After just having finished supporting Blink-182 on tour in the US, LA-born and bred new-gen rock band Beauty School Dropout (BSD) have finally released their highly anticipated debut album ‘WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?’. Yet, this is just the beginning of another buys time for the foursome, consisting of Colie Hutzler (vocals), Brent “Beepus” Burdett (bass), Bardo Novotny (producer/guitar), and Colton Flurry (drums), as they embark on a US headline tour to celebrate their release, and another mainstream tour with MGK in 2026. Ahead of their London show last month at the iconic 100 Club, we sat down with the band to discuss not only their debut album but childhood favourites from Prince to ‘Grease’, dropping out of school to focus on their shared love of music, and their fascination with everything dark and meaningful.
It was a crazy coincidence the way BSD formed, Hutzler explains. “Way, way, way back in the day, my ex-girlfriend knew about him [Flurry] through the internet, and she had posted a picture of me and her and accidentally tagged him because we have similar names, and that was how we started talking. Then I invited him over for a playdate to listen to some music and discuss starting a band – turns out he already had one! That was kind of the start of us all writing and doing things individually, and, over time, we came back together. Bardo was the last piece of the puzzle.”
The name Beauty School Dropout stems from the back of a magazine Hutzler found when he was 19. “But I also grew up on ‘Grease’, that was my thing, so subconsciously it resonated!”, he laughs. “There was a deeper takeaway, though, of trying to find a name that felt like it represented outcasts in a sense.” To focus on music, all of them ended up dropping out of school eventually, and Flurry actually dropped out of beauty school, he admits: “I can’t follow any sort of structure or curriculum, so I dropped out of high school and beauty school.”
For all of them, their love and appreciation for music developed very early on as they fondly share childhood anecdotes. “When I was a little kid, my dad had a convertible Corvette. We were bumping Rick Springfield’s ‘Jessie’s Girl’ to go get ice cream or something, and that is a very dear memory for music for me,”, Burdett smiles. “For me,”, Flurry reminisces, “I remember watching the ‘Purple Rain’ movie with Prince, and my dad was a huge Prince fanatic. So I have a lot of core childhood memories tied to that record and also that film.” Hutzler tells us about his dad’s “really big vinyl collection”. “In one of the earliest houses that we lived in, when I was probably like four or five, he had a gym in the garage where he stored his whole vinyl collection. And he would always play Rage Against the Machine or Deftones while I would sit on the floor and watch him work out.” Do all those different influences still impact their taste profiles, and do they inspire the music they make themselves now? “For sure, yeah! I still have the same music taste that I had when I was like 10!”, Burdett laughs. “I think everything we grew up on is very woven into the DNA of this band,”, Hutzler states. So is being born and bred LA boys, they all agree, yet it comes with difficulties. “I think you’re constantly comparing yourself to all the other artists in LA, because it’s such a melting pot for talent and arts,”, Novotny candidly explains. “And whether you like it or not, you’re always going to be pulling inspiration from other people. I think it’s honestly a cool way to exist and create!” Burdett expands: “We have a lot of really awesome friends that are musicians and artists and that are just crushing it. I think it’s important to have a community of people that are just doing cool shit, and it makes us want to do cool shit too, so that way we’re keeping up with the times.”
Regarding their songwriting process, all four of them have different strengths, which is why they usually write all of their songs together. “Colie writes 99% of the lyrics, Bardo is a producer, we all play instruments, and really it is just whoever comes in with the coolest idea,”, Burdett elaborates. “But we do write everything together, or at least we finish everything together. Sometimes someone will come in with an idea that’s maybe more fleshed out, but we’re definitely all hands-on with finishing the idea.” Lyrically, Hutzler is inspired by “anything that feels like it’s rooted in true life experience, and oftentimes darkness or overcoming darker periods of time in life.”
