Forver a decade, American Standards found success in creating an enigmatic and gripping sound.
Vocalist Brandon Kellum credits the band’s sonic and musical structures to their commitment to never forcing themselves to make music.
“Our mantra has always been never to force, so we never walk into a room and blame ourselves for trying to write a song. We always want it to come naturally and organically,” he says.
Because of this, Kellum says he takes note when he’s inspired.
“The way I write the lyrics is I have a notepad on my phone and every time I watch a movie or read a book or whenever something hits my ear in a certain way I put it on my notepad and then I go back to the notepad when it’s time to put the lyrics to the songs,” Kellum explains.
Over the past three years, Kellum has realized a common thread among his lyrics.
“I began to notice lyrically that much of what I had written over the past two years had centered around this idea of chasing happiness, especially happiness in the form of material possessions and social status. “, says Kellum. “Because of that, I wanted the overall theme of these singles to be this concept and put a different spin on each one to create this lyrical theme of the name of the album and how we released it.”
The result is the three-track EP titled “Dopamine Dealer,” which American Standards released track-by-track from December through February.
Kellum equates the release style with the overall theme of the EP.
“We started thinking how ironic it is how short attention spans are since we all grew up going to places like Zia Records and would wait until 10 p.m. to get that new album” , he said. “Now we’ve seen the same world change from album to single.”
High school alum Trevor G. Browne also compares the title to the post structure.
“We thought it would be a bit ironic to release a series of singles that we wrote as a slow drip of dopamine slow drip – it’s basically the game on it. Then, at the end, we got gave this EP to people,” says Kellum.
While the EP largely features elements of the band’s signature cheeky sound, it also marries rap and pop.
“We also wanted (‘Dopamine Dealer’) to be something that gradually moved away from what people would expect of us,” Kellum said.
“Our first song, ‘The Dealer’, was probably the best sounding song by American standards on the EP. ‘The Tourist’ has a very bassy verse, but then it goes into the bridge where we introduced the local rap artist God Samaritan – something you would never expect in a hardcore band. ‘The Vagrant’ is a very upbeat song that’s almost a poppy song that has a lot of parts that I think are sonically different of everything we’ve done.
Kellum also says the EP lays the groundwork for a new album that could be released before the end of the year.
“As we step into the feature we are already recording – which will hopefully be out by the end of the year – the EP lets people know that our music can go in any direction at this point because we have three songs that, although American standards sound, continue to grow incrementally on what we’ve done in the past.
Kellum says American Standards may play new songs at the newly opened Egyptian Motor Hotel, which has a concert hall, on Friday, March 24.
“Every show we’ve done since the pandemic has been a massive event and I have a feeling this will be one of our first comeback shows from the pandemic that’s just an American standards show,” Kellum said.
Heavy Breather w/Live Longer Burn Everything and American Standards
WHEN: 8 p.m. on Friday March 24
OR: Egyptian Motor Hotel, 765 Grand Avenue, Phoenix
COST: $10
INFORMATION: fanlink.to/americanstandards
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