INTERVIEW: Ben Stuckey (Suicide Eyes/Fools Game/Hindsight/PA XXX)

By Ryan Germ

 “Suicide Eyes is going to be this generations American Nightmare”.

That’s how I opened my spotlight on Suicide Eyes’ debut LP, The Love Is Gone. That take could have easily backfired but Suicide Eyes keeps proving that take right with their rapid growth and chaotic sets with tons of mic grabs and pile ons. Today I was able to talk to frontman Ben Stuckey (also of Hindsight and Fools Game) about his beginnings in HC, the history of his bands, and his future plans.

S: Why are you into hardcore?

B: Hardcore is the one place that’s ever made me feel like I belong. I love the music, the culture, everything. It’s given me my life.

S: When did you find the edge?

B: I claimed edge when I was 20. I had struggled on and off with drugs since I was a teenager; best decision I ever made.

S: What was your life in the scene like before Fools Game?

B: I was just going to every show I could, moshing as much as I could, and spending as much time as possible in the city. I was very awkward in a new environment and city I was just moshing out of nervous energy and excitement mostly. I did two bands before fools game, spirit flaw and Snubnosed; both were pretty short lived, neither made it past the demo stage. 

S: How did Fools Game form, What was recording the demo like, and what obstacles did you face releasing it during COVID?

B: Clemo started fools game over Covid with members of shackled. They wrote the demo,  after Covid clemo wanted to make the band a real thing but they were too busy so he got me, big Jake, and Old Ty to be the new band behind fools game. From then on we played as much as possible.

S: How did the writing and recording process change from the demo era to Trials Of Life and the split with Risk? How did joining Takedown contribute to both processes?

B: I mean trials of life was our first time really writing together minus the from within comp song. The biggest change was the addition of Young Ty (now of outta pocket fame) to the lineup. We all just worked really well together and did our best to take what we were listening too and putting our own spin on it. For trials of life that was NYHC, For the split with our brothers in risk, it was Clevo style, but Both put through our lens of PAHC. And takedown was awesome. Dylan and Greg were great about putting out our stuff and they do so much for NJ. More than proud to be takedown #1.

S: What was touring after COVID and the previous releases mentioned like?

B: God man we went balls to the wall. First show in Jersey,  second show was in Atlanta, next show in Wilkes barre. Every weekend we were somewhere else. For most of us it was our first time touring and it really was great.

S: After that ya’ll signed with one of the biggest labels in Triple B, how does being on a label like Triple B compare to being on a slightly smaller label like Takedown?

B: Both are amazing at what they do. Triple B is great to their artists though and paid for us to record the LP and they have us a bunch of records for us to sell. They really are great and it was amazing to be a small part of the great legacy that label has.

S: How did the writing/recording process change on Something For The Pain. 

B: The writing process was about the same as always. We would all bring songs in and hammer them out together. But we recorded the LP in Chicago with Andy Nelson of Weekend Nachos and that was life changing. We spent a week out there just making every song the best we could and giving everything the most amount of attention. I’ve never had such a long recording process but I loved it.

S: Next you stepped up to the mic with Last Man Out. How did that project form?

B: Last man out came out of one of my early bands Snubnosed. Snubnosed singer is a faggot. So It was the same lineup except me on vox. It was meant to be our homage to our favorite PAHC bands like Krutch, punishment, and Dysphoria.

S: How was the writing/recording process on the Last Man Out material different from Fools Game? 

B: Writing for fools game is so collective based,  LMO on the other hand was fueled by Andrew Kutz who drummed/wrote the entire LMO catalogue. He’s a maniac and the man. Both were Recorded with Len Carmichael though so at least that was similar! Recording vox for the first time is incredibly embarrassing and humbling though haha.

S: How were shows different with Last Man Out vs with Fools Game?

B: Fools game has always been about the most amount of crowd participation and sing alongs as possible. Last man out  on the other hand was always more of a band for people to hurt eachother and mosh as hard as they could too. 

S: How did Hindsight form? 

B: Dylan who sings wanted to do another band since shackled had broken up, and me and young ty wanted to do something to focus our love of carry on. Most importantly we all wanted to finally do a straight edge band. We got will Bokius, one of the few people of Delaware who doesn’t suck, to play drums and that was that. Also shouts out Andrew Decamillo of shackled who helped us write Dying to say.

S: How is the writing process with Hindsight different from your process with Fools Game and Last Man Out?

B: LMO was all written by one person but the hindsight demo was more similar to FG; just me and ty doing what we do best and working together to make something we loved. Pulling from different material too obviously. Hindsight was more carry on influenced as well as bands like striking distance and no justice.

S: How different was writing/recording the demo from writing/recording the record?

B: The biggest difference easily came with Eric Wolk who wrote most of the LP. I wrote two songs and Ty wrote 1 but Eric really picked up the slack with how busy Ty became with Outta Pocket and myself with Suicide Eyes. I didn’t even get to end up recording bass on the LP which breaks my heart. It was all Eric, Dylan, and Lennon who was kind enough to do our studio drums. But they really did such a great job.

S: How do shows differ with Hindsight from shows with Fools Game and Last Man Out?

B: Hindsight is the newest band so I think it’s still finding its footing but all the sets have been really fun to play.

S: Can we expect anything from Hindsight in the future?

B: I’m sure another ep at least.

S: How did Suicide Eyes form?

