Enter The Dragon: A Look at Sept
Every so often, I often stumble upon new bands that perk my interest from their captivating music and plausible performance. However, it’s rare for a band to completely grab my attention throughout their whole set and make me forget where I am and what is going on around me. But at Nothing Fest IV, a local rock festival in Orange County, CA, this rare moment stuck me like a ton of bricks with the band Sept.
It was during the set of rising punk stars, Destroy Boys, where I stumbled upon Sept. A friend of mine went to the bathroom and came running back, urging me to leave Destroy Boys’s performance and check out this other band. I was hesitant, but ultimately gave into her begging pleas. We walked behind the main stage to the small indoor stage, dubbed “the locker room”, where sounds of loud guitars, kicking drums, and a distinct voice radiated out of. And once I entered the room, I was completely thrown off with what I saw. Four young guys, between the ages of 17 and 23, jamming and grooving to a sound one described as a mix of 2000s skate punk and Midwestern emo. But it was much more than that. I ended up forgetting about Destroy Boys and focused on this new band that my friend brought me to. So, of course, I had to grab a chance to chat with the band.
Sept is a three-piece (sometimes four-piece) band hailing from The Riverside Moreno Valley area. The three main members consists of
Interviewer: Tell me a little about yourselves.
Ben: I’m Ben, Benjamin Ochoa. I’m the lead singer of Sept. I don’t know, what do you say about yourself? I like music, obviously (laughs). So, before eighth grade, I used to just ride around with him (Matt) because he’s, my cousin. We rode around in the car a lot and he used to play this type of music, all the surf punk stuff like FIDLAR and Together Pangea. We just be doing random crap like skating and stuff. And towards eighth grade is when I met this guy (Caden). We just sorta clicked. He thought I couldn’t rap for some reason and made me spit some bars. He was like “Bro, I bet this white boy can’t rap, spit! spit right now!” And I started rapping some weird, sad stuff (laughs) but it was hard anyways.
And we started hanging out. At first we (Caleb and I) were a little rap duo, uh, I was “little cumstain” and he was “unknown”. And we just put a bunch of random songs on Soundcloud. And eventually we threw this one rap show, but it didn’t go too well so we were like “Whatever, we’re gonna be a band now.” I just happened to have drums and this guy (Caleb) learned sone “Brain Stew” tabs by Green Day and then after that he could still drum for some reason. He has this weird style where he plays an open-handed, lefty type thing. And he (Matthew) picked up bass cause he was my cousin, my boy.
Matthew: I’m Matthew. We used to hang out all the time and I wanted to keep hanging out. So, they already had guitar and drums and I decided to go to Guitar Center. I was like “What’s the cheapest bass you sell here?” and I just bought it. We started playing music.
Caleb: You said to introduce myself, but you pretty much said everything (laughs). Well, I’m Caleb and I grew up listening to all kinds of music. I’m still a big fan of hip-hop. My music tastes are all over the place but band wise, I like Nirvana, Blink-182, Sublime. There’s a whole bunch of weird stuff. I guess if there’s a fun fact, I want someone to know, dang, I don’t know.
All: (Laughs)
Interviewer: I’m curious, what the fuck does Sept even mean? It sounds like y’all were going to spell out September but forgot the rest of the word.
Caleb: Everyone always thinks its September.
Ben: The sound guy at Nothing Fest said that too. He was like “Are you September?” But what happened was that we were known as “The Good Kids” at first. That was before we even played a show, just making music in the garage. And I got high, and I was playing with Google translate and I put the number seven into French because I love the number seven and it was like “Sept.”
All: (Laughs)
Ben: I looked at Caleb and was like “Yo, this is hard! We should name the band this” And he was like “Okay.”
Matthew: And I think pretty early on we decided that the name didn’t have to mean anything. It didn’t have to be cool or whatever. And I think Sept really represents that because it’s just there.
Ben: I mean, that’s how we got it but I don’t think about the number seven every time I say “Sept.”
