Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with New England’s Another One Down! Together we discussed the human phrase “another one down”, their creative process, dragon slaying, the re-release of their album “A Bitter Descent”, and so much more!
1. Mustard is grateful to have Another One Down join us at Music Shelf. How is everyone doing today?
Marcus: We’re doing great, thanks for asking!
2. Mustard had heard people say “that’s another one down.” What recent tasks has the band accomplished? Did a specific event inspire your band name?
Ryan: The biggest accomplishments lately have been signing to a label and re-releasing our first full length. finally touring outside of New England, and reaching over 1,000,000 all time streams on Spotify.
Marcus: “I think we were all really inspired by DJ Khaled’s emotional “Anotha One” speech. Every morning before school I would watch that video and it would cure my depression. That was where the name came from for sure. I wouldn’t be here today without DJ Khaled. I mean go listen to that Bob Marley cover, he’s just the voice of a generation.”
3. You’ve proven yourselves to be an unstoppable force in the New England scene. Does Another One Down! potentially run on Dunkin? What keeps everyone going?
Marcus: We 100% run on Dunkin. Which is funny because we all simultaneously also hate Dunkin. It’s truly something only New Englanders will understand. I hate Dunkin so much and yet I go almost every day. In fact I basically can’t start any sort of songwriting or recording process without a coffee in my hand. That and my silly little podcasts keep me going.
Dylan: I don’t even drink coffee and I run on Dunkin. I don’t know what I would do without dunks, even though I only go there once every like 3 weeks. Currently what’s keeping me going is the new Zelda. I quite literally can’t stop playing it and every day when I’m at work I count down the minutes until I can go home and play Zelda. My mental health has improved drastically since it dropped.
Brandon: I definitely run on Dunkin but I’ve been favoring Starbucks lately. Those strawberry refreshers hit. Although Dunkin’ did just release a rival drink to it and it’s pretty close in quality. But other than that like Dylan, I haven’t left my house besides to go to work since the new Zelda dropped.
Ryan: I’m a Dunkin’ man as well. I’ve also been hitting the gym and working on my squat thrusts. It’s a great feeling to get that deep burn in my sweet thighs. I’m addicted to the grind.
Alex: You will literally not see me without Dunkin’ in my hand. Cameras and photography have been consuming my life lately and that has brought me some inner peace. I’ve also recently started getting into baking. My girlfriend just bought me a “kiss the cook” apron so we’ve been vibing.
4. What is the band’s creative process?
Marcus: “It’s definitely changed a lot over the years. It started out with me writing everything and bringing it to the band to put a little spin on it, but 90% of it stayed the original parts I wrote. Once we went through a few member changes it became a lot more collaborative, which was for the best because having one person write everything can become a little stale after a while. Lately it’s mostly been a process of someone bringing a general idea of a riff or section of a song that we jam on it and then pitch ideas of what should come next. But in all honesty there is no right or wrong way to write a song, it can bloom from any small song seed.”
5. Who would Another One Down! consider some of their influences?
Marcus: As a full band, there are a few artists we all agree are our main influences: The Story So Far, Knuckle Puck, The Wonder Years, and Four Year Strong. We’ve also been really into this up and coming rapper named Yung Lambo. You should check out his song “I’m Stinky.” It’s lowkey going to be the next “God’s Plan”, mark my words. Personally for me though, I have been a lot more inspired by singer/songwriters and alternative bands. I listen to a lot of Phoebe Bridgers, Death Cab For Cutie, and American Football as of late.
Ryan: blink-182 and Four Year Strong are the main ones for me. I also listen to a lot of metalcore bands like Downswing and Hollow Front.
Brandon: Green Day, Foo Fighters, blink-182, Four Year Strong, and Fall Out Boy are the main ones. I also love Tyler, The Creator.
Dylan: I’m influenced by many artists including Porter Robinson, Phoebe Bridgers, Ishiwata Makiko (the bassist for The Peggies), Laura Les, and Matthew Lillard
Alex: Metallica. Bad Luck. Metallica. Cleopatrick. The Strokes. Metallica.
6. What are some ways Another One Down! take on the world? What are some challenges the world puts in front of humans?
Marcus: I think the biggest challenge the world puts in front of humans is stupidity. I feel like saving the planet is just this constant fight against stupidity and ignorance. People who don’t believe in climate change or people who preach hate over love. It’s a struggle that seems never ending. To answer the former question, I feel like our band strives to support those fighting to make this world a better place.
7. Which member consider themselves to be Dirty Dan?
Marcus: Many people would say that I’m Dirty Dan, but I don’t know if there’s a Dirtier Dan than Ryan Beck himself. The man is just pure filthy Daniel to his core. Plus that’s his favorite song to play live by far so it’s no contest.
