Brooklyn natives Chayse Schutter (vocals), Justin Flores (guitar), Don Scherr (drums) and Dan Hernandez (bass) make up the borough’s newest metalcore punk band Pocketsand. While juggling jobs and touring, the guys have managed to begin recording an EP and drum up a small following despite having only formed earlier this year. Listen to their song “Blinding” below and check out what Chayse and Don have to say about their latest musical endeavor:

1. How’d the band start?
Don: Chayse and Justin were working together at their day jobs, realized they were into the same sorts of heavy bands and decided they wanted to try to start a band in that vein of music for fun.

2. How did you land on the name “Pocketsand”? Any connection to “King of the Hill”?
Don: Chayse was watching an interview where someone said they would use pocketsand as a default defense move in a bar fight, thought it was cool and mentioned it to Justin who knew if from “King of the Hill.”

3. How would you define your sound?
Chayse: Like throwing a trashcan full of nails down a set of stairs.
Don: Heavy hitting punk that stabs you and nurses your wounds at the same time

4. If you could expand that sound somehow (eg, add a new instrument or another member) how would you?
Don: We use a lot of homemade samples in our live set that are spacey, sort of eerie soundscapes. We would love to keep that as part of our sound and expand on it for recordings.

5. Is recording more of an isolated period or do you write music at a consistent basis?
Don: It’s kind of a combination of the two. We kind of all write small bits at home and bring those skeletons to our meet ups. When we’re not in a room rehearsing, chances are we’re in Don’s home studio laying down the hard frameworks for the songs we’re working on.

6. Does everyone go off to the woods and write together or is it a more emailing ideas back and forth kind of thing?
Chayse: I wish there were woods.
Don: We rely heavily on Google Drive.

7. How do you think the Internet has changed the music industry? In regards to getting exposure as a band and selling your music- is it easier or harder now?
Don: The internet has blown the music industry so wide open that it’s huge. There’s so many bands, so many genres, basically anyone can get their music out there. Exposure is definitely harder since there is so much static it can be overwhelming. Advertising is almost non-applicable at this point. We kind of feel we’re not even trying to sell the music, we’re trying to share it. Discover it together. Push ourselves, and hopefully people will like it enough that we can continue to create it.

8. Pocketsand is a relatively new project, how is it different than previous efforts?
Chayse: It’s the heaviest stuff I’ve ever written and furthest I’ve gone down that route as a vocalist. It’s all uncharted territory. It’s all about risk taking. We know people don’t like this music.
Don: Definitely heavier than anything I’ve done. I’ve also never played drums in a band.

9. How has booking gigs been? How do you convince people that Pocketsand needs to be on their bill?
Don: Luckily, we’ve never had to convince anybody yet. We’ve played two shows through friends bands. It’s been a blast so far and all kind of fallen into our lap. We’re hoping the music will keep that happening.

10. You recently played a show in Virginia. How has the reception out-of-town been?
Chayse: Super supportive. A lot of friends came out from the area so that was cool.

11. What’s one non-music related thing that can always be found with the band on tour?
Chayse: weed.
Don: weed.

12. What should listeners expect from a live show?
Don: Dark positive energy. Loud. Fast. Groovy. We like to have a lot of fun.

13. What’s the next step for the band?
Don: Recording our debut ep and hitting the road.

Check the band out on their Facebook and Instagram!