Matthew: It’s like a placeholder that never got changed.
All: (Laughs)
It’s fascinating to always learn about hoe someone gets into music and their relationship with it. For Sept, a lot of it seems to be born from hip-hop, which is appropriate since we are in a time where hip-hop is the biggest genre, the most listened to sound for younger kids. But all that is starting to slowly shift.
Interviewer: You’re all 17, right?
Matthew: Nah, I’m 22.
Interviewer: So, you two (Ben and Caleb) are 17 and you’re (Matthew) 22?
Matthew: Ben’s my younger cousin so that’s how I justify it.
All: (laughs)
Interviewer: It’s funny how you, Caleb, said you started on drums like that. Because when I saw y’all live, you were just yammin’ on those things. So, how did this all become something legit? Like where y’all decided you wanted to play live and take this band thing on instead of just something to do in the garage?
Caleb: I think for me, it was the results of our first show being a band. It was the whole vibe it gave off when we did that show. I could see anyone could get into it. Friends, family, random people I didn’t know. It felt cool.
Ben: Like he was saying, it was that contrast between that rap show where it was just a couple people hanging out, not even there to listen to the rap. Just there like a mini party. And our first show being January 2020, which we threw in our backyard, and there was like over 100 people there.
Matthew: And we opened.
Interviewer: And the crowd was getting into it?
Ben: Definitely. Because we had been going to shows before we played and-
Caleb: Introduced ourselves.
Ben: (laughs) Yeah and whatnot. And so when we told everyone we were playing, they decided to show out for it.
Caleb: I had my coir teacher print out flyers.
Ben: I forgot about that!
Caleb: And was putting them all around the school.
Like the members in Sept, starting a band in high school is one of those defining things that can cement a teenager’s dedication and involvement with their music.
Interviewer: What was it like in high school? Was having a band this weird thing that no one really did? Or was it everywhere?
Matthew: Rock music was definitely in the minority. All my friends listened to hip-hop and anytime we drove anywhere, we were listening to hip-hop. I’d listen to FIDLAR and stuff by myself and I didn’t really have any friends that were into it until I met this guy, and he was in a band. I stared hanging around for a while. I’d do things like help carry equipment to shows or help set up. I do think that was a cool half-step in where I was seeing how the small scenes worked. And…shoot. I lost my train of thought.
All: (laughs)
Matthew: Just how it works! And a small pet peeve I have is that at these backyard shows, there’s sometimes a lack of common courtesy. Like when you’re done playing, get your shit off the stage so the next people can play. You know? But people just leave all their stuff and their hanging out which is cool but also, we’ve gotten snubbed at shows because it’s done. There’s just not enough time for you anymore. Yeah, little thing. (laughs).
Interviewer: What about y’all? What is it like?
Ben: I think it’s a little different with me because when I started high school, that’s when I started talking to people less or whatever, so, I started keeping to myself and I’d write songs to myself all day in class because I wasn’t good at pay attention. I’d just be walking around all day in my headphones and shit. But I know people gave him (Caleb) more shit for it than me.
Caleb: (laughs)
Interviewer: What shit did you get?
Caleb: More like weird comments. Everyone has their own opinion, you know. Whenever someone heard about my band it could be mixed opinions. It’s just, I don’t know. I guess I could pull that card cause, since I’m black, I have different groups. So, some people are more accepting in my circle. Some are like “Nah, it’s a little weird.” “It’s not something you should be doing.” But I don’t know. I was just doing my own thing; I’ve always been doing my thing.
Ben: I think it’s peeking into the mainstream with some of these quote-on-quote rock stars. Like, I think Beach Bunny and Snail Mail are doing a good job at making appearances on some of those talk shows like Jimmy Kimmel. And Tik Tok as well. I’m not the biggest fan of Tik Tok but I think it does help with trends and some of those are rock songs but ugh, I don’t know. Like, some of those songs on Tik Tok are rock songs and some people get into that. And then after they get into that, they’re like “Wow, this is it’s whole own genre.” And they start going through that. And next thing you know, we got a few more people coming to the shows and blah, blah, blah.
