When teenage guy X meets teenage guy Y because he’s friends with teenage guy X’s girlfriend, lifelong friendships aren’t typically the result. But Ant and Mystic weren’t typical teenagers.
Friends from the jump, as Mystic says. They connected over their shared love of music and dreams of performing in front of crowds around the world. Their first gig was decidedly less grand - the Medford (Massachusetts) High School talent show.
Ant and Mystic wrote, recorded and performed their music together for years until Ant felt a new calling - opening his own barbershop.
Now, more than 20 years since that first meeting and the talent show, Mystic is still writing, recording and performing his music around the world. And Ant’s shop, Razors Barbershop, is a community fixture in Somerville, Massachusetts. He’s also opening a new location in nearby Cambridge.
Mystic hadn’t shaved his beard in decades when Ant asked him to be a part of the Proraso Stories short film series. Mystic didn’t hesitate to say yes, and let the friend he loves and respects like a brother reveal the new Mystic.
When they were done, Proraso sat down with Ant and Mystic to talk music, friendship, respect and what’s next.
Here are some of the highlights:
On their first performance:
Mystic: “We met up, we hung out and it just kept building. Then we performed together at the high school talent show. Right? 1998. That was a good time.”
Ant: “I have the video. NOBODY will get to see that video!”
Mystic: “You gotta show the footage.”
Ant: “They announced us as ‘The Triple Threat.’”
Mystic: “That was 22 years ago.”
On making music and naming their group:
Mystic: “We kept making music. We were so good together. The respect was immediate. So we went into the studio and made an EP. We called it ‘Redd.”
Ant: “With two d’s…”
Mystic: “Why’d we do that?!”
On creating album art:
Ant: “Do you remember how we did the album cover for that?”
Mystic: “What’d we do?”
Ant: “Well, nobody had a high resolution camera, and phones were just flip phones back then, so we stuck our faces into somebody’s computer scanner and took pictures that way. Then we jammed all the pics together and put flames or something in the background!”
Mystic: “Oh, no…”
On hearing their music on the radio for the first time:
Ant: “I remember that like it was yesterday. We were driving somewhere and our group of friends were in two cars. It was Memorial Day Weekend. When it came on, we stopped right in the middle of traffic and we jumped out. We were going crazy! And the song that played, it was called…”
Mystic: “‘Friends.’ It was called ‘Friends.’”
Ant on what’s next:
“More acceptance. Most respect. For everything.”
By the way, Teenage Guy X married that high school girlfriend.
They’re still together.
Watch and shop this and more Proraso Stories here.
