Sure, it might have been almost two years since The Sinner and The Saint last released music, but they’re back and better than ever. Their new single, “Dancefloor”, recently dropped, and the five-piece emo pop group couldn’t be happier with its reception. I had the pleasure of sitting down with lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Brandt Bailey to talk about their Wisconsin run, the Real Estate Historical Society, and everything this new era represents for them.

“A lot of this new music feels like we’re finding our footing with what we want to do,” says Brandt. “I mean, if you listen to [“Okay-ish”] or [“Sad-ish”], or even the singles, they’re all different despite being written at the same time. They’re two different mixtapes. There’s some great songs on there, but we have come so far from that. We’ve built off of them.” When your band has been together as long as they have, it’s hard for your sound to not shift. The Sinner and The Saint was originally Brandt’s solo project, under which he made acoustic guitar music self-described as “not good”. He particularly enjoyed the idea of embodying both the sinner and the saint, hoping to bring a sense of duality to his music. He then met bassist Nik in high school, and the two went on to University of Wisconsin Green Bay. There, they met Tom, who was a predominantly electronic music artist but agreed to do drums for them as well as produce. At an open mic night, Brandt met Natalie, who started on guitar for them but eventually switched to keys. Afterwards, they met Slayder, who took over on lead guitar.

With so many artists, it’s no surprise they have many influences coming their way. While originally being influenced by artists like Modern Baseball, they began to switch to a lyrical style closer resembling The Front Bottoms. But everyone began to give their own input after a while. Natalie prefers pop emo, which is easy to hear in her keys. Nik finds himself gravitating towards pop punk like Four Years Strong. Slayder is into hardcore (a man after my own heart, honestly). Tom loves electronic music. While it may all sound scattered when laid out in this way, it all comes together to make a funky, poppy emo tune. The new single incorporates vocals that echo The Front Bottoms with synthy keyboard stylings, creating an upbeat tune that is deeply genuine without losing its friendly charm.

Despite sounding so different, “Dancefloor” is actually as old as their 2022 EP “Sad-ish”. It felt so different from everything they were making at the time, and their sound was majorly in flux due to their previous guitarist leaving, so they set it to the side. “It took a long time to realize where we were and what we had.” Once they started to bring the song back into the conversation, it ended up sparking a larger conversation about what it is they want. He wrote the lyrics over acoustic guitar, then got together with Nik to see what he wanted. They ended up roping Natalie, Tom, and Slayder in, and adding on the aforementioned “funky bits”.

Giving up full creative control hasn’t been an issue for Brandt. Despite him doing most of the writing at this point, he wanted everyone to bounce off of each other. “I’m not trying to be someone that goes, ‘Hey, you have to do this.’ At the end of the day, I don’t know everything.” While he does typically handle the lyrics, he came to them more frequently on this new music than he has in the past, which resulted in way more scrapping and returning to the drawing board, but he never minded. It’s the most balanced they’ve ever been, and through this mesh of influences, their new music is all outside the box.

Creating something so different from what you typically do would make most bands nervous, but not The Sinner and The Saint. The group jumped head-first into a mini-tour through Wisconsin, which was their first time doing so, and happened completely on accident. After being invited to play a couple of shows that weekend, they just decided to add on more. Between packed coffee houses shared with bands like Tiny Voices and Milwaukee’s X-Ray Arcade, they had a total blast. The real highlight of the weekend run was Wausau. The venue announced it maybe a week before, which had them nervous, but it paid off. “If we play to a room of five people, we’re still going to play our hearts out,” Brandt assures. “But the whole building was packed. It was sweaty and tight and fun, and I think it was a great way to cap everything off.”

Some people sign to a label, some people go full DIY, and some people figure out something completely out of the ordinary. TSATS falls into the latter category. The Real Estate Historical Society is exactly what it sounds like: a business specializing in bringing attention to old buildings and the history behind them. They and the band are partnering to go into buildings and homes influential to emo and post-hardcore music. I know you’re seeing the American Football and Hotelier houses in your head, just admit it. The main draw of this partnership for them is that it’s something different, something you’re not going to see anyone else doing.

When asked what’s next for TSATS, Brandt says they just want to reach people. “Music and playing for people is all we want to do. Even if we aren’t sure where we want to go, we want to keep building upon this. If a couple people like it, we will have done it.” Much to his excitement, people do. “The reception has been great. It’s the most people have reached out to us. If that continues happening the way it has been, I’m more than happy with that.”

It makes complete sense why it’s been such a hit. Emo music as a whole has the ability to reach people through intimacy and relatability, and TSATS have this certain quality to them where their songs feel like you’re talking with a good friend about their life while joking about things that are heavy on the mind. The same band that said “I’m not afraid of growing older, I’m just afraid I won’t be the same when I do,” in 2020 follows up with the line “I’m so scared of growing old, cause I don’t know if you’ll miss me” in 2024. You get the sense you’re growing with these people, that the lyrics are in no way one-offs. Even with how jokey the new song gets (I mean, are his eye bags hot? Sound off), there’s a layer of genuine desire for connection underneath all of it, something I think everyone can connect with. Needless to say, I’ll have my eye out for their next single within the next few months and full length project within the year, and I suggest y’all do too.

FFO: Weezer, The Front Bottoms, Arcadia Grey, Bong Mountain