Many of the newer rock bands that are slowly creeping into the public eye come with an array of sounds on the spectrum, ranging to softer, beach rock to aggressive hardcore. Historically, softer rock has been more “successful” within the mainstream for the past decade or so. But many bands are broadening their sounds to cater to both, dipping into aggression while relaxing on a calmer side.
Ben: In the 90s, you mentioned it being louder and rawer. And when we reference raw, we talk about the feel of the music, I’m assuming. The way people are shredding their vocals. Lyrics as well. But in the 70s and 80s, with those dad rock bands, they were loud, but they also had a shit ton of slower songs. So, I think when people today make their slow and feely songs, I think’s reference to that type of music. But now, since it’s a new era, it’s going to be a little different.
Sept had the unfortunate demise of starting a new band right before the shit-show that was 2020. But they prevailed and recorded music during that time, released content, and came back stronger than before with a huge string of live shows.
Interviewer: How many shows have y’all played?
Matthew: We’ve played a lot more than it seems like. For a while, it felt like we had a Friday, Saturday shows this weekend. And then the next weekend. And it felt really cool.
Ben: That was definitely after the little COVID time. We played, like what? Three shows before COVID? And then we got stunted. Then we made that first album, the self-titled one. COVID didn’t let up crazy yet, but we were like “Fuck it” and played more shows. That’s how we started playing with more hardcore/punk bands. They’d just be us on the bill cause all the indie bands weren’t playing still.
Matthew: But we made a lot of great friends during that. The people that were popping off when I was going around with my friend’s band would invite us to stuff and we were just stoked to be there. And I think that’s why people liked us so much early on because we were just grateful for the opportunity.
Like Sept, bands around the world were in a pickle when COVID hit. But if you ask me, it seems appropriate for rock bands to throw shows during the pandemic as another form of the big middle finger to the government.
Interviewer: Have y’all had any memorable shows? And shows that you hated? Maybe the crowd was sour?
Ben: Well, I think it’s been a mix of both. We’ve had the worst types of things happen with some of our shows and we’ve had our great, golden moments. I couldn’t name any-
Caleb: (laughs) I got one, I got one. I remember this whole week I was saying “It’s my birthday, I just want to take a break and maybe we can chill out. And Ben booked this big show, I forget where, but so any people came. And I was like “Okay, if I’m going to do it, imma do it my best.” The first song of that set, I hit my crash and all my drums fell apart. The crashes fell down. (laughs).
Ben: Wait, what show was this?
Caleb: It was on my birthday! You don’t remember?
Matthew: I remember that show because I got an Uber for Caleb to go home and enjoy an hour of his birthday.
Caleb: (laughs) I was like “I gotta go.”
Matthew: It was on that rooftop bar.
Ben: Wasn’t that in Riverside? It was the concert-
Caleb: Yeah, the concert lounge.
Matthew: Yeah. I think for good shows, we’ve talked about it, and I don’t know if it’s the best show we’ve ever played but definitely one of the memorable ones. We played our friends backyard, and it was a stacked lineup of all of our friend’s bands. And like, the backyard was filled from fence to fence.
Caleb: It was wild.
Ben: It was in Paris; it was in Paris. It was definitely local to us.
Matthew: And I forgot what song it happened to, but we didn’t ask for it. They made a wall of death happen in that backyard. And we’re not that hardcore but it was so cool. That was one of my favorite experiences because we were looking at each other like “What the fuck?”
All: (Laughs)
Sept currently is working on a new album, their sophomoric follow up to the self-titled that was released a few years ago.
Interviewer: Do you (Ben) do most of the writing for the band?
