Porcelain are about to shatter expectations with Today’s Minor Victories, the Austin band’s second record that arrives at the end of this week. I can say this with authority because I’ve had the privilege of listening to the heavy band’s record in advance, and it blows their self-titled debut from two years ago out of the water. If you want immediate proof, check out first single “Apocalypse,” which sounds like an Unwound or Atombombpocketknife song that neither band ever got around to releasing.
Led by guitarist/vocalist Steve Pike and kept in check by drummer Eli Deitz, we had the chance to catch up with both members of the still-fresh-around-the-edges group to ask them five questions for our ongoing feature series. While Pike relays his experience releasing a second album for the second time following his stint with the equally noisy Exhalants, Deitz shares his memories of being put to work by Young Widows’ Evan Patterson.
Check out the Q&A below, and pre-order Today’s Minor Victories ahead of its October 23 release via TODO Records here.
To what do you attribute blowing up in popularity this year?
Steve Pike: We’ve blown up? That’s news to me! I’d have to say it’s due to the support tours that we’ve been able to do and the amount of touring that we’ve done on our own, as well. We did five days with Chat Pile, and that was insane. Agriculture was on that bill, as well.
Eli Deitz: Touring with Pelican probably had the biggest impact because of the length of the tour and the position that we were in as direct support. I’d be remiss not to mention that we also did dates with Young Widows and Cherubs. Evan [Patterson] figured out that I do live audio for a living, so I ended up doing double duty where I was running the front-of-the-house for Young Widows and then playing with Porcelain. Young Widows would drop me off [at the venue] like I was going to school or some shit, and then they’d all go off and do their thing. I’d never do that again.
To what extent are your lyrics—and attitude, for that matter—sarcastic?
Steve: Some of them are sarcastic, yes. And then some of them have been working titles that just kind of stuck, ’cause we couldn’t come up with a better title. “Shotgun” we’ve had for a long time and it’s literally just short for “shotgunning a sandwich,” because when we were writing it Eli was eating a sandwich really fast or some shit. Meanwhile, the song itself is about class consciousness and being worked to death by your dead-end job.
Eli: I mean, look at the fucking Smashing Pumpkins. They have a song called “Mayonnaise,” and it never once mentions Miracle Whip. And then there’s the whole era of emo bands that use a full paragraph as a song title that has nothing to do with anything.
Do you draw much of a distinction between post-hardcore and noise rock? It seems like the terms’ meanings have changed over time.
Steve: I find them to be synonymous. I think what it really comes down to is your delivery. I played in a lot of noise-rock bands in the past, and a lot of it was pretty dynamic. But I felt like the riffs were more like punishment with my previous bands, whereas with Porcelain, there’s gonna be punishing moments but a lot of beauty and sincerity and honesty within it, as well. Whether that falls into “post-hardcore” or “emo” or whatever, I don’t give a shit. It’s just rock music. When we first started as a band, a local publication used word salad to describe our sound.
Eli: It was like, “alternative emo shoegaze”—they could’ve just written “has guitars” and it probably would’ve had the same effect. I draw a line in the sand between noise and post-hardcore only because I think that post-hardcore is a washed-up term. Fugazi and At the Drive-In are both considered “post-hardcore,” but so are all the Warped Tour bands, because that’s the catch-all. And Porcelain’s definitely not playing Warped Tour. I don’t think any of us have teenage girlfriends.
Steve, you’ve alluded to the fact that you’ve had a lot of projects. Would you consider Porcelain to be the most meaningful one?
Steve: I don’t know. To me, each second album has been a natural progression of where the band is at with the amount of touring and the time we spent together, and the amount of time that we’ve worked on our sound. A lot of people really liked [2024’s Porcelain], especially in underground, very close-knit DIY circles. That’s how we got [to tour with] Chat Pile and Pelican and Young Widows. We started writing songs for the second record before the first record even came out, so we’ve been sitting on some of these for a minute. We wanted the right recording context for each song. Tapping Scott Evans to record the record was a really big thing, because I personally wanted to work with him for a very long time. I’ve been a fan of his work either performing [in Kowloon Walled City] or recording and engineering. So being able to work with him was a big honor.
One of the main themes on the album is transition. How does that connect with you guys having two years on your hands to make Today’s Minor Victories?
Steve: I don’t feel like the lyrics are too specific, and that was intentional. Processing grief—which is a very big component of this record, whether it’s through death or separation or breakup or falling out with friends—is still a very universal thing where I didn’t want to be pointed or directional with whom I was singing about. I wanted [the album] to connect with other people and help make them feel less alone. I was a loner in high school—I had some friends, but I mostly kept to myself, and the thing that kept me somewhat sane was listening to music. I want to connect with people and tell them that they’re not alone and also give them a glimmer of hope. Like, “Hey you’re getting better.”
