The Music Storm Podcast: Interview with Against the Current's Chrissy Costanza
- Mikey Jablonski
- Jun 26
- 24 min read
Mikey: How are you doing?
Chrissy: Good.
Mikey: Okay, are you in your room setup now? How's your room working right now? Cause I know it's under construction, right?
Chrissy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. My studio's under construction, so I'm just in a guest bedroom right now.
Mikey: Oh, cool. Nice. How's the cats? How's your cats and animals?
Chrissy: They're good. Two of them are sleeping right next to me. They're very cute. I have one of those suction cup beds on the window for one of them, and the other one has a bed on the desk. And then my dog's just over there. And the third cat is elsewhere right now.
Mikey: no way. Okay, cool. Awesome.
Chrissy: Yeah, thanks for asking!
Mikey: I follow you on Twitch as well, so I've been following you for awhile and everything.
Chrissy: Oh, awesome!
Mikey: Is the studio close to being done, or not at all?
Chrissy: I think very close. Hopefully soon. But every time I think that, it takes longer, so we don't know. We'll see.
Mikey: Cool. So I have to say one thing before we start — I got to see you guys for the first time in LA, I think in March, for the 15 Years Anniversary tour at the LA show. I got the merch and everything. It was so good seeing you guys live for the first time. I came all the way from Winnipeg, Canada, because you guys don't come to Canada.
Chrissy: Oh, thank you! That's the thing, I know. It's so hard. The biggest reason we don't come to Canada often, honestly, is just because when we do our tours in the US, sometimes the visa situation with our international crew is really difficult to go in and out of Canada. Sometimes we can't route where we're going in and out of the US. We have like 50/50 international crew, and the visas in the US are really difficult, so.
Mikey: That makes sense. Well, you guys gotta somehow just make a whole entire Canada tour because you guys have never done that.
Chrissy: Oh, I would love that. We usually just do North America together. Hopefully in the future. We'll see.
Mikey: Hopefully. Okay, but anyways, you guys got a new single, "Dead Man Walking." It's been on repeat for me nonstop. How was it making the song compared to "Heavenly"?
Chrissy: So "Dead Man Walking" & "Heavenly" was kind of before we even knew we were doing an album or anything like that. "Dead Man Walking" was more into the throes of the album, so I think I was a little more focused at that point, which made it easier to write. I got to write it with Eric Ron as the producer, and then Ren, her Instagram is just renforshort was the co-writer. We had so much fun writing that song. I had like the best day in the studio. It's a miracle that we finished the song because we were yapping the entire day. We were just having such a blast. But it's one of my favorite songs that's gonna be on the album.
Mikey: I love that song. I was gonna ask, how was it working with Ren/Lauren?
Chrissy: It was awesome. She's the best. She's so fun. We hit it off immediately, and she has credits on three or four songs that are gonna be on the album now. I brought her in to finish up the last song that needed it. I was writing on Zoom with a Swedish producer, Max, and I was like, "I can't get this top line finished." I was like, who can I top line with? And I was like, "Oh, Lauren," obviously.
Mikey: Nice. Cool. Yeah, she's so talented. It's insane. What lyrics of hers on "Dead Man Walking" do you remember?
Chrissy: Oh God. It's so hard for me to remember who wrote which exact line. We kind of wrote all of it together. Her melodies are insane.
Mikey: How are you doing?
Chrissy: Good.
Mikey: Okay, are you in your room setup now? How's your room working right now? Cause I know it's under construction, right?
Chrissy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. My studio's under construction, so I'm just in a guest bedroom right now.
Mikey: Oh, cool. Nice. How's the cats? How's your cats and animals?
Chrissy: They're good. Two of them are sleeping right next to me. They're very cute. I have one of those suction cup beds on the window for one of them, and the other one has a bed on the desk. And then my dog's just over there. And the third cat is elsewhere right now.
Mikey: no way. Okay, cool. Awesome.
Chrissy: Yeah, thanks for asking!
Mikey: I follow you on Twitch as well, so I've been following you for awhile and everything.
Chrissy: Oh, awesome!
Mikey: Is the studio close to being done, or not at all?
Chrissy: I think very close. Hopefully soon. But every time I think that, it takes longer, so we don't know. We'll see.
Mikey: Cool. So I have to say one thing before we start — I got to see you guys for the first time in LA, I think in March, for the 15 Years Anniversary tour at the LA show. I got the merch and everything. It was so good seeing you guys live for the first time. I came all the way from Winnipeg, Canada, because you guys don't come to Canada.
