About Wine & Warpaint: Wine & Warpaint journeys through a world filled with loss, deconstruction, and depression while contrasting with feelings of hope and optimism. “My inspiration is to make sense of life, and in particular the aspects of life that aren’t easily explained, the things that are deeper.” Says lead vocalist, Brandon O’Neill.
The band blends big hooks with a punk edge and an anthematic energy that gained notoriety from The Player Plus Studio Sessions, powered by Fender, Powered by Fender, where they were selected by a celebrity panel of music legends and executives as one of the 26 best unsigned bands in the world. Wine and Warpaint serves as a one person band in the studio, with all instruments being played by frontman Brandon O’Neill and joined by Abbey Ballentine, Taylor Bess, Colleen Christman, and Hannah Haupt when they hit the stage.
Influenced by bands such as Paramore, Beartooth, Grayscale and Origami Angel and recently amassed 1 million streams across streaming platforms, the band has showcased vulnerability and raw energy throughout their early EP’s. “The whole project was born out of me upending my Christian faith after working as a worship leader at a church for several years in 201. In 2019, I had four family members die in the course of a year. The grief refined and reoriented a lot of the existential turmoil I was feeling.” Says O’Neill about how the group came together and earlier EP’s, “Then, when I was 29, I had a stroke from a congenital heart condition and had heart surgery to fix it. So my spiritual and artistic practice is informed by all of that: big questions about life and god and meaning, mixed with the full tapestry of life’s pain and pleasure.”
Now Wine & Warpaint are gearing up to release their powerful new single, “Superbloom/Supernova.” O’Neill goes on to talk about the track’s background. “It’s about sex and euphoria. It talks about the role that physical intimacy can play in reconnecting, healing, and reinvigorating a relationship when things get hard. I’ve been joking that it’s a monogamous anthem.” O’Neill then goes on to reflect on the new song’s sound. “Sonically, our producer Kyle Black (Paramore, State Champs, All Time Low, Taking Back Sunday) and I talked about how every decision we made was to make the song more relentless. We were painstakingly meticulous during recording, cutting a bunch out of the initial demo, adding synths, bass drops, and explosions to make the hits more intense and the choruses more euphoric.”
W&W have been tirelessly DIY touring and have shared the stage with staple acts such as Taylor Acorn, TX2, Weathers, Telltale throughout the east coast and the Midwest. The band has no intention of slowing down. Hear “Superbloom/Supernova” due out March. O’Neill takes time to note what he wants listeners to take away from the band and their music as a whole. “I hope our music sparks ideas that remind them of old truths, or of things they used to feel and forgot about.”
