Fieldrush
Fieldrush is a three piece “post-alt” West Coast emo group from San Diego, California. Guitarist/vocalist Trevor Johnson, bassist/vocalist Jin Salamack, and drummer/vocalist Diego Guardado met with us to talk about the formation of their band, their first single Nectarine, and their plans for the summer in anticipation of their debut EP — Fundamentals
Photo: Nick / @_commonconcerns_
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Interview
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1. Where does your bandname Fieldrush come from?
Trevor: It really was just the name we landed on after spitballing so many different names that didn’t work. And one day Jin threw it in the chat, and it was just like, “yeah, this is the name.”
Diego: Yeah. It was the one where we all unanimously were like, “yup.” That feels like it captures our style and our attitudes and mood, and just like, the energy of the music as well.
Trevor: We were gonna be… Creamsicle or Dreamsicle?
Diego: Dreamsicle.
Trevor: Yeah, thank god that didn’t happen.
Diego: I thought it was cool until we heard Fieldrush, and then it was like ok, this one is much better now.
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2. You’ve all been in a number of bands local to San Diego. What is the origin story behind Fieldrush?
Trevor: Well, me and Diego were jamming over quarantine a lot, and basically at one point Jin was like, “I’m looking for a new band,” so I was like, “hey, we should just start something.” We got together and jammed a couple times, and it just worked out.
Diego: But before that, we already knew each other. We were playing shows with our old bands together and stuff, so there was already some kind of common ground. And we knew we had somewhat similar music interests, so it just kinda worked out when we had nothing better to do than to jam during quarantine.
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3. I know that surfing is a big part of Jin’s life. What other hobbies have had a musical impact on your work?
Trevor: Bikes. Just any bikes. I have a mountain bike with a little 50cc motor on it, and then I got an old XR200, like a 1988 XR200, so its like a trail dirt bike thing. I even just have some obscure weird ones like Baja Minis. My little brothers both have bikes, so we’re all just trying to ride together. More than anything it’s not riding bikes, it’s just fixing bikes all the time. I listen to lots of music while I fix bikes.
Diego: I’m a huge fan of video game culture, internet culture, memes. Obscure visual art and stuff, so I’m sure somehow those kind of things make their way into the music, but I’m not sure how.
Jin: I think mainly, music and surfing have the same thing whether you’re playing live or just feeding the adrenaline rush from surfing, or just sitting and staring at the ocean when it’s calm and everyone else is quiet. That just puts me in the zone, ya know? It calms my nerves. Even like, playing live shows. I think that’s why I’m in Southern California. I moved from Hawaii to Southern California.
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4. You guys released Nectarine on March 2nd, 2022. Tell us about that song and how it came to be!
Diego: That song was, I think, the most fun for all of us to write collaboratively because it started with Jin pitching the intro riff, and we workshopped that song for at least a couple weeks. Like, every time we came back to practice, Jin was like, “wait guys. I think we should structure it like this.” And every time I’d be like, “no! I just learned my part.” It made sense to me this way, and we were always just turning that song inside out. But it worked out. We were always finessing it and fine-tuning it until we all kind of settled and agree. I feel like it’s definitely a song we’re all super proud of especially because it was such a collaborative effort.
Trevor: It was our first song that we wrote, and it was probably, to this day, the most collaborative still. That was pretty cool cause, I mean, at least in my projects before, I wrote everything and then was teaching band members how to play it. So this was the first time I was really able to focus on myself a little more and my parts, and let them come up with their own. It definitely preserves a little more energy for myself. It’s cool because my brain thinks of drums that aren’t as good as Diego’s, or bass riffs that aren’t what Jin is playing. Obviously, he’s going to come up with cooler riffs when he’s in his zone.
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5. REVOLT stands for rejecting the status quo, railing against norms and traditions, and saying FUCK OFF to people who doubt you. What kinds of things does Fieldrush rail against?
Trevor: I finally wrote my first anti-cop song more recently, so you probably won’t hear that for a bit, but it’s just a song about escaping out the back door and leaving traps in the house, and blowing up cops coming into the house. I feel like it’s pretty chill vibes normally, but I finally slipped that one in there.
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6. What are your plans for this summer and beyond as a band?
Diego: Ideally, just playing more shows and just getting as much exposure as possible. Connecting with bands that we love and enjoy and look up to and want to work with. Putting out as much music as possible. Putting out better songs.
Trevor: Plus, Diego’s going to be gone for a lot of the summer on tour, so with the release of the EP coming in August, I think it’s just going to be kind of low key. A lot of background work. A lot of doing stuff on the computer, like sending emails.
Diego: A lot of the business aspect of the band.
Jin: Make some merch!
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7. Do you have any advice for new bands just popping into the San Diego music scene?
Jin: Yes. Whether it’s local bands’ shows, DIY shows, even if it’s at venues, support your local bands… Opening for touring bands. That’s the way I met the people I know now. Just going to these shows, talking to these bands directly, and then just making a little network that way. Then you end up finding the pool of people that you best connect with. You’ll find your own scene just by doing that, ya know?
Trevor: I’m gonna add to that: PLEASE tune your shit. Please!
More Info: Spotify // Bandcamp // Instagram
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