A Look Back at 15 Years of Halogens: Interview + Show Recap.
- TOP8 Scene
- May 15
- 11 min read
Updated: May 16
Fifteen years as a band calls for a huge celebration, and Halogens did just that at one of their favorite local venues, House of Independents in Asbury Park, on April 25th. With a clearly excited, packed house.
The impact that Halogens have made on so many people is something that can only be described as special. With all of this excitement, we had to catch up with the band and take a look back at their time as a band thus far.
Being that they have been a band for 15 years, there is always some interesting lore to be discovered. We caught up with….drumroll (quite literally) drummer George Carvajal-Saives and multi-talented Christian Singh, who takes care of keys, trumpet, percussion, and the backup vocals for Halogens.
The rest of the lineup includes frontman/guitarist Zach Henry, guitarist Charlie Throckmorton, and bassist Kyle Donovan. Together, they bring you the rock/emo band Halogens.
Getting to know the band meant we had to start from the very beginning; we knew we had to dive into the story of how ‘Halogens’ came to be what it is today. You may be surprised to know that it all started back in 2010, working on acoustic covers after high school at Charlie’s dad’s house, just friends having fun and making music together. “I don’t think any of us had high expectations about how long we’d last [as a band] initially," George recalls.
Zach and Charlie had known each other since they were kids, while Charlie and George had been bandmates in previous projects before Halogens. Zach and George were friends in school, and that's how they all tied in with one another. "One day, they invited me to come over after school to record drums on a cover of ‘The Adventure’ by Angels & Airwaves. I don’t think any of us ever had as much fun playing music with friends as we did that day; so that experience led to us immediately deciding to start a band and begin writing original music together. We asked our friend Tim Wuestneck (who had also played in bands with Charlie and I prior) to join on bass, and from there Halogens was formally created on March 18th, 2011, once we decided on the name! All four of our original members went to school in Wall, NJ, which is how we all met, and then we met our current bassist, Kyle, and Christian through playing with their other projects in the NJ local music scene. Halogens’ first tour was with Kyle’s old band Corrina, Corrina, and I went to college with some of Christian’s bandmates in A Boy Named John, who Halogens played with frequently when they were more active."
After high school, the band all wound up going to different colleges just a year after the band had formed. “I honestly didn’t think we were going to be as productive during those years as we actually wound up being, but when we were on breaks from school, all we wanted to do at home was write / record music and play shows."
Halogens continued to keep making the tunes, eventually hitting the five-year mark together, a huge moment, especially in their scene. “Once we hit 5 years together, we all realized that we had lasted longer than a lot of our peers in the NJ DIY circuit, and that realization definitely led to a mutual drive to keep the band going because we felt that what we had together was really special. Another big contributor to the 5-year mark being so important and motivating for us to continue on was our self-titled EP release in 2016."
Halogens had released EPs before the self-titled drop, but this one hit differently; it made things feel a little more real. “The self-titled EP was our first release with a proper studio recording, and the first time that people that weren’t our friends seemed really excited about the music we were creating. The most significant growth of the band happened between 2016 and 2020, and since we couldn’t celebrate our 10-year anniversary because it fell during the pandemic, pushing all the way onto 15 felt like a huge milestone that we wanted to celebrate in an all-out way.”
2016 also marked the year that Christian first connected with the other members of Halogens. “I first met Halogens back in 2016 when we shared a bill together at the Meatlocker in Montclair," he tells us. Having been a fan of their music, Christian joining Halogens felt more than meaningful. “From a fan perspective, it’s been very fun for me to have this full circle moment with the Hal Pals (sorry, not sorry I will be referring to ya’ll as this even though I’m in the band), and I’ve kind of always pictured us doing this for a very long time, at first separately. So when George asked me to play keys for the Time Well Spent release show, it felt like home base pretty quickly for me. Even though I’ve only been in the band for 2+ years, it’s felt like I’ve been here for a long time."
Throughout the years, the band has spent time touring. Playing across the U.S can be quite the challenge, but sometimes you come across a city or town that changes your perspective and leaves a lasting impression “I’d say the first full tour we ever did down to Florida after we finished college in 2016 was probably what changed our perspective on the band the most,” George says, “This tour was quite grueling and gave us a more realistic understanding of the sacrifices we’d need to make if we were going to pursue being a full time touring band (which was a dream that never became a reality for us unfortunately, 0/10 do not recommend getting old and having debt / financial obligations)."
