Pop-Punk Without Apology

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Written by Lela Dorman - Photos by Tessa Voccola
Recorded at The Boneyard, Chattanooga, TN — September 2025
“It’s about being unabashedly yourself — being proud of who you are and carving your own path.” — Walt

The sun was still high over The Boneyard when I Before E sat down to talk—that late-summer light that leaves you feeling rushed for time. The band was calm but restless, the usual way musicians get right before a show. Vocalist and bassist Walt Staszewski, only 19, along with drummer Brennan Buzinkai, age 20, look like average kids you might pass in a hallway, polite and smiling. David “DJ” Dalton, the band's guitarist at the time, is 21 and propped against the small table outside, a beer can in his hand. Inside, people are still shuffling in as we’re 30 minutes from showtime.

They were the first band on that night, and you could feel the energy between them—that pre-show mix of eagerness and a touch of nerves. Walt and Brennan cracked small jokes between questions, like warm-ups before the real show began. They talked fast, their words tumbling over one another, just trying to fit it all in before someone yelled their name from inside.

“Honestly, I just wanted to start a band,” Walt said. “I met Brennan through a mutual friend. She told me he played drums and that we should jam. She was right. I kinda forced Brennan into it.” It’s a classic tale of punk bands. Friends just wanting to make noise together has been the backbone of the scene since the beginning.

The two started in early 2021, working through covers in garages and living rooms before finding their footing. “We played a lot of cover songs,” Walt said. “Me and Brennan met at the end of January 2021, and since then we’ve kind of been an actual band.”

The name I Before E came before the songs did. “It’s catchy,” Walt said. “And I hadn’t heard anyone else use it, so why not?” He shrugged and grinned. It wasn’t deep or ironic—just something that felt right.

When David joined later that year, the sound started to click. “We were playing a lot,” Walt said. “Just learning how to be a band.” The first song that felt real to them was Islands. “We wrote a lot of terrible stuff first,” he laughed. “But that one stuck. It was the first time we sounded like us.”

When they describe their sound, they keep it simple. “We’re a punk band,” Walt said. “But to normal people, I’ll say Green Day or Blink-182.” Brennan nodded. “If they’re into punk, I’ll say Face to Face or Screeching Weasel.” Brennan’s drum influences are easy to spot. “John Bonham was my first big one,” he said. “But for punk drumming, I take a lot from Tré Cool. If you listen to our recordings, I probably stole half his fills.” Meanwhile, Walt embodies that true pop-punk personality every good frontman had in the heyday of the genre—it’s no surprise that Blink-182 would rank as his favorite band.

When it comes to lyrics, Walt writes most of them, and his approach is the same as his playing—fast, unfiltered, and honest. “I like stuff that’s tongue-in-cheek or kind of funny,” he said. “It’s just showing who we are—our personalities. If it’s serious, it’s probably about something classic, like girls or relationships. Or just people doing dumb stuff.” It’s these light-hearted, witty lyrics amid the fast, catchy riffs that bring a heavy nostalgia of the mid-90s and early 2000s.

The energy between them is easy. They finish each other’s sentences, joke freely, and keep the conversation rolling like they’re still sound-checking. Interviewing them is as energetic as watching them perform. The quickness, the closeness they have off stage mimics that of when the amps are plugged. When asked what punk means to them, they didn’t hesitate.

“It’s such a divided question,” Walt said. “But to me, it’s about being unabashedly yourself—being proud of who you are and carving your own path.”

“Doing what you want,” Brennan added. “Not letting other people have authority over you.”

Walt joined in on the sentiment. “Exactly. It’s not caring what people think about how you act or what you do.”

They laughed again—not at the idea, but at the simplicity of it. Punk, to them, isn’t a costume or a pose; it’s an instinct. It’s the way they show up—sweaty, loud, genuine, alive and kicking.

When the conversation turned to Chattanooga’s scene, Walt’s voice lifted. “It’s been really supportive,” he said. “It’s grown a lot since we started playing. Everyone talks, everyone shows up. It feels small, but in a good way.”

Brennan agreed. “Yeah, once you start playing more, it feels smaller because you know everyone. You go to a show and it’s all familiar faces.”

They name their favorite spots without hesitation—Redbud and Yellow Racket locally, and Dark Matter Collective in Nashville. “Redbud’s probably my favorite,” Walt said. “I like the setup—the outdoor space, the crowd. Poor Taste used to be great too.”

That led to a longer talk about the kind of spaces punk needs to survive—the ones that don’t turn anyone away. “All-ages shows are a necessity,” Brennan said. “You’ve got to get kids involved early. If everything’s twenty-one and up, you never get that spark.”

“When I was in high school, I was looking for somewhere to belong—that’s what punk gave me,” Walt expresses. “All-ages shows are where people find community. It shouldn’t matter how old you are; you just need a place where it’s okay to show up and make noise.”

It’s a simple idea, but in their world, it’s everything. Punk scenes aren’t built by promoters or trends—they’re built by access. Every teenager who sneaks into their first basement show becomes the next drummer, sound tech, or scene lifer. Walt calls it “the best kind of chain reaction.”

“It’s not about who you are,” he said. “It’s about showing up and being part of something.”

It’s a scene stitched together with effort and care. From house shows, borrowed amps, the same dozen faces showing up in different combinations. Punk, at its roots, is built on community. “You walk into a show and see a bunch of people you know,” Walt said. “That’s my favorite part. Everyone’s there because they care.”

As he talks, it becomes clear that this isn’t theory or nostalgia—it’s lived practice. Everything Walt describes is already happening around us in real time, in the easy familiarity between bandmates, in the quiet shuffle of gear being checked, in the way people drift through the space like they’ve done it a hundred times before. The scene isn’t something they’re explaining; it’s something they’re actively participating in, moments before stepping back into it themselves.

By the time someone pokes their head out the back door to tell I Before E they’re up, the three are already on their feet. Brennan is spitting out an answer to the final interview question; Walt stretches his shoulders, that excited grin back on his face. The interview ends not with a quote but with motion—a sprint to get to the stage.

A few minutes later, the muffled rumble of bass and drums fills the room, Walt’s voice cutting through the noise. It’s rough and fast and entirely alive—the sound of a band that brings back memories, unites punks from every generation, and reminds us that we are the moment.

Out back, the light starts to fade. The wooden fencing faintly glows as the sun drops behind it, still casting small shadows of people coming in to see the show. Inside, I Before E are loud and laughing and exactly who they said they were—no myth, no image, just themselves. A pop-punk band without apology.

Since 2023, the band has been steadily releasing music to streaming platforms, building their catalog one song at a time. In early 2025, they dropped their EP Mulligan, five tracks of high-energy pop-punk that sharpened their sound without sanding down its edge. They’ve finished working on their first full-length record, Hurt Feelings, slated for release on May 2nd 2026 - with two new single “IOU” and "Toxic Sand" currently streaming. Check out their Album Release show Friday May 1st at Redbud with tickets HERE

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For a band that started because someone simply “wanted to start a band,” the trajectory feels natural — less like a calculated climb and more like momentum. They’re not reinventing the genre. They’re inhabiting it. Loudly. On purpose. And they’re only getting started.