Old Neon’s bassist and founder, Sean Michael, on the band’s upcoming holiday show, latest EP, and a proposal at their concert
Pittsburgh pop-punk band, Old Neon, is the November Band of the Month! The 5-piece band recently released their EP, “Maybe This Is All There Is.”
In a phone interview, I spoke with bassist and founder of the band, Sean Michael. We talked about the band’s upcoming local holiday concert, their latest EP, and a wedding proposal at one of their shows.
Old Neon plays at Spirit on Saturday, December 28th. The band members are Sean Michael (bass), Drew Sipos (lead singer), Bea Langer (guitarist), Zach Pollach (drummer), and Mike McInnes (guitarist).
Old Neon Songs
Josh: For someone that wants to listen to Old Neon for the first time, what album or song should they check out first?
Michael: I think our new EP is just a little bit of everything. There’s some really fast songs and riffs that are interesting. There’s great vocal performances and there’s actually a guest from a local band called Heading North. Their singer, Asha, does a guest spot with Drew (lead singer). So that kind of has a little bit of everything. There’s loud songs, there’s mid tempo songs, there’s drop d, jumpy riffs. A little kind of sample of everything we’ve been doing.
J: I was gonna mention “Just Friends.” How did that come about?
M: Yeah, we had first heard of Heading North, I think last year. I saw them at a club or I can’t remember if I even saw them online first, but we went to see them. We try to actually go to local shows. We’re practicing what we preach and actually trying to be a part of a scene. So we went to see them a couple times live and I was just like, ‘Oh, this band’s better than us.’
J: Did the songs come out of nowhere or were you guys working on other songs too?
M: So, “Just Friends” was originally an acoustic song that we did, like, actually unrelated to like our first record and we just kind of put it out in a vacuum. We realized pretty early on that, when Drew played it live, people were loving it. And so that’s when we decided to just make it a band song. So that song had been around. And then “Whatever Helps You Sleep At Night” was actually going to be on the first record, but we just didn’t have room for it. The first two are brand new.
J: Old Neon’s LP, “Can’t F*****G Wait,” features the songs “Jump Start” and “Natalie.” Two of my favorites. Are those fun to perform live?
M: Thank you so much. They definitely get a reaction. People love to just scream “Natalie.” And so that’s kind of like a lot of our songs, somewhat to my surprise, people really kind of sing along and know the words. We have a crowd of about 100 people that just will stand in the audience and sing the songs back as we’re performing them.
J: That’s amazing.
M: Yeah, it started happening, like, pretty early on, with like 10 or so people and it’s just been growing and growing. I’ve never experienced that before. I’ve never felt like, ‘Oh, this person definitely listens to our songs and thinks about the lyrics and memorizes them.’ So, yeah, it’s a really wonderful sort of crowd interaction for us, but definitely “Natalie” and “Jumpstart” are two of the top five songs that people know pretty much every single word to.
Live Shows: A Proposal!
J: I saw you guys play at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in 2022. It was 100 degrees outside but it was a really great show. I loved how you guys interacted with the crowd.
M: I think honestly, our live show is kind of what we’re known for among people that frequent local shows. I think it’s just very high energy. We had a proposal at our last show, which was funny, ironically, during “Jump Start.” So that was pretty fun. I was really worried that the person who proposed was gonna get rejected and it was gonna ruin the show, but that didn’t happen. It was totally fine. Everything worked out.
J: So you just stopped in-between songs and waited for the reaction?!
M: There’s a part in “Jump Start” where there’s a break and just a guitar riff. The vocal comes back in and there’s a key change. So we actually stopped during that and invited him on stage to propose to their partner. And it worked out. It was really fun. I was really nervous because I was like, ‘Well, what if this goes bad and then the day is ruined?’ But no, it was fine. People come to our shows and it’s just a big party.
Music Venues Played Around Pittsburgh
J: What venues have you guys played?
M: We’ve been very lucky to have played the main stage at Mr. Smalls [Theatre] a couple of times. We’ve done Thunderbird [Café & Music Hall]. We did a 420 show where we brought our own PA into Lawrenceville Distilling Company. And we just kind of set up by the entrance and packed 250 people in there.
J: Sometimes those can be the best shows.
M: Yeah, absolutely. Anywhere we can set up a PA more or less, we will play. We played on the Gateway Clipper. We played at [Mr. Roboto Project], [The] Government Center, pretty much every local venue, and there have been other cases where we’ve kind of made our own venue.
Bands That Inspired Old Neon
J: What bands inspired you to play music?
M: The Wonder Years. I would say Knuckle Puck was a big one, who was actually the band we got to play the main stage of Mr. Small’s opening for pretty early on in our musical journey. So that was pretty great.
J: What about bands that inspired you as a teenager?
M: As a teenager, Blink-182 and New Found Glory. All that stuff. The Drive-Thru record stuff and the early 2000’s, like the Starting Line and Midtown and stuff like that. And then of course there’s non-emo or pop punk bands. I remember as a kid my dad putting on Tom Petty and that was like, really formative for me. So, a little bit of everything.
Upcoming Local Show At Spirit
J: Old Neon has an upcoming holiday show December 28th at Spirit. Tell us more about that.
M: Yeah, one of the things that we wanted to do in the spirit, no pun intended, of having seen and trying to build upon some of the relationships that we’ve made—I wanted to have a show, and I think especially Mike wanted to have a show, where we could just get a bunch of bands that we’ve played with over the years and kind of put them on a stage at Spirit. If we could all band together and just build a show with 10 bands that are all in that same genre.
We did a 100 record run with Hellbender vinyl. They’ll be on sale and it’s just basically a comp of the same 10 bands that you’ll be able to get a sort of collectors vinyl if you wish. We’re gonna find a charity to kind of send those proceeds to it. We’ve been kind of discussing it.
J: I love the idea of having all kinds of other local bands playing a show, getting to showcase their music to everyone.
M: Yeah, I hope it’s wonderful. I hope people come early and stay late and just everybody gets a little bit of a platform. I feel very lucky to be in a position to bring a couple people out to see my friends’ band. So that’s great too.
Dream Band To Co-Headline
J: Is there a dream band that Old Neon would love to play a show with?
M: Honestly, just to get the most bang for my buck, I’d probably say Blink-182 or Fall Out Boy, because then we’re gonna get the most amount of fans.
Skating At The PPG Ice Rink
J: Will any of the Old Neon band members be skating around the PPG Ice Rink this holiday season?
M: You know, it’s funny, I actually played ice hockey through my senior year. I have not put on a pair of skates since, so I’m not opposed to it. I don’t know if anyone else will but I know that I could skate circles around them. So I’m excited to watch them try if that’s what it comes to. I haven’t skated in a very long time, but I’m very confident in my ability to do so.
J: That’s awesome. Maybe they’ll get on the ice.
M: Maybe they’ll make us play there. It’ll just be another crazy show.
J: That would be a really good show.
M: Maybe I’ll reach out to them and see if we can do it.
Get your tickets to see Old Neon at Spirit on December 28th before they’re gone! Also, keep up with the band on their Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channel.
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.