Mr. Denton on Doomsday
Being announced the winner of Homegrown Throwdown 2025
Meet the Band!
Josie [lead singer]
Brian [guitar & singer]
Benjo [drums]
Evin [bass]
I first met Mr Denton on Doomsday at the final round of Q106’s Homegrown Throwdown this year. The best way I can describe their faces when they were announced the winner was ecstatic, like someone had brought out their favorite food. Hugs and cheers were bountiful.
Speaking of food… What are your thoughts on pineapple on pizza? Positive or negative? I asked them and here’s what they had to say!
Brian - No, they’re out of the band if they say yes.
Josie - only with jalapenos!
Evin - No, because pineapple is a fruit and fruit needs to be fresh and crisp and pizza needs to be hot and crisp.
Click Happy Media - Counter argument, tomato is a fruit. And that’s the base
Evin - With that logic I have to say no tomato on pizza, too.
Click Happy Media - What’s your sauce alternative then?
Evin - You're right there’s no beating marinara. You beat me, ok? This how you start all your interviews? Breakin’ people down?
[ ^ That was said in a silly way, I promise.]
Benja - agree with Josie, I don’t want to see meat and pineapple on pizza. [a comment about pizza in general] Also also also, use barbecue sauce instead of marinara. But I’m Italian though, so I am required to use marinara. My blood is marinara.
Click Happy Media - What kind?
Benja - Savory, with extra chunky tomatoes. Get some basil in there, some oregano.
[everyone is in agreement that that sounds delicious]
Josie [Lead Singer]
At this point in the interview we are fully just talking about food.
The struggle meal is no longer the struggle meal, it is now a “oh god why”.
Benja, who describes themselves as a Human Trash Compactor, likes to get the job done in one step versus multiple. In this case the job is eating [mood] and described this meal so specifically I believe they’ve had it on more than one occasion:
“As long as it has the right ingredients, it's all just a product at this point. If I need protein and carbs, alright fine I’ll have some venison sausage and some bbq and act like it’s a sloppy joe”.
alright that one isn’t bad and sounds reasonable. It’s still meat, just different. But then we get to this recipe.
“I made a peanut butter and jelly and sauerkraut sandwich one time. Because that’s what I had. I needed potassium but I’m allergic to bananas and sauerkraut has a lot of potassium. I took a bite of it and it was so bad that I handed it to Brian and I was like ‘you want some?’ and he was like ‘ergh!’ and I was like… Ya sure? It’s not good”.
if that didn’t make you make a face, surely this one will. After hearing some of Benja’s previous food experiments, I wanted to hear what he would eat should he be able to have anything in the world without facing repercussions.
“Some kind of highly acidic tablet or something to see how it feels”, they said. I was honestly surprised by this, it feels so tame when compared to peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwiches”.
After all that, I was still not prepared for this story from their childhood:
“when I was a child I ate no less than 5-10,000 ants. One time I got away from my mom when I was real little and I kept sticking this stick in the ant hill and I went on a little long with it. And I came inside a little while afterwards, and I wasn’t feelin’ too good - I wonder why - and I puked on the kitchen floor. And my mom just looked at it and there were SO MANY ANTS. Some of them still alive!”
No, thank you.
Thankfully, there are no plans to break away from music to open a restaurant.
Brian [Guitarist & Singer]
What are your struggle meals?
Brian - I’m rocking some Hamburger Helper, like that cheeseburger helper.
Josie - I don’t think I do, but I guess I’m a sucker for late night Taco Bell. But legit struggle meal when I lived in Chicago when I was in college, I wanted spaghetti so bad but I was so broke that I used ramen noodles and like the cheapest spaghetti sauce. It was real bad.
Benja - chicken ramen with a can of herring in it
Some of you may have noticed now that my questions are mostly food themed and I’m not sorry.
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
Brian - Wow you can get into a philosophical debate there. I want to tell you that yes of course it is, but my heart tells me it is not.
Evin - The age old question! I think a hot dog is not a sandwich. It’s sort of like uh.. A lasagna. It’s layered. Same thing with a taco. Fight me. ‘Cause a taco is a lot closer to a hot dog than to a sandwich. But what does that make a wrap then if it’s wrapped all the way around? What is a quesadilla? Is a quesadilla a sandwich? Is it a pizza? [ CHM: I suggested it was a panini ] Is a panini a sandwich? If a panini is related to a quesadilla then I would say a hot dog is a panini as well.
Josie - No, it just seems wrong. My brain just says it’s not a sandwich, it’s a hot dog.
Benja - It’s a submarine sandwich, it’s open faced and served sideways. I agree with both of them and say that it is not a sandwich because you have to draw the line somewhere. A hot dog is not a sandwich even if it comes in a bun, otherwise everything that is between bread is a sandwich. Like is a stack of pancakes a sandwich? It’s still bread - you have to draw the line somewhere and I like to differentiate between a sandwich and a hot dog.
Brian - however if you do add pineapple on top of the hot dog then you’re back in sandwich territory
Benja - No, don’t do pineapple on hot dogs! Don’t do it.
Benja [Drummer]
