Features

We caught up with Mikey Adams from beloved Boston, MA band A Loss For Words who recently released These Past 25 Years, a new 7” celebrating the 25 years since their beginnings as a group, and their first new music since the release of their 2016 album Crises. 

Since their formation in 2000, A Loss For Words has stood out as one of the first bands to bridge the gap between the hardcore and pop-punk scenes. Living squarely at the crossroads of both worlds, they blend the raw energy of a basement show with the kind of melodies that stick in your head for days. Whether it’s stage diving, moshing, or belting out every word, anything goes at an A Loss For Words show.

These Past 25 Years is out now on Negative Progression Records.

PRT: The new 7” is your first new release in almost 10 years. What have you all been up to in the meantime?

Mikey: We’ve just being life-ing pretty much! Between careers and families, reviving this band has been a great amount of fun for us old guys. Matty is an artist manager and owns Reclaim Music Group, and I (mikey) am a songwriter, we are both now based in Nashville. 

PRT: Was there one moment that made you decide this was the right time to put out new music?

Mikey: Since it’s the 25th anniversary of a loss for words (wow!) we just wanted to do something fun. This is as much for us as it is for our friends and supporters.

PRT: You’ve said that ‘The Night’ is about the helplessness one feels with all the horrors that are happening in the world and hoping to find humanity in others. Does that feel like a losing battle at the moment?

Mikey: We are living in pretty scary times. With the military police state, the rise of fascism in the United States. The funding of a genocide that’s being filmed right in front of our eyes. I believe and hope that good will prevail as futile as the battle seems right now. 

PRT: What about ‘Weird Motivation’? Where does that one come from?

Mikey: To be honest, Weird Motivation is a title I’ve wanted to use for a long time. It fits because the motivation for it, selfishly, is a message about both hurting AND healing, saying I still love you and will always, but I’m finally making an effort to do some living. I wrote it for myself and for someone else. 

PRT: You’ve been a band for 25 years. How has the role that the band takes up in your life changed over the years?

Mikey: I don’t want to say now it’s a hobby because that seems like we don’t care. This band made us all who we are today. Luckily Matty and I have built it into careers in music. This new release and the coinciding shows are just a great way to get the boys together and have some fun doing what we love and what we did as a living for a long time. And it feels incredible doing it with the original lineup, we still love each other like brothers. 

PRT: Is there one thing you would still like to achieve with A Loss For Words that you didn’t get round to the first time around?

Mikey: I always wanted to win a Boston/New England music award to be honest, it bothers me a bit hahaha. I feel almost slighted! But we accomplished more than I ever could have imagined and we are content in that. Thinking on it I always wanted to play Indonesia and the Philippines and really experience the cultures. Maybe someday! 

PRT: You’ve always existed at the crossroads between pop-punk and hardcore. Have you always felt welcomed by both scenes? 

Mikey: If it weren’t for Brockton/Boston hardcore, there would never really have been an a loss for words. Those bands took us under their wings and supported us. We spend the beginnings of our career being the one pop punk bands playing  with bands like  Ramallah, death before dishonor, Colin of Arabia, reach the sky and more. We’re endlessly thankful for them championing for us 

PRT: Is this 7” a taste of more new music to come?

Mikey: We are really up in the air on this. The five of us are very busy with our individual lives that it makes it extremely difficult. But honestly, I really hope so!