Roll of the Dice: 6 questions with Southtowne Lanes

Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.

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Have you checked out Take Care, yet? The recently released new record from Oregon’s Southtowne Lanes is ready to take over as one of your favorite records of 2024. Go here, download the record and while you wait for the download to complete, check out our Roll of the Dice interview with the band’s vocalist Matthew Kupka. You won’t regret any of it.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Congrats on the recent Take Care album. What can you tell us about yourself and your sound?

Thank you so much for having us! Southtowne Lanes has been a band for about 12 years now, which is crazy to us. We started out definitely a lot closer to the pop punk and midwest emo sound, and we’ve kind of evolved into a darker post-hardcore mid-2000’s emo sound. Despite my dropping so many genres, I’m terrible at describing music haha. To sum it up, Southtowne is Emotional Hardcore from Eugene and Portland, Oregon. We have one full length record called Give up the Ghost that came out in 2016, and our next record Take Care is out 8 years later in 2024.

A lot of this record is said to deal with a personal loss. As someone without talent, the idea of using such a public forum as recorded and live performances to help heal and recover has always mesmerized me. How has the process helped you through the grieving process? Is there a trick you’ve found to ease the live performance struggle of reliving the pain you felt when writing the tracks?

I actually wish this question (and questions like it) would be asked more. The whole concept of dealing with personal grief in a public forum is pretty fascinating to me. Like, at what point is it no longer relatable or missing the point? At what point is the artist using their loss and exploiting their grief for clout like instagram followers? At what point is it no longer healthy?
I don’t really know the answers to these questions. I’m kind of figuring it out as we go. I am constantly asking myself all of those questions though. Literally daily.
But yes, the writing and recording of a record was very cathartic for me and my personal grief. I would say on the whole that it helped me on my journey of healing and acceptance. It’s like getting to hear your feelings at their most extreme and vulnerable. And then you can interact with them and dissect them. As for the live performance…I’ve never been one to relive the lyrics as we play. I’m not saying this doesn’t happen to people, but for me all I am thinking of is how to play the best show that I have in me at that moment. But then again, I haven’t played 75% of this album live yet. Or even played it live from front to back. So who knows!

We’ve all got a few. What are your biggest regrets: A gig you turned down, advice you didn’t take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician?

My biggest musical regret: I grew up in a classical family and was forced to play the violin every day in school, private lessons, extracurricular orchestras, and at home until I was 18. My father said when I was 18 I would be old enough to decide for myself if I wanted to keep playing or not. I hated the violin so much. My father grew up playing cello, and felt the exact same way growing up as I did. He said one of his biggest regrets was quitting cello when he turned 18. He wanted to make sure I made an informed choice when I came to that age. Ironically, I quit the moment I became a legal adult. I slowly grew to regret this. And now, at 31 years old, I would with 100% certainty say I regret giving up the violin. I should have kept it up. I can still play, and there are a bunch of strings on this record, but I can’t even touch how I used to play when I was a kid. It’s such an unforgiving instrument, and every time I’ve made the attempt to get back into it, I am punished by its demanding skill level. Maybe one day I’ll actually get back on the horse.

What album or band or significant singles made you go “Yeah, this is what I want to do” Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst? On the flipside to that one… Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should know about?

The catalyst to my wanting to put down the violin and pick up the guitar was My Chemical Romance in 2004 with their music video for “I’m Not Okay.” It changed then. At that point in my life I would say I had loose ideas of where I wanted to go with my life, or what I wanted my career to be. But after that song, and then more songs, playing music became everything to me. It’s never been a question since that point that I would always pursue music in some capacity for the rest of my life.
Underrated (and active) bands that I wish more people knew:
Barrow
All get Out
Mansions
Glass Bones

Not to put the cart before the horse, what’s next for Southtowne Lanes once the record is in people’s hands?

Touring, shows, playing live. Maybe do another music video.That’s pretty much it though! Play the hell out of it haha.

Was there anything we missed or that you’d like to put more focus on?

Nope! Super good questions. It feels like you put thought into each one of them. Thank you for caring!