Excel out of Venice, CA got their start way back in the 1980’s and in 2025 it is pretty damn cool to report that they are not only still around but working on new music as well. Their studio album history sports two fan favorites in 1987’s “Split Image” and 1989’s “The Joke’s On You”, with 1995’s “Seeking Refuge” not “hitting the mark” as their bassist Shaun Ross tells us in this October interview. What will a new Excel album bring? What we do know is that band co-founder Dan Clements and OG bassist Shaun Ross are now joined by Take Offense guitarist Greg Cerwonka and Fenix TX drummer Damon De La Paz. Read on to find out what we should expect going into 2026. Lead photo by: Becky Digiglio with additional photos by: Big Red Photography (Chris Francesconi). Graphics by: Paul Turano.
IE: What’s up Shaun? In early 2024 Excel had a social media post talking about a band relaunch while introducing two new members. Before that time though the band was still present but not in the way you were in the 80’s and into the early 90’s. The band’s third (and last album) “Seeking Refuge” came out in 1995 with the band breaking up around the year 2000. How did things pick back up again in 2012 and how did we get to where the band is now?
Shaun: Around 2010, Alex Barreto, who I knew when he played in Chain Of Strength hit me up to play in a hardcore band he was doing with a new band with Frosty, also from Chain Of Strength. At that point I hadn’t really played since the early 00’s. I just had kind of put it all aside to concentrate on work and getting my shit together. I kind of burned out having started in the 80’s and going through the late 90’s. So Alex hit me up and I started playing hardcore again. Chain Of Strength announced that they were doing their reunion and around that time Alex asked me what was up with Excel. We met up with our original drummer, Greg Saenz, and started playing some of the old songs. In around 2013 we did our first reunion show with Alex playing guitar. We began doing more reunion shows locally for the most part. We were doing maybe 3-6 shows a year but then it kept going on year after year. Fast forward to the end of 2023/beginning of 2024, doing these reunion shows felt like they’d run their course. The lineup at the time wasn’t really productive in terms of writing new music. In the meantime I had 10 years of riffs and ideas. In the background I kept writing and recording it all but I couldn’t really do anything with it by myself. The idea was to get new music out, make one last run at it and show face as a band.
IE: So how did Greg Cerwonka (guitar) and Damon De La Paz (drums) come into the fold? Damon is originally from Texas I believe. Did you meet him after he moved to California?
Shaun: We had known of Greg for years, a couple of friends suggested him because they felt he would be a great fit for the band. Once we committed to wanting to work with Greg we started looking for a drummer. A friend recommended Damon, he’s a killer drummer and it all kind of worked out. He’s originally from Texas. His band, Fenix TX, played more like pop-punk type stuff but he grew up listening to thrash metal and hardcore so he gets it. He came right in and was able to nail all of our old songs. Now we are recording with him and it’s turning out really well and we’re really happy.
EXCEL @ GARDEN AMP, GARDEN GROVE, CA JUNE 22, 2025. PHOTOS BY: BIG RED PHOTOGRAPHY
IE: You mentioned you had years of ideas but nobody to put them together with. Sounds pretty frustrating when you can’t find the right people…
Shaun: It was getting frustrating. Greg is a sick guitar player and a cheat code in terms of being productive and writing new material. I meet with Greg and show him some riffs and ideas, we’re able to turn that into a pre-production demo for a given song pretty quickly. I have a lot of riffs and ideas saved on my phone and these guys have helped unlock the potential to turn them into new jams.
IE: So you play the guitar as well?
Shaun: I can play rhythm guitar good enough to get by and write our type of riffs. Greg is a shredder. A lot of the stuff I wrote over the years was on guitar but there comes a point where you need a pro to take over. Greg is 100% the perfect guy for the job and we’re stoked to have him working with us on this.
IE: When we initially started talking about doing this interview a few months back you were getting ready to start the process of demo-ing songs with an eye on a new Excel album for 2026. Now that a few months have passed can you give us an idea on where you guys are at in that process?
Shaun: By the end of this year we should have about 60% of it complete and we feel like it is turning out good enough to release as the LP so we are cutting out the demo phase of it. Greg is out on tour playing bass with Drain right now and once he gets back we will start picking it back up in November and December.
IE: Where have you been recording these new songs?
Shaun: We are recording in a studio called Sunsick in San Diego with Alex Jacobelli. He plays in a band called Negative Blast, he is also on tour so we are just kind of standing by for when he gets back to resume work. We have taken a pause on doing live shows for the moment because this is the next thing we want to get done.
IE: Would you say the new songs you are working on lean more towards “Split Image”, “The Jokes On You”, “Seeking Refuge” or maybe somewhere in between?
Shaun: It’s kind of a combination of everything we’ve done. “Seeking Refuge” didn’t really hit the mark but we are taking what we now know into consideration. It’s definitely a hardcore record… punk… metal… rock… It’s heavy, it’s fast. We get to the point a lot faster musically than we have in the past. We’re taking into consideration that attention spans may not be what they used to be as well.
EXCEL @ VINYL JUNKIES RECORD SHACK, SAN DIEGO, CA APRIL 20, 2024. PHOTO BY: BECKY DIGIGLIO
IE: So we are looking at shorter songs then?
Shaun: Yeah shorter for the most part, getting in, getting out quicker… Making our point musically quicker.
IE: Reading about the history of Excel one thing that is super cool is your dad’s influence on you with music and skating. I definitely saw a lot of similarities having grown up in NYC surrounded by a lot of the same things during that same time period.
