We were lucky to catch up with Joey Scigliano recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

I feel like musically speaking my band, Wasted Time has been mischaracterized in the past. I personally, would argue that we put a lot of emphasis on the live show and having more of a performance than just playing our music to an audience. Wasted Time shows can get crazy. They can be sloppy, things can get broken or tossed around the venue. To me anything that will create a memorable experience for the audience is the goal. I am never playing live so you can hear exactly what a studio recording of one of our songs sounds like. And I think we are often characterized as unserious or loose because of this way we perform. The fact is I personally hold so much more stock in making the night an experience for a viewer than I ever will about playing tight every single time. That’s my inner punk kid speaking.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Joey Scigliano and I am the lead singer of a Grunge/Punk band from Toledo, Ohio. We specialize in a high energy, often times angry sound that is reminsicent of a lot of the Grunge bands of the 1990s while also very much so being a punk band at our core.

I started this band back in October 2023 with my drummer Eli Speller who is also the only other founding member still working. It was originally intended to be a very straightforward punk sound. I was really into Riottt Grrl at the time and really loved bands like Bratmobile and Bikini Kill and wanted to mimic their respective sounds. Over time however, me and Eli both realized our shared love of grunge and more heavy alternative sounds was the way to shape this band into something that was truly our own.

In the current lineup we have me on vocals, Eli Speller on drums, Alec Lambert plays bass, and Ethan Winer on lead guitar. Alec and Ethan do a lot of the more interesting and intricate voicings in our music that bring a lot of our songs to life, adding a very melancholic and brooding sound to most of what we do. Eli is our rock and such an excellent live drummer. He is the only drummer i’ve met so far capable of keeping up with the intense energetic nature of our music. As for me, I am the driving force to get our audience moving. Screaming, growling, and spitting into the mic as all of my favorite punk singers always have.

If I had to cite major influences for this band:

Eli definitely pulls much from what I would call the Dave Grohl school of drumming. Loud, thumpy, downtuned drums that make the roof rattle. There is no playing ‘softer’. He definitely also pulls a lot melodically from the world of shoegaze and newer Grunge bands such as Superheaven or Basement.

I have always said Alec is this bands secret weapon. He has really interesting melodic ideas that the other three of us can never seem to never think of. He would cite Krist Novoselic from Nirvana and the band Machine Girl as two of his main influences.

The addition of Ethan to this band has definitely been one of the main reasons we decided to dive into a harsher more heavy sound. Ethan pulls a lot from bands like Opeth, Type O Negative, Pantera, as well as the world of Prog-Metal as a whole.

I personallh take a lot of inspiration from the world of New Orleans sludge as well as 90’s alternative. I am an absolute freak over Pantera especially their singer Phil Anselmo. The punk rock energy combined with a more metal sound is something I love. Other bands that come to mind are Drug Church, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Black Sabbath.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Wasted Time to me is about getting a crowd moving. It is adrenaline, it’s being in the moment. Being able to get a crowd to move, to make people feel something. To me that is the ultimate high. It’s for the kids who come to shows. It’s for those who want to blow off a little steam. If you come and see us play and leave truly feeling something, that’s how I know i’ve done my job well. I place this in my head, much more important than writing any ground breaking, virtuostic music. Music should be fun and too often do those who play and write music lose the fun along the way.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I think my views on music as a whole are very much informed by the subcultures I was apart of in my early youth. I am and always will be a punk kid. Black Flag, Minor Threat, The Germs, Dead Kennedys. I love all that stuff. And in the punk world there is a particular idealogy which I do subscribe to which is, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how well you play. It’s not about being great. It is about using what you have to say how you feel. That is what has always pulled me to music. It is about creating spectacle to draw attention to something you truly care about. At this stage in my musical career that is what I am focused on.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wastedtime419?igsh=MWgyZHc3a3BocWw5MA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/KB8JZZMUwso?si=Zp3puBhpVEyTQYru

Image Credits

Thomas Williamson

instagram: @willspoint_n_shoot

Annie Legesse

Instagram: @theabyss.photography