Cover Story: The Barbarians of California • From L.A. to Riot Fest
The Barbarians of California
At first glance, the Barbarians of California seemingly appeared out of nowhere. For Aaron Bruno and Eric Stenman, this has been decades in the making. The hardcore scene is one of Bruno’s first loves. He discovered the music during a pivotal time in his life as a 14-year-old punk skater. He was not only obsessed with the music but also with the subculture. He cut his teeth playing in bands like Insurgence and Home Town Hero, experiences that would prove invaluable when he launched AWOLNATION in 2009.
Though he found breakout success with AWOLNATION, Bruno always wanted to return to his hardcore roots, but the time never seemed right. Unbeknownst to him, AWOLNATION engineer/collaborator Eric Stenman was sitting on a collection of compositions he was unsure about releasing. After convincing Stenman to open his vault of unreleased riffs, Bruno knew they were onto something special. Thus, the Barbarians of California were born.
Even after recording songs for what would be their debut album, And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth, they weren’t sure how far the band would go. Bruno wasn’t convinced the album would get a full release. It was a way to blow steam from recording AWOLNATION’s new record, The Phantom Five. Maybe they’d let some friends listen to it, play a show, and move on. The enthusiastic reception from friends was enough to convince them to unleash the record on unsuspecting audiences.
A year later, the band is busy preparing for their fall tour with Deftones, their debut at Riot Fest, and already working on their sophomore album. Taking a break from rehearsals, writing, and dad duties, Bruno sits down with Illinois Entertainer to talk about the chaos, spontaneity, and freedom he’s found with The Barbarians of California.
IE: We’re getting close to Riot Fest, and The Barbarians of California are playing on Friday. It’s not exactly new territory for you, because AWOLNATION has performed at the festival a few times, but it’s the first time Barbarians are playing. What’s going through your mind as we get closer to the festival?
Aaron Bruno: I try not to forecast stuff I can’t control, you know. [The Barbarians of California] just played Warped Tour yesterday, actually, and I sort of set my bar really low. I’ve tried to have a low bar starting in the second half of my career because I’m trying to keep it grounded and focused on loving playing with your buddies, loving the songs you play, loving the experience altogether, and the connectivity with music fans first and foremost. Going all the way back to the beginning of AWOL, I just thought, man, if we could just play in front of 200 to 400 people a night, I made it. Because I played many shows prior to that in front of less than the bartender, including my hardcore band Insurgence. There were plenty of shows where we’d play in front of literally one kid, and it was the promoter. So, coming full circle, my expectations are simply that we will be good, and if there’s enough people there to react in a cool way, I’ll be very happy. We played [Warped Tour] at noon, and it went ballistic, full crowd interaction, and it was awesome. I was thinking there’s gonna be crickets and tumbleweeds during this noon set, because I’ve gotten a little bit spoiled with the audiences with AWOL, so it’s really fun now to start over. It’s just so exciting.
IE: That’s what it should be about. Giving it your all and hoping to connect with some folks, and hoping they enjoy the show and the music. Looking back at past Riot Fest events you’ve been a part of, what’s a memory from the festival that sticks out?
AB: There was one in Colorado. I don’t remember exactly where in Colorado, but I have a memory of a crazy storm coming through, and everybody needing shelter, and there was lightning. It was actually quite romantic. I remember my then-girlfriend, now wife – we ran around in the rain, and it was fun. No one got hurt. The show was delayed, and then we ended up playing for like 15 minutes because everybody had to condense their set times, but it was really fun. The people who stuck around were really wet, and it was muddy, and then Bad Religion played either before or after us. I was a huge fan of them growing up, so my experience was really good.
IE: Riot Fest isn’t the only thing you’ve got going on in September. You’re also hitting the road with Deftones and IDLES. Will this be your first time playing with those guys?