Shaun: My dad started taking me to concerts and shows as early as like 7 or 8 years old. When I was 9, he started skateboarding and we became locals at Marina Del Rey Skate Park. There was a heavy music influence at the park, all the bowls had speakers in them. I’d skate daily with many of the pros there (Dogtown, Z Boys etc), some became like big brother type figures to me. Around 1980 most of those guys went full-on punk, that was my like crash course into punk music and my dad supported it all. Dan (Excel’s singer) used to skate there as well. My dad gave me my first basses and gear and used to drive us to some of our first shows before we could drive ourselves.
IE: Do you remember the specifics about first meeting Dan Clements?
Shaun: My first interaction with Dan was in 1983. I was trying to sell my fanzine at a GBH show at the Olympic Auditorium and I ran into Dan, that’s when I got his phone number. I don’t remember him from the skatepark, he’d speak to my dad there. Excel was still known as Chaotic Noise. I started calling him and I interviewed them for my fanzine. I would hang out with them after school and ended up joining the band when they changed the name to Excel, they were looking for a bass player. I was acting as their manager before that which essentially was trying to get them on shows and promoting them, the band was still rehearsing in a bedroom at that time.
EXCEL @ RAUNCH RECORDS, LOS ANGELES 1989. L-R: DAN CLEMENTS, SHAUN ROSS, GREG SAENZ, ADAM SIEGEL
IE: If you could go back and talk to your “18 year old self” what kind of advice would you want to give them?
Shaun: It’d have to be not to do drugs.
IE: What about having a “do-over” with Excel? If you could go back and change something in the band’s past…
Shaun: There were some business decisions that weren’t great. Some of the direction that we took towards the end of the first segment of our career… Like “Seeking Refuge” not having fast songs… Times were changing and at that point in time and we were kind of burned out on playing fast thrash and we wanted to do something different. Regardless, it was a really great experience to travel at such a young age and be involved with music. We did do more than we ever could have imagined.
IE: Can you take a guess as to how many shows Excel has played over the years and what are some that immediately come to mind when you think of some of the best ones?
Shaun: It has to be in the hundreds. The Europe tour in 1989 was really fun. Our best shows though have been hometown shows or San Diego shows. Shows at Fender’s Ballroom in Long Beach were always pretty crazy. We used to play at this place in Tijuana called Iguana’s that we had some good shows at. Some of the more recent reunion L.A. shows have been great as well.
EXCEL @ VINYL JUNKIES RECORD SHACK, SAN DIEGO, CA APRIL 20, 2024. PHOTOS BY: BECKY DIGIGLIO
IE: What are some of your own personal “bucket list” cities or countries that you would like to play still?
Shaun: Probably Italy because my family is Italian… to go back and do another tour of Japan and maybe some other places in Asia. Other places in Europe too like Spain. In South America we have only been to Brazil and even then we have only been to two cities in Brazil… so there are a lot that we haven’t done that are considered like “normal” places to go to with a band these days. When we toured Europe in the late 80’s it wasn’t like how it is now. Bands now go to a lot more places than they did then. There are a ton of places that we still haven’t played. We have never played in the UK or Italy.
IE: I have seen some more recent photos of Excel playing in front of some huge crowds…
Shaun: We did do a couple of festivals last year, we played at CopenHell which was pretty big, probably the biggest show we’ve ever played. We also did Pit Fest which was pretty cool, in The Netherlands.
IE: What is the most dangerous situation you have found yourself in while being with the band?
Shaun: I guess the most dangerous situation would have been the time we were in Sao Paulo with Negative Approach. I think it was in 2014 or 2015. Some guy ran up on us with a 9mm gun… we were walking back to the hotel after the show. It was myself and Alex Barreto and a couple of guys from Negative Approach. I guess that was technically the most dangerous thing although the 80’s in Los Angeles and navigating everything that was going on here with all the gangs… some of the shows were pretty violent and we were put in some tense situations.
IE: Many of us have heard the stories of Nazi skinheads being at shows in Southern California in the 80’s as well…
Shaun: Most of the shows that we played or were involved with… they would come but they weren’t like the direct threat. It was really all different punk gangs and if they saw like fascist skinheads they would chase them or beat them. There has always been no tolerance here for that since Southern California is so diverse.
EXCEL @ GARDEN AMP, GARDEN GROVE, CA JUNE 22, 2025. PHOTO BY: BIG RED PHOTOGRAPHY
IE: So there was even a lot of punk on punk gang violence back then?
Shaun: Yeah, totally. There were Suicidal’s, there was The LADS from Hollywood and there was FFF from the Valley. It was just something that you had to navigate through to go and see the bands play. It kept you on your toes, we survived it all.
IE: Outside of playing music what kinds of things do you get into in your free time?
Shaun: I work a lot, besides that I just kick it with my family. We spend a good amount of time in San Diego working on music so that takes up free time. But you know, just like the usual stuff like trying to stay in shape, ya know?
IE: Where is everyone in the band located these days?
Shaun: Dan is from Venice and was born there… he lived there for 50 years but now lives in Gig Harbor, Washington. Greg has lived in San Diego for a long time, Damon is originally from Texas and he lives in San Diego now. I grew up for the most part in Culver City which is next to Venice. I’ve lived adjacent to Downtown L.A. for a while now.
IE: So with you thinking you will have 60% of a new album done by the end of the year when can fans realistically expect a new album to come out?
Shaun: Hopefully by mid-2026, definitely want to get it out next year. We’ve shared some of the first songs with some folks, trying to gauge what that reception will be like.
FIND ALL THREE OF EXCEL’S ALBUMS MERCH AND MORE BY CLICKING HERE 