Start Listening To: untitled

From backyard shows to viral success, the band talk blown-up demos, staying grounded and learning how to keep that restless energy intact.

Starting out in a West LA garage, untitled are a band still figuring things out in real time. What began as backyard shows and rough demos has quickly snowballed into something much bigger, with ‘Restless’ pulling in huge numbers and industry attention almost overnight. Despite that shift, their world still feels small in the best way, built around the same garage, the same routines and a shared instinct to keep things raw and honest. It’s early days, but there’s a sense they’re chasing something real, even if they’re not quite sure what it looks like yet.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We’re four high school friends that play out of our drummer's (Lorenzo) garage. We met at Culver City High School. All the members but me were born and raised in West LA, I’m from Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved here 6 years ago. I would describe our music as unpolished and unapologetic, overall untitled.

You’ve come out of backyard shows and garage gigs in West LA, what was the moment where it started to feel like this was turning into something bigger?

After the song started to blow up on Spotify, Lorenzo and I would take 5 to 6 calls a day from managers, lawyers, record labels, yet nothing felt truly real. On our first call with the CEO of the label we are signed to currently, he offered to fly us over to New York and I thought ‘no way that’s happening.’ Next thing I know, we are flying on our way to meet him. But there’s still some days where I think, wow this is really happening.

Your garage keeps coming up as this central space, what is it about that room that made it the heart of the band?

The garage for me, as I hope it is for the guys, has become a safe space. In my opinion, music is not only an outlet but an effort to best understand ourselves. Something so intimate can only come out of a garage.

‘Restless’ has gone from a self-release to millions of streams and huge TikTok numbers, how did you actually experience that blowing up in real time?

When the song started blowing up on TikTok, I was still in my first semester of studying film at Santa Monica College. I didn’t think much of it but was stoked about playing a couple more shows with the guys, so we got to recording. As we released the song and people started flooding the DMs to get a hold of us, I neglected school a bit to schedule calls and get a lay of the land. It didn’t take long before we were having 5–6 calls a day. By then I had been missing school for a couple weeks. After a talk with my parents about how serious I was about pursuing music full time, I unofficially dropped out of college. Education is important so I’ll probably go back at some point.

You’re all still teenagers, did that sudden attention feel exciting, overwhelming, or just a bit surreal?

All of that and more. Hearing how much people liked the song felt really exciting and the fact that there were kids out there whose first song they learned on guitar is ‘Restless’ has brought me tears of joy more than once. On the other side, a lot of pressure has risen on so many aspects. How do we deliver the next great song? How do we keep people engaged? Who are we as a band? Things for which I still don’t have an answer but, either consciously or subconsciously, that pressure has seeped into every aspect of the music we write. You could say it keeps us restless.

There’s a lot of talk about you tapping into ’90s grunge and punk, but the music doesn’t feel stuck in the past, what do you take from those bands and what are you trying to do differently?

We definitely do take inspiration from the bands we grew up listening to. Danny’s vocal fry is so resemblant of the 90s grunge era. Other than through distorted guitars and a general discontent for the situation of the world right now, I’d like to believe we have different things to say. I think that and I hope that we find our voice in the process.

The track feels really raw, especially the vocals, how important was it to keep that sense of imperfection in the final version?

There wasn’t much room for correction to be honest. The way the song sounds is the result of four broke college students having our friend engineer the song in the garage. To me, keeping tracks sounding unpolished proves authenticity.

You filmed the ‘Restless’ video in the same garage where the band started, was that about keeping things grounded or just because it felt right?

It felt right. We didn’t want to give people the wrong idea, it’s the place where we practice every day and where we write our favourite songs. It wouldn’t make sense to do it any other way.

Your live shows sound pretty chaotic, sweaty, loud, how do you approach translating that kind of energy into a recording?

We haven’t figured that out quite yet. Four months ago was the first time we ever set foot in a studio. As of today the method has been to drink enough caffeine to kill a small elephant and just play in front of each other. We aren’t great judges of our own sound yet so we rely on each other to get excited and play our hearts out even when recording.

You’ve now signed to GoodTalk/Create, which is a big step up from DIY, how do you keep that original spirit intact as things grow?

The way we keep the original spirit intact is by keeping it compact. We of course don’t want to keep everything small, like the reach of the band or the scale of the live performances, but we keep the day to day small. We practice in the same space, we go to the same Wendy’s for every lunch and we compose together. But most importantly, we speak our minds, or at least we’re learning to. Regarding our management or the label, there’s no one but the four of us who should be steering the boat.

LA has this huge, almost mythical music history, what does the scene actually feel like for you right now on a local level?

The specific area we are in of LA doesn’t have much of a scene, we’re hoping to create one. But all around LA there’s a great number of bands and artists who we admire and have played with. I think we are all hoping to bring the shows into our backyard.

What do you love right now?

I’m really digging ‘4th of July’ by Soundgarden right now. There’s something so hypnotic about Chris Cornell’s lyrics. With the guys, we’ve really turned to active listening as a way to better our musicality overall.

What do you hate right now?

I hate slow people in the left lane and I don’t even drive.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

Growing up in Argentina, Clics Modernos by Charly Garcia was a staple at home. I think that in my long 18 years of life there hasn’t been many albums as prevalent both in sound and in message as Clics Modernos. His music was a reflection of the dark times Argentina was going through in the 70s–80s. It both reflects that dissatisfaction I’ve mentioned so much and the revolutionary spirit that music should carry.

When people discover untitled for the first time, whether that’s online or at a show, what do you want them to feel in that moment?

I would like them to feel energised and surprised, I guess. I know Danny’s singing voice, in contrast with his talking voice, tends to cause some surprise among the public.