Garza Podcast - 102 - TEN56: Depression, Starting Over, Heavy Music & Being Lifers

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

Garza sits down in-person with French / English band TEN56. https://www.linktr.ee/ten56 TEN56. is: Aaron Matts - Vocals Quentin Godet - Guitar Luka Rozaka - Guitar Steeves Hostin - Bass Arnaud Verrier - Drums CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Hating the Sound of Your Own Voice 01:11 - Aftershock Festival & Louder Than Life 02:14 - Starting Over In a New Band & Having a Fresh Perspective 09:00 - Leaving Betraying the Martyrs 17:49 - Playing First Show in 2022, Growing Quickly as a Band 19:40 - Luka & Chris Look Like the Hardy Boys 22:47 - Garza vs Robert Trujillo Net Worth 25:10 - Health Insurance is Free in Europe, Aaron’s Gallbladder Removal 29:45 - U.S. Restrooms vs European 32:54 - “Downer” 35:22 - Home Venue in France 37:10 - Ten56 Unique Tunings & Sound 39:54 - How Ten56 Found Their Sound 43:25 - The Band Being a Labor of Love, Letting Go of Pressure 47:52 - Vola Guitars & Best Pickups for Metal 53:29 - Songwriting Process, No Compromise on Heaviness 57:53 - Merch Cuts & Taxation 1:03:53 - Being Lifers, Missing Out On Friend & Family Time 1:10:42 - Depression & Meaning Behind the Song, “Diazepam” 1:15:25 - 1st U.S. Tour with Attila

You've been here longer than us. You definitely know this better than anyone, how hard it is to try and convey what you're experiencing, doing, being about this life to people that are not into it. Did you just promote the toll that we're on? That's why I was thinking about tonight in the observatory. Show up people. Isn't that weird about the sound of your own voice

is that it's only you. It's only in your head? Yeah. Like no one hears what you, here. Right? It's just funny. I need to get, I'm trying to copy what you're doing over there. I don't do it. I don't even know what I'm doing so. It's fine.

You know it. It's because we're so like, would you call that insecurity with your own voice? Oh yeah. Oh, big son. Oh yeah. I think I sound fat. Like when I first heard my voice from the outside, it's like, just a fat dude. It's a fat dude's voice I'm hearing right now. I think so, yeah. But little didn't know, you're ripped.

Kind of. Yeah. And you're a sick drummer. Oh, stop there. I'm a blush. I'm very blush already. Well, all right. We got 1056.

Thank you for making time to be here. Thank you for having us, man. Thank you for having us. Yeah, we had some crazy weekends. You guys played after shock? Yeah, two days ago. It was mental. We was not expecting.

We did, what was the other one? Louder. Yeah, we did louder than life. and that was, although it was sick, it was slightly underwhelming, and we were kind of like, oh, I hope it's not going to be the same, and it was overwhelming. It was so good. The vibe was sick. The crowd reaction was great. The organization was on point. Yeah. DWP is the name of the game when it comes to festival anyways. Like in terms of organization and the way they work

around the hospitality for the artist to just feel like valued for a whole day, which feels good, especially in the middle of the tour, where we all know there are some shows where it's not as welcoming and comfortable being around. Aftershock was a nice little breather, for sure. Yeah, I saw videos. It looked great. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

It must be a trip for you guys, especially you, Aaron, technically like, sarying over. And now coming back in such a short amount of time. Yeah. You know? Yeah, it was a trip. I mean, and plus, like, the time that I was away for was pretty much the pandemic. So it was like such a trip to, I was like, oh, it's over for me, you know what I mean? And then pandemic happened terrible for lots of people, obviously, for obviously, obvious reasons.

And yeah, and then we just managed to get it all together and then pretty much came out of the other side and hit the ground running. So yeah, it feels great to have a second chance. And I think we're all in the same boat. Like, this isn't anyone's first rodeo apart from. Yeah, it's my first time in the USA. Second tour, third tour. Something like that. Ever.

I'm way less experienced than all the other guys. Mm-hmm. Feels great. Yeah. I feel lucky. Yeah, you're like, you're like, remember being 13 and seeing, you know, his, his band for, his, one of his first shows. And now, my first show.

Crazy, huh? His actual first show with BTM, yeah. I was there. I was 13. That's it. And now we are in a band together touring in the US. That's crazy. How are you?

26. Wow. 13 years ago. Mm-hmm. Because you were like, Luca, you were like a mega fan of music. You're going, apparently you're going to like all the shows, huh? Not that much, actually, because like I don't live in Paris and there wasn't that much shows happening in my town. But yeah, every time that something was coming to my town, I was there.

And, yeah, between the movies was like a big part of my music. I don't know how to see it, but yeah, I was a big fan when I was a kid. Well, he's the music encyclopedia of the group of the band. Like he listens to every new release. all genres all the time. He's the most like attuned to what's happening in the music in general. So yeah, he's the guy when it comes to. I'm curious.

If you want to know if something's cool or not, you're like asking. You know when you get an older and you're like, yeah, it's tough. It's up the gauge. Is this cool? And he's like, man, no. Okay, well, that's. Okay, so I'm going to send Arne Becker to me first. Oh.

And then tell us. So like, this is not good. Where were you five years ago? Oh, come on, man. I'm just kidding. It's really nice to have a fresh perspective on music. Yeah, how has that been for you? Great.

I mean, with this, it's constantly new bands. Yeah, yeah. Constantly older bands, like the up-and-coming, so it's a constant flow of music. And it's weird, like, it's kind of funny. This hit me like two months ago where, oh, yeah, this is what technically what I used to do. Or you're at all,

you're just going to show is when you're young and talking to whoever you can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, either whether it's a club promoter or like a band or a friend, that's a friend of a band that you want to try to hang out with. I was, oh yeah, yeah, this is what we used to do. It's weird. This is like a other version of it. Yeah, yeah, sure.

And then riffs have started to come back. Really? Sorry to turn the question around, but do you get the feeling that you were starting over at some point? Of course. Yeah? Yeah. Like with this and...

Multiple times. Multiple times. Let's see. There is the obvious tragedy of Mitch. There is the self-titled was a big reset for us. Yeah. Yeah. And then after...

And it's funny because when you make a change, there will be remnants of said change. And you kind of have to go through other one and kind of fine-tune things. So I'll call that for me like maybe two years ago. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, I mean, you know how it is. I start over. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. Yeah. How, I mean, how's that been for you? It's been good. I mean, I don't want to make this. I mean, none of this is about me, right? But it was just good to have, to find a bunch of people who are on the same wavelength and who are supportive of things that I want to talk about.

You know what I mean? That was a really big thing for me. Like people that want to push me to express the things that I want to say without barriers and stuff. And this group of friends and the people that were working with, no one's like sticking any barriers up and saying, you know, you can't say this, you can't say there or this is too extreme or even musically, you know, like I feel like we all have the same opinion that we're just going to go as far as we want and in any direction we want. And I felt that with my previous project, it was barriers everywhere, barriers,

barriers, barriers, you know, we need to do this because of that. And, you know, it's just, it's been very liberating for me. Yeah. For all of us. I think like, yeah, doing this bend was the outlet we all needed. At the time, we decided to make it coincidentally, because none of us was necessarily meant to build a new band together. It just happened all so naturally.

