In punk rock, there’s truly nothing better than a classic power trio. Having a guitarist, bassist and drummer together creating the most sound possible makes for some high-energy, moshable music. And no one gets that more than Sky Carlson.
Carlson is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who is the frontman of 2/14, a pop-punk trio based in New York City. He’s known for the wall of sound he creates with just one guitar and his expressive vocals and has brought his talents to the Big Apple and the Nutmeg State, among other places.
He first picked up a guitar when he was 17, inspired by pop-punk and bands like Blink-182, Sum 41 and Taking Back Sunday. He cited Blink-182 as the band that drove him most to start playing, recalling that “watching their shows was what really made me want to be in a band.” He later picked up singing, which was something he wasn’t planning on doing when he first wanted to start a band.
“I was gonna just play guitar and write some songs, but I could never really find anyone who sold it the way I wanted to, so I ended up figuring out how to do it myself,” he said.
It was a big step outside of his comfort zone, as he considers himself to be a “really reserved person.” But he’s embraced the role at the microphone, saying, “I ended up growing into it, I feel like I’m learning more every time we perform.”
Carlson first started 2/14 when he was in high school after putting up some flyers around school looking for people to jam with. After finding a bass player and drummer, they made plans to perform at their school on Valentine’s Day. But before they could sign up for the show, they needed a name.
Inspired by other pop punk groups with numbers in their name and the day of the show, they picked the name 2/14. Though he laughed at the juxtaposition of “playing punk rock music and being named after a super cheap Hallmark holiday,” the name has stuck ever since.
Things slowed down for the band after Carlson went off to college, but he became particularly inspired again when he came home at the onset of the pandemic in 2020. With nothing else to do, he spent his time improving his guitar playing and songwriting craft.
“That’s when I started playing guitar a lot, figuring out how to put songs together and figuring out how to put what was in my head on the strings,” he said. “I had so much time to focus on it and I wrote quite a few of my favorite songs in that period.”
He also spent the time jamming with his old bandmates in a period that he called “super formative” in his musical development. He reflected on these jam sessions, saying that “I didn’t care how bad it sounded, the music I was making just meant so much to me.”
Carlson and his bandmates soon went their separate ways, as he was ready to take making music more seriously. The current lineup began taking shape in early 2020 when he discovered drummer Ben Bustamante on YouTube.
Carlson was impressed with Bustamante’s drum covers of ‘90s alternative rock songs by Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine, among others, so he reached out on Instagram to see if Bustamante would be interested in jamming. The two soon got together and clicked quickly, which gave Carlson more motivation.
Joined by bassist Dylan Taganas, the revamped lineup soon got to work on the group’s debut album, “Adrienne’s Garden,” which was released in October 2023. It was Carlson’s first time recording and producing an album, but he stepped up to the daunting task.
“It was a huge learning curve for me personally because I was producing it with basically no experience,” he said. “The recording process was a lot of fun though. People talk about it being a lot of pressure and stressful, but we really just cranked everything out.”
The band has also been busy making a name for themselves on stage in the New York City music scene. Every show was different but was an overall rewarding experience for Carlson.
“Shows out here can really be a hit or miss sometimes,” he said. “We’ve had some of the best shows ever and we’ve also played to nobody plenty of times. But it never really gets to us, we just love to play.”
The band has also established a presence in the Connecticut music scene, including recent performances in Storrs at The Dog P0und and WHUS Radio’s Battle of the Bands. Though these shows were a hike, they were “worth the trip for show,” adding that “it’s what you’ve got to when you’re in a band and trying to get your music out there.”