Chrissy: Oh, thank you! That's the thing, I know. It's so hard. The biggest reason we don't come to Canada often, honestly, is just because when we do our tours in the US, sometimes the visa situation with our international crew is really difficult to go in and out of Canada. Sometimes we can't route where we're going in and out of the US. We have like 50/50 international crew, and the visas in the US are really difficult, so.
Mikey: That makes sense. Well, you guys gotta somehow just make a whole entire Canada tour because you guys have never done that.
Chrissy: Oh, I would love that. We usually just do North America together. Hopefully in the future. We'll see.
Mikey: Hopefully. Okay, but anyways, you guys got a new single, "Dead Man Walking." It's been on repeat for me nonstop. How was it making the song compared to "Heavenly"?
Chrissy: So "Dead Man Walking" & "Heavenly" was kind of before we even knew we were doing an album or anything like that. "Dead Man Walking" was more into the throes of the album, so I think I was a little more focused at that point, which made it easier to write. I got to write it with Eric Ron as the producer, and then Ren, her Instagram is just renforshort was the co-writer. We had so much fun writing that song. I had like the best day in the studio. It's a miracle that we finished the song because we were yapping the entire day. We were just having such a blast. But it's one of my favorite songs that's gonna be on the album.
Mikey: I love that song. I was gonna ask, how was it working with Ren/Lauren?
Chrissy: It was awesome. She's the best. She's so fun. We hit it off immediately, and she has credits on three or four songs that are gonna be on the album now. I brought her in to finish up the last song that needed it. I was writing on Zoom with a Swedish producer, Max, and I was like, "I can't get this top line finished." I was like, who cahough, she's incredible at melodies. It's so hard to remember at the time because we write so many songs, it all blurs together. A lot of the time you know the melody, so you'll have the first line like, "Funny how I made it out with everything I want," and then you go to the second and you're like, "Da da da da da... cost." Like, "cost" could be a cool word. And then Ren would be like, "What if it was like, 'worth the call'?" And you know what I mean? So it goes back and forth, each line kind of comes down in pieces.
Mikey: How was it finding the right vocal tones for yourself on the song? Like, how did you figure out this song should have this high melody or this low part?
Chrissy: Usually we start with a musical track of some sort and then start just humming melodies over it and see what pops out. And I will say, nine times out of ten when we write a song for Against The Current, we end up raising the key at some point because I tend to have a higher range. "Dead Man Walking" might be one of the only songs that didn't do that. Also, when we were recording it, I actually had spine surgery not long before and had totally lost my voice for a little while. "Dead Man Walking" was recorded right when I was getting my voice back.
Mikey: Wow. And I notice very much the raspiness, so that makes a lot of sense with your vocals on it.
Chrissy: Yeah, I had totally lost my voice for a while. But honestly, I think that helped a lot with the song. It gave that low tone, that melody, it just worked. Some extra juice.
Mikey: Exactly. Is there any more songs on the record with a similar vibe?
Chrissy: I mean, the whole album is pretty rockin'. "Dead Man Walking" definitely has a very unique personality on the album, but I think the other songs fit in with it well. It all pieces together.
Mikey: Cool. So going into "Heavenly" now, how was it working with Josh Gilbert, who's with Spiritbox? What was the inside studio process like?
Chrissy: I love working with Josh. I did two songs for my solo project with him, him and Joseph, and he's so fun to work with. He's so talented. "Heavenly" was very fun to write and record. We had so much fun working together. They keep Lord of the Rings on the TV the whole time we're in the studio, so it's awesome.
Mikey: What was your favorite Lord of the Rings moment from the studio?
Chrissy: They have a TV in their studio and they just keep it on at all and I was like, "This is just the best." We ended up going down some very hilarious Lord of the Rings meme YouTube holes when we were taking a break. I can't remember what it was, there was a video they showed me and I was like, "How have I never seen this?" It'll come to me in like 10 minutes.
Mikey: Yeah, it'll hit randomly. Okay, now, cause you've worked with someone heavy artist, how come you haven't screamed on a song?
Chrissy: I don't know how to scream. And I think at my ripe age, if I start trying to learn how to scream, I'll just blow my voice out. If you don't do it properly, you can really blow your voice out. And I'm super afraid of that, especially just coming back from getting my voice back. Maybe it's not in the cards for me in this lifetime.
