How Living Up To Their Name Helped Stick To Your Guns Stay Relevant

Californian melodic hardcore and punk act Stick To Your Guns are approaching a decade and a half together as a band. When reflecting upon this fact frontman Jesse Barnett, speaking from his home in Orange County, is more than a little gobsmacked both by the amount of time that has passed since they formed back in 2003 and by the fact that they still have a large following. 

"It's crazy to think that I've been doing anything for a decade and a half, let alone this," he chuckles. "I'm just grateful for the opportunity to do it. Not to sound like a pessimist, but every year I go, 'Okay, it's been x amount of years, that's it, there's no way we can continue doing this'.

"For me it's like, 'How are people still listening to us?' We have such a strong support base, it's incredible and I'm grateful for it, but it's like, 'What are you guys doing? Find another band!'"

The band are heading back to Australia for a tour in mid-January for what Barnett thinks may be their sixth time here, including an appearance at the prestigious (sold-out) UNIFY Gathering. With six albums under the band's collective belt, Barnett feels Stick To Your Guns are late bloomers. He says the band opt not to touch on the first two records in a live setting these days, since he believes they really only started hitting their stride by their third album, The Hope Division.

"The first two, we definitely avoid," he reveals. "We cover the last four. The first two, they [are] the trial records for a lot of bands. If you can survive the first two records it's kinda smooth sailing from there, if you can still manage to be a band. Luckily for us we were able to do that."

After we point out to Barnett that some bands deliver their best work on their debut instead, he concedes, "Absolutely, that is true. But for us it was the complete opposite. I think that's because I started the band when I was 16 and I turned 30 on Monday. When you're 16, you're just an idiot and you've got no idea what you're doing, you know."

That said, after listening to the band's most recent album True View, released in October, it's apparent that one thing the band definitely haven't lost is their youthful angst and anger. "Absolutely," Barnett agrees without hesitation. "The fact that we've been doing it since we were 16 or so, and now we're turning 30 - in that way I still feel like I have that 16-year-old brain to be able to do that. So that part - it's good, it keeps me young."

Barnett is also blown away by his band's longevity given that the style of music they play is far removed from the mainstream. "That's why I feel like I've won the lottery," he says. "This isn't like a commercial rock band, it's hardcore music and that's tough to do. I mean, it's tough to do as a career. It's fantastic to do when you love the music as much as all of us do. We just feel so fuckin' grateful that we've been able to turn that into a career; it just doesn't even seem possible, I couldn't tell you how we did it."

Reflecting on how far his band has come is something Barnett says helps to keep him grounded. "I have this trunk in my closet I open up, probably once a week," he admits. "I just look at old photos, old flyers, tickets, and I sit and smile. I think it's important to do that. Sometimes I'm complaining about something and then it's like, 'Motherfucker, shut up! You have it so good right now, don't you dare complain about a single thing. Just shut up and do your work'."