Interviews (248)

• April 22, 2026
• Colleen Johnson
• 43
• 0

(l-r: Tay Ewart, Oliver Baxter, Domenic Reid, Pat Diaz)

Last Saturday, I headed out to do something very daring. That thing is trying to go… to a show at House of Blues in Boston when the Red Sox have a home game. But when bands like Broadside and The Maine are in town with a pretty perfectly curated line-up that also included Nightly and Grayscale, it’s something you prioritize. For the bands, it had to be a treat, too, considering pretty much every band talked about how they were able to catch a little bit of the game as a great warm-up for the gig that night while on stage.

A few hours before the show, I sat down with Oliver Baxter and Domenic Reid of Broadside, where we chatted about the handful of shows they were joining the tour for, their respect for and past interactions with The Maine, and their new album, which dropped less than two weeks ago. We had an in-depth chat about their hopes for the future, the moments on this album that they feel bring them back to OG Broadside energy, and much more! You can find our chat below!

 

—

New England Sounds: You’re fresh off this brand new album, I’m sure you’re ready to roar. How have these first few shows been? 

Oliver Baxter: I think they’ve been really, really good. We started in Toronto, and that’s where we’re coming from. No, it was incredible, huge show. Big room, big venue, nice venue. They all wore suits, which made us feel nice. But it was awesome. Pre-show, we had the jitters going into it because there are a lot of established bands on this tour, and also, The Maine is The Maine. You know what I mean, we’ve been trying to be little brothers to them for years now, so there’s a bit of fear, but then there’s also this overwhelming desire to impress them, and also impress their fans. And then last night, back in the States, we played in Philly, and that was more akin to what we’re used to. The first few years of the band, that’s all we could afford to do. Was to like go a couple states away from where we were. And so we kind of built the foundation with them, so we still see faces in a room that we saw maybe twelve years ago, where they’re now seeing us play with bands like The Maine. Really overwhelming, so for the two shows, it was a great icebreaker in Toronto. And then last night was like great, “oh, shit, maybe we can do this.” And we look good, and we’re here! So, it’s been great so far. I think tonight’s going to be the same. 

NES: Perfect, then considering it is only the third show, but all of the bands on this tour have been bands for at least ten years. I think Nightly is maybe the youngest, but all around the same age as you guys. It’s only two shows in for you guys on this run, but does it feel like that well-oiled machine, with all these bands so used to being on the road and in that same DIY aesthetic? 

Domenic Reid: Yeah, for example, we’ve been, for the last two shows, loading in at 3:30, that was what time our call time was. And then today, because of all the hectic stuff around the city, they changed it like this morning, for us to load in at two. But we were not prepared for that, as in we slept like four hours from here, so we ended up getting here at 3:30, and it’s so well oiled that we already just are completely built. Everyone, they’re all pros, and every band is just ready to go, and like, us being the new band for these few shows, we just kind of seamlessly slipped right in, and we’ll slip right out after Brooklyn, and it’ll be cool. 

NES: Then you talked about it a little bit, but, it’s no secret, The Maine is turning 20 years old this year as a band and has always  been very DIY and selling their own albums at Warped Tour,etc.  And you talked about always wanting to be their little brothers. You’ve always maintained this  DIY aesthetic. How did that conversation come about to kind of jump on this tour for a few dates? 

Domenic: Oh, we love them. And every time we hear something, oh, they’re planning a tour or so and so, we tell our team. We’re like, “Please, please, please,” please just ask if they’ll have us. And they’re like, they do always, sometimes it doesn’t work out, and then we got the offer for these five shows. And we were just like, “Yes. We’ll literally do anything, to open, we’ll play for free.” So, yeah, it wasn’t much of a conversation. Well, I guess maybe somewhere else it was, but for us it was just, ‘please, can we play?’  We got to play one show with them, The Maine, in 2023.  It was just them and us.We played in Austin, Texas. We got  to meet a few of them, it was pretty awesome, and I did gush, we were hanging out like pre-show, and I was like, “Just so you know, we would do anything, if the time ever comes,” and Pat, their drummer, I was trying to exlain Broadside to him and he was like, “ I know who you guys are.” He was like, “We all really like your band. So if we can make it work, we’ll make it work.” And then, they were nice enough to make it work. 

NES: And then you did this thing called releasing an album on the same day they released their new record (Nowhere, at Last and Joy Next Door, respectively) on this past Friday, the 10th.  Listening to the record, it’s obviously a little bit all over the place in a great way. It has those more electronic elements, a little bit angrier rock-and-roll moments. Maybe when did you start working on this record, Nowhere, At Last? 

Domenic:  Year and a half, maybe longer. 

Oliver: Sure, the foundation of the album. We wrote an album, then we decided, ah, maybe this isn’t where we want to land. So we took a year off, we needed to explore, after taking the year off. Started fresh in January of 2024. Right and then we did the old go into a cabin and do some writing. And that’s where “I Think They Know” came about. And I think it kind of married the ideas that we were trying to put together. Like, we really  liked the idea of adding in more of the production stuff and those sorts of elements that really amplified the experience of the band.

