Q&A: Backstage with Quarters of Change at The Wiltern
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY FAITH HOCHGESANG ☆
Photo by Miranda Nicusanti
QUARTERS OF CHANGE IS GEARING UP FOR THEIR “MAGNUM OPUS — or at least the culmination of trying [their] best,” according to lead singer Ben Roter.
On May 31, 2025, Quarters of Change concluded their 45 days on the road in Los Angeles opening for The Wrecks, along with Benjamin Carter, on The INSIDE Tour. Hours before they took the stage, a couple thousand concertgoers and fans stood cheering from the art deco interior of The Wiltern for their entrance. The band, best friends Ben Acker, Attila Anrather, Jasper Harris, and Ben Roter sat upstairs preparing for their set. Refueling on local takeout and refreshed from a morning ocean dip in Encinitas.
They took the stage to wild applause, with a haunting screech from Acker’s guitar and an urgent and melodic “yeah” from Roter. High-pitched screams reverberating in the audience from the balconies to the floor, Anrather’s unabating drumming, and Harris’s steady strumming began what became an all-around high-energy and moody performance from this band of New York boys.
Their set and opening slot on the tour were sealed in triumph, signified in smiles between songs, crowding the drums to heighten solos, and lengthy hugs as they left the stage.
Read on for an inside look at the band’s intentional approach to performance, advocacy, and what’s up ahead for Quarters of Change.
LUNA: Quarters of Change, thank you for taking the time to speak with The Luna Collective! For readers who are unfamiliar with your music, how would you describe your sound and the emotion it tries to capture?
ROTER: I would say it's somewhere in the alt-rock space/atmosphere. Coming of age, or has been coming of age.
LUNA: Is there a song from your discography that particularly captures who you are as an artist, or where you might like to go in future projects?
ACKER: It's probably two different answers.
HARRIS: Anything off our last record I think is a good representation of the segue into what's next. I think “Heaven Bound” is a good example. It's a bit of a journey of a song; we like making long songs that are fun to follow.
ACKER: I was gonna say “Heaven Bound” as well. I think it’s a good representation of actually both where we are and where we're headed.
LUNA: Quarters of Change began as a high school cover band in New York. How has that scene contributed to your approach to performance?
ROTER: Well, I mean, we were just kids in the city, and we would play some covers, but our first ever show, I don't think we played any covers. I think when you're just learning how to play instruments and doing that type of stuff, you play other people's songs to start. The high school put us together in a band, and we were best friends before that, and it just kind of evolved from there. I think it's a bit of a common misconception that we were a cover band.
LUNA: That's just what the internet spits out. But how would you say that growing up in New York contributes to your sound, or who you are as performers?
ROTER: Well, it's definitely a crazy bubble in this country. I remember pretty strongly my first real experience out of the New York bubble. I went to this law camp and met kids from all over the country. It was the first time I met people who were anti-choice and super different thinking than a lot of the kids in the environment that I grew up with. My parents would always instill a very strong passion for justice and a passion for helping others from a very young age. So I worked with the NYCLU and the ACLU there, and I think that that's all carried over with a point of why I feel like I came into music and decided to go down that path. And I think New York, obviously, it’s political, and the educational system raised all of us, and it's definitely continued to inspire and guide us as we branch out of the city.
ACKER: It's also just very competitive and big. So to cut through [musically] is a whole challenge of its own. We're very lucky.
ANRATHER: I think you experience a lot more innately when you have to walk everywhere instead of driving. I feel like you soak up a lot in New York just by having to go places. I think that translates.
ROTER: I think the first dead body I saw in New York was when I was in fourth grade. You walk by sh*t and you have to, at some point, start to question the world around you, and you realize it's not all sunshine and lollipops, but that's just the way it is. I'm sure, in LA, kids definitely also feel similar, yeah? But we don't drive, we just walk everywhere. So I think that removes a little bit of the border.
Photo by Miranda Nicusanti
LUNA: Yeah, totally. Tell me more about opening for The Wrecks on The INSIDE Tour, and what you hope to accomplish with this string of shows?
ACKER: Well, I think we've already accomplished a lot. Before this, we did four headlines in a row, and it was awesome to have that much gas in the tank, but we were definitely waiting for support. This one came kind of unexpectedly, and I think we're just grateful to get in front of new people. The amount of times people are like, “I never heard you before and I’m gonna listen now,” is, in a lot of ways, more exciting and refreshing than, “This is my 15th show,” which is also amazing, but it's why we're here. And the guys are super nice and have been super welcoming. It's been a success, for sure. It's been 45 days. So, all pretty tired.
LUNA: This fall, you’ll be opening for KALEO on the East Coast dates of his Mixed Emotions Tour. Congratulations! What do the next few months look like for Quarters of Change before kicking off those shows in your home state?
ROTER: We've been writing for probably a little over a year at this point for this next record. And we have to get everything finalized before the end of the summer. So, working really hard on finishing the record and then coming all together and putting together some of the videos and assets for that, the artwork, because we care a lot about how that looks. It takes a lot of time to pull it all together. So that's for the foreseeable future, like an everyday kind of workflow type of thing.
LUNA: Do you have any pre-show or on-the-road rituals?
ACKER: Pre-show, every once in a while, we'll do a huddle, and we do four on three. So it's “1234.” We'll probably do it tonight to commemorate the tour. Pre or travel rituals? Not really. Everyone's got their signature snack of some sort.
HARRIS: We jumped in the ocean this morning.
LUNA: That's exciting. Where'd you go?
HARRIS: Somewhere in LA.
ACKER: No, it was Encinitas. Anytime there's a body of water, we find it.
LUNA: As you should. What do you guys like to do when you're not making music?
ACKER: I've been into cold plunging recently. That sh*t is really dope. I put him onto it.
HARRIS: Yeah, it’s fun. Well, it’s not fun-
ACKER: But it's fun afterwards.
ROTER: I'm finishing college right now. So I'm working on that, playing basketball with my friends.
LUNA: Where are you at?
ROTER: I'm at this place called SUNY Empire. Doing it on the road is pretty f*cking terrible, but you just have to power through it. But I'm almost done. Think we all dropped out like a year and a half or, no, I did two and a half years. And then COVID hit, and then we all just came back to the city and said, f*ck it we're just gonna play music. But now I know that I'll thank myself for forcing myself to just finish it, especially for my mom, who definitely cares a lot more than I do.
LUNA: Are you studying music or something else?
ROTER: No, pre-law.
ACKER: These two are very much in the art world. Jasper and Attila. I don’t want that to be skipped over.
ANRATHER: Yeah, I like to paint (all laugh).
HARRIS: I don’t really do much, honestly. I just do music for fun. For work, too, I guess.
ROTER: He's been getting pretty into recording a lot of the New York bands. Just some of the homies that run around.
LUNA: Is there anything else you want to speak more about or introduce before we close?
ROTER: I would say that there's an importance right now in the artist community, and any real creative community, to continue to speak out against the fear mongering and an administration that really is pretty much anti-art, anti-humanity, and that we have to continue to speak out against it, because if we don't, then we just get crushed underneath. I'd rather go out saying something than be obliterated by what is coming.
ANRATHER: Well, when they come to revoke all our passports, I’m just like: I’m just the drummer (all laugh).
