Beauty School Dropout is everywhere right now. They have 2025 tour dates that include the Idobi Radio Summer School Tour (currently), opening up for blink-182, opening up for letlive, and also performing at every date of Warped Tour. They also have a brand new single, "SEX APPEAL," featuring Royal & the Serpent. Of the single, the band shares:
'SEX APPEAL' is a look in the mirror and that punch in the face that life gives you when you realize you’ve been spending all of yourself on simply coping through the years to find some sort of high in life again. Really we just wanted to make something that sounds sexy and romantic, but has a deeper read as you dissect the lyrics.
And, to top all of that off, their debut album, WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?, drops in September. I think it's safe to say that 2025 is their year.
Beauty School Dropout was signed to Verswire by Mark Hoppus in 2022 and then dropped their debut album, WE MADE PLANS & GOD LAUGHED. The album has two tracks cracking ~14 million streams each, has a feature by Mark Hoppus himself ("Almost Famous"), and earned them a legion of fans known as the 'Dropouts.'
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Colie (lead vocals) and Beepus (bass) all about their crazy year, why they think people connect to their music so much, and more!
MSM: I photographed you guys about three years ago, and I just wanted to say that it was the most fun ever. Truly one of the best sets I've ever photographed. So, it’s exciting to chat with you guys today.
BEEPUS: Thank you so much, that's an honor. You remember what city?
Yeah, it was Raleigh, North Carolina.
BEEPUS: Was that with Jaden (Hossler)?
Yeah, with Jaden at The Ritz.
BEEPUS: Oh, sick. That was a good show.
I remember. You know, we only get (to shoot) three songs, typically, but they were like, no, they said it was good, you can shoot more. And it was just so exciting.
BEEPUS: We don't believe in the three song rule.
So, diving in, I wanted to start with “Sex Appeal”. What was the inspiration behind it, and how did the collaboration with Royal and the Serpent come about?
BEEPUS: Well, the collaboration with Royal and the Serpent in the Music video, that's my girlfriend. So I said, Hey, do you want to be in our music video? And she said Down. Well, we've all been in a lot of her music videos as well. That's actually how I met her.
COLIE: You can actually spot all of our girlfriends throughout the whole rollout in the music videos. As far as inspo and the song, we were just knee deep in the writing process. And I think somewhere along the line we wanted to write something a little bit different from what was, I guess, our typical taste palette of BSD music that we make, and ended up becoming one of the top picks just because it was a different personality of what we've showcased before.
BEEPUS: We take the line from Spinal Tap — “what's wrong with being sexy?” —very seriously.
Of course! And you're about to drop your debut album in September. What does the title represent to you—WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?
COLIE: It's tattooed on my stomach. I think to us it's kind of representation of love lost and how to get it back. I think we got to a point where whether it's love or even something as simple as just being in a band or our jobs outside of this, we kind of hit a wall where things became a little bit overwhelming and exhausting, and it was hard to find true excitement in it anymore. And I think part of it was our own doing. We just kind of take on a lot more than we bargained for sometimes, and we had to take a step back with this album, really be concise and decisive, and that was why we chose not to be on the road for a year and a half. We were like, okay, we're going to be very intentional and just see this whole project through and through.
BEEPUS: You know, I haven't seen a butterfly recently.
COLIE: Yeah. When's the last time you saw a butterfly?
How do you feel it shows your growth from earlier releases?
COLIE: I think you'll just have to hear it to find out. It's hard to explain but, I think, if nothing else, we've matured so much as people and as a band. I think sonically this, hopefully, represents that. It's the most live, mature kind of raw feeling I think we've ever been able to produce through our music, and we just hope that it captures people in that same life.
Yeah. So how is tour going currently?
BEEPUS: Hot? It's very warm. Our AC went out two days into the tour, so we've been very warm. We get it fixed tomorrow though.
COLIE: It's a great season to be wearing all black all the time.
By the way, I might be seeing you guys in Atlanta.
BEEPUS: Oh, sick. Yes, please do. Please come say hi, let us know. But touring is what we live to do. I swear, the reason why we're all in this is because we just love playing shows and when you're on tour, that's what you get to do every night. So, what's better than that?
And then later this year you get to tour with blink-182, which is huge!
BEEPUS: Oh yeah. It's for the second time, and it’s with Alkaline Trio. So, the fact that it's us, Alkaline Trio, and Blink is like the one to knock off the bucket list.
You must've done something right the first time around. They invited you back.
BEEPUS: Yeah, I give Mark Hoppus back massages whenever he asks.
Are there any tracks in particular from the new album that you're especially excited to be playing live?
BEEPUS: I can say that we're all very stoked for "Madonna" to come out. We're very excited for everyone to hear that, and "XXX". We've actually played that one live a few times when we were test driving it, and it is just a ball of energy, so I'm excited for people to hear the recorded version of that one.
Yeah. So, you got to work with Neil Avron. What was it like to team up with such an iconic producer, and how did he influence the sound?
