Indie punk band The Manic Standstill are a relatively new configuration of experienced musicians, including guitarist and vocalist Adam Bones (Save Ferris, Richie Ramone, Josie Cotton, The Two Tens), drummer Brad Dickert, and bassist Eddy Hewitt. They’ve been releasing singles via Wiretap Records/Double Helix leading up to their debut album, Moving, arriving later this year.
Several of the songs on the upcoming album will feature collaborations with like-minded musicians like members of Go Betty Go, The Dollyrots, The Offspring, and more. The single and video for “Go Away,” which were recently released, feature Nicolette Vilar of Go Betty Go in a duet with Adam Bones, and are also a co-write between the two, whose friendship dates back at least ten years. I spoke with Adam Bones and Nicolette Vilar about this particular co-write and the making of the video, as well as about the role that musical communities have played in their social and creative lives.
It’s interesting the ways in which musicians form communities and how important that can be. Seeing this collaboration between the two of you, which links to two bands, The Manic Standstill and Go Betty Go, seems like one of those junctures, and that’s even more evident when I look at the list of collaborators on The Manic Standstill’s upcoming album, like The Dollyrots and The Offspring.
Adam Bones: Especially when I lived in LA, I just went out all the time. If I met somebody who was in a band, I would ask, “Oh, when’s your band playing?” And go check them out. I was just there for such a long time, in various bands, and going out, that I created this whole network of people and friends. My humble brag is that I’d say, “Oh, yeah, I know that guy.” And a friend would say, “Of course you know that guy, you’re Adam Bones!”
I know a lot of people. I figure everybody knows everybody, but apparently, I’ve connected with a bunch of people. Where I live now is a little more challenging, in Florida, because I’m older and it’s harder to go out so much. The bands that are out here are pretty cool, too.
Nicolette Vilar: Adam created such a beautiful musical community here in L.A. It kind of feels like we were all orbiting around him like a sun — he’s just this radiant, positive force. His ambition, talent, and genuine kindness drew people in. I also became really good friends with his wife, his bandmates, and their partners, which made the circle feel even more connected.
Community is essential for musicians — not just for inspiration, but for collaboration. We need each other to build songs, play shows, and keep the creative energy alive. Musicians are social animals, and every once in a while, someone special like Adam comes along who brings everyone together. That really showed at his going-away party — we all came out for an amazing send-off show. I think a lot of us were hoping he’d have such a great time that he might decide not to leave after all.
It takes a while when you move to a new location to find those connections, an experience that I’ve also had.
Adam: The positives are that I now have a slower pace of living, I have more space and live in a house, which is not something that I could ever do in LA. I have found some new friends and people out here, thankfully, and I also, my band is still in LA, so I go back there often, and my friends are still there. I go back there a lot. It’s an expanded network now.
Adam, how did you work on the songs that we’ve heard so far from The Manic Standstill’s upcoming album? Were you in LA for that?
Adam: This band basically started out as a solo project with just heavy songs. To my wife’s credit, I was waiting for all the circumstances to be perfect, and she said, “Just record your songs. People have to be able to hear them for anyone to care.” And she was right. The idea was just to record with different people, with different Producers, in different studios. That’s kind of how the first two singles came out, including “Reasons Why” and “Bulletproof.” It was getting the ball rolling.
Then, the next song I recorded was with Brad and Eddy, who are now my bandmates, at Brad’s studio. That experience was so inspired, and went so smoothly, and so well, that is was one of those things where you went, “Wow!”
It sounded so great, and we all go along so well, that I said, “We’re just going to record the rest of the album here.” And we had different guests in, contributing, but the bulk of the album was recorded with myself, Brad, and Eddy, as the core. This was all when I was still in LA. I wanted to record the album before the big move. Once everything was basically finished, I said, “Do you guys just want to be a band? Should we do this?” They said, “Yes, let’s do it!” That’s how the band formed.
After I moved, we did some little pieces of overdubs that I’d send to Brad. When the guests all recorded stuff, some of it was remotely, and they’d sent it to us. For the next album, I’ll have to schedule some time out there and record the bulk of it again.
I know that the song “Go Away” actually has a long history, and that you, Adam, had some parts sketched out, but Nicolette played a big role in bringing it together and finishing it with you. I think it’s really cool that the song features two voices because it feels like two people having a conversation from two sides of the table.
Adam: Exactly, yes. I think so, too.
What parts of that song do you hear yourself in, and what parts do you really hear the other person in?
Adam: Well, I had written the music and the melody many years ago, and I had different lyrics, and the lyrics were so dumb. So there’s that. Also, many years ago, Nicolette brought up the idea that we should do a duet together. I actually went to her house, and we kind of jammed, and didn’t have a topic. We even jammed with other people. It was cool, but it was something that we still needed to work on. But we just didn’t, because life gets involved, and time goes by.
Then, when this project, band, and album was coming together, I said, “We should revisit the duet idea.” I went back and found that demo, and the music and melody were there, and I said, “This would be a good song for a duet.” I had this song, but the fact that we were actually able to complete it was pretty fulfilling and satisfying. Both this demo and this concept were sitting for a very long time.
