Garza Podcast - 115 - ESCUELA GRIND: Gateway Grindcore, Karma, Tour Injuries & Future

Episode Date: February 4, 2024

Garza sits down in-person with ESCUELA GRIND. https://www.linktr.ee/escuelagrind SPONSORS: Click this link to purchase from Sweetwater & help support the podcast: imp.i114863.net/rnrmVB ESCUELA GRIND is: Katerina - Vocals Krissy Morash - Guitar Thomas Sifuentes - Guitar Slampoetry - Bass Jesse Adan Fuentes - Drums CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Looking Forward to Meeting Each Other 02:31 - Katerina’s Neck Injury 04:20 - Hostile Security Guards 08:45 - Isopod 10:27 - Adding Isopod to the Band 12:00 - Mushroomhead 15:10 - Jesse Living in Dallas, Playing Drums, Getting Burnt Out on Music 19:55 - Katerina Moving to Dallas, Joining Escuela Grind 25:00 - Krissy Leaving New York, Joining Escuela Grind 30:38 - Being a Gateway Band for Grindcore 37:00 - Discovering Heavy music 38:00 - Simulation Theory, Quantum Physics 42:06 - Life is a Video Game 46:30 - Denny’s Smash and Grabs 53:22 - Karma 54:30 - Krissy’s High School Experience 1:03:50 - Hot Topic 1:05:00 - Passing Flyers Out to Promote Shows 1:07:20 - New EP, DDEEAATTHHMMEETTAALL, Writing as a Band 1:10:11 - Fender Mustang Amp 1:13:42 - Subconscious Wiring 1:14:45 - Family Cats 1:17:00 - Missing Family on Tour, Sacrifices 1:20:15 - The Future of Grindcore 1:24:00 - On Tour Now!

Nobody's talking shit. Oh, Sleep token is totally ripping their masks. See, yeah, they want. So, Slip token could really. For sure. I want to play with Sleep Token, too, though. Has someone can heard that yet? Yeah.

We'll make the meme. It will exist before this even comes out. Has someone compared those masks yet? Yeah. Yeah. Really? Whenever I need music gear, I always go to Sweetwater.com. If it's mics, headphones, or studio and recording gear,

sweetwater has. you covered. Next time you need any music gear, support the podcast by using the link in the description and comment section below. It's Fullergrine. It is an honor to meet you in person. I've been hearing about your band for quite quite some time. Thank you

so much. So it's cool. That's awesome. We have to your band too, so. Well, not only since, not only have we been listening to suicide silence since like the first drop ever. We're not, we're not doing this. And you've been watching

your podcast and I'll meet. people I'll see people like that that like you know I met Jesus piece for instance you know we tour with them and yeah you know I watched those videos before I even got to hang out with them and I was like dude I watched those videos and kind of got inside you get inside you know inside of just like fucking the sick

bands that we that are in our circuit kind of we kind of like outlines their personality a little bit it's just cool I don't know it's cool thank you for having this ears thank you I've actually in my in my slow brain I've been trying to hang out with you for like quite some time, but just when, like, when you were in town,

I was not in town, I was doing something else, it always happened. Yeah. But finally. Fuck yes. Well, that hurts my mind, dude, honestly. No, it's cool. Thank you.

Fuck yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. We definitely imagining, like, being here singing at this table, like, you know. Whoa. Yeah. Yes, tight. It feels exactly how I thought it was.

I imagine seeing this photo here, Imagine seeing everything on the table, like how it is. And, yeah. Now we're here. A little less car over us. I imagine it being this nervous. I imagined it being cool. Imagine it's sucking the whole, the whole in-person experience.

It's awesome. Well, I'm honored to meet you. I just met your band. Five minutes ago. Fuck, yeah. It's cool. Especially you. Oh.

Dude. What? What happened? Ah, so. I'm like, I'm front and I don't have the brace on right now because I don't want that to be my, like, internet legacy. However, I So in Dallas, we played a stage that was about like four inches tall

Oh my goodness And the pit was going and I decided since I'm sure it was my time to get up And see the people and they provided me the lift and the support to get up there But they were not paying attention to the row behind So I just flipped straight over backwards the front row landed on my head launched. Oh yeah. I was gonna say there's a gnarly video of it. Hey Chris, can we get a rewind?

Instant replay. Instant replay. Yeah, look at that. Oh, look at that. I think someone was just trying to flex and just like launched the... Yeah, what the... So the stage went up and just like tumbled back. Probably this tall. Scarlett took a tumble that day.

