When Special Explosion dropped its debut EP in 2012, the Seattle band seemed poised to become Pacific Northwest indie rock’s next big thing. Most of its members were still in high school, but the group was already turning industry heads and setting the bar extraordinarily high for young, likeminded punks.
It’s no secret—or at least, it shouldn’t be—that being a young band is an uphill battle. Some adults don’t take you seriously even if you shred, and a nationwide scarcity of dedicated all-ages venues makes playing out an endurance test in bureaucratic horse shit. But over the phone, Special Explosion’s vocalist Lizzy Costello and guitarist Sebastian Deramat explain that being a young band came with benefits they may have taken for granted.
“All the responsibility of real life sort of fell on all of us at the same time,” Costello says. “Being able to balance real life stuff with music, being able to balance this band with the crushing reality of being an adult, and also living in a city that’s really difficult to live in as an artist.