sight these days when Spotify gets 600,000 uploads a day. If anything, people go out of their way to be obnoxious and get any kind of attention they can drum up, even if it comes back in the form of “hate” and all that. People are fickle, it’s not until something gets a certain amount of attention that we then obsessively look for reasons to either hate it, vindicate it, or discredit why it gets the attention it does. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it becomes obsession. I do, however, notice that there’s some trash talk and animosity amongst certain individuals in some artist circles, but that’s this quirky phenomenon I’ve noticed that seems like it’s always existed amongst musicians for some reason. One that I’ve never fully understood for the life of me. That type of thing is more passive aggressive than say, your “trolls” on social media and tends to come more so in form of snobbery, gatekeeping, and shunning etc. In terms of direct critique, I have to laugh. I’d bet money that there’s probably nothing anyone could say to me that would phase me compared to what people who’ve been closest to me at one time, or another have said or done. In that respect, I have perfectly thick-skinned shoulders to brush it off with. Easy block, easy ignore. My therapist would be proud of how I handled this hypothetical hater.