A Dirty Dozen with JARED STINSON from SIC WAITING – October 2022

According to a recent press release: “Oceanside, CA’s Sic Waiting have dropped “Life On Fire”– the next single off their upcoming album A Fine Hill To Die On out on November 4th via Thousand Islands Records (USA/CAN) and Pee Records (AUS), with UK/EU distro by Lockjaw Records. It’s the follow-up to the band’s 2015 Derailer release. “Life on Fire” is a return to form for Sic Waiting. A galloping punk song that would be as at home in 1999 as it still is today. The tune is a fantastic representation of what we can expect from the Cameron Webb-produced (NOFX, Motorhead, Zebrahead) full length coming out in the fall.” We get band founder Jared to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Well, we recorded it during the pandemic but we wrote it for about two years before that. The band had long been trending towards a part time gig by necessity, because we all have jobs and families and the band costs a ton of money and time, so when the shut down happened, we all had availability we didn’t anticipate. We did our best to use that time well. As for the material, it’s a logical evolution coming from Derailer, which I think was our best record to date. This one is even more thought out and personal and I think is again our best effort to date.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Finding punk rock in junior high school changed everything for me. I went to an MXPX show on their Teenage Politics tour at a church and long story short ended up talking to Mike after the show. He gave me a list of bands to check out that included all the mainstays like NOFX, Bad Religion, Rancid, etc. and I just devoured everything from there. I started playing guitar, started a shitty band, and now I’m 41. That’s about it, ha.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Musically I’d say Strung Out and Rise Against were big, but then so is James Taylor. I’m big into the actual songwriting and lyrics so I tend to gravitate towards bands and artists that have layers of those.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Well, we worked with Chris Chasse on Derailer, who was in Rise Against and wrote a lot of songs I love. I’d love to work with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore at the Blasting Room some day, that would be a dream come true.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

It used to be bowl and party, now it’s work to pay for the studio/tour.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

I tend to say it’s singer-songwriter punk rock and let them go from there. I’m tired of convincing people it’s good. I honestly don’t remember a review or fan that made me cringe, we’ve been pretty fortunate over the years that people have been kind in print and in person.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Daniel cooks, Daniel gets the acoustic out, Jason and I get the drinks in, and Daniel also gets the drinks in.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Probably Mike from MXPX when I was in junior high.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Well, I’m not a full time musician. I spent 20 years in Sic Waiting trying to be but lineup changes and inconsistency got in the way. The best part of doing that though, was being in control of your own fate every day. That and the travel. Now, I manage tours for other artists as my full time gig and I still love it. I actually enjoy the business and the management side of it too.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I always like when interviewers ask me about Del Taco, and I have all the answers. Too much to type here. I’m not really sick of answering anything that I can think of? Sometimes if I’m bored I just do these interviews at the bar. I think you could probably look back in our history and tell which was which.

11.  Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Making concessions to keep people in the band that didn’t commit or want to be there in return. It cost us years.

12.  If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Probably Pet Sounds just to watch Brian Wilson’s brain work. That record blew me away, still does. Once everything became digital and easy to create and recreate, a certain integrity got sacrificed because everything can be perfected. But that record is full of it.

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Category: Interviews