Black It Out (also known as BIO) is a post-hardcore band based in California. The band formed in 2005 originally under the name Scarlet’s Sonata. The band has gone through several lineup changes, but the members include: Bryan Underwood (vocals, guitar) and Shaun Zizi (vocals, bass, guitar).

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Black It Out about their latest release, challenges, motivations and more.

Full Q&A along with music and links below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)  

We started in Sacramento, California in 2005 under the name Scarlet’s Sonata, but life pulled us in different directions. Shaun went to college, and Bryan continued with the music scene in Sacramento a little longer. The other guys in the band didn’t stick around, so we decided to change the name to Black It Out. Bryan started other musical projects with Shaun filling in on bass when needed. Shaun ended up in the Central Valley with his big boy job, and Bryan was living in Hawaii when we decided to record another album. Bryan is now living in Orange County and running Tonality.Studio, where Resurgence was recorded. Shaun’s still in the Central Valley.  

Black It Out has so many influences. For genres, Resurgence has a strong post-hardcore to pop-punk to metal to rock thing going on. 

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?  

We’ve always had a great love for music as cliché as that sounds. Bryan’s dad played drums in a band. Shaun’s mom, dad, and grandpa were in a band. So, you could say we’ve been around music from early on in life. Shaun’s dad also would record himself singing Elvis tunes and trick Shaun into thinking it was Elvis singing.  

Shaun and Bryan met around 2005, so the rock music around 2004-2006 influenced Black It Out’s early EPs.  

As a band, Black It Out is motivated by making music we enjoy. We love writing and recording. Bryan loves the studio process. I guess you could say we truly love the development of it all. Creating a community around music is always a fun time too. 

How does it feel to have a Resurgence? Was the band able to jump back into the flow of things after the hiatus? 

Was that a play on our album title? How clever of the interviewer. But our album was titled Resurgence for that reason. It felt great getting back to it. The album art is water splashing on to the Black It Out logo. I guess you could say we wanted to make a splash back onto the scene. Stupid jokes aside, it’s a scary feeling at the same time. So much has changed since our last EP. I think our last EP came out ten years ago. Before our hiatus, MySpace was huge, and no one could challenge iTunes. CDs were still a thing that people bought frequently. Now, there’s almost an overwhelming number of platforms to sell or stream music on.   

Black It Out had a bit of a slow start with the recording of Resugence, but that picked up. We kind of eased our way back in. Right now, we’re trying to jump back into the scene with marketing. We have to tell you; it’s hard. It’s not like it used to be where you’d stand outside of shows and hand out sampler CDs and fliers. It’s much different. We’re adapting though.   

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? Have you noticed changes or new challenges since the band was active before your break?  

We think you named it. In the digital music age, it’s very hard to get your music in front of people. Not just people but finding the right people who are interested in hearing your music. So, targeting ads has been a challenge. Also, there’s an oversaturation of ads. It’s difficult to grow a following organically. Plus, Facebook’s algorithm doesn’t help with users seeing only 10% of the content they follow. We don’t have a choice but to play the Facebook and Instagram ad game to be heard.  

What was the last song you listened to?  

Bryan: “Heavy Metal” by Bring Me The Horizon   

Shaun: “Love Bites” by Ice Nine Kills 

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?  

Bryan: MP3. The quality may not be as good, but you can’t beat the convenience. I’m sure Shaun loves CDs. He’s a bit of a technological dinosaur. He still rocks a flip phone. However, I did get him to get a Spotify membership, so I think he’s a bit of a playlist junkie now. 

Shaun: Shut up, Bryan, my phone is only 5 years old. 

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?   

That’s a tough one. We all know about Shaun’s addiction to Spotify. And to be honest, the algorithm is great for generating radio stations. Apple’s massive library is nearly unrivaled, but Bandcamp is where we’ve seen the most engagement. Bandcamp has such a community behind it that you can’t find on other streaming platforms. We think Bandcamp is for the kids looking for music that no one else is listening to. We’re going to have to go with Spotify and Bandcamp. 

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?  

We always post on our social accounts, but we are by far more active on Instagram. That’d be the best place to message us. We love posting stories. We plan on posting more stories from in the studio so our fans can see our process and progress. We’ll be posting more about our promotions for our current album too.   

Anything else before we sign off? 

Yeah, we love the interview format. Great job there. Love the blog. We plan on changing our format on how we deliver our music to the masses. We plan on evolving our sound too. So, follow us on Instagram to be sure you see that transformation and to see what we have in store for our current promotions. Also, check out our website BlackItOut.band and join our mailing list! 

Links

• Buy or Stream Black It Out’s new album Resurgence here:https://blackitout.band/resurgence
• Get Black It Out’s discography free by joining their mailing list:
• https://noisetrade.com/blackitout
• Website: https://blackitout.band
• Label: https://moosicrecords.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackitout/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackitoutb…
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/blackitoutband