1. Your music has evolved from alternative hip hop into a genre-bending fusion of pop punk, rock, and musical theatre. What drove that evolution, and how did you land on the sound that defines MNERVA today?
So I got my creative start in musical theatre and my claim to fame is that I wrote and arranged a jukebox musical out of twenty one pilots’ catalog. As such, musical theatre’s sound and storytelling devices have been a part of me since before I started MNERVA in 2020. The project’s initial sound was conceived after I listenedto the song, Minerva, by Deftones and wondered what would happen if a rapper took the guitars and synths of shoegaze music and combined them with trap beats. From there, I quickly realized after a few singles that I missed writing melodies and I started reincorporating singing into my songs for my debut EP, “Talk Too Much” in 2021. After touringthat project and seeing how effective my song, “TheInterview,” was live, I realized that I had a talent for writinganthemic chorus’ and I fullycommittedto being an alternative rock artist for my 2023 EP, “Invincible.” From there, I reconnected with my childhood love of Pop Punk and decided to lean in that direction for my 2025 debut album, “From Beginning To End” by answering the question, “what would happen if someone rapped over a pop punk beat. After five years of creative experimentation, I knew I wanted “From Beginning To End” to be the band’s official debut album because our sonic voice has never been stronger and this project takes every prior era of the band and elevates the sound into a cohesive concept record.
2. From Beginning to End is a concept album that tells the story of a relationship’s rise and fall. What inspired you to take that narrative approach, and how personal is the story behind it?
“From Beginning To End” is inspired by the true story of my last relationship and I came up with the concept the morning before I ended the relationship. I knew that I wanted to discuss the nuances of becoming friends again with a past lover but that I wouldn’t be able to justify that controversial decision in a single song so instead I used the concept record format to prove that me and my ex are “better off as friends.” When writing the record, I already had written the first song, “You And Me” and the albums’ ballad, “Circles (18 Months)” so, to create a cohesive narrative, I just had to connect the dots between each track to show how the relationship fell apart and how I put the pieces back together in the aftermath.
3. Concept records like American Idiot and The Black Parade are huge inspirations for this album. What specific elements from those projects influenced your writing or production process?
Everytime I listen to American Idiot, I am amazed at how seamlessly the tracks transition between each other and I spent months sequencing each track off of “From Beginning To End” and planning out how to properly make the whole flow like a single piece of music. I also love how, on both of those legendary records, you can listen to each song casually or dive deep into the lore of the full project. As such, I wanted to make sure that every song on my band’s project could stand on its own but, if you wanted to take the time to really listen, you could see a narrative play out in front of you and hear repeated musical themes throughout the record.
4. You’ve mentioned that this album runs gapless and includes recurring musical themes. Can you talk about your approach to creating a continuous listening experience—and why that mattered to you?
So when writing the record, instead of just writing songs with no harmonic plan, used the circle of fifths in order to make the transition between each song completely seamless and even made sure that every song started and stopped on a steady beat to make sure that you could bob your head to the entire project. For me, all of my favorite records from my childhood ran gapless and I truly believe it elevates an album from a collection disperate songs into an auditory experience. Especially because this project is a concept record with a continuous narrative, I knew that creating a gapless experience would only enhance immersion in the story and make the album’s final track, which reprises every prior song, hit so much harder.
5. Mental health and suicide prevention are clearly close to your heart. How does that mission show up in your music, especially on this album?
The beginnings of MNERVA began in 2016 when I penned the first draft of the song “The Interview” and wrote the line “it’ll get better than this.” That lyric has been the guiding light for the band’s message of perseverance through adversity and reminds me to never give up hope, no matter how dark life seems. If I can convince even one person to keep moving forward and not give up, than I have done my job as an artist and I will do anything to make sure I never lose another friend or fan to suicide ever again. Regarding the album, my latest single “Ghost In The Shell,” dives deep into my lifelong battle with feeling worthless and writing that song finally convinced me to take the steps I needed to finally love myself for me. That song helped me realize that I was using my relationship for external validation and that, if I didn’t learn to love the person I was looking at in the mirror, I would never be happy.
6. You’ve played shows across the country, often turning small venues into something that feels huge. What’s your mindset going into a live performance?
Every time me and the boys get on stage, we play as though we’re playing in front of thousands of people. This mindset is how we’ve converted ten strangers at a dead show into diehard fans and I very much believe in the grassroots power of playing live shows. There is no better way to connect with an audience than playing live and I know if I fully open myself up and put myself on the line emotionally for all to see that listeners will be more comfortable opening up to me and engaging with the band.
7. With the album dropping in November, how are you preparing for this next chapter—and what can fans expect from this era of MNERVA?
We are dropping a new song every month for the rest of 2025 as well as a cover of Vanessa Carlton’s, “A Thousand Miles” on June5th. We are currently planning some tours across the midwest and the pacific northwest as we speak and I can’t wait to keep connecting with new potential fans. Plus, with each new chapter that’s released, the story of the album becomes more fleshed out and I can’t wait until the fans can fully dive into the album, “From Beginning To End (see what I did there).”
End of Interview