Ben: Yeah, I do a good amount, but I do get help. Especially for that first album, everybody was pitching in. What happened was that we made all the songs and stuff and so he (Caleb) came up with the drumbeats and we (Matthew) wrote the bass parts, and we were like “Fuck, it’s expensive to record at places.” So, I got this app called “Band lab” on my phone, which is where we used to record our rap songs, and we made the entire album on the phone-
Matthew: With an I-rig.
Ben: With an I-rig. It was everyone doing there thing. A lot of background vocals done by Matthew. He screams sometimes for himself as well.
All: (Laughs)
Matthew: I think the first album was a lot of fun because Ben had recorded at least, like, four albums and scrapped them. And finally, we were like “We’re not playing any shows, not doing anything.” And we just sat down and knocked it out in a weekend, almost.
Ben: Maybe not exactly a weekend, a little more with four days or something.
Matthew: We just had to do it. I don’t understand how to write music, but I know it’s the curse of an artist that it’s never going to be perfect. And it’s never going to be good enough.
Ben: In retrospect, I’m not the biggest fan of our first album. But we did it and it has nostalgia to it.
Interviewer: Why’s that?
Ben: I was very young. I was 14, 15 when I wrote all those songs. I’m just not the biggest fan of the type of writing I was doing. But back then it didn’t matter, it was just fun. But now I think we get more “in-depth” with our music.
Interviewer: What’s going on with the new stuff?
Matthew: Some new singles are going to be coming out soon. But we still haven’t had our sophomore album, so that’s in the works. But it has to be perfect. It has to be, like, the sophomore album. It’s been happening in the background for a while. I can’t remember the exact quote but it’s like “If you’re not releasing music, you’re not relevant.” There has to be something happening or people will forget about you. That’s where the singles and Eps come in while we’re working on big number 2.
Caleb: Cause accidently dying on purpose is not an album.
All: (Laughs)
Caleb: There’s some songs we’re trying to put together but, I don’t know. We got such an awkward style and sound on how we want to come to the sounds. It’s a whole process.
Ben: We’re very self-critical.
Interviewer: When you say your sound, what does that mean? What is your sound?
Matthew: None of us know how to classify our music.
Ben: Somebody called us a mix of 90s/2000s pop-punk and Midwest emo type shit. And that’s a pretty cool way to put it. But even then, I don’t know what to call it.
Caleb: We listen to so much.
Ben: That’s the thing, we listen to so much music and whatever we are inspired by, we take it into our music. It makes it a weird type of style. But you gotta stick to your roots. You can change the sound and style a bit but you also gotta remember who you are. It’s like with a burger, you can have one with tomatoes and onions, but you can maybe take out the tomatoes and put in some avocado. It’s still the same burger but it has different things inside.
Interviewer: Is that what y’all are doing for this next album? Putting avocado in the burger?
Ben: (Laughs) Yeah. The new album is supposed to be ten songs. We’ll have more than ten, but I want to cut it down to ten. Because a lot of albums I love, they’re just ten perfect songs that go into each other. And not like transitions. But the way that it makes you feel. Like a real energetic song in the beginning and then a mellow towards the middle and then picking up the pace and dropping it all at the end. That was very weird but, yeah (laughs).
Sept’s unique sound that rejects to be solidly placed in one spot gives that band an air of uniqueness that can be hard to come by in an era filled with many musicians.
Interviewer: What are yall’s top five albums?
Caleb: Alright, alright. Top five albums. I like “Enema of the State” by Blink-182. It’s a good album. Um, Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” is so crazy. If you havn’t heard that, you gotta hear it. It’s so crazy. Anything by Nirvana, anything. Any album, single, anything. I love all their music. Dang, I guess that’s it. I don’t know, I don’t listen to a lot of music.
Interviewer: I’ll take the three but give me a guilty pleasure album. Something you don’t want people to know that you like.
All: (Laughs)
Caleb: Something I don’t want people to know I listen to? Dang, alright. Ugh, what’s her name? All my friends hate EDM music, most of them. There’s this girl that has these crazy beats, crazy voice. I forget her name (laughs). I guess “Greatest Hits” by Fleetwood Mac.
