Written By: JoAnn Snavely

In an Instant’s journey into music feels like it was destined from the start—a blend of shared passions, late-night jam sessions, and the unbreakable bond of friends making music together. Rooted in Boone’s DIY scene, the five-piece band—Anthony (vocals), Brae (lead guitar), Grady (rhythm guitar), Derek (drums), and Chas, aka Email (bass)—came together through a mutual love for skate culture and raw, emotionally charged sound. From playing impromptu basement shows to rocking unique venues like Betsy’s Barn, their journey has been fueled by a relentless drive to create something meaningful. With plans to release a full-length album on the horizon, In an Instant is embracing the chaos and beauty of their shared creative process. In this interview, No Regards caught up with the band to talk about their roots, the magic of DIY shows, and what it means to feel music in your chest, not just hear it.

First, let’s get to know the band—if you had to sum up who you are as a band in just three words, what would they be?

Anthony: Skaters playing music

You’re playing at Betsy’s Barn tonight, which is such a unique venue. How’s the band feeling after going on stage tonight?

Brae: It was dope, it was cool. I enjoyed it. It’s a pretty small area to play in stage-wise, but it was cool.

Chas (Email): We’ve never played here before, and we were a little concerned because it’s cold out tonight, but everything turned out good, and it was pretty warm in there- it ended up being warmer in there than I expected it to be.

Anthony: Overall, I feel like we all had a lot of fun, and we were very thankful that Betsy’s Barn let us play here.

What’s the first memory each of you has of music sparking something in you, and how did that evolve into this journey together as a band?

Brae: When I was in my early teen years, I used to steal a lot of my parents’ old cassette tapes, and I found a lot of good nineties rock music through that. Since then, I’ve just chased trying to write something similar to that ever since. I started playing guitar around 12 or 13, and it’s just kind of progressed into this.

Anthony: When I was 14 years old, my friend Trey showed me a song called “Things That Rhyme with Orange” by I Set My Friends on Fire, and that was my emo awakening. When I was 14 years old, my entire life changed.

Grady: When I was young, when my grandpa was still alive- in kindergarten, first grade- he used to always play guitar out in his garage, and I’d just sit and listen, and that’s when I wanted to start playing guitar. I got into all the emo music when I was in high school. I used to love Lil Peep, which is embarrassing now, but I’ve evolved into emo rock now, which is a lot cooler.

Derek: I collected a lot of records and listened to them all the time. I never had a phone growing up or anything, so that was my entertainment. I then got a drum set and played it all the time, I never stopped. Then these guys came along and were like, ‘You want to play music,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, let's do it,’ and here we are playing awesome music all the time and playing at Betsy’s Barn.

Chas (Email): When I was about six years old, I played my first show with my dad, and I've been playing guitar for 12 years now, but I play bass in this band. They needed a bass player, so I learned the set in Anthony's basement the day of the show at three in the morning. And then I played my first show with them at Black Cat that Saturday night at nine. But I got into this kind of music when I was 13 or 14 years old from watching skate videos and finding the music there. And then I got really into math rock and stuff like that, but it's a little bit more traditional.

Brae: He learned our whole set in an hour, it was incredible.

Chas (Email): By the time they were done playing it for me, I had learned.

Brae: Yeah, I played the riff once, and he played it better than our old bass player would play.

If you could describe the sound of your band using any inanimate object, what would it be and why?

Brae: Skateboard, mountain, river, water, cloud.

Chas (Email): I like skateboard the most.

Grady: A tear-soaked pillow.

Chas (Email): An unclean loofah.

Anthony: I think In an Instant is like a DIY quarter-pipe with all the screws sticking out coping that doesn’t fit-

Brae: But it had a really pretty graffiti on it, so it’s a very beautiful design.

Was there a specific moment or event that made you feel like this band was something bigger than just a hobby and that you were meant to pursue it seriously?

Grady: Derek and I skated together, and I started playing guitar. And Derek has been playing drums for years, so it was just the two of us starting out, and we went through a few members and kept Brae along. When we met Anthony, we started being more productive and started finishing songs and playing shows.

Brae: When Anthony joined the band, it changed the dynamics a lot because we spent a lot of time just f*cking around before we had him. Having him as somebody who can kind of direct us and keep us focused on something changes everything. We already had a lot of these songs we currently play- like the concepts of them- we wrote them separately but hadn’t brought them to practice, or if we had tried, it was just messy. Having him here kept us tight-knit to write these songs. So that was a turning point before.

Boone has such a rich and unique music scene. How has growing and creating in this area influenced the way you approach your sound or your creative process?

Anthony: So in Boone, there's a lot of jam bands, and then there's the whole other side where it's like screamo, and it's just going crazy. And honestly, once I heard amorebeautifulversionofyou, I figured that it was time to really turn it up because they go hard as f*ck, and I appreciated their music, so I was inspired by them for sure.

Chaz (Email): I think a lot of what inspires the more unique genres of music up here is the DIY scene and all of the DIY venues and basements, people's houses, and a lot of house shows. I came up doing music in Charlotte, and it's a similar thing there where there's a lot of established venues, there's a few established venues in Charlotte for smaller bands, and then it's a lot of scattered grassroots house shows, and that's really where a lot of the good stuff comes from, I think. And that fosters a lot of really unique, interesting bands that I think deserve more coverage.

Grady: Shout out Bittersuite

Brae: That’s what I was about to say, yeah, we play with this band called Bittersweet a lot, and I think it was inspiring the first time we played with them because we had our first shows together, and they killed it, and they're a great band and you guys should check them out if you haven't. But yeah, that was for sure inspirational because they killed it, and they still do, and we still play shows with them.

