soundvsystem x Mac Luster

Photo Credit: CJ Simonson

After a years-long break and a phone call from bass player Jackson Wargo, Jake Mazon decided to bring back their alternative rock/emo influenced act Mac Luster. The pair started working on material in the spring of 2025, eventually bringing on drummer Jordi Radnoti (Olivia Rodrigo) to record. The result is Mac Luster’s debut EP Ritual.

"These songs were chosen because they were about experiences I’d had when I wasn’t writing, and I felt like I needed to exorcise them out of me,” says Mazon. “Last fall, my siblings found a Yu-Gi-Oh card called 'Black Luster Ritual' while cleaning out our parents' garage. My brother gave it to me and called it the 'Mac Luster Ritual.' I dug it, and since a couple of the songs were inspired by Tarot cards, I ran with it. The tracklist is a chronological retelling of these things I needed to let go of, and it became a bit of a ritual to release them."

To explain a bit more about the EP’s influences, Mazon curated a playlist of tracks. The songs range from power pop/new wave artist Nick Lowe to prog-rock/emo act Coheed and Cambria. Read more about Mazon’s choices and listen to the playlist below.

---

Cloud Nothings - Sound of Alarm

When I was bringing in tracks to show Jackson what kind of vibe I was looking for production-wise for Ritual, I just sent him this whole album. Each instrument is given its own space, and if you close your eyes and focus on one, you can lock on to it for the whole record. Cloud Nothings has always been great at throwing the right amount of grit onto a catchy hook, and I think that’s something I’ve tried to emulate. Giving something heavy a bit of pop sensibility. I love Dylan Baldi’s voice. I believe every word he’s ever screamed at me.

The Smiths - I Want The One I Can’t Have

I was listening to so much British post-punk when I wrote “Staring at Nothing” and “Waiting Game.” Johnny Marr is one of my favorite guitarists, but I will never be able to play as cleanly as he does. Every once in a while I get brave enough to try, though. All the songs on Ritual deal with relationships, romantic or otherwise. Morrissey is a huge lyrical influence for me. He can have you staring at the ceiling through tears and have you laughing your ass off in the same song. There are a couple of melodramatic lines throughout the EP that were nods towards his work in The Smiths.

Coheed and Cambria - Devil in Jersey City

I’m always listening to Coheed, but they dropped a new record last year so I was hitting it pretty hard. The raw emotion of the music and the production of the first two records was definitely something we were trying to hone in on while we were making the EP. I forget how far along we were in the recording process, but at some point I thought it would be cool to have a recurring musical theme that tied the tracks together like they do, and the instrumental intro Ritual is the first part of that. Stay tuned for the rest. As much as I love them, I don’t think a lot of their influence comes through in the music I make. I was thinking about covering this song live, and as I was learning how to play the riff in the pre-chorus, I realized how close it is to the main riff of our song “Sofia” and was like, “God damn it.” Totally unintentional but bound to happen when you listen to a band every day of your life for the past twenty years.

The Replacements - Hold My Life

I’m terrible at describing the kind of music we play, but at some point while we were recording, I thought we sounded like The Replacements on a relatively sober night trying to cover The Smiths. I think the Replacements are one of the best American rock bands of all time. They are so rough and raw, but can also be very tender and introspective. A lot of what we do is built on that combo too. Paul Westerberg is another singer whose vocal delivery makes me want to buy whatever his words are selling.

The Cure - Fascination Street

Obviously The Cure influence is most apparent on the closing track, “The Hanged Man’s Swing,” but I think Robert Smith’s use of simple, melodic lead lines has a huge influence on my guitar playing. I looped that descending line on my Bass VI and then stayed up til 3 am stacking different little parts on top of it. Robert Smith is amazing at fitting all these different melodic parts over a simple repeating bass line or chord progression. We layered in so many different guitars, synth lines, feedback tracks, and vocal harmonies that make the song sound so huge at the end. It’s my favorite song on the EP.

You can also listen on YouTube.

---

Ritual is out now and can be streamed everywhere. Follow Mac Luster on Instagram.