If Psychosonic had to file their music under one section of a record store, the Los Angeles band would throw themselves into punk. During our interview with the band, it becomes obvious there’s a lot more happening here. Keep reading and watch the full interview with the band.
Watch the full band spotlight below:
Psychosonic is comprised of of Andy on vocals, Jenna on bass, Damian on drums, and Alex on guitar. Their influences include Dead Kennedys, Black Sabbath, Black Flag, The Stooges, The Cramps, Ramones, DEVO and Frank Zappa, while Alex brings his love of rockabilly and surf guitar into the mix.
Basically, they’re a little bit of everything held together by punk rock.
“It’s like a potpourri of everything,” Jenna told us during our interview. “Every genre you can think of…but it’s still punk too.”
(If you’re wondering how diverse their musical tastes actually are, members arrived at our interview after separately listening to everything from The Stooges to jazz and world music to swing and big band. That pretty much explains Psychosonic.)
The band traces its beginnings back several years. Andy and Jenna had already been playing music together before joining Damian in Memphis Vampires around 2017 or 2018. After taking a hiatus during the pandemic, the trio eventually started playing together again.
While working on new material, they realized there was another direction they wanted to take.
“We really found that we had a common voice and were interested in exploring something that we had started, but a little deeper in a new project,” Andy said.
From the ashes of Memphis Vampires came Psychosonic.
Former guitarist Davey Doom helped launch the band’s original lineup and can be heard on their RAW EP. After Doom returned full-time to Christina Jean and the Howlers, Psychosonic eventually recruited Alex, who was already known around the local rockabilly and surf scene through The Alley Oops.
“He’s been with us just a few months, but we’ve had some killer live shows with him,” Andy said.
Apparently, Alex passed the audition and the bar is set high for anyone wanting to play guitar in Psychosonic. (Alex entertained us before the interview playing all sorts of guitar riffs ranging from cartoon hits, to sound effects, and his eclectic taste really came through).
Welcome to Psychosonic’s Weird World
Music isn’t the band’s only inspiration.
Psychosonic also shares an obsession with cult movies, horror, science fiction and the wonderfully weird world of B-movies.
The band’s name actually came from the word “psychotronic,” a term associated with B-movies, exploitation films and genre cinema. After deciding “psychotronic” sounded a little too electronic, Jenna suggested Psychosonic.
Sonic. Music. Psychosonic. Boom, the band name was born.
“We are all huge movie fans,” Jenna said. “We love that cult, weird, whatever, gross sci-fi type stuff.”
Those influences made their way into the artwork surrounding RAW, which gives off a creepy vintage horror vibe inspired by the likes of Vincent Price, Hammer horror, John Carpenter and Roger Corman.
(Somehow Neapolitan ice cream also entered the discussion as an influence. We’ll let Psychosonic explain that one.)
Keeping It RAW
As for the name of the EP, Jenna liked the word “raw,” which also happened to perfectly describe the energy the band wanted to capture.
“We love playing live,” she said. “We try to bring that raw energy to our live shows.”
When asked to choose their favorite songs from RAW, and each band member had a different answer.
Damian chose “The Haunting,” a song that helped solidify the direction he wanted the band to pursue. Jenna picked “Spray Job” because of its high energy and tempo changes. Andy went with “Witchfinder,” which combines the band’s musical influences with its love of horror and exploitation films.
Alex, who wasn’t on the EP, picked “Raw Mutation.” Four band members. Four different songs.
The band’s songwriting process is collaborative. Andy often brings in a basic song structure and lyrics before everyone else starts adding their parts and arranging the song together.
“Three chords, you know, that’s all you need. Rock and roll, right?” Andy joked.
For RAW, Andy wrote two songs while Davey Doom brought in the riffs for the other two. Andy handled the lyrics and the band collectively turned the ideas into finished Psychosonic songs.
What’s Next?
The band is already working on new songs with plans to eventually record a full-length album. Before heading into the studio, however, they want to play the material live and let the songs evolve naturally.
Touring, music videos, recording and bigger stages are also on their “To Do” list.
“You name it, we want to do it,” Damian said. “I want to tour. I want to make music videos. I want to play. I want to record.”
After years of playing music, the band also knows that being in a band isn’t simply about showing up, plugging in and playing.
There’s hauling equipment, technical difficulties, scheduling, promotion, social media and the occasional personality clash. Still, Damian said once the band hits the stage, the annoying stuff tends to disappear.
“Once I get up onstage and once we do our thing, it literally all goes away,” he said.
Their advice to younger bands is equally straightforward: Keep an open mind, be adaptable, check your ego and put in the work.
Also, don’t be an asshole.
Okay, technically Psychosonic said to “just be nice,” but we think the sentiment is the same.
Alex offered perhaps the most important advice of the interview:
“Don’t be afraid to be cringe or awkward.”
Andy immediately took it one step further.
“You gotta revel in the cringe, man.”
And really, isn’t that what punk rock is all about?
Psychosonic’s RAW EP is available now. Catch the band live (RAW EP release is on 9/5/26 with the flyer below), support your local music scene and, as Psychosonic reminded us before wrapping up the interview, keep occupying real-life (IRL) spaces.
Psychosonic is performing with Yesterday’s Donuts, an awesome band we interviewed recently. Don’t expect Yesterday’s Donuts to perform the song, “Play Pretend.” Actually, it’s my favorite song, to be honest and I’m still holding out hope to hear it live one day.
Follow Psychosonic below:
About C² (Christy + Chris)
Concert lovers turned creators. Highlighting creators, bands, stories, sounds, and places you need to know.
Disarray Magazine is an independent media platform established in 2009, spotlighting rap, R&B, punk, hardcore, alternative culture, live music, food, nightlife, and the chaos in between. Created by journalist Christy Buena, C² exists to document the bands, people, and moments shaping the scene.
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