She did. Oh, bong. Bunk. Just a little bunk. So. That's fucking terrifying. Yeah, I saw stars for a minute. So you actually saw stars.

You fell five feet. Tweety bird. Tweety birds. But, you know, when you got that adrenaline, like, I was like, can we finish the set? And then people were like, you need to go to the hospital. Like, I had to bump all the back of my head. That was quite large. So I ended up in the hospital.

Oh, yeah. Sorry. My family was there and they were just like all like, like, the concern for all of our family and friends was just ridiculous. It was. So was my family. But it was scary. for a second. Very scary for a second. Your family was like sheep hurting

me outside to get into a car and go to the hospital. These little Mexican ladies just like surrounding and pushing like. There was like these asshole security guards there that push Chrissy. Yeah they grabbed me do. I was so I have already attended to Katarina.

We've got them water and everything and I'm... So I guess they just can see there was already a space made in front of the stage for me to get back up and this security was outside. They were not present. whole time. There was only two hired for the day. There should have been more. Yeah, it was just crazy. Like, I have no clue what was going on. So, like, I don't remember if I even pushed back, but, like, they grabbed me and then, like, everyone else is trying to, like, get

the security guy off me. It was so hectic. Why they grabbed you? I don't know. I don't think they even realized I was playing. They, like, like, make attention to anything going on. I don't know. Here's the thing. It's in Deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas. Yeah, they deal with people. I don't know if you know this about Deep Ellum. I think the majority of musicians at tour and play there will know that that place is like one of the busiest areas at night for Dallas, Texas. Yeah.

And it brings in everybody. And I don't know if you know this about Texas, but people in Texas love guns. So people get shot a lot. And this is higher security, you know? This isn't just security that works at these venues, you know, all the time. They don't know what the feel or the vibe of this room is.

Oh, no. It's like the worst people to do security. Yeah. And they got Glock's on them, you know, in case something goes bad. So they're treating to respond this way, I feel. So we understand. The one dude trying to like be like, wow, I'll tease you if you called near me.

And you're just like, what? He punched the band Bongar that's on tour with us. He punched the singer in the face. It was actually kind of funny. Yeah. It was crazy. At that point, I realized they were having fun with this, you know? Like they wanted, they walking all of this to happen.

Intimidating people. Like we were loading and they were literally a foot away. Like standing behind Tom, like waiting to. Like, breathing over us, literally. so it was just very well. It was a very uncomfortable situation. I'm good. Okay, cool.

Actually, hey, Chris, can I, can I have a beer? I'm sorry. Nice. Yeah. I'm sorry. Beer and monster.

That's a crazy breakfast. That is psychopath shit. No, I like it. I just realized that. That's, no, I like it. Oh my goodness. I have a beer with you, dude?

Yeah, same, actually. That's a good. I was not drinking because you weren't drinking and now you're doing it. We honestly, so that's a good conversation. We don't drink a lot. Oh.

Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Yes, please. I think we have the opener on the table somewhere, I think. I'm pretty sure. Let's get this one or that one. Would that be disrespectful if you put ashes in that? I don't know, yeah.

Do you want me to? If you get bad luck for the rest of your life, that is not my fucking fault. We'll stick. We'll stick. No, no, no. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Oh, no, please don't do that. I still want to instantly my shockers are a lot I still don't know how to that I still want to know I don't know I don't know I'm always prepared

we don't drink a lot but I'm still prepared no I don't think I'm gonna fuck with the universe like that honestly I don't have the guts for that oh oh oh pass your round boom boom

bhaasia open up your beers we do a quick cheers hell yeah God damn. This is psychopath shit. This really is. The monster.

The monster. The monster with the postage is crazy. Yeah. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Boan apple fucking tea. Do I do it with water or is that a thing?

It is a thing. It's okay if it has liquid IV in there, which it does. I hate you. Cheers. Liquid IV for life. We're good luck. Can we do a quick intro? Absolutely.

Absolutely. Corporal wants to go first? Sure. We'll go this way. I'm Katerina. I'm the vocalist of Esquela Grind, and we're here in Santa Ana with the Chris Garza podcast. I appreciate that.

Hey. I got the intro going, come on. Tom here, I play guitar with the Squyla Grunt. Happy to be here. Chrissy Morash here, I also play guitar. Ryan, Slam, Isopod, and every other stupid name. I forced this band to listen to Dragon Force and Mushroomhead. I play bass.

Jesse Fuentes, drummer, producer extraordinaire. Meister. Super producer. Sick. What is the term isopod mean? Okay, here we go. I'm curious. I made a song about it, actually.

