State Champs‘ frontman Derek DiScanio guides us through the making of their new self-titled album, out now via Pure Noise Records.

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Derek DiScanio felt like right now was the perfect time for State Champs to really make a statement. 

That wasn’t always the intention when conceptualising the band’s 5th full-length effort, a record released just before they kick off their 15th year of defending pop-punk “because someone has to,” as he puts it. But as it became more and more fleshed out, it was apparent they were making something that felt definitive. Something that encapsulated every era of their journey so far into one ultimate piece of history. That’s when they knew it had to be self-titled. It had to be the moment that answered the eternal question, ‘State Champs of What?’ That answer? They are the state champs of themselves.

“We started to ourselves, ‘What encapsulates and embodies State Champs as a whole?’” Derek explains. “We’re making our best record and the best songs we have ever written, and that feels really good. But on the personal side of things, how we are feeling as four friends who are refreshed and the opposite of burnt out. It was the right time to plant our flag.”

For a band that has worked as tirelessly as Champs, it’s only fitting that they get to celebrate everything that they have achieved. But on that personal side of things, they were also having to take stock of how things have changed since they started. Starting families, getting married, and buying houses are all big milestones that change the way that you approach your other passions. So, if they are in a position where the band must go hand in hand with other factors in ways it wouldn’t in the past, they better make what they are doing with it absolutely worth it. 

And the truth is they have done that and then some. It’s a record that plays out like a greatest hits compilation, pulling from every corner of the Champs universe with vigour and vibrance. Irresistibly catchy, effortlessly breezy and wonderfully fun, it’s as much a celebration of everything that has come before as a sign of what is still to come. And though their worlds are changing, much the same as all of us, they aren’t letting it get in the way of why they started this in the first place.

“You have to think about all this differently, but you can’t lose your head about where the roots are,” Derek smiles. “It’s a balance. Let’s not overdo it with touring and make it so people know this is when they will get to see us, but also make sure we value and enjoy our time away from the road and music and miss it. That makes us want to come back and kick it again.”

To delve into the different emotions conjured from looking back over their adventure, Rock Sound chatted with Derek about everything that makes this definitive Champs…

THE SOUND

Derek would be the first to admit that he knows State Champs have never reinvented the wheel with their sound over the years. But the thing is, they never set out to. It has always been about making what feels right to them and running with it. With the purity of pop-punk as the canvas, that has allowed them to be as freewheeling as they please, especially when it came to combining all the colours from across the years. But in true State Champs style, it always comes back to the live show, and Derek will always have that setlist order in the back of his mind. 

“It’s always about how it’s going to translate to a live show. There were no set rules or plans with what we were making, as long as we knew they would sound sick live, and we would actually listen to them. To be honest, we don’t listen to a lot of pop-punk ourselves. I like pop and country, and Ryan likes 90s stuff. We all like things like The Beastie Boys, but we also listen to a lot of Fountains Of Wayne too. Everything kind of creeps in, and that comes from us never taking ourselves too seriously along the way.” 

It’s best to be in that mindset because if they were thinking about it too much, ‘State Champs’ wouldn’t feel the way that it does. It’s also important to note that despite bringing together everything from the past, this isn’t an appeasement in any way. As much as keeping those who have been there since the beginning bopping, Derek knows they are picking up new fans every day. They still have to earn the love and respect of those discovering, not resting on their laurels and enjoying the grind that comes with forging fresh relationships. This voyage is far from over, so why would they stop rowing?

“It’s sometimes tough for us to realise that we are still gaining new fans, but it’s a good thing that it’s still happening. At When We Were Young and Slam Dunk, we had to earn the fans even though we were playing an album that came out 11 years ago. It’s such a weird dynamic, but we have to find a way to own it and win them over. Even though a self-titled album should be this achieving thing, but it’s still something to grind on. If people are going to hear us for the first time, then we want this to be the album they want to hear. I also want to make sure that we’re making an album that the fans who have been with us since day one say, ‘This is my favourite State Champs album,’ too. I feel like we have hit that sweet spot.”

THE COLLABORATORS

It’s rare that Champs will work with someone they don’t have even a little bit of a previous relationship with. Despite this being his first time producing an album for them, Anton DeLost actually mixed 2022’s ‘Kings Of The New Age’ and co-wrote ‘Fake It’ and ‘Outta My Head’ that appear on it. He also co-produced a bunch of bands alongside Derek over the years, so they not only knew what he was capable of, but he was also becoming a fast friend. It’s why when it came to operating the desk for a whole record, he could immediately be honest with the band when it came to what they were working on, or if they were giving up on ideas too quickly.

“He turned into a fifth member. He would sit in with us and contribute to every song from scratch. ‘Silver Cloud’ and ‘Too Late To Say’ those tracks started from a bank of riffs he had on a loop in his system, asking if we wanted to build on them. But then he would also keep us on track if the four of us would start on something and get side-tracked cause we suddenly didn’t like it. He would question why we thought it was shit and make us keep the small parts that we did like to work on somewhere else. He was the ultimate chemistry and vibe tech but also a coach keeping us on the task at hand.”

That sense of ensuring that people involved were people they vibed with also extended to the only guest on the record. But unlike in the past, when the likes of Chrissy Costanza, Four Year Strong and Ben Barlow were invited to the party, this time, Champs might be introducing a brand-new band for your ears. On ‘Save Face Story’, the Set Your Goals-esque breakdown is delivered by Slope, a German hardcore band for which the Champs boys fell head over heels. 

