New Reality—a five-member, post-hardcore band from Rochester, New York—is kicking off their debut music campaign with a hard-hitting single titled “Disappear,” releasing June 6.
The band, which formed in 2024, draw inspiration from artists including Dayseeker, Silverstein, Bad Omens, and Sleep Token—fusing raw emotion with grit and melody alongside dark undertones with synth-pop elements.
In this OOTB interview, the band members discuss their music upbringings and foundation, and they describe their writing process, discuss goals, plans and more.
When and how did you first become interested in music—was it an album, a live concert, a musician, etc.?
Cory (bass) - I first got interested in music walking into an Alpha & Omega Bookstore, going to the new CD releases and buying my first CD, Slowly Going The Way Of The Buffalo by MxPx. Mike Herrera is and always will be my biggest musical influence.
Zach (guitar) - I was introduced to music at a very young age. My dad is a drummer and there was always music of some sort in the house. I remember one day when I was about middle school age, I found a box of old CDs in our basement. I picked two of them up and snuck them upstairs to play in my little CD player with headphones. The CDs were Dirt by Alice In Chains and In Utero by Nirvana. My path was set in stone at that moment. I knew I wanted to be a guitar player and songwriter. Jerry Cantrell was a massive influence on me musically and still is to this day.
Evan (guitar) - I was introduced to music at a very young age. My grandmother was always playing piano and singing when I would go to visit her. She started teaching me parts to play along with her. Eventually, I moved on to teaching myself guitar in my bedroom from guitar magazines and playing along with the 2003 Warped Tour album. That was one of the first CDs I bought as a kid, because I was drawn into the original hype of Warped Tour with the skateboarding and extreme sports aspects of it. I didn’t know any of the bands on it, but it introduced me to Rise Against, Less Than Jake, Motion City Soundtrack, and Story Of The Year. It’s all been history ever since.
Steven (vocals) - I grew up in a musical family. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a kid, and my grandmother would always play piano, or my grandfather would play the accordion. My mom used to sing while she did housework, and my dad played guitar and piano and sang in his spare time as well. So, naturally I took an interest in music, learning basic scales on piano at age 5. When I was 13 I got my first guitar and taught myself how to play, and decided to learn a little bit of every instrument I could get my hands on (drums, bass, etc.). I took some chorus classes in middle school, but stopped at high school, not really thinking I would ever keep up with singing, and turned my focus to honing my skills on instruments instead. Oh, the irony.
If you could collaborate with any one band or musician, who would it be and why?
Chris (drums)
Morgan Rose from Sevendust, because he’s helped through getting into an original band. He’s a hard hitting drummer like me. He’s a great friend, mentor and an inspiration. He has inspired me to be better and take chances, to be in a band with guys that are cool. I’ve finally found that with New Reality. Forever grateful.
How would you describe your band’s writing process—musically and lyrically?
Zach
Our writing process is somewhat unique. With the band being spread out across New York, we rely heavily on remote writing and recording. Our songs will generally start out with an idea from either Zach or Steve. It can be as simple as a guitar riff, or a fully worked out song. Then, that idea is handed off to Steve to work through vocals and lyrics to create the heart and soul of the song. Once that portion is set, Chris will work through it to write drum parts. With drums locked in, Cory writes his bass parts.
For this material currently, we are producing in-house. Which is a blessing and a curse. It gives us a ton of flexibility. But also puts all of the pressure on us to ensure that the music sonically is at the level of quality we demand from ourselves. We are very proud of what we have accomplished and cannot wait to get the music into the listener's hands!
What do you hope listeners take away from your music?
Steve
Genuine connection. We put our hearts into writing music with real emotion and substance, and at the end of the day, we hope that anyone listening can hear or feel that. Be it through connection to lyrics, or just a vibe through the music, we want people to relate.
What are the band’s plans and goals for the rest of the year and the time frame?
Cory
The band right now is focused entirely on getting this album fully finished and demos recorded and ready for final tracking. Bringing on Chris was the final piece of the puzzle to get these tracks one step closer for everyone to hear. It's wild having so many tracks and having to possibly shelf some truly great songs for a possible later release. We've started planning some rehearsals and while we love listening to these songs on our phones, hearing them in the practice space… we just can't wait to play these songs live.
New Reality is:
Steven Swenszkowski (vocals)
Zach O’Connor (guitar)
Evan Sheffer (guitar)
Cory Brugger (bass)
Chris Ioannone (drums)
Follow New Reality
https://www.instagram.com/newrealityband
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