Since forming the band, what has been the most fulfilling moment you’ve had together so far?

Derek: The first time Anthony showed up to my garage, I had no idea what was going to happen because other people showed up to try and sing, and it was pretty disappointing. So within 20 minutes of him singing and us playing, I was like, ‘Yeah, it's not a real song, but I can see us doing some cool sh*t.’ And I was right because we are now.

Grady: We played our first show outside of Anthony's basement at Black Cat Burrito for a metal night- we did not play metal- we had one heavy song called “Heavy,” and we don't play it anymore, but it was super cool to just be out in public playing a show. And after our set, this guy bought us all shots.

Brae: I think also the first time we ever jammed with Anthony, and we wrote this song called “Catch and Release” that we open every show with. I think that was a pivotal moment, too, because it was the first time we wrote something where we were all proud of it, I feel like, and we feel like that song could be a single in the future. If we ever record anything, that's probably going to be one of the first songs that we get around to. And I think that was a pivotal moment for sure.

Anthony: Another pivotal moment in the band's history is when we got an edition of a man named Chas, and he's now playing the bass. Chas is extremely talented in all ways, but he plays the bass, and it's got to be easy. But yeah, whenever Chas got added in, that was a huge moment.

What’s one way working together as a band has pushed your boundaries, whether creatively or emotionally?

Chas (Email): I just started college. I just finished my first semester at App. I went from having band practices in my friend's room with one of my other bands to now being in four active bands, all within a few months of moving up here. I think a lot of the time management and finding different ways to be creative outside of the genre that my other band has pushed me and meeting new people that have different ideas and being able to collaborate and use my creativity differently has been a really cool thing.

Brae: I think also coming into the band with a song that we've written and turning it into a full song is a very inspiring thing that shows us that anything is possible because a lot of these songs that I have, I wrote in my room when I was 16 and now I'm in my early twenties and we're finally making 'em happen. I knew it was possible, but it never really came around until now.

Grady: Brae pushes me creatively because he's a much better guitar player than I am. If it sounds simple, it's mine. And if it's complicated, it is Brae’s. But Brae spent the night whenever we were first learning how to play “Catch and Release,” and we were up to 3:00 AM, I wanted to slam my head into the wall, but I felt like I had to keep up, and it was good. I've definitely learned a lot.

When someone comes to one of your shows or listens to your music for the first time, what’s the one thing you hope they feel or take away?

Brae: I hope that our music, at the most, is a very beautiful experience. We play with a lot of distortion and a lot of energy, but our music is not very agro. It's not heavy in a metal way. I feel like it's equally emotionally heavy as it is heavy in a punk rock sense. I want the listener to feel something and think about life as a whole. If that makes them ask themselves some sort of philosophical questions or something, I mean, that's up to the listener, but I just hope that the listener feels something as opposed to thinking this sounds cool. I feel like there's more to music than that.

Grady: I want people listening to feel a release of emotion and to be able to get away and just enjoy the music and kind of feel that weight lifted off of them and just enjoy a good time.

Brae: I want our music to feel like the first time I want our music to feel like the first time you saw boobs.

Anthony: To me, I hear all of the songs before I write the lyrics, so I hear the song instrumentally, and then I write the lyrics based on what it makes me feel. So, to me, it's all about feeling because each song represents a different emotion or a story or something like that. I think every song has a different emotion, and it's meant to channel that for the time being.

Derek: Yeah, it's great to be able to sit back and relax and listen to some music or if you have to get up and work- it's good to have that balance between, I feel like we have that, and I like that a lot because they'll be playing something chill, and then it's good to go in and add a little bit of splash and thrash to it, It's hard to explain, but having that good balance is fun.

Chas (Email): As I said, I learned these songs a couple of months ago, and I've played, I think this is our fourth or fifth show with me as the bassist. I have only written one song since I've been in the band, and hearing all of the songs as something that has been a finished product, I think that a strong point of our music is the cohesiveness. I think when I imagine music in a creative sense, if I'm involved with the writing of it, I think about it as an album in sequence and as a collection of something that is together. I feel like our music does that well. It's not very all over the place, but it's interesting enough and kind of involves a lot of the facets of, I guess, it explores a lot of things. So when I think of how I want the listener to hear our music- I want it to feel loud, not necessarily to be loud, but I want it to feel loud. The feeling you get when you're at a really loud concert is like the physical sensation, not necessarily the pain in your ears, but the feeling in your chest.

What’s next for the band? Any upcoming projects, events, or big plans you’re excited to share with fans?

Grady: This is our last show of the year. We’re going to write some more music and record some early next year, maybe this spring. We have a show on January 16th.

Anthony: We're taking the month off from shows. We're making shirts, and we're going to come back to the next show with probably three new songs, hopefully, or two or three, who knows.

Chas (Email): I feel like this is. They've all kind of covered this, but we do have plans to record an album soon. Hopefully, by the end of 202,5, we can get it done and out to everybody. We have a show soon, on the 16th or the 18th. My other band's going to be playing that we're called Junk Mail. Bittersuite’s also playing. It's going to be bad.

Brae: Our plan is to not do an EP or a single or anything. We're just going to stack enough songs until we have an album because tons of bands, like local bands, put out EPs and stuff, and that's cool, and it's nothing against them at all. But for whatever reason, we all collectively agree that it would be better to just drop a whole album out the gate. So we're just going to stack songs until we have enough for an album, which we're actually not far from. So, like he was saying, hopefully, by the middle or end of next year, we should be able to make that happen.

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