Influenced by musicians in his family and initially wanting to “emulate metal drummers,” Billy Werner was primarily focused on rap and metal whilst growing up. College radio of the eighties and nineties was what he embraced the most, alongside the “theatrical nature” of punk/metal artists as a whole. Juxtaposed to the skinhead movements of the times; he notes all genres of music including even the likes of “R.E.M.” as playing a role in his later musical development.

Mentioning that music is the most important thing in his life and his aversion to genres, “music of struggle” is what most resonated with Werner, who regards the sub-culture of hardcore now as replicating itself infinitely.

Initially playing drums in the band “Surrounded” that never ended up recording and attending hardcore shows at “Bond Street Café” with members originating from the Bronx, “Surrounded” aimed to be “moshy,” whilst paying homage to the bands “Encounter” and “Lifetime.”

Surrounded did play live shows; and this acclimated/”hazed” Werner into hardcore culture evermore.

Forming Saetia, Billy knew later founding member and guitarist Jamie Behar prior to attending NYU; with a good portion of Jamie’s prior creations playing a part in forming what came to be and still is A Retrospective.

In the use of such high-pitched screaming vocals, he was trying to intensify the emotional conveyance of music most often associated with “smelly straight edge people” of the time and wanted to make a mark in history; where someone effectively conveys a mental breakdown on record.

In their live performances, Werner hoped to accomplish what Philadelphia hardcore/emo band Frail was doing on stage; whilst simultaneously (alongside the rest of Saetia) considering himself above most of those typically attending a Hardcore gig.

Pioneering the post-hardcore, emo, screamo, and hardcore genres in a manner ironically enough attributable to their disliking for categorizing music; Werner associates the original term “screamo/emo” with a friend describing seeing “Frail” live in 1993.

What came to be was Saetia, who were focused upon etching their own signature place in musical history/expression – highly accredited to Behar’s skills on the guitar and their emotional, methodical approach to making a project that may or may not have stood the test of time – at the time.

Following that and going onto later form Hot Cross, Saetia influenced the categorization of genres and subculture politics in a manner Werner isn’t too happy with.

Saetia remains influential, prompting musical styles and terminologies to evolve over every era with “skramz,” “emo,” “screamo,” “post-hardcore” and "hardcore/punk” being forever impacted by their fleeting yet timeless presence.