Roll of the Dice: 7 questions with Promises Unsaid

Features, Interviews, Roll of the Dice

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.

Powerhouse metal core outfit have dropped the new single and video for “Revenge of the Smoothie King.” To celebrate the video's release, the band's frontman Caleb Unsaid joined TGEFM for a Roll of the Dice interview. Check out what the band had to say about their sound, their pro-wrestling gimmicks and the future.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! Congrats on the upcoming “Revenge of the Smoothie King.” What should our readers know about the members of Promises Unsaid, your history, and your sound?

“Thank you so much for having us on! It's an honor to be here still releasing music and chasing the dream we all had as kids. That's a pretty big question honestly. Promises Unsaid, I say, is a genre bending band, heavily rooted in emotions and trauma. We're a huge blending pot of different influences, so really we are masters of riding the vibe when it comes to writing music and we're not afraid to talk about our feelings. We don't really have one song that sounds the same. And I'd say our music is for the listener that wants to heal from their pain by finding refuge in energetic, heavily emotional music. We speak for the underdog, from the mouths of the underdogs.
Promises Unsaid was started in 2015 after my second time going to Warped Tour. I had been creating really bad hip hop music for a while, but being in a band has always been my biggest aspiration. Once I was introduced to live bands and the environment of live shows I was hooked. Then once I started performing it was something I could never let go of. The band underwent so many member changes within the first 5 years, I'd have to write a book here for the full history haha. I mean, that's literally why we named our first album “Growing Pains”. The start of Promises was so toxic. Adam Gow(drums) and I are the only original members. Throughout covid we pretty much struggled to find members that worked well, but during the writing process of Growing Pains we acquired a long time friend of both of ours, Jaden Lynch, for guitar and back up vocals to help us finish the album. That was pretty much the start of the supergroup. Somewhere during the release process, Alex Brett joined us on second guitar and would later also do back up vocals. After being a band without a bassist for some time we added Jason McMannamon to the low section and he also helps with back up vocals. I'll say with full confidence, this is the new original line up of Promises Unsaid. We're stronger than ever. We push each other. We understand each other on an emotional level. We grind. The vibes have never felt better in the Promises camp.”

I don't think it's fair to call it a revival because metalcore is something that's really ever gone away, but there is a massive rejuvenation of the scene right now. What is going on out there that has gotten so many people back on their boards to ride this latest wave?

“Well I feel like there's multiple things at play really…
One, I feel like covid had a pretty big effect on people's emotions because that kinda slowed the world down. It took away a lot of people's distractions and essentially made many people reassess their lives. A lot of people were negatively affected by covid, and there's so much emotion in metalcore that it's super easy to get into when you're already feeling all those emotions.
Two, I feel there are several bands like us that are playing with a lot of pop elements, some of them almost bridging the line of just being a pop band. We like to make sure every song at the very least has a breakdown. One of the reasons I personally started writing metal music was to introduce it to the population of people who are afraid or unexposed to the metal sound. I feel like breakdowns were the root of my own experience getting into metal music so I think we all feel here that breakdowns are key.
Lastly, I think metal and all of its subgenres have been around for a while now and it's finally breaching mainstream success. People are more open minded about harsh vocals. I think because there's a plethora of incredibly talented vocalists that have made it easier to listen to. Also, every band, artist, musician, entertainer, creator, etc. to ever create something new, still stood on the shoulders of someone who did it first. We're a hive mind, we teach and learn from each other, and with new advances in technology there are so many platforms to not only learn, but to perfect your skill, engage with peers and promote/sell your art.”

We all have a few, what is your biggest regret? A gig you turned down, advice you didn't take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician?

“Honestly I really don't have any regrets. I feel like we handle everything we deal with, with an open mind and a protected heart. So, sure things go sideways but they go sideways for everyone. Sure there are some experiences I would have handled differently with today's perspective, but I had to learn that. All the trauma that could have been avoided with the correct knowledge and understanding wasn't, but we learn more and more every step we take. Even if we have to step backwards. I'm ever thankful for the knowledge, because we can pass that knowledge to our peers and help other artists/musicians that we believe in, essentially skip steps, and that immediately outweighs any regret.”

What have been some of the most memorable moments or experiences with the band so far? What's been the most unexpected? The weirdest?