Mikey: So there's no hope for the more heavy fans to get a Chrissy scream? Nothing?
Chrissy: Maybe a scream feature one day. We haven't done that before. That would be cool.
Mikey: Okay! Who would be your dream scream vocalist for an Against The Current song then?
Chrissy: Oh boy. It would be cool to do something with Spiritbox, with Courtney. That'd be cool. My scream lore is pretty limited, I'm not gonna lie. I would have to go into it.
Mikey: That's fair. What's your main music influence you've been listening to lately then?
Chrissy: Honestly, the music I've been listening to recently is like Elder Scrolls ambiance. I just listen to a lot of video game soundtracks and Ghibli lo-fi, that kind of thing. That's what I listen to 90% of the time. Fantasy tavern.
Mikey: Love it. My favorite soundtrack of all time has to be Halo 2.
Chrissy: Yeah! It's a huge one. It's good. I love the Skyrim soundtrack so much. I walked down the aisle to a Skyrim song, so yeah.
Mikey: No way! That's so cool. Are you excited for Elder Scrolls VI then?
Chrissy: Yes, but I'm so bad at the Elder Scrolls games. They're just so hard.
Mikey: That's the joy of it though, Chrissy. just playing, having fun, enjoying it. I know Twitch chat loves you playing League, so it's fun.
Chrissy: Yes, and I suck at League. Perpetually suck at League.
Mikey: What's your rank right now?
Chrissy: I don't play ranked. I care about my mental health at this stage. I also just don't have enough time to commit to being in the meta. Every time I come back from a tour I'm like, "Oh, everything's different." So most of the time my friends and I just play ARAMs or whatever fun mode is happening at the time. I play much more casually now.
Mikey: Cool. So getting back into music stuff, what about new solo music from you? Are you planning on doing more solo releases?
Chrissy: I have no idea, honestly. I very much try to give 100% of my attention to whichever project is happening in the moment. Right now we're in Against The Current mode, so I'm 100% Against The Current. If I did decide to do anything solo again it would be after this whole cycle. But I like being in Against The Current better than being a solo artist. The solo thing was a fun side quest adventure to experiment with different things that didn't fit in the Against The Current world. But I missed Against The Current so much. So I'm so happy to be back.
Mikey: Okay, here's an idea, theoretically, for a Canada tour: you open up the Against The Current tour with the Chrissy solo music.
Chrissy: I mean... it's not a thought that hasn't crossed my mind. But then you have to remember that I have to play two sets. And that's pretty exhausting. That's the only problem I see with that. But other than that, great idea.
Mikey: Yeah, I get it, your voice would just die by the end of the night. Do you have any home remedies for your voice on tour?
Chrissy: I have a lot of different things I do. But honestly, nothing substitutes for good technique. The most important thing is I've just been doing a lot of vocal training. One of my favorite remedies is you just melt gummy bears down in hot water, stir it in, and drink it like a tea. The glycerin in the gummy bears will coat your throat and bring down some inflammation and swelling. That's one of the best things if I'm ever feeling really swollen and dry in my throat. But you have to be careful, there are a lot of band-aid-on-bullet-hole fixes that, if you just depend on them, you're gonna cause damage to your vocal cords if you don't already have the technique. So I try to only use those when I'm really sick or something out of my control.
Mikey: That's fair. So I remember watching one of your Twitch streams a while back and you mentioned record labels and certain aspects people just didn't know about for ATC. Now you guys are independent. How's that like, being an independent band?
Chrissy: It's great, I love it. When we did our first two EPs before we signed to our label, it was awesome, and we always kind of missed that. Being able to be back to just us and the small team that we choose is fantastic. We have all the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want to. We make the decisions together as a team, and everything just seems to work so much better. We're very happy to be back independent.
Mikey: So if Doc Brown came and gave you a DeLorean time machine and said, "Hey, you wanna go back and change that record deal?", would you?
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hrissy: I don't know. There's part of me that feels yes, but who knows? Maybe that's the way things were meant to happen to get to this point. I kind of try to live life with no regrets and assume that anything that happened led us here. I'm really happy and in love with where we are right now as a band. I wouldn't wanna change it because what if we weren't a band in that scenario? What if it never worked out? Maybe it would've been so much better, but maybe it would've been so much worse.
Mikey: That's honestly fair.
Chrissy: I'll let Pandora keep her box locked.
