California based alt band, Good Terms, has been keeping busy in 2026 with the deluxe release of Burnout and touring. BareBones Ent got the chance to sit down with frontman, Brian McShea, to discuss Burnout, Sirius XM, and Warped. Check out what all Brian had to say when he sat down with our own Bryan.
BBE: What is it about Good Terms that makes you special for listeners?
BM: I think what connects people to Good Terms is that we take life seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. The music lives in pop-punk and post-hardcore, but emotionally it’s about being exhausted, still caring, and choosing to show up anyway. It’s high energy, but it’s honest, and I think people like having a place that feels real without being miserable..
BBE: How did your sound come together?
BM: Oh man it was a long journey. We knew we were coming from a “post-sadboi pop-punk” sound at the start of Burnout, and then we really threw everything at the wall to see what stuck. Then we made the Burnout Deluxe tracks, “Progress” and “All In” with everything we’d learned. We definitely tried a lot of things, but touring taught us what actually mattered: what people sang, what felt good to play, and what made us feel proud at the end of the night. Burnout Deluxe feels like us trusting those instincts instead of chasing every idea.
BBE: You recently released the song “All In”. What was that like for you?
BM: It felt really good to complete the Burnout Deluxe idea with “All In.” It was the first song we made start-to-finish after we’d starting touring a lot, so it feels like the sum of all of our experiences over the last few years. It was also a little nerve wracking; our last single, “Progress”, was one of our best releases ever, and it was a lot for “All In” to live up to. But now that it’s out, the fans are responding really positively to it, new people are coming in from it, and we’re stoked to play it on all of our headline tour dates.
BBE: How have fans reacted to it?
BM: It’s been a fun rollout because the song was on Faction Punk on Sirius XM exclusively for like a month, so some fans would comment “heard the new song and it’s rad!” online and other fans would be like “what dude how did you hear it?” I’ve been very grateful that the fans have been reacting positively to it. I get nervous like right before we release every song, and to hear people still say “every song is better than the last!” makes me sleep really well.
BBE: What was it like for you hearing your singles on Sirius XM Faction Punk?
BM: Okay well secretly I don’t actually have Faction Punk, so I’ve never heard them there! But it was crazy to hear that our songs were getting played there. We thought a milestone like that was way in the future, and it’s been massive energy booster to know that we’ve got friends at Sirius. It’s also great to meet people at shows and online who tell us they first heard of us there. We work really hard to bring our music to the world, and it’s very reassuring to know Sirius is helping us out. It feels like proof that the work is reaching beyond our immediate circle.
BBE: This is off of the upcoming deluxe release of Burnout. What made you want to release a deluxe version of the album?
BM: Burnout has been such a massive experience for us. When the first single came out, we’d played like 6 shows, and we still just writing riffs for each other in our bedrooms. By the time the album came out, we we’d played almost 100 shows, met so many people, and had learned so much. Then when we had such a great response to “Progress” last summer, we felt like the Burnout experience was still growing. We knew we wanted to put out “All In” next, and since that was the first song we wrote on the road while touring on Burnout, it just made a ton of sense to make a deluxe.
BBE: What does Burnout mean to you?
BM: A lot of things, which is why I think it was a good choice for the title. It means working too hard, which we’ve definitely done both in our personal lives and in Good Terms. It means getting too stoned and going nowhere, which I’ve personally definitely done. It also means being a loud showoff with your car, which our music definitely reflects. As we keep going, burnout is starting to mean something that we just have to live with sometimes.
BBE: How did you decide what you were going to add to the album for this deluxe edition?
BM: What we had to add to the deluxe was what made us decide to do a deluxe in the first place. “Progress” just deserved to be pressed to vinyl, that’s for sure. “All In” was made in tour vans in between shows supporting Burnout, making it a natural extension of the record.
BBE: You embarked on a headlining tour earlier this year. Were fans hearing a lot of the songs off Burnout Deluxe Edition or a mixture of songs?
BM: This tour is the house Burnout built, and now we get to live in it for a bit. It’s def the bulk of the setlist, but we threw in a few extras for the old-school fans, and some for the newbies too.
BBE: Were there any cities on this tour you were especially excited to hit and why?
BM: Pretty much every city has its own unique excitement around it, but I’d def have to say Dallas, Boston, Columbus, Chicago, and San Francisco. Dallas was one of the first cities to really show us love at live shows, and it’s so exciting to finally headline there. A couple of us went to college in Boston, so I’m excited to have a bit of Beantown Nostalgia. Columbus is another city that’s consistently shown us love, and we have Boys Of Fall on that show too. That’s really special because they took us on one of our first tours ever, and we’re so grateful to play with them again. It’s our first time in Chicago; that’s almost self-explanatory. It’s been one of our most requested cities online, and I’m a huge fan of a lot of Chicago bands. We’re playing the Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco before it closes at the end of the year too. That venue is so rad and special; I’m so sad it’s closing, but very honored to get to play there again.
BBE: Does hitting new towns or cities you know show out for your band bring more excitement for you?
BM: You always need something to look forward to on the road. Hitting cities we’ve played before can be so much fun; you wake up excited to play, you load in excited to play, and it’s so rewarding to see the same people and play them new songs. We can get nervous playing new cities, but it also puts a little extra fire in us to smash it.
BBE: How does it feel to be playing Warped Tour this year?
BM: We’re pinching ourselves for sure! It’s been a guiding light this year through all the long drives, packed schedules, and band decisions. Knowing that we’re gonna be able to do our thing, this music and this show that we love so much, up onstage at Warped is such a massive thing to look forward to. I have to take a moment to be grateful every time I see our name on that poster.
BBE: What does Warped Tour mean to you?
BM: Warped is this massive beacon for what we do that makes it easy to see that this kind of music and culture is alive. We grew up inspired to play music by Warped Tour bands, and specifically to play at Warped. The fact that you’d see bands that were larger than life and then bands that felt like skater kids down the street was super moving to us. We’re so excited to play our part in it.
BBE: What is the best way for fans to connect with you and keep updated on Good Terms?
BM: You can definitely follow us on social media to stay updated, but the absolute best way to stay in the know is to sign up for our mailing list on our website and join our discord. We share everything we do with them first. Discord feels like the most direct version of the band; we’re literally answering discord questions on our phones in our beds.
BBE: Anything else you would like to add?
BM: Hell yeah brother.