“I just found them and loved them. When we were on tour with Simple Plan in Europe, their album release show was on the same day as our day off in Cologne, so we all went, our crew and everything. We pitted, stage-dived and became friends there and then, and they came to our show the next day at the arena. We just clicked instantly, so when we were writing the track, we thought, ‘Why can’t it be Slope?’”

Though their management and label were like, ‘Wouldn’t you prefer to have someone people have heard of?’, in sticking to their guns and doing what felt right, Champs ultimately held onto a feeling that often gets lost as you get bigger. Getting to follow their instincts in the pursuit of making something that feels cool above anything else is a return to why you start a band in the first place. And when you’re using this time as a celebration of everything that makes you tick, why wouldn’t you make that a reality?

THE LYRICS

For Derek, State Champs’ lyrics have always been there to be made of in whatever way you see fit. As he puts it, it’s okay to get off the rollercoaster of having one set goal with what you are putting out, and not everything has to resonate with the same theme or feeling. But in saying that, these self-titled songs do find him peeling back the layers of vulnerability that bit more. In facing off against how much their personal lives have changed alongside the band, he has seen how, in the blink of an eye, his own responsibilities have changed. How yesterday, Champs were heading out on the road for the first time as a teenager, and today, he has to think about paying bills and keeping his head above water. It’s quite a shock to the system, but much like everything, it’s about keeping things balanced. 

“That shit is fucking scary to me. I’m looking around at the other guys buying houses and having kids, and I’m going in and out of relationships and being scared of doing this all by myself. But I feel like a lot of growth has come from me actually asking the guys for support in that and then us writing a song about it. That’s how it’s still able to be therapeutic for me. But saying that, I still wanted our fans to be able to mould these songs in their own way. I never want to lose that. I like that we can be that bit more open-ended when people come to us and say that a song has changed their life through their own story. It’s opened their eyes to certain things. It leaves them engulfing themselves and telling their own story.”

To be able to tell their own story through their songs is only one part of why fans are so important to Champs. They’ve seen people getting tattoos of trophies with 100 printed in the middle of them to signify the number of shows they have attended. They have fans bringing their kids along to shows, introducing whole new generations to the band in the most personal way possible. It’s things that make what the band have been doing truly timeless, an essential part of lives that aren’t just theirs. And to keep that stream of consciousness open is something that stands high on the list of importance for Derek.

“We owe everything to the people who keep on coming back and supporting us. State champs isn’t just for us; it’s not just a band. It’s a family. We call our fans the Champs Fam, after all. These are things that are going to sit with people for the rest of their lives. It’s a part of them. I think we have to hold ourselves to a standard and give ourselves a bit of a pat on the back for that. It’s a prideful thing and something that we have to reward ourselves with.”

THE TITLE AND ARTWORK

Though the record’s title is pretty self-explanatory, the artwork accompanying it is not as straightforward as it may seem on first impressions. Of course, there is a trophy, a prize that any true state champ would want to signify their achievements. But look closely; you will see that the image has been ripped apart and put back together. On one hand, that could be seen as a sign of age, of weathering the storm and knowing how to piece any damage back together. On the other, it can signify the different lives, passions, and personalities that make up the band, their own piece away from the rest but able to make something much more prominent when put together.

Whichever way you see it, for Derek, it is symbolic of the want and need always to come back to this time and time again. That trophy may not be as shiny and new as it was 15 years ago, but the desire to claim it is still as strong as it was back then. And with every year, tour, album and achievement passed, State Champs still have a whole host of other things they still want to stake claim to.

“We’ve been through it all, but we haven’t had enough yet,” he smiles. “We may have been through it but haven’t done it all. There’s still shit we want to do and shit we want to prove, so until that is done, we are going to be chasing something, and that still feels so important. That’s the way it has always been for the band. We still haven’t headlined a Slam Dunk festival. We still haven’t headlined a Brixton Academy yet. But once we do that, there will be more. There will always be things to build on. We are happy with where we are at, but you are less likely to get burned out when there are constantly new things to achieve.”

THE FUTURE

Now that they have marked this milestone with their finest collection of songs, the attention turns to the thing that State Champs loves most. Bringing it to the masses, figuring out which songs resonate most and enjoying the unrivalled connection that only live music can provide. That’s been the routine for as long as they remember, and it isn’t going to change anytime soon. Because no matter how much everything else shifts within the scene – be that what’s trending, the way it is delivered or the bands that are popping off – Champs will do what Champs wants to do.

“It’s scary because of how unpredictable the scene is. But the moment you think about the future within those trends and start to fish for them, you’re in this for the wrong reasons. The only we can control is what we love and what we want to do in the moment when we want to be creative. We have found ourselves in all of the wrong directions, creatively as much as personally as friends. We have had to pull ourselves back in as much as we have had to drive off the edge, splat and find a way to pick ourselves back up. And after all of that, we are still far from done with this.”

Such drive and dedication to the cause feeds back into the fact that State Champs is more than just a band. It’s a state of mind. A way of seeing the world in screaming colour or striving to be the best version of yourself in spite of the hurdles. Nobody in this world will bring out the best in you quite like you can, and as long as they can be the soundtrack to people realising that, that’s precisely what they will be. “State Champs and the mission and ethos of it is to champion your way through life,” Derek concludes, pride beaming out of every pour. “Make your own way through adversity and times that are hard. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to be vulnerable. It’s okay to pick up your own pieces and put yourself back together again. And I’m still finding ways to do that as we go myself, and I will continue to learn as long as this band is a band. But the music and the experiences along the way that I’m making and having with my guys is what is helping them through that in the day to day.”