Ex–THE AMITY AFFLICTION’s Ahren Stringer and Ex–VOLUMES’ Gus Farias Launch New Band SELF CHECKOUT to Confront Addiction and Mental Health

Ex–The Amity Affliction vocalist/bassist Ahren Stringer and ex–Volumes frontman Gus Farias (a.k.a. Yung Yogi) have joined forces in a bold new project called Self Checkout. Both musicians—each publicly ousted by their former bands and having faced their own battles with addiction and mental health—are channelling their shared experience into music that tackles recovery, stigma, and personal demons head-on.

In a recent interview with Blunt, Stringer reflected on the unlikely partnership:

“Yeah, we both needed rehab. We have both lived such similar lifestyles… and we just ended up just joining forces and just being like, let’s start a new band.”

Farias elaborated on the project’s purpose:

“[Suicide has] profoundly impacted my life, and I want to share that. I’m kind of healing expressing that with the world.”

Recording sessions for Self Checkout have been underway in Mexico City, described as a “cosmic gumbo” of screaming, rapping, melody, and more. Two tracks are already complete, with additional songs in development—and Stringer even has 13 tracks from a shelved solo effort waiting to be revisited.

Stringer also expressed gratitude for the support they’ve received despite their troubled pasts:

“Thank you for sticking by me. I can’t wait to show you… because you’re gonna love it. I know we both have a very bad reputation… because we’re like, admitted addicts, everyone thinks we’re just like POS, but you’re gonna see that we’re not. We’re gonna prove the world wrong. And we want to thank you guys for sticking with us and we hope you love what we’ve produced. It’s gonna be fire.”

With their debut material on the horizon, Self Checkout promises an unflinching look at recovery and resilience, set to break new ground in heavy music this year.

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