Halogens’ first tour was actually their longest, the drummer recalls the reality of the experience. “We went from 0-100 immediately; it was in the middle of the summer, with mostly 6+ hour daily drives (with a few 12-24 hour drives sprinkled in on off days), in a crammed van with no A/C, down to Florida and back to NJ, while playing for very few people and making very little money,” but even through the difficult times, George says that very tour felt like a huge reward after all of the work they had put in together as a band for the handful of years they had been together at that point. “It was also an incredible realization that playing in this band had given us the privilege of playing as far away from home as Florida, being on tour with our best friends, and getting to meet so many other like-minded people with similar goals in mind; and that was an amazingly cool and rewarding experience for us as a band and as friends.” As unpleasant as the travel conditions were, George says he wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
Having an anniversary show naturally brought a different level of emotion compared to a typical ‘Halogens’ set. “The weight of the night didn’t feel real until the lights got dim and the house music turned off,” Christian thinks back, “you could feel the buzz in the air. Between Halogens and A Boy Named John, I have so many years of show experience, and I still feel like this show took my breath away from the jump”.
George agrees, comparing the night to a celebration of every era of Halogens coming together in one room, “That night really felt like a highlight reel of almost all of the people that have been instrumental in different ways towards the band growing into the version it is today.” Something special about the night was the mix of people who had been on this fifteen-year journey alongside the band. “It was so rewarding to see everyone in the same room at the same time. I don’t think we’ve ever heard the audience singing back as loudly as we did that night”.
Having experienced both being in the crowd to see Halogens play, and Christian now being up on that very stage with them brings a different perspective. “It was indescribable to explain how I could relate to what our friends were feeling while we were playing, yet also feel the crowd’s energy as a band member. I’m not sure I’ll have the opportunity to do something like this again for a really long time; it was a privilege."
Safe to say that the show was in full-celebration mode, with Halogens pulling out some deep cuts they haven’t touched in a while, and the band joking about how songs were “a lot easier to perform when we were younger,” earning laughs and cheers from the more-than-stoked crowd. Those moments meant a lot to George: “Playing some of our oldest songs, ‘Kitchen Sink’ and ‘Run Around’; the volume at which the crowd was singing back very much gave us the feeling of a 2016 basement show, but in a huge venue.”
At some point in our lives, we all wish we could go back and give our younger selves a glimpse into the future and this show was one of those times for George, “[the anniversary show] was definitely the most rewarding and special set of our time as a band,” he says, “We always joke that Halogens has a curse because every time we play Asbury Park, there is horrible weather; and of course that week we had beautiful Spring weather every single day except the day of our show."
The bad weather didn’t stop people from showing up. House of Independents was packed with nearly 300 people. “I’ll never forget how validating it felt to hear so many people singing our songs back to us in such a large venue. I think our 16 year old selves would be incredibly proud of the band making it to 15 years, still playing together into our 30’s, and being able to headline a venue the size of House of Independents with a lineup we personally selected of our best friends and favorite bands,” the lineup that night included Staten, Quality Living, Mandancing, Have a Good Season (H.A.G.S.)
One of the biggest surprises of the night was when the band got together with former bassist Tim Wuestneck for 'Ayudame’ and ‘Olive Garden Pt. 2,’ songs originally written alongside him. The crowd erupted when he appeared onstage, especially after fans noticed his Corrina, Corrina “This Party Sucks” t-shirt. Safe to say that those moments made the show feel personal, almost like a reunion between different eras of the band and the local scene. It was a nostalgic celebration full of appreciation for the continued years together, bands, and fans.
Some other standout moments for the band? “Bringing our merch manager / unofficially official 6th member D-Ho on stage to play with us for a few songs was incredible. It was really special to get to play with D-Ho for the first time- I thought we sounded like an orchestra with D-Ho in the mix, and I could tell that having them on stage for their first live performance in years made them so happy.” George recalls. “Other highlights from the night included our good friend Justin (STATEN) singing guest vocals at the end of Ayudame, our original bassist Tim coming on stage to play 'Ayudame' and 'Olive Garden Pt. 2' with us.”
Another memorable moment of the night was a surprise cover of Oasis’ ‘Don't Look Back in Anger’ during the encore. Towards the end of the song, supporting acts hopped on stage to sing the final chorus and close out the night properly. “I’m a huge sucker for guest features if you couldn’t tell.”
