circle drive steps onto the scene with their debut ep ‘pitchforks and angel wings’
by amber bintliff
If you’re looking to relive your emo phase that was full of an endless supply of converse and black eyeliner, meet Circle Drive. The New Jersey alternative rock trio is ready to introduce the world to their cutthroat, powerful presence with the release of their debut EP, Pitchforks and Angel Wings. With a sound that puts forward a refreshing spin on early 2000s emo and pop-punk, Circle Drive is a band that you wouldn’t want to fly under your radar.
Televised Magazine sat down with the band ahead of their EP release to chat about the meaning behind the EP, upcoming release show, and more.
Amber Bintliff: Your debut EP, Pitchforks and Angel Wings, released on November 7th. Congratulations! What emotions are we feeling as you guys get ready to put out these new songs?
Brandon DiAraneo: I'm very excited! It's a lot of anticipation, just a lot of waiting. I’m so excited to see what people think of each individual song. Everything's a little different.
Catherine Mako: We've been working on these songs for a while, so we've really been anticipating this release for a while now. We're just super excited to see what people think and how it's perceived.
Amber bintliff: Awesome! Can you guys walk me through the meaning behind Pitchforks and Angel Wings?
Brandon diaraneo: It's a heaven and hell kind of terminology. I feel like heaven and hell are just really basic and corny, so it's making it a little bit more creative. There's the good and the bad side of everything.
Amber bintliff: What was your favorite part of the creative process for the EP, especially since it's your first?
Catherine mako: Definitely recording. We had a really fun time recording with Jack Rose from Pollyanna. He recorded the whole EP with us and it was so much fun working with him. That was definitely the best part out of everything.
Brandon diaraneo: I think my favorite part was writing everything because I was able to write about a lot of stuff that I've never written about before. Recording is definitely a close second. Jack made it so much fun.
Amber bintliff: You released your latest single, “Tell Your Other Lover,” last month before the full EP. What is the significance of the track and how did it come together?
Brandon diaraneo: I was writing about an old personal situation where a lot of jealousy and toxicity were involved and I thought it's something that a lot of people could relate to. I wanted to have a song where you get both sides of the spectrum. You get both sides of this hypothetical relationship based on a real relationship. There's good points to be made on both sides of a toxic relationship.
Catherine mako: It’s about being able to understand both sides of what's going on. We wanted to find a way to do a song where Brandon plays a boy part and I play a girl part.
Amber bintliff: What is your favorite song or one you're most excited for people to hear on Pitchforks and Angel Wings and why?
Brandon diaraneo: I'm most excited personally about “Dahlia” because it's more happy than the other songs. It has a close meaning to me and I'm also a sucker for fast to the point pop-punk songs. It definitely does the job. It was simple, but the most fun. I had a lot of fun recording and I have even more fun playing it.
Catherine MAKO: My favorite is probably “Change My Future” because that song has to do with being a musician and the struggles of going through that. It’s just still sticking it out and trying to write the best you can and play the best you can. That's my favorite track personally and also instrumentally. I just really like it.
Jeramy Orienza: I would probably say “Dahlia.” I'm really excited for people to listen to that one just because it's super Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love sounding. I also am really excited for “Cut Me Once” as well because it's super sad, but also very simple and catchy. I feel like a lot of people can easily get into it just through one listen.
It's kind of tough. All the songs are very different and I like them all for their unique factors and characteristics, so I'm not really too sure, but those two, “Dahlia” and “Cut Me Once,” I'm really excited for people to listen to.
Amber BINTLIFF: How would you describe Circle Drive’s sound to someone who's never heard your music before?
Catherine MAKO: I think Circle Drive in a way is like what most people grow up listening to. My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Paramore, Taking Back Sunday. We're into all that really emo music and we're a band that's just inspired by that music, all the, all that music. So like it, yeah, we're just. Damn. I had a good way of explaining.
Jeramy ORIENZA: We’re like a Playa Bowl of sounds and inspirations.
