There’s More To It Than Climbing, the much-anticipated, brand-spanking-new full-length from Southern California’s finest, Decent Criminal, is live on all streaming services now. I had the absolute pleasure of getting to chat with Tristan and Hunter Martinez, the duo responsible for making up 50% of the Decent Criminal gang, and got to question the minds behind a record that is unlike anything the group has released previously.
My last encounter with these dudes came back in 2017 on a bill featuring Dwarves and The Queers (it’s actually been so long that the venue, Exit/In, has since closed and reopened its doors) and it was back in the days when I was still exploring the genre that I’ve now come to love so much. That tour was in support of their sophomore release, Bloom, a record that was described by PunkNews as having “much more oomph and power” than their debut. This was the Decent Criminal that I had obsessed over for a while, but later fell out of touch with until this current release.
Parts of this record allude to the Southern California brand of punk that served as my very introduction to Decent Criminal, while the remaining majority explores genres outside that which fans have previously experienced from the group. On more than one occasion, heavy shades of Sublime are present, with little sprinkles here and there of qualities that remind me of the glory days of Everclear and Sugar Ray (but in only the best ways).
You can tell these dudes let loose with this record and just had a good time making it and the end product is something that’s both riveting, yet easy listening at the same time. Tracklist construction is something I’ve paid more and more attention to as I conduct more interviews, and as we discuss during our chat, this record is extremely well-crafted in a way that guides you along a journey of where these guys are currently at. I very much encourage you to check this thing out below from start to finish because, although each track can stand alone in its own right, it truly is a journey in that each recording guides you along to the next until “Hold Me Down” serves as a worthy conclusion.
Due to the heavy emphasis on this record being more of a journey rather than merely a collection of tracks, conducting this interview in a track-by-track format seemed fitting. Catch the full interview below, and go catch these guys live because, with this release being unlike anything in their catalog, both Hunter and Tristan assured that their live shows will feature some changes.
(Editor’s note: The following has been edited and condensed for clarity’s sake because a good chunk of this interview was just four guys shooting the shit.)
Dying Scene (Nathan Kernell NastyNate): I appreciate you guys reaching out to do this interview. It was nice diving back into your music, I’d kind of fallen out of the loop with you guys since the last time I saw you. I caught you guys years ago here in Nashville I think during the Bloom tour, maybe with like Agent Orange or Dwarves or somebody. It was back at Exit/In before they shut down and reopened.
Tristan Martinez: Oh Dwarves, yeah man. We did that run with them and the Queers, that was one of our first tours.
That’s right, yeah. I get all those shows mixed up because Agent Orange and the Queers came through every other month pretty much, always at Exit/In. So where are you guys calling from?
Tristan: We’re in sunny Los Angeles, California, it’s pretty sweet. We just finished up tour yesterday so we’re back here in California.
It looks a hell of a lot better than it does here in Nashville right now *laughs*. So I wanted to start out and see if I could get some background on the record, where it was recorded, how long you’ve been sitting on these songs. It’s due out in May, correct?
Hunter Martinez: Yeah it’s coming out May 19th, this first pressing is gonna be on our own label called Diissed Records. Then Gunner is out in Germany and they’re doing distribution out there and Best Life Records out of the UK is doing distribution there too.
Cool, have you guys been sitting on these songs a while or did you write these leading up to getting this recorded?
Hunter: Essentially we had like a record’s worth of material before the pandemic, and then that happened so we basically threw it all away except for one song, that’s on the record. Yeah so we just made like a whole ‘nother record.
Yeah that’s kind of been a common theme with a few of these interviews I’ve been doing. Guys will have stuff that they released right during COVID or they’ve got material, and then we’re starting to see now records that are released that were written during COVID. It kind of gives a different spin on some of these new releases.
Hunter: Yeah, it was like a period too where you didn’t really know what the hell was gonna happen.
Tristan: Some of it’s very dark, it’s almost like a reminder of why you even write or play music in the first place, it was kind of freeing for me.