B: I wanted to do a project informed by some of my favorite bands like Horrorshow and American Nightmare. Part of this was out of spite because I kept seeing bands say “FFO AN!” And then I’d listen and be like what are you talking about haha. I also wanted to do a band that allowed me to lean into my more emotional nature.  Weirdly I wrote the lyrics first for most of the songs and then wrote the music to fit the lyrics/what was in my head. I wrote the entire demo on bass and then recruited a band. The original lineup I put together didn’t work out and fools game got really busy so I put the songs on hold for a little. Then in 2025 I had a little more time and reached out to the actual lineup. Bayan, the only person from the OG attempt, Rj who is one of the most underrated drummers in HxC rn, Dekker and cam who I knew as sick young moshers and I just wanted to see them in a band finally. I showed them the songs and we were off.

S: You’ve mentioned during multiple sets that Bob took a chance on Suicide Eyes without hearing a song. What was that conversation like?

B: Surprisingly it was the easiest conversation in the world. I hit him up and said I was tryna do a band in the vein of horrorshow and American Nightmare and asked if he’d wanna put the demo out if he liked the songs. He just said “I’m so down”. He just loved the idea and was so happy when he heard the songs and they were actually good haha. But he rides for people who put in work for the scene and I owe him more than I can say.

S: What was writing/recording the demo like?

B: Like I said I wrote the whole demo on bass and the hardest part then getting ready to record was translating the ideas in my head into the songs for the full band to play. But they’re great so it was easy. We recorded the demo in one afternoon with Sean Kenny of never again/prospect. I was definitely still figuring out my vocal style and the band finding its rhythm. It’s funny any demo songs we play live now we play so much faster than on the demo. 

S: When we were talking at The Palace you told me the show with Comeback Kid was one of Suicide Eyes’ first shows, what was that experience like?

B: It was awesome, I think that was our third show and while we were definitely playing to an older crowd, we had people there singing along and moshing. It was just cool to play with a band I’ve always loved and get in front of some new people.

S: How does fronting a band on the punk side of the HC spectrum differ from fronting a band on the metallic side of the HC spectrum?

B: These are really good questions haha. I think that the main difference is breath control; it can be really hard to get right for a faster band and it’s easy to not get the stuff you did on record to translate live. It’s a bit easier for a metallic band I think at least. I think the main differences though are usually just based on vibes of the band. 

S: You guys took a quantum leap from the demo to the full length. How did the approach to writing and recording change on The Love Is Gone?

B: Honestly, I had the LP written before we even recorded the SE demo haha. I just wanted to do things proper and show people what the band was about before we did the LP. And I’m glad we did we had a lot to figure out in the live setting that really influenced the record. We recorded the LP with Wallaby from Foreign Hands and he was great. Super helpful throughout the whole process. I love making LP’s more than EP’s without question. The biggest thing for me was making sure it felt like a true LP experience. I very carefully chose the tracklist to make it feel like a proper experience, but am also glad the tracks can stand on their own.

S: What will you remember most from the release show for The Love Is Gone?

B: I had a lot of nervous energy leading up the record release. My life had kinda gone to hell and back in the weeks before it happened.  Getting hit with charges, losing a 3 year relationship, losing my job; everything was compounding. But the night was perfect in the end. Every band had an amazing set, I got to spend the night with brothers and friends, and we sold every Record release cover we had. It’s a nice feeling when you put so much into something and it actually pays off. Couldn’t have asked for a better time.

S: How does touring differ between Suicide Eyes and Fools Game?

B: Suicide eyes I have to do a lot more cause I’m the only one old enough to rent a car haha. But otherwise it’s the same shit fools game definitely more retarded in your but it’s a lot of the same thing. Food, skating, fighting, fun.

S: How did you get into booking shows?

B: I booked my first show with the aforementioned faggot of Snubnosed and the GOAT big Jake at the media vfw. Then I booked my next show for my birthday in Bethlehem. I booked shows the next year in Bethlehem and Delco before Joe HxC, my fucking brother, asked/told me to join Phillyhcshows with him and Bob. I don’t do it as much anymore but I still do what I can when I can. Booking first shows is my favorite.

S: How can the average person with a baseline interest in punk/hc make a difference in their local scene?

B: Just going to shows at the very least. Hardcore has never been as popular yet every local show in a major city is struggling to get 100 people how does that make sense. Other than that just doing bands, doing a zine, making friends enjoying everything this world has to offer.

S: What’s your cheesesteak MT. Rushmore?

B: Not answering being I am a suburban dumbass and have no clue I just go where people take me. But joes is my favorite sue me.

S: What’s your Mt Rushmore Philly HC records?

B: This sucks and I hate you for asking it but also I’m glad you are haha. Okay no order:

Horrorshow, Blacklisted, Ink and Dagger, Punishment.

S: Any current PAHC bands you’d like to shout out?

B: Ohhh yeah. Shouts out to: Flip the switch, petals of carrion, before the devil, Fire in the blood, by my blood, taken to heart, false salvation, please die, rage and Ruin, Scarab, Madman, switch hitter, brushburn, commodore, still won’t break, the big hurt, down to the wire, dead on your feet, black letter day, judgement day, fever, shattered realm (fuck you it counts), chemical fix (without you there would not be a suicide eyes).

S: Plans for 2026/27? 

B: West coast tour for SE, maybe a European tour? Gonna try and put out another couple songs for every band, a couple new projects on the way cause why not I have a lot of shit to play and a lot of things to write about. 

S: Anything else you’d like to add?

B: Outsiders Stick Together.

Thank you to every person who has booked us, every band we played with, and any person who has felt like any band I’ve been a part of has had an impact. 

Shout out to Hard times tattoo, The Tilted Rose tattoo, Negative Force, Soulless, Risk, recollection, bloodshed, citizins, skinhead, CMI, Palehorse, Laid 2 Rest, king nine, criminal instinct, section h8, champagne, gemstar, yellow stitches, Living Weapon, Fleshwater, Haywire, The Hive, and FSU Worldwide.