meet the brooklyn finalists: fade em all

On Friday, August 9th, five acts will perform at the AFROPUNK Brooklyn Battle of the Bands Finals, at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg.

The Grand Prize is the chance to join the star-studded, line-up of AFROPUNK Brooklyn 2019 at Commodore Barry Park on August 24th-25th. But the Battle of the Bands is not only an opportunity for a big break most musicians seek in their careers, it is also an occasion for the bands to showcase their music, their creative spirit and their artistry to the AFROPUNK audience. So this week, we’re spotlighting all five finalists, asking them questions about who they are and what this moment means to them.

Presenting Fade Em All, bringing an H-Town brand of punk rock and all the DGAF attitude that comes with it.

What is your name, your age, and the instrument that you play? (If a band, identify the members of your band, with above)

Band Name: Fade Em All – Isaiah Rusk (23, lead singer), Canyon Scott (21, bassist), Oscar Santander (23, guitarist), Cory Williamson (23, drummer)

Where are you from?

Houston, TX

What are your favorite things about where you are from? (Especially when it comes to Black culture of where you are from.)

My favorite thing in the city is the music/art scene that we’ve helped cultivate in the past year with shit like DONTDIE and all the young people that are a part of our scene in Houston. All races! All different backgrounds! We are extraordinary misfits and the world should and will see us. When it comes to the Black culture of Houston, I think it is unmatched. How you ride horses, then go study vogue? Or Poe a foe while swangin on candy, then hit the moshpit by the end of the night?

In your own words, give us a short description of the kind of music you make.

We make 2019 punk music.

If there was one or two core thoughts or ideas that you want your music to convey, what are they?

Resilience! And also The Now: look at us right now. Feel how we feel right now. Move how we move, RIGHT NOW.

Fade Em All singer Isaiah Rusk, backstage at the Battle of The Bands Brooklyn 2019 semi-finals.

What are your musical dreams and aspirations? Not fame-wise, but creatively. What do you think you can do with music?

Fade Em All is here for the resurgence of punk/rock music into pop culture on the highest level. We will help Black and Brown kids reclaim rock music and inspire new sonic ways.

Name one artist that you would like to collaborate with? What do you think that collaboration would sound like?

Rico Nasty, and I think it’ll sound BRAZY.

What are you most looking forward to if you win the Battle of the Bands? What do you think winning could do for you?

Most looking forward to the faces of my bandmates and the opportunity to scream to all my niggahs in the south that “WE DID IT! FROM THE COUNTRY! AND U CAN TOO!” Winning can, for sure, help expedite our path towards success. I think playing AFROPUNK Fest will inspire and increase the overall morale of our scene and supports. Put us on more music industry radars, letting it be known that The Faders are Coming.

Anything else you want to say to the AFROPUNK audience as a way of introduction?

We are the real rock stars! Thank you AFROPUNK.

Follow Fade Em All on Soundcloud.