Although BSD produces most of their music, they do bring in other people – Andrew Goldstein and Dru DeCaro were involved in the making of READY TO EAT. Novotny mentions that he and his bandmates love working with people who are “a little bit removed from the rock world”: they’re all big fans of EDM and name Skrillex as a shared inspiration and “dream collaborator.” The band is good friends with JXDN – an artist well-steeped in the new school of pop-punk full of hip-hop influence – and naturally wrote “probably 15 songs” together. “FREAK” was their favorite of the bunch, and they released it in March, right before the JXDN tour.
A highlight of READY TO EAT is “Beautiful Waste,” written about the reality of pursuing people romantically when they’re up against stiff competition in LA. “We’re this band on the come-up,” Hutzler says. “Sure, whatever, people think that’s cool, but then ultimately, we’re up against billionaires who are flying these chicks out to go to Mykonos. There’s a humor in that.” He clarifies that – despite some fans’ expectations otherwise – “by no means are we living this luxurious and lavish lifestyle.”
READY TO EAT ends with “thanks for nothing,” an outro track that builds and swells around a vocal freestyle by Jager Bonham, a friend of the band. Discussing the final vocal line – “life is like a box of chocolates; go fuck yourself” – Novotny attests that sometimes the meaning of a song comes after it’s written: “I feel like we create art and then find reason for [it] after, because we write from where we’re at in the moment. A lot of times people think we have these elaborate preconceived ideas, and I think it’s more day-of, and then we sink into what it actually is.” Hutzler affirms that this approach allows listeners to find their own meaning in the songs – and adds that he wants fans to come out of the upcoming shows thinking, “that was the best fucking thing I’ve ever seen.” Novotny concurs, sharing that he hopes to build a space for fans to be themselves “and not give a shit about the outside world for an hour and a half…. My goal is to help kids escape as much as possible if they’re having a hard time in their own realities, cuz that’s what music is for us.”
