If you’re someone who likes to hear great local music in the Raleigh area, I’ve got a hunch that you’re at least somewhat familiar with Locals Only!, WKNC 88.1’s music showcase where we do our best to show you great local music at a great local venue, that being Neptunes Parlor. It’s a monthly event, so if you missed August’s, don’t you fret, as we’ve got more in store. It’s a great time, and we’d love to see you there in the future.
Anyhow, I, The Martyroshka, thought that it’d be a great idea to take those of y’all who are curious about our bands backstage with an interview of the performers. I managed to procure an interview with the Post-Hardcore act Wellspring, and it’s some real insightful stuff for those who want to know what the local scene is like, or at least a vertical-slice microcosm of it. Without further ado, here’s the transcript taken from that very night in the Neptunes green room. I do hope you enjoy.
Interview with Wellspring
The Martyroshka:
Hi, I’m with WKNC 88.1 HD1 Raleigh. I’m the Martyroshka and I represent NC State’s Student Run college radio station. We’re here doing an interview with Wellspring, one of the acts on our iteration of Locals Only!. Wellspring, if y’ all could introduce yourselves at this moment, that would be most appreciated.
Cliff from Wellspring:
Yeah, I’m Cliff. I do vocals in the band.
Tom from Wellspring:
And I’m Tom. I play guitar.
The Martyroshka:
That’s great. So, I just wanted to say, really cool set that y’ all just had out there! I really enjoyed it. Really good energy. What I was curious about, however, was what kind of musical influences would you say most color what your project is aiming for?
Cliff:
Well, first of all, thank you. That was super nice. Yeah, influences for me, I guess I just pick bands because I kind of listen to bands on repeat.
I love Split Chain, and that is, like, my go to reference for, like, a lot of stuff. Like, especially on their EP that came out a couple months ago, a lot of Split Chain movements. I like a lot, for like, lyrically, and I’m trying to think of, like, maybe, like, Holding Absence. I do like my post hardcore sing song times, and his lyrics are also incredible, so. Yeah.
The Martyroshka:
Yeah. So you’d say that y’ all are going for, like, that post hardcore sound that we’re seeing a bit of a revival in this current era. Is that what you think you’re going for right now?
Cliff:
I think so.
Tom:
I feel like we’re just trying to write good songs. Like, none of us really listen to the same music. Like, I come from, like, a death metal background, but I just wanted to make cool stuff with my friends. and everything we’re writing now, we’re not really trying to fit, like, a genre. We’re just like, let’s make a good song. Like, I feel like that’s more where our heads are at with everything.
Cliff:
Yeah. I feel like our writing sessions really are just, like, sitting on the couch, like, at his place, and we have, like, a rig set up. We’re like, so what did we listen to? And then we, like, share our music taste for the week, and then we start writing, and it’s just come out with, like, really cool feel. Like a unique sound. It’s like post hard chord, grungy, early metal core stuff. I don’t know. It’s strange.
The Martyroshka:
So you’d say, and feel free to correct me if I’m on the wrong base here, but you’re taking, like, a lot of these disparate influences and melding them into something that’s more unique, that you’re more able to call your own and perform. Is that true?
Cliff:
Yeah, for sure. And I think, like, whatever comes naturally to us, too, because I think for a little bit, we’re always like, oh, I think this sounds cool. It sounds cool. And then with the new stuff we’re writing now, we’re just kind of like, whatever we want to write feels good. And, like, we like a lot. Let’s just stick with that and maybe we get, like, a cool sound. I think we’ve kind of like hit that with the stuff, The new stuff that we have now.
The Martyroshka:
Yeah, so I wanted to talk about that. So, initially, what was your sound going for? And how would you say that is different from what we have nowadays with your newer releases?
Cliff:
Well, originally the band started as just me, as like, a solo project, and I was out of state, and then I moved back here. I’m originally from Raleigh. And, yeah, I think originally it was like a lot of Dayseeker, a lot of Holding Absence, a lot of Movements. And it was like, I just want to be like metalcore, post hardcore. I can’t do a lot of singing. I can barely scream. I can do a little hoot and hollering every once in a while.
