Weekend One of ACL 2026 is certainly one for the books. Affectionately deemed "Mudfest", this first leg of the festival proved that although tempestuous weather may dampen Zilker park, it holds no sway on the spirit of up-and-coming artists. I was lucky enough to get to chat with three members of the quartet Grocery Bag last Friday, who all shone brightly despite the downpour earlier in the day. Here's how our conversation went:
Hippiestank: Okay, so could you guys introduce yourselves?
Bella: I’m Bella. I sing and play guitar.
Logan: Hey, I'm Logan. I play bass.
Dylan: I’m Dylan. I play guitar.
Hippiestank: Okay, it's my understanding it's been a pretty busy month for Grocery Bag. It's been pretty crazy. You guys want to tell us a little bit about what you've been up to?
Bella: Yeah, we did levitation. We did two shows with Billy Idol. Doing ACL. We did a show with Pond at Mohawk, which was insane. Kevin Parker was there. It's kind of nerve-wracking, but yeah, just. Oh yeah, we got a late-night show at Stubbs tonight, so it's just a packed double-header night, you know. So really cool stuff, though.
Hippiestank: How does that feel? The whole back and forth, back to back to back stuff. Does that feel good? Is it crazy?
Bella: It feels great, honestly, because we had a period of where we weren't playing shows for a good bit, and now it's kind of nice to be like, “okay, we're back,” you know. And we're playing new stuff, so it's just really fun.
Logan: Yeah, feel really lucky to be just doing what we're doing right now. It's been a hoot.
Dylan: I think it's interesting we're entering like this different phase of shows. Like it used to just be like plug and play, and just like show up, chuck your gear on stage, and just like rock out. And now it's like, “oh, now we have to do a production rehearsal,” and we have to rent equipment, and then also like hire some friends like to help us run sound. And it's just like a whole new thing. And it's really interesting, like to be able to experience that, and just like with all the different shows this month, and on different sizes of stages with different sizes of crowds, there's a lot of things that we've been learning. So it's been cool.
Hippiestank: That sounds like a good time. Have you guys had a favorite show recently? I know it's been a lot, but you said the Ponds one was pretty fun.
Bella: Yeah, that one was insane.
Hippiestank: Uh huh. Why was it insane? What was going on?
Bella: It was just like the people we like kind of looked up to and would like listen to that we bonded over as a band, and so it was just kind of like, “man, we made that,” kind of thing, and it was it was just crazy because one thing was we got to see Kevin Parker pretty much sound check with them [Ponds], and it was a secret, and so it felt like special that was like oh we were in on that little secret, and also just to watch him play drums too in the flesh is just like insane. He's such a talented musician, so that was just like a highlight for me. I think also the Billy Idol shows were really really sick. You know, I cried watching him, and I was just like, “oh my god, like I can't believe this is happening right now.”
Logan: Yeah, definitely the Billy Idol shows were like a pinch-me moment, and the Ponds show, and Levitation. I mean, what are we doing, guys? It's crazy.
Dylan: Yeah, it was a really great month. The Billy Idol shows felt so full circle with like my dad's music taste and like him going to those shows and just like rocking out. It was so cool to see.
Hippiestank: You guys have a favorite Billy Idol song?
Bella: We can agree.
Josh: 1, 2, 3…
Bella, Josh, Dylan: “Flesh for Fantasy”
Hippiestank: That’s a good one!
Bella: That's the song I cried to, and then also “Rebel Yell.” Like, of course, “White Wedding.:
Josh: “Blue Highway”
Bella: “Rock the Cradle”
Josh: “Rock the Cradle” yeah, “Hot in the City”
Dylan: I really enjoy “Rebel Yell”, but like “Dance with Myself” is like the first Billy Idol song like my dad ever showed me. So that one was really special.
Hippiestank: That’s really cool! Okay, so moving on to ACL. I know the weather conditions are a bit inclement, but how does it feel? This the first time you guys have played at ACL, right?
Bella: Yeah.
Hippiestank: How does it feel to be here as an artist versus being here as a patron?
Bella: It's kind of surreal. Like I don't know. Just walking around while no one's here is kind of insane because it's like you know it's gonna be packed later.
Josh: Yeah, I agree. It's pretty surreal. Just doing a sound check at 10 a.m. here and making the music happen.
