Interviews: Lexi, Dan, and John of Spaced talk their upcoming album 'This Is All We Ever Get'

In exactly two weeks time Buffalo-based hardcore punk band Spaced will be releasing their excellent new album This Is All We Ever Get. The eight tracks on the album find the band solidifying their signature far-out hardcore sound with plenty of groovy riffs, psychedelic-inspired moments, and excellent lyrics delivered with pure punk ferocity. Make sure you have lots of room around you when you listen to this record, you will be two-stepping, picking up change, and bouncing around within seconds of pressing play. This Is All We Ever Get will be out everywhere on March 22 via Revelation Records. Spaced will be touring the UK with Shooting Daggers, Clobber (who are replacing Going Off), and Uncertainty starting at the end of March.
Punknews editor Em Moore caught up with vocalist Lexi Reyngoudt, bassist John Vaughan, and drummer Dan McCormick over Zoom to talk about their upcoming album, the meaning behind song acronyms, the Buffalo hardcore scene, the best food they’ve had on tour, and so much more. Read the interview below!

This interview between Em Moore, Lexi Reyngoudt, John Vaughan, and Dan McCormick took place in February 2024 over Zoom. This transcription documents their conversation and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

This Is All We Ever Get will be your first album on Revelation Records. What has working with them been like?

Lexi: It's been really good, it’s very easy to work with them. When we were with New Morality it was very casual, Nick was always very communicative with us. So going into a “bigger” label was intimidating for us at first but they’ve been super awesome and really easy to work with. I have no complaints for Revelation.
John: It’s cool because Sammy Siegler is the guy that we’ve been in contact with the whole time. We’re a touring band and he’s also currently touring with Rival Schools. It’s easy to work with people who also get it, like your day-to-day life. It’s just easier that way I think. He’s also been doing it forever.

Everyone understands what’s going on.

Lexi: Plus it’s cool because they have such a long history. It’s really cool to hear their insight on things because they’ve all been doing it for so long.

Have there been any surprising insights?

Lexi: I think one of my favourite things that Sammy did when we were going into recording the album is he told us to make a playlist of five or six songs that inspire us and are what we want to bring into the record. That was really cool because I felt like going into recording This Is All We Ever Get and writing it and stuff like that, I was the most excited that I had ever been about hardcore at that point. It was really cool going into it like, “Ok, I know what I wanna do with this song and with this song!”

What was on your playlists?

John: I put some songs by IDLES and Nirvana on there. Ultra Mono, that record by IDLES, was really really cool. I thought it was kinda simplistic in the grooves of songs but each one was incredibly identifiable. On the flip side, there’s Nirvana where it’s loud and grunge and awesome. Those are the two of my five that I remember.
Lexi: I have Righteous Jams, Angel Du$t, Backtrack, Gouge Away, and Restraining Order on mine.

What was the recording process like?

Lexi: We worked with Jay Zubricky who we’re all friends with and it was our first time as a band working with him. Dan and John have worked with him in the past on other bands that they’ve had but it was my first time actually going into the studio with Jay even though I’ve known him for many years at this point. At least in my experience, recording vocals, I felt completely comfortable and very laid back. He definitely pushed me to do things that I had never thought about doing with my vocals which was really cool. There would be something that I’d record and he’d be like, “Ok, what if you did it this way instead of that way?” and I was like, “OH, I never thought about doing it that way”. That was really cool.
Dan: Jay Zubricky is the best in the business in Buffalo. There’s no one better. He’s been doing it for a long time and he’s a very awesome resource that local Buffalo bands have at our fingertips. He has this really really nice multi-million dollar studio and he’s an incredible resource that we all have access to. He’s a super good guy.
Lexi: He’s worked with a lot of really cool bands. He did the newest Terror record, he helped with the new Mindforce record, he worked with Trail of Lies, and he’s done the past two Every Time I Die records.

The name of the album is taken from a lyric from your song “Big Picture”. Why did you choose to name it after this line in particular?

Dan: We were just going through the lyrics on the record and I don’t think it was anything much deeper than a line that sounded like it would be a cool album title.
Lexi: But if you look into the lyrics, it does encapsulate a lot of the lyrics on the album and the emotion on it. So it was originally just like, “Hey this sounds cool” but it actually turned into something!
Dan: It actually sounds like there was intelligent thought behind it.
John: Yeah! [laughs]

This is also the most surreal art that you’ve ever had on any of your releases and it was created by Eric Thompson. What inspired the more surrealistic direction of the art?