And like, we got the proof time and time again that I was the right thing that was supposed to happen in a ways that we needed that outlet. we needed to have someone as forward thinking as Aaron when it comes to lyrics and being able to put into words like things that people are going through on the daily. And even though sometimes we're afraid that maybe it was going to get too extreme, it's been actually more like celebrated in a way that people are like, oh, finally I now see someone that's been going through the same things that I've been going through and that's been able to put it into words and like someone that I can look out to and not feel solo anymore. And then it's also on the musical side that this is provided an outlet for us to play the

music we've had in our hearts for a while, but never really been able to explore it because being part of like different projects and other genres at a different time in music. So this was like, yeah, stars align in that matter that it all, it's been like a, um, Salvatry. Yeah. And I'm not sure if you know this, but Steve also plays in betraying the martyrs. And they recently just announced their breakup.

That was a question I had for later. Oh, sorry, man. Oh, you're fine. This is your flow, not mine. Yeah. I mean, so the fact that I got to pick, I mean, my favorite question from the band, you know, just,

and now he's coming and we're doing it together. It's just, yeah, it's just great, man. Yeah. Being surrounded by good people, you know. You're surrounded by great people, so you know how important that is for happiness and to be in a productive, you know what I mean? Of course, man. What did you initially think when since, okay, now we're going backwards, but it's fine. When, what did you think when Aaron was kind of out and one foot out?

Here we go. Sick. I'm interested to know because he was extremely supportive. Okay. And so what's funny is that, so yesterday we played the venue in Los Angeles, 1720. Last time we played there, I was, we'd betraying the martyrs. That very same night when we left the venue, three hours after that, everything was burning it up. So this venue and this thing is very special because the next day after we burned the van,

I was with Aaron in the swimming pool. We were in the middle of a hotel in the middle of nowhere. And Aaron came to me and it was like, dude, I got to tell you something. I'm telling it to you because Yeah, we got this You know what I mean We got those people Yeah

And you told me I need I need to get out of that And I was like, please do Please do because back then it was Feeling I mean it was not You can say it You were you were fucked by then

You were like you couldn't go on stage And feel yourself And I could feel yourself And I could feel And before being my colleague, Aaron has always been my friend. And as a friend, I was like, please do get out of that because it was destructive for him. And I don't want to see, I don't want to see my friend like so bad and stuff. So after that, for me personally, saying that meant like shooting myself in the foot because in my head.

And back your head. Yeah. And I was like betraying the models without Aaron. burn doesn't exist. I mean, I've been watching betraying the martyrs as a kid, as a fanboy, and all I could see was this big dude, like, ripping the stage. And I was like, what is this band without this guy? And pandemic happened and two years of depression. And just like, thinking about what we've done before is never coming back, ever. And in my head, I was done. And then one day, I was just like completely in the middle of a burnout. I was going.

on vacation in Thailand, I was at the airport, he called me, it was like, hey, actually Nico, our basis cannot really do shows for 1056 humanely. And I was like, fuck yes, let's go. Let's go. It was like, and since then, never stopped. Things happened with betraying the martyrs that eventually we couldn't keep up. It was becoming very complicated to continue as a band. But no, I mean, I feel so grateful that somehow things turned out that here we are.

And what's funny is that this dude here, I don't know, we played together in Onyman Structure, a band, a aggressive metal band like in 2016. Oh, yeah. Betraying the Mardiya stole Steve's from me and now I'm stealing Steve's back. That's great. Leaving anionage structure, it broke my heart because I was living here, especially. And now I'm back in the game of these two guys. And I have these two guys as well that I'm in Queenie. I know him for like more than 10 years.

10 years? Yeah, always been friends and all. And that's what I feel is very valuable with this project. It's the like we are like friends before being, before being colleagues. So which makes a huge, huge difference. I guess you know what I'm talking about. It's, you can be in bands where you have colleagues and it's not enjoyable. It's not.

No, no, no. When you're on the road, especially, you need to be with friends, in my opinion. Yeah. It turned out well. It did. It's like this undeniable energy that brought, like, your friends back and brought, like, the right people, like, the right amount of crazy, the right members. That's weird. Yeah. Yeah.

We brought brothers by design. Like, we haven't even chosen it for ourselves. It's just like the universe put her in that spot at that time. Because nothing would have, would have liked. told me in any parameters that I would be in a band with Aaron. We just met across festivals and didn't, but we hardly ever spoke before. Queenie, we did our first European tour together like over 10 years ago when we're both illegal and needed to have the letters from our parents allowing us to leave the country. Whoa.

Steve's, yeah, we've been in bands together. Luca, we didn't know. He was an embryo at that point. Yeah. I'm the same. Hey, AJ, how you guys? Not really. Not really.

You too. Pretty much the same. One year. Two years. Ten years. Ten years. I got to tell you something. It's kind of fascinating that when Aaron was kind of on the way out, you look at him at first as a friend.

Because that's what people should do, right? I mean, it felt natural to me. One thing that struck me when I entered the band, betraying the martyrs, is that I felt I felt Aaron was really like, I thought it was the guy in charge of everything. When I joined the band, I realized it was very different. He's in charge of nothing. Yeah. No, it was more barriers once more.

Yes, okay. Exactly. More barriers, more, use the word gatekeeping necessarily. But, yeah, I just didn't, I didn't have access to the things that I should have had access to. And, yeah, and that's what happens. Yeah. No, no, but, I mean, That's one of the things I was really surprised with and I was like, why is, why like the rest of the band doesn't really listen to what he says?

Because there is like very interesting ideas and we started, I remember we started writing music with BTM the very last moments before you left the band. That kind of felt somehow like very, well, too heavy for the markers of course. Yeah. kind of the premises of I mean not the first forced or a little thing that became something that you can feel in 1056 now in the way you were he was approaching like the no-compromise writing of stuff which wasn't possible for him in that yeah it was impossible so yeah and that's what friends do like he had way way way more potential he Friends also tell friends to stop hitting the table

Because you're playing them Yeah, that's cool Yeah, it was great So it's always good to have friends You know, have your best interests At heart, you know, not their own He was one of those people It was like, okay, you're destroying yourself

Like physically, I can see it, you know I was like bloated, you know bloated for drinking and shit I was just unhappy, you know Yeah Were you, uh, do you live in Kramer? I don't want to admit it because I've probably got some pretty bad stuff coming in my way, if that's the case, you know what I mean?

From the past or whatever. But yeah, I guess I do. I mean, if you're nice to people, people are nice to you. Yeah, well, there's not, karma isn't always bad. People, when you say the word karma, people just immediately associated with bad, but, you know, there's good. And I think this is a prime example of good karma. Yeah. Or, you know, you're willing kind of, you basically without, without even the,

saying it like you're willing to walk okay if he's gone my band's gone but but you're willing to step away of course and then i don't want my friend to feel bad and i mean yeah karma of course it's i do believe in it i even if it doesn't exist it's just a principle of life just be nice to other and think like about the wellness around you what you give you get back yeah but steve of all people is that one person that we put everyone's well-being before his to a point where it's irritating. Like slap in the face irritating. It's just like, go to fucking bed.

Stop worrying so much about other people. Like, think about you for just once in your life. Does that. I think that's great quality. That's cool, man. You should be proud. We love you, Steve. Oh, yeah.

You're a blessing. You're a blessing. That's not a heavy deal. What the fuck's going on, man? But I do punch my base sometimes. So, yeah, that's the outlet you need. And to send up with bloody T-shirt every night. I see it.

It's, yeah, it's pretty insane what all of you guys have done since 2019. The band started in 2019, correct? We went public in 21. 21, okay. Yes, we played our first show in April. Last year in March. Last year?

Yeah, just played the first show last year. Just over a year ago. What are you guys? What are you guys doing? This was supposed to be a side project and it went sideways so fast to a poor, just like, what was it last year?

