Paco Is Desperate! is a four piece post-hardcore/emo outfit from Toledo, OH. Originally conceived as the solo project of its frontman in 2014, Paco has evolved from lofi bedroom acoustic recorded on an eight track, to one of the Midwest’s most exciting young up and coming rock bands. From the outset, PID! was founded on the principle that despite whatever financial or practical obstacles that might get in the way, nothing would stop the project from pursuing a career built on utilizing a special gift for songwriting to tell genuine, impactful stories – both as a means of personal therapy, as well as uniting like minded individuals around hyper personal lyricism and super intimate live performances.

Frontman Ashlee Nunley began performing solo in late 2017. After a four year run as a solo act, in 2018 the first full band lineup was established. Over the next year, after several lineup changes and ups and downs, PID! released it’s first studio album Unraveled on September 13th, 2019, establishing a permanent four man lineup in early 2020 with Ashlee Nunley (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Cole Below (backing vocals, lead guitar), Daniel Sitler (backing vocals, bass) and Logan Swarthout (drums). In March of 2020, the band would release a split EP with fellow Toledo upstarts Brown Maple, further pushing them into the regional spotlight. Now managed by Handguns singer Taylor Eby, PID! is currently working on new music amidst the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, eager to debut a more mature, developed sound under the guidance of Eby as well as embark on their first national tour once it is safe to do so again.

We got a chance to catch up with PID! to chat about their new single, ‘Autopsy’.

REFRAIN: Your new song ‘Autopsy’ came out last Friday, what is the meaning behind the single?

PID! – “Autopsy” is about kind of that toxic relationship with a person that becomes a draining, life sucking kind of thing. The idea behind it was pretty much like, a retrospective; an autopsy report details the events and conditions that lead to a person’s death, and the song is kind of like that too, except it’s more of an emotional death you go through after a really ugly breakup with someone who was narcissistic. It’s meant to be optimistic in a sense, hence the last vocals of the song being “but this doesn’t mean you’ve won”. Like, this hurts, but it isn’t the end.

REFRAIN: If you could tour with one band, who would you pick?

PID! – Heart Attack Man, or Fugazi I think.

REFRAIN: Ohio is known for having some emo heavywieghts come out of the area. Have you gotten a chance to play with any Ohio legends?

PID! – Playing a show with Fate’s Got A Driver was pretty sick. We played it at Halo Live in Sandusky, OH, which is this big church that was converted into a venue and studio. We spent a good amount of the show up in the control room partying with the dudes in Fate, and at the time, Eddie, formerly of Taking Back Sunday, was playing guitar for Fate, so meeting him and jamming was really sweet. I ended up crashing on a mattress in the middle of a hallway at like 4am, haha. I also got to be an extra in the Hawthorne Heights music video they put out last year. Those guys were hella rad to hang with, and I gave JT a copy of our album which he gracefully accepted, haha.

REFRAIN: What’s something people don’t know about you or something you like to do when not making music? 

PID! – Ryan, Cole, and Logan love to skate. Dan is a classically trained musician who graduated from Ball State University. Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh are played by several members of the band. We’re all pretty much laid back dudes, Ryan is the extrovert of the band for sure, haha.

REFRAIN: What’s coming up next for you? 

PID! – e’re studio bound, about to go lay down some new songs. Hopefully once the COVID pandemic chills out a bit we will be re-booking the tour we had scheduled for this year that got cancelled. New music, touring, and definitely lots of pizza.

Paco Is Desperate! is:
Ashlee Ryan Nunley – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Cole Below – backing vocals, lead guitar
Daniel Sitler – backing vocals, bass
Logan Swarthout – drums

LINKS:

https://pacoisdesperate.com
https://facebook.com/pacoisdesperate
https://instagram.com/pacoisdesperate
https://twitter.com/pacoisdesperate
https://pacoisdesperate.bandcamp.com
https://youtube.com/c/pacoisdesperate