The Faucetmouth Experience
You either die a Faucet or live long enough to see yourself become a mouth...
When I heard about an upcoming Faucetmouth show at The Basement, it sounded somehow familiar. Queue flashback of me drinking out of the hose in my grandmother’s side yard at age seven; mouth agape, water streaming in, totally ignorant to the fluoride contents of the Warren County water supply. On a serious note, we had seen these guys previously at Half Baked Brew (located in the 700 block of High Street (parking nightmare)), and they played a great set, so we knew coming in they’d knock our socks off. But nothing could’ve prepared us for the crowd-surfing, mania-inducing, reality-bending experience that was last Friday night.
The Basement- for those who don’t know- is located directly beneath the A&R music bar, right next door to Kemba Live. The space is utilized really well, with the stage directly to your left as you walk in, making it so you can hear the music from outside. One thing I immediately noticed was that the “pit” was two or three steps beneath the standing room of the bar with a barrier surrounding it. I don’t know who thought that putting a staircase in a mosh pit was a good idea, but to me it just seemed like a recipe for an ouchie (I fell at least five times)…
That wasn’t going to stop me though. As the fab five stepped on stage, I immediately knew my $23 Uber was worth it. Their sound was raw- a controlled chaos perfectly constructed to electrify an audience and set the tone for the rest of the night. Being a band of five, their music was incredibly full and powerful, overwhelming in all the right ways. Each of them played extremely passionately, and their group synergy is undeniable!
Currently their only release is their Winter Demos ‘23, which can be found on their bandcamp page and in CD format. Their CDs were only $2, so if you’re local and want to show support, buy one! If you want to keep up to date with them, you can follow their Instagram here!
We were fortunate enough to get the chance to interview them after their set, which as always can be read in full below- enjoy!
FAUCETMOUTH
[Oji as bass, Trevor as guitar/vocals, Aidan as guitar/vocals, Willie as guitar, Josh on drums]
Band Background/Origins
So, how long have you guys been playing together?
Oji: August?
Trevor: Last August, last year (2023).
How did you guys meet?
Willie: About a year before Faucetmouth started, us three guitarists (Trevor & Aidan)- I'm normally a bassist and [Aidan] is normally a drummer- we had a little three piece jam session going every once in a while and then… I don’t know, life happened, and we were still friends and everything-
Trevor: It was mostly just a timing thing. We (Aidan) were still doing another project, [Willie] was busy with work and stuff and-
Aidan: Then we went and saw the Pixies here and we were like, “Hey, what’re you doing?”. Then we saw [Oji] with Black Powder and we were like, “Hey, what are you doing?”.
Oji: I played a show with my old band Black Powder and I saw [Aidan] and I was like, “Holy fuck, he's from [redacted]”, and he was like, “What's up, man”. And I asked him about Shin Megami Tensei- because he posted Jack Frost on one of his posts. I was like, “Dude, we can totally bond”- and he was just always crazy at the drums.
For all of you, how long have you been playing your instruments? You can also say your name and what you play.
OJI
Oji: Two years.
You're very good at it for two years.
Oji: Appreciate that- I locked myself in my room every day ‘cause I had nothing better to do.
Five tracks a day for three summers sort of deal?
Oji: I would say more like spring break, summer, and then a lot of kind of studying, because I wanted to be smart at least before I started getting good.
Who are your biggest influences musically?
Oji: I’d say I'm influenced by a lot of heavy music, and I feel like I bring that out.
Have you ever listened to any of the Cliff Burton solo stuff?
Oji: Oh, Cliff Burton is my hero- Rickenbacher, wah and fuzz: all I need.
Aidan: This dude loooves Quicksand.
Oji: I love Quicksand, but one time I went to a Slut Bomb show rather than a Quicksand show. I said, “You know what, Quicksand is for fucking boomers.”
Who is Slut Bomb?
Oji: Cincinnati hardcore punk.
Who is Slut Bomb to you?
Oji: They are empowering, because it's fronted by a woman and they make songs about queer people. And everybody in the fucking community are all assholes and they disrespect people of color and people of fucking anything that isn't white power- white male power.
TREVOR
Trevor: My name is Trevor Austin Voigt, I was born at 11:27 AM on August 11th, 2003.
Oji: He's a Leo.
Trevor: I'm a Leo (taken). I've been playing guitar since I was 13, so almost eight years I guess.
What would you say separates you from other guitarists? Not just in your band, but in the world- what makes you Trevor?
Trevor: I like a lot of different stuff, but all the bands I like do really unique stuff with guitars. The way I approach writing stuff isn't super technical- I usually just pick a cool sounding chord and build around that. I don't really write with riffs, I write with chord progressions, because I like to use chords that sound melodic in themselves.
Have you studied music theory?