Mikey: Would you ever crack open that box, Chrissy?
Chrissy: Nope. That's what leads people to be miserable all the time, the grass is always greener type thing. I really like the expression "the grass is greener where you water it." Take care of what you have and grow what you have where you are. I really saw that with the solo project, I wanted to try something outside of Against The Current, and I just realized the problem isn't going to be solved looking elsewhere. It's going to be solved by taking care of what I have.
Mikey: True. Okay, so can you tell me the juicy inside scoop on the new record? Is it fully done?
Chrissy: It's fully written. And it's being recorded as we speak. I'm pretty sure Will's in the studio right now recording drums. I've done vocals for every song on the album except for two. So I have two left to do. She's almost there.
Mikey: Would you say it'll be out this year or next year?
Chrissy: Oh yes, absolutely out this year. That's the greatest part about being independent, we're just like, "All right, we're ready. Put it out." We don't have to plan things for like 10 years. With labels it's always like, "Oh, you can't do it this date because we have this date or that date." We're just like, drop it.
Mikey: Awesome. Okay, hear me out, any acoustic stuff? Would you do acoustic re-editions of these songs?
Chrissy: Yes! Not on the album itself, but hopefully we'll do an acoustic album after. We normally try to do a few acoustic tracks. I'd love to do a full orchestral version of a song, I think that would be really fun.
Mikey: Ooh, hopefully! That would sound so good! So, how was T1? How was that experience?
Chrissy: Oh my God, it was so fun. I've been a T1 fan for like eight years now. Even just going to home ground as a fan was insane because I was like, "What do you mean this entire arena is sold out for a regular season LCK game?" Not like Worlds or anything like that. That's the same arena that Valorant Champions was in two years prior, I hosted it at Valorant Champions, so I was there for it. And I was like, "That's the finals of the entire year, and it was in this arena." T1 was just a regular home game during the regular season and it was sold out in this arena. It was so much fun. T1 fans were awesome, so kind and welcoming.
Mikey: So do you ever get stage fright for something that big?
Chrissy: The things that freak me out, it's not the performing or the people. It's when something is more broadcast like, hitting certain marks and remembering cues. When we're on stage, we're not like a pop artist where everything's planned out with choreography. It's very organic and in the moment, I'm going wherever I wanna go, whenever I wanna go. So whenever there's something on broadcast that's a little more planned, what I get nervous about is, "Oh, I'm supposed to be at this part of the stage at this part of the song. Will I remember that?" Because when I'm performing, I'm so in the song. I'm not thinking about cues and time signatures for broadcast TV.
Mikey: Yeah, totally, like, "Oh shoot, I'm gonna miss this spot where this camera might be."
Chrissy: Totally!
Mikey: So what was your first rookie mistake in the industry, what was it?
Chrissy: It probably wasn't my first, but the first one I really remember was just believing that everybody knew better than me because they had been around the industry for a long time. Time in the industry is great, you get a lot of experience, but time does not equate to knowledge or wisdom. Sometimes time is just time. You've been in it a long time and gained nothing from it. I kind of deferred to everyone and everything when we were really young because I was like, "Oh, they've been doing this for 20 years, they know better." And sometimes they really don't. Sometimes the smartest people in the room are the newest people there. So just take everything with a grain of salt, I really didn't. I kind of just blindly believed everybody.
Mikey: Preach. Okay, so you've been a band for about 15 years, who are some new guys in the game that you'd love to work with or that you're excited about?
Chrissy: That's a good question. I'm a little out of touch right now, I think. I was thinking of certain bands and I'm like, "Wait, they've actually been a band for like seven years now." This is the problem when you've been in it a while. I honestly love Taylor Acord, I don't know if she's really new though. And I love, even though I don't know their names off the top of my head, on TikTok or Instagram there are these teenage garage bands that are coming back. Where they're like 12 years old and just ripping it in their mom's garage, and I'm like, "Let's go. The kids are back." That gets me so pumped. Oh, you know who I could shout out? Sink or Swim. They opened for us in New York. It's my cousin's band, and that was like their third show ever.
Mikey: Aw, that's so cool. What was it like calling them up and saying, "Hey, we want you to do our show"?