Ben: (Laughs).
Matthew: Fleetwood Mac?
Interviewer: Alright, alright. I’ll take it. It’s not the worst, most embarrassing thing. But it’s very white girl basic.
Matthew: I’ll go. I think FIDLAR’s “Too” is my favorite album of all time. I’ve had to listen to that more than anything else. I think it’s perfect, front to back. I love “Ill Communication” by the Beastie Boys. That one is, my dad raised me on them, and I love the vocals of the Beastie Boys, more than anyone I listen to. I love the nasally, like, crying. I think it’s so sick. Uh, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Caleb: Yeah, I know.
Matthew: Okay, “Badillac” by Together Pangea. “Infest the Rats Nest” by King Gizzard. I wasn’t into metal for a long time and listened to that and was amazed. That’s another one that’s back to front. I don’t know how many that was.
Interviewer: That was four. What’s a guilty pleasure album?
Matthew: Oh my God. I don’t know the name of it. Honestly, bands that were on top of their shit but became a meme. On the record, I fuck with Nickelback and Creed. Limp Bizkit, dude. I’m not a frat guy and that’s who I think of when I think of Limp Bizkit. But I can get down to them every once and a while. But I don’t tell anybody that.
All: (Laughs)
Interviewer: What about you, Ben?
Ben: I’ll do, this is in no specific order cause they are all up there. “Morbid Stuff” by PUP. In freshman year, that album, well obviously was music to my ears.
All: (Laughs)
Ben: But it was infested my brain type shit. “Greatest Hits” by Remo Drive. That was a big thing for Sept because it was so different than anyone else. It still stayed in the genre but did it different. And then, “Hot Fuss” by The Killers. Just bangers. “Worry” by Jeff Rosenstock. It’s a good capture for me, struggling with growing up and gaining more responsibility and shit. And not accepting that your friends are moving on without you. And um, I was going to say “Dookie” by Green Day but I’m going to have to say “American Idiot” by Green Day because I genuinely thought I was the Jesus of suburbia in eighth grade.
All: (Laughs)
Interviewer: What’s your guilty pleasure? We already heard two of them. We gotta hear yours.
Ben: Fuck, I don’t know. I didn’t know I’d have to answer this one.
Caleb: What is it? What is it?
Ben: I’m goin’, I’m goin”
All: (Laughs)
Ben: Oh, “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry.
Interviewer: That takes the cake right there.
Ben: It’s good, I don’t care. Katy Perry is punk rock as fuck.
Interviewer: Any show plans coming up? Anything brewing?
Ben: Just Viva Music Fest in Pomona at The Glass House. That’s really it for this entire year. Death Lens is doing this thing where they’re trying to get an opener for the Echoplex, so I submitted a song for that. And if we get picked for that, I think it would be December 2nd or something. Maybe later. Besides that, we’re just doing music stuff. This weekend, Saturday, “30 minutes or Less” is dropping. That’s what’s coming out.
Sept has a new single, “30 Minutes or Less” dropping this Saturday, the 19th. They will play at Viva Music Fest at The Glass House in Pomona on Dec 18th. Stay tuned for potentially another show in December.
Interviewer: What’s the goal of the band? Where would you want to see yourself in two years, 2024?
Ben: I want to be on tour with some big band. There’s this one band called Bed. I just wanna be on the road and play shows with a big band like that.
Caleb: Where do I want to be? Ooo. I want to tour, that’s always been a dream. I know people say it’s hell but that’s where I wanna be. I really want to play with Together Pangea. I wanna play with a band I like.
Matthew: I don’t know. As long as people are still listening to us and we still enjoy it, I’m down for anything. As long as we are moving forward and not declining with what we’re doing. Since we’ve started, even if it’s the tiniest of steps, we still move forward. And as long as we keep doing that, I’ll be happy.
You can stream all of Sept’s music on major streaming platforms. Follow the band on Instagram @thebandsept.