REVOLT WINE CO.

Interview

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1.  What was it about punk rock in particular that drew you in?

I think I heard The Clash on the radio. I remember that I would go to the library when I was super young, like in middle school, and just check out CDs that I thought looked punk. And that’s how I got into Asian Man Records stuff. Like, I picked up Alkaline Trio, The Lawrence Arms, and that kind of led me on the whole journey that I’ve been on ever since. 

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2.  Are those the records that made you want to start a band?

I always wanted to start a band when I was getting into punk. My mom was into Frank Sinatra, Elvis, and The Beach Boys, and that was what I was really into when I was young. And then I heard punk wherever I heard it, got into punk, checked out those CDs, and I went to live performances that made me want to play in a band. I always was like, “okay. I’m going to start a band. I’m going to start a band.” I joined a band my freshman year in high school. I didn’t start going to Asian Man until I was maybe a junior in high school. So I was in a band first.

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3.  What was it like starting your first band? How did you go about it?

In my freshman year in high school, I didn’t really know anybody at the time who played. There was this kid named Luke I went to high school with. He heard I could sing. Somebody told him that I was a good singer. I was walking to where I would get picked up and he stopped me. He’s like, “Hey. Do you want to like, sing in my band?” And I was like, “yes.” And yeah, I joined a band. I think later that week I went to band practice with them and it was pretty close to my parents’ house. I was in that band for the rest of high school. They were called Cheers to Doerr.

I finally made some friends that played instruments. We had a band called Logic & the Valentines that I played guitar and sang in. And then it was pretty crazy. I was in both those bands simultaneously. And then at the end of high school, I was working at a grocery store and a friend of mine showed up with two buddies and they were talking to me in the parking lot because I was pushing carts. And they were like, “Oh, yeah, we’re going to start a band. We’re looking for a bass player.” And I was just like, “I’ll do it.” And I joined that band on bass. That band was called Disabled Intent. Silly name. So yeah, those were like my three high school bands.

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4.  How did you meet Mike Park, and end up getting involved with Asian Man Records?

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5.  When did you go on your first tour, and what band was it with?

The first tour I ever did, I was 17 or 18. And it was just like four days in the Pacific Northwest with me and an acoustic guitar. I went with a person named L. I think that their band, their acoustic-person name, was Kid Nothing, if I remember correctly. And they were just like, “hey, do you want to do this tour with me? I think it was like three or four shows. I think the first show was in Oakland. And then it was like Seattle, Portland, maybe Bellingham. It was just, you know, Pacific Northwest. I think that they rented a car and we just put our guitars in the car. And we went up there and we did a couple shows. 

I made a bunch of friends and hung out with a lot of people. It was really cool. And I was like, “oh, no. This is all I want to do with my life.” And then pretty soon after that, I was filling in on bass for this band called the Albert Square. And we did a West Coast tour. I think that was like 15 days or something. And I remember I had just started a new band after all those high school bands called Kill the Bats. It was like this weird little emo band from San Jose with a bunch of friends of mine. And I really wanted to take that band seriously. And to me, I thought that meant, you know, let’s tour, tour, tour. And so I went on this tour with the Albert Square playing bass. I made a point to, you know, get everyone’s information everywhere I went so I could just rebook the whole tour with my band. And I did. So then like a month or so later, I did a Kill the Bats tour.

And then we toured a couple of times as, you know, we were only a band for a couple of years, but we put out a record and we toured a little bit. And pretty much from then on out, I like couldn’t stop. It was just like, when that band ended I started a band called Get Married. And we toured a ton. And when we were touring, it was like I became “the guy.” It was all in my brain. Like, I knew how to do it.

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6.  What lead to you becoming a Tour Manager for so many bands?

Kill the Bats did a tour with this band called Just Friends. We did this West Coast tour forever ago. And then, flash forward years into the future, like 2021. I got a call from the singer of Just Friends. They’re now doing pretty well. And he goes, “hey, we need a tour manager. We know that you can do the job. Will you do it?” And I was like, I was afraid. I was like, “oh, that’s a long time to be gone for something that isn’t my band.” And my girlfriend at the time was like, “you should do it. I think you should do it.” And I said, “OK.” And I had a blast. It was so much fun. I still would prefer to be playing music. But if I have to do something for work, I would like it to be music-involved. 

And so I started TM-ing Just Friends. I tour managed them three or four times, I think. And then through that, I started getting other merch-guy jobs or tour manager jobs. And so I ended up doing merch for a band called Pool Kids, who I love. Those are good friends of mine. And I did merch for Dan Andriano from Alkaline Trio, which was a pretty gigantic full circle moment for me. I tour managed this British band called Mama’s Gun. They’re a soul band. And I’m actually about a week off from doing merch for Alkaline Trio themselves, which is pretty crazy. Yeah, that’s how I got involved in that part of music. Because no one liked my band. So I had to start working for other bands.

That’s a joke. Some people like my band. My mom. Only my mom.

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7.  You’ve been to a ton of places as a musician, tour manager, and merch guy. Of all the place that you’ve gone, which was the craziest for you?

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8. Being in so many bands over the years, what lessons did you learn that you wanted to apply to Sweet Gloom?

I think Sweet Gloom made me realize there’s not a right way to do it. It’s truthfully just like luck and money. If you have the money and the luck, you can do pretty much anything. And I have neither of those things. With Sweet Gloom, you know, I’m really passionate about it. I want it to do well. We put out a record and we did a big tour on it. And we’re going to keep doing it. We’re going to keep working hard as we can. I think the only thing I’m avoiding is, I’m trying not to do anything with Sweet Gloom that will make me miserable. I want to play a bunch of shows. I want to tour and I want to put out music. Everybody’s like, “oh, you should be making Tik-Toks and stuff like that.” And I just am not, because it makes me very unhappy, which is probably not good. So maybe I’m learning the wrong lessons, but I don’t know. This is something I’m very passionate about. Something that makes me happy. And I don’t want to hate it. You know what I mean? That’s the only thing I’ve learned. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do, which is bad advice, but it’s what I’ve learned.

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