This was a side project? It was last year. Yeah, we were supposed to be an outlet like for a change of what we used to do with our other bands. And then like on accident, people started getting into it and we started like signing contracts

with partners. And then like before we knew it, we were, we were damned. Yeah. We've seen the tour bus, like, oh shit, it's gone too far. You know what I mean? I just wanted to write some breakdowns. God damn it.

Yeah. Now we're on tour and stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. I mean. It's a blessing. Yeah. Like everything that's been happening to us for the past year and a half

is like a compilation of childhood dreams for most of us. I mean, Aaron's been doing the rounds for a while. Steve has had his, like, fair share of experiences, Queenie, uh, myself a bit, Luca, a bit less. But Luca is just like, he's been, like, his growth has been so incredibly fast. Like, he was the guy that had no self-confidence in, like, being able to shoot a music video or behave on stage or speak English or just, like, communicate with people. And just intending instinctively and just putting the hours and energy into it, he got, like, I'd say much better than many, many of us in the band at doing so. he's just, he's a beast that everything has been.

I think that cosplaying Jeff Hardy was the best thing that you could have done. What happened? Cosplaying Jeff Hardy, I always say that it looks like Jeff Hardy. Yeah. Yeah, because I wear like long sleeves. Yeah, long, like sleeves. And he's got that sweet hair and he's all, he's like Jeff Hardy, man. You know, you know who Jeff Hardy is?

Of course. Yeah. A smaller one. Wrestling. Small Jeff Hardy. Yeah, cute, pocket-sized Jeff Hardy. Yeah, that's me. I got that a few times too.

You look at Jeff Hardy. You can be Matt Hardier. Matt, okay. Dude, we could be a wrestling duo. Let's do it. And then we could start our own band. And that would be a side project that turns into our main band. Yeah, and it would be called Ladders and Chairs or some shit.

Ladders and Chairs? Yeah. Did you just come up with that right now? Yeah, I think so. Ladders and Chairs? Ladders and Chairs. Is there a band called Ladders and Chairs? That'll be...

He's got the Hardy Boys. That'll be like the sickest, like, wrestling. I'm sorry, but can you go back to that photo? I mean, how do you not look like Jeff Hardy, right? So you are? Yeah, that's definitely. I mean, yeah. Please don't tell me I look like that.

I don't want to look like that at all. That's exactly what you look like. No, dude, I mean, no, they're both handsome. Yeah. And they're living legends, too. Living legends. Like, I mean, what they've done to their bodies, dude? It's insane.

All those ladder matches, like, how do you, and how do you keep doing that without being seriously injured what they probably were. Why is to having so much Riz doing it? Look, that photo, the one where they're in the red, boom. I'm sorry, but that's Luca right there. Look, I got to be honest with you. The fact that he tucks in his shirt and you do as well, it does add to it. Okay, okay, except that.

He's like, oh, fine. Sometimes you just got to accept it. Yeah. This gentleman came up to me and it was like, dude, I thought, I thought you were the bass player for Metallica. I was like, cool. You should say, yeah. I am.

What's up? So, buy me a drink. Buy me a drink. Do you have a baby? I'll sign it. I'll lean up. I mean, Rob is a handsome man. I'm not saying he's fat.

But what I've noticed is when I've been out of my diet, I'm eating a lot of pizza, drinking a lot of beer. I'm bloated. People start saying it. So I have like this automatic negative thought You're saying the Rob's fat No, I'm not No, he's not

But it's something When my feet is just loaded When I when I get a little bit I think you're saying that Rob's fat No That's that's that's that's that the headline That's it That's a thumbnail

Do one of these faces Rob's fat I know what it is Like if I get like a little bit chunky I think we list looks so like Rob's chunky as well Marker No no way it is

So I don't care about it's like I just automatically associate you're saying about that If that makes sense. Oh yeah. I don't care about the comment that no one is there's something There's definitely something here. Same person here. Yeah, that's something. That's true after a few pieces. Oh my goodness. How do you guys compare in terms of net worth you reckon? Well, I wish my net worth from the internet was true. Oh, how much is you? How many are you? I think it was Oh my God, we're going to pull it up right now. I think I saw $3 million. Dude. One of these sites, mine is something like $57 million.

$57 million? I'm not even close to anything like that. Dude, buy me a car, man. What the fuck are you doing? I want $57. That would be fine. You know what I mean? It was $16 million on one of these websites, but also you had $2.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Two daughters as well, it says. I don't have any children. Where do people get these net worse from? I don't get it. just like rough estimates from streaming numbers and potential assets it's just like comparisons you were one of the richest guitarists from the united states oh my that is

so wrong uh go up go i don't a hundred million hundred million damn dude i could fucking buy a car dude and that next website these bears aren't even called like according to Forbes so forbes has been looking into your accounts gee oh no that's pretty cool you got the IRS fucking knocking on the door and it's scary I always I always do my taxes. You got to, yeah, I got to do it. As we all, right? No matter how much I didn't make.

There's, no matter how broke I ever been or the band's ever been, always done my taxes, always get health insurance. And now you're worth 100 million. One day. Maybe it's your future net worth. Yeah. Maybe it's, uh, their, when Joe Rogan gets assassinated? mysteriously in the upcoming weeks, and your podcast gets brought out by Spotify.

Oh, damn. That's when it's happening. Oh, that is, like, kind of a worry. It's like, man, like... What, the Joe Rogan's going to get hit? No, that, yeah, with that that, too? Is that, like, a thing right now? Is that...

I'm going to, I think I'm putting a hit on him, so your podcast becomes the biggest podcast. Appreciate that. And that's how you're going to get $100 million. Okay. And I'll do your taxes. Thank you. I got you, mate.

Doing taxes suck, dude. I would know because I do that all the time as well. Do you have health insurance? Well, we're from Europe, so that's what so. It's a given. It's a given. It's just like being born here. There's not much happening.

It's just like, that's a granted. That's sick. It's cool. It's cool. Up to a certain point, though, like Americans would assume we have everything and anything for free. You know, it's just like, we have like a very hefty, comfortable. safety net when it comes to your health. Yeah. But it's not like you have to pay

to touch your baby or whatever. You know what I mean? Yeah. Of course. So let's say you need, you need, surge, you need to get your gold bite or tape, like taking out. Is that covered? Did you know that I just? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. I stayed in the hospital for, what, four days, I think. And I had this crazy room with a TV. I was gaming and I was showering. It was dope. It cost me 150. euros in total for everything. Are you serious?

Yeah. And they pay from my taxi home as well. What the fuck? And if you don't pay this 150, they'll just forget about it. Yeah, yeah. They're like, oh, we were just joking. Damn, dude.

Yeah. 150 euros. And even I was like, well, I was a bit steep. You thought that. Oh, we felt bad for him that he had to pay 150. Because like in our mindset in Europe, like, so you had to go through surgery and you have to pay for this shit. So it's a bad news on top of a bad news. That's terrible.

It's just like the model is totally shifted, which isn't very cool because that makes us very entitled. It's supposed like having access to health and just like surgery and heavy procedures and getting away with it not paying for. I guess that's why we crossed the street. So fucking, you know what I mean? It's not even looking. It's going to cost me no. in whatever happens, you know what I mean. Everyone's just crossing the street recklessly because whatever happens, I'm not paying for it.

Wow. So yeah, your surgery happened back in February, correct? Something like that, yeah. What, uh, what, was it Goldstones? Yeah. I hear that that's the worst pain. My, uh, my lady just just had it. It's terrible.

Bro. Like the first time I had two, like, I don't know what to call it. My episodes or what are pain episodes. First one, I was doing sit-ups. And it just happened, right? But I was on my own, I was just crawling around on the floor for like an hour, maybe two. Just like drooling on myself. You know, when you're so much in pain that you're just like, ah.