It's pretty funny. But it's like a football-sized roly-poly that lives underwater and that's just it. It's like hyperfixated on one day. Oh, so it's a little guy. Yeah, like a big old little isopod. If you type in, if you type in isopods on Rule 34, don't put on Rule 34, but. Is it a bugger animal? It's a crustacean of the deep sea gigantic variety.

Look at that. Wait, they're cute as fuck. Wait, that's, yeah. They're kind of cute. Why is it in a bucket? Because someone's probably going to eat it, a piece of shit. They're marinating it. Very, like, Geiger.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but you look horrified. No, they're like that. Yeah, I love it. I love it. But is that an animal? Yeah. It's like this fucking, it's fucking big.

It's like a bionicle. It kind of looks like a bionicle. It kind of looks like a bionicle which just makes it erotic. I have that plushy right there. Does it bite? I mean, it probably does a lot of things. If I saw that in my room, I would... If I saw that in my room, I would die from happiness.

Like, that's all I would want. It'd be my pet. That is not the room. peaceful at all. No, it's cool. They're chill. You just, you can, like, there's people that walk around, hold them, like, little babies. Aw. Aw. Can we see that?

Hey. I put it in the... Isopod in a stroller. I can't believe what. I can't even watch. Oh, no. No. That's not real.

Oh, you have to type in giant isopods. Top five pet isopods. Yeah. Oh. Like a little lobster tails. This is... Okay, well, Ryan, you were... They could kill sharks?

What are my... You were a pleasant surprise. So what's the pleasant addition to the band? Yeah. It's a new one. I don't know. I think we just hung out, like, a few times and, like, playing festivals and stuff together.

Okay. I think I made some post or some story like, damn, I'd love to have these second guitar parts live, and he's like, I'll do it. Here we are. I was like, for real? I'm like, all right, well, learn the songs. I asked me if you could learn the songs by ear, you know?

And he said yes. I was like, well, that's cool because I don't want to teach anyone music anymore. And he did. And he's learned the songs when he's here, yeah. Sick. Manifesting a bunch of weird shit. Before everyone to listen to Dragon Force, a full album the other day. Okay.

There was something. This fucker's been talking about mushroom head since day one, and we got a fucking festival offer for Mushroomhead. Nah. Kid, just keep manifesting, whatever. That is God talking to you. It's not to play a mushroom head. You like it or not.

They're a sick band. All great guys, too. Oh, that's cool. I would love that. Their mushroom is Ohio. Yeah, I think they're... Sounds about right. Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland, you're right, yeah. Yeah. Ohio. It's all eight. I know my mushroom hair. See, what does Wiki say? Them in sleep to them. Ohio's got some...

It's potent over there. Yeah. What is that what you say? Boom. Cleveland. Boom. Cleveland is the city. The first couple albums are honestly so good.

So they're pre-send. Sick? So sick. So what's your fascination with that band? Because you can be the first person that comes out and says, I love mushroom heads. It's actually kind of funny. My dad was like one of the first bands my dad showed me growing up. He'd be like, well, I don't know my show my kids.

some weird shit. So we put on that. Where you're from? Wilmington, Delaware. Delaware. Yeah. Sick. It's not. That is kind of sick.

Yeah, but that's a true like East Coast person just hates where they're from, so it's just like, okay, I get it. Typical. Yeah, he just showed me that, and then kept showing me, like, more and more things, like, would be like, what about dying fetus? What about devourment?

What about this? And then I just started, like, the young age is just listening to all that, and I just went, here I am. And you just stuck with... Well, I like because most people, like, frown upon for some reason, but I still think it's cool. That band definitely earned their respect in time. Yeah. I think they're fucking sick.

Like, they really, like, it took years for people to take that band seriously. Yeah, I bet, yeah. And they have, like, their own fan base. I've seen it. Like, this was years ago. Like, they were headlined in the festival. I think it was House of Shock and Mass. Oh shit.

And, yeah, people stuck around. Like, damn. It looked cool or cool guys. Like, damn, okay, this is... There's some, like, hard-ass mosh parts

in, like, some of the early shit. There's, like, one song where it's got, like, an 808 drop in it, like, right before, like a crazy breakdown. Then it goes into, like,

a two-step. Oh, wow, Pecepsie. Oh, wow. Rest and peace. Oh, yeah. Rest and peace, right? It's closed down,

correct? It has. You played the last show. Yeah, I played the last show. The last one? My other band, internal bleeding, in a hate breed was like the last show they did for like a weekend Halloween I think

a Halloween I'm pretty sure it was Halloween weekend it was oh yeah is that then now yeah that's 2023 you can't fuck a mushroom head you can't fuck with mushroom head oh wait if you talk shit I will nobody nobody's talking shit oh sleep token is totally ripping their mess yeah 100% you see me for sure I want to play with sleep token too though has someone We've heard that yet. Yeah. We'll make the meme. It will exist before this even comes out.