“There are already too many memorable moments to count to be completely honest. Getting to open for bigger bands, bands I've looked up too. Playing festivals. Hearing the crowd chant “One more song” for the first time. Every time you step on that stage you either get the best or the worst feeling in the world. As far as unexpected and weird I'd say driving all the way across the country to play a festival in California for the first time would easily take the top. As much as we expected would go wrong, even more than that did. That trip was one of the biggest rollercoasters of our lives. Everytime we would reach peak happiness we would plummet to sorrow. Our New York van did not like the other side of the Rocky Mountains to say the least. We got trapped multiple times in Utah due to our van constantly overheating due to the change in environment. That led to a series of weird and unexplainable events, so the van wasn't the only one having breakdowns. To be fair, we were driving all the way across the country, 3000 some miles, in less than 3 days. We made it to the event an hour and a half before our set. Barely had time to shower off the nasty desert dust, motor fluids, and sweat off us, set up our merch, and get on the hottest stage you could imagine playing. Direct desert sun, no awning, and 98 degree weather. While we were on stage our merch tent blew away, got destroyed, and ruined a bunch of our merch. We were able to stay a day and have a blast at Venice Beach, but then we had to turn around, play a festival in Illinois a couple days later, and deal with Utah all over again. This time Adam would end up getting his wallet stolen in the locker room of a community center we stopped by. Jaden almost got abducted by an old lady with an arrowhead collection at a truck stop. Pretty much all of Utah and California consisted of us driving 2 hours, waiting an hour for the van to cool, and repeating that cycle until we got back to the other side of the Rockies.  Our phones were constantly dead because the van was, so we had to find working outlets in various locations just so we could keep communication with everyone we needed too. It might not have been the most ideal experience but we ended up still having a blast. We really showed just how much grit we have and how much we can overcome and that's echoed so loud in our local scene. Realistically, most bands around here don't travel that far. We're honestly spoiled here. You could do a 10 day run all within a 5 hour radius. The west coast is like a minimum of a 5 hour drive between cities. A 2 hour drive just to the next settlement. Anyway, definitely our wildest ride yet.”

Pro wrestling is a pretty large part of the “Revenge of the Smoothie King” music video. Life on the road, shady bookers, absurdly one-sided merch cuts… lots of parallels between indie wrestlers and touring musicians… so, what would your gimmick be? Which member of Promises Unsaid would cut the best promo?

“I mean, I've been a wrestling fan since I was like 6, so the whole video was a total childhood dream come true haha. I don't think any of us had ever even stepped foot in a wrestling ring before, so that was super cool. We actually cut a wrestling promo for a festival we played back in 2022 that was pretty hilarious. We all have strong personalities so I feel like we all could make a solid wrestling gang. Jaden would be the Blue Collar Killer, something like Stone Cold but softer. Adam would be the Dark Knight with a unique style, something like Jeff Hardy. Jaymac would be the Mr. Sexy, something along the lines of like, I don't know, Shawn Michaels. Alex would be like the Rad Dad with a good catch phrase, something along the lines of like Daniel Bryan. And me… well, I'd be the super flashy one that runs until the wheels fall off, like Ric Flair or something.”

One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should?

“As I said before, every band, artist, musician, entertainer, creator, etc. to ever create something new, still stood on the shoulders of someone who did it first. We're a hive mind, we teach and learn from each other. That being said there are a plethora of bands that come to mind that have helped us along the way, or we still may be continuously working with. I wanna take this opportunity to shout some of those guys out. Here's a small list:
If I Were You, DramaScream, Diamonds To Dust, Mobday, Long Way Home, Drop Out Kings, Absentia, Saving Vice, Perelandra, Perspectives, Set for Tomorrow, Burn Like Stars. I could go on for days to be honest, but I don't want to overwhelm the readers haha! Check ‘em all out, though! Special shoutout to our producer, Randy Pasquarella. Literally everything that comes out of his studio is worth the listen.” 

What's next for Promises Unsaid? Was there anything I missed that you'd like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?

“Honestly the sky's the limit for us. We try to strive for longevity in everything we do. I wanna be doing this till I'm no longer here to do this anymore, and I know all the guys feel the same. So if you're a fan now, this is still only the beginning. Get ready for a lifetime. I'll probably say that till I'm in my 60s. 
As far as things going on now, we've been taking some time off the road to get some of our affairs in order in our personal lives but we're always staying busy as a unit. We plan to be on the road this summer. Got a festival or two booked and confirmed. We're working on a couple tours, nothing finalized yet, though. If you're local to New York State or surrounding areas, you have a good chance of seeing us perform because we still like playing some pop up shows here and there. We've got an album coming this year, so that's our main focus. This will be our second full length album. We will be releasing that next after this last single. We have been slowly releasing singles leading to it, but we still have a music video to shoot for it and were waiting on a couple masters from our producer. We're hoping to get it out by the beginning of this summer. After that, we have another album being worked on as well. It's actually completed instrumentally, and we plan to have a good amount of features on it. To stay in tune with what we got going on you can follow us on any social media @promisesunsaid. Thank you so, so much for having me on, and all my best wishes to all the readers that have taken the time to read this. God bless!”