By Deaglan Howlett | Posted Sunday, October 13, 2019

Hopper Pond is a pop punk/emo group based out of Forked River, New Jersey. Earlier this year, the group released their debut EP, Cutting Ties. Since the release, Hopper Pond has been playing numerous shows throughout the state and beyond in support of the release. Cutting Ties is a high energy, ripper of a first release, and bassist/vocalist Steve Scholey was kind enough to answer some questions about the group and Cutting Ties. Thanks again, Steve!

Where are you based out of?

Hopper Pond is based out of Nicky's (vocals/guitar) house in Forked River NJ. We're all pretty much from close, surrounding towns. Chris's house is now our home venue, the calzone zone, so we're finally able to do stuff SUPER close to home, makes everything so easy, and I love bringing the scene to our small town to throw down!

How did you meet?

So Hopper Pond was formed in January of this year, actually. We started as a 3-piece, until we had the pleasure of adding Evan and Ry to the mix. We've all been in previous bands with each other before. Ryan (lead guitar) has been in almost every band of mine since middle school, and I've known Nicky since I started taking bass lessons in 5th grade. Honestly we're all best friends and the dynamic between us really shows it, on and off stage.

Who are your biggest influences?

Oof, we take influence from a pretty wide spectrum. Obviously, we all have a soft spot for the emo revival period. I feel like there was a point where I owned every piece of Modern Baseball merch available. Though, I do like to take a lot of influence from pop music. I just love it. T Swift? Amazing. We listen to everything we can. We just love finding new shit and showing each other, whether it be emo, rap, or hardcore.

How has your music evolved since you first formed Hopper Pond?

Well, the first song I wrote for us was “41-33.” Since then, I feel like we bounce around. We write a LOT of music in our free time. I feel like multiple days, I'll get a voice memo from Nick or Ryan with a new riff, or I'll send them a "banger one liner" or something. It's very obvious when I get on kicks of pop punk, or screamo. You can hear it in our music, like a timeline of what we've been listening to, who we've been taking influence from. From here, I don't know what we're gonna write. It's gonna be fun though.

**What was the process like writing and recording Cutting Ties?**

Writing Cutting Ties was honestly the most fun I've ever had with my friends. Every time we wrote a new song, we'd come up with an idea for it and scream about it for an hour, texting each other after how this is "our new best song, holy shit this is our new best song." We collaborate really nicely, because we're so comfortable and real with each other. On the recording side, Jacob Fishman should get an award. He fucking killed it, from start to finish. I've never worked with someone with so much knowledge, and I can't wait to work with him again. He does hate Bayside tho, which I do have a problem with.

**Favorite song on Cutting Ties, and why?**

“You Wouldn't Love Me in the Summer” is my favorite track on that record. It's just so energetic and fun to play live, and the lyrics are some of my favorites that we have released. One of my favorite parts of the set, definitely.

What can you expect at a Hopper Pond show?

A Hopper Pond show is definitely different. We may have a few things to say about Tom Brady, or stories from Nick's dishwashing job. We love to have fun and joke around on stage. I grew up a huge fan of Blink-182, and I always loved how you could have fun with them at shows. They acted like best friends, because they were. Our fans, to be honest, are fucking insane. They're what makes it fun. There's nothing like the feeling of someone screaming your lyrics back at you. Whether it's in a sweaty basement or a coffee shop, HP shows always pop off.

We have a BIG winter tour planned and just a lot happening coming up. New merch, new music, lots of shows, a lot of fun. We love our scene more than anything, it's like a big ol' friend group. Every band is so supportive and helped us come so far in such a short time, we appreciate it more than we could ever explain.