So congrats on the record guys. What stood out to me, it seems like it kind of jumps around from genre to genre. There was a short bio at the top of the email I was sent that listed influences like Silversun Pickups and Dirty Nil, kind of a wide range of influences. But it made sense after listening to it.
Tristan: Yeah we dabble man, we listen to a lot of different kinds of stuff so I think it shows.
I mean I definitely heard some like old-school grunge in there, and then I heard some of what I was familiar with from seeing you guys back in like 2018 or 19. I heard some of that and then I heard some stuff that was kind of caught me off guard, completely different.
With this record, would you say the variation in style is kind of the biggest difference from what you’ve released before or do you have something that comes to mind for what’s different about this release than what you guys have put out before?
Hunter: Yeah I mean check out the whole thing, I think it’s meant to be listened to in its entirety, everything’s intentional. I mean I think it’s gonna be obvious that there’s way different shit than we’ve done before and that’s cool.
Tristan: Very, very happy about this record, how everything came out is a good interpretation of where we are right now, we’re stoked to actually be out play and play it in full probably coming up here.
So “Outside” kicks off the brand new release. I’m gonna ask a super original question, can you tell me about it *laughs*?
Tristan: Yeah “Outside” is cool, it’s Brian’s tune, Brian starts it off pretty. It’s kind of like the whole record, in a way, it’s a good scope of like where things are at and where things are going. Brian’s no longer in the band and I think it sort of opens up that and you know where he’s at, where he’s going and where we’re going. So unfortunately we had to part ways.
Hunter: I think he wrote that after he did mushrooms with his wife and I think some of that he references in the song. He showed us that demo a long time ago and I was very much pushing him on recording it because it sounds so fuckin’ cool. I really, I love that song.
So “Driving“, that’s one of the singles, that was one that I was kind of referencing as what I’m familiar with as Decent Criminal. Did you plan that out with that kind of sounding like what you guys traditionally sound like, was there a plan behind releasing that one first?
Tristan: It was just kind of the first one that we thought like “Oh this could be our first single”. As far as singles go, these first two kind of guide you along. Like “Smooth” almost takes you like a little bit further into where it’s going, so it all kind of leads you. So the first parts kind of familiar if you’re into our band, but then the next two are gonna be vastly different.
Was “Driving” the one you kept from that basically full length you had during COVID?
Hunter: No, that song is called “Wanna Be.”
Oh gotcha. So tell me a little bit about the meaning behind “Driving.“
Tristan: Yeah “Driving,” essentially it’s kind of metaphorical in a way, like the car is myself, my body, my lifestyle. Driving my car is you know like living a different lifestyle than most people and kind of the toll it takes on your life being in a band and all that shit. I don’t know, I think it could be taken pretty literal and that’s chill too. So yeah that’s the actual meaning behind it.
Sweet. So then moving on to “Soothe,” that’s another single out, that’s probably my favorite. I like how simple it is and it kind of makes a lot of sense, you talking about that one taking the listener a little further to where this record is going. I thought it was more of like a traditional grunge sound.
Tristan: Yeah for sure, it just hits in certain places and it comes down other places. And yeah that was a cool song. Hunter and I were just jamming, I record everything we jam, so it’s a song where none of those parts were written alone, it just happened on the spot and we just like put it together over the course of a few weeks.
Is that common with you guys, just kind of writing like spur of the moment?
Hunter: Yeah. I mean moreso with the last couple records. This one, you know Tristan did a lot on his own, Brian, our other songwriter, had a couple songs that he brought to the table. But yeah moreso the last four records we were like in a room jamming together. This one was like every now and then we would have stuff on the spot, but most stuff came through Tristan working on songs at our apartment.
Tristan, are you kind of the primary songwriter or is it more of a collaborative thing?
Tristan: I mean two of the songs on the record are Brian’s, but yeah I’m the primary songwriter. And I mean we just, you know, hash it out together really. So I come up with basically most of it and kind of get it together.
