Placeholder
“Nothing is Pure”
(Better Days)

A few months ago when Totally Crushed Out interviewed Coastal, we knew that they would be a band that was on the precipice of breaking big, particularly in their brand of revivalist emo. Now armed with a new name (fuck lawsuits, amirite?) and a new full-length, the rebranded Placeholder is sure to keep the momentum going.

What’s great about Placeholder is that they have their sound down pretty well. Their songs are structured incredibly well and the lyrics are nothing, if not simultaneously heart wrenching and honest. Check “What this Means,” “Resent,” and Sunny Day-esque “Written.” These songs are concise, straightforward, and above and beyond most bands’ debut records.

For me, however, the stand out track is “Stay Correct,” which recalls the Get Up Kids’ “Four Minute Mile” aesthetic. It’s catchy as it is raw. It’s chilling how brutal this song is.

Placeholder wears their influences very clearly, but that’s not a bad thing. They’re obviously not going to reinvent the wheel, and there’s something to be said about a band that just writes good fucking songs. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll give “Nothing is Pure” a shot.

— Ryan Pangilinan

Coastal Interview
by Ryan Pangilinan

Years ago, I stopped checking the B9 board. It was quite apparent that the posts that I wanted to read were getting buried underneath your typical hardcore bro-dude posts about who could be more edge and why girls and minorities should stay out of circle pits. The cool thing about Bridge 9’s board, however, is that every now and then you can find some good up and coming bands.

Pennsylvanians Coastal is one of these bands who were posted on Viva Pizza after the blog’s admin came across them on the B9, hence why they’re on Totally Crushed Out.

Coastal’s take on 90s emo, by way of bands like Texas is the Reason, Braid and The Weakerthans are also highlighted by the cool way that vocal lines in the song weave in and out as if the lyrics were an instrument in it of itself.

Though the band is still in its infancy, they’ve put out “Demonstration” a spectacular debut demo and recently I spoke to singer/guitarist, Brandon about what we can expect from Coastal.

Totally Crushed Out: In short, how did the band get together?

Brandon: We all used to be in another band a couple years ago.  Being bored, listening to depressing music about growing up helped us come back together and start Coastal.

Stylistically, Coastal seems to take a cue from bands like Texas is the Reason. Did this naturally happen when you guys got together and started writing?

Any of us would probably list Texas is the Reason as an influential band.  We didn’t really preface our writing process with that influence, but I think when you listen to a band enough, it’s going to be apparent.  I’m listening to Texas is the Reason right now.  I listen to them a lot.  Plus, bands of that nature (early/mid 90’s emo) sound so much fucking better than 98 percent of everything else that is being put out in 2011, and everybody knows it.

The lyrics on “Demonstration” have this really unique way of meandering seamlessly through the songs, which you don’t get often unless you’re listening to crooners like Nat King Cole. How do you come up with these melodies?

Well, that is literally the first time anyone compared my vocals to Nat.  I like it.  I really don’t think about it, nothing is really planned.  When I go into the studio to record the vocals, they usually come out completely different from what I thought they would be.  I write songs that actually mean something to me, whether it’s about my dead friends or struggling with sexuality, identity and self.  So, the songs are important to me, most of them are apart of my journal.  I think they just come out like the way I feel about them, sometimes yelling and other times softer.  I don’t know if this answers the question, I hope it did.

I noticed that your dates on your Facebook are largely regional, what other upcoming dates/tours do you have planned?

We have a northeast tour (10 days) in late June and we want to go out in August at some point.  We started this band in March 2011, and played our first show in Mid April.  We are still at an early point of this band, so more regional dates are just necessary, unless the Foo Fighters invite us on tour, then we’ll go anywhere.

Have you guys been approached by any labels, or even entertained the notion of working with one?

This band is pushing three months of existence, so it’s still early in the game.  I don’t think any of us are opposed to labels, we’re just four guys that never really were faced with that decision/opportunity.  I’d personally like to sign to Disney, I think that would be very magical. 

Anything else you’d like to add?

We really just like playing these songs. I hope they mean something to other people at least half as much as what they mean to us.

Add Coastal on Facebook and check out their demo on their Bandcamp page.