Catherine MAKO: Yeah. Emo music, pop-punk and alternative. We have influences from everything. Even “Under the Influence, Not Under You” is almost, in my opinion, teeters on goth. That’s because we all have different influences in our music, especially when Jeramy joined. He's really into Midwest Emo and I feel like that rubbed off on Brandon. A couple of riffs on here on the new EP are a little bit Midwest emo.I feel like the term I would just use is alternative because it's a good umbrella to have. It has everything else under it, you know?
Brandon DIARANEO: It brings together everyone's favorite band. If you're into emo or alternative stuff, there's a little bit of each band that you like and a little bit of the bands that you don't like either. It's a big mix and I feel like there's little parts of everything that no matter what you listen to, you can enjoy it.
Amber BINTLIFF: You guys are playing a special EP release show on Friday, November 28th at Asbury Lanes in New Jersey. What are you most looking forward to about the show?
Catherine MAKO: Definitely the bands. There's a really good lineup of local bands, Rat Sauce, Söūp, Exit 109 and Chemical-X. They're all really good and I'm excited to see them play. I think more than anything I'm just excited to play for all my friends because I know a lot of people are going to be coming out for us, so I'm really excited for that.
Brandon DIARANEO: It's our first big headliner and it's at Asbury Lanes. I mean that's the stage I've seen a lot of bands that I love play on, like Mannequin Pussy, L.S. Dunes, Acacia Strain, and more all over the board. There's huge bands that have played that stage and I used to go to shows at the Lanes somewhat often. I would always just look at the stage and go, “I want to play here. This place is sick.”
We got a taste of it opening for Free The Witness last year and now we have our headliner going on there. It's just super exciting because it's always been kind of like a small dream of mine to play somewhere like that.
Amber BINTLIFF: Speaking of dream venues, do you guys have any venues that you guys would want Circle Drive to play?
Brandon DIARANEO: Starland Ballroom. That's my favorite.
Jeramy ORIENZA: I don't have a specific one, but I really want to play a show at a skate park or in a boxing ring, something weird like that.
Catherine MAKO: I would love to play Duff's Brooklyn, but the thing is it's a very metal bar and we're not that metal. I honestly, in general, just love to go there.
Brandon DIARANEO: Now that I think of it, Starland is still definitely up there, but Bowery Ballroom would be fun. That would be so cool to play. It feels like you're walking into some Panic! at the Disco music video. It's so cool in there and the stage is a perfect size. That's definitely another dream for me.
Amber BINTLIFF: I know we mentioned the lineup of insane and amazing New Jersey bands before, but what's been your experience of being a part of this community and how has the Jersey scene impacted you as artists?
Catherine MAKO: We've made so many friends through music and just playing shows with people. It's so awesome. Like every scene, there's its ups and downs, but more than anything it's awesome. All the people that are opening for us, we're big fans of them and they're big fans of us, so it's really cool.
Everyone's just a fan of each other, besides all the stupid drama that happens in any scene. Me and Jeremy especially, we've been playing in bands for a really long time, so we've definitely been heavily impacted by the Jersey scene for better and for worse.
Brandon DIARANEO: There's no better scene than the Jersey scene. Whether it's emo or hardcore or metalcore, Jersey is just the place to be. I feel like there's so much support from people in Jersey that you can't really find anywhere else. I've made more friends in the past year than I have my whole life. You make some enemies here and there, but you make a lot more friends. I wouldn't want to be in any other scene besides Jersey. I don't plan on leaving.
Amber BINTLIFF: Anything else exciting that you'd like to share before we wrap up?
Catherine MAKO: Listen to our EP when it comes out because it's gonna be really cool and just get tickets to our show.
Brandon DIARANEO: Pop out to the show. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, wherever you want. Listen to us. We got our old singles up. They're never going away and we got the whole EP coming out. AS Catherine was saying, just check us out and give us a chance.
