We’re getting candid in our interview with Beauty School Dropout.
We chat with Colie, Beepus, and Bardo about the importance of fangirl culture keeping the music industry alive, how they combine influences of scene and hardcore music with pop songwriting structure, and how they’re teaching a new generation of concert goers to open up a mosh pit.
The band released their sophomore album READY TO EAT this October after a busy touring year – opening for Blink 182, Jxdn, Maggie Lindemann, as well as performing at Lollapalooza and Download Fest, and making it across the US on their own headline tour. Beauty School Dropout was signed in 2022 by A&R Mark Hoppus under the new label Verswire with Pete Wentz and Sherry Saeedi.
Find a transcribed excerpt of our interview with Beauty School Dropout below.
Name 3 Songs: Let’s talk about your shows for a minute because you’ve said that fans should expect mosh pits at your shows. And right now we’re at a time when concert crowds don’t really know what to do anymore, or fans are just recording videos to post online later rather than living in the moment. So what has this experience been like for y’all?
Colie, Beauty School Dropout: We’re pretty deliberate about telling them exactly what we want and commanding the crowd. For instance, during “Scarlet Letter,” oftentimes on the tour, we would literally tell everyone to put their phones away and completely stop recording to enjoy the experience of the song just for that exact sentiment.
Bardo, Beauty School Dropout: It’s funny because I think concert culture has turned into this thing where everyone feels like they need to be so polite to each other, which I think is great. Like, be respectful to people around you. Like, don’t be a dick. Awesome. But there’s this thing of girls showing up at four in the morning to get front row. And I was like, “I appreciate it. You don’t need to do that. You’re going to be fine.” But we all grew up going to shows and just like, I would show up right after doors, the pit would start, and the pit would just push me to the front. It was never an issue where I’m standing, you know? I think a lot of our fans, we might have been their first shows, even their first experience of this type of music. So we’re all learning together.
Beepus, Beauty School Dropout: I call our shows boot camp, because especially having opened [on tour] all year, it garnered a lot of different fan bases that are now showing up to our headline show. I’m like “this is training so you guys can understand how to be at a Beauty School Dropout show.” Because we do expect you to mosh and I am going to crowd surf, please catch me. I think it is funny because during the pre-show stuff or like before the set gets really crazy I’m like I’m just warning y’all I’m about to jump in like a few songs and you better catch me or I will judge you, because I don’t want to get dropped.
Name 3 Songs: On our podcast, we talk a lot about this idea of having an artist persona. Do you feel like you’ve developed a persona as Beauty School Dropout or is this something you’ve always embodied?
Colie: I don’t think any of us have a persona. I mean, at least I don’t know. Yeah, I think we’re painfully our authentic selves.
Beepus: Oh, I also don’t. I would say to a fault that is accurate.
Bardo: Yeah, what you see is what you get.
Beepus: I think it’s even so funny that like the fans are learning exactly who we are too. And we all have our tropes. Like I’m kind of the shy one in public.
Name 3 Songs: Do you have your boy band tropes?
Beepus: Yeah absolutely. Even down to weird things like Colie likes pigeons and so they bring him in like little pigeon plushies all the time.
Bardo: That’s what’s so funny about our whole world is – we’re treated like such a boy band. And it’s hilarious because in LA, like all our friends are like the cool, hip kids [saying] “you guys are like a sick rock band.” And we’re like, “you guys have no idea. Like, we’re not. We’re like a boy band. Like, we just happen to make rock music.” It’s so funny. love it though, I fucking love it. Cause I think it’s wild for our friends to see, especially in the rock world, it’s a different scene and they see how our fans go hard for us and they’re like, “What? Your fans are fucking wild,” like we know. And we love it, like it really is so special.
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