AB: Yes, it will. The Barbarians is brand new, and aside from my day job with AWOL, this is a whole new adventure. It was a passion art project that Eric [Stenman] and I were doing for fun, to exorcise the demons of heavy music, so to speak. Here’s a secret: you don’t really release music unless you think it’s good, okay? So, anyone who tells you otherwise, I would beg to differ. If you release music, somewhere inside of you, you think there’s a chance it may be good enough to listen to, right? Some people go I just put this out because I wanted to put it out. Well, no, no, no. You put it out because you like it, and you hope other people like it too, and that’s great.
That being said, I do feel that it’s great heavy music because I love heavy music. I’ve been a disciple of it my whole life, but I had no idea if other people would necessarily like it as much as I do. So far, the people with ears to hear this kind of aggressive, combative music have widely accepted us, and I guess I didn’t expect that. I thought some people would like it because I do, and I love music. At the very least, maybe my buddies will think it’s okay. They like to hear me scream like that, but it’s been widely accepted and embraced by some other people in the heavy community I love, from Snapcase to Strive to Deftones. IDLES hasn’t heard us yet. Maybe they’ve checked us out, but they’ll hear us shortly. We love them.
Heavy music is having a really great moment right now. You’ve got Knocked Loose, you’ve got IDLES, you’ve got Turnstile, and the list goes on and on. I think that happens every 10 to 20 years, and we’re sort of in the thick of heavy music being totally in vogue. Something’s going to have to smash against that, of course, to become the underground, because when something becomes mainstream, something has to combat it, but right now, I’m enjoying the return of heavy music.
IE: It’s been fantastic. The new stuff coming out has been great, including the Barbarians’ record And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth. What I love about it is how heavy and hard-hitting music is paired with these lyrics that are funny and sarcastic. As much as I love heavy music, sometimes it takes itself a little too seriously, and Barbarians felt like a punch in the face, saying that this can be fun – let’s not forget it should be fun.
AB: Yeah, thank you for noticing the humor. It’s been nice that people have noticed that because some of the shit I’m saying on there, I’m like, you better know that this is funny because if you don’t, then I don’t know. But the whole ghouls, goblins, and satanic bullshit of heavy music has always been a turnoff. A band like Slayer is amazing, and they do that very well, and like Black Sabbath, but when you’re playing music this heavy, ridiculous, and confrontational, you’ve got to have a little bit of fun with it. It’s like when you’re hanging out with your buddies, and you punch one of them in the face, and say Just kidding (laughs).
IE: When you set out to make the record, was that sarcastic edge intentional or did it come about naturally?
AB: It came pretty naturally. It wasn’t a distinct decision, necessarily. Going from AWOL, which is obviously more melodic and more mainstream than this, and going into this, the gloves are off now. I can sing however I want, I can say whatever I want, and none of it matters. I think we all have kind of a dark sense of humor. It’s fun to exorcise that out a little bit. I loved a lot of hilarious punk bands growing up. I loved the Dead Kennedys, loved Minor Threat, though they were a little more serious, but they would have some fun moments. Again, if you’re going to be screaming like this, you can’t take yourself that seriously. So, it’s like if you end up hating my band, the joke’s on you because I’m just kidding, but if you love us, I’m dead serious.
There were some lyrics I deleted from the record that went too far. There were a few points where someone I trust very much said, I don’t think you should say this. This is just one degree too far. Usually throughout my career, I’ve said heck no to those kinds of suggestions, but I was about to become a dad, so I was like, okay, yeah, I’ll change this one.
IE: When we started the interview, you mentioned you were corralling your young twin boys. Has becoming a dad really kind of shifted the way you approach writing music, especially lyrics?
AB: Well, I would say it’s raised the bar higher as far as honesty goes. Because when my boys are of an age where they can understand what the heck it is I do, if they ask me what you were talking about, there? Why did you sing that? Or why did you sing it that way? I hope that I’m able to answer from a sincere place, rather than saying something like I don’t really even know what that means. And I’ve found that a lot of the lyrics I write take on new meanings as time goes on.
