Unsigned Spotlight: Start The Week Over
Start the Week Over is a New York based Power-Pop band. The band's unique sound combines powerful punk instrumentation with bright pop melodies.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Bobby Gioiosa (Lead Vocals)
Matt Wikstrom (Guitar, Keys)
Cooper Gould (Guitar, Mandolin, Keys, Strings)
Amanda Pasqualini (Bass)
Stephen Dorris (Drums).
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Start The Week Over? How long has the band been around?
We started off as a 3 piece in 2019 just Steve, Matt and Bobby, then added Cooper and Amanda to the band in early 2020 which was...admittedly not the best time to start. Matt played in a few small punk bands through college (Rage Brigade, CityGo) but wrote some songs for other artists like Orson & The Rosebuds. Cooper was in a folk project called Wally’s who played a cool blend of folk and jazz.
Steve played in a band of a few friends in middle school and high school, mostly bookstore shows and open mics. Bobby has never been in a band before, he was a musical theater performer until he started writing songs with Matt and Steve. Amanda has also not been in an official band before, but would just meet up with friends to enjoy playing and making music.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Bobby was in class at Northeastern and Wikihow’d “How to Name Your Pop Punk Band” and one of the tips was to have a really long band name. He switched tabs and saw a Lisa Simpson meme that had “Start the Week Over” in it (We can’t find it...if anyone can DM us). We thought about changing the name a few times, but as we progressed as a band and were faced with a lot of personal misfortunes, the idea of wanting to turn back time and start over just stuck.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
We don’t have just one songwriter, our ethos has always been if you believe in an idea and think it can work, we’ll always give it a try. Matt and Cooper are typically the melody writers while Bobby, Amanda and Steve are better with lyrics. We write a lot about relationships, of course a lot of love and heartbreak songs, but we’ve been trying to write more about depression and family through a blend of fiction and confessionalism.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
We started off as a Pop-Punk band, very influenced by All Time Low and The Maine, but that style got stale for us after our first EP. We decided to embrace our influences a lot more as a 5 piece; a little synth pop from Matt, R&B from Bobby, folk and jazz from Cooper, hard rock from Amanda, and indie rock and 70s funk from Steve. Being true to our influences freed up the possibilities so much, and we’ve been challenging ourselves to write in broadly different styles while staying true to our voice.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Bobby and Matt used to watch The 1975 concerts on repeat when we first started writing music, and we always wanted to make really personal records that can still kill in an arena setting like they do.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
It has...definitely been a while. Usually, we warm up and run vocal harmonies, the string trio will run some scales, and then typically a shot of tequila to kill the nerves. But nowadays it's usually just turning on the ring light and hitting “Go Live” on IG or Twitch.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
When our first single “Daisytop” dropped, we peaked at #49 on HypeMachine’s chart which was pretty insane. That being said, recording our most recent records with Mike Dwyer at The Bunker was such a special experience. We stayed with him for three days and focused on experimenting with new sounds and ideas.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Just throw us on the Sad Summer Fest lineup, literally every band that played last time around was incredible. Stand Atlantic, All Time Low, Last Night Saved My Life, The Maine (obviously), Grayscale and the list goes on. It would just be super fun to play shows that size with bands we look up to.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thanks so much for the interview, you can check out our latest single “Keepaway” now wherever you stream music!