Getting to Know… Wasting Time

Reading Time: 5 min read

For the 💯^th interview on The Musical Hype, we enlist rad Canadian pop punk quartet Wasting Time to provide us with the scoop.

It’s time to celebrate!!! 🎉 The Musical Hype is officially publishing its 100^th interview in the Getting to Know… series 💯! We’re feeling ourselves just a little, so, kick TF back with us, enjoy your favorite beverage and/or snack and dive right in as we get the scoop on Wasting Time. [Note: We promise this is totally NOT a ‘waste of time.’] Wasting Time is a pop punk quartet from Toronto Canada 🇨 who, “play(s) with as much energy as we’ve got, occasionally tell(s) a few silly jokes, and often interacts with the crowd…” Sounds awesome to me! The quartet is comprised of Mad, Vlad, Mike, and Mark. Enough blabbering – let’s jump right into this 💩… I mean Getting to Know… Wasting Time: Interview #100 😉!

Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with Wasting Time, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

We’re a pop punk quartet from Toronto, Canada. We play with as much energy as we’ve got, occasionally tell a few silly jokes and often interact with the crowd when the time or atmosphere is right. We may also be the only band to use the likeness of a grim reaper as our logo/art/album covers in a playful manner.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your band form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

Singer and guitarist, Vlad formed the band back in the early 2000s. That initial run of the band was fairly active until 2009. The band went on a hiatus, until 2017 when Vlad regained the itch to write and perform music after a successful solo show. Mike witnessed the show as it took place at a mutual friend’s bar. He was impressed not only with Vlad’s singing, but also at his choice of Alkaline Trio covers. The two did not meet that day, but would soon thereafter when Vlad decided to assemble a new version of Wasting Time and still needed a bassist. The two finally met through their same mutual friend who booked Vlad for his solo show and haven’t stopped playing together since. Mark and Mikey would join up earlier this year to fill our vacant lead guitar and drum slots respectively from various online music communities.

Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

We’ve always wanted to devote as much time and energy to this band as possible. Not much on that end has changed aside from spending much more time using our social media accounts to reach people than when we first started up. We just hope to get our music as much exposure as possible until the entire world is either loves or loathes us.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

A lot of punk bands such as Green Day, Alkaline Trio and Against Me! have all been huge influences on us. These bands shaped our musical upbringing individually and collectively, learning various songs and riffs by these bands and are still dreaming of having as much of an impact musically as they have.

Ah, the fun stuff. What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance? Feel free to be creative.

A guy at a poorly attended out of town show kept ramming his fist in his mouth during our set. It is a vision that Vlad will never unsee. He may even still relive that sight every night before he goes to sleep.

Wow! Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

We’re all really happy with how the recording of our newest single, “My Limited French” turned out. It’s special because it’s the first single off of our upcoming second album and it was inspired by the beginning of Vlad’s current relationship. Love conquers all!

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

Vlad has memorized every line of the movie Bloodsport!

Woo! Closing this thing out, what is Wasting Time currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.

Aside from our new single, “My Limited French” which dropped less than a week ago, we’ll have our second album out in the fall entitled, Once More Without Feeling. We’ll play get out and play live once we’re allowed to. A video for “My Limited French” will be out on our YouTube page soon too.

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.

Thank you for the interview!