Has someone compared those masks yet? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're not the same. Have I not seen this? Yeah, it looks like exactly the same. And everyone was like trying to like make fun of mushroom head.

I'm like, what they did steal. But it brought mushroom head back in a different light though because the sleep token side. They should be good. It kind of reminded me of like Hollywood Gundag too mixed with mushroom head. Oh, shit. Yeah. They look like getting me back. Shout out to a sleep token.

Shout out. Oh yeah. Shout out, Hollywood undid. Yeah. This is taking a turn. I love it. Is that sarcasm? No.

Is this sarcasm? I don't recall seeing this. That's cool. Hey Jess, so you're... Those are beautiful. Are you... I mean, you're not from Dallas, right? But you're probably around...

I'm from Dallas. I'm a inner-city kid. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Oh, shit. I'm an actual inner-city kid. Unlike many of the people that are... essay they're from Dallas and art from Dallas.

Exactly. I always have to ask, like, it says the city of I know is part of like around. No, hell no. I'm proud of it. From there, that's how you know I'm texting. Exactly. And I want to ask you a question. So you said you were like burnt out on the scene because every, because it seems,

it seems like every, it seems like you were very wanted like drummers. It seems like drummers were scarce in Dallas. Am I? Am I? Am I wrong in that? Maybe. There's definitely, I definitely stopped playing drums because, like for a while, because there was another drummer that came to town who was better than me. It always happens.

And I played guitar like in a bunch of bands after that, like five bands. Sick. Because people found, I was like, whoa, I can play guitar in a band now. And nobody's like, you play drums. Yeah, you know, it's like, that's how that felt. It was cool, actually. It was cool. But yeah, I did get burned out.

Everybody was asking me to be a part of their bands. And it was just like, I was just like, yes. Let's have fun. Guys. This is where you're wrong with saying yes too much. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

How many bands were you went? It was like five bands at a time. Five is way fucking too many. Burnout. Stop playing drugs for a while. Just hung out my friends that were musicians for like a few years, a couple of years maybe. Didn't do any bands. And then like, I wrote some songs in that drummer that I was, that was like hanging out with all the time.

Like he was like, I'll play in a band with you. Yeah. And we wrote that band. The band is amygdala. You can find it online. And it's not the other amygdala from San Antonio, which we're cool. Yeah, they're also. It's like the itonal grindcore amygdala.

So I wrote like five songs of that music. And then people were like, whoa, fucking Jesse can play guitar. I didn't know that. And then like people were just like, hey, you want to play? And it was just my friends, you know, like really close friends that I was around with all the time. So I was just like, I just wanted. They're my family. at the time you know all you know in every music community they're your family so I was there

every day every music community I was like at a show as often as I could be at you know I'd actually really have didn't have to pay for him because my friends always just like like Jesse come on hey Jesse come on oh hey Jesse you're on the guest list today I'm like cool I'll come I'll bring wheat yeah people just knew that I was broke and I didn't have like gear and people just was just like support me in that sense like like oh I'm Yeah, I have my drums. You can just play my drums, you know. Oh, I have this amp.

You can just play my amps. Or here's this, here's this guitar, Jesse. Oh, here's this guitar, Jesse. Where's my guitar? Did you punt it to fucking buy something for your girlfriend? Oh, sorry. I did. I hooked my homie back up.

I went and like, dude, here's the guitar. I was like, I'm sorry. You go. You know, that's a little roach house that for all the rich kids for some reason in town, like to hang out. My mom was roach-filled house, you know, sick. Wow. Yeah, I loved my community.

That's why I said yes to everything. It was just like a family It's just like a people that just Fucking hated being home You know So like but eventually it did burn me out I felt like eventually in drugs You know drugs will burn you out

100% So eventually I was like damn If I keep this on I'm gonna die So I just How old? 26 Yeah That was like that's time to go

It's time to go It's like I can't be around this anymore I quit all of my bands Well I had a few left And those are the bands That I wrote music for Okay And I try to keep it together

but managing your own band from the distance where all the band members in one place and you're gone, that's impossible because they'll mutiny your ass and fucking... They'll start their own bands

using your formula but they won't go very far. So it's better to just like always keep it close to home and like... If you're going to move or quit bands, like quit the bands, you know?

and let people do their own thing with it and just meant better to just keep relationships happy and people happy. And I'm so happy that we're here at this point right now because this is for me, this is a milestone hanging out with you and talking to you and being able to say this maybe to like an audience that's listening.