Nicolette was the spark for the lyrical content of the song. She had the idea for a relationship of sorts, whether it be romantic, or familial, or friendship, or what have you. It didn’t really matter which one it was. It was the push and pull of wanting someone to go away, and explore, and live their life, but the other person saying, “I want to stay here with you, or I want you to come with.” That was all her idea. So we sat in a room and asked, “How would you feel?” We came up with the lyrics together and it was a fun experience. I haven’t done that often. We had the concept, and the topic, and we worked it out together.
Nicolette: Adam had been filling in on guitar for Go Betty Go while Betty was recovering from cancer, so we were already in a creative rhythm. At the time, we were recording our EP Black and Blue, and songwriting was very much in the air.
I had mentioned to him that I love writing melodies and lyrics collaboratively, and he asked if I’d be interested in writing a duet. He already had the general musical idea in place, but wanted to push the lyrics further. We got together and worked on it over a few sessions. It was fun and flowed pretty naturally. Sometimes lyrics just appear when I listen to the music — like they were hiding in there all along. Of course, other times it takes more effort and focus, but eventually it always clicks.
Adam had already laid out the instrumentation and progression, so we got to dive right in. The theme came to me right away — it felt like a conversation between two people navigating the reality of one of them needing to leave for an opportunity far away. It was easy to imagine, because it was literally what was happening with Adam preparing to move to Florida. It felt honest and grounded in real life, and writing from that place always comes more easily to me.
I like how emotionally direct some of the lyrics are. It’s confessional. They are saying, “I am afraid.” And people have a hard time admitting that. It’s better if you do tell someone you care about that you’re afraid, rather than just holding back.
Adam: It’s a very vulnerable song. It’s really putting yourself out there. The communication is key, of course. I would never have thought about that concept. I played with Go Betty Go while Betty was fighting cancer, so once after I was playing, that’s when she had the idea, and we got the ball rolling.
Nicolette writes really good lyrics, and actually, she wrote the lyrics for a second song on the record called, “Trying Too Hard.” I had the chorus, the hook for the chorus, and then I had the first line of the song, and then I had nothing else! So I sent her a demo with the chord progressions, and then I was singing “La la la” for everything except the hook, and the chorus, and the first line of the song. I said, “I need everything else filled in!” She said, “Yeah, I’ll help you with that.” And she just wrote back a whole set of lyrics. So we collaborated on two songs for the album.
Nicolette: I had so much fun writing “Trying Too Hard.” It’s a great song. Adam laid down the music and melodies, and I focused on the lyrics. I really leaned into storytelling for this one. I had just seen a Tony Hawk documentary and was so inspired by the image of him repeatedly slamming into the pavement, chasing perfection. That energy — that persistence and almost painful drive — became the emotional core of the song for me.
Tell me more about making the music video for “Go Away”, which has a very live-band feel.
Nicolette: The video shoot was smooth — we had already done the video for “Bulletproof” (though I wasn’t in that one, I did direct it), so I was familiar with the space and how we’d be working. I just had to brush up on the song since it had been a little while since we wrote it. Good thing I practiced, because not long after, we performed it live at The Echo — that was a blast!
Hanging out with The Manic Standstill is always a good time. They’re all so tall — it’s like being surrounded by giants! I noticed I kept jumping during the video, maybe subconsciously trying to take up more vertical space and match their height. Haha!
Adam: That’s the first video I’ve made where I’m credited as director. I’ve done other videos before, but this was my “directorial debut.” I just wanted to do something fun, and simple, that Nicolette could be in, and it would feature the band. The first video, for “Reasons Why” was shot before we were even a band.
The idea for the “Go Away” video was to feature the people who recorded on that song. We shot it at Fred’s home studio. Eddy and I kind of collaborated on the idea of light bulbs, to give it a certain look. I had the idea during the shoot, for the breakdown to turn out the backlights.
I noticed that! That was neat.
Adam: Then we used a spotlight kind of thing. Then, when Nicolette and I were on tour with Go Betty Go, I had Aixa Vilar shoot us a lot, by the merch, or by the bar. So we intermixed some stuff from life on the road. It was just some fun stuff.
There’s something a little thematic about that, actually, with the travel aspect, since as a musician, you are often away from home. I thought of that lifestyle difficulty when I listened to the song, too, having to leave people you care about.
Adam: Yes, I didn’t even think about that! That’s kind of cool. I think anyone can relate to that kind of concept. On the video, it was a fun shoot, and we had a good time, then it was the editing of things together, which I did the bulk of. That’s another cool thing, about Brad and Eddy, is that they both have experience with this. Eddy comes from a film and TV background, besides being a musician, and Brad comes from producing podcasts, video, and audio, and he’s got a studio. He recorded and engineered the album, and knows how to do all that stuff. It’s cool that we all know about this stuff, and we can all bring different things to the table.
Nicolette, I’m also a big fan of your work with Go Betty Go. How much of your musical life does that fill? Are you also typically working on other collaborations, or do you usually just stick with that focus?
Nicolette: Go Betty Go is definitely my main musical focus. Outside of the band, I work as a movie poster designer, which is another creative outlet I really love. When I feel the itch to make music beyond GBG, I’ll jam with friends or go out for karaoke. I like to keep music fun and meaningful — and I’m fortunate that I don’t have to rely on it to pay the bills.
Thank you so much for supporting Go Betty Go. We’ve poured our hearts into every song we’ve ever put out, and we give it everything we’ve got at every live show. I’m so grateful for the girls in GBG — they’re a huge part of what makes life so rich and wonderful.