But I think now we’re moving in this direction of, like… Well, I really like it. I still like my hardcore music. I still like aggressive, like, grungy stuff. And I wanted to blend that into what we have now for our EP.
I think it was pretty grunge forward for that EP. Yeah. I mean, I could be wrong.
Tom:
I don’t know. No, I feel like there’s a lot of different bands that I think we all listen to. I know for me that I was trying. Anything that I wrote was channeling more into, like, the Chevelle kind of realm. But then just the newer stuff is a lot more layered, a lot more atmospheric, and just kind of trying to create, like, soundscapes on top of, like, rock riffs. That kind of thing.
The Martyroshka:
Yeah, that sounds really cool. You can really, like, trace, like, a path of evolution there. It seems to be that you’re developing, like, more of a textural sound. Is that right? Would you say that?
Cliff:
I love layers. Him and I both. I think when were trying to write what we’re doing now and, like, what we’re gonna go record later in the year, were like. That’s gonna be like our thing. If we’re known for anything. It’s just like super layered, big, big choruses and then we can get heavy or not. I think that’s kind of like the differences between the songs that are going to come out.
Tom:
Yeah.
The Martyroshka:
All right, let’s talk more about that new release that you just mentioned. So when do you think that’s going to be popping out?
Cliff:
Hopefully, I would say maybe February of next year. It’s going to be, like, earlier next year. We have some stuff that is in the works. So we’re going to go to a studio out in New Jersey that we really like. Like a guy who’s our producer is incredible. He’s awesome.
Tom:
Yes.
Cliff:
Shout out to Matt. He’s great. He does… here, you give him more of a shout out.
Tom:
Matt Guglielmo, the greatest human in the world, works at Graphic Nature Audio. I used to tour with him. He’s one of my best friends in the world and he’s just one of the best, like, up-and-coming producers. So it’s really cool that he is down to work with us and I get to work with one of my best friends. Everyone is. Our whole band are best friends. So it’ll be cool to introduce another layer to that to grow our sound and just be creative together.
The Martyroshka:
Yeah, yeah. You’re really getting at like that collaborative aspect that art and like music, being downstream of art, are like kind of very central to. Does that make sense?
Cliff:
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
The Martyroshka:
Yeah. So I wanted to ask a question about the Raleigh scene or maybe like the North Carolina scene at large. How do you think that influences your music? Like, are there any certain projects that you hear in the area or maybe even released in like the past that you point at and you’re like, wow, that’s something that I’m really taken by?
Cliff:
Yeah. I would love to shout out all my friend’s bands right now. Like honestly, I moved back here like two years ago, like wanting to do music and get with my friends and make this a thing. And every local show that I’ve gone to, I’ve seen like incredible bands. So like, Dull Morning is sick. Suns, we have a couple of guys in our band who are in Suns. We have Natural End, we have Demonize. We’ve got Joy. They’re making a comeback for the 919 Festival. Blush is coming out with a song tomorrow (8/21/2026) and I’m so stoked for that. But with all that to say, all of these bands, I go see them and I’m like, I gotta work on myself.
I need to get better at it. But it pushes me to be better, and same thing for, like, all the guys in the band too. Like, I have to make sure I’m doing my part so they don’t want to leave in any way. So, I feel like our local scene is just so incredible and super talented. Like everybody here is great.
Tom:
Yeah. I think, I don’t necessarily think our bands influence each other sound wise, but I feel like we’re also, I always describe the Raleigh scene as very, like, incestuous because we’re all in each other’s bands. Like, the storage unit that we have that we all practice out of, I think is six different bands and it’s only like 10 different people. So I think we’re all just kind of always pushing each other in different directions because our bands sound different, but we’re all the same group of friends just kind of melding and mixing and matching. So, yeah, I think more so, not necessarily sound wise, we’re pushing each other, but more just we want better for each other because we’re all in the same bands together.
The Martyroshka:
Yeah, that makes sense. There’s like, I guess, a bit of a mutual aid aspect, you could even say there.
Cliff:
Yeah, yeah.
Tom:
Very communal.
Cliff:
Yeah, we love everybody in our scene. Like, I’m wearing, like, a local band’s hat right now. Snowblinder, we saw them the other day and they were awesome.