Dylan: I think it's nuts. It's like I never thought it was possible, like bridging the gap from fan to musician. It's like bizarre. It's a bizarre space to enter mentally, and then just also see like all of the other professional musicians and crew workers. But then also know like your friends are literally like working security, and they're like, “yeah, I'm just gonna leave early to come like watch your set or something.” It's like, “what's going on here?” But. It's really all just like people like contributing to this music scene that we have, and this industry that we're a part of, and it's just it's definitely an interesting scape, you know.
Hippiestank: So, did you guys grow up in Austin? Where are y'all from?
Josh and Dylan: Austin
Bella: I’m from San Antonio.
Hippiestank: Okay, okay. Did you ever like imagine… Well, have you been to ACL before?
Bella: I've gone the past like three years, I want to say. But I have never gone before then. I didn't know about it.
Hippiestank: Really? Oh yeah, San Antonio. (to Josh and Dylan) Well, I bet it must be pretty trippy coming here is like a little kid, and then suddenly playing. It's gotta be weird.
Josh: Used to get in for free, and now we're…
Hippiestank: You’re still getting in for free, no?
Josh: I mean, like it was 10 and under, get in for free, and it's like I remember, like we were just walking in. It was just insane.
Dylan: I didn't know what ACL was until I was a freshman in high school. Yeah, so I was like maybe 15, years old. 14 or 15. And like I saw that… no, no, sophomore year, sophomore year. I didn't even know about it till sophomore year. I saw that Guns N' Roses was coming to town. I was like, “oh, that'd be cool.” Like I want to go see Guns N' Roses, and then also like Tenacious D was doing one of like the ACL night shows, and then I came to the festival. I remember seeing like the only band I remember seeing was like Hippie Sabotage, a little bit of 21 Savage, and a little bit of Childish Gambino, I think. And I was like, this is crazy. Like I had no idea that this existed.
Josh: 2018? (asking about the year Dylan is referencing)
Dylan: Yeah, 2018. I didn't even know. I was so out of the loop.
Hippiestank: Well, that's really cool. I'm glad you guys know about it now. Happy to have you here. You guys played Levitation. Now you're playing this. Any other festivals you guys want to play in the future?
Bella: Bonnaroo, that’d be cool.
Josh: Oh wait, Lollapalooza, Glasto, Reading, Leeds.
Dylan: Lowkey, The Great Escape in Brighton, UK. It's sort of like their version of SouthBy. And then Muddy Roots Fest sounds really cool. Punk Rock Bowling. I don't know. Any psychedelic festival that's happening in either Seattle or San Francisco.
Bella: Also, Tree Fort. That'd be sick.
Hippiestank: Where’s that one?
Bella: Boise, Idaho
Hippiestank: Okay, I’ve heard that one. Sounds cool. Why that one specifically?
Bella: They're just cool bands, I guess.
Hippiestank: Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Bella: I think it's more like our scene too. Yeah, it's like Levitation.
Hippiestank: Woah!
Bella: Levitation is like SouthBy
Hippiestank: Okay. Oh, I like that vibe a lot! Okay, so I read y'all's article in the Chronicle, and it was so cute. Did you guys actually go grocery shopping? Was that for real?
Bella: They did. I unfortunately went grocery shopping in the morning, so I didn't get to buy anything. But the guys got some good stuff.
Josh: Yeah, I got some serrano peppers and some wasabi peas. Dylan got some good stuff.
Hippiestank: Did you make anything with them yet?
Josh: I put the serranos in some eggs. It's pretty good.
Dylan: Yeah, I feel bad about that because I was raving about how I was gonna make Mac and Cheese that night for dinner, and I completely forgot that I didn't have any milk. So I like haven't made it yet. So Mac and Cheese coming soon, hopefully.
Hippiestank: Well, in the article, it mentioned something about y'all's second album that might be coming out kind of soon, and I was just a little bit curious are y'all playing some of the songs off of that one tonight?
Bella: Oh yeah.
Hippiestank: Yeah? Okay cool!
Bella: There's a good amount that will be new songs. Yeah.
Hippiestank: So, what was y'all's approach with this album versus your last one? What was the recording process like for y'all and writing it?
Bella: It was more like less planned out and more like, let's see what we come up with on the spot, because it's definitely very different from like what we've had in the past, and so it's really, really collaborative. I think like everyone's, you know, genre and taste and music that they're into really shows on this record, and so we had a lot of different things and elements that we just threw in because we were like, “I like this.” It’s probably not going to be like something that sounds like what we've already written. So I'm excited.