But yeah, thanks. It's a trip for me to talk to you. Oh, weird. Cool, man. Yeah, dude. So when did you get to Dallas? So I moved to Dallas in 2011. Okay.

I'm from Western Massachusetts, really small community, barely a scene. I guess, like, the closest area people are familiar with is Albany, New York, which is close to where Christy's from. And there is, like, a scene in Western Mass, but it's like people will associate it with people like Jay Maskis and the Pixies and stuff. So it's like a totally, it's like an awesome. Art-se-y. Art-y, kind of punk-adjacent, but not really. And we had, like, Crem-O and stuff, but there wasn't much.

So I moved down to Dallas. I went to school and was working down there, and I met Jesse through the music community, mutual friends, and we moved up north together. Yeah. Wow. Were you trying to start bands when you were in mass? Or no?

Yes, not very hard, though, I'll say. I was a very, I was a person that doubted themselves a lot back then. So I didn't believe I had it in me. And any time that I had tried, I'd kind of like put it out there a little bit. And when it just wasn't received, I would just back off immediately. Okay. No, okay. Maybe it's not for me.

But I did go to like hardcore shows and stuff. So like that universe back then was very not catering to someone, four foot 11. like me so good people but I just didn't see myself in the bands okay yeah so well fast forward 2011 you you meet yeah you meet oh yeah I mean Jesse and it's kind of it's kind of crazy like like the timing where you were already burnt out but but seems like but you started another band that would eventually become this band correct oh you know what what it was I started booking shows because I went to college for like the first time and I was like a dropout and I learned how I can write an email and the first email I sent

with some man the first email I sent was to Chris Olish for mammoth grinder and he said yes to a show but they actually didn't play but uh like my band my band release her headlined it and it was so sloppy because I was trying to like manage this first show that I had ever booked and it was a success like everyone in the community was like like like wow I can't believe this is your first show and like I brought together like no one had really brought together like the death metal bands and the punk bands and the hardcore bands and the grindcore bands they're dangerous yeah it's dangerous at the time they hated each other you couldn't fucking do that shit but i did it and then like people came through and they like were like fuck it and there wasn't like huge but it was like different for dallas

in the time and i think like that's around the time that you know like my old friends from like elementary school were coming to shows and like katrina was friends with them for some reason And that was weird. And, yeah, and, like, we all, we're all, I would just book shows, and then we just always be there. And then I started getting back into the band stuff. Like, I always had, like, bands that were, like, there, I guess, but we just didn't do anything. Anyways, sorry. Fill in the fucking.

But, but, no, because the reason why I asked that is because, what was the question? I got you. I got you. Don't worry. I know how to make this thing go around, you. So the reason why I asked you, because you mentioned that no one really took you seriously prior. Oh, I mean, I'm not putting words in people's mouths, but I took it as that. Maybe they didn't intentionally mean it that way, but I took it as that.

So I felt that way. And when I moved down to Texas and I was working my ass off, I was doing service industry, going to school. And I saw what Jesse was doing, both in the bands and, like the ambition with booking shows and like I don't know if this is the right word but that that's attractive you know like to see someone trying to make a community out of so many disparate parts it's not easy and coming from where I came from which is a really small community I'm an only child like I didn't have anyone that I went to school with that like this kind of music like to this extent and so to see someone trying to bring communities

together was like something that piqued my interest because it was so tied to like what I wanted out of this music. I wanted the community. I wanted that aspect. I wanted to belong and to and to like say what I wanted to say. So yeah, did I ever tell you that? I wanted to be like, I wanted to be like Timmy. No.

I like that. That's cool. That's cool. I wanted to be like Timmy Hefner and like the Power Trip guys because like they were all like killing the game and Timmy Hefner was like a crazy with chaos and chaos. and he kind of just did that, you know? Like, I was just like, whoa, like, he's, and he quit. And I was like, what if I can, like, help continue that?

But it just didn't pan out. It didn't pan out with me involved, honestly. But I'm involved now, which is cool. Yeah, cool. So this timing worked out that, uh, yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. So weird.

Chris, how did you, so you're from New York? Yeah, Troy originally, New York, yeah. Okay, cool. So, so what brought you to the community? So, oh, I mean, um, My friends had told me about Skuyla. I was listening to the band before I even joined it, by the way. I was a fan of this band before I joined it.