And the second time, we were recording vocals together at my house. And I was just like doing vocals, and it just hit me again. And luckily, they were there. And they were like, hospital. And I was like, nah. They were like, yeah. Yeah, we got to go. Yeah.

I went there. I was just like, they'll just give me some painkillers and send me away. Four days later, it came out. Yeah. But I'm glad I had it taken care of, right? Because they were like going towards my pancreas And they were like, you could have got pancreas or whatever was called So they probably had to give you an x-ray

So you know what? I mean, because they first say that's pretty common They'll send you a home with like painkillers Yeah And then like what's like, okay, so you go back? I went to the emergency room Mm-hmm But you know, you know that feeling like where you go to the emergency room

It's not hurting anymore You know what I mean? When you go to see the doctor, and as soon as you get in front of him, he's like, what's up? Like, well, I feel fine now, but earlier, you know what I mean? It was like, I feel fine. And then they just put me in a scanner. And they were like, all right, that's good. I'm going to take it out or whatever.

Fuck, that sucks, dude. Yeah. I mean, I poo a bit weird now, but fucking that's it. Yeah, so what is that, so if you get your goal bladder removed, what is like the after effects? Like, what, like, what changes? It's, does it create or it stocks, excess bio? It creates bio. But I think it stores it too.

So that's something about bile. I'd assume that if you vomit from now and it's going to be a totally different experience. I haven't done it yet. Want to try? Yeah. Beard up, dude. Yeah. Beard up, dude.

Yeah, I mean, I just feel a bit weird now. But I mean, when we're in the States, we shit super weird anyway. It's true. like longed flaky snakes whatever yeah but back home was like logs and do you know of that walter what touching your like toilet made feet that you don't know like that heavy trucker of texas

the lack of privacy in american toilets is mental like your doors are like this big and there's like gap oh yeah there's like a big like two inch gap yeah you make an eye contact with some dude ben and i was taking a shit right now my goodness in some venues you like sitting taking a shit And your head's like above the door or whatever. Do you have some explanations about that?

Because we really cannot understand what's going on. Like were you on a budget when building all these toilets because you go like all fancy and glitters? But then you didn't have like what it takes for that extra lumber piece. So like flying the lower part of the door. That's weird. I don't, I don't know. I think it's a mix of it's like who is going to the bathrooms and kicking down the fucking doors? Because they're real fucked.

It's like you got to go to. bathroom that bad he just run up and kick the door down why why all the bat the bathroom stalls fucked up yeah why because of the food right because every time i go to the toilet when i'm here it is you're just pissed it's an emergency man you know what i mean yeah i want everyone to see me shit right now so you get down the door i'm not calmly walking up opening the door undoing my belt you know it's like boom get down the door ripping everything off t-shirts coming up i'm sweating touch it you know what i mean Yeah, my second day in the USA, I had to go through the toilet like eight or nine times in the day because of phopias. He cost us.

And we could number it up to $40 because we were actually on a two hours Uber drive because we had an RV delay. And we were like two hours from the airport, what was it? Liberty, Newark to like upstate New York, two hours Uber drive. And then he had to stop us at a Wendy's. So his first experience in the U.S., in a Wendy's, was just like glowing up the toilets. And that was like that was numbered up to $30 the weight we had. Oh, oh, yeah. He swaned on bomb that fucking toilet, man.

That is in chairs, baby. Oh, my gosh, dude. Yeah. Are we looking at a toilet? Straight of a horror movie. Is this from a Saw franchise movie or is it just a regular classic American toilet? I have my idea on this. No, they're all terrible.

Yeah. All right. Subject change. No, like that was, well, one, just close it out. It's not just us. I go to France and, well, one, sometimes you only even have a toilet. So there's that. Holding the floor.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I guess French people aren't really in the best position. So what's about that? You know, you know for well, though. Holding the floor as a toilet in France. Yeah? Well, we get to know.

We call it Turkish. Turkish toilets. But it's like, it's getting like more and more sparse. I haven't seen that in a while. We still like, we have walls. we have a bit of privacy We don't see each other's feet Yeah, that's cool

We don't want to see that Well, I think this is a problem with venues If you play any venue Oh yeah I have a video of me handing The buyout money to the guys Like just above the door Because it was so low

I could just like Yeah, yeah, please Yeah, okay And one more thing about the toilet So what, who came up with a concept With the Downer Okay, so Downer was my original idea for the name of the band

yeah for the name of the band okay and then like there's a rapper right I think an Australian rapper called Downer with a zero and a three and we were just like okay let's hit up there management or whatever and they were like call your band Downer and we'll see you they were like all shit threaten to sue you yeah and like if you do it legal action

straight away we're like all right fucking straight away so it was like last minute change okay what else I was like 1056. There's this band called Villains from Chicago who did an album called 10 Code and they had a song called 1056 on there. I don't think they're together anymore.

But that whole Chicago sound, you know, like sworn in, I think Barrier, Monsters, there's like so many good bands that came out of that area and that era as well. Yeah. That inspired like everything that we do. Like, you know, if it wasn't for like sworn in and bands like that, I mean,

Dude, I got a jam sworn in, dude. Dude, remember the. The death card album? Oh, bro. Dude, sworn in. I mean, I can't remember. It's been a long time. Yeah.

They had such a, like, influx of such, like, awesome bands that, you know, bands are trying to sound like that now, and that was happening, like, 10 plus years ago. Yeah. And I was just, like, right, 10.56. Not ripping him off. It's more like a homage, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like, I hope those guys know that that's why we've got 1056. Cool.

Yeah. And it's a sick-ass police code as well. Yeah. It means that crime scene, right? Or a corn. Death by suicide on a scene or... Yeah, people under the influence on like public ways, sort of. So it's just like two subjects that really match anyways the themes we're getting into in our songs.

And it writes real well on the T-shirt. Yeah. Also, I think. Yeah. Genius. It rolls off the tongue. except when you're getting interviewed by like French people.

We're here with 10 shangamstang... 10 times. Dude, looking up interviews of your band was driving me insane. Was it all French? Yeah, it was all French. Here's one. Oh, shit, it's in French.

Yeah, it's that one had captions. Like, dang, dude. What was your home venue in France? Home venue? Yeah. Don't really have... We don't have like nowhere to call like home as an HQ. I'd say backstage.

Backstage, yeah. Backstage. It's near the Moulin-Rouge. Okay. And Pia is just like this small. You got a bar. And then like at the bottom, bottom of this bar, there's like a kind of an underground music venue.

Backstage by the mill. What's the cap? Yeah, this one. Yeah. The backstage Btm. That we did our first like official Parisian headline show there. Yeah. And it sold the fuck out and we were just like, what's going on?

Really? Yeah, this is so cool. Like there are people, there are a queue outside. It was, yeah, so cool. And that's also where we do our production rehearsals. Like once a year, we get allowed two days of production rehearsals, and that packs the show we're going to play for that year. Yeah, because let it be known.

Every since we started being a band, we probably packed three days of rehearsals total, ever. I mean, we can't be ours. We just don't want to be honest. We're rehearsing on tour. Yeah. We just want to play shows. So let's just, okay, so this is a way to be in a band.

