Having a band composed of four artists that all have different musical tastes and influences may seem like a recipe for disaster. For the members of Syracuse pop-punk band Townhouse Warrior, this dynamic has not only worked, but helped them evolve their sound and create their upcoming album “Words, Unsaid,” which will be released Tuesday.

Townhouse Warrior is made up of Zack Fitzgerald, Tim Hall, Kyle Malfa and Josh Rivet.

Fitzgerald — the group’s lead vocalist, backup guitarist and songwriter — described the group’s varying interests.

“I like old school pop-punk, Kyle likes newer pop-punk stuff … and then we have Josh who likes death metal,” he said.

Hall, the group’s lead guitarist and a backup singer, said he draws a lot of inspiration from ’90s alternative music and early 2000s bands from when he was in high school. Hall is also the recording engineer for the record.

The band was formed when Fitzgerald met drummer Malfa in the local grocery store that they used to work at in the summer of 2014. At that time, Fitzgerald was a novice.

“Before Townhouse Warrior, I had no experience playing in bands or anything,” Fitzgerald said. “I would write songs because I enjoyed writing songs.”

Then he met Malfa. The two would hang out and Malfa wrote drums to Fitzgerald’s lyrics. They were just playing music as friends for fun, Fitzgerald said. It was the two of them, until they met their bassist Rivet at a friend’s house.

Courtesy of Townhouse Warrior

“I was like, ‘Hey, would you like to play bass for my punk rock band?’ and he said no, just straight up no,” Fitzgerald said. “I asked him again three weeks later, and eventually Josh said, ‘Sure, I’ll give this a try,’ and here we are.”

The band went through the first two albums, “Seriously, I Don’t Mind” and “For Every Wasted Day,” before Hall joined the band. Hall said the band had gone through a few guitar players before he became a member.

He met Fitzgerald in 2016, and Fitzgerald asked him to join the band multiple times before he agreed.

“I was like, ‘All right, I’ll give it a shot, because I really like these guys,’” Hall said. “I did sound for them at a couple shows, and it seemed like the camaraderie was there, so I joined, and I’ve been in the band for a little over a year.”

It was with this new setup that Townhouse Warrior produced their newest album, which they recorded from January to October of last year.

“Townhouse Warrior’s second record was very slow and stripped down and raw,” Hall said. “The first one was a little bit pop-punk, and it had a big sound to it … the third one, overall, is real tight.”

Even after the first album was completed, the band still hadn’t figured out their sound, Fitzgerald said. The second album was closer, but not entirely there. He said the band’s third album is a culminating evolution, mixing together the things they got right on their first two albums.

It’s this confidence in their newest release that made the members of Townhouse Warrior want to get the word out about their sound.

“We’re taking a more formidable approach when it comes to getting it out there,” Hall said. “We’re utilizing (social media), and it really works. I think people are going to be really excited about this.”

The album will be released on all platforms on Tuesday. A release show for the record will take place May 5 at Sharkey’s Bar and Grill in Liverpool.

“I think (the albums) are all so different, and we are still in the process of finding our collective sound,” Fitzgerald said. “I think in this third one we pretty much found it, and the future is just expanding on it.”

Published on March 18, 2018 at 7:22 pm

Contact Mateo: mtestlin@syr.edu