Beauty School Dropout (BSD) is an LA-based band composed of lead singer Colie Hutzler, producer/guitarist Bardo, and bassist Brent Burdett (better known as Beepus). After the success of their 2021 EP "Boys Do Cry," the band signed to VERSWIRE, a label started by Blink 182's Mark Hoppus and Pete Wentz. On April 28, 2022, BSD joined host Raffi Krikorian and fans in the Tellie Discord for an AMA chat. The below conversation has been edited for flow and clarity.
To kick things off, how was Coachella? I saw you guys hop on stage for a bit. Tell us about it.
Beepus: Coachella was insane. We got to be there both weekends with our friends GG Magree and Royal & the Serpent, who were both performing. It was basically just pure shenanigans. The second weekend, we got to perform our cover of Lucid Dreams during GG Magree’s set and it absolutely went off. It was pretty wild to go from playing our first show ever about a year ago to being onstage at Coachella. We’re super grateful to our friends for helping us get opportunities like that.
Tell us about your song, ASSASSIN. Was it written before you signed to your new label?
Beepus: After. We wrote like 20 songs the first month we signed, and this was one of our favorites. Our label is a partnership with Mark Hoppus, Pete Wentz, and Sherry Saheedi.
Colie: Just about everything we are thinking of putting out was written in the last two months—which is funny, because we were already sitting on a catalog of like 200 songs.
Beepus: We write a lot of music. We also write and produce for other artists, so our catalog is pretty insane. They’re not all done… We usually get them to a presentable demo state and then decide what to finish.
200 songs… sounds perfect for, say, a token-gated landing page.
Beepus: You’re not wrong! 😏
Who came up with the A$$A$$IN skit idea?
Colie: I wrote the initial treatment, and then we all worked on writing out the script. It was a super collaborative process.
Beepus: A lot of it was improv, too.
Colie: We usually never have an idea that goes through without all of us touching it.
Do you prefer to work with scripts, or to improv?
Colie: Working off a script is easier, as it enables everyone who's working on the project to wrap their head around it. But improv is better for acting purposes—for us, at least.
Beepus: I tend to prefer improv, unless the script is just too perfect to veer away from.
Is it hard to pick songs for EPs and albums?
Bardo: Yes, because everyone has opinions about what to include. We each do, and so does our team of like 40 people.
What's your process like? Is there an order to what you do? Freestyle? Jam sessions?
Colie: We used to tackle the writing and production simultaneously, but after we signed, we took a step back and started writing everything completely stripped first, and then moving into production. We want to make sure we have a really good song before anything else. No crutches.
Beepus: Lately I've been writing everything acoustically, and then producing it once the song is fully written. This helps us not make filler parts since that's really easy to do during the production process.
Bardo: Yeah, we usually start with some specific idea, whether it be a riff or chord progression. Then we craft the song from there. As Colie said, we try to focus on the value of a good song first before trying to doctor anything with production. This has been a good practice for us.
"We all bring different strengths to the table. I know for myself, I’ve always been the social connector. That’s helped me to cultivate a pretty big network of creatives over the years, and that network has helped us bring our vision to fruition. I think having a past in film and event production has definitely helped in a lot of ways, too." — Colie
What are some skills outside of music/art that you think have contributed to your band’s success?
Colie: We all bring different strengths to the table. I know for myself, I’ve always been the social connector. That’s helped me to cultivate a pretty big network of creatives over the years, and that network has helped us bring our vision to fruition. I think having a past in film and event production has definitely helped in a lot of ways, too.
Beepus: All of us are passionate about everything creative. Colie and I are super into fashion, and we try to bring that into our world with a clear vision. And Bardo is just an absolute machine with anything tech-related.
Bardo: The “fun bus,” as we describe it, consists of three things: the steering wheel, the transmission, and the brakes. I usually act as the transmission and deal with all the tech- and organizational stuff. Then, I'd say Colie is the steering wheel. He's good at seeing our long-term vision and throwing out ideas. After that, Beepus is the brakes for when we get too crazy and need to be punished. [Laughs]
Colie: Beepus is really good at all things creative, and has overall good taste—which balances us out in a lot of ways.
How does your creativity in other fields affect/enhance your musical output?
Bardo: We all love creating videos. The visual side of music is really fun, and I think [making music videos] helps us tap into a different part of our creative selves. Sometimes egos get in the way and we all have differing opinions, but at the end of the day it's all love and we're working toward one goal. And that goal is to out-sell Maroon 5 on the adult contemporary charts. [Laughs]
Who or what would you say has most influenced you in becoming who you are today? Whether it be lyrical influence, instrumental influence, etc.
Beepus: We are heavily influenced by artists who build worlds. The immersive and inclusive experiences that some artists provide have profoundly impacted our work. Bring Me the Horizon is a really good example of this.
