The Portland-based musician discusses far-reaching relocations, 2010s metalcore, and finding his sound
In an otherwise empty room, two guitars hang idly on a beige wall. A lew of silence lingers over the Zoom call for the first few seconds as we both set up to talk. “I had to unpack my recording stuff,” vocalist Days to Waste explains. “I’m moving tonight.”
Days to Waste, 21, is quickly establishing himself as one of the most unique emo alternative artists today because of his skilled guitar playing, multilayer instrumentals and high-soaring vocals. Days to Waste sings over his guitar chords with ease, using his technically crisp vocal range to entwine listeners into songs of heartbreak and sadness.
Growing up, Days to Waste lived through the troves of Oregon near the Portland area in Oak Grove. He recalls growing up in a house with four siblings, three from a foster family. “When I was, like, 11-years-old, it was just me in my room and then I got a brother,” he recalls. “Luckily I knew him, we were best friends growing up and his name is Josh. When I was 11 he moved in with his two sisters.”
Coming up, Days to Waste notes that the music scene around his local town never was synonymous with what he had always listened to online. “What made me get into music was this interview with BryanStars with an artist called Cashmere Clouds and I was in 7th grade. He did acoustic stuff but what was so inspiring was his first songs were made on like some Guitar Hero microphone and a shitty DAW and that really inspired me to make me believe like, ‘oh I can do this’.”
Days to Waste began to experiment with a borrowed electric guitar from his dad, and started to learn how to write at only 13. Inspired by classic 2010s metalcore, Days to Waste enjoyed bands like Sleeping with Sirens, Pierce the Veil and Woe, Is Me. It was only a year later when Days to Waste debuted online, starting out as a cover channel on YouTube.
“I started writing seriously later on, the artist side of me didn’t come until 16,” he explains. “I was big into covers. I did a lot of covers on YouTube and I would write here and there [but] it was never anything that serious.”
In 2018, Days to Waste remembers how his covers stopped having the same artistic fulfillment as they once did, ultimately slowing down altogether at one point. As he struggled to find his own direction, he discovered Nothing, Nowhere.
“My girlfriend at the time was listening to Clarity in Kerosene and my mind was just blown ‘cause I spent so long trying to figure out what I wanted to do,” Days to Waste says. “My main thing was acoustic music. She was listening to that song and I listened to it again and I was like, ‘Yeah this is it, this is what I want to do’.”
Early songs like “suffocate” and “burning hearts” showcase Days to Waste in a vulnerable, yet delicate way. His soft production style was not always his intended sound, however.
“I was going for more of a lofi style even though I wanted to make more stuff like “Breathe,” because my computer at the time … whenever I would want to make big songs like that my computer would take a shit,” he laughs.
“Breathe,” a Days to Waste 2019 single, is a standout track as one of his first fully fleshed out and produced songs. To Days to Waste, the song represents a significant mark in the road as his vision began to fully unfold before his eyes. Co-produced by frequent collaborator SayWeCanFly, “Breathe” is a sullen driven acoustic ballad perfect to play during any late night drive. The song is one of the first that Days to Waste “invested actual money into” and he calls it Days to Waste “at his finest.” “I wanted to take a different approach on things but that song was so much fun writing. It getting mixed, getting a music video for it, it felt like a lot of work.”
It’s early in the dark hours of the morning when Days to Waste finds his newest chords and writes his most revered melodies. As his momentum from “Breathe” began to pick up online, YouTube emo channels like Static and Biteki began posting Days to Waste songs. Working jobs from a Kroger manufacturing line to various warehouse spots, Days to Waste persistently kept writing.
“You can write about whatever you want, I like telling a story,” he begins. “I like being personal in my music, if I’m not writing about something that I personally care about I’m not as invested in the song. I think I’d have a harder time coming up with lyrics and melodies like that but when something is on my heart [and] on my mind I feel like I make the best possible music I can.”
Songs like “Dust & Ashes” and “Lovesick” display how dedicated Days to Waste is to making heartfelt, personal music. However, Days to Waste’s biggest single was yet to come. Entitled “Headspace,” Days to Waste belts his burning falsetto across an acoustic guitar and sparse playing percussive pieces. “Headspace” currently sits at close to 30,000 plays, a number deemed impossible due to what Days to Waste was going through at the time.
“I was working at a place called Stanley’s Hydraulics and I was just in shipping and receiving,” he recalls. “I worked on ‘Headspace’ all through that and once it was done, I got finished right as my transition to moving to Hawaii happened.”
He recalls the long nights, withered relationships and hardships he had to go through that helped fuel his music today. “The first night I moved out of my apartment I didn’t have anywhere to sleep so I just slept in the backseat of my car,” he explains. “[‘Headspace’] was like ‘Breathe’ in a way … it started my launch into the idea that more so to other people than myself it showed other people that this could be a career for me. I feel like it’s a very personally successful song and I guess that’s why I feel like it did so well.”
Days to Waste was luckily able to stay with another family member shortly after, but decided to move out to Hawaii thereafter to be closer with his parents in 2020. He recalls it being a “very lonely” period in his life, although he is thankful he was able to spend time with his parents and find a healthy relationship in his new setting.
“I met my current girlfriend out there and living with my parents was really nice because I hadn’t seen them in a couple years. And it was nice to kind of be isolated and have nothing to focus on except for music and other things, but it got pretty lonely. When I got there my plan was just to work as much as I could on music. And I wish I could say that I got so much done and I have a huge backlog now, but honestly the pace was pretty slow.”
During his stay out in Hawaii, Days to Waste released songs like “Violet” and “Bad Luck (Feat. wstdyth),” both of which embody the pain-stakingly crisp production Days to Waste is known for. However, after a year on the island loving “the tropical weather, the ocean, the culture,” Days to Waste decided to move back to the mainland in Oregon to return to what he calls his “future” and to continuously pursue his music career. “Portland is my home and always will be.”
With a punk band called 6 Acre Earth on the side and a debut Days to Waste album being prepared for the far future, Days to Waste currently wants to keep on releasing more singles and videos to close out the year.
“I just want to touch people, and I just want to personally connect with people and I think the honesty in my music really helps with that. When someone connects to your song in a personal way, it makes them want to stay and keep listening. That means more to me than if I were to like, release something I think might blow up. Expect music till I die.”