Lexi: Our one guitarist, Donny, is a tattoo artist and draws a lot. He did all of the other album covers, except for Spaced Jams, and he does a lot of our merch. I think that he finds a bunch of different artists online and will save things that he likes. When we were talking about doing the album art we wanted something that would still be similar to a lot of our past artwork but would also be new. I was like, “I think we need to go away from the smiley on everything”. We still use the smiley logo but I think it was time to move on to something else. He sent the album cover and was like, “What do you guys think of this?” and we were like, “This is really cool!” If you go on the artist’s Instagram, there’s a bunch of really cool stuff that I feel like really fit our sound while being different.

How would you describe your songwriting process?

Dan: We write instrumentals first. There’s really nothing too fancy about it. We usually do music first and lyrics and vocals last.
John: Yeah. I feel like the general idea is someone comes in with the main body of a song, riffwise, and then the instrumentalists - myself, Dan, Donny, and Joe - just figure it out in the practice space. We take a voice memo of it and then when we have enough we’re like, “Let’s demo these out”. Then we put it into Logic and then Dan lays down his drums, all the while we’re writing lyrics and stuff like that. It really just boils down to someone has an idea, we see if it sticks and if we like it, and then we demo it out if it’s worthy.
Lexi: When it comes to the lyrics it’s really a collaborative effort. It used to just be Donny and me working on it but Dan wrote all of “Landslide” and John wrote “The Difference”. It’s a cool collaborative thing now which is really fun. I’ll be like, “Hey guys, how does this sound?” and they'll be like, “Oh that sounds good!” or “What if you change it to this instead?” It’s really cool to have a group of people to shoot ideas off of.
John: It also helps that we’ve known each other for such a long time that we can just be honest and genuine and be like, “I don’t know if that works”. We won’t really take offense either - it's just like, “Ok”. Going back to how working with Rev is really nice is because they get it, we also all get it because we’ve been doing it for a while.

On “Running Man” and “Cosmic Groove” you talk about feeling stuck and losing your sense of self. What helps you to get unstuck? How do you regain your sense of self?

Lexi: Honestly, this is going to sound so corny, but my fucking friends! My friends are what make me feel better. I know personally if I’m having a really bad day and I get to look forward to something at the end of the day where I’m hanging out with my friends it’s just like, “Oh thank god”. [laughs] Personally for me, that’s it. The power of friendship, you know.
John: Dan, is it adhesive repellant? Is that what gets you unstuck?
[laughter]
John: I guess mine is my cats.
Dan: I almost never become unstuck because whenever I am stuck I have to watch Buffalo sports which makes me even more stuck. It’s just an endless cycle for me. I’ve been stuck for 28 years so if anyone hears of anything that could help me, that’d be awesome.
[laughter]

“AIATB” is an instrumental track. What inspired this song? What does the title mean?

Dan: The freaky guy in the mustache can answer that question.
Lexi: Yeah John, take it away!
John: What freaky guy?! [looks around]
[laughter]
John: Joe, our one guitarist, and I have been writing weird instrumental, ambient things for a while, him more than me. Donny refers to us as mad scientists. We get together and create some cool sounds and songs. Honestly, we’ve had that track in the chamber for a while and we wanted to use it on maybe the past 3 releases. I think we wanted to use it with Spaced Jams and maybe the Boomerang / Cycle Killer dual single but we wanted to save it for something special and this was the best opportunity for it. If I remember correctly, we sent two other ones but this one was the one. The acronym stands for “Alone In A Taco Bell”. Along with Joe and I creating weird songs, we also have weird titles for all of them. We didn’t want to use that franchise’s name for fear of any kind of lawsuit. [laughs]
Dan: And because it’s a terrible name. [laughs]
Lexi: When they endorse us and we have a song in their commercial, maybe we’ll think about it.
John: Yeah! That was the other thing, a lot of cool bands are getting in Taco Bell commercials and we didn’t want to be like, “This is our jab at that. We’re not in one of those so we’re going to at them on the record”. It was nothing like that. It was a silly name for a cool song.
Dan: You should spin this like, “John Vaughan calls out Taco Bell!” [laughs]
John: Yeah! BRING BACK THE VEGAN CHEESE! Bring back the vegan nacho cheese!
Lexi: I think that’ll come back eventually, relax.
John: That’s my gripe with Taco Bell.

When this interview comes out and Taco Bell sees it they’ll be like, “Oh shit, we have to bring back the vegan cheese now”.

John: We made the freaky guy in the mustache upset! We need to bring back the vegan nacho cheese!
[laughter]
John: I’ll settle down.
Lexi: Take it easy over there.

Your video for “Landslide” was shot at the Buffalo Evolve gym and takes inspiration from old exercise videos. How did the idea for this video come about?

