Dying Wish never expected to find themselves in this place, but you better believe they are making the most of it.
One of heavy music’s most unrelenting forces, Portland’s finest have spent the last half a decade climbing from the scene’s best-kept secrets to world-beating stars, playing shows with everyone from Poppy to Spiritbox and showing whole new audiences what hardcore in the modern day is all about.
And with their third full-length album ‘Flesh Stays Together’, they are upping the ante even more. An unapologetically bludgeoning portrait of how quickly things are deteriorating, it is the sort of brash and bold record that is so necessary during times of uncertainty, much like what we are living through right now.
To find out more about how they crafted it and what it means to stand on business on a global scale, Rock Sound caught up with vocalist Emma Boster and guitarist Pedro Carillo whilst out on the road.
Rock Sound: What has felt different this time around when it came to expanding what Dying Wish is, or has it just been a case of staying steady with the trajectory you were already on?
Emma: “Normally, when we do a record, I’m really excited to put it out, but with this one, I wish I could have held it to my chest that little bit longer. Even though the lyrics are not as personal as they have been in the past, the whole thing is still heavy and holds meaning for me differently. I feel like we really nailed the subject matter. I feel like we really nailed trying new things and taking risks. I love it so much, but it is also really scary. I wish we had that little bit more time to have it to ourselves.”
Pedro: “I think all of us came into it knowing that we didn’t want to do the same thing again. Whether that was due to the same musical influences or the same writing style, we wanted to ensure that everything was new from now on. There is apprehension in there about whether that’s going to be taken well, but when you’re in a band, you have to say, ‘This is my art, I’m putting it out’. It means more to me than anything.”
RS: The thing about this record is that it will remain vital, regardless of how much time passes. The anger, the darkness, the pain; it’s all going to be pertinent because the state of things isn’t going to get much better. But the important thing was you making sure you were standing on your shit, no sugar-coating anything and saying, ‘If we want this band to be what we want it to be, we’re the only ones who can make that so’.
Pedro: “Every time we put something out, I’m already thinking ahead of how we can beat it. That may be immediately after it has dropped or on a drop whilst we are promoting it. Artistry is always the challenge. I think that sometimes bands go into the studio and say, ‘I want to do something different, ’ and people can see that, but it doesn’t feel genuine. With us, we are all authentically our own selves, and that will always pour itself out into the music.”
RS: It’s something that you represent from the get-go, with Track One being ‘I Don’t Belong Anywhere’, which feels like a huge takedown of the industry at large, or at least at the parts of the industry that want you to be something that you’re not. It’s quite a statement to make, but it is also such an important marker for what this record will represent.
Emma: “Originally, that started as a big fuck you to the right-leaning fascist people who want to take away our rights. It also stemmed from our roots in the DIY hardcore scene, and when you achieve a certain level of success, they no longer want to claim you. Now we get pigeonholed into all of these other genres of bands that are gimmicky and doing the TikTok thing. We don’t really belong in either of those places, but we aren’t ever going to let it slow us down. We are the ones who will always believe in ourselves and what we are doing.”
RS: The thing about both of those places is that you can easily see who isn’t in it for the right reasons. It was always just a record collection, not a way of life. Not knowing that this is where Dying Wish stands, you are showing that you haven’t been paying attention. So that’s why it makes so much sense to keep on going further into what that means by getting even heavier.
Pedro: “I feel like we had a formula in place when we were at the studio. We would have one station upstairs writing lyrics and then another downstairs working on music. It was like a workshop, passing demos between the levels and writing to it. For us, it worked really well because we came in wanting to write about specific things, and then they would see that and write music that would easily stick to that. Emma writes in a very poetic way, it’s almost like a story, whereas I am very much the opposite. If I’m not inspired, I don’t feel like writing anything, whilst she could write for days. But when the bits do come out, it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re using this for the breakdown’ or ‘we’re using this for this hard part’.”
Emma: “Since day one, Pedro has been responsible for all the heavy one-liners. ‘I’ll see this message with my blood and a bullet’, for example, was him. So, I think that’s when we realised that we needed to work together more, and I feel like at this point we have really perfected it. We’ve found our rhythm with each other, and it’s made us a better band.”
RS: The thing about this record is that when you are dealing with complete desolation, it’s made easier when you can share out the sadness. Additionally, you’re not offering any solutions here; this is total bleakness. What did it mean to be dealing in that manner, when in the past you’ve probably created music which represents the opposite?
Emma: “I’m not a nihilistic person at all. But unfortunately, art should be brutally honest. I think that even though I have always been very optimistic and solution-driven and believe that people in the world can change, I don’t really feel it when I create art anymore. On [2023 album] ‘Symptoms Of Survival’, there were definitely songs that said, ‘This is what is going on, and this is how it can be different. And while a lot of that sentiment remains true and reflects how I feel, ‘Flesh Stays Together’ will be a reflection of where we end if we don’t practice what ‘Symptoms…’ was preaching. I see this album as the future if we don’t act. A lot of what I was inspired by was ‘Ashes Of The Wake’ by Lamb Of God. It was the 20th anniversary of it just before we went into do this record, and I was listening to it so much thinking, ‘How is this still so wildly relevant now?’. That’s what I wanted to accomplish.”
