February 24th, 2016 
Dana Reandelar 
“Everything we’ve done has been indicative of who we are as musicians. It’s never just us trying to fit into a label or a genre.”
UTG recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jacob Bialosky (vocals/guitar) and Aubree Roe (vocals/bass) of Everyone Leaves, a Columbus, Ohio five-piece whose music is akin to bands like Bayside, Tigers Jaw, and Young Statues. The band talked a lot about loving the road life (Bialosky mentions that aside from touring as a musician, he also frequently takes the role of booking agent/promoter/merch guy) and spending many hours listening to live audio sessions by artists they enjoy.
UTG: What is the local scene like down in Columbus?
AR: We’re pretty involved with it and we know of a bunch of bands who are also within the scene. We’ve gone out with a bunch of them.
JB: I guess in the Bravo scene—the big promoter in our area is BravoArtists—there are a bunch of small bands who play local shows but don’t like to go out that much and we try to get involved and help them out. There was a point where I was at four to six shows a week. I occasionally work doors or sometimes I would help out one of my good friends who’s a promoter here, but if I’m not really doing anything and there’s a show, I would go.
UTG: As a musician, do you prefer being on stage performing or being in the crowd watching some other band perform?
JB: I get weird at shows when I’m playing [laughs].
AR: I think the majority prefer being on stage. I do, too. because live music is definitely my preference. Even on recordings I like the live versions of things.
UTG: How do you feel about bands that aren’t necessarily able to translate their material onto the stage?
AR: I truly get offended [laughs]. It’s okay if it sounds a bit different live, and as long as you obviously didn’t fake any of your recording I can accept it.
JB: I almost prefer to see a band I’d never heard, live, than to hear a band’s studio stuff before seeing them because there’s very little expectation. I have a sound engineer friend who can make you a whole song without you playing an instrument. That scares me so much [laughs].
AR: This is why I aggressively watch every live session in the world. I’m such an AudioTree addict.
UTG: Have you seen any good ones lately?
AR: Julien Baker’s session absolutely blew me away. I’ve also recently watched the Donovan Wolfington Little Elephant session and I was very, very impressed and I loved it.
JB: I watch them a bit more sporadically. I watched the Shuykill Session of “Old Friends” by Pinegrove. That kind of stuff is so cool.
AR: Oh, also! Honorable mention to Mothers’ Audiotree session, too. That was so good.
JB: Maybe them and Daughter could put out a split [laughs].
UTG: Have you guys heard the new Daughter record?
AR: Yeah! It seems very auxiliary and very big, which is cool, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I think they’re coming here pretty soon and that’s something I’d like to see.
UTG: With regards to the stuff you’re into, do you feel you sound similar? How would you describe it?
JB: It’s funny because we’ve yet to mention to you the stuff we actually listen to regularly. It’s mostly heavy music. In the van there are entire tours we’ve done where nothing lighter than Slipknot is playing.
AR: But what do we sound like? I’ve always said Bayside and Tigers Jaw combined. It seems it’s a pretty accurate comparison.
JB: The Bayside comparison always throws me off because I never really listened to Bayside up until I’d already written stuff, so I’ve never really heard what [Anthony Raneri] sounded like.
AR: We’ve also gotten “faster American Football,” which I don’t really think we sound like, but I will claim that for sure because I love them.
UTG: You guys have a new split coming out soon. When is it due and who is it with?
AR: It’s due out on March 11 and we’re on it with a band called Hot Mulligan.
JB: It will appeal to more people but will not take away from people who already liked us.
AR: It’s the same sound we’ve always been doing but it’s slightly less smooth and a bit more punchy.
JB: We finally figured out what we’re doing [laughs]. Before we used to just walk in and lay stuff down. Basically we’re growing up.
UTG: Are you the primary lyricist, Jacob? Can you talk about the lyrics on this split?
JB: Yup, it’s me. The first song on the split, “Tired Life,” is about tour but not in a “being away from home is sad” sort of way. Tour is a constant stage of exhaustion and just not feeling rested until until you’ve been back home for at least two days. The second song is about my mom.
UTG: How are you guys affiliated with Hot Mulligan?
JB: We knew them through another band we’re good friends with.
AR: Yup, it was kind of like how when you set your friends up [laugh]. It was just orchestrated by all of them.
UTG: If you guys were to choose only one of your songs to present your band as a whole, which one would it be?
AR: Oh, man, that’s incredibly tough.
JB: Wow, yeah I was going to pick a song that we actually haven’t put out yet. I couldn’t even say the name because it isn’t in English [laughs]. If I had to pick one that’s out, though, it would be “Better Than This.” That one I think is everyone’s favorite.
AB: It’s a song we’ve been playing live for a very long time and I’m actually still not tired of it. It might just be because a lot of people know the words [laughs]. Regardless, I’d pick it.
UTG: What is the rest of the year looking like for you all? Tour? Full-length?
JB: We leave this weekend for a band called Language. They sound like Code Orange. Whenever I pick up a band I try to do a weekend with them or go out with them for merch because I like to see how their mechanics are on the road. I like seeing who does what and what needs changing. Stuff like that. We’re going out two weeks after that with Hot Mulligan. There’s a cool festival in Colombus that we’re doing, too.
AR: We’re never home. I love Columbus, but I’d rather play shows all the time.
JB: In terms of the full-length I’ve always said I wouldn’t do one until it’s on a label. I refuse to do the GoFundMe thing. If that’s your thing, tight, but it’s not really mine. I think realistically to make the full-length I’ve dreamed of, we would need budget. I do wanna beg kids for ten grand [laughs], but yeah, we’ve had an EP written so that’s cool.
UTG: Kanye’s record came out [recently] – what do you guys think of it? Have you heard it at all?
JB: I downloaded Tidal for it [laughs]. 808s was a big record for me and Kanye got a lot of hate for it. Not rightfully so. I think he did a thing that a lot of artists do when they just wanna make art. He ignored his core demographic. No one wanted a Kid Cudi record with synth, but I thought it was still a great record.
AR: It’s definitely what I wanted, too.
JB: I thought Yeezus was also pretty good.
UTG: Ah, I was gonna say that I think Yeezus was the one that was trashed on pretty heavily.
JB: I just think lyrically it wasn’t very strong, but it made sense for him at that time I guess. I think lyrically The Life Of Pablo is the Kanye we need, but not the Kanye we deserve right now.
AR: Yeah, I don’t like to not listen to a record by an artist I like in its entirety so I also definitely have to take some time out of my day to give it a full listen.
JB: I haven’t heard it in full yet because I work with dogs all day and the dogs would bark a lot so it’d be hard to hear [laughs], but from a glance it looks great. The first song is so good. I wanna give it an actual, full sit-down.
Everyone Leaves’ 7-inch split with Hot Mulligan is due out on March 11 via Little Heart Records and Generation Records. You can pre-order the release here.
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