“We’re in what we call our 2.0”: Walter Schreifels seeks to grow his band’s post-hardcore legacy. “We’re in what we call our 2.0 right now,” Quicksand vocalist/guitarist Walter Schreifels tells Apple Music. “I see us like we’re on our third record and at the same time on our fifth record.” What he means is this: Quicksand put out two massively influential post-hardcore albums, Slip (1993) and Manic Compression (1995), before calling it quits in 1999. Nearly two decades later, the original band members—Schreifels, bassist Sergio Vega, and drummer Alan Cage—reemerged with Interiors in 2017. Bring on the Psychics is their third album since returning to action, and it handily bridges the gap between their classic ’90s material and the band’s modern incarnation. “There’s been so many bands that have been inspired by Quicksand and have taken that formula to all kinds of wild places,” Schreifels says. “Now that we’re back, we want to surprise ourselves, top ourselves, and also be in the conversation of contemporary bands because we feel like we’ve earned our place there, whether people recognize it or not. If you never heard of us or never cared about that, we have to try to be a great band no matter what.” Below, he comments on each track on Bring on the Psychics. “Get to It” “We wanted to come with an anthem right from the jump. I kind of knew from the minute that the song materialized in rehearsal, which was pretty quickly, that it was going to be a great opening track. And that was before I even wrote the lyrics. And then, the music just kind of dictated something that would be like, ‘Get to it. Let’s fucking go.’ It was pretty obviously the one to start with.” “Regenerate” “This is probably my favorite on the record. I just think it has a very cool structure and a cool groove to it that reminds me of progressive hardcore. It’s got hardcore underpinnings, but it has unexpected turns, and I love the outro. It’s sort of like the Beatles song ‘A Day in the Life’ if you left it out on the dashboard of your car and it melted. It takes you on a trip, but the trip is three minutes long. It also starts with a vocal intro, which is something that we’ve never done before.” “Agency” “Sergio came in with the music for this one. He’s into that sort of left-wing heavy-metal punk music from England—bands like Amebix, Crass, Discharge, that kind of realm—and I feel like this speaks to that motif. The lyrics have to do with narcissism, people who are like, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Shit will happen to you, but what is your role in that? And after you recognize your role in that, what are you going to do to change the dynamics and put yourself in a better position? Some people have a hard time with that.” “Crystallize” “I think we’ve done little hints of things like this before, toward that sort of post-punk sound. But it’s almost got a primitive floor-tom mosh beat and a certain surf-iness to it as well. It reminds me of a fight from the old Batman TV show. You know, Blam! Pow! But then, when I put vocals over it, it took on a different character. The lyrics are about appreciating the moment you’re in and taking stock of it. I really love that one, and people seem to be connecting to it a lot.” “Supercollider” “Musically, it’s kind of an homage to Orange 9mm, that grooviness they have. I’ve always loved that band. Lyrically, it’s a classic dealing-with-difficult-people song, which is something I picked up from hardcore. For me, hardcore was like being in high school, like, ‘This guy’s such a dick,’ you know? Hardcore songs can be pretty simplistic and to the point in that way. Now I have a little bit more language and a little bit more experience, but I’m still dealing with difficult people. Sometimes you encounter people who are trying to create a narrative and force it on others. Before you can fight against it, you have to recognize it.” “In Full Color” “This one took a minute to get a handle on. Serge had this riff, and he’s a very original writer. Sometimes I don’t even understand where the beat is on his stuff. He won’t necessarily, either, but he’ll play it consistently. We worked on this for a while, trying to figure out how the riff moves within that rhythm that I just think is so hype and so cool. I wrote a relief to it, a more expansive part that became the chorus. And it’s a breakup song, really. That’s what I had in mind. When two people who love each other have to break up, what’s that like? But with a metallic groove.” “Days You Run To” “At this point in the record, you’ve just been getting jammed out super hard, so I wanted to put a respite in there, something more chill. On a record like ours, you might do more of a spooky thing, and there is a spooky element to this, but mostly it just does something different than the other songs on the record. I think our song ‘Cosmonauts’ [from 2017] did a similar thing, or ‘Brushed’ off the last record. I’m referencing our own songs that I feel like make sense with this, but I feel like Fugazi have done songs like this as well. I think it gives the record some weight.” “Cool Guy” “This is another sort of hardcore poking-at-people song, but not from a ‘You’re such a fucking asshole’ standpoint. I always think I approach this kind of thing with a sense of humor, so it’s sympathetic in a way to the sort of person I’m creating. It’s basically a straw man of some person that’s really getting on my nerves. My favorite line in the song is, ‘It could be me when I reflect that you should be what I expect.’ It’s basically saying that people aren’t going to be who you want them to be, so don’t get so pissed off.” “Moving Forward” “This came out of one long 30-minute jam we did at my place in upstate New York. We almost didn’t put it on the record because it’s in a similar post-punk lane with ‘Crystallize.’ But I think this song gives me a Hot Water Music feeling because they have these anthemic songs like, ‘We’re going to do this thing!’ you know? ‘Let’s go, let’s get to the good stuff!’ So, I think I channeled Chuck [Ragan] a little bit on this one. I think it’s also got the only guitar solo on the record, and I really love it because any kid that’s taken three guitar lessons could play it.” “Bring on the Psychics” “There was this news show I used to watch that had this really dope theme song. I finally grabbed it and made my own version of it. It kind of starts how a Fugazi song might start, but when it hits, it has a big hip-hop feel. Alan Cage is really great at playing these giant John Bonham beats, so I knew it was going to be effective. The phrase ‘bring on the psychics’ was something I always wanted to use, and it actually returns to a theme of a Gorilla Biscuits lyric that goes ‘Pick your head up, get off the fucking ground/These high hopes that I have keep me from getting down.’ It’s basically like, ‘Let’s fucking go, dude. Wallowing in your crap is fine for a while—feel your feelings—but there has to be a limit.’”