The J-Rock to Midwest Emo Pipeline: A Conversation with Eighty
Interview ★ Kenzie Gay ★ @kenzwrites ★ 3 Minutes
Birthed within the culturally rich, east coast state of New Jersey comes rising rock group Eighty. Composed of Jack (guitar, vox), Briann (bass), Adam (drums), Alex (guitar), and Owen (guitar). Eighty recently took the win for New Jersey as part of our competition - full list of winners available here. In turn, we sat down with a few representatives of the band to answer some hard hitting questions regarding indie grunge, pet peeves, and more.
Eighty via bruceski.studio on Instagram - (left to right) Owen, Jack, Briann, Adam, and Alex.
What is the story behind the band’s name?
Jack: I was really into Green Day - I still am. They have a song off of Kerplunk called Eighty, which is named after Billy Joe’s wife. I really liked that so we took it and spelled the number out instead.
What are you currently listening to?
Jack: A lot of Avenged Sevenfold.
Adam: This band called Anxious. They’re a pop-punk group from Connecticut. Really good stuff.
Can you walk me through your guys’ creative process? So basically how you go about creating, collaborating, and fine tuning a song.
Jack: I normally come up with a riff or even a full song beforehand and then I’ll bring it to practice and from there, everyone will kind of pitch in their own thoughts and parts. We have a song called September that’s coming up. I brought it to practice and everybody kind of wrote their own parts for it. Especially Owen and Alex, who aren’t here right now, but their guitar parts are really cool in it.
Online, you’ve described the band as indie grunge. That being said, who are your biggest indie and grunge influences?
Briann: American Football.
Adam: Nirvana.
Jack: Yeah. I’ve gone for elements of Nirvana but also pop punk like Green Day, midwest emo like American Football and Macseal. Titlefight, too. I really like the grunge, post-hardcore kind of stuff.
Are there any influences that aren’t indie or grunge that listeners might not expect?
Jack: In our song Collapse the Kingdom, which isn’t out yet, there’s a section with a three part guitar harmony and it really gives off an Iron Maiden kind of vibe.
Brian: J-Rock, too.
Jack: Yeah. In my mind it was like a big anime, J-rock ish / Iron Maiden opening.
What is your biggest pet peeve? Could be related to music or not.
Briann: The city of Philadelphia *laughs*
Adam: When I can’t park close to venues because carrying all that drum stuff in the cold makes me…yeah, not happy.
Briann: Also, being the first person to practice when everyone else is 45 minutes late.
Adam: Oh, yeah. If we have practice at 11 we tell everyone 10.
What are some things outside of music that you frequently partake in?
Jack: Briann and I love bowling. We work at an alley, we’re part of a league, and we’re actually going after this. I do photography a lot, too.
Adam: I just graduated but I did track and field for four years. I think sports and being an athlete is definitely a big part of my life.
Briann: Yeah, he’s got a shot in his trunk.
Adam: Two, actually.
Can you share anything at this time about Eighty’s plans for 2026?
Jack: We do have an EP coming up. There’s no title yet but we’re hoping it’ll be on the longer side, it might honestly end up being a full album. Like I said earlier, we’ve got our song September done with the recording process and everything. It should be around 8 songs but we’ve got a lot of recording to do. For shows, I’d like to branch as well. We’re playing in DC but I wanna play more in places like Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, too.