The concept of ‘WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?’ “found itself throughout it,” Hutzler shares, “But it’s really just a roller coaster of unrequited love.” Their favourite songs are ‘CITY NEVER SLEEPS’ – “because it fucking bangs”, ‘FEVER’ – “because it feels like that was the catalyst for everything that came after”, and ‘Madonna’ – “because it’s sexy”. Funnily enough, the title track was the hardest one for them to write, Burdett remembers: “It was kind of the hurdle as we were wrapping up the album; it was one of the last ones that we finished. It almost didn’t make the album! It’s just so different from anything we’ve ever done and anything else on the album that I think it was a little bit scarier. It’s just out of our comfort zone and it’s a weird song, but it’s one of my favourites on the whole record!”
Visually, BSD loves all things black, while also aiming for a clean aesthetic. “I like things that feel almost complex because of their simplicity. Or also the other way around, like it’s almost so complex that it’s simple; it’s just abstract,”, Hutzler confesses. Flurry agrees, “We like the juxtaposition of clean versus grunge, in sonics and also our visual representation.” “I want to be invited to the country club but be looked at the whole time,”, Novotny laughs.
Ahead of their headline London show that evening, we have to ask if there is a certain pre-show ritual the bandmates rely on. “We like our little huddle, but I think we each have different things. We all get nervous, or more anxious, to play. Colie sleeps before the show. He [Burdett] drinks beer, I go and fucking pace, and you [Flurry] are just on your drum pad, hitting shit. And then we do our ritual where we put our hands in and say something stupid and go play,”, Novotny shares. “We all like to wander, we all like to go on walks, whether that’s together or separately,”, Hutzler admits. “Just to find something cool, something local, or a coffee. We’re in a different city every day, so it’s cool to just explore. I had my favourite breakfast at Daisy Green, the best cafe in London, in my opinion. It’s by Marble Arch, and it is without a doubt one of my favourite breakfasts ever. I had a bacon roll. I think coffee is also our ritual!” (For fans wondering, their coffee orders are “just black espresso” – Burdett, “cold brew with oat milk” – Hutzler, “black cold brew” – Flurry, and “cappuccino with oat milk” – Novotny.)
BSD stays booked and busy for the rest of the year, they proudly share, with their US tour coming up and a support slot with MGK next year; however, their goal for now would be to support a mainstream artist like Blink-182 or MGK in Europe as well.
Their biggest live show highlight so far was playing Madison Square Garden. “Anytime we get to play an iconic venue that we dreamt about playing at as a kid has been a really cool bucket list item to check off,”, Burdett smiles proudly. “I love getting to play shows in Europe with a bunch of kids whose first language isn’t English, and yet the music connects with them!”, Novotny interjects. “It’s such a surreal experience. We had this show in the Czech Republic at a music festival, and we’ve never been there before. It was our first show there, and it was a couple thousand kids in this tent, and we were just, like, ‘Damn, we’re really far away from America right now and they know the lyrics!’ It’s definitely a ‘pinch me’ moment!”
We end the interview by wishing them good luck for their headline show that we are also attending and are completely blown away by. The 100 Club was sold out and packed, with hardcore fans having queued since the morning to secure their barricade spot. “I couldn’t believe when I heard people were queuing when we are so far away from home, I cried,”, Burdett gets emotional on stage. Hutzler amplifies that London feels like a second home to them, as they have played here countless times before and always thoroughly enjoyed the experience and their stay. Their discography sounds even rockier and heavier in person, with fans forming mosh pits close to the front and screaming out the lyrics they know by heart. Hutzler bends down to connect with individuals in the first few rows and create some form of intimacy, which shows us how grateful he is for their support and the turnout. The entire band’s stage presence is captivating, and the four boys match each other’s energy perfectly, as musicians as well as friends – it is contagious to watch them have fun and enjoy themselves. The highlight of the show was a guest appearance by Royal & the Serpent to perform their collaboration ‘Starphucker’, which had the entire room shaking.
In conclusion, we believe BSD successfully plays into the aesthetic the band members are such big fans of – although they present themselves in such an edgy, mysterious way that could come across as intimidating or standoffish, they surprise with their own juxtaposition of being extremely chatty, easy-going and personable. They are excited to be doing what they love, sharing their debut project, and working with bands and artists they have been looking up to for most of their lives. They are confident and cool in pictures and on stage, but just as humble and warm in conversation, and that might be the biggest trick the talented foursome has up their sleeve.
Written by Vicky Madzak // Natalia Jones
GEM Magazine 