82fifty are Hawaii’s best kept secret- but they won’t be under the radar for long.

Made up of lead vocalist/guitarist Jessie Campania, guitarist Zach Manzano, bassist Ryan dela Cruz and drummer Max Paguio, 82Fifty are a Hawaiian rock band that fuse nostalgic 90s rock sounds with modern 2020 alternative and punk beats. 

Since the release of their debut album “Take a Chance and Let the Music Play,” in 2007, 82fifty have continuously worked to hone their sound and carve out their own section of the rock world. 

Now, with three full length albums under their belt, including their latest self titled album which debuted this past April, 82fifty are ready to take the world by storm, and move their music from the islands to the mainland.

And we were lucky enough to have a chance to chat with the band about their latest album, plans for the future, and what they are doing to stay busy during the pandemic.

You can read our full interview below, and be sure to stream “82Fifty” now, available wherever you stream music and linked below.

Second Society Report: First off, thank you guys for taking the time to chat with us. I know this summer especially has been a crazy time for all of us, so I wanted to start off by checking in. How are you all? How have you been staying busy during quarantine?

82Fifty: We’re doing great! We’re all healthy, alive and well. We’ve been hustling with new music during this quarantine, getting in the studio at least once a week and hopefully we’ll be able to drop a new album early next year!

SSR: I know you just released your new self-titled album earlier this year. Prior to its release, what were you most excited or nervous about regarding it being officially out for public consumption?

82Fifty: Yes, we were excited about releasing the new album, but we were a little nervous about releasing it during the pandemic. Wondering if this was the right time or not? But I think it worked in our favor being that our bass player just moved to Australia and that everyone was at home which gave them time to tune in to the new album.

SSR: How has the response been so far?

82Fifty: We were blown away at the response we got! Felt good to know that people took the time and listened to our album during these crazy times. 

SSR: What songs on the album mean the most to you? 

82Fifty: It would probably have to be “Good Die Young”, “FIRE”, “Dancin’ and Romancin’”, and “The Anthem”. We really changed up our vibe with these songs and feel like those are the ones that made the biggest impact for our listeners. 

SSR: What were the hardest songs to write?

82Fifty: This new album we threw in some older songs that we never recorded which were written maybe over 10 years ago, so I think recording these older tracks and writing more lyrics for them made it a little more difficult being that we’ve changed a lot over the past 10 years, and our views on how we wrote the song at first may be a little different now. 

SSR: When you are working on new music- where do you draw your inspiration from? 

82Fifty: We draw inspiration on how we’re feeling in the moment. For example, what song we’re listening to, what mood we’re in, etc. I feel like that’s probably why a lot of our songs differ from track to track on the new album. 

SSR: For readers who have never been through the process, what does an average writing or recording session look like for 82fifty?

82Fifty: It normally starts with either a bassline or a cool guitar riff that one of us comes up with, then we get together at rehearsal and basically work on the music side of it. Record a few scratch tracks, listen to it for a couple days, and get more input from each other. It’s a cool little process that’s been working out for us, especially since we’re all influenced by different bands which helps with the creative process. 

SSR: Going on the assumption that things will return to “normal” next year (2021), what are your goals for the year? 

82Fifty: We most definitely want to do a tour sometime next year. Maybe a west coast tour? That’s one of our goals for sure. 

SSR: Do you believe in the idea of “making it”? If yes, do you believe you have “made it” as a band, or what would you like to achieve to feel that you have?

82Fifty: We do believe in the idea of “making it”, although we don’t think we’ve “MADE IT” just yet. We are very fortunate to have great fans and friends in Hawaii that support us 100%, which does feel like we’re doing something right. I think being able to make a living playing OUR music and living comfortably while doing it is something we would want to achieve. 

SSR: Lastly, a fun question, if you could curate your own tour with 4 other bands, who would you ideally tour with and what would you name the tour? This can be a band that is currently around or one that has disbanded.

82Fifty: It would have to be called “Good Die Young Tour” with 82FIFTY, Sublime, Nirvana and Bob Marley. That would be an amazing tour. Hahaha

SSR: Anything else you’d like to share that we didn’t ask about?

82Fifty: We do want to share that we are proud to be from Hawaii, representing Hawaii’s rock scene!

SSR: Thank you again for taking the time to answer some questions and we look forward to watching out for what’s next from 82fifty!

82Fifty: Aloha!