So I'm learning. So let's just skip the rehearsal process and just go straight to the stage. Yeah, but it's a mindset and a matter of habit. We've got so many of our pals that rehearse once a week, like religiously. For us, it's just like either we have something very important to do more like production side. As for the rest, we kind of trust ourselves. Also, we're playing very ignorant music. so it's low

low IQ music it doesn't like require that much groundwork before being able to do it properly I guess not to do respect our music you guys

you guys are just naturally sick are you guys drop A it's like different kind of so it's a drop A but it's a different kind of drop two

yeah we're tuned to drop A but we have like the E flat E flat E E flat E downstream as well AEA E flat E flat E you can make anything sound beautiful with this tuning it's all these

and stuff that you got the second minor that's the only thing you can do with only a bare chord you know you can like just like slide in yeah and it would sound like so like fucking like this okay with only one finger so it's like a modern day like open tuning yeah uh don't even know it's a closed one yeah you can do anything with it you really cannot play anything anything else but 10.56 on that shit. Yeah, trying to jam on the show. It's just like really... Yeah.

Absolutely not possible. It's just like you have the drop one, then you have the Satan chord, and then it's all this ends. And that's it. It's like you'd look at the guitar and it goes, Bum! Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And that's it. And on top of that, we use the pitch shifter from the Wami D as well. So we have songs in D or E, yeah. You know, but getting down, like in the, maybe the 8. string thing. But just keeping one guitar,

we can have like tons of different drop tunings. That's pretty convenient. I was just listening. I was like what? Because then I saw an interview was drop A. I think it was you actually. And then I was like, drop A. I'm listening

to the songs. I'm like, what? Yeah, but there's always an octaver running. So yeah, so you have an octave lower going. Yeah, it's always like 50% And we have like an octave distortion as well that does apply distortion in an octave lower. I don't even know how it's working.

But it makes it sound more... By the way, he produced and writes everything. He's like, I don't know how it works. It's sort of a mistake that worked well. Something that I learned from him is that heavy doesn't mean low tuning. And I learned it from 1056. Because I was the same as many people.

You're in drop Z, whatever. Well, we play in drop D sometimes. Like, boy, it's in drop D. It's actually really low. Like, double drop D. But it feels so, like, heavy and low that, yeah, many people are, like, they're just, like, wondering, like, if we're tuned, like, very low. Actually, not the tone.

That has the time. Drop A. Everything comes from the tone and what he managed to do. But he has no idea. He doesn't know. Yeah. guys find this sound? Hello?

Like how, yeah, what? So how it started, right? Sorry, so how it started, like me, Arno and Quentin

got in a room together and we like wrote Diazepam, my first song. And it was like, okay, hello, let's go.

Bam, bam, and he was like, okay, all right. And then he wrote this awesome riff. And then we were like,

okay, that sounds kind of sick. And we sent it to Luca, and I don't know what he did with it. He's going to take, instantly. He's going to tell you right now.

I don't know. I had like the skull of the song, you know, and I tried to pimp it. I just wanted to impress the guys because I wanted to be in this band and he told me, okay, make something good and I tried to do so. And as I came out of that.

Oh, yeah. All the sound design and stuff, that's why I did. And I was pretty scared about this song first because, yeah, we were that, like, the three of us and sounded like pure shit because no, it was actually really really. But it sounded like Imyo. No, but, yeah, maybe.

I don't have any, like, production skills and stuff. So it was, like, very, very raw, very, like, and it doesn't sound good to me. And I sent that to Luca and what he did after I was, like, fuck, I love this song. But I hated the song at the beginning. I was like, no, this shit. It's like, boom, bill.

But this guy goes, like, a fucking magical thing on that. Yeah, it's just like, he sent us, like, snippets by snippets in like proportions of like 10 seconds and just like these 10 seconds we couldn't get over it. We kept listening to it. Just like what the fuck has happening? Because Queenie sneaked in Luca

unbeknownst to us in the band. We were just Aaron, Quinny and I, we didn't want anyone anymore, anyone else to be involved apart from us at the beginning. And then Queenie sent us a bunch of like rough demos and was like,

dude look what I just wrote. And I was like, this fucking sick, what's happening? And just like, well, now that I know what you think about it. I got to tell you about my friend Luca. And at this point, we couldn't say no. So we had to meet the guy and then it's been, yeah. That was my technique to get in on the band.

That's genius. I really wanted this guy. We were at a friend's birthday party. And everybody was showing his stuff. And a friend of mine told me, like, show your stuff. You have to show it. I was like, no, I don't want to show it. And I did.

And Quentin came to me like, we are forming this band. Do you think you want to come into the band? And I said, yeah, we're not. Okay, send me the files and I'll make them believe that it's me. So they will listen to him. He even pitched you in? Yeah.

Wow. I don't think you needed to do that, though. I would have been like, oh, the 13 year old kid? Fuck yeah, let's go, man. Queenie, know we're a bunch of narrow-minded, like, confident bunch sometimes. And maybe he thought he'd have to go over that barrier. him yeah that's what that's what that's a good friend is like he sometimes you know your friends dynamic you can you kind of okay wait maybe by just make it more

innocent he'll be more guy sometimes you got to open the minds of your bandmates and sucks okay it fucking drives me insane very beginning of the project so i didn't want to to to instantly going like hey i want this new guy to be here can you listen to what he's doing so so i was like I will do it that way. Maybe it's going to be easier. And it worked. Everything in this band happened in this like similar fashion. That was the four of us.

And then when it came time, Aaron was still working at a bar by then. And he had a friend of ours, Nico from Novalists. He had him listening to what then became Diasa Pem like Lucas version. And this guy drunk at a bar at 2 a.m. was just like, let me be a part of this band. And I'll sign you to my label. and that's how we got signed to our current label excuse me yeah he listened to that song

he just listened to it once at the boy he was like all right cool you guys are signed and it was just like a little snippet of what he'd done yeah around shots at 2 am at the bar Aaron was working in and then we got a label with Nico from Novelist and then he couldn't really get involved with that band because it was busy with Novalist and he's got like a leader mindset so he's not like 100% in control

he's not really interested in so he just like very kindly stepped out which made room for Steve's which is our like brother and best friend collectively and then on the same kind of accident we got a book an agent

and another one and it's just like we it feels like we tripped over a stick two years ago and we're just like on the verge of falling for the past two years we're just like things get happening on accident every since Why does everything sound like an accident?

Happy accidents, though. Yeah. It's like, I don't even know how I found this tone, but I got it. Even the music sounds like an accident. Yeah, we were like, put it out, but, you know, we've known each other for a long time. We've been on the road together and stuff. And you meet those people, right? You know, so it's a lot easier to contact, like, a Marco from avocado booking and be like,

yeah. But what's funny is he messaged us. It was like, Yeah, he came to us. Yeah, can I but you guys? We're like, yeah, yeah, whoops, you know. And then JJ came along, JJ Cassier, who books his in the state. Mm-hmm.

Like our record label guy, owner, Andre, was like, I'm flying to the stage to talk to some people. And he was like, meet JJ. And JJ's like, you want to work together? Yep. Yeah. It's too easy. Yeah. But I guess like the biggest takeaway from all this.

adventure with this band is that things start happening once you stop actively looking for it and you just focus on the love of your craft and just like doing what you do because we all spent like 10 years doing this before and things were a bit harder to come by and I like on retrospect I think because maybe some of us were like trying to force things to happen or connections to be made and from the moment we stopped looking for this because this was just a fun little project for us and we're doing out of pure love and the need for an outlet. And then since like all the the best thing in life, love is the main like driver behind this. Like if you look at cathedrals in Europe, this is for love of like a superior being. Anything like beautiful or or outstanding comes out of the labor of love

beyond everything. And this was a labor of love and that's where shit started happening. Once we stopped looking for things in particular and just did things out of shit. your love, right? Yeah. That's what that. Look at a date. Like, damn. Yeah.

