A few months ago, on their tour with I, The Breather, I got to catch up with long-time colleague John Cody Halstead. I pitched him the idea I’ve had for this series, and he was down to do an interview. I am thankful for his time. He’s now permanently embedded in the pages of my film archives, and I want to share some of his words and thoughts.

John Halstead at the Masquerade on Expired Portra 800.

The Joy of Gaming, Rock & Roll, and Perseverance with John Halstead

My Name is John Halstead, I’m the bassist of Execution Day, and Sonic The Hedgehog enthusiast.

Give me a few records that changed your life and why?

Mastodon - Remission

This record got super into the Metal Community and made me wanna really tune into lower tunings, always give this record a spin monthly.

Green Day - Dookie

This is a classic record that I heard all the time growing up from my Mom. Green Day is a major reason why I am doing music now.

Nirvana - Nevermind

Another record that was always on growing up from my mom and dad.

The Melvins - Houdini

The Melvins is a underground band that is a mix of “grunge”, Metal, stoner metal that I was super into as a teenager, the song Honey Bucket is one of the heaviest songs (of its time) ever. And this record really helped paved the way for my first band I had with my brother and dad.

Counterparts - The difference Between Hell and Home

This record got me through all of my early 20s it’s where I didn’t feel alone in my emotions, and it was pretty comforting. I was also dealing with a toxic relationship, and depression where I was feeling belittled wanting to continue music.

First band you had with your brother and dad - Tell me about that?

In 2006 (I would have been 13 / 14) my brother and I started a band with our father! I played guitar, my brother played bass and our dad played drums. We played 90s grunge. The band name was Called HorseFace. We played well over 500 shows with our dad. Played a lot of classic venues such as “All Things Art in Canandaigua Ny, The Penny Arcade in Rochester, NY, and Tommy’s in Newark.

How was that?

I enjoyed it, yes, just like any first band there is always that “cringe” factor anyway. We were active from 2006-2014. Our father was on in the project till 2011, he thought he was getting too old and people were making fun of us, witch there probably was. However, fuck em.

But from 2011- 2013 we had our high school friend Cody Ayers do drums. 2014, we played our last show. Our father did it to tie everything full circle.

We did release 2 full lengths. Was it weird? I personally never thought it was weird, but there was whispers that people thought it was silly. But kids are evil and say that dumbest things sometimes. My brother and I never thought it was weird.

Checking on messages in the van. Expired Portra 800

If it wasn't heavy music, where would you be? What would you be doing? What do you do when you’re not active with music work?

Honestly I do even really know. Music runs in my family. I cannot picture anything outside of that. Off times its a mixture of things. ExD does write a lot and we have our friend JD (ex Ice nine kills) even helps us on that. Always gear up stuff with our publicist and just try to have everything have a smooth release when that time comes. But outside of music and I do a lot of gaming. Been getting super back into Castle Crashers.

**When we were hanging out the other day, you mentioned really enjoying lofi - like, really enjoying lofi - how does that play into your life? How’d that start?**

When I was growing up I had REALLY bad anxiety where sometimes I couldn’t leave the house, go outside (for gym at school), couldn’t be in. Huge open spaces. But as I got older I noticed softer music helped me stay calm and lofi has really helped me out.

When nearly all artists in today's market are making below poverty wages, what do you think about commercial success?

I think commercial success is good as long as you do keep your core values as a person.

I wanted to try avoiding talking too much about Covid, but with the new Omicron issues, tour routings in the winter, like your tour with I, The Breather were altered. Has it been upsetting to see how people have handled it when it came to live music?

Very upsetting. Obviously, I would love for things to get back to normal - of course. There will definitely be a new normal when this is all said and done. But take “my freedom” out of it and keep in mind it’s to keep everyone safe so everyone can have their freedom in the long run and not just the short term.

What's something you're really looking forward to in this year, 2022?

Tours, Sonic Movie, “Too Many Games” expo in June - in that order.

In retrospect, in your journey in music and in life, do you recall a point where you had a hurdle you thought you couldn't pass but did? Any lessons learned from that?

I’m never sure how I should answer these - but the lesson I have learned in my time is music is always try and never give up. There are plenty of people who just won’t like you for you and will tell you anything to make sure you end your journey.

Alright! Thanks for sharing your stories with me, forever immortalized with film! In this last part here, you get to plug whatever you want. Hit me.

You can pre-save Execution Day’s upcoming single, Suffocate, it helps us get playlisted and chart, so we’d appreciate it.

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John Cody Halstead of Execution Day