The first thing Sergio Vega wants to talk about isn’t Quicksand’s new album.
It’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sergio did we just become best friends?
Within minutes we’re comparing New York pizza, laughing about the city’s impossible bathroom situation and swapping stories about travelling through Manhattan.
It isn’t exactly where you’d expect an interview promoting one of the year’s strongest post-hardcore records to begin, but that’s also what makes Vega such an engaging conversation, there isn’t a hint of rockstar distance about him.
Whether he’s talking comic books, football superstitions or the philosophy behind hardcore, every answer comes across with the same warmth and curiosity.
That personality runs straight through Bring On The Psychics, Quicksand‘s first album in five years and another reminder that the New York pioneers have never been interested in standing still, more than three decades after helping shape post-hardcore, they’re still writing records that feel driven by excitement rather than expectation.
Quicksand ‘Crystallize’ video
If anything, Vega reckons this is the most locked in the band has ever been:
“To speak to the album in general, I think it’s like an accumulation of just like… the momentum we’ve developed since we came back together,” he says.
“When we did our first album when we came back together, Interiors, we had all still been playing on some level, but we all had these individual experiences. We had been apart for a long time, and it took us a while to understand where we were, what we were.”
Years later, that uncertainty has disappeared:
“I think this is the most calibrated and fine tuned as a band that we’ve ever been… we’ve been around each other so much and shared so much… there’s a couple of things we’re trying to get across. It doesn’t matter how we get there.”
That confidence wasn’t about making a technically impressive record, it was about making one they genuinely couldn’t wait to play.
“We wanted a record that we could really add most, if not all of it, to our live set. We wanted an excitement, a sense of urgency and things that were viable live.”
Listening back through Bring On The Psychics, that intention is impossible to miss, across ten tracks, Quicksand sound leaner than ever with nothing overstaying its welcome, and every song feeling like it belongs in front of an audience.
It’s something Vega laughs about because, despite decades in music, imagining a crowd’s reaction never really goes away:
“I’ve never done that. I don’t think any of us have ever… except for when you’re a kid and you don’t talk about it because you’re in the hardcore band. So you’re just imagining people moshing.”
Quicksand ‘Regenerate’ video
That youthful excitement hasn’t disappeared, it’s simply become more focused, Quicksand have existed long enough to watch countless bands borrow from their blueprint, but they’re still remarkably uninterested in following anyone else’s.
“I think we’re still fans of things. We’re inspired by things still,” Vega explains.
“We’re certainly not the kind of band… where someone says, ‘Oh, this is what’s happening now.’ We’re not really thinking in those terms.”
Instead of copying sounds, he’s more interested in understanding why artists take creative risks in the first place:
“I love Bad Brains… but I don’t want to copy their thing. I understand that they’re brave enough to take a path unfollowed. That’s inspiring.”
It’s an outlook that’s followed Quicksand throughout their career, the band helped define post-hardcore without ever sounding confined by it, something Vega believes comes down to how people misunderstand hardcore itself.
“I think about hardcore as a culture. It’s a way of being more so than a sound.”
“It’s not how you dress or what your band sounds like. It’s more your overall ethos, how you relate to the audience, how you relate to each other and how you relate to the world.”
Quicksand ‘Get To It’ video
For someone who’s spent decades inside the scene, that’s a distinction that still matters, the conversation eventually drifts towards success, and Vega’s answer feels refreshingly grounded.
Early on, success simply meant getting on stage.
“At first it was just to play CBGB’s hardcore matinee.”
Then it became recording music.
Then touring.
Now?
“I feel like I’m playing with house money.”
“I’ve gotten to do so much and experience a life as a musician… I find success in the fact that we made an album that we’re proud of and people seem to be excited about.”
There’s no mention of streaming numbers or chart positions, just whether the music connected and for a band that’s influenced generations of musicians, it’s a surprisingly humble way of measuring success.
Deftones leaks
That humility pops up again when the conversation briefly shifts to the recently leaked recordings from Deftones’ unfinished Eros sessions, having spent time in the band himself, Vega is careful not to speculate, instead focusing on something much broader.
“I don’t really like leaks.”
“I don’t believe in leaking things or that leaks are cool because if they wanted to present it, or if someone wanted to present the body of work, they would put it out.”
It’s a simple answer, but one that reflects the same respect for the creative process that’s guided Quicksand for decades.
Even outside heavy music, Vega finds inspiration in unexpected places, Fleetwood Mac’s songwriting arrangements, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s compact songwriting.
He laughs while explaining that some of his biggest influences have nothing to do with sounding like Quicksand.
“I’m a big fan of Fleetwood Mac… for arrangements.”
Later he points to Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s collaboration as a songwriting lesson:
“It was such a short song… super economical. It inspired me a lot for how we were working.”
It’s another reminder that the best bands don’t just borrow sounds, they sometimes borrow ideas.
Australia
The conversation eventually circles back to Australia, where Vega’s priorities are wonderfully simple.
“Bend him… people don’t talk about how good the coffee is.”
“I feel like coffee in Australia is on such a high level, and I don’t feel like it’s discussed enough.”
His second answer?
“Lord of the Fries.”
Longtime fans might expect stories about legendary venues or unforgettable tours, instead, it’s coffee and vegan burgers.
Quicksand ‘Cool Guy’ video
One of the biggest surprises, though, isn’t a song on the album, it’s Sergio Vega himself.
For someone who’s played with Quicksand, Deftones and spent decades at the heart of heavy music, he’s remarkably easygoing, the conversation bounces from Liverpool tattoos and sporting superstitions to Batman, Australian coffee and Fleetwood Mac without ever feeling forced.
Quicksand aren’t trying to recreate the ’90s, they’re not trying to reinvent themselves for a younger audience either. They’re simply making the kind of record that only comes from decades of trust, experience and still wanting to surprise each other.
When asked whether there’s an underrated Quicksand track he’d love to see get more attention, Vega admits he’d never really thought about it.
“I think I have the opposite situation where we’ve underrated songs… we have a song called ‘Shove All’ that didn’t make our album at the time, and it’s become something that people really enjoy.”
For a band whose influence can be heard across generations of post-hardcore, that’s perhaps the most impressive achievement of all, they’re still moving forward. Just don’t expect Sergio Vega to be watching his favourite sports teams while they do it!
Quicksand ‘Bring On The Psychics’ Track list:
- Get To It
- Regenerate
- Agency
- Crystallize
- Supercollider
- In Full Color
- Days You Run To
- Cool Guy
- Moving Forward
- Bring On The Psychics
Listen here
Thirty five years after Quicksand first emerged from New York’s hardcore underground, Bring On The Psychics doesn’t sound like a band trading on its legacy.
It sounds like three musicians still challenging themselves, still finding new ways to communicate and still excited about walking on stage each night, after spending twenty minutes chatting with Sergio Vega, it’s hard not to come away feeling exactly the same way.
The album is out now, and if these songs hit live the way the band hopes they will, Quicksand’s next chapter might be their most rewarding yet.
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