He's beautiful. Sometimes he speaks and it's fucking poetic as fuck. He knows how to speak. That was very thoughtful. That was, that was two drinks, I know. Launching him three drinks,

Arno. Do I need to catch up? Shit. Yeah. Whoever's closest to the fridge. To whoever's closest. What do you guys want?

We do have Pago. All right. PAYGO. Fuego. Everettor Pago? Yeah. Is that that is, um, oh, fucking hell. Uh, ICP shit.

Yeah. They spray on the crowd. Yes. That's what, that's what we got. Is that your shit? Are you guys, like, sponsored by Fago? I wish. I'd be pretty sick.

No, we just, we just have him here. Just like, content. Can't really talk about it, but we had a potential guest. I want to make sure they're there. Oh. Okay. All right. Oh.

Well, maybe I, maybe I spoke to a certain person who maybe. Maybe. Sick. Yeah. Okay. What kind of... What kind of guitars are you guys using? We play with Vola guitars.

Vola? Yeah, Vola. I never seen him until I started doing... I started looking at him. Yeah, I think it's a Chinese brand. No. Chinese and American brand? Nah.

No. An American brand run by... It's a Korean guitar manufacturer that makes the guitar in Japan and the USA. But... But it's a Korean and... Chinese. You told me that now?

No, Korean. CEO is from Korea, South Korea, and Hong Kong, I think. It's not... It's not Chinese. No, they're... Amoratian. Awesome guitars. And I've been working...

Sounds like you guys can't tell the difference. You know? Oh, I can. I can. Yeah, it's awesome guitars. I've been working for them for the past like four. five years now four years yeah and i get the chance to to create my my own signature model back in 2018 and we are playing the same guitar for now and he's getting a brand new one mine is getting

done but for now we are using his signature models there's ones yeah that's the japanese version of it like the and you have like a u.sa custom shop version that like redict has fucked look like a very old Fender, Stratocaster, you know. That's cool. Just like this one. Wow. Yeah. I like your signature.

I like, I like, I like, I like the, I like the, just a, just a look of it. It's classy. You know, are you just running fenders now? Yeah. I love, I love, I love, I love, I love him. Because even your signature, you had that fucking shape, right? The telly shape. Yeah.

Yeah. I just always, always liked it. I mean, I'm born, I'm born, I'm born raised in Corona. So that's where the fender shop is. So kind of look at the draw of life. Yeah. You know, it's like, oh shit. I live down the street from the greatest shit ever.

But it's also under the same warehouse. They have Gretch there. They have Jackson. Yeah. Chaville. Yeah, Chaville, boom. That's crazy. But yeah, so I saw these guitars.

I'm like, damn, what? They're like on steroids. They are. That one in the middle is taking a puff of meth right now. You have the bare knuckle on that? right? Yeah. We have like on our personal, but the Japanese version

you don't have. This is like Volostok's models. This is like Volostok's pickups. Okay, cool. In the USA version, we have like the Jogginaut and Trilogy Suites. Nice. And the brand of, is that, is that passive?

Yeah. Passive. Yeah. Okay. I'm really not a big fan of active pickups, to be honest. Okay. Sorry for that.

The perfect band. This is actually the reason why you guys are here today. I need help finding a great passive. pickup and I don't know where to start. Well, what do you search for in terms of fitting? Long story short, I used to guitar on a cleansing that it was a no brand, but it had a Seymour Duncan and passive pickup in there. And I've been chasing that tone, literally like my whole career.

I really love the passive. Nasgole and Sessions. I just don't know what to... Yeah, because it's in Nesgole are fucking dope. Yeah. I love them. Which ones? Nasgud and...

In Sentience. From Seymour Duncan. Nazgol and Sentience. Yeah, that's a neck and bridge and you have like a pig. Sentient. Sentient? Sentient. I need a place to start.

Nasgol. This one is really, really sick. And of course, one of my favorite one. If you want to upgrade into the boutique kind of pickups, you go to Barnacle. And try the Silo. It's the Rabia Massad signature pickup and sounds fucking dope. Depends on what you want to say because like the hamburger is like, the single coil is crazy with the silo.

If you want more straight-up metal sound, maybe the like the painkiller or something like that would be better, I guess. Oh, yeah. Very much more. I kind of like the naid bombs as well. Yeah. For my signature, I'm getting war picks.

Talking about toilets for. Which one? Are we going to talk about drums at some point? Or can I just leave now, guys? But you already dropped the mic earlier. You said this very beautiful, poetic. Yeah. Did you drive?

Yeah. Drummers of singers always want more the moment. You had a beautiful moment. No, that's true. That's true. What's, uh, what was the, uh, it was, uh, a, uh, a Nazgul and a sentient? Yeah, but it's the neck.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. Cool. So it's one, it's one of bridge and one a. Sentient is the neck. Yeah. And now's good.

The bridge. And you have also the Pegasus on the bridge that's like, less hot of output. Okay. So you're trying to get some of that cleansing. in time back in there i've been trying literally like years years it's funny my my whole life's been a big circle just looking for that just a big stupid circle that album though it's i want to do more like it's it anyway it is you like you don't you know what you don't know what you're doing and you

try gold and you don't know how you how you did it yeah you have no idea like how do how do how do how how do how do you do that yeah it's like well it was by accident right accident you guys did it you guys did the same thing yeah now we're gonna try and do something cool in action it's gonna sound like total shit

there's a magic to not knowing exactly what you're doing yeah yeah and that's why I love Lucas approach like when he's doing music not knowing anything that's what I'm doing he would like click a button it

would be like oh that sounded cool stick that in there so should we clean it up no no no no it's move on whatever and it's just a big Tetris game of Tetris of turd sounds and it sounds fucking awesome.

How do you, how does your band approach two things? This is what I'm probably most curious about your band. How do you approach, first of all, anyone that listening and watching seriously turn up this podcast and listen to this fucking band because I was like, I was listening to you guys. I'm like, what? First of all, it's insanely heavy.

It's insanely heavy. but and like that you guys also did like the whammy stuff good it's just like man it's extremely heavy plus like you come in with like the melodic choruses I was like damn this is fucking sick

dude this is great thanks man it's cool now I was like how are they writing songs how are they how do they even start to write a riff like that usually it often starts with the ambience

and what we want to say with Aaron what Aaron wants to say, yeah, ask him. And I try to write something that matches what he wants to say. Yeah, but the theme comes first, right? Yeah. He'd be like, what's the song going to be about? I'll be like, okay, I want to say this. And he's like, okay, leave it to me.

Really? Yeah. And then he sits in his room for a day or two, and then he sends something. And I'm like, yeah, I don't even start from the riff. I write ambience first. Atmospheres, like. Yeah, like atmospheres and stuff. First, I try to build something. and when I have the mood that I want to get,

then I write maybe a drum pattern or something. And then I add the guitars because like there's no real riffs actually in our songs. It's just like rhythms and atmosphere, I guess. That's it. So you start with Aaron will come, you'll come in with like this subject matter or whatever like. Something like, yeah. Could be, is it like a...

It's not always the case, but that's how we will. want to do it and how we do most of the time is it uh is it a word you have is it like like a sentence you have is it like a me like a like a a a skeleton of the song that that you have mostly it's like a traumatic event or something like that i'd be like you know this happened to me whatever how many years ago or you know i went through this or this kind of feeling and i'll like tell him about it and he'll be like okay and he'll like just turn that into a the feeling of what I was feeling at that time. And that's like a whole new level of expression, you know.

