Bring On The Psychics

“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—re-emerged 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 recognise 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 materialised 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 favourite 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 yo