By Maddy Yen
Games We Play is a pop-punk band currently on a U.S. headline tour. Frontman Emmyn Calleiro dropped out of school, dedicating himself to this project for nearly a decade. Games We Play signed to Fueled By Ramen and DCD2 Records, of Fall Out Boy and partners, in 2022 and released their debut album “Life’s Going Great” on March 1st, 2024. I got to talk to Emmyn before their set in Portland at the McMenamins Mission Theater. We covered the most important topics like touring with Fall Out Boy, One Direction, and finding his little brother a girlfriend on tour.
Q: Where did the name Games We Play come from?
A: The name Games We Play has no importance to me, I just asked my father what I should name my band and he said “Games We Play.” It was a one-sentence exchange, and that is why it exists.
Q: What was the process for writing and making your debut album?
A: It took a year and a half, and I was on tour with Fall Out Boy, Yungblud, and All Time Low on two continents. I would go and experience life on tour and then come home for a week or two at a time and write about those experiences between tours.
Q: What has been your favorite tour you’ve been a part of?
A: This one probably! I got off tour with Fall Out Boy recently, like a week and a half ago, but we started this headline tour and it feels like Games We Play is on the cusp of something. I don’t know what yet but I go to these shows and see these people waiting in line and have Games We Play tattoos saying they feel the music. This tour feels like something bigger is happening after or is in the making and that’s why it’s my favorite. Half of these cities I haven’t played, ever, and there are over 100, 200, sometimes 300 people at most places which I find cool because I’ve never been there. I am very thankful for the turnout of this tour.
Q: What was it like being on tour with Fall Out Boy, not once but twice?
A: Fall Out Boy is crazy because they are legends. Fall Out Boy has security backstage and they have never made me feel this way but I am always afraid I’m going to trip on something or break something backstage. It is very legit. Right now in this green room, all the bands are sharing it, but there it’s like, “This is an arena band.” But Pete Wentz (Fueled By Ramen) is one of my good friends, and he’s the reason why a lot of this is happening. He signed me to his label a year and a half ago and I love watching Fall Out Boy. I think they are one of the best bands to ever do it. Playing in arenas is way weirder than playing in clubs, we play pretty early when opening for Fall Out Boy. Also, the people who listen to Fall Out Boy are people who listen to the radio, and moms on the radio are not currently looking for new punk rock bands. I have to modify some stuff to make them like me.
Q: Who are your biggest musical inspirations and what’s your dream collaboration?
A: I have a few. My favorite band of all time is Blink-182 so a lot of the humor comes from them. But also my music is really simple, pretty heavy, and it’s kind of like Weezer. Weezer is so simple and in a weird way boring, kind of what I like to do as well, but they have so much personality within that I love it. The third inspiration, not many people have heard of is Masked Intruder. They are a little punk rock band, and they all wear masks and nobody knows who they are and they sing about really stupid stuff but they’re so good. They make beautiful melodies. I only have two dream collaborations. One is Olivia Rodrigo. That would be pretty cool if that happened. The other one is the singer of Weezer, Rivers Cuomo, I think that one would make sense.
Q: I read in an interview that you like One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer, I have to know your favorite songs of theirs.
A: “History” gets me emotional, you know they’re going to end up breaking up and Harry is going to end up being the only one with a career after that. What they had was so beautiful. On the same record, “Olivia” is great. I am into their really lowkey ones that not a lot of people know about, there’s a song called “What Makes You Beautiful” and I like “Perfect.” I’m really into the B Sides. For 5 Seconds of Summer, I like the first two records and I will say “Youngblood” was really good. Song-wise there is an actual B-side of self-titled called “Just Saying,” and it is so good. “Safety Pin” is such a good song and “Wildflower” of their newest album, it’s really inappropriate, like horrifically. I mentioned my favorite song of theirs has recently been “Permanent Vacation,” and Emmyn said he does not write with many writers besides his friends, but he branched out for his track “Life’s Going Great.” He worked with the guy who wrote and produced “Permanent Vacation.”
Q: What has been your favorite new track off your album to play live?
A: “Pretty Boy.” It is the only chill song on my set and I play it acoustically. It’s also the only song where I am not screaming so high and turns out it is a fan favorite. Or my song called “Naked.” I sing it with my little brother on bass, it’s really cool. My little brother is also looking for a girlfriend, is this going to be published on a website? He is 20, very handsome. He is also the merch guy, he plays bass for one song. He does not know how to play the bass, he’s out there looking to find a girlfriend, and that’s why he plays the bass.
Q: What has been your biggest “pinch me” moment in your career so far?
A: I went to the bass player of Blink-182, Mark Hoppus's house to write a song with him. It was me, Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy, and Mark just sitting in a room. It was the most pinch-me moment because I had nobody with me so I could not be like “This is cool.”
Q: Why do you think there is a pop-punk revival happening right now?
A: Because of Machine Gun Kelly, which is so weird because he did not always make pop-punk music. I think he made one of the best pop-punk records in the past 10 years. I guess it was the right place — right time, he did not copy anything and made it still sound like Machine Gun Kelly. It made pop-punk a thing again and exposed these ‘normal people’ to abnormal music, more ‘normal’ people have been welcoming to guitars, drums, anger, and screaming.
Q: You’ve had a busy year already, what do you think is next for you?
A: I’m going to go on another headline tour this year. I am going to put out a lot more songs, I think unfortunately the way that people release music now, you have to do it a lot. So I am going to put out a lot more music this year and at the end of the year lump it out to be a deluxe version of “Life’s Going Great.” I just got some cool news that I’ll have to go to London for, but the logistics are still confidential.