Honesty is a big thing to me. My wife tells me that my human design suggests I’m a truth seeker. I don’t mean to sound virtuous. The truth just really, really matters a lot to me. Almost too much. So, as long as the lyrics are coming from an honest place, I think I’ll be satisfied with that. And it’s also entertainment. This is playful. We are playing music, after all. You have to be pretty serious to scream this way, you know? And so, there’s that. But I get to play the kind of music I loved the most growing up. When I first went through puberty, I got my driver’s license, and I was just chasing around in the city. And my job today is working on this new song, and I’m talking to you about songs I’ve written. I’m very grateful for that, so I can’t complain. But yeah, I’d like to leave some sort of legacy where these boys think it’s kind of cool, I hope (laughs).
When I put them down at night, they say ‘da da singing’ repeatedly, because they want me to show them a new music video I just happened to show them, over and over, but I don’t want to see myself that much. So, I try to detour them to something else. We’re not big on the screen time stuff with these guys, but I’ll show them the highlights of the stuff we’ve done that day.
IE: As you mentioned, you’ve been a fan of hardcore music and scene for a very long time. You’ve worked in the scene with your previous band, Insurgence. So, what’s it feel like now to come back to this scene and play this music with Barbarians and put out this music that you’ve loved for so long, and for it to be so well received?
AB: I guess if I were to point to a midlife crisis, this would be it, right? It almost feels unfair. It feels like I have a cheat code to a video game I love because the level of technical advancements in recording in general is so vastly superior to the way we used to record when we would scrounge up $500 to make a demo cassette tape and have it sound pretty bad, but your heart’s there. Eric and Zach [Irons] are the other guys who write some riffs, and Eric’s engineering skills are elite. He’s able to record these songs at a very high level. He’s the engineer, so I can brag about that. He’s the engineer of all the AWOL stuff as well, so we have this nice relationship. I feel like a kid in a candy store in a lot of ways.
On top of that, the musicianship is really wild. Zach, our lead guitar player, is one of the best in the world. Isaac Carpenter, my first drummer, was hired to play in Guns N’ Roses. That’s how good he is. I lost him to Guns N’ Roses (laughs). Our new drummer, Lyndon Reed, is incredible too, and he just jumped right in. I’m just very blessed to be around crazy good musicians. So, it feels a lot better than it did before in a different way. It’s a different kind of professionalism, even though it’s a dirty, raw sound. These guys are just remarkable. Anyone who knows anything about AWOL knows I’m not a great musician. I just got good enough to be able to record my ideas so I could create my own sound and music. So, I can brag about how great these musicians are because I’m not one of them.
IE: As you said, taking on this new band feels like you’re starting over in a lot of ways. In what ways did embarking on this project give you more freedom, whether that was to experiment as a singer or as a musician?
AB: I’ve always felt completely free with AWOL to do exactly what I wanted to do. It’s been a combination of all genres I like, from heavy music to pop to psychedelic rock to the 90s hip hop I grew up loving. That’s all the music I like. With Barbarians, this is specifically the heaviest, most brutal stuff I like, which was one of my first loves. I’ve always liked it all, but I would say maybe it’s inverted. Having this heavy outlet now makes me freer when I go back to AWOL songs, if and when I go back, which I will eventually, I think. But right now, I’m just having so much fun with this.
We didn’t really necessarily think anyone was going to hear it. Eric just had this stockpile of riffs, and I’m like, play me your secret riffs, bro. He’s like, no, no one’s heard him. I haven’t even played them for my wife. And he was shy about it. I’m like, all right, man, here’s a beer. Roll up your sleeves and play this or I’m going to freak out. I bullied him, in a good way, into playing me these riffs. I’m like, I really like this. Let me try something.