The idea of it being that if we can make big songs, we can probably play big rooms. That’s the end goal, right? So everything in between we’ll have to figure out because that’s the hard part.  That was the goal with that, so we kept that in mind, and we just kind of naturally just pulled it out of one another. In the sense of like what would sound good here, what would sound good here. We started to kind of build this foundation of like keeping to the core elements of what we have in the sense of driving choruses, we want a strong hook, and we just want to make music that people can shake ass to, but also feel a little depressed to, sort of. So yeah,  once those kind of loose elements came into play, that’s really when we started to get these foundations, but we were writing with our friend, Sean Dolich. And he kind of really helped us lay down this sort of, how would you say it (to Domenic)? 

Domenic: He’s just really good at production and stuff. Which is what we’re always looking to do. Because obviously,  it’s one thing to write a catchy hook and then some guitars and stuff, right, and lay down some drums, but the production is kind of what we’re really looking towards. And none of us are very good with computers, so he really is awesome at that. Yeah, I guess it is crazy, though, because then there’s a song on this album called “Dead Roses” that we started writing in 2022. So, if you’re really like, when did we start writing this album? 2022, technically, is when we started writing for this. But yeah, most of it was the last year and a half. 

Oliver: Yeah, that’s really when it started to take place. 

NES: Then you are on such a diverse tour, obviously. Nightly, a little more dancey electronic. A little bit different from the rest of the guys. I know it’s only your third show, but you’ve released so much music, even in the post-COVID era. How are you even curating these sets? Is it something where you are playing a handful of the new record? 

Domenic: It’s hard, yeah. 

NES: Yeah, I’m sure it’s a difficult challenge. 

Oliver:  It’s tough. We had to follow the rules, or the rules of wanting to promote the album. So luckily, people have been really immediately receptive to the singles. So, we’re just sticking to the strong ones. We’re playing a song called “Cherry Red Eagle Death” on this one, because we feel that it is the balance between the other bands and stuff like that. But also, so, admittedly, some of the set is, “I want to play that, oh I want to play that.” Because we’re such a kind of weird-ADHD band,  we’re able to kind of mold to any sort of set. If you look at our track record of bands we’ve toured with over the past five years, but I think, because we have the ability to see these bands and know their audiences and also share audiences, we kind of know how to cater to them. You know what I mean,  so even some of our older pop-punk stuff. Last night went bonkers. Well, yeah, because The Maine still, their core is Warped-tour and Broadside’s core is Warped-tour. And same with Grayscale, so at the core, we only have a twenty-five-minute set for these shows, which was really hard to narrow down songs for. Songs we had to play,  ones we wanted to play, needed to play, right? So we originally weren’t going to play a song we have called “Coffee Talk” from the first album. We were not going to play that song because we were like, maybe we don’t need it for these crowds. We’re trying to do this new thing, because we’re playing to new people who might not know who Broadside is, so why even play a song that is a little outdated for the band at this point? No disrespect to “Coffee Talk,” it’s great, but then ultimately, we did add it into the set, and it was great. 

NES: And the reaction’s been good? 

Domenic: Yeah, the reaction’s been awesome. 

NES: You have so many songs; you have to kind of pick and choose. 

Domenic: Yeah, we have seen some comments where it’s like how dare you take X, Y, Z song out. We’re like, maybe we can’t play them all? 

NES: Well, we’re playing twenty-five minutes versus an hour and a half. 

Domenic: What’s it called when you play a bunch of clips of different songs? 

Oliver: Oh, like a medley. 

NES: They each get like thirty seconds. 

Oliver: Oh, like I was just about to sing, and then we switched it up. 

NES: Pull a Bieber-chella. 

Oliver: Yeah, I’ll pull up YouTube real quick. 

NES: Then, to wrap it up, I know we’re getting close to showtime. The album is still so new, you’re only on this tour for a few dates, but you guys have been so busy these past few years. I mean, you’ve always been so busy. I know it may seem cheesy, but maybe the album is so new, maybe any hopes or goals as this album comes to life, and we come into this next year.  

Domenic: We hope that it catapults us to be the headlining band. That’s kind of what everyone hopes for. It’s awesome to do really cool support tours, like this, and frankly, it’s really scary to do headlining tours for a band like us. We’ve been kind of you know around for a while, but never been able to take that step. So, like, I would open for The Maine forever and ever, and ever, you know what I mean? But realistically, to achieve longevity and kind of put our stake in the ground, we do hope this album at least puts us a step closer to becoming like The Maine. Having the wherewithal to be able to be a band for twenty years, and headline and have sell-out venues.

