INTERVIEW: Run The Trap Sits Down With Saint Punk

‘Grunge House’ innovator Saint Punk recently dropped his newest single “Molotov Cocktail.” This hard hitting track alternates between rough bass and stabbing saw chords, expressing pure, raw emotion. 

We got the opportunity to sit down with artist himself and ask him about his newest track, work in quarantine, and more.

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RTT: Hey man, what’s going on

Saint Punk: Not much dude just hanging in the studio of course.

RTT: Nice man, love to hear that. Speaking of, how long have you been producing? 

Saint Punk: I’ve probably been producing since about 2014, but before that, I had a band I played in for a while – it was a rock band that I played in for years and years.  After that, I went out on my own, and eventually started Saint Punk.

RTT: Oh, that’s such a cool background. Coming from rock to house music, what did that mean for you? How has that and your early music tastes inspired you?

Saint Punk: For me, I just love big sounds, whether it be drums or the lead instrument, that definitely comes from the rock world, just being so loud and in your face constantly. I draw a lot of my inspiration from the grit on guitars, distorted basses, and bombastic drums. When I make music I just imagine myself playing it on stage.

A lot of stuff I grew up on has inspired me: James Taylor, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson is a classic…just for like song writing things and melodies. I studied these people when I really started songwriting so just studying their songwriting and their melody structure was great. 

From there, this [Saint Punk] project kinda broke out from the Confession release – they gave me my first real release and it was an EP. I had some bootlegs before that but I took them down and then shopped them around.  

RTT: Confession isn’t a bad label to start with. Shifting gears to the present, what have you been up to since Quarantine, and what’s next for you? 

Saint Punk: [Before Quarantine] all the shows were starting to pick up, I had a tour slated for the summer, I even had an option in November for a big tour, but obviously, that all got slashed. 

Coming up, I have a lot of releases lined up – I don’t want to spoil them just yet – but one is a really cool collaboration I’m excited about. I’m also doing some livestreams, mixes. I’m just trying to create as much music as possible. I’m also doing YouTube tutorials on how to play bass, and then I’m also working on my label 

RTT: What have you been doing with the label?

Saint Punk: Well, we just wrapped up a remix competition. For the label itself…looks, labels are great, but being able to do it independently is always the goal. More money, more creative freedom, and you can do whatever you want. That’s the goal and it’s just a work in progress.

Once we sign acts, I want it to be kind of in the vein of what I’m doing. I’m always searching for songs with a unique sound and a unique vibe, and I want to create a community based around that somewhat aggressive, edgy, dark sound.

RTT: Anyone you’ve been listening to in that type of sound that you like?

Saint Punk: I like all the guys that won the remix competition – Trst. is great, Juice The DJ is awesome. 

RTT: Those are some great artists to check out for sure. So, tell me about your latest release Molotov Cocktail.

Saint Punk: My latest release is “Molotov Cocktail”, and  the one coming after that is “Fight” and the two of them together make up a lot of what I’ve been feeling about the protests and Black Lives Matter movement. Just a lot of anger and frustration.

RTT: What have you been doing for these issues?

Saint Punk: When socials were going crazy, I was constantly educating, and now I’m continuing to try and do as much as I can to educate without overdoing it. I’m trying keeping people informed about two important topics in social justice and COVID-19 education.

You know when, people would listen to Korn cuz they were depressed, it would help them get through it. I hope that people can listen to my music and get some anger out just by listening to it. Obviously I’m not suggesting anyone throw a Molotov cocktail and hurt anyone, but it’s a metaphor for the anger and I hope its a metaphor.

RTT: Thanks for sharing, and thanks for your time

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Check out Saint Punk’s newest single “Molotov Cocktail” and stay tuned for future updates.

INTERVIEW: Run The Trap Sits Down With Saint Punk