Ten years. For most hardcore bands, that's a lifetime. Most are born, and they burn bright for a couple of years, before dissolving into memories catalogued by endless promos or demo tapes. But for the Omaha-based band BIB, the fire is still raging.
"Every year I get older, I'm like, well, this has got to be over soon. No one's gonna care about us now, and people just still do, you know, we're coming to Singapore for the first time." says guitarist Brock Stephens with a sense of disbelief, even as I internally freak out at the prospect of catching the band in performance, no less meeting them in my hometown. "None of us expected to be a band for 10 years or to tour around the world or put out so much music, and I think, I know we're all grateful that we've been able to, but I don't think any of us expected it at all.”
On September 20th, 2025, BIB will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their very first demo. On that same night, they'll mark the occasion with a hometown show at Omaha's Waiting Room Lounge, a beloved local venue known for championing local, regional, and national music acts. This milestone led me to wonder: does a hometown anniversary show carry an extra weight of pressure to be as intense as every other gig they've ever played?
Stephens's answer is confident and grounded. "I try not to compare shows or compare other times in the band's history because they're different and they're gone," he explains. "We were younger, or different people were around, or whatever. I just hope my friends, family, and the people who have been coming to BIB shows for a while will be there. I think that's gonna happen. I think it'll be fun. I don't feel that much pressure, just the same pressure as any other show, hoping it goes well."
The anniversary gig is set to be a night steeped in memories and a celebration of all the acts that have stood with them over the last decade. "I think the thing about pretty much everyone playing is they're just like old friends of ours," Stephens tells me as he runs down the list of the ten bands joining them. "Like everyone in MSPAINT, we've known them from playing shows in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where they're from, before they were even in MSPAINT."
He adds, "And like Jeff In Leather and Plack Blague—those are just people from Nebraska who, like, we've been around our whole lives and playing shows with for a long time. They're huge supporters of us, and we're big supporters of them."
"And to me, it's all the same," he enthusiastically proclaims. "It feels the same. Like the energy is all punk and underground. I just think it would make for a really fun show to have a bunch of different types of people there, but they're all there for the same reason, enjoying the same thing."
BIB's discography might appear perplexing at first glance, with its mix of EPs, demos, and only two full-length records. However, each release holds its own unique value as do the tracks that make up a bulk of these said releases. As the band prepares for their homecoming, Stephens offered a glimpse into three songs that have left an indelible impact on him.
The Answer – DEMO – 2015
The couple of articles and interview features BIB has done over the years that pops up when you end up searching the band’s name are usually associated with words like “sketchy” or “evil as hell.” One Vice article even suggested that their music will make you "Check Yourself Into an Anger Management Course."
“I think, uh, what's funny about it is like, we do hear things like that, but we think we're really like a poppy band almost,” Stephens reveals, finding the characterizations amusing. “So a lot of it to me is like very poppy, so it's funny when people are like, oh, it's like, yeah, sketchy evil.”
However, Stephens understands where the perception comes from. “I guess I get it because honestly, most of our riffs and ideas come from more like black metal... old, like kind of more raw punk black metal, and then a lot of Japanese hardcore,” he explains. “All of that is very like, more like evil notes, evil-sounding riffs if you want to say. But it's funny because I think we have a lot of poppy songs, too.”
Stephens then points to a surprising source of inspiration that might make a hardcore purist clutch their pearls: Weezer. “It's kind of the Weezer 'Hash Pipe' riff that we have on the song, 'The Answer,'” Stephens admits. “It's like the same note. That riff to me always sounds pretty evil and cool if you play it in a certain way, and I think we play it in a way that's a little heavier on our demo.”
“if they really wanted to um, they could probably put out some really heavy shit,” I replied in agreement. “Like a lot of the early records, like Pinkerton, there are some moments where I'm like, 'This could be, like, straight up, if you speed it up, this would kill at, like, a hardcore show.'”
“That's what I'm saying, yeah, like I think that's what's funny about music cause like there's only so many notes, right? Like, I don't remember how many, but it's like not many and there's only a few notes, so, you know, we're all playing kind of the same notes,” Stephens affirmed. “It's really just how to structure them and increase the speed or, you know, the adjust the cadence you play them in.”
Though it appears that for Stephens, composing new material has presented a number of unusual problems, particularly when he requires a specific creative headspace to produce their distinctive riffs, claiming the issue now resides in avoiding self-plagiarism.
“We've talked about it like writing BIB songs as we keep being a band gets harder only because like,” Stephens pondered. “I feel like sometimes you get to this point where, like, you're writing a song and it just sounds like a band ripping BIB off, even though it's us.”
“So we're trying to be more aware of that, you know, we're not trying to reinvent the wheel,” he states. “We're not trying to do anything crazy, but we do try to make it a little more interesting with each record or each song that doesn't just sound like we're, yeah, ripping ourselves off.”
The Fool – DELUX – 2020
BIB guitarist Brock Stephens may believe the band’s songs draw from poppier or more accessible sources, but the truth is, their live shows are no joke. If you ever find yourselves attending a BIB gig, you should bring more than just earplugs.
When asked if there is fear that the band's raw energy would translate into "sketchy" or "violent" behavior, Stephens was direct. "We've definitely had shows where, like, you know, there have been fights at it." He recalled a particularly unusual tour last year where fights broke out at multiple shows, something he found strange given the band's self-described "poppy" sound.
"How can you even fight to this?" he joked.
“Rowdiness is encouraged. Like I don't want if we were playing shows that weren't rowdy, I wouldn't wanna do it anymore. That's the whole point, I guess for me is like the energy and people going crazy. That's what I'm there for,” Stephens explains.
Ultimately, Stephens views the band's rowdy shows as a positive outlet for their fans. “It's more just fun and people just, yeah, going nuts in a more positive way," he added. "I like to think we're kind of like a positive band that we're not, like, encouraging anyone to hurt anyone. Our whole motto, 'love, peace, poetry, and hardcore,' is it really like, 'Oh, beat people up?' You know, it's more like having a good time, and that's what we're about."
This raised the question: Does any specific song tend to incite the most intense reaction from the crowd?
“Definitely ‘The Fool,’” Stephens proclaims. “That's probably like, I feel like it's our biggest song or most popular song. People are pretty excited when we play that one and probably gets one of the biggest reactions, typically. I love that song.”
Freedom – MOSHPIT – 2017
“I have one final question and it is that is there a particular song from the band's catalogue that you feel sort of best represents the band, or like a message you wanna convey to your fans as well?” I asked
"I think one of my favorite BIB songs is 'Freedom,'" he says. "It's a song we have been playing again. It's like the first real song on that seven inch, MOSHPIT... and that to me, that seven inch in general really and the LP after, I think really represents our sound."
“Maybe also the song ‘Foreign States’ on our LP,” he also adds. “Just because I think I don't know, both those songs have parts that are not traditionally hardcore punk, but I think they work really well.”
According to Stephens, it’s these unconventional elements—the country-like intro to "Freedom" or the slow, rock-pop feel of "Foreign States"—that make BIB stand out. "I think that is what makes BIB interesting is that we can do things like that, but it doesn't feel forced or like, we're just throwing something in to be weird," he explains.
Ultimately, this creative freedom is what Stephens loves most about the band. “We do anything we want," he states. "There's not like, 'well, we can't do that cause that's weird.' I think we're into a place where we can kind of bring in a lot of different elements of music and it works and doesn't feel like we're trying to be weird just to be weird and that's why I like being in BIB so much.”