Trevor: I've taken music theory- I don't consciously think about it all that much. The only time I think about that is when we do, like, harmony stuff.
AIDAN
Aidan: I’m Aidan Alter. I was born on 4/17 at 7:14… AM or PM. I don't know- my mom is in there (the venue) if you want to ask her. I play guitar and vocals and I have not really done either until this band. I played drums for almost 14 years.
Very cool. Do you still have the drum set?
Aidan: Oh yeah, I don't want to quit. I want to play drums again eventually…
Josh: He’s a beast at it.
Aidan: Says the best drummer here!
Trevor: You can put this on the record: Aidan and Josh are the two best drummers in Columbus.
Ian: You guys don't know Garrett Fischer.
Aidan: I’ll challenge his ass!
WILLIE
Willie: My name is Willie Spires. I said earlier I started on bass, probably like 15 years ago. I'm 26- or almost 26. I've been playing guitars for maybe 11-12 years. A little over a decade, not very well, off and on. Just basic stuff. I try to incorporate noise and more like-
Trevor: Resident noisemaker.
Aidan: Yeah, if you want this dude to make some noise, he can. His pedalboard is maybe the biggest pedalboard I've ever seen.
Oji: It’s actually ridiculous.
Willie: I'm not, like, a technical guitarist. I think the most technical guitarist I take inspiration from is Jack White, but even then more style over anything. Joey Santiago, though- from Pixies- definitely, definitely influences my sound.
JOSH
Josh: I am Josh Pieratt, I've been playing drums for about 15-ish years. I always grew up around music and the drums were the spotlight of everything- I just like to hit stuff really hard.
Aidan: Best drummer in the Midwest. I'll put money on that- I’ll put down $100 if anybody wants to challenge me- best drummer in the Midwest right here.
You're like the Ringo Starr of the Midwest?
Josh: That’s more accurate.
Oji: No, he's straight up like Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater.
Willie: I've been in a few bands since college and he’s easily- not just saying this- hands down the best drummer I've ever been in a band with.
Oji: He's the best drummer I’ve ever met, period.
Willie: Also most reliable…
Are drummers stereotypically unreliable?
Josh: Yes.
Trevor: Well, no. Here's the thing: good drummers are reliable, but they're incredibly hard to come by. I've been fortunate enough to have good drummers in every band I've ever been in.
Aidan: Most drummers are reliable, but the problem is finding a drummer. That’s the problem- there’s always not enough drummers. Be a drummer!
Oji: Yeah, don’t play guitar, don't play bass, don't sing- just play drums.
Aidan: No, play bass and play drums and be good at it.
Trevor: Those are the most desirable, because everyone plays guitar…
Aidan: Everyone wants to be the front man, that's the thing.
How often do you guys practice?
Faucetmouth: Once, twice a week. We aim for two times a week.
Where do y’all go?
Aidan: Plastic Waffle! It's like a rentable space, 11 bucks an hour. Cheapest rates in the city- do not book it! We need the space so… do not book the Plastic Waffle!
Do you guys hang out outside of the band?
Josh: Not as much as we should! It’s mostly after shows or practice.
Willie: Yeah, like we don’t just practice and then leave.
Aidan: We'll end practice and then we'll bullshit for an hour.
When you guys switched guitars in the middle of your set, what was that about?
Willie: It’s a tuning thing. We start in Drop D, then we tune up to E Standard. And then we switch guitars because it's a whole step down and it's just quicker. Like, tuning one string doesn't take that much time, but [tuning multiple would]. I think normally we have four tunings: Drop D, E Standard, and then we switch-
Aidan: Then D Standard and Drop C. The music theory nerds will know what that means!
Willie: I know nothing about music theory.
Aidan: I don't either, I'm a drummer.
Name/Mascot Backstory
What’s going on with your mascot- the cat on the amp?
Aidan: I had this friend who moved to Seattle and I needed to hold her cat in the meantime until she could come get it. The cat’s name was Salem- we called her Spee. She’s this big, black cat and she would drink out of the sinks. If you left the sink running or if there was water on the underside of the sink, she would get up on the counter and she'd drink out of it. So I made an offhand comment and said like, “Ol’ faucet mouth”.
It kind of got passed around and we were like, “That would be a cool band name”, and it just kind of became the band name. And that picture- our logo, the cat on the amp- is a real picture. It's Spee, or Salem, on the amp, and we gave it to our friend, Claudia- she was taking photos tonight.
She goes to CCAD (Columbus College of Art & Design) so she knows a bunch of artsy people, and we hit her up like, “Hey, this would be a cool logo, do you have any friends [that could do something with this]?” and she had a friend that drew the logo-
Trevor: Mack Hackel. And what happened was [Aidan] and I went to that Black Powder show and we were looking to form the band. And he had told me at that show I think, he was like, “Oh, what do you think about Faucetmouth?”.