I believe only, I think two splits were out, a demo. And I think I was just in the right place, right time. I was struggling, dropping out of art school. I was going to Rogue Island School Design for like six, seven months. And I can really know what to do afterwards. I had some friends that really wanted to make, like, just really fast songs, almost fast core, but like Troycore adjacent music. And just knowing a couple people that book shows locally,

locally Polly's Hotel, which closed recently. Shout out. Do we want to? Yeah, I don't even know if I want to, but it was a grimy bar, you know, on Central. Let's do it. Shout it out. Pretty dangerous to be around, but, you know, it was a great, I've seen so many great bands. I've made so many friends there and, you know, shout out Jay Crack. It put me on to, you know, honestly, trying to play shows with these guys when they were trying to come up from Ithaca and New York.

You just moved to Picksfield, I believe. Yeah. And I took a chance and I went out to one of their house shows. I think I got to their house before they even did. Sounds like that. I was hanging out at their house. And Jesse had shown me a demo from the indoctrination LP. and I obviously

was showing a lot of interest and I wanted to hear how this stuff was made and whatnot and I think just being around you know I was a face that could play a guitar you know I was you know

I didn't have as much of a stees I feel as I did now I had to learn a lot That's not true That's why I picked it Maybe I'm too humble But yeah no I think it was right place, right time

y'all need a guitarist I think y'all was a little busy and I think you had two guitarists at the time too. You needed someone to play bass, so I was playing bass for a little bit. Yeah, we kind of did just the three-member thing for a while, actually, but I don't know.

I definitely, I think I was needed at the time, so it's crazy being here now. I really didn't expect it, but I just remember singing on my friend's bed and Jesse singing me a message. It was pretty short paragraph, but I mean it took me a long time even just to send the sentings and yeah I know it's like all the gears fell into place I remember feeling kind of like lost with everything

and yeah here we are now it's kind of yeah I get chills from it that's crazy making me swag a little so I was a fan before I even was in this band I think that's really cool you're definitely being humble yeah no what I mean from me and Jesse's perspective like one of the things that was most exciting about you and like where we're from is like you really took the time and energy with everything that was going on with your life you like you were working so hard to learn the songs you were in the hospital practicing on guitar i was yeah wow i had a asthma attack and what happened um i was you know i was dealing with a lot like smoking i was smoking a lot of cigarettes um you know i was getting checked out for a congenital conditioning with my lungs um i still smoke

today it's not a good idea and I know my parents hate it but um you know I was you know it was loose really stressed out I wanted to make the show it was a benefit show for a Bob bogus of Drop Dag yep and um yeah yeah yeah we love Bob so much and um yeah um yeah wow it's uh I did work pretty hard to to get there and um I really want to get real bad and I still do I think just as much um I was definitely you know I'm still trying to find myself. You know, I'm a transgender woman. It's not, it wasn't easy before COVID to find a lot of people that were dealing with the

same things as I was in the, uh, the hardcore scene. Um, I can't say that's the same today. Um, it's, I, I say Albany's going through like a renaissance of, uh, you know, um, hardcore and young kids everywhere right now are I think kind of going through the same thing I was going through. And, um, yeah, you know, it's, I felt less alone when I joined this band. Wow. That's what we all want. It's like enjoying a family.

For sure. Yeah. We're definitely a family now. Oh my God. I think we know each other. I'm like the bastard uncle. You're my pseudo-son. Wow. Jesse, Chrissy, and I lived together during the pandemic. For like three years. It's like, let's get COVID together.

Yeah, string up. We did. Yeah, it happens. We did a lot with our time, you know, outside of music, too, as a band, and still being a band. And I think that was a formative part of how we function now, too. Yeah. Hell yeah. Just sharing a van, even, you know.

We hung out a lot during COVID. Yeah. Yeah. Just watching, like, I don't know if you remember all, like, the Gulch and tsunami footage that was coming out, like, at the time, you know, like, and they're just blowing up. And we're just thinking, like, how do we get people to move like that, you know? It was like focus. We're focused. We're studying, you know.

It was like analyzing. Let's hone in on this. Esquilla grind is a very focused band because it seems like out of the gate or like you're focused on like we want to be a gateway band for grindcore. Yeah. Exactly.

It's great. It's funny because of the what. It's funny because like I'm in these grindcore groups and these there's like our fans that just know that it pisses off grindcore, like true grindcore dudes when they see Arden faces. So they post us like multiple times in these groups.

Then these kids are just posting other bands that they think that you should be listening to. So I think it's amazing that we're able to be still a platform where people can learn about grindcore. It's pretty sick. Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing. It doesn't throw me off, actually. It's just like, wow, this is exactly what it's about. It's a goal of the band.