That explains your band. And communication too, right? Having that, having the confidence in your brothers and your band to like say that kind of stuff. And then put your trust in them to like turn it into something cool. So you have like a, everyone is, everyone is aware of the intention. Yes. What's happening. Yeah.

One of the first thing. we said together as a band, one of the collective message that stuck is just no compromise. And that goes for everything. So good. There's like no direction, no aim for success. Like whatever we do, we do it uncompromised. And even if that like drives us to our loss or demise, then at least we would have done everything the way we wanted to with no filter or no, no trying to please anyone else but ourselves. It's just like that goes with lyrical.

that goes with music production, that goes with the way we're trying to handle business. It's just like no compromise. That's the only rule we have to stick to together. Yeah. Well, that's a great rule. Yeah. I mean, we've all had to spread our butt cheeks at one point, you know, in the industry.

Yeah. In our separate lives. Still doing it. Still getting fucked. Yeah. It never ends unless you're smart and aware of what's actually happening. You know, it takes a long time. Well, we're wearing fucking.

foot plugs now. Good. That's, okay. Oh, but there, I'm gonna get one. Bud plugs are not

merch cut proof though. No. What's your, it's funny. I don't know why she even talk about this, but yeah, I was,

I've been like thinking like, man, I kind of, should we just stop touring for a while? Like a touring strike? Yeah, no,

no, oh, you could, you could do that too, but man, it's like, just, you guys?

Just to that, just the, just the temporary expenses. I'm curious how we guys are at with like, And what are like the merch cuts out there? I know like Live Nation did like this thing recently. Yeah.

Yeah. We're going to experience that benefit for the first time tonight, actually. Potentially because all the venues even ran the Live Nation, we've been doing this tour. We're not part of that program because there's a small amount of venues. Merch cut for one is a first for us being from Europe because there's no such thing as merch cuts in Europe except for festival. But they provide a service. They sell your much. Well, then a merch cut makes sense.

But here in the US, it's just like for a small square footage and a table that they take 20% off of you. Obviously, that makes no sense for us. And obviously, there's going to be like counterparts and consequences to this like apparent blessing Live Nation is giving right now. But just got to wait and see what it's got to be about, I guess. It's good that, like, attention got brought to that. I think the Alpha Wolf might have had something to do with that, right? Bad omens too, I think. Bad omens, yeah.

Like, yeah, some bands of, like, they just like... Just come out forward on stage, just like, fuck your merch. Go ahead and say it, yeah. Fuck you, you know. I heard that they say something, Alpa, well, they said something about they were, like, there's one many you did like 60%. Yeah, and they went on stage and they were like... It's like, too, like, you're losing money.

Yeah, of course. It's crazy. Festivals we played on this tour, because being foreigners with state taxes and everything, we've been taxed up to 67%. We said no. So at a festival, I should not name. We sold for a certain amount that was a pretty cool amount for a festival, and we netted down to $170.70.

Oh, my fucking goodness. Yeah. Yeah, we're basically not. For exposure, being like first tour in the U.S., like, well, it's cool if some people are wearing a 10, 50, 6 t-shirts. Because even for us, even for us, It's still a cool thing to see. Of course.

But on the monetary side of things, it's just like, oh, so today we lost 2K. Cool. Fuck, man. I think it's really important for people to be aware of a... I'm not sure you guys are under a contract or anything, but, you know, you got to read your contracts. And those little percentages here and there with the T-shirts and shit, fuck. Yeah. It could fuck you.

Because first, you got to... One of you got the merch bill. So there's that right out the top So you actually pay for it actually get it in your fucking hands And then there's the merch cut Yeah And then if you have a team like a manager There's that's 15%

Yeah At the top top So if you if you fuck up With that first percentage If you sign a deal or you're talking to your merch company You have a certain percentage that's not in your favor It's like just just like the thing Everything after that

It's so hard. It's you're just going to get constantly fucking punched in the base. Yeah. Yeah. You're just going to get constantly. Yeah. Constantly. Oh, yeah.

That's what people need to understand regarding like merch prices. We're obviously, bands are the least happy about having to up their merch prices. Because if I go to any department store, 40 bucks for a t-shirt, it's going to be way above of what I'd be used to be willing to pay. Mm-hmm. But then if you can't like, like production costs, car processing fees, merch cuts,

state taxes, whatever, whoever's commissioned, then you're left to just a couple bucks margin on a $40 t-shirt. It's just like ridiculous because merch... It's a fanza again. Fuck too, right?

Oh, yeah. But we don't want, we don't want them to pay. No. Exactly. And there was, this is, this is a sound guy.

I'm not going to say his name, but he's on the circuit. It works for a big band on the circuit. And like I see people like that often say shit. Like, you know, if you accept tips at the merch table, then you're a broke-house bitch, band or something like that. Yeah. It's like what of a fucking choice to do.

You know what I mean? Even to be it, it's like 10 to 13,000 visa cost and the flights. And then you've got to buy the merch. And I don't think people know how like much band's. get shafted. Oh, yeah. There's no taboo about it. We shed 80K before stepping foot in the US to be able to tour here.

And we're not being fancy. We obviously didn't go for the cheapest things. We wanted a comfortable vehicle. We wanted a sound guy, a media guy, and a driver. And that's it. And this visa, flights, merge, backline, that's 80K for us to be here for six weeks. Yeah. So to break, even with that.

And easy, yeah. When you're going to be cut out of like how many person of every T-shirt, shirt you sail for 20 square feet in a shady venue. It's, yeah, obviously we have things to say about this. Of course. What keeps us here? Because you, because we could read anything we're online. We will go to any venue and you get the, you see the percentage or whatever.

You get home after being away from your family or for a month long and then you get the bill where you're not making. But you do it again. Yeah, we're still doing it. Yeah. What is that? Is that feeling, dude? What is that? I don't know.

What is that? We're here among brothers. Because being on stage is cool. Exactly. And we're here among brothers. I've been asking myself this question for years. Yeah. We've been doing this shit for years.

And I mean, we're going back home. Fuck. Fucking tired. Social batteries are down. We can't even talk to our own families when we go back home. Because we're always with people. We're tired as far. After five days home, we're like, okay, let's go again.

Let's do it. Yeah. Anyone else born? Did it earlier is to do it again. But there is that little thing that happened on stage. When you're on stage, there is that what I call the magic part of the stage, which is literally like between you and the crowd. And there is something happening right here that I can't explain that drives me back again and again and again. Stop hitting the table.

You're stuck hitting the fucking table. Steve. I got to fucking drive the point home sometimes. Yeah. But that's it, right? So why do we spend 23 hours a day doing stuff that we don't like just to go? To the exception of today that it's only 22 hours because we love being here, right? Oh.

Yes. It's love, but more it's like, man, it's like it's like transcends love. Yeah, it's no crazy. Yeah. What else could bring us at the other end of the world in California talking to you today among brothers other than doing this? Like it's not a fucking Thai suit 9 to 5 that's going to lead us to doing this. We get the best lives. Obviously, it's a blessing.

There's no other word. I wouldn't change it for anything. No. It's a disease. It's a fucking virus though. Let's be honest. I mean, we're cursed. We're cursed with not.

not willing to do anything else but this. Like sticking her ass in a van, not being able, like, skipping showers for days on end, fed on water and Chipotle. Like healthy, that's the healthy version. Yeah. Well, this is somehow, and for myself at least, this is the only moment where I feel like I'm doing something for the world. I mean, for the world.

For the outside world, for someone. That's the only moment where I feel useful, it's when I do change. Yeah, exactly the same. Let it be known that Steve's is a top-rated cyber security officer. He can ruin, like, the entire world's bank system at a finger touch. Don't say, FBI is on my knees, no. Well, there's something worse than that. Yeah, it's not doing it.