Colie: We all have individual influences that we pull from, too. Mine tend to come from the punk and rock’n’roll music I grew up with. Some examples are Letlive, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Black Flag, and Mötley Crüe. Some of my other more contemporary influences are Tyler the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem, and a lot of hip-hop dudes.
Bardo: I love folk music, and alt and indie rock—like Cage the Elephant, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Interpol, and The Pixies. Then of course we all love Nirvana. We also all have a crush on Oliver Sykes.
"I love folk music, and alt and indie rock—like Cage the Elephant, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Interpol, and The Pixies. Then of course we all love Nirvana. We also all have a crush on Oliver Sykes." — Bardo
I’m sure you all have strong opinions. Is it hard to agree on stuff? If so, what do you normally do to compromise with each other?
Colie: We are pretty good at triangulating our democracy. Meaning, there’s usually at least two of us who agree on something, and generally we rock with that.
Beepus: We are basically together 24/7, and are basically brothers. So we do fight, but we always end it with a sweet kiss.
Have you guys been in bands before? If so, hit us with the names
Beepus: Colie and I were in a band together called Strangefaces before BSD, and I was also in a band called Deceptively Innocent for most of my early years. My first band ever was called Wedgie.
Bardo: Growing up in small-town California, the music scene wasn't that robust, so it was just me and like seven friends all swapping around instruments for all our different bands. A few of them were Tangerine Man, The Panguins, The Expressions, and The Nonchalants. There were probably like 20 more, because we made a new band like every two weeks.
If you could collaborate with any artist right now, who would it be?
Colie: At the top of my list would be Bring Me the Horizon, Jaden, Kim Petras, and Turnstile.
Bardo: We also would love to collaborate with Phem.
What do you love about touring? And what’s your least favorite part about it?
Beepus: Playing shows every night is the best thing ever. As for the worst part, gas station food sucks!
Bardo: Traveling to different places is also super cool. You only have a day in each city, so you gotta make the most of it. It’s like speed dating for cities. Touring can be very grueling sometimes though, too. And it gets boring in the van during long drives. We always try to stop the car and get into some shenanigans, since the whole point of doing what we do is to have fun.
Do you guys have any pre-show rituals before you go on stage?
Bardo: We usually huddle and hype each other up, and then yell something inappropriate.
Colie: Honestly, we usually don’t have time for any pre-show rituals besides our huddle.
Beepus: We usually scream get f*cked over and over again.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Colie: Sushi. Or vegan breakfast burritos.
Bardo: Burritos.
Beepus: I'm obsessed with burritos. Like, they’re my preferred drug.
Growing up, what song was your rock/emo awakening, if you remember at all?
Bardo: I remember hearing Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and I could not believe what I was hearing.
Beepus: I was obsessed with anything MCR and Blink 182.
You're still early in your career, but what's one downfall, issue, or failure that you've learned from that has made you better at what you do?
Colie: We are always working on being clear communicators, and being mindful of our speaking tones. This isn’t really a downfall, but more something we are working on. Clear communication is a must if you’re going to move as a unit.
Beepus: Two huge things for me were learning to say no, and learning how to communicate effectively with collaborators.
Colie: And I had to learn to say yes. [Laughs] I’m very quick to give my intuitive “no,” but sometimes that prevents us from being able to find other cool ideas or opportunities, even if the initial one was not the best. I’m always working on that.
"The best advice I've ever gotten is, 'There’s room for everyone, so support the ones around you.' There's more to it, but I think that approach is crucial. If you support the people around you who are doing cool stuff, and if they support you, that’s how you start a scene, and a larger movement." — Beepus
What’s the best piece of advice another musician has given you, and how have you applied it?
Beepus: The best advice I've ever gotten is, "There’s room for everyone, so support the ones around you." There's more to it, but I think that approach is crucial. If you support the people around you who are doing cool stuff, and if they support you, that’s how you start a scene, and a larger movement.
Colie: My old boss once told me, “It’s not about being a unicorn (striking luck with overnight success)... It’s about being a cockroach, because they stay alive in every condition and continue to survive no matter what.” This means that eventually, with time and hard work, things will always start to happen.
Every artist has different perceptions of success and different kinds of goals. What's a milestone that you want to hit that would lead you to say, "Ok, we've made it?"
Colie: When I can step onto a stage and see 100,000 people in front me singing our songs, I will be satisfied. Even then, I’ll probably still want more. It’s hard to say. We’ve already worked with some of my biggest childhood icons, so in a sense I feel like I’ve already made it. But I will never stop trying to achieve bigger and better things. My ultimate purpose is to positively impact as many lives as possible while I’m on this earth, and contribute to music history in a way that is talked about for centuries to come.
Beepus: Selling out our headline tours is my biggest dream. We also all dream of selling out Wembley and Madison Square Garden.
Lastly, do all of your shows lead to mosh pits?
Bardo: Confirmed, they all do. Moshing is mandatory.
Bardo: We always end up in the crowd.
Beepus: We love to mosh with y’all.