So then “Same,” that one was kind of giving me like beach Sublime vibes. What I did really want to ask you guys was what kind of what influences of yours do you think show through in this record the most, because it’s kind of all over the place in terms of like genre?
Tristan: Well it’s kind of cool to just kind of write to a drum machine instead. So all I did was take like a loop, same as the first song I wrote during the pandemic.
Hunter: That one stayed pretty true to the demo, too, which is awesome man. And more like the home recording style I’d say, which is something that we always loved from other bands, which is why Sublime I guess is a perfect comparison *laughs*. I mean they did that a lot.
Tristan: Yeah that song kind of reminds me of this Minutemen song, kind of has just a 90s vibe all together.
I mean love them or hate them, it was almost giving me Sugar Ray vibes. And I mean that in all the best ways, not the shitty ways *laughs*.
Hunter: I love Sugar Ray man, I don’t care what anyone says *laughs*.
Tristan: They’ve got some hits man, they write some great pop tunes.
So then “Blind,” that’s another hard-hitting one. So how I kind of see it, with this first half of the record, you’ve got “Driving” which is kind of what you’d expect, kind of the hard hitting one, and then “Soothe” you’re backing off a little bit, showing where the album’s heading. And then :Same,” kind of an unplugged vibe, but then “Blind” is another hard-hitting one. Was that done on purpose, I guess just with the flow of the record?
Hunter: Yeah just with the flow. I mean, I think putting “Blind” later in the record wouldn’t have made any sense. Because, I don’t know, the second-half of the record, I don’t wanna say I like it more, but I like the direction where it’s headed. “Blind,: it’s kind of just like a liberating song in a way, the lyrics are funny.
Tristan: That one’s also one where we jammed it out together in the garage, and I remember like working out “Blind” pretty well. I wrote that during the pandemic, at the very start of the pandemic and, yeah, I don’t know man, it’s just a cool song.
Yeah, so since I’ve been doing these interviews, with a few of them right as releases are coming out, I’m starting to pay more attention to how you construct a record, what order you put things in. And that’s kind of something that stood out to me with yours, it flows very well, it’s put together very well.
Tristan: The track listing is something we put a lot of emphasis on, we think about that a lot.
Well I mean that can make or break the record, like if you do it right it helps a lot. I was talking to Adrienne from Plasma Canvas out in Denver and they had a very cyclical approach to their record. It started off very soft with a piano hymn and then closed with another very soft song and it was done very well. And that immediately stood out about your release, how well it flows together.
Hunter: Cool, glad you feel that way. Thanks man. Yeah that definitely was important to us, to have flow.
So “You Dog” is another one where I think it demonstrates the variation in styles. Was that kind of a goal for you, having like a having a bunch of different styles, or did that just come naturally, were you just kind of writing whatever?
Tristan: Yeah it was just natural, you know just sitting around playing guitar, I came up with that riff on our couch. And I think that was one of the best parts about this record is it’s like not really trying anything, not really caring about it; more authentic and just feels more like ourselves and myself. So yeah this is one of those songs that sort of shows a different side.
So that’s the first half of the record, do you guys have any songs you’re particularly excited for people to hear, I know two of the songs on the first half are already released, but do you have any other ones you’re particularly excited for people to hear?
Tristan: I mean all of them really, we’re gonna make videos and basically every song’s gonna have like a video component. I’m excited for it dude, I’m excited to kind of let every song shine on its own.
Hunter: We’ve been playing a couple songs live on this last tour and coming up until the album comes out, we play the song called “Wanna Be” that’s been getting some good crowd reaction and I’m excited for that for one to finally drop. Also a later song, the last song on the record, “Hold Me Down”, is another great tune that we’ve been messing with live. It feels good to change it up a little bit, not just be that kind of like garage rock punk band that people have seen play live before, you know.
Coincidentally, that leads right in to “Wanna Be,” track 7. Tell me a little bit about that one, what the songwriting process looked like and kind of the meaning behind it.