Lexi: That freaky guy in the mustache!
[laughter]
Lexi: John’s just a psycho and comes up with these random ideas. John’ll just be like, “Guys, I have a music video idea!”
Dan: I’ve been playing in bands with John now for about eight years and I have shot down aggressively every music video idea he’s ever had. This was the first one ever that we were like, “Ok”. [laughs]
John: Truthfully, and I know this sounds generic, but I have dreams and I’m like, “This would be crazy if this came to life”. That’s pretty much it. I thought the vibe of the song was kinda dancy. It’s kinda repetitive with the repeating chorus and those workouts are kind of repetitive so it came in like that. Also, we’re bright and colourful and fun. It made sense to represent that in the video with all the crazy headband colours and all of our friends.
Lexi: We’re just some silly little guys. It was a good idea, John. Great job with that!
John: Thanks guys!
Lexi: We happened to know the person who owns the gym because she’s part of the scene and she was willing to let us come in for a few hours one night and take over with a bunch of other people from Buffalo hardcore. It also took a bit of inspiration from a Sick of It All music video from the 90s, “Step Down”. It shows different mosh moves and their names so we were like, “What if we did something like that?” Which is funny because when we were telling Sammy from Rev about it he was like, “Oh, I was there for that music video! Great idea!” We were like, “You’re really cool!”

What were other vetoed ideas?

Lexi: There was one where we were painting a canvas and we would end up smashing it on each other’s heads.
John: There’s a lot more to that one!
Dan: I was just going to say, how much time do you got?
[laughter]
Dan: That was the only one I can remember. I do remember you talking about that one.
John: Yeah. The other one I used for another video I did recently. They’re just really weird abstract ideas where - kinda going back to what we said with the title like, “Why did you choose this for the title? I don’t know it sounded cool.” It’s like, “This video is weird and the meaning will probably come after it is shot”. There's a lot of those.
Lexi: And a lot of the time you come up with these ideas that are so intricate that we would need tons of funds. One day. [laughs]

One day the full weird will be showcased.

John: That’s going to be a bad day for everyone. [laughs]

What’s one “moshercise” move that everyone should know?

Lexi: The two-step. It’s so easy. That’s my favourite. It’s actually so funny because there’s a live recording of our last show in Buffalo and I was calling out people to two-step and it just pans onto our friend Aidan and they go, “I DON’T KNOW HOW!” I was like, “Aidan, how do you not know how to two-step??” They were like, “I don’t know, I just don’t know how to do it”. [laughs] It was just so funny. But I personally think that two-stepping is the easiest and the coolest looking. I feel like almost every song has a two-step part, in hardcore at least.
John: Picking up the change is a funny one.
Lexi: That’s a good one.

You’ll be touring the UK with Shooting Daggers starting later this month. What are you looking forward to the most about these shows?

Lexi: I feel like we’re hitting a lot of new places on this tour and our tour with Militarie Gun. I’m really excited to play Scotland. I’ve heard that the Glasgow scene is really cool. I know a couple people through the internet that live there and they’re like, “Glasgow hardcore is super cool right now”. I’m really excited to play there for the first time and also to just be in Scotland.
Dan: I’m stoked for the UK because they actually know how to pour Guinness over there. [laughs]
Lexi: [laughs] John and I both smiled because we knew exactly what you were going to say.
John: I’m just excited to not be making coffee for people for a little while.
Dan: Touring no matter what is always fun but there’s an extra layer of excitement when you hop on a plane and go over the fucking ocean. It’s pretty cool. It’s fun being in a different country.
Lexi: Yeah. And you get to hear British accents. British accents all round.

There’s so many different types!

Lexi: It’s crazy! I remember when we first went to the UK two years ago with Comeback Kid, we were in a mall and I was sitting on a bench and everybody else had gone to the bathroom. I heard a group of British girls walk by and they used “innit” in a sentence and I was like, “Oh my god! I am in the UK”.
Dan: It was really funny the first time around. This will be our third time and it’s cool because there’s a lot of familiarity now. I’m more excited now than I was the first time.
John: The first time was just scary, honestly. Like, “Ok, go do what you normally do but somewhere else and you don’t know anyone”.
Dan: Everything’s a distraction the first time around too. Like, “OH LOOK AT THIS FUCKING THING!” And it’s like, “That’s a bag of chips, buddy”.
Lexi: It’s cool because Shooting Daggers, [Clobber], and Uncertainty we’ve all played with before. It’s going to be a little friendship hangout.

What’s your favourite food that you’ve ever had on tour?