Chrissy: It was so fun. I grew up very close with my cousin, he was almost like my brother. He's played piano and done music kind of his whole life. He'd never pursued it outside of a hobby, and then he started this band a few years ago. When we were doing the anniversary shows, we'd already sold them out, so it wasn't like we were bringing on a band to sell tickets. We just had all the freedom to bring on artists we thought were cool. And I was like, "Hey, can my cousin open the show?" And they were awesome too, they were so good.
Mikey: That's sweet. How was New York? Was it fun?
Chrissy: It was so fun, really a blast. My family got to come out and everything.
Mikey: Cool. For those 15 year anniversary shows, what was your favorite out of all of them?
Chrissy: Maybe LA, honestly. But I also really loved Paris. I love that stinky little venue. My crew gets so mad every time I wanna go back to that venue because it's the worst load-in ever, it's on a cobblestone street that's an incline, and the venue's downstairs. It's a logistical nightmare.
Mikey: Oh no!
Chrissy: But the energy in the room at that show is always top tier. I don't know what it is, something they're pumping in the stinky cigarette air down there. But I've played lots of venues in Paris, small and large, and something about that venue just always hits. I've never had a boring show there. The crowd is always 10 out of 10.
Mikey: Always wanted to go to Paris. One of these days.
Chrissy: But don't tell the Parisians you eat your croissants with butter and jam, apparently it's sacrilege and they will yell at you.
Mikey: Did you do that by accident?
Chrissy: Made that mistake once or twice. They let me back in. I was like, "Okay, I get it." I'm Italian, I have things that I... you know, when people tell me they put pineapple on pizza I have the same reaction, so I understand.
Mikey: Wait, that's a Canadian thing though! We made that. Pineapple on pizza is a thing here.
Chrissy: It's horrible.
Mikey: Did you try it though?
Chrissy: Yeah, I did. I had to try it on stream once as part of a charity unlock. And it's not one of those things where it's like pizza dipped in ranch, like so un-Italian but you're like "but it's really good." Like hot pineapple with tomato sauce just doesn't work. It's too much acidity. There's no balance. Just doesn't do it for me. And I'm pretty open-minded too. I eat almost anything. I'm a small dumpster. So if I'm saying I don't like it, I really don't like it. There are very few things I don't like.
Mikey: Damn. Okay, you just hate the Canadian stuff, Chrissy.
Chrissy: No, I love poutine!.
Mikey: Oh, you like poutine?
Chrissy: French fries with gravy and cheese? Are you kidding me, that's genius.
Mikey: Did you get it in Montreal when you were there, or Toronto?
Chrissy: Yeah, definitely. Probably both, we've got it at both a few times.
Mikey: Cool. What do you wish fans knew about you that they didn't know?
Chrissy: I'm like such an open book that I feel like sometimes the fans know more than my friends do, because they're around all the time. I feel like they know me so well, especially growing up, like since I was 15, they've seen every iteration of me. Maybe that... I'm actually very introverted. I do a good job, I think, of being an extrovert for music and stuff, but I am so introverted and I don't do well in crowds. So sometimes if I'm hustling somewhere I just get uncomfortable so easily. I watch someone like Youngblood, who's a true extrovert, and the way he interacts with people, I'm like, "That's such a gift." Sometimes I just need to go lie down. I'm not the kind of person who gets charged up by interacting with people. I get tired.
Mikey: So how do you pump up for shows, Red Bulls and everything?
Chrissy: Dude, I'd love a Red Bull. I am truly like the kid at the birthday party who's never allowed to have soda, then has soda and is just bouncing off the walls.
Mikey: Okay, out of all the pop drinks and sodas, what would you pick?
Chrissy: Oh, straight Coca Cola. Coke heavy. Not diet, not Coke Zero, full fat, regular-ass Coke. Crispy from McDonald's. McDonald's Coke is the best Coke. But I also love a vanilla Coke or a cherry Coke. They had one flavor, cherry float, like a cherry and vanilla or cherry and ice cream thing. Oh, it was amazing.
Mikey: Yea we have Cherry and vanilla here in Canada but the thing for me Chrissy is Pepsi, I love pepsi. But my favourite was Pepsi Mango.
Chrissy: I have never had that.
Mikey: They discontinued it, so you'll never have it now. They have Peach Pepsi now though. I'm a Pepsi person, so there's tons of different stuff.
Chrissy: I like my Coke, but I get it. Everyone's got their thing. I also love a cream soda. And I love a butterbeer.
Mikey: Butterbeer's the best
Chrissy: But you can't get the bottled one, you have to get it at the theme park. The bottled one tastes like ass. The park one is so good. It's so upsetting. I need the secret recipe.