The Martyroshka:
I want to say I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Slowblinder at a different Locals Only!, as that sounds familiar.
Cliff:
Yeah, because we hadn’t done it. I mean, this is like, our second show and we were, like, pumped to come do this. One of the guys from Snowblinder like, reached out. He’s like, “Oh, it’s so sick that you guys are getting to do this too.”. And like, he was here tonight and that was awesome. So, yeah, a lot of, like, cool mutual friends throughout, like, everybody here. So I’d say it’s a very supportive community, too.
The Martyroshka:
Yeah, that’s really cool. That’s, like, really inspiring to me personally as someone who loves to work in, like, different mediums of art. Like, I always like to not get on a soapbox, but I always feel like the best way to feel like you want to do something interesting is to see someone do something more interesting.
Cliff:
Yeah, yeah, definitely. That’s, again, it’s like every time I go to a show and I feel like our friend’s bands just get better and better every time. And then every new release, it also gets better and better every time. And I’m like, on one hand, it’s like, man, I suck. And then the other hand is like, oh, I want to be good. Like, this is cool that I’m in this community and I could be happy for my friends who are releasing sick music.
The Martyroshka:
So, yeah, that’s really cool. I believe we’re running a little bit low on time, so I wanted to ask a few more casual questions to get our listener base to maybe get to know y’all a little better, like, outside of the music scene. So I guess I’ll throw on some, like, first-date-type questions, like, what type of stuff do you like to do outside of music?
Cliff:
Oh, man. What do I do these days? I play a ton of video games and I work from home, so that makes it easy. And then I was rock climbing for a while, but I got lazy. I love being at my house. So it’s me hanging out at the house with my cats, and that’s about it.
Tom:
I have a cat that I love to hang out with. I like to go to Alamo Drafthouse and see horror movies. It’s one of my favorite places. I do CrossFit, which is really big on me.
The Martyroshka:
So, yeah, just wanted to ask, have you seen the new Jane Schoenberg movie, Sex and Death at Camp Miasma?
Tom:
Not yet, but I want to very much.
The Martyroshka:
Heard very good things about it. People highly recommend it.
Cliff:
Everybody in the band is like a movie buff, except for maybe Aaron, our drummer. Maybe. I don’t know.
Tom:
He doesn’t like anything.
Cliff:
He doesn’t like anything. But we do love movies. We love going after our movies.
The Martyroshka: 13:07
Yeah, that’s really cool. I just wanted to ask, any upcoming shows after this one that you’re going to be performing at?
Cliff:
Not at the moment. I think we’re kind of taking a little bit of a break because October’s coming up and I think that’s the time we’re going to go record some new music. And then everybody else in the band has shows with their other bands. So it kind of gives us a break to, like, practice the new stuff at the Storage Unit, take a little breather. And then probably after October, we’ll come back and do some shows before the year’s up. Hopefully. That’d be cool.
Tom:
Yeah, I don’t. I don’t know when this comes out, but my other band, Demonize, has a show with Vanta on this Saturday (8/22/2026). Then my other band, Natural End, has a show September 3rd with Sheer Terror at Chapel of Bones. And then three bands that I play with, Demonize, Natural Land, and Joy are all playing 919 Fest at Kings on September 19, and that is going to be one of the coolest shows in Raleigh for a while.
The Martyroshka:
All right, then. Given that those are some pretty soon upcoming dates, I’m going to try to flip this interview out quick so we can let the audience know about those shows. Anyway, I really appreciated having y’all on here, and if you could just quickly remind the audience who y’all are and where they can maybe catch y’all on, like, socials or something?
Cliff:
Yeah, we’re Wellspring. We’re on Instagram, we’re on Spotify, YouTube, any kind of, any place you can listen to music. We’re somewhere on there. And if you can’t find us, you’ll probably find us in one of our other bands and you can link us back to it.
Tom:
Yeah, a lot of different bands for us, so you can find any of us. And we’re always tagging everybody and everything, so. Yep.
The Martyroshka:
All right, then. Thank you all so much. As per usual, this is The Martyoshka for WKNC 88.1, and that’s a wrap!