COLIE: He was a huge influence. He's very, very big. Well, I guess I'll start by saying the biggest lesson we learned is that patience is a virtue, just because we've always produced things ourselves and we've always been very, very quick and not the most, how do I put this? You can turn anything into anything else in the laptop now the press of a button and takes a very raw approach where he hyper focuses on getting a take all the way through raw, nothing decorated on it, and that takes a lot more time and a lot more skill than I think we had had going in. And so coming out of it, I think we're all a lot better at our instruments, but also just a lot more patient with the production process and willing to see things through in a way that maybe we hadn't before. That's really special.
So, you have a very devoted fan base. What do you think it is about you or your music or both that you think people connect with so deeply?
COLIE: I think it's just authentic. We give so much of ourselves to the music. We give so much of ourselves to the fan base. And even now on this tour, it's like we go out every single night and we go say hi to literally every single person. And there's not many bands anymore that I think do that or care that much to do that. And for a lot of our fan base, I think that to them is a lot of these kids live in the Midwest where there's not much going on, and that's a dream come true for them. I think we blessed enough to be able to have those experiences early on with some of our favorite artists, and it's only fair that we could return the favor.
BEEPUS: I'll also give another shout out to just our fans in general who are just some of the best fans ever. They’re community building on their own without us. They all hang out, they all drive and pick each other up in different states and make sure everyone gets to the show. And I just think that we have the coolest fan base. Shout out to the Dropouts for real. They're the dopest.
COLIE: Even yesterday, there was a group, there were two separate parties that come and follow all the shows and show up to everything together. And they had never met, but they had recognized each other that they were both doing that. And they ended up becoming friends. And we went out after the show and they were like, oh my God, we just made so much more friends. We're doing the whole thing now together. It's like that, that's the energy. It's just bringing people together through music and having a good time.
So Mark Hoppus and Verswire believed in you from early on, and for good reason, but what does that kind of co-signing mean to you and what's been the biggest thing you've learned since then?
COLIE: It's crazy because it feels so surreal, even still. I think we're often just like, how is it? How did we get here? I think it's weirdly no surprise, but at the same time, just such a shock to all of us that we have so much unflinching support from all of these people. And I think that that's been a great affirmation and why we're here and getting us to continue to push ourselves further and further into this. Know that it's worth every bit of work that we put in.
BEEPUS: We got here by being authentic and that's the best way to be. And so it's pretty easy to just be yourself and if it works, it works.
Yeah. And it's working. So, your sound blends a lot of genres—pop-punk, alt-rock, and more. Was that always intentional or did it evolve naturally?
BEEPUS: It's pretty organic in the sense that A, we're a real band, right? There's four of us and we all grew up on very different things and very similar things. And when you get us all in a room, we're all going to pull our own influences. And I think what makes Beauty School Dropout be Beauty School Dropout is that we're all so different and the things that we do agree on is what you hear.
Yeah. And it’s perfect, it's a great sound. I still remember when I said I saw you live and got to photograph you guys. I had no idea who you were and I was just like, my mind was just blown. Your energy, you guys were all over the place, and you sounded amazing.
COLIE: I have a question for you. We're turning the interview table around. I'm curious, as a listener and someone who's heard the new music, what genre would you pin this to? We have just as big of a problem with this too. That's why I'm asking at least.
I mean, there's definitely alt rock, there's some pop punk elements, and you're honestly all over the place. You've got everything, I think.
BEEPUS: Cool. I like that. The everything.
And you clearly have fun doing it. So, yeah.
BEEPUS: We have a lot of fun.
That's all that matters. Who cares what it's called?
BEEPUS: It's a good answer.
Yeah, they sound good and they have fun doing it.
BEEPUS: Oh, like that. Put that on a shirt. That's a headline right there.
What is something you want fans to feel after listening to the album?
BEEPUS: That they need to listen to it again.
Obviously.
BEEPUS: Yes. I feel like we were on this album just trying to write a soundtrack for people's lives. I think half the album you could be listening to while you're getting ready to go out, the next half you listen while you're out, and the last part of it you listen on the drive home when you're speeding on a freeway.
COLIE: I think I want people to feel like they found a space they're welcome to.
BEEPUS: That's our ethos. Everyone's welcome. Just come have fun. Leave your bullshit at the door.
I think it sums up your fan base, too.
BEEPUS: It does, yeah.
So, if Sex Appeal was on the soundtrack to a movie scene, what would be happening on screen?
COLIE: Oh, it would be the scene in Euphoria, where Rue is having her gay awakening and Hunter Schafer, what is his character’s name? Well, that scene. That's a good scene. We've been waiting long and hard for the next season to drop. It's been a while.
Alright, and then I have two more questions. So, this first one, butterflies are usually associated with beginnings, right? So, now that you've said ‘goodbye’ to them, what's next?
BEEPUS: Oh, lots of touring. More touring. Yeah. We're on the road trying to catch them all. So yeah, we're looking for the next two years hopefully, of just constant travel and shows and meeting new people and trying to fill our tummies back up with butterflies.
And then, my last question, is there anything else that you want your fans to know that we didn't talk about?
COLIE: We love you guys. You guys are dope. I think it's pretty awesome that we get to go out every night and meet people that we genuinely resonate, with and that the people that do feel welcomed into the space that we're creating are the type of people that we want to be around that. And, our music fucking slaps. You should go listen to this new album. Like 20 bazillion times.