Josh: Yeah, it definitely seems like a turning point in our music. It's feel like we're just getting more comfortable with how we sound and what we can sound like. So I think this is going to be a cool detour from what we did, but also keeping the roots, of course.
Dylan: I think it was really fun. I feel like we turned on the jets for this record, and like it got put together rather quickly, and then we just like hard committed to it, and now it's done. And it's mastered, and we're ready to figure out the next steps. It's cool.
Bella: Side note: There was one song that we like wrote and recorded like in two days, and then went on tour and played it. And so it was kind of like we put that pressure on ourselves to like, okay. And I don't know why that song just came so easy, and like I was like, why didn't the rest of these songs turn out like this? But yeah, it's just really exciting, and now it's like one of my favorite songs to play.
Hippiestank: What’s the title of it?
Bella: It’s called “Godspeed.”
Hippiestank: Oh perfect! You guys put it together godspeedily! That’s awesome! So you guys have been playing together for quite a while, right? About how long?
Bella: We just celebrated our four-year anniversary on July 4th.
Hippiestank: Oh my god! Did you guys have a little party? Do something fun?
Bella: We were in L.A. Yeah, we were in L.A. playing on tour, and so we got to watch all the fireworks and stuff.
Hippiestank: So, how has it been with your songwriting process? You guys have been writing together for a while, so how do you guys feel like it's changed over time?
Josh: I feel like we're not scared to just see what happens, you know. I think before we were trying to put ourselves in a box, maybe not purposefully, but like kind of happened. Now we're just writing what happened. Like we're figuring out as we go.
Dylan: Yeah, it felt like there was a specific formula that we had to follow a couple years ago. Like, we need to meet in the studio and we write there only, and now it's like we just write whatever we want, whenever we want, and we bring it in whenever we want, and do whatever we want with it, and it's cool. And it's like the most organic sound that like we could get as us four, you know.
Hippiestank: That's really cool. That must be so beautiful to like, especially be able to make songs a lot faster together. When you guys are sitting down to make something, what does it look like like who brings what together? How does it happen?
Bella: It's funny because this next record, a lot of the lyrics, I had no ideas for them. It's always last, and so this time I would meet up with Jimmy, our drummer, to record stuff, and he would just hit record and be like, “just sing something,” and I'd be like, “no, I'm not doing that right now.” And he's like, “you're gonna do it right now. Like, just try something.” And I was like, “okay, whatever.” And then I would do a line and he'd be like, “okay, now try it again.” He kept on doing that, and it was like annoying me at one point. But then I was like, “wait, we just wrote the whole song now, and now it's finished.” And he was like, “‘there you go.” And so he kind of like pushed me and was like, “just keep trying. Like, say whatever comes to your mind.” And I was like, “all right.” And so I think that was kind of a thing that like we did for like writing all the songs. It's just like, okay, here's the the basis of the song, and then just add something onto it, and whatever goes goes. Pretty much.
Josh: On an on that note, I've really come to appreciate Jimmy as like a motivator, like just as like a bandmate that will push you to write no matter how stuck you feel or whatever. I remember he sort of like nudged me to like come up with like a little guitar part for one of the songs. It's not in the song, but he still got me to like write something, and I was like, "thank you for like forcing that out of my brain.” Like that felt good. So I don't know. It's interesting. Shit happens here and there, and then sometimes it makes it, sometimes it don't. But just like working like the creative muscle in your brain just feels good
Dylan: I definitely think there was like a bunch of mutual like pushing each other to get the best outcome or just a outcome, and it was just super collaborative and felt pretty free.
Hippiestank: That's wonderful. I'm so sad Jimmy can't be with us today, but that's a beautiful thing you said about him. Okay, so Dylan, you mentioned Billy Idol was big with your dad. I just wanted to ask all of you guys, what was y'all's relationship with music like when you guys were younger?
Bella: I always had music playing around in the house, but like my parents weren't really like musicians. My dad tried when he was younger, but he had guitars around the house, and so I guess that's where I kind of picked it up. And then I had some musician like family members, but they never really like were like anything big time. It was more just like, “oh, I just picked it up as a hobby,” and so they would like give me everything basically. But yeah, like my my parents loved all the bands that I was into, and I loved everything that they were into. So I it wasn't too hard to convince them to go to a concert or be like, let's go out, like this band's there, and they're like, really, let's get tickets, and so they were really like on the same point as me, and just wanted everything to be like, you know, it was like a bonding experience too.
Hippiestank: So what were some of the bands you went and saw with your parents?
