Betting On The End is at its core, a math rock band. Drawing influence from Tera Melos, The Contortionist, Fall of Troy, Minus the Bear, and This Town Needs Guns, BOTE seeks to use that as a base to draw in many other influences from the realms of emo, metalcore, post-rock/shoegaze, hip-hop, and pop to create a new genre that has been characterized as "not trying to be anything [in particular], or "that one not hardcore band at the hardcore show", or "that one heavy band at the indie show". At the end of the day, it's all about creating music that the band wants to write and have fun while doing it!
-Interview- (4/10/25)
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? How did the name "Betting On The End" come about and is there any meaning to it?
All of us have been playing in bands for a really long time, and have been musicians for as long as we can remember in our lives. Chris and I (Andrew) started this band as a side project while we were in our last band together. We wanted to have a band with no restrictions on how something “should” sound, we just wanted to push the boundaries and write whatever we thought was cool. Our influences are so all over the place way beyond math rock, and we wanted all of that to come into play with this band.
As far as our name’s origin, we went to book our first show and realized we probably needed a name first. We had some ideas being tossed around (“Pharmaceutical Boner” was one of them) but nothing was really sticking. So one day Andrew was writing lyrics for the song “Consequences”. He wrote the line “and we’re betting on the end” and then paused and thought “wait, that’s actually a good band name!” Brought it to the other guys and everyone was on board. It really was just that simple, but the words represented, at least in the context of the song, as referring to people with power and money profiting off of death and the world’s demise to the point of desiring that demise. Ended up replacing the line with something else and now everyone says Andrew should have kept it. Also, we often have people think we are a metal band because of the name which is funny.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
We just simply want people to enjoy our music. We make music for ourselves cause this is what we love to do, but it is such a wondrous feeling when people actually connect with the music that we make.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
Mixture of ADHD personified into music and that first morning sip of café au lait that really gets you going.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Mini Trees, Sweet Pill and the Goddess herself Britney.
5. What's your thoughts on AI generated music?
It is theft from artists, wasteful of energy and resources, and isn’t even good. It’s pretty obvious just like AI paintings or photos that AI did it. Do better, robots. Might regret this comment in a few decades when our robot overlords see this.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Math Rock?
We actually tend to distance ourselves from the label sometimes because a lot of the math rock that’s out there seems to focus on technicality over melody and can be honestly exhausting to listen to. Sometimes you just have to let a song breathe.
7. What’s the current music scene like there in Arizona?
Kinda like high school. You got your goth bands, the hardcore bands, indie rock hipster bands ETC, and they all have their cliques. For the most part the community is respectful to each other but of course there are a couple of bad apples out there, but we prune that branch real quick.
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
Spotify sucks. The others are alright but they all should pay artists more and do more for the music community and less for shareholders pockets. At the end of the day though, you just have to out-hustle the streaming services and put yourself out there in other ways to make things happen for yourself to not rely on these services to decide to care about you, because they won’t.
9. What’s next for Betting On The End?
Our new EP “8-Bit Moshpit” is releasing on May 16th. After that, just continuing to grow and build our fan base. We feel really confident about this band and see big things for us. Hoping to tour again at the end of the year!
10. Any shoutouts?
Our friends in the local scene - Cause of Depression, Old Knives, Gnumb, Dean Nelson. All of our friends, family, and fans that have supported us, you’re the best!
