GRAPHIC TEASE

WRITTEN BY GIA KRUPENS

“Should we just talk shit this entire interview?”

Ander McDonald jokes as the group gets settled on the couch.

McDonald is the bass player for the Long Beach native band Graphic Tease. The four piece group began in 2020 with McDonald and the lead vocalist Roman Tiedemann, but they didn’t complete their group until drummer Tony Ramirez and guitarist Dante Hernandez joined in January of this year.

“The first two of us to meet were Ander and me,” Tiedemann said. “I approached her because I saw she had a Panic! At The Disco jacket.”

Acquaintances at Lakewood High School, McDonald and Tiedemann didn’t really interact until they found that common ground in music. Bonding over Panic! At The Disco albums quickly turned them into friends. Shortly after, they began making music together and decided to form a band with a few other people from school. At the end of 2023, the group hit a bit of a rough patch.

“We lost two of our band members, which were our previous drummer and guitarist, in the same week,” Tiedemann explained. “I was just like ‘This is the worst.’ That was a huge low point. And then one of my friends was scrolling on Instagram and she was like ‘Oh, do you remember Dante?’”

Dante Hernandez was another previous classmate of theirs, but not someone they had interacted with much. Fate struck at just the right time for them and Hernandez was immediately in. At the same time, Tony Ramirez had just happened to reach out to the band. The two auditioned together and it was instant magic.

“They came in and then we immediately wrote part of a song together that day.” Tiedemann said. “We were like, yeah, this is it.”

And the others felt the same way.

“Right when I got there I felt their energy,” Hernandez gushed. “I felt very welcomed, and then

Tony was killing it on drums and they’re all just killing it. That just motivated me that this is what I want to do.”

They instantly had chemistry together and the four-piece was finally solidified. Hernandez and Ramirez learned to play the song that they already had on streaming, “The Feeling’s Mutual,” and they started rehearsing.

They’ve spent the last summer making music. While Tiedemann does most of the lyric writing, all the beats and melodies are straight from the minds of Hernandez, McDonald, and Ramirez. They all began playing instruments and started experimenting with music as a hobby at different times in their lives.

“My older brother was the one who got me into screamo metal type music,” Ramirez said. “I remember watching as a little kid YouTube drum covers of System of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’. My brother asked me if I wanted to be a drummer and I said ‘no.’

Then in high school I thought it was pretty cool. It was the first time I felt like something was mine, so I just stuck with it ever since.”

Just like Ramirez, the rest of them also picked up music out of pure love for playing. The most impressive part- they’re all self taught.

“I don’t know any music theory,” Hernandez said. “Through jamming with people I start to under- stand. By seeing live gigs and different bands I know what key they’re playing, or where to go on my guitar neck, or different tunings and stuff . . . I think it’s more of the experience.”

They don’t read sheet music or take formal voice lessons, all their talent comes from their deep passion for making music. “I’m very visual too,” McDonald agreed. “If I can’t figure out the note I’ll literally look at Dante’s hand and be like: ‘Ok, that’s it.’”

The magic doesn’t stop at rehearsals either. When the group plays live, there is an electric energy in the air. They love playing, and the crowd loves watching them.

On March 29th, they played their first show at the Ben 10 Fest hosted at the Doll Hut in Anaheim. After a tumultuous pre-show that the group laughs about now (Ramirez was kicked out of the venue and almost not allowed to play, but that’s a story for another time), they killed it on stage.

“That was my first gig ever,” Hernandez said. “I was up there just playing, and it’s just so loud in there. It felt so good, the energy going on with all of us, the crowd was loving it, my friends and family were there, and it just felt really nice. That’s a moment I’ll cherish forever. Playing together after practicing for like a month for this moment, it just felt so good to release that energy.”

They’ve played tons of shows since, all around the Southern California area. Almost all the group is native to Long Beach (the exception being McDonald, who moved around before settling in Corona), so they feel fortunate to be connected to the music community in the area.

“Long Beach is so big with Snoop Dogg and Sublime, but Socal in general is such a huge deal,” Tiedemann said. “It’s a blessing that we could go to these areas pretty easily and meet these people. We’ve been moving from doing shows more around here to doing shows in LA. It’s really nice to know that there’s a thriving underground community.”

In the past year of playing shows, Graphic Tease has traveled all around Orange County and Los Angeles. Not only have they grown a community of fans, but also connections with the other bands playing at the same venues.

“There’s been a couple of bands that we’ve seen and played with now,” McDonald said. “It’s very community driven. Everybody knows everybody in a certain way.”

The band has made friends with another Southern California band called TemperMental. They go watch each other’s shows even if they aren’t on the bill. Graphic Tease even made a small guest appearance in a music video TemperMental released this year. Even though they weren’t in the shot for long, that’s not what mattered to them. The importance is how the local music community really supports and shows up for each other.

Their goal as artists is simple: to have fun. They don’t try to be something they’re not, and instead they hope to be a genuine and freeing place for people to just let loose and enjoy the music.

“Live music just transcends,” Hernandez said. “You’re there, and you’re seeing this thing first hand. Everybody experiences music in a different way, so I think the most important thing is to just have fun. And if they carry a meaning within themselves that’s cool too.”

You can check out Graphic Tease on all social media platforms with the handle @graphicteaseofficial. Their single “The Feeling’s Mutual” is out now everywhere and they are ramping up to release another single in November titled “ATV.” Check them out wherever you get your music.

“We surrender to the music,” Hernandez said. “We just let loose and whatever happens happens.”