SCENE SNAPS
HALOGENS 15TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION - 04/25/2026 -HOUSE OF INDEPENDENTS - ASBURY PARK, NJ SETLIST:
1. INTRO
2. PRETTY ENOUGH
3. THE INSIDE
4. BUCKLE (with D-HO)
5. SOMETIMES (with D-HO)
6. TIME WELL SPENT (with D-HO)
7. THE BACKWOODS (with D-HO)
8. KITCHEN SINK
9. RUN AROUND
10. WINDMILL
11. CARCINOGENS
12. NEVER LAUGH AGAIN
13. AYUDAME (with Tim)
14. OLIVE GARDEN PT. 2 (with Tim)
15. O' GORMAN
16. TALKING SHIT
17. DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (Oasis Cover)
So, after all of these years making music together, what excites Halogens when it comes to creating their tunes? “Seeing the complexity and maturity of our songwriting progress from release to release is always very exciting and rewarding. I also really love seeing how my bandmates' skills on their respective instruments progress from each release and how that positively impacts their contributions to songwriting.” George mentions, also noting Christian’s contribution since he officially joined the band in 2024. “That was a really exciting rebirth for us, which gave the 5 of us a lot of newfound inspiration in terms of writing that we’d been struggling to find prior to Christian joining. Christian is a couple of years younger than the rest of us and definitely brings a youthful spirit with him that I think we (the old, grumpy guys) definitely needed at the time. We’ve been slowly working on writing our next release, which will be the first involving Christian, and we have around 6 or 7 songs in the works right now. Not only has writing with Christian been a pleasure, his perspective is very much valued as someone that was previously a fan of the band before he was in it. Aside from that, working with Christian has also been eye-opening as to the range of sounds we can experiment with, and how greatly that range has expanded with a keyboard, trumpet, aux percussion, and another strong vocalist coming into the mix.”
Fifteen years is a long time to be in a band; some bands don’t make it past two. It’s an achievement that Halogens should be proud of. Putting your all into a creative project and actually having it take off and impact people is special. To the bands starting out, George offered some guidance: “The biggest lesson I’ve learned and the biggest piece of advice I would give to younger bands is to not forget that being in a band is supposed to be fun. It is extremely easy to get caught up in the chase of trying to sign with a record label or gaining the attention of booking agents/promoters/influential people that can help grow your band. I felt an incredible deal of stress throughout my 20’s while trying to balance Halogens becoming a full-time band while also working full-time as a social worker and balancing my personal life on top of it. I spent a lot of time worrying about the wrong things and doing what I thought looked impressive from the outside instead of just focusing on having fun with my friends and creating something we felt passionately about. As we grew older and eventually had to accept that Halogens will forever be a part-time project, and there isn’t this constant push to “make it to the next level”, we can really just focus on how lucky we are to have the opportunity to create art with our best friends. My new mantra that I try to keep in mind when I start to feel stressed about anything related to Halogens is “if you’re not having fun, then what’s the point?!”
TOP8’S TAKE?
First off, we admire the hard work and dedication Halogens has put into doing what they love. Sticking with a creative project through all of the bumps in the road that being in a band brings, while balancing “the real world,” isn’t easy, point blank, but they’ve continued to do it while making a lasting impression on both their listeners and the scene. Fifteen years in, they’re still going strong and having fun (and sounding good) while doing it. We can’t wait to see what the next fifteen years have in store for Halogens.
WHAT'S NEXT?
“We’re playing On the Bay Festival at The Sandbox at Seastreak in Highlands, NJ on June 20th with The Warped Tour Band, Punchline, Echo Plum, Green Knuckle Material, Keep Flying, and Don’t Panic! It’s an outdoor beach bar venue with a ferry traveling between NYC and Highlands- super easy commute for any city people reading this. It’s going to be a great day filled with bands with great vibes that really support an outdoor festival feel on a beach. Besides that, we have a couple of unannounced shows in the works for later in the summer and fall, and we’re continuing to work on writing our next release! Taking things a bit slowly after putting so much effort over the last few months into putting on the 15-year anniversary show.”
A Special shoutout to some of Halogens’ faves who played alongside them at the anniversary show:
“I’d like to give a shout out to the other bands that played the show, and I’d implore you to check them out as they are some of our favorite bands in existence! Quality Living and ManDancing both released incredible new singles very recently. Links to all of their music below. If you read this far, thank you for your time! And thank you to TOP8 Scene for having us :).”
Check them out:
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