RS: At a time when it’s very easy to coast along and stay neutral to what is occurring, standing up for what you believe in feels even more vital. It also draws a lot of attention towards you, both good and bad, but knowing that you are doing what’s right for you and what feels right for those around you is all that really matters.
Emma: “One thing that we have always talked about is that we think it’s important to accept people who feel differently and have different opinions from us. We will be open to them feeling that way and still enjoying our music, because perhaps one day the message will resonate. Or the fact that they listen to it and accept that somebody thinks differently, that’s okay. However, it’s definitely heavy to know that, as an artist, I will always wear this badge of having such strong opinions, and some people really hate me for it, while others love me for it. It’s a heavy responsibility, but I have never wanted to create art that didn’t stand for something. We come from a hardcore background, and bands in our world have always been political in one way or another. But also, what else would I talk about?”
Pedro: “Being born and living in America as a brown person or a queer person or a woman, you’re inherently going to be politically aligned through the eyes of other people, regardless. The classic white person can see a brown person and have a preconceived notion of what they believe in, and sometimes that is flipped or not. And growing up in the hardcore scene. You learn about the sort of stuff that you wouldn’t in school. You learn about ethics and the political aspects that are often omitted from history books. This is our own thing, but the outside world can be really scary, so we should try to be better people to counter that. This album, to me, is a snapshot of what is happening right now, but that doesn’t mean that we are failing as humanity. We can still find the little fruits and flowers within the hellscape that we’re in.”
RS: It’s easy to be very defeatist within that, too, especially in heavy music. The olive branch is often not considered, which is a disservice to the hard work that is still taking place. And because of that, you’re complicit by proxy. For you not to show that change is possible, especially when you’re playing to such massive audiences now, would not only go against what Dying Wish is about but also hinder so much more than it helps.
Emma: “We talk about this all the time. We never thought when we started our shitty little band in Portland, playing to 30 people, that one day we would be playing these 5000-capacity rooms and people are going to be listening to what we say. That’s crazy. But if I didn’t think I could handle it, I would have quit a long time ago. It’s something that continually involves me, and I remain a normal person. In a way, we never really asked for this, but I also never want to stop playing shows, no matter how big or small they are. But being from Portland, we are the way that we are. Our scene was extremely radical, and we carry that with us everywhere we go.”
RS: You are being unapologetic in everything, and that includes the severity of the artwork and videos you’re dealing out as well. It speaks to the way things used to be, when bands would put something that you, as a teenager, had never seen before. That you ask your parents to buy it and they say you’re not allowed, so you find another way to get hold of it. It’s shocking, but that’s because it should be. It’s keeping the old practices alive with a modern spin.
Emma: “With the artwork specifically, some people were offended by it, and I really don’t think they understood the context of the band at all. They scrolled, saw something they didn’t like and decided to say their piece on it. That’s fine, but the context of why it was made and how it came to be is that I saw that photo and thought, ‘That’s how I feel. ’ I feel like I’m being suffocated. I can’t believe people are saying, ‘This is so violent’ when we are seeing kids being blown to pieces on our feed every day. But this is too much?”
Pedro: “People pick their battles about what they want to be mad about. It’s easier to be angry at some metalcore band from America than the political and social-geographical stuff that is going on around the world. It’s whatever is in the vicinity of my phone. I have always learned that the more brutal art usually comes from the person who identifies with it the most. The woman in the artwork is being suffocated, but a woman made it. There were women there during its creation. The same with black art. It’s supposed to be there to make you feel uncomfortable. To make you question why it is happening.”
Emma: “There’s such a misdirection of anger.”
RS: So, as you look to what the future holds, heading into it with an album that you all love so much, the biggest thing to note is the weight of what Dying Wish has become. Not just for you but for the people who have found you along the way. What do those two words mean to you at this point?
Pedro: “A lot of things within this are scary, but the thing is that those scary things are the things that are going to benefit your life at the end of the day. We never really planned to be on this platform and want to know what we think about stuff, but I don’t think it’s a responsibility that we can’t handle. We are just being ourselves, and if what we are doing makes people feel threatened, then that’s kind of on them. I know where we stand, I know where our views align. Of course, you will hear the hate riffs on the surface, but just below, you can see what we are really about.”
Emma: “On the personal side, I always hear people saying, ‘Emma from Dying Wish, ’ and I do feel like that is my identity. It’s gotten a lot better since in got married recently because I know that I have a family and a future in that. But before I met my partner, I never saw myself having a future that wasn’t Dying Wish. It’s a huge part of who I am, and I’ve given so much of myself to this over the years, sacrificing friendships, family, birthday parties, weddings, babies being born. This is my life. We’ve been doing this full-time for six or seven years, and it just keeps on getting crazier.”
‘Flesh Stays Together’ is out now via SharpTone Records.
