Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Former Critics. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Former, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Our three founding members (Jess, Doug, and Mike) have always wanted to be professional musicians for as long as we can remember. Music is something we have always been extremely passionate about, and we’ve dreamed about it ever since we were kids. Our rhythm guitarist, Dave, was actually in a ska band with Doug and Mike in high school and has since become an amazing animator/graphic designer, so he has been in the creative field in multiple ways for a while! Our bassist, Josh, is newer to music and didn’t really consider being a professional musician until he joined us a couple years ago.

Former, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are Former Critics; a five-piece punk-adjacent band from the Detroit area. We’ve been making loud, fast music since 2015 and can’t imagine doing anything else. We have self-released two EPs (Sleeper, 2016 and Heavy-Hearted, 2018) and a full-length album (Ring of Salt, 2022), all of which are available for streaming on all platforms. We also have several music videos out via Youtube for songs Ring of Salt, Molasses, and Candy (all from our LP, Ring of Salt). Most of us met in high school and really grew up together. In 2015, Jess, Doug, and Mike finally got the idea to make music together and we haven’t looked back since. We actually started out as an acoustic three-piece called Lunetta, but knew we wanted to do something big and full-band. We have had a few other members throughout the years, but we think this lineup is here to stay! FC is currently writing our second LP and scoping out recording studios. LP two promises even louder, heavier tracks that we can’t wait to play live! We actually just added a new song, Clover, to our set very recently and had the best time with it. Live shows are truly our jam. We feel the most alive and ourselves when onstage performing and are incredibly proud of the shows we put on. We aim to make you feel something (mainly rage and the encouragement to change the things you can in this messed up world). We want every show we play to make music lovers feel important and powerful, because they absolutely are. We love doing this and don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
Former Critics is:
Jessica Murray -Vocals
Doug Love – Lead Guitar
Mike Pakulski – Drums
Josh Schramm – Bass
Dave Holm – Rhythm Guitar

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of singing in Former Critics is, without a doubt, meeting and speaking with the young women and nonbinary fans at our shows. As much as the scene has improved, the music industry still very much wants to be male-dominated. We want to help break that mold. I love seeing women/nonbinary fans singing along so passionately It brings me so much joy to see the confidence and inclusion they feel at our shows and I want to grow that as much as I can. I deeply encourage other women to start their own musical journey and show everyone how integral we are (and always have been) to the scene.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Honestly, just keep going! It took us a while to build our social media following. What really made the most impact was when we started posting daily. We all know the algorithm likes to mess with artists, so pushing your music/message every day helps to break through all the noise.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/formercritics/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/formercritics
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjo1N_EiE2vJN7JMVjuBuA

Image Credits
Anna Evans Mitten Shows Brady Olson Spencer Isberg