Interview with Phill Jackson (Vocals & Guitar) of Primo Danger and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
Phill: Upbeat punk influenced Indie rock meets crippling anxiety
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc. What is the band’s lineup?
Phill: I have lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro my whole life. I started playing guitar when I was 13ish. I joined a band with friends but nothing ever really got done and wanted to do more, so I started learning bass, drums and some basic recording on a shitty $20 mic and Audacity. I had always enjoyed writing songs, but never really did much with it besides let files build up on my computer. I did this all the way through school and college, then graduated and got a job in marketing as I felt it would go along well with music. I tried making an iteration of this band once, but it fell through in a couple of weeks with no one seriously wanting to meet, and I had work stuff that kept taking over. Once that job got more demanding, I got depressed and stopped making music for a bit which had me regress in my mental health, drank a lot more, and it had a horrible spiral. After that and a breakup that was not good for me, I felt I had to take on more seriously to help myself get out of that bad headspace and really chase my passion. I posted an ad on Craigslist with music from Primo Danger that I tracked in my bedroom, and Shane, our guitarist, was the first person I met with and it was a pretty instant match from what we wanted to do and music taste. Our drummer Austin, I’ve actually known since first grade, and he was wanting to do something more with music too and loved the demos. I met Blue, our bassist, through Shane. We had another craigslist guitarist, Pat, but just due to some scheduling stuff it didn’t really work out but Blue and Shane were good friends with our other guitarist Hector. Rolling strong with that lineup since roughly 2022!
Lineup
Phill Jackson – Vocals & Guitar
Shane O’Barr – Guitar
Hector Bahamonde – Guitar
Blue – Bass
Austin Vanbebber – Drums
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
Phill: I got a lot of my music taste from skateboarding soundtracks. The first tony hawk game was my first foray into punk music, with Dead Kennedys and Suicidal Tendancies and started branching off heavily from there. There was an Almost skate video that had Bloc Party on it, and dug the post-punk revival movement, just in that it reminded me a lot of punk, but just with more interesting melodies in the guitar work. I was always super caffeinated too lol so I would bring a lot of that energy with me in the songwriting where I would write these up-tempo tracks with catchy guitar riffs and have a song done… then later get moody and just spill out whatever I was feeling into words.. Often making songs that were contrasted in lyrical content vs the vibe of the song which I always thought turned out interesting. I tend to write more tracks about inner turmoil and overcoming things like that.. But our latest track I went into more social issues – gun violence specifically and how it’s a problem that still keeps happening. Really it’s just whatever I’m feeling at the moment after the instrumental is done and how the melodies make me feel. Got some songs about hot dogs coming out real soon
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
Phill: My aspiration is coming out with music that people can resonate with when they’re going through shit times. The things that mean the most to me are when people listen to the lyrics and say that it’s helped them through a rough time.. That’s when it feels the most fulfilling. I would love to do more of that… and do it along side the homies in the band, go out on the road, and have a good time meeting new people.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
Phill: It’s hard to say, really I was most genuinely excited & emotional when we had our
first record done. I had held on to many of those songs for years as demos, and to have it fully fleshed out in proper fashion (shout out Alex Bhore) was really emotional for me. Just getting to release it was very therapeutic, was holding onto a lot of tension in those songs.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
Phill: Ohhhhhh it’s a grind. It’s all i’ve known though, since pretty much starting this project just before the pandemic & really getting a go at it once the quarantines had lifted. It’s been cool though, the music has definitely made its way around to people in the US and even with people in different countries wanting us to come out which is cool to see something you made in your bedroom make it across the world. Ultimately though, pretty good.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
Phill: DIY BABY. We are furiously shooting out emails & DM’s for promoters, then we end up getting a lot of different requests in return, so we end up pretty busy which is good! After our single release, we have a few things going on in the Dallas Area through the end of the year, and in the middle of planning a US run in 2026 as we keep dropping some more music
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
Phill: I’m conflicted on it, it helps and hurts in different ways. On the pain side: music sales have majorly had a downturn since streaming came about, but on the contrary, you are able to discover so much more music that is out there because of it.. There is a lot of music that i fucking love that I wouldn’t have found without the streaming world. It’s bad for the business aspect of it too, people don’t buy music like they used to, so it’s forced musicians to be more creative about how they make income without selling the music directly.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
Phill: Every Planet We Reach is Dead by Gorillaz. That intro is just pure gold, and one of the few approved ways to use a wah pedal
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
Phill: Honestly, having it less reliant on social media… musicians are feeling like they have to be churning out content like crazy in order for their music to be noticed and it 
takes away from that central focus of the music!!! I think it’s important to have a visual aspect of music for sure, but just the need to post something every day or whatever is just abundant. Let’s go back to myspace, I will add you to my top 8.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
Phill: Right now, we’ve wrapped up quite a few songs at the studio, and getting those polished up… Putting out our proudest song to date, WAITING (thanks to our producer, Greg Muzljakovich) then we’re gonna be booking quite a bit. Super excited to get back on the road
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online, have you any Social Media links that you can share?
Phill: We’re most active on instagram, that’s where you’ll see the most from us. Then our website, where we have our merch up if you want to buy a shirt or our first record 🙂
Primo Danger links:
Band/Artist location – Dallas Texas
Website – Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Merch –
X – Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – Beacons – TikTok – Last Fm –
Check our page for Primo Danger
