Inconvenience Store Interview

Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down with the new band Inconvenience Store (I.S.). This young group features (among others) former Cynic The Old Man member Jonah.

Andy-Tell us how Inconvenience Store came about.

I.S.-There's actually a story behind the name Inconvenience Store.
Me, our drummer William, and our friend Charlie were all walking
down the street one night after a show with Will's then band
,Awesome Express, when we were in downtown Natick. We were
searching for a convenience store, cause we wanted to
buy some stuff. But then we pretty much just got lost
in the middle of downtown Natick at night just searching
for this convenience store, and then eventually Will's
parents picked us up, and Will proposed to me the
idea of a new band he wanted to form, and that's what
spawned the name Inconvenience Store. I was, at first,
skeptical about the project cause I really just wanted
to focus on my last band,Cynic The Old Man, so it kind
of got pushed aside for a while but as of March
2012, we've been making awesome progress.

Andy-Who all is involved in the project?

I.S.-Myself, our drummer William Maranci,
our bassist Blake Johnson, and our
lead vocalist, Beatrice "Bamma" Puzikov.
I've known Will for at least a year now, I've
known Bamma for one year and I've known Blake
for two years. Me and Blake
played at this camp called Dayjams
together in 2010, that's where I met him. We
also played in Cynic The Old Man together, and in fact,
Bamma was our original
lead singer.

Andy-How does this compare to your last outfit?

I.S.-We're definitely making a lot more progress
than my last band. Our current
setlist is 7 songs, which is more than I think
I've ever had with a band before and I
feel like our music is becoming just a tad bit
more abrasive than Cynic The Old
Man. That, and it feels better. When Cynic
The Old Man was crumbling, I was just
sort of miserable and frustrated, but with
this project...it's exciting.

Andy-As your still in high school and
involved in other projects how do you find the time
for the band?

I.S.-We practice in Needham at this "teen band program"
called Plugged In. We
have dates assigned as our practices each
"session" at Plugged In. But it most
definitely can be difficult. Especially
since I live rather far from Needham. I live in
Framingham, which is at least 30 minutes away
from Needham. Will and Bamma
are the two that live in Needham, and Blake's
from Newton, if I'm not mistaken. As
for other projects...well Blake plays in other
bands as well, and as for me...I create
art and graphic design. I've been doing graphic
design since November 2011, and
I've always been interested in art ever since
I was a kid. So I guess those two
things can be considered projects themselves.
However, another problem that
arises is the fact that I don't have my license,
so It's not like I could drive to
practice. And my parents don't really have
the time to drive me from Framingham
to Needham during the week, my dad's
a teacher and I'm fairly certain my mom
works at a software company. So Inconvenience
Store is kind of like my weekend
hobby...for now, that is.


Andy-What would you like to see happen with this band?

I.S.-I'd definitely like to see us last. I really want
to see us just grow and develop
as people and musicians over the years. I really
want to see us continue past high
school, if that's possible. I'm a senior
in high school and Blake and Will are both
juniors this year, I think. Bamma also
might be a senior as well. But I truly want to
see this project grow and last for, hopefully, years
to come. That, and of course,
write, record, and play more music! I really want to
release a demo in the near
future though. I also might be making t-shirts for us in the fall.

Andy-Is your aim to write and play only original material?

I.S.-Our current setlist is 7 songs, and
4 of them are cover's, and the other 3 are
original songs. Blake seems like the one whose
really interested in cover songs,
but I have a strong desire to write and
play a lot of, and hopefully, mainly original
material. Two of our original songs are from me,
Blake, and Bamma's last band,
Cynic The Old Man. And our third original song so far,
was written by me and
William.

Andy-How would you describe the sound of your
group to those not familiar with your sound?

I.S.-You could call us an alternative band.
That or punk might do the trick. Some
people call themselves punk when I don't exactly see
them as punk themselves.
Me and Will have a real punk rock kind of attitude.
However, I really want to create
experimental and abrasive avant-garde music mixed with
punk or metal or
hardcore or something...maybe that'll happen.
Maybe you could also call us an
experimental band.

Andy-What has been the band's biggest influences so far?

I.S.-Our influences are actually rather eclectic.
We're all into different kinds of
music. Blake's into bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Audioslave, System Of A
Down, and Rage Against The Machine. And Will's
into bands like Tool, Kyuss, The
Beatles, Black Sabbath, Kraftwerk, King Crimson,
and things of that nature.
However, he's pretty eclectic like me...I've seen
his Spotify and he has bands and
artists like Converge and Wesley Willis, who we both like.
He used to play in a
band called Awesome Express where they played
music similar to classic rock like
Styx and Queen. And as for Bamma...well she seems
like she's into things like
mainstream metalcore, screamo, etc, I really don't know,
hahahaha. But I know she
likes some pretty sick music like Breaking Benjamin,
who I also like. And as for
me...well I'm rather eclectic myself. I like a
lot of abrasive and experimental music.
Converge, At The Drive In, Glassjaw, Tom Waits,
Sigur Ros, Pendulum, The
Chemical Brothers, Porcupine Tree, Mr. Bungle,
Isis, Oxbow, Between The Buried
And Me, things like that. I enjoy everything
from metalcore and hardcore to
electronic music. In fact, I'm listening
to Porcupine Tree right now.

Andy-What are some of the challenges you've run into so
far? I have to assume being in high school still
must make things more challenging correct?

I.S.-Yeah, being in high school can be considered a
challenge itself. That and as I
explained above, me living rather farther
away from the others and me not having
my license yet to really drive to practices and
shows and things of that nature.

Andy-Final thoughts?

I.S.-Thanks for interviewing me, and lastly...
dear I'll stay gold. Forever gold.