Oliver: That’s the thing, there’s the, like, what you want and what you get out of it obviously. But there’s also the reality of, nobody goes into music being like I want to become a millionaire. Not this genre. There’s just levels, and we’re trying to be able to hit that next level. So we can do things, like pay a crew. Stuff that we’re just not realizing yet,  because you know, we can achieve that longevity, because we are a good band. And we write good songs, and I only say that because I listen to the people, and the people are telling me that. So blame them, if you don’t agree, but you want to be able to pay for a sound guy. If we have an overnight drive, we want to pay our driver and not be like, ‘Hey man, I know you just played a show, but do you mind cracking your fourth Redbull so that you can drive us to Milwaukee now,’ or whatever. So there are those behind-the-scenes kinds of things, but it’s the reality of, we’re all in our thirties, and we’re trying to figure out the level of making all of that happen at the same time while still keeping our integrity, and our voice, and also trying to figure out what that even means. But moments like these and things like these, and the reception, it’s kind of all that we can base our trajectory off of. And as of right now, it feels pretty good, and we feel respected on this album. We feel like there’s a sentiment of respect from other bands and other people. Like, “look at you guys writing songs and writing albums.” 

Domenic: I’ve been getting a lot of nice text messages from friends’ who play in other bands, much more successful ones, being like, “You guys really did good.” 

Oliver: One of my co-workers, he’s just a normal guy, he just likes music. He texted me the other night just being like, “I don’t think you even understand how good this record is.” 

Domenic: Maybe we don’t. 

Oliver: Maybe not!

Domenic: I think that’s the other thing, like we’ve also been listening to this record for years. 

Oliver: It’s been done. We’re not thinking of idiosyncrasies, like, “Oh, we should have started like a second earlier,” nobody’s thinking of that. 

Domenic: I mean, I turned in all the album artwork in October. What is it, April now? Like it’s been done, it’s been so done for so long. 

NES: It’s like you finally birthed this thing that you’ve been listening to for months. 

Oliver: No question, it’s like you’re giving away a secret. It’s like going to a meeting where they’ve convinced you for a long time that you’re going to be okay. Just jump out of the plane; trust me, the parachute will come out. Okay, let’s do it. And so to put out a record, and a day or two later, go out and play huge shows with bands that you’ve been trying to manifest for years. It’s one of those, like rise or what is it, you know what I mean, just jump in. 

Domenic: Sink or swim. 

Oliver: Yeah, sink or swim type shit. And it’s exciting, just to speak for myself, I’ve always been really addicted to that stuff. I’ve always thrived in that sort of sink-or-swim moment, but sometimes you sink. 

NES: I feel like you’ve always been like a band’s band, though. 

Dom: I mean, being a “band’s band” is such a double-edged sword. Because then, it’s like, hopefully, some of the cool bands will be like, “Yo, we need someone to open this tour, and we like your band, so do you want to come?” And we’re like, yes, and then on the other side, it’s sometimes, like sometimes people who are not in bands, are like I don’t understand your music.

Oliver: I mean, it’s fine. I think we’re finding a good middle ground. 

Dom: We found a good middle ground, especially with this record. 

Oliver: I think it’s hilarious, too, the idea that at this point in our career, we’re still impressing people.  I think people are getting mad now at this point that they’re like, “Oh, you guys are still writing songs that I like, this is insane.” 

Domenic: Yeah. 

NES: Like it’s not fair. 

Oliver: Yeah, it’s good, and I feel good about it. And I feel very proud of the band right now. 

 NES: No, you should be. The new album’s great, and I’m not just trying to butter you up.  Yeah, it starts off a little bit electronic, and it goes right into these very aggressive moments, like are we okay? 

Oliver: Yeah!   I love the last track on the album; I just feel like it’s kind of the first real OG Broadside-y, super-moody, sit-with moment. And I think that whether you consume it start to finish or you put it on shuffle, it’s a record that I think I would have, when I was in my youth, would be trying to be like, “This is the best band.” And anybody who tells me no, you’re stupid and I hate you. I feel like if somebody had given me this record when I was ten years old, I would be like, ” This is my favorite band.” And I think in a weird way, that makes me feel fulfilled. 

NES: That must feel good, considering how much time you guys have put into this band. 

Oliver: You know what feels good? It feels good to be able to put something out on the table; you go home with that and tell me what you think. And   I’m not going to sit there and think all night  what are they thinking. This feels like the first time we’ve been able to be like, every bit of intention in this is all about the music. So sit with it, be with it, and it’s been exciting to see. Also, we upped our social media game, and we’re playing the game. We’re doing the thing. 

NES: Getting the content. 

Oliver: Oh, we’re getting the content. 

Domenic: We signed to  Thriller, and at one of our first meetings with the label owner, Bob, cool dude, awesome guy. And  he said, “You guys have been a band at this point for ten years?” And we were like,” Yeah.” And he said, “Your Instagram sucks.” And we were like, okay, okay, and he was like, I have bands that are a year and a half old, who have five times the number of followers that you do. And we were, like, okay, so he was, like, so that’s what you guys need to focus on. And that’s what has been a big focus. 

Oliver: It’s been a big part of it. Hopefully, it will pay off. I’ll tell you this: Broadside has not crossed the threshold of “What the fuck are we doing?” Luckily, within that same conversation, we were able to go, we’re down to play, but we have to find a way to make content that a 37-year-old man can make. And I’m not saying no, but I want that to be clear: I don’t want to trick people into liking us. As long as they were on board with that. 

Domenic: Which they were. 

Oliver: Which they are, and here we are. Lipsyncing all day, trying to get viral.

 

—

We were also on-site for the show, and that live coverage will be hitting in the next few days!