Where was this show?
Oji: It was at Big Room Bar- rest in peace.
Aidan: Shoutout Black Powder, they just released an EP.
Wait, so there’s a White Powder and a Black Powder?
Aidan: No White Powder, it’s just Black Powder.
Trevor: But there's White Wall! I’m making a record with them-
Willie: Shout them out too.
Aidan: Shoutout White Wall!
Oji: Yeah, White Wall is a great band. Wait, are we doing shoutouts right now?
Sure
Oji: Ok, if anybody from Cellar Dweller sees this, I'm really sorry I'm missing your set, I'm doing an interview. It's really important, but I love you guys. You guys are my fucking heroes. Also shout out Pickpocket, shoutout Dark Room- rest in peace Dark Room. Shoutout SLUG for getting me into hardcore, at least locally- even though they're from Cleveland.
Shoutout Fleshwater- favorite band ever, like, period, straight up. They're probably never gonna hear this and I'm probably never gonna see them again unless I do, but… Shoutout Faucetmouth, great band, I love these guys!
Aidan: But yeah, it was a cat who drank out of the faucet. That's why the cat is on the amp.
The Future
Do you have intentions to drop a full album?
Aidan: I mean, we have intentions to- we gotta get it recorded.
I know I've got a little CD in my pocket. I have Winter Demo 23 right here. So, do you guys plan on releasing a full album anytime soon?
Trevor: Define ‘soon’...
Aidan: Yes, we have plans.
Trevor: The thing with that CD is that we did it at our rehearsal space and I just recorded it and mixed it and did all the stuff on that.
What did you use for that?
Aidan: Plastic Waffle.
Trevor: Logic (DAW).
Oji: He has a drum preset that makes it sound really good
Aidan: A MacBook, small mixer, some headphones-
Trevor: Eight channel interface-
Willie: That room sounds insane. You get some Steve Albini- rest in peace- sounding recordings- big, boomy.
We should check that out. Do they have a drum set there?
Oji: Yeah, but it’s really bad. It’s kind of busted.
Aidan: It sounds really good actually, for being a communal drum set.
Trevor: We didn't record with it- Josh brought his own kit.
How did you do that?
Oji: It's the Josh.
Josh: I just threw it all in my car and… yeah. I can fit an entire drum set in a 2010 Mustang if you can believe that.
So do you guys have plans to do bigger stuff in town? I mean, Promo West is pretty big.
Willie: I don't think we've really set up hardly any of our shows. Like, people have come and asked us.
Aidan: We don't have hard plans, but every band wants to ‘make it’, right?
Yeah. Like, Newport?
Aidan: Newport is a goal.
Willie: A tour is a goal.
Have you guys done house shows?
Willie: Not yet.
Josh: We want to.
Trevor: We’ve had a few offers that just haven't quite worked out…
Aidan: Yeah, we had one that was supposed to happen later this month, [but] it fell through.
Ian: Next time The Farm goes down, we'll let you guys know. You're tapped into The Farm?
Faucetmouth: I think so.
Outro
You guys ever play SSX? 2012?
Aidan: (laughing) Yeah, the snowboarding game?
Ian: Dude, you guys have played it? I just ran 71,000,000 on Mount Eddie last night. I'm fucking sick, dude.
Aidan: God damn, dude
Trevor: Is this gonna be a running theme in your interviews- talking about SSX?
Ian: Yeah, we're big fans actually.
Alright, I'm gonna say Faucet, you guys say Mouth. Faucet!
Faucetmouth: Mouth!
Faucet!
Faucetmouth: Mouth!
Random guy passing by: HELL YEAH! I LOVE MORGAN WALLEN!!
Aidan: I hate Morgan Wallen…
Trevor: I fucking hate Morgan Wallen.
Willie: Ok, keep this on the record. We were joking earlier that we'd open for Morgan Wallen, set up all of our stuff to have it feedback, and then just fucking leave. Like actually leave the venue.
Wow.
Faucetmouth: Yeah
You guys seem like a cool group, really.
Aidan: Aww, thanks
Oji: Some people say that.
Trevor: Yeah, nobody said that in high school…
Oji: I'm still in high school, so…
Some guy walking by: We’re high school teachers!
Oji: Ayy, let's go!! High school! Let's go!!!! Sk***di t***et!!
Aidan: Put that in the interview.
Oji: Just censor it.
Once again, we want to thank the members of Faucetmouth for taking time out of their night to talk with us. We also have to thank Claudia Page, who sent us the amazing pictures she took that night! Also a mini-shoutout to Rat Motel for putting on the event as a whole, it really was quite incredible.
Lastly, we want to thank you for reading this! Because what would writing be without readers reading it?? Sounds to me like a tree falling in the forest scenario, which is undesirable to say the least…
Anyways, enough rambling- Bobcat Press OUT!