Lexi: I think we’re all going to say the same thing.
Dan: Are we? I’m still thinking.
John: Probably not.
Lexi: Ramen in Brighton.
Dan: Oh yeah!
John: Yo, that was unreal.
Dan: I forget the name of that place, shoot!
Lexi: All I know is that we definitely have to go back. Instead of firm or extra-firm tofu, it had silken tofu in it so it melted in my mouth. It was so good!
Dan: This is going to sound insane…
John: No it’s not, I think I know what you’re going to say.
Dan: So that ramen in Brighton is probably my number two but my number one was at a Popeye’s Chicken in Switzerland.
Lexi and John: [laughs]
Dan: I don’t know why. There’s something in the air over there. It was at a rest stop. I paid about twenty-six American dollars for a chicken sandwich, fries, and a drink. By God, that chicken sandwich was biblical. I think about it a lot. I don’t know if I’ll ever have another similar experience in my lifetime.
Lexi: I’m excited to have Wetherspoons again. That’s a classic staple in the UK.
Dan: It doesn’t feel real.
Lexi: It shouldn’t be as good as it is.
Dan: It feels like you’re spending fake money because no one takes your order, you order on an app, and then food shows up like two minutes later. People serve you but you order on an app.
Lexi: It’s so cheap too.
John: It’s like Dave and Buster’s but no games. If Dave and Buster’s was just food, that's Wetherspoons. [laughs]

Is it pub food or is there a variety?

Dan: There’s a pretty big variety. They’ve got breakfast too.
Lexi: You can get a full vegan English breakfast which is pretty cool. It’s very accommodating to everybody.
Dan: They have really cheap beer too.
Lexi: I did hear that they microwave their food but that’s not stopping me.
John: Chef Mike is in the building all the time! I’m cool with Chef Mike.
Lexi: Me too! That Margherita pizza that’s literally just a cheese pizza with one piece of basil on it is good.

Don’t mess with perfection.

Lexi: Yeah!

How would you describe the hardcore scene in Buffalo?

Lexi: Really good. Out of nowhere, there’s this huge group of young kids, legit high schoolers, which is awesome. I booked a show in Buffalo last month, on February 2, with Surfaced from Louisville. We had a band from Ontario, Canada come down, a band from Rochester, and two local bands from Buffalo. It was at this thrift shop that has a basement and they let us book shows there.
Dan: Shoutout Timeless Babez!
Lexi: They’re the coolest people ever. It was 125 paid. It was a last-minute show too. The band Surfaced hit me up two weeks ahead of it and I was like, “I think I can put this together for you guys”. It ended up being one of the best shows that we’ve had in a minute. So Buffalo hardcore is really cool right now. Lots of young bands coming out of nowhere and a bunch of young kids moshing for everybody.
Dan: There’s a couple different venues now which is cool. I feel like every scene goes through eras where there’s not many options so it’s nice to have a few of them at our disposal right now.

What does the future hold for Spaced?

Lexi: Lots of touring, more writing, cool songs.
John: And giving me full access to the Twitter account.
Lexi: You have full access!
John: I know. [laughs]
Dan: I think we just wanna keep hitting the road this summer and do some more touring. Hopefully into the fall as well. Maybe at some point at the end of this year or early next year maybe start getting back in the studio again. But once the album comes out, we really want to hit the ground running and tour as much as possible.
Lexi: We wanna play a bunch of new spots. There’s a whole part of the US that we haven’t really touched yet.
Dan: We gotta do more on the West Coast. We’ve gone out there once but we gotta do it more.
Lexi: That’s a promise that we will actually play those areas this year and maybe some new countries, who knows?

What country would you want to play first?

Lexi: Bucket list, Japan.
John: Yeah!
Dan: Yeah, I think that’s what everyone thinks. That’s the universal pick.
Lexi: Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia. I wanna hit Poland! I heard Poland has a really cool hardcore scene.
John: I wanna go to Sweden. I think that’d be cool.
Lexi: Yeah, hit more of Europe.
John: Japan is definitely number one. Europe is cool and easy just because of the open border policy. Sweden after that I think.

Is there anything that I didn’t ask that anyone would like to add?

Lexi: We’ll throw a shoutout to Buffalo hardcore. Bands like Fatal Visions, Final Declaration, Selfish Act, Monomaniac, and World On Fire. There’s just a bunch of really cool bands now. We’re friends with all of them and it’s really cool to see our friends doing stuff.
John: Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios mastered the album and our friend Sam Tilkins did the vinyl layout and the back cover. Thompson did the front artwork but our friend Sam did a lot of the internal stuff for the physical release.
Lexi: She killed it.
Dan: I’ll second that. The band we just mentioned, Fatal Visions, has just put out an awesome EP that Jay Zubricky, who recorded our record, also recorded. They have Scott Vogel on one of the tracks. It’s a really awesome EP.
Lexi: Yeah. Genuinely probably my favourite release from a Buffalo hardcore band.
Dan: It rocks.
John: It’s really cool.