A Chat with Turn Two (07.12.24)
Incorporating the ferocity of 2000s pop-punk with a nostalgic flair, US-based Turn Two bring the sounds of pop-punk yesteryear to modern-day audiences. Inspired by the likes of Jimmy Eat World and The Starting Line, Matt Favaloro, Shane Maziekien, Mike Hayden and Mason Ingling share their love for pop-punk with the world. We speak with vocalist Mike Hayden about their new EP Darkest Days, upcoming plans, and much more.
OSR: Rather cliché but how did Turn Two come together? What drew you to music?
Hayden: Shane and myself (Mike) were both active in the DIY Pop Punk scene during the 2010s as members of With The Punches and Count To Four, respectively. After those bands became inactive due to the natural progression of life in our 30s, both of us were living with a large music shaped hole in our hearts. Shane and Matt had been lifelong friends and were both looking for ways to fill that void. I think one of the coolest things about our story is how all of us connected over this mutual feeling that something was missing in our lives. I didn’t know Shane or Matt until a mutual friend put us in the same room, and I hadn’t seen Mason for a long time before bumping into him at a Phillies game. He was part of another DIY band that had disbanded and we were actively looking for a bass player. When we were talking about this project he told me about how he just wanted to get out and play shows. It was another chance encounter that just kind of fit perfectly with what we all wanted: to start playing music again. The response so far has been so incredibly humbling and better than we could possibly imagine.
OSR: You recently released your EP Darkest Days. What can you tell us about the EP? Is there a backstory or theme?
Hayden: I think Darkest Days is very much an EP that is encapsulated in the chorus of the title track: “The darkest days can make the brightest nights.” I think every one of us has gone through a darkest day or two over the past few years, but I truly believe that there are outlets to transform that darkness into something positive. I tried to make each song, lyrically, feel like an uphill battle to transform the negative. ‘Polaroid’ is a song about looking back on painful memories and reframing them into lifelong lessons. ‘Medicine’ is a song about finding ways to both punish and forgive yourself after intense periods of guilt. ‘Limiting’ is about the battle to overcome all kinds of dependencies we may use to cope with our darkest days. I think for a group of people who had been struggling with a big absence of creativity, being able to make music again is something for which we are all incredibly grateful. However, we never would have even met each other had it not been for some dark days.
OSR: What were the most exciting and least exciting things (for lack of a better word) when creating Darkest Days?
Hayden: The most exciting things were getting to record at Gradwell House Studios, which is a place that I’ve heard a lot of great records come from. Also, working with Matt Weber as our engineer, who has worked with notable bands. The most exciting part was to finally have these songs become real. This is 3 years in the making and for these songs to finally be professionally recorded and cement ourselves as a real band was by far the most exciting part.
The least exciting part is the anticipation when starting a new band. You never know how personalities will clash. When writing these songs, we all displayed our different styles and preferences. While there will always be moments of disagreement, we were able to move through the writing of Darkest Days in a fun, creative, and collaborative way.
OSR: Did you face any challenges when writing, recording and producing Darkest Days? If so, how did you overcome them?
Hayden: Before I had joined the band, they already had what was essentially a fully recorded instrumental EP. They would send me the demos and allowed me pretty free reign to write vocals and lyrics over the music. The one exception is ‘Medicine (Black & Blue)’, which was a song I brought to the table. I think a huge challenge initially was shaking off the rust and getting myself back into a creative space. I remember making my first attempts at vocals and sending everyone demos thinking, “Please don’t hate this.” After hearing positive feedback from the first few, I remember feeling so much more confident and comfortable in my writing that the next few songs flew out of me.
The initial development of this project was definitely a bit of a struggle for Matt and Shane. There were a bunch of changes in personnel before I got to the band and Mason didn’t join until maybe two weeks before the recording process. Matt and I butted heads on a few editing decisions when it came to the songs that he had written before I got there, but after working together we both felt the songs were coming out stronger than they were before. I think we all felt a moment of, “Wow, this is really happening,” once we physically walked into the studio. This was a record we all fought tooth and nail to get finished.
OSR: Do you feel Darkest Days is a good representation of your sound at the moment?
Hayden: When we first started sending these songs off to band friends and family, our favorite piece of feedback from almost everyone was that they felt like true throwback pop-punk. We all obviously grew up on early 2000s pop-punk, and I think the fact that all of our writing styles lined up with that aesthetic was one of the reasons we became such good friends and creative partners so quickly. When people listen to Darkest Days, we hope they feel like they did the first time they heard Say It Like You Mean It or Sticks and Stones. But I also don’t think we are confined to that specific feel or genre. We want to push boundaries, create earworms, and have fun making something new while harnessing that nostalgia from early 2000s pop-punk.
OSR: If you had to recommend one of your songs to a new listener, which would you choose and why?
Hayden: Didn’t want to keep this one for myself because, I won’t lie, I have a biased answer. Here’s what the whole band had to say. For me, ‘Medicine (Black & Blue)’ – this is a song I’ve been in love with for years and finally rescuing it from oblivion and hearing it actualized has been amazing. Tasty riffs, catchy chorus, epic bridge.
Maziekien: ‘Symptoms of Silence’ – It exemplifies all of the qualities of the band. Fast, catchy, lyrically significant, and shred 🤘.
Favaloro: ‘Symptoms of Silence’ – I wrote this song a long time ago and it helped me get through some rough times. I had a lot of uncertainty around this band after a bumpy start, but when Mike put his finishing touches on this song I knew we had something special.
Ingling: ‘Medicine (Black & Blue)’ – It’s near and dear because it’s technically the first song I heard from the project and the hooks are just so catchy.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Hayden: Music is our outlet. Our way to recharge. Our way to express ourselves. It’s what keeps us young and allows us to connect to people, whether that’s our music connecting with them or theirs connecting with us.
OSR: What do you hope people take from your music?
Hayden: I hope that if they relate to our lyrics that they know they aren’t alone. If they relate to the music, we want the music to be fun for them and evoke happiness. If they relate to both, then we’ve done our job.
OSR: What can we expect from Turn Two in the future?
Hayden: More music and more shows! Next year we have a bunch of shows lined up, including a weekend tour in January with our friends from Sleep In and Sinking In. Check out our socials for dates and cities! We’re also currently working on a new pool of songs to include on a new release we hope to have ready sometime next summer. We’re really excited to start working on songs together, as the writing process for Darkest Days was a bit unusual. Also, keep an eye out for us on the independent film festival circuit! Our music video for ‘Medicine (Black & Blue)’ was recently accepted into the 2024 Lift-Off London Film Festival and will be in competition all throughout December! We’re going to continue to push it on the festival circuit throughout 2025.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
Hayden: Never give up or sacrifice your passions. We all spent a lot of time feeling unfulfilled due to the lack of music in our lives. We are so thrilled with the positive response to Darkest Days and our singles, but we would have been just as happy getting together and playing songs for each other. Fight to make time and do something you love or something that drives you to be a better version of you every day.
Many thanks to Mike Hayden for speaking with us. Find out more about Turn Two on their official website, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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