INTERVIEW: JESK

In an era where the traditional band blueprint often feels like a relic, Jesk emerges as a fluid, forward-facing collective redefining what musical collaboration can look and sound like. Their debut EP, Boombox Odyssey, is a philosophy in motion. Born out of Boulder, Colorado but spanning time zones, inboxes, and creative timelines, Jesk is less a band and more a modular creative engine powered by instinct, connection, and curiosity.

At its core, Jesk is anchored by Tristan Hammond (bass), Casey Deitz (drums), and Michael Cameron (guitar)—a trio whose musical fingerprints run deep, from the post-hardcore explorations of The Felix Culpa to the ornate indie textures of The Velvet Teen. But Boombox Odyssey trades any rigid sonic allegiance for something more open-ended: a kind of experimental post-rock, jazz-punk bricolage that rewards repeat listens with hidden turns and understated precision.

Where the EP shines brightest is in its ever-changing vocal palette. Forgoing a single frontperson, Jesk invites a rotating cast—Pat Ford (Colossal), Diani, Ailani Pedroza, and Ella Meadows (Transit, Narrowcast)—to colour the record with distinctive emotional and sonic textures. This revolving door of voices doesn’t fragment the project; it expands it. One moment evokes the staccato poetics of early Dismemberment Plan, the next a shimmering dream-pop drift, all while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic stitched together by the core trio’s musical telepathy.

To celebrate the release of the EP, we sat down with Jesk to learn all about the record, their journey up to this point and much more, exclusively for FLEX!

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Hey Jesk, welcome to FLEX! How are you doing?

Tristan: Doing pretty okay! Hope you're doing well on this beautiful day.

Congratulations on your new EP 'Boombox Odyssey'! Could you sum it up in three words please for our readers?

Tristan: Thoughtfully democratic catharsis.

How did the three of you first connect creatively, and when did Jesk officially begin to take shape?

Tristan: Mike and I have known each other for many, many years. While we'd never played or written together, it had almost happened randomly a couple of times in regards to my old band (The Felix Culpa). At some point in 2020-2021 we were both lamenting the loss of collaborative music creation and release—Culpa had been broken up for quite a while, and he'd recently left Milwaukee and his old band—so we decided to see what it would be like to write together. It was pretty immediately like that "YUP!" moment in Step Brothers, so we just dove into exploring a writing process together. We had a million talks about drummers, honestly. I'm going to  embarrass myself, but Casey's one of my favourite living drummers, and I only use "living" as a qualifier just in case I'm forgetting someone. I reached out to him on Twitter, we talked about the intent and the project, and I would be a liar if I didn't admit that it blew my mind to have him come on board and be part of this.

What inspired you to take such an unconventional, collaborative approach to forming this project?

Tristan: I would say a healthy mix of necessity, curiosity, and tremendous love for collaboration. With the exception of Diani and Casey, who are still 8 hours away from each other in CA, I'm not sure there's a single pairing of Jesk members who are in the same state; that's obviously the necessity component. The remote process in general was fairly new to most of us, so we were very curious to try it on for size and see how we liked it. So far, so good?

Can you walk us through how a typical Jesk track comes together from idea to final product?

Tristan: Nothing crazy; it all starts with a single guitar riff, bass line, drum part, whatever, and just builds and iterates from there. We'll spend time messing with structure, adding and removing bits, suggesting parts to each other, swapping or unifying bass & guitar parts, etc. There's always an initial drum scaffolding to service the pace and intent of the song's structure, but then Casey's brain, limbs, and musicianship come into play. Once Casey's put his magic into the song, we'll start tweaking things here and there to lean into changes or nuances he's introduced before we start recording for release. We'll give vocalists the demos so we can start a back-and-forth before things are finalised, and then we can consider it done and ready to record for release.

What are some unique challenges or advantages you’ve discovered by not working in the same physical space?

Tristan: Oof, the lack of group spontaneity is a challenge and downside for sure. I'm not someone who likes to "jam," and I really like to sit with stuff and overthink how intentional I'm trying to be with a part, which actually makes the remote component of this process feel amazing. But the inability to live-test these ideas in a room together is a huge bummer for most or all of us, I think. If I could have it my way, it would be a best of both worlds scenario where we can work remotely, but once a week or month we get in a room together and run through things; there's absolutely no way that wouldn't shift the outcome of most of what we write.

'Boombox Odyssey' draws on diverse genres - math rock, jazz, post-hardcore, and more. Who are some of the musical influences that helped shape this project’s sonic identity?

Tristan: Speaking only for myself, but it's always a range of friends and strangers. I grew up on 80s and 90s Soundgarden, Hum, stuff like that, which then extends to bands like Shiner. My buddy Rob (in Colossal with Pat) was in a band called Slapstick back when I was in middle and high school that I loved beyond belief. I'm also an obnoxious Hiatus Kaiyote fan. I feel like there's always a piece of the bands I love that lives within me, especially when they're my friends, because it feels so extra personal and special to me. An old Milwaukee-friends band The Meteah Strike was always a good reminder of the sonic ways you could play with genre marriages without sounding forced or disingenuous. Bands like Denali and Engine Down were always a good representation of groove, drive, and dissonance dancing beautifully together. Tigran Hamasyan is a damn wizard. Pat's band Colossal is an all-timer for sure (sorry, Pat, deal with it!). But then, you know, classics like The Police. If you ever want a mental exercise, listen to the Mouth Sounds mixtape by Neil Cicierega.

The album title 'Boombox Odyssey' has a nostalgic yet futuristic ring to it. What’s the story behind the name?

Tristan: It's interesting that you mention "nostalgic yet futuristic," because that's pretty specifically a targeted aesthetic for us. While we hadn't really considered that in regards to the EP's title, everything about the visual things we've put together—EP artwork, teaser clips, the press photo of 3 of us, etc—has been with a goal of mixing nostalgia, retrofuturism, and surrealism in ways that please us. The EP name is kind of a retrospective thing for us, honestly. Getting the EP out the door was a journey, that's for sure; everything from initial idea tinkering, to finishing the song structures, to finding vocalists, to getting it mixed, faced some sort of setback or brick wall at some point. The combination of the logistic battles and our assessment of the EP's chronological sonic journey really just made the title come to fruition and feel fitting for us.

And finally, where do you see this project going next? More collaborators? Live shows? Or something entirely unexpected?

Tristan: So right now we're working on a full-length. The album is mostly written and we're gearing up to start tracking drums in July out at Pale Moon Ranch just outside of LA. That live room is preposterous and we're really excited for the drum sounds Casey & Alex (Pale Moon Ranch) are going to get from those sessions. We're only collaborating with 3 vocalists for the album, and certainly continuing the whole "assortment of both friends and strangers" aesthetic.We've got 2 other songs in our pocket, not on the album, that we're talking about finishing and then doing a split with someone.

I would love to say we have something unexpected in the works—we've talked about figuring out a fully remote live performance, for example—but to be honest if we were going to do something like that, I think we'd all just rather figure out getting some shows together. I know I'm not the only one who loves and/or misses playing live, and I also know I'm not the only one who would want to get on a stage and play these songs for people. We've definitely talked about trying to get everyone in the same place(s) and do a run of shows as part of the album's release; no promises yet, but that would be my top wishlist item for us right now. Oh! We also added a new guitarist! Our buddy Kyle (Seattle, No Edits) joined us last fall as another writing member and guitarist, so he's going to be all over the album we're working on; it's been awesome to start writing for the first time with another long-time friend.

Stream 'Boombox Odyssey' EP in full here: