Hardcore and straight edge fans, revel in the emergence of XTRMST, the new outfit from AFI vocalist Davey Havok and guitarist Jade Puget. We spoke to Puget from his home in Los Angeles for the latest episode of Music Feeds Podcast, as XTRMST’s self-titled debut album was about to drop; talking about the outfit’s defeated plans for anonymity, the straight edge ethos and doing something more aggressive than ever.
“Obviously, everyone was shocked that we would do something like this. Even in the early days of AFI, we never anything that was this aggressive. … I think people are pretty excited … At the same, time it is a little divisive…”
Though the band is new as the morning dew, at this point, they have already decided on a direction for the music.
“We started out doing stuff that was a little more of a throw-back to the 80s. We started listening to hardcore in the late 80s and early 90s. Then we realised we didn’t want to do a record that sounded like … stuff that had already been done. So I started writing stuff that was a bit more chaotic; kinda dirtier music. That is really when it took off. Obviously, Davey’s lyrics are very hyperbolic and extreme. There are definitely some harsh sentiments in there; that’s just the nature of the project.”
Though the band can’t go on tour easily because of the demanding nature of the performance, they want to come to Australia. “Anything that we do, Australia’s kind of like a dream.”
Listen: Music Feeds Podcast Episode #127: XTRMST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJES0RKGDWQ&feature=youtu.be
