For fans of experimental music and catchy noise, Obsolescence is a must-add to your music library. Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to meet up with band members Ben Mascioli (vocals), Liam Thomas (guitar), Daniel Oicsamid (bass), Nick Cuadrado (guitar), and Victor Figueroa (drums) before their performance at Launch Festival in Lancaster, PA, and also at their album release show at The Mill at Rockdale. We sat down to discuss what things have been like for a band that’s on the rise, along with the challenges that they’ve been facing as things seem to progress along in their music career as a band.
Obsolescence just released a brand new album titled "Last Chance For First Impressions," which has quickly peaked in popularity — with some songs even surpassing over 10,000 streams on Spotify in just the first few months since going live.
MSM: How did Obsolescence all begin?
Ben: Wow. That's a great one.
Liam: That’s a loaded question.
(Everyone laughing)
Ben: You see, we thought it'd be cool to invent this new cereal because we wanted to follow in John Kellogg's footsteps. But the rest of the guys were like, you know what we could do instead of make cereal? Make music — and that'll do it. (Laughs) But in all seriousness, the band began in 2020 right before COVID. We started as a thrash metal band turned metalcore band. We just weren't really doing anything other than writing at the time. Flash forward 2 years — we had some band member changes, started playing shows, and that's when things kind of ramped up a little bit, and we became more than just a jam group.
MSM: Where are each of you from?
Dan: Delaware.
Ben: I grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Liam: I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware.
Nick: I’m from Philly, and I’m still there…. (sighs)
MSM: What’s wrong with that?
Nick: Dude, if they weren't… giving me tickets every day — then I probably wouldn't be as mad, but... I can be mad. Fuck the PPA. Burn that place down. Put it in the interview. I hate them.
Victor: Originally Puerto Rico.
You guys just released your first full-length album. What inspired Last Chance for First Impressions?
Ben: No direct inspiration. We all collectively had songs that we each wrote. Some inspo for our sound comes from Linkin Park and Knocked Loose. For the actual album itself, I think the actual inspiration and the vibe behind it stemmed from when things were not going the right way. We were losing members, and playing shows became a hassle. I remember saying that after this album — if nothing really happens, I'm done.
Dan: After rehearsal, we had a big conversation where Ben told us how he was feeling about that. We more or less agreed, not in the sense that we'd break up, but that we would stop pushing to make this a career and become a hobby band. I drove home thinking about how my mom used to say, ‘You never get a second chance — make a first impression.’ So, it was just a play on that.
Are there any additional bands or artists that helped shape your overall sound?
Nick: Slipknot.
Liam: Avenged Sevenfold.
Ben: A lot of the stuff I write leans heavily into the math query kind of stuff. Think Dillinger, Norma Jean, Chariot, etc.
Liam: We had feedback one time telling us that we needed to pick a direction… but I think that's just our thing. We want people to say, ‘That sounds like an Obsolescence song.’
Ben: We're currently demoing new songs for another release, and a constant thing that has been brought up so far is that it’s a new sound, and I think that's more exciting than anything because… well, we can kind of do whatever we want. There's a lot of different combinations that were honestly a little weird at first, but we decided that this could be really fun.
It sounds like a cool next step for you guys. Completely changing it up here now, but who in the band would you say would be more than likely to survive in a horror movie? And who would probably be the first to go?
Ben: Nick is surviving.
Nick: Um, yeah, I am surviving, thank you.
Dan: I think Victor would also survive because there's that stereotype that when a noise happens, someone goes to check it out, and they get killed. Victor ain't doing that.
Ben: That's true. I feel like Victor would give less than a shit.
(Victor laughing)
So if a guy's coming at you with a knife — you’re just laughing??
Victor: Yeah.
Ben: You are not right.
Dan: Victor and Nick would just tag team and just roast on the guy's mask and just make the killer embarrassed.
Ok, ok — moving on from that. Who would you say is the biggest diva in the band?
Ben: ME. 100%. And I know that. It's not even a secret.
(Everyone laughs)
What is your favorite song that you get to perform live?
Liam & Ben: Rule One.
Ben: It's just so chaotic, but like the best time ever.
Dan: I think Subliminal Bliss has been my favorite.
Ben: It's fun to play, but it's 10 minutes long, so we can't play it often.
Nick: “I like playing Dinky and Kentucky. I like throwing down.
Yeah, Kentucky is probably one of my favorite songs to see you play live.
Victor: Mine is Lazy Like God.
Ben: That's a good one. I feel like people react very well to that live, which makes sense. It’s the best-performing song right now, and people respond to that one really well, which is cool.
What would you say success looks like for you as a band?
Ben: That’s a LOADED question.
Dan: 12 mansions across the globe.
Liam: I’d probably say that if all of us could just do this full time, not have to work, that’d be it for me.
Ben: Total success, personally, is just reaching people that have never heard of us before, and then they latch on to the music that we play. There has been a handful of times we've had people randomly come up to us, and we have no idea who they are, and they're just like, ‘Your music is so good. I've been following you guys for years,’ and it always takes me back a little bit because I'm not used to that.
Liam: We're a little more business-focused now.
Ben: Making that pivot was hard because you do have to focus on it eventually, but it does draw out a little bit of the fun in it, you know? But it is fun. Every time we play a show, I'm always like, this is fun as shit.
Dan: Recently, we’ve been playing shows where at the end of our set, people chant for an encore. That's still wild to me. That's what success is like for me. It's small. It's not going to pay the bills. Maybe one day, but it's a goal. In the moment, it's a lot of fun.
If you could give your younger selves or anyone just starting a band — what would you say?
Do it as soon as possible. I think to start as young as possible, learn as young as possible, and just play. It doesn't matter what you play. Play what you like, because you're gonna find people that like it.
Liam: If you have a teacher, which I did 10 years ago, ask them how to get your music out there. Just learning about Spotify and streaming — because it's a process to do that.
Ben: It's really hard when you're young. I get jealous sometimes seeing bands that are 10 years younger than us. I'm like damn, they can really play. If you're gonna do it, also make sure you support other bands in the scene. Go to their shows and meet people. I didn't learn that until way too late. Once you're in, it’s a much more enjoyable experience because you can see your friends. It's like, yo, the homies from this band are here, and it's a good time.
To wrap things up — What is next for Obsolescence? Any big plans? I know you said that you are working on another release?
Ben: Yeah, I think right now it's just working on new music and playing as many shows as possible. We're fortunate that we just signed with a booking agency. Hopefully we'll be on the road a little more. But yeah, I think it's just playing shows and to keep throwing this album out there, so whoever would listen to it — we just want to try and get it to new places.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
