Coming together in 2019, Glass Generation is made up of guitarist/vocalist Stefan Kennedy, drummer/vocalist Lo Kuei Na and his brother Yu Cheng on guitar, and Samuel Pacheco-Villegas on the bass. The band concomitantly uses modern and nostalgic sounds to become a new face in the new surge of punk. Taking influence from 90s alternative and pop-punk, and the emo revival. (photo by Katherine Seibert)
How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
I (Stefan) met Lo through bandmix in the summer of 2019; we were jammin with a buddy of mine named Liam from high school playing blink, nirvana, rage, and muse covers in Lo’s garage. Then he brought Sam to a practice one day and Cheng joined when Liam had to leave the band. There’s no real meaning behind the name of the band, we honestly just thought it sounded sick.
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
Lo: I was never in anything serious, mostly cover bands and high school clubs.
Stefan: This is the first band that I’ve been in, but music was always around in my family. My great-grandpa is the late rockabilly artist Johnny Powers, so growing up I’d always hear stories about him coming up in the music industry, touring, and whatnot. Plus there never wasn’t music in the house. I have cousins, aunts, and uncles who all either play instruments or are heavy into punk and alternative music in general. Plus both my parents are into pretty much anything, so there was always something playing in the house growing up.
Cheng: I started playing the piano when I was 5, but it never felt like it was the instrument for me so in high school I started learning the guitar and taking classes. I wasn’t in a band but my guitar teachers would orchestrate recitals which is where I got my first live-playing experiences.
Sam: I was never in a band prior to Glass Generation; I always loved music and played/studied music classically. It wasn't until Lo asked me to come out to practice in that I started playing with an actual band
First concert that you ever went to?
Stefan: My first concert-concert I went to was Maroon 5 in like 2004; I was like 7 so I don’t remember most of it (partially because I fell asleep during it). My first local show was this local punk band called PISS at a dog park in San Pedro.
Sam: My first big act that I saw was Polyphia in LA last October.
Lo: My first concert that I went to was Green Day at the Rose Bowl
Cheng: My first concert was the Who.
What's your writing process like?
There’s really no set process, a lot of our songs are either written by one or two of us entirely, we just jam something out and work it into a song, or we take some bare-bones idea to the studio and refine it.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
Bands like blink-182, Green Day, Joyce Manor, and the Descendents really inspired us and our sound. We love bands that can make something so emotionally charged but can still play fast and heavy. Like pent-up emotion finally being released into something that leaves us feeling content.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
For us, we value the energy of an audience. We absolutely love feeding off an audience and going fucking crazy with them. So with that we don’t necessarily try to sound identical to our recordings. However, one thing we do prioritize in our rehearsals is keeping our instruments in tune and singing in tune.
Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been, best shows? Worst shows?
We did a tour at the beginning of the year; it was a completely DIY thing and it holds some of the best memories we have as a band. The best show on the tour was this house venue we played in Mesa, Arizona. They easily packed between 60-80 kids in a tiny living room, everyone showed up and went nuts for every band. We even had people singing along with us.
The “worst show” was at this skate shop we did about halfway through the tour. And this isn’t a complaint about the crowd, space or the bands we played with. But it was during the rainstorms California was facing; so the wind was freezing the spot and everyone inside, so it was tough to have a good time.
What's up next for the band?
We wrapped up our EP Never Better” with Alex Estrada a few months ago; that comes out September 22nd with a few singles on the way between now and then. In between we’re just gonna keep building connections with our audience and supporting our homies in the scene.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassgenerationca
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glassgenerationca