Mikey: Disney— wait, Universal, if you're reading this, give Chrissy the recipe.
Chrissy: I'm like Plankton, give me the secret formula. I keep trying to recreate it at home and I can't get it perfect. Ravioli ravioli, give me the formuoli! My brother and I love SpongeBob. We quote it all the time.
Mikey: SpongeBob's amazing, Watched that so much, that took back memories! What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten for doing music?
Chrissy: Honestly, no one really gives me advice, I'm trying to think…..Will gave really good advice once, not to me, but to someone, I can't remember if it was a fan asking or an interview. It always stuck with me, which was: max out what you have first. A lot of people get excited to get into something and they're like, "I gotta buy the best gear, the best recording software, the best microphone." And Will's like, "Start with whatever's in front of you. If it's your phone, record your voice in GarageBand on your phone. Just start there and max that out first. Push it as far as it can go, then level up." I think when you try to level yourself up with gear before technique and methodology, it always falls short. You can have the best stuff and not make a great song. And you can make a great song with a very scrappy little setup. I always really liked that advice. I'm someone who likes gadgets and gizmos, so I tend to do that, and then I'm like, "Why doesn't this sound good?" And it's like, there's just too much here. Strip it back. Start simpler, then grow from there.
Mikey: Cool, I love that. Okay, if you could talk to yourself a year from now at this exact moment, what would you tell yourself?
Chrissy: I would just remind my future self how good everything is right now, and how fun everything is. Don't lose that spark for creating.
Mikey: That's awesome.
Chrissy: I also got to go see Game 4 of the Knicks, I just gotta say, go Knicks.
Mikey: How was that?
Chrissy: It was unbelievable. I got to take my dad, who's a lifetime Knicks fan. The last time he saw the Knicks win the championship, he was 15 years old. I surprised him with tickets to Game 4, and I thought I had messed up because the Knicks were getting pummeled,, it was the biggest deficit in NBA Finals history, and then they came back and won it. It was the greatest night of sports I've ever seen. I haven't felt that much adrenaline since the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl in 2007. Watching OG tap in Brunson's three that went off the rim was like the same feeling I got from watching the Tyree helmet catch. It was crazy.
Mike: Damn.
Chrissy: It was so fun. I was like, "I haven't felt this in almost 20 years."
Mikey: Yeah, so, Giants are your team then, Chrissy?
Chrissy: Yeah. I'm Giants, Yankees, Knicks. And then Flyers for hockey, which is hilarious.
Mikey: The Flyers?
Chrissy: My husband's from Philly, so I gave him one team. He's a big hockey fan.
Mikey: That's fair. Well, I'm Jets, the hockey team, not the football team.
Chrissy: Oh, then you're fine. I thought you meant the New Jersey Jets and I was like, weird choice.
Mikey: No, if I'm picking NFL I'd say Minnesota. They're pretty good.
Chrissy: Yeah, they've been really good the last few years. That's a solid team. I love when people from outside the US have a team and it's something so random, like, how did you pick that one? Honestly it's kind of like me pretending to be a Manchester United fan just because someone told me to be.
Mikey: Manchester's good though.
Chrissy: I know, but I have no affiliation with them, other than one time I was at Disney when I was 11 years old and I met these two kids from the UK. I played soccer at the time and they were like, "Well, who's your team?" And I was like, "I don't know. I've never really watched it, I just play." And they said, "Well, now you're a Manchester United fan." And I was like, "All right." So technically I've been a Manchester United fan for 20 years, but I couldn't name a single player.
Mikey: You're ride or die, Chrissy. You should totally go to a game one time.
Chrissy: I would love to. I've been to a couple MLS games but that's not quite the same. You leave the US for soccer, you know?
Mikey: Describe yourself in one word, where you are at in life right now.
Chrissy: Chaotic. I'm always chaotic. A lot going on at all times. You know that thing, quantum superposition, where an electron, when it's not being observed, doesn't have a definitive position and could be in multiple places at once? That's me.
Mikey: How do you know this!?
Chrissy: I read A lot.
Mikey: Okay, what's your favorite book right now? Fiction and nonfiction.
Chrissy: Fiction: my friend Andrew Givler is on his second series, "Ironbound." He just released the second book, "Cold Wind," and it is phenomenal. Not just like, "Oh, this is my friend so I think it's good." It's a book I would tear through if I didn't know him. It's a Roman Empire inspired progression fantasy. The magic system is unbelievable. It's so addicting and keeps your heart racing the entire time.
