In Search Of Radio Episode #1:The Pleasure Pill Interview

courtesy of Brandon Mosquera

Amid a scorching heatwave sweeping across most of the northeast region of the United States, I had the honor of sitting down with Pleasure Pill frontman Jonah Paz, a day before the band's debut album, Hang a Star.

Admittedly, I was stressed by the humidity of my pre-war-built NYC apartment, but the global warming crisis, which seemed to loom overhead incessantly, faded into the background as we both made our way onto Zoom's digital corridors for our conversation.

The result was a refreshingly dense dialogue about life, art, purpose, and corruption (fuck, I.C.E) for the first episode of In Search Of Radio. I made sure to gather a substantial amount of information on the band's LP and the life lived in relation to the art because — at the end of it all — it is about the music. And for Hang a Star, being all about the music, was the unofficial goal for the band with a frontman that appears wise beyond his years.

"When I think of the record, I just think of...my youth," said Paz, ruminating on the LP's significance to him. "And celebrating that while also being this point where you know there's so much drive within us and there's so much optimism, resilience and really having nothing to put it to other than the music."

"Really, this album is just a great chancer story you know of people just wanting to do what they want with their lives and not stopping it by any means necessary — giving it all and doing it, whatever it may be, but not stopping until it is achieved. By any means. That's Hang a Star to me in some cases."

Paz's sentiment is tangible when looking at the cover art for Pleasure Pill's new album; the guys appear to be the everyday man who stumbled into music simply for the love of the game. A building that resembles structures from any American neighborhood serves as the backdrop for a seemingly sweltering day. The picture looks vintagely confident, hopeful, and unassuming, with a sheer coolness that evokes the aura of Rock greats past.

And the music itself sounds exactly like that mental image — minus that excruciating heatwave.

The full interview with Jonah Paz is available in video format on YouTube and as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, and Spotify.

Pleasure Pill's Hang a Star is available on all platforms now.