Tristan: Yeah “Wanna Be” is just a song that, I guess it was a few years old at that point, and then I finally finished it. I was just like messing with the bridge and coming back into shit that I figured out during the pandemic. And yeah it’s just a love song really, that one felt really good in the studio early on when we were tracking the record.
Alright so then “Time,” that’s another one that kind of veered into it a different style I guess.
Hunter: Yeah “Time” was just another drum machine beat that Brian brought, it’s almost got a hip-hop vibe.
Yeah that’s another one that gave me Sublime vibes, but more of like the hip hop, Long Beach Dub All-Stars side. Sorry if this is getting a bit repetitive, I’m trying to keep from asking the same questions about each track.
“Each Time I’m Away,” that’s the next one. For like the last two tracks I didn’t really have many notes because they were both kind of different, not really what I was expecting from having last seen you guys years ago. I guess they kind of took me by surprise, I kind of saw the way the record was going, but wasn’t sure how you were gonna end, if you were going to have another hard-hitter or end softer. You guys were somewhere in the middle.
Tristan: Yeah “Each Time I’m Away” is the oldest song, like writing-wise. We played an acoustic show in Berlin in 2019, I had never played that song for any of the guys and I just like busted it out and they told me how much they liked it. So we made it into a song *laughs*. Yeah probably one of my favorite songs on the record.
Hunter: Yeah that song came together pretty quick, we didn’t really mess around with the structure at all, it didn’t really take much effort, it was just kind of there.
Tristan: Yeah even when I wrote it I think it was just kind of smooth sailing.
So then “Hold Me Down,” that concludes the new release. Was there any reason throwing that at the end, just thought it fit well?
Tristan: Yeah I just thought it sounded pretty at the end.
Hunter: And yeah it was the last two, we didn’t even actually do that in the studio yeah it was added on, Tristan and Brian put it together at Brian’s house in the garage and we really liked it. I think we jammed it during pre-production and I just fuckin’ always liked the tune, the melody was really good, but yeah these guys kicked it out.
Tristan: Yeah Brian and I recorded it in his garage and I was like back and forth kind of about recording it or even having it on the record, now it’s probably my favorite song on there, it just came out really pretty. Just, you know, a sweet song that I wrote in the studio by myself.
Yeah man so I think it’s cool, the whole groove of the record, it’s just a trip through everything that we’ve been doing and a lot of different music that we haven’t really represented on our other records.
Hunter: And during the pandemic we moved down to San Diego from Los Angeles too, and I feel like some of the songs are really just a reminder of that time of us being there together in that apartment in San Diego and the friends we had. The jam spot I feel is very crucial in writing and being together during all that.
Tristan: And this is like what we’re doing in our lives, there’s parts of it that are beautiful and parts of that are stressful. So I think between Hunter and I there’s all sorts of like natural intensity that comes and goes or whatever, we communicate with each other. So it’s all kind of there you know, it’s a trip to live your band.
Sweet yeah, so what’s to come after this, I know you guys just got back from tour, but do you have a record release show set up? Do you have a tour you’re looking at doing to promote this?
Tristan: Yeah we’re doing a tour next month with Direct Hit!, we have ten dates with them, it’s their 15th year anniversary so we’re doing a run of shows with them. We’re doing a split, we have some extra songs we recorded in a session in San Diego actually and it’s coming out a 7-inch on Dirtnap Records [OUT NOW!!!!]. And Direct Hit! made up a comic book for it as well, which is pretty cool.
Hunter: And then we’re doing Pouzza Fest in May out in Montreal, and then we’re going to Europe in June and July. Around June we’re planning a couple record release shows in California. Super excited about that, we’re planning to get together a bunch of friends for the record release show, so that should be fun.
Well that about wraps things up. Once again, congrats on this release, this thing’s killer!
Hunter: Yeah, thanks for doing this.
Tristan: Thanks dude.