With the AWOL stuff throughout the years, especially with the bigger European festivals we’ve done, we can lean into a heavier sound. Oftentimes, some music people have come around and say, Hey, you should make a hardcore record. I could hear you do that within the AWOL stuff. I always thought, yeah, but that would alienate more than half of the audience because at an AWOL show, you’ll have a nine-year-old kid all the way to a married couple in their late 40s, all the way up to 60. It’s everybody; I was blessed with the accidental reach of getting to the masses. And I didn’t expect that. I have no idea what the Barbarians’ demographic is precisely, but I’ll say this: when we played [at Warped Tour], I saw a lot of fun-looking people moshing hard, like the circle pit was really nice. There was a woman in a wheelchair just flying around in the pit. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. She was having the time of her life. I can’t speak for her, but it looked like it was great.
IE: It’s interesting you say Barbarians gave you more freedom with AWOLNATION because you recorded albums for both bands at the same time. Was it a challenge to work on both albums side by side like that?
AB: No, it was just really fun. It was nice. The AWOL stuff had an expectation to it, and loyal customers waiting for the next product, you know, not to dumb it down or anything like that. With the Barbarians, it’s just like, okay, I finished that AWOL song. Now let’s work on this. Let’s have some fun and do something that people maybe won’t ever hear. I’d show my buddies who grew up in the hardcore scene with me, but it wasn’t until we had an actual plan –I just wanted to play one show. That’s it. I was like, let’s play one show. If people like it and react, we’ll keep going. If they don’t, maybe we’ll make another one for fun. And that’s that. Then that first show ended up popping off in a real way.
I can balance both and going back to my twin boys, it was a grenade of responsibility thrown right into the heart of my house. Musically, I feel it was a necessary maturation gear that I needed to get to in my life. Once I did, I realized how I could multitask with music, too. And since I have so much less free time as a dad now, when I do go into the studio, it’s time to focus and overachieve. When I have the time to focus, it’s game on, whereas before I had too much time to just fuck off. Now it’s a different game.
IE: Because your time to focus is so limited, you’re really going to be on top of your a-game, and you want to push yourself even more to give it 110%.
AB: Yeah, and if I’m going to leave my family at home to go play shows, it better be worth it. So, the stakes are higher. Saying goodbye to family is really rough, and they’re getting to an age where they’re going to understand that I’m gone, whereas before they didn’t really know. Maybe I was just having fun with mom or whatever, so it’s gonna be harder to explain that.
I don’t want to tour forever either. I’ve been touring since I was basically 18, trying to make this happen. And I was blessed with actual success. Of course, if there’s an opportunity like Deftones or if the Barbarians erupt, maybe we do a week here or there. Now, I’m just trying to be the best version of the musician or songwriter that I am. And this is my way now. And I’m just kidding. So, who cares?
IE: Now that Barbarians is finding an audience, what’s next for the band?
AB: We’re making a full new record. I thought we would just make one, but it was received so well that we’re like, ‘Let’s make another one.’ We’ve got some guest singers on some songs. The next song comes out on August 21st. Then, another one in October features another singer who is beloved by the scene, whose band broke up, and the brothers formed one band, while he formed another. That’s all I’ll say for now, but it’s pretty cool. It will probably be out next year because we want to release singles and build it the right way.
IE: As we talked about, you did manage to find an audience with AWOLNATION. Now you’ve come back to the hardcore scene with Barbarians, which has been a lot of fun. It’s another thing checked off of your bucket list. So, what’s something else you would love to achieve within your musical career?
AB: I guess there’s two things. One, I want to make a really mellow record, kind of an acoustic record. When Beck made Sea Change, it had such an impact on me. I was like, Wow, this guy just made a singer-songwriter record following a disco record. I thought that was so punk rock. I would like to do that with AWOL at one point. Maybe we do that with Barbarians. That’d be more punk, obviously. And I would like to score a film, and I’m working on something in that regard right now. So, I guess those would be the two next musical things I would like to tackle.
But we’re going to be bigger than Metallica. Did you know that James Hetfield said [The Barbarians album] was the best record he’s heard in the last 30 years?
IE: Did he?
AB: No (laughs).
Appearing September 19 at Riot Fest, Chicago
-Ashley Perez – Hollingsworth
Category: Cover Story, Featured