We've said this like, I put it in these words. all the time, like, I want to be a band that you show your little cousin to, like, get them into this shit, you know what I mean? Like, we all had that cousin that showed us, like, something heavy or something. Yeah, miss piss here. Yeah. Like system of a down or, like, you know, slip knot, you know. It's like, and that holds a special place in your heart forever. And I, like, I just want to fill that with positive shit. Yeah. That's a goal. So it's nice to, uh, it's not, it's not a goal anymore. It's happening. Oh, too. Thank you. I'll, I'll say this is, yeah, We're experiencing a moment right now.

This is real life. Yeah. You're doing yourself like this is like, you have like a weird moment. Like this is the present moment right now. I do that every waking moment. It's happening, dude. Especially on this tour that we're on right now. Get back center to center.

One hundred percent. Sometimes some people could get there easier than others, but other people you kind of need to stop your brain. It's like right now. And then you like feel, feel your body. All right. I said enough. It's easy to get a hit of yourself, you know what I mean?

It's just like when you're given something like that, it's like, whoa. You're a perpetual state of confusion. Yeah, it's like, it's like, I always say when we're in Europe, it's like, damn, this is like constant culture shock, but it's still the same, it's in the same way whenever you're in a band and there's just like a different tier of like people coming through and how you manage that. That's crazy. It's a crazy thing. It's weird. Well, what, it's new for us? What comes with the gateway also comes with the other side of like the coping, figuring out new coping mechanisms?

Like, you know, a lot of people will like your band and other people will be like, this is a real grind core. Oh, yeah. Oh, that doesn't bother me, I think, because we've got, that's just the beginning of the band pretty much. Well, oh, cool. Yeah. So, like, we've been leaning into that since the beginning. Great. It's just, it really comes down to seeing the statistics.

Yes. I'm like band camp, I guess. Like, when I saw people will just like, fuck this band, fuck this band, yada, yada. And then I see the plays going up and up. And I'm like, well, more people. That's a good indicator. And then I was like, well, it's time to go on tour, y'all. And we would just go on tour for like four times out of the year at least.

And then we would see a return. And I'm like, what the fuck is that? Like, this is weird. I've never been in a band that's done this, that's had this happen. Even like the one band I played guitar and that was signed a relapse. That didn't have this kind of return, you know? Yeah. And it was early in the band's.

career. So that was the indicator for sure for me. I was like, no. And then we would get opportunities like from trauma where people would come up and I was like, well, I've never had a vehicle that's providing me opportunities like this. This is weird that this is a band

that I'm playing blast beats in that is providing that for me. So it's like, to me, it's just like, well, why stop? You have to just keep going. You know, just like it's like a punching bag or like One of those little... Roll-down things.

Not to, like, to our own horn or anything, but, like, recently one of the magazines, like, held this thing, like, where you were going to vote for, like, who the breakout artist is going to be next year. And, like, I guess we were voted in the top five. And, like, the write-up they wrote was hilarious because they were, like, well, you wouldn't really ever think that any grindcore band

could be, like, the next sleep token or whatever to bring them up again. But, like, if any band's going to do it, Esquilla Grine's going to try. So, like, that was really cool to see. The ambition, they see the ambition that we have, yeah. That matters to me. I don't know.

I know it's like, there's the dichotomy in the punk community where it's like success is viewed as, it's such a hard line to, like, straddle, like, sell out and success and gateway versus true and all this. But since the beginning, like Jesse said, We've always gotten both sides of the coin, and so I think that has always just pushed us to do more with it and try more and try more and be more expressive and take more risks. And I feel that's important with what we do, especially with Grand Corps. This is a genre that's been around for a while.

It's a genre that's very resistant to change. And we are bringing in lots of other genres to it and lots of different people to. it and you have to be true to that and you have to have ambition to do that. So I don't know. It's not for everyone. I get that but but that's our vision. That's sick. Yeah you can't impress everybody. I don't want to. Hell no. Yeah you guys just bring us something new to the table. Yeah you're right like the the the grind core scene is it's very pretty set. Oh yeah. So yeah you your band kind of came out of nowhere. Hell yeah. And then now there's just now there's a whole gateway.

the gate's open. Fuck everybody. It's kind of how it is. I mean, we fucking broke down the gate. It's not real death metal. I remember all that. I remember as well. I remember those specific conversations too, yeah.