Right? Yeah. It's like a weird. Well, it's that feeling when you get home as well and you're not doing it and you realize that no one calls you anymore. It's called depression. Because you're not fucking there. You know what I mean?

No one's hitting you up anymore. because like oh should we call Chris up? Nah, he's probably on tour. All right, let's just stop calling Chris, you know. Does that happen? Of course, man. You get home and you start, oh, no one wants to hang around with you. Yeah.

But they do, but they don't, you know. People move on, people think you're busy. Your favorite restaurants close down at home. Oh, no. Weddings. I think my lady's starting to accept the hard way, like, you physically cannot be at weddings. Physically, like, you're like, you're, it's funny.

because like your brain will let me make it happen but then you look you see dates yeah it's like literally can't uh i've never been to a wedding funerals what really i've never been to a wedding once yeah been to a funeral though not one one one wedding not even my mums because i was at a show no and i hate myself for it and to this day really yeah she got remarried fuck you're not there you know what i mean It's the worst. Oh yeah, exactly the same. You did the same thing.

Yeah. You were your sister. And I was on stage. I was just like, what the fuck am I doing? You know? I should be there. Felt awful. Yeah.

But there's that thing that tells you... It's a part of it. Go do the fucking show, man. It's going to be cool. It's going to be beers there or whatever. I actually missed the last day of my second battle. Like one of the person that was the most important for me in my personal career. professional career got cancer couldn't go to see him because we're doing this

rehearsal he died the next day and I couldn't see you know because of that shit but it is what it is oh because of the fucking bum bum bum bum yeah that's why we that's why we're angry as well at the end of the day it's taking a lot of our lives yeah fucking angry on instrument. Yeah, we can all agree that no one that's not people that are not part of this grind can hardly understand and like there's no blame on them. They cannot understand what's going on in our minds and lives as in why we choose to do

what we do and what it implies. Like people fall in love with the idea of it. But when it's just like materializes, there's just a whole other level of, um, events and truths that are happening around it that people cannot really get a grip around. And once again, not the blame to put, but just like building relationships and families and keeping it up with your friends and family and people understanding around you is, it's never given. And it's hardly ever happening because they cannot. Yeah. Understand what's happening. You can feel that. You know that. You've,

you've been here like longer than us. You definitely know this better than anyone, how hard it is to try and convey what you're experiencing, doing, being about this life to people that are not into it. Did you just promote the tour that we're on? That's why I was talking about tonight in the observatory. Show up people. I got sponsored by Cause Light. Fuck, yeah. All you got, your lifers, you know, a mad respect to your band and mad respect to the sacrifices

that you continue to make. I'm a respect to you, man It's cool And that makes your music Makes a lot of sense Thanks man You're a living legend man I'm proud to be your mate

For so long I'm glad to be here man Thank you Remember back in the day I got really sick And you guys bought me soup Really? Yeah

It was in Worcester at the Palladium And I got sick And I think it was Dan Kenny He bought me suit You gave me a bed on your bus And I drank suit there Oh my God I was like,

that's sick. Thanks, Guy. We'll close it on either low note or a high note. Vasipam. High note. What about it? Where's that all many of you?

I had trouble with a pharmaceuticals and stuff. Depression, anxiety, and, uh, yeah. And I think that I was going through like a really strong addiction. well I know that was during the end of betraying the martyr's cycle he's not he's really

this is what we're talking about yeah and I was yeah just going through a really really strong benzodiazepine addiction and just the way it made me feel and yeah

it's just a lot of a lot of really really negative thoughts and that was just what I wanted to talk about I don't know what is that what is that what does that stuff make you feel like? Diasopam?

Yeah, and then, and then what are the thoughts associated with that? Let's put Xanax and Diasopam in the same. Okay. Same shit. Got it, cool. Do you know how that makes you feel? I've taken Xanax, yeah. I used to take it like in 2009, 10.

It was like a couple of years. We're flying everywhere. We'll take a lot of Xanax all as a band. You time travel and you put alcohol on top of that. It's dangerous. It is, I haven't done Xanax and well over 12 years. I'm terrified of it.

I'm terrified. Why? It makes you not give a fuck. That was it. Well, basically that was it. I was like, that's important. That's what you want.

Yeah, well, that was it. I was just like, yeah, so anxious about everything. I've always been an anxious person, right?

But it just got to a point. It was crazy. And I was just, yeah, just eating anything that made me feel like I didn't give a fuck. And always. drinking and then not giving a fuck about anything and just having like yes societal thoughts a lot and uh and that was kind of shit that i couldn't speak about with my old band

and what's funny was like we were writing the last betraying the martyr's record together i was still in the band and we were doing pre-production in like some remote place and i would like do some between the martas vocals and shit and then on the slide I had the diazepam instrumental, and I was just like writing lyrics and then recording that in the studio with VTM. I was like, this is what I want to be saying right now, you know. And that's, yeah, just that feeling of like that whole situation was just, yeah, just not feeling very good, you know what I mean. Mm-hmm. And unfortunately it makes it great music.

That's the thing, though, right? Fucking hell. Hey, I want to kill myself. Here's a sick-out song. Right? That's literally how it works. It's where you're, like, how you make your demons make other people feel good. It's crazy.

It's a trip. I know what Anna was saying earlier, right? It's like some people don't want to hear, you know, bands being like, oh, everything's going to be sick, you know, everything's going to be fine because of this. People don't want to hear that shit. People want to hear, I almost killed myself because I feel like fucking shit. And they're like, oh, yeah, me too. That's a good song.

how it works. That's how it fucking works. It's always fucked up. But also because like for once it feels genuine because how many people tried and market on the idea of depression, like this has been all over the place for the past six to seven years like

Tumblr kind of era. Tumblr core or people were capitalizing on just like feeling like shit. Oh, depression sucks and everything. But how many of them have like reached the depth of it? Like there's almost no way out. And for people to actually

hear someone that's been there and can relate to that and that's been telling things as they are probably felt like a relief to some people and it's been like an like an added unexpected perk that we are I guess most thankful for knowing that people like have been able to see that as some sort of relief to finally hear someone telling things as they are down there I guess it's cool. well it's awesome that you've you've taken that and made it into a sound and uh you have a group of five guys that could you know listen it's cool it's that's hard enough to be in a family it's hard enough to be in a band it's hard enough to be married but even but things are even harder to find that's something for people actually listen to when you talk to them it's cool

yeah badass well and here's the high note you guys run tour right now is this your first u.s tour yeah yeah sick until us is celebrating 10 years yeah of other record isn't that mental we were on tour with them 10 years ago it's so weird together me you right all-stars tour that was all-stars yeah 2012 and until we're on that yeah here we are still old as fuck boom it's still it is old as fuck shit Oh, God, man. It is crazy. Yeah.

Yeah, so the tour's going great. Come to a show. When's this coming out? Let's see. Not this Monday, but the next Monday. So Mike. Come to the last show of the tour then. So where?

Where we at? We'll be. Yeah, come to Orlando. Come to the show before the last. Yeah, sure. Come to Orlando and Georgia. That's sick. Both do them in great, great markets.

Yeah. Sick. Well, Aaron, it was honored to reconnect with you. You know, I'm fucking proud of you, man. Thank you. You guys are fucking sick, man. And you guys come a long way already. Thank you, man.

It's badass. It's nice. It's nice to see you, you know, alive and well. Cheers, man. Love you guys, man. All right. Thank you again. Thank you.

Thank you for listening. That's all right. That's it. Later. True, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.