8. How does Another One Down! locate dragons and then slay them?
Marcus: There actually is a dragon on the side of this children museum in Providence, so there is one you can locate in Rhode Island. I wouldn’t mind taking a stab at that guy, but it probably wouldn’t be a great idea considering it’s a children’s museum.
9. If you had slay any dragon from any book, television show, or film what dragon would it be and why?
Marcus: Dude I don’t know, but you know what dragon did slay? Dragon from Shrek. She was a baddie. Donkey definitely finessed with that one.
Ryan: I would slay every single dragon from Dragon Tales. I wish I wish with all my heart to tear them limb from limb apart
10. Why is it important that humans swing for the fences? How has Another One Down! swung for the fences?
Marcus: I think it’s important to take risks in life. I feel like sometimes I play things too safe and have lost opportunities by doing so. If everyone did that, we wouldn’t really get anywhere as a society. And we do live in a society so we have to be pretty weary of that. I think Another One Down! has taken many risks in our career and a ton of them have paid off even from something as small as sending an email and asking to hop on a show. That being said, we’ve taken a bunch of risks that really haven’t panned out and that really sucks, but it’s all part of life and learning and growing
11. Your debut album “A Bitter Descent” is being re-released via Open Your Ears records. Could you share more about your relationship with Open Your Ears records? How does it feel to have this album be re-released?
Marcus: Open Your Ears hit us up shortly after the original release of A Bitter Descent. We had talked to other labels in the past, but with Open Your Ears things felt different. It seemed like they actually cared and had faith in our music. We weren’t just a cash grab to them, and you’d be surprised how rare that is in this industry. And they clearly have an ear for good music because without fail, every single band on this label releases banger after banger. We talked with them for a long time about how we were planning on dropping a deluxe version of the record and once we settled on a deal, things just slowly started to fall into place and it was great. I think we’re achieving what we set out to do: Bring this record that we’re so proud of to people who hadn’t heard of it yet and give our loyal fans something new both musically and physically with the vinyl pressings.
12. What are some ways that Another One Down! take care of their headspace?
Marcus: For me it’s taking a day for myself. Relaxing and getting all the small things done and not leaving my house. Laundry, tidying my room, putting on some music, getting a big ol cup of coffee, and all while just working on my music. That’s a brain reset for me in most cases.
Ryan: Let’s go get a brewski baby. As Nick Miller would say, ‘you treat an outside wound with rubbing alcohol and an inside wound with drinking alcohol. It’s science.
Dylan: I pretty much just sit at home and watch live videos of Radiohead playing In Rainbows. That or watching anime. I can’t wait for this new anime that’s dropping where someone gets reborn as a vending machine. It’s gonna go dummy.
Alex: I love going to abandoned buildings and taking photos. That has been my new escape and it’s been really good for my mental health.
Brandon: What keeps me going is Alex’s world famous brownie recipe. I mean every bite melts in your mouth you really gotta try this stuff. Makes me want to kiss the cook, that’s for sure.
Alex: Well what are you waiting for? Pucker up.
13. A human gets the chance to visit Exeter, Rhode Island. What are some things they could do there?
Marcus: There’s not much to do in all honesty. It’s pretty boring. You can hit up Middle of Nowhere Diner if you want an authentic people watching experience and a good cheap breakfast. But if you want the real true Exeter experience like how I lived, you have to drive to your friend’s house and smoke weed while playing copious amounts of video games until you get hungry. Then when you sober up, you drive down 102 and inevitably get stuck behind a tractor for about 10 miles. Then finally you’ll make your way into Cornerstone Pub and see far too many people from your high school getting drunk at the bar and asking if you’re still in that band.
14. Another One Down! has toured with some big names such as Four Years Strong and Metro Station. How would you describe your live performances? Do you have a favorite recent gig?
Marcus: Our performances are definitely loud because we run a pretty hefty live rig. We’re all moving around a lot and just trying to keep the energy going in the room as much as we can. There’s rarely a time we’re standing still unless it’s a slow moment in the song. I think collectively our favorite live gig was our first real gig back from covid where we almost sold out The Palladium Upstairs in Worcester, MA. We got a bunch of our friends’ bands to play and the crowd went absolutely nuts the entire time, it was so awesome.
15. You’ve got some upcoming shows in June. Could you share more about those events?
Ryan: We’re hitting the east coast June 15-24 and we’re hitting PA, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, NJ, CT, & RI. It’s going to be an adventure with our friends in Dear Spring, MENU, & Sunday Morning. We hope to see all your beautiful faces out on this run.
16. What is next for Another One Down!?
Marcus: We’re setting a goal for ourselves to try to hit the studio as soon as we have a good collection of songs ready to go. We don’t want fans to have to wait too long for what comes next. So it’s gonna be touring when we can and just writing as much as possible in the downtime.
17. Where can readers listen to your music?
Marcus: We’re available to stream everywhere. Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, etc. And now we’re on Vinyl too thanks to Open Your Ears Records!
Music Shelf With Mustard 