Bella: I remember I skipped school in I think middle school to go to a festival in L.A. with my mom, and it was the Growlers Six Festival. B52s played, I think Julian Casablancas, La Luz, a bunch of other bands that I was really into at the time were playing that. And so she was just like, "let's go!”And it was the whole weekend. So I like skipped school on Friday just to go over there, and we flew out and went straight to the festival.
Hippiestank: Yeah! That’s so fun.
Josh: There was always music playing in my house. We had multiple record players and CD players and cassette decks and stuff like that scattered around the house. My parents would just throw me in front of the TV, watch Beatles VHS tapes, The Police VHS tapes. So it’s just always been in my brain.
Dylan: I never felt like I had that much music going on in my childhood. Like my mom was into like musicals and like theater sort of music, like Wizard of Oz, Annie, pretty much like whatever was on Broadway. Like that would be playing around the house sometimes, and then we would always listen to the radio, just like on the way to wherever. And then sometimes my dad would play like Boston in the car, which was funny. But yeah, he showed me like I think he had the Dance with Myself music video on VHS, and that's like the first music video I remember seeing, and then yeah, I don't know. I didn't really understand like what bands were and like what music was like at that age. You know. I picked up saxophone in middle school didn't still didn't really understand like what the hell was going on. And then I think like once I got into high school and picked up guitar and like started listening to music a lot more. And then, you know, Jimmy just putting me onto so many cool bands, I just sort of started to understand, “oh it's not like a huge just like big old production Guns N' Roses, sort of like Blondie world.” It's like there's like real people making real music, and you actually can find out that they're real. I don't know.
Hippiestank: That's beautiful. Wow. Okay, I'm also just a little bit curious about some of y'all's inspirations outside of music. Other forms of art that you really enjoy, other types of stuff: books, movies, poems, anything like that. Is there anything that comes to the top of your head? Oh cool camera by the way (to Bella).
Bella: I think like first thing that comes to mind is just like because I do concert photography on the side and all this other stuff, recently I’ve been like looking to Pune a lot. And then my friend Oscar, who also like got me into concert photography, I think that that kind of made my love for music like even more special because it's like “okay, I get to see both sides of it,” and I know now what like a musician's gonna do or what kind of movement they're gonna do next, and so I kind of really focus on that more now, and I like I appreciate shows more, I feel like, capturing all those special little moments.
Hippiestank: How do you feel like doing photography has affected your own stage presence? Do you move differently now?
Bella: I try to give them a good little shot here and there. If I see a camera, you know, I'm not gonna turn away, but I might try to be funny.
Dylan: I would say I'm inspired by preparation and thoroughness, and more specifically, it makes me think about this friend that I have, Grant Gilker. They put together this play for their senior thesis, and it was called “House Play,” and it was in the side yard of our house at Pearl Street Co-op. And just seeing them put that together over the whole semester, and watching them execute it and direct it and act it live, I was like, "wow, this is sort of like what we do as Grocery Bag on stage.” It's like we have this very curated set list that we put together, and we work out all the dynamics and when the big moments are and when they happen. It's like the same thing that Grant did with their play, and I was like, this is so cool that I can like feed off of this, like energy and preparation and thoroughness.
Hippiestank: Could you guys ever see a Grocery Bag rock opera in the future?
Bella: Yeah, that'd be kind of insane. I could see it kind of like when Green Day did American Idiot. Yeah, I think we could do that.
Josh: Yeah, there's this band called Guster. They did it a couple years ago. They did a whole tour of just the upbringings of Guster then, and it was actually kind of cool.
Hippiestank: Wow. Yeah. That would be kind of cool, maybe on Broadway, huh? Okay. All right, last question, just cause I'm curious. If you guys had like a fifth instrument in Grocery Bag, what would you want it to be? Or maybe a sixth instrument. I don't know.
Bella: The triangle.
Hippiestank: Wow, no way!
Bella: Or cowbell.
Josh; No, triangle’s good cause that’s a hard thing to master.
Bella: Yeah, I know. It's not like I did that for a couple years.
Josh: No, I was in percussion in school, and that was probably the hardest thing is just nailing the triangle.
Hippiestank: It’s the technique!
Dylan: I’m gonna say harmonica. Harmonica would be really cool.
Hippiestank: Dude, that would be awesome. Well, I'm looking forward to the harmonica, triangle, grocery bag rock opera. Thanks so much for talking with me!
Cover photo by Dina Zeid of Grocery Bag playing at Levitation