Yeah. People in the scene and stuff. Definitely, my first band is definitely some fucking, like, definitely one of those two of Side Silence, for a band's, like. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, what a long way you like you become like Chrissy. I mean you were talking about how you were you would watch obscene extreme videos on

on YouTube and then that's how and that's how you found grindcore. Now fast forward you it's wild. It's wild. You know I have stories of going to Armagedgan Records in Providence and like I was literally buying records from Ben. Not knowing that it was he was in Drop-Degg. like checking out their band stuff. Whoa. I was checking out nails and all these bands and stuff.

And then I discovered OEF and like, you know, I was watching all the Hellfest videos too. Like I see those in the same regard. And then we ended up going on tour with Napalm Death and playing up seeing extreme, you know. It's like, just even seeing one of the videos they put together of us recently at OEF, which just felt like unreal.

Yeah. It was very cool. Pretzel guy. Turby. Yeah, shout out, Cherby. Shut out of Kirby. Isn't that crazy? You're like just watching videos.

Oh, shit, those grind core cool. And now, look where we're at. It's weird. Life would just take you places. Hell yeah. It feels like a simulation, honestly. It does. It doesn't feel real.

I'm pushing on my eyes constantly. Do you believe in that? To a certain degree, you know. Oh, yeah. Okay. To not go insane. But, you know, in the same way that someone could use, you know, religion as like a

you know a path you know I'm not going to do with my head about it but it feels like a lot of things there's so many variables in the world where I feel like some have to be attached to each other in some regard that you have no control of you know what I mean

yeah we talk about a lot of this kind of stuff quantum physics stuff like I don't know that's stuff that me and Jesse talk about like at the kitchen table like every morning I'm a nerd I think that's why we're here maybe Tom talks about this weird, like, fragmenting, like, aspect of, like, existence and, like, how fucking... Let's go, Tom.

Let's go, Tom. Come on. Be here now. It's just a holographic principle, I think, is... Oh, here we go. So, if you have a piece of a holographic material or something, as small as you cut it or dissect it, into the tiniest piece, it still is going to show... the main picture or the main whatever it's portraying so like you know uh i put a tom on the spot yeah yeah you really did no but basically had to do it to him just uh just uh yeah you you are

a part of everything else kind of thing so we're in a holographic principle Chris, we got to look that up, too. Get nerdy on this. Hologramic principle. Greg Braden. But yeah. Yeah, so like, I see that with being in a band. I mean, there's so many parallels, but like...

I don't know. I can't even read this. I can't read that shit. I'm too dumb for that. The holographic principle stays that. I am too, honestly. Hey, Ryan, Ryan, can you help? Help me out here.

Yeah, here. The holographic principle states that the entropy of ordinary mass, not just black holes, is also proportionally to surface area and not volume. That volume itself is illusionary. I don't know what that work is.

It's a fake word anyways. And the universe is really a hologram, which is morphic, I so moronic, I guess, to the information inscribed on the surface of its boundary? That's the most complicated thing I ever. There's no question.

I don't know what that means. In my entire life. There's just no separation. Like, yeah. A slit. Yeah, see. Holographic universe. No, it's like, it's getting at that, it's getting at that, like, quantum physics shit that we love.

Like, you can go as big as you can go or as small as you can go. It's all, like, made of the same. Macro, micro, inner, outer, all the same. You know, I fuck with that slit experiment stuff. Y'all heard of that stuff? Yeah. Where the dude is like, two slits. You flashed.

a light in it and then it leaves two shadows of two slits, right? Only when it's being observed, but when it's not being observed. Oh, I know. It goes like through the electrons being shot through two slits when it's not being observed. It goes like in nine different places. So like, you know, things react based on how you expect them to react. Like I was telling this full he got so shwasted the other day, but I think he hung out with some homies that like last time they saw him, he was shwasted as hell.

so they got him drunk as fuck because they wanted to see him like that again you know so it was like their expectations of him were to get wasted and for them to like probably do whatever yeah throw up on people

yeah just to watch them throw up and stuff you know so that that's how I equate it and I'm like damn that that's the experiment shit is on something because people do react how you expect them to react sometimes

you know it's kind of like that's how I see shows too when I'm playing drums I'm just like hey you know just get their attention and they like look at me and I look at them and I'm just like I expect this and they go.

Whoa. That's some fucking attention right there. We had this experience like a denies last night. Jesus. Like this dude that we treat we treat going out of like on tour like a video game sometimes and like Jesse pressed A on this dude.

No no no no. He pressed A. I couldn't not press A. I couldn't. You know the video games where they kind of come up to you? When you walk in the Pokemon Tringers and the battle starts. You know? Yeah. I was like oh I can't I have to press A to get to the next part of the game.

Excuse me? Okay. