Wage War’s Cody Quistad Discusses Evolution of Band’s Sound

As Cody Quistad celebrated Wage War‘s upcoming album, Stigma, on Tuesday’s Loudwire Nights (May 7), he also took some time to reflect on how the band’s sound has evolved over the years.

“Albums are just yearbooks for us,” Quistad told host Chuck Armstrong. “It’s a snapshot of the things we’re going through lyrically or sonically, the things that we’re into at the time.”

Quistad said Wage War’s debut record, 2015’s Blueprints, was very heavy and the band focused on low tunings because, at the time, that’s how they loved to play music. On top of that, the songs themselves were ones that the band had been writing since they started jamming together in 2010.

“We kind of threw it all together and thankfully people really resonated with it, which is great.”

Wage War Continue to Push Boundaries

Quistad admitted that he felt like their debut and the follow-up, 2017’s Deadweight, were pretty similar, so when Wage War were ready to record their third LP, he wanted to change things up a bit.

“We wanted to inject some new production elements and styles of songs,” he said about 2019’s Pressure, explaining how Wage War experimented with an industrial sound for the first time ever.

After Pressure, Quistad explained how Wage War basically tried to bring everything they had done since day one together into one sound on 2021’s Manic.

“We kind of tried to vary both of those worlds with the industrial side and the kind of melodic, heavy part.”

Now with Stigma — Wage War’s fifth full-length due out June 21 — Quistad is excited for fans to hear the latest evolution of the band.

READ MORE: Nothing More’s Jonny Hawkins Admits Faith Is ‘Definitely a Huge Influence’ on His Music

“I feel like Stigma, for us, is just 10 entirely different songs,” he revealed.

“It’s us just trying to make songs that we love but try to kind of widen the landscape of what Wage War is and what Wage War does … I think we just wanted to keep pushing. I think genres are just not even going to exist in the next 10 years and so it’s exciting to see what’s happening not only in music but in the rock space and how far things are stretching and how boundaries are being pushed. I think we just wanted to do our part in that.”

What Else Did Wage War’s Cody Quistad Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What it’s like writing with other artists in different bands — and how Ronnie Radke changed his life
• Why he’s enjoyed Wage War’s co-headlining tour with Nothing More
• How he separates writing music for Wage War and writing music for other musicians

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Cody Quistad joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, May 7; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.