Indianapolis-based “emoviolence” band starsfadingoutquietly released its debut self-titled EP on Jan. 15. The band is comprised of Armando Tandy as vocalist, Tyler Eubanks and June Smith on guitar, JT Langdon on drums and Eston Inskeep on bass. The album is a collection of spacey tracks anchored by heavy riffs and 2000s inspired scream-metal vocals, balancing ambience with hardcore.
Now, two months out from the release, starsfadingoutquietly band members reflect on their first EP and what’s coming up.
The band was born from Tandy’s interest in trying to write screamo songs and sharing drum tracks with Eubanks, who writes guitar overtop the tracks. The two have been writing music together since high school, and after they wrote their first single “thorns” in 2024, they couldn’t stop.
The album was originally meant to be just one release for the songs Tandy and Eubanks were writing, until they got a lineup together that seemed to click, bringing on Smith and Langdon, and they started playing live shows last summer.
Tandy says the reception to the EP has been “overwhelming” and “very positive,” which they are especially grateful for as this is the bands’ first foray into the genre, having previously played in punk and hardcore bands.
“It’s just a new experience for me as well especially, since in those bands I was drumming mostly and, in this band, I'm doing vocals, and I've never done vocals in my life,” Tandy said. “I've never performed live in front of people like singing or anything of that sort, so it's been very new.”
Eubanks, who plays guitar, says it was everyone’s first time collectively playing this genre as a unit, having been fans of screamo and emoviolence for a while, and they wanted to do something different from the hardcore scene that saturates Indianapolis.
“I feel like we wanted to do something a little bit more on the melodic side, but still keeping it really heavy,” Eubanks said. “So it’s just another niche that needed to be filled, so we’re excited to do something a little different than a lot of other bands are doing.”
The band released its first single last summer on July 10, 2024. Having released their first full body of work, Tandy says that the community has been nothing but supportive.
“It was very encouraging and very welcoming that so many people from Indianapolis, Indiana, as well as so many other states reached out to us and said that they were very big, really big fans of the project,” Tandy said.
Inskeep said the thriving hardcore scene in Indianapolis has influenced the band’s high octane heavy sound.
“[The scene] is definitely made for people who want to go out and mosh, so we’ve definitely leaned towards that sound because that’s kind of the people we play with and the environment we’re in,” Inskeep said.
The album is a result of the band members’ eclectic tastes, bringing in heavy guitar riffs from Eubanks and Smith and Langdon’s interest in hyper-pop and underground hip-hop. The EP also draws from ambient music. Tandy said all these influences came together and “miraculously worked.”
Inskeep came from a jazz background and discovered hardcore in college and brings the same sense of improvisation to the band.
“I treat each song as supporting the rest of the band, just following what’s happening and following the energy of the music,” he said.
Their creative process, much like their creative influences, is collaborative, where everyone brings their own input and inspiration. While the members have played in different bands before, something seemed to click and everyone is on the same page and bringing something new.
“We always write songs together as a whole group,” Inskeep said. “But it has been great getting to have a band where everyone has an input and it’s not just one person proposing a song.”
Eubanks said the band writes instrumentals first and the lyrics come after, where someone comes up with a rift and the song grows from there.
With their first full body of work out and just getting started, Tandy said it would be exciting to collaborate with some of the bands they’ve played live shows with and met while getting started. He also would like to play shows in other states, “to show people what we’ve got.”
Easton said now that the first project is out, the band can write more songs with the intention of contributing to a larger project.
Band starsfadingoutquietly will play at 7 p.m. at The Rot Spot DIY all-ages venue March 28.
