SINCERE ENGINEER

Deanna Belos is the punk rock version of Benjamin Button.

- Charlie Connell

Traditionally, when an artist enters their “acoustic period” it signifies one thing above all else—they’re getting old. This is particularly true in the punk rock world, where a number of musicians who spent their youth screaming onstage in front of swirling circle pits transition into playing folkish tunes that may follow the spirit of their earlier work, but lack the aggression and volume.

Belos is following the career progression of many of her musical heroes, she’s just doing it backwards. She started out taking the stage alone with her acoustic guitar playing under the moniker Sincere Engineer, essentially becoming a band before she had a band.

“When I was in high school I would try to jam... I hate that word,” Belos laughs. “But I would try to jam with people and it was just never clicking. So I thought, I’m just gonna do this myself. That was the thing that showed the most success at the time.”

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Belos was greatly influenced by the city’s punk scene of the ’90s. She wasn’t a part of this scene during its heyday—she was around 4 years old when her favorite bands were playing the Fireside Bowl most nights— but once she discovered a pathway, she worked her way back in time. “I found Alkaline Trio when I was in seventh grade and The Lawrence Arms quickly thereafter,” Belos explains. “And then I went and found everything I could get my hands on with Brendan [Kelly] and Chris [McCaughan] on it.”