Mikey: Okay, rapid fire, festivals, headline shows, or opening slots: one has to go.
Chrissy: Opening slots.
Mikey: Mosh pits, crowd surfing, or singing along?
Chrissy: Crowd surfing, I get really worried for people. I've seen people get dropped and I'm too maternal for that.
Mikey: In ears, no in ears, or floor monitors?
Chrissy: No in-ears. Just hearing damage, which is not really good for a musician, but thankfully I don't have any. Mental damage maybe. But not hearing.
Mikey: Forgetting lyrics live, failing a back bend, or mic cuts out?
Chrissy: Forgetting lyrics live, I'd rather fail a back bend because that would be hilarious. And honestly, I forget lyrics very often anyway, so I'd like to get rid of that.
Mikey: Nice! Okay, play your worst song forever, never play your best song again, or only play clean songs forever?
Chrissy: I'd get rid of "Never Play Your Best Song Again", because that would mean we couldn't play "Weapon," and I cannot not play Weapon.
Mikey: Wait, you like "Dead Man Walking" more than Weapon though, no?
Chrissy: Not more than Weapon, no. Weapon's my girl forever. But yeah, it's a song that's meant to be experienced live. The recording is fine, but it can never do what it does live.
Mikey: Playing new songs, playing hits, or playing deep cuts?
Chrissy: I'd have to get rid of deep cuts, because I wouldn't wanna stop playing hits and I wouldn't wanna not play new songs. But I do love playing a deep cut. The Gravity era was great.
Mikey: Fever, Past Lives, or In Our Bones?
Chrissy: Past Lives sucks. Compared to In Our Bones and Fever? No. It's our least popular record, and there are songs on it that I love, but it has the most songs that I don't love. In Our Bones had bangers, Demons, Blood Like Gasoline, Wasteland, Run Away, Chasing Ghosts, Running With The Wild Things. So good. And on Past Lives, there are songs I love, Strangers Again, I Like The Way, Personal, Voices, Almost Forgot. But the songs I don't like bring it down. P.A.T.T. is that girl though, I love P.A.T.T. It's our pop anthem. It's our "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." But it just doesn't fit with Weapon. Songs like Weapon, That Won't Save Us, Again and Again, those are so fun to play live, and it's so hard to compose a set that has Past Lives and those songs in it.
Mikey: That's fair.
Chrissy: Maybe Past Lives will have a Hayden Christensen moment, people didn't like it at the time but later they'll look back and be like, "We were way too hard on this."
Mikey: There's a chance.
Chrissy: And justice for Hayden Christensen, please. I love him so much. I'll just sit and watch videos of him at conventions getting cheers now and I start crying 'cause I'm so happy for him. My boy.
Mikey: So what do you have planned for the rest of 2026, Chrissy?
Chrissy: Release an album. Tour the UK and Europe. World domination. Sleep. And try not to acquire any more animals, I'm at six, seven if you count my husband, and I really need to slow down.
Mikey: And conquer Greenland, Iceland, and Canada! For the Canadians, there are so many people from Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg who've messaged me. You guys have fans there.
Chrissy: I wanna go to Calgary to go to the rodeo!
Mikey: The Calgary Stampede?
Chrissy: Yeah! I wanna go so bad. I've just never had time to go. I really wanna go though. It looks so fun.
Mikey: You guys should play there too. they've been having more and more rock bands at the Calgary Stampede. You guys should play next year honestly.
Chrissy: I would totally do it. I could ride in on a horse. I'll bring my own horse, me and Harley, roll out. Go through Montana. We'd have a blast. Harley's like an emo horse too, so it'd be perfect.
Mikey: Have you played any emo songs for Harley?
Chrissy: No, he just looks emo. He has like a crazy dark side fringe thing going on. It's hilarious.
Mikey: Amazing. Thank you so much, Chrissy, I cannot thank you enough for saying yes and taking the time to do this.
Chrissy: Of course. Thank you so much!
More about the podcast: The Music Storm Podcast is an interview podcast about getting to know people within the music industry. From musicians, photographers, venue hosts, and even lighting and sound techs, you name it, they may appear. This podcast will be very diverse and asking people what they think the music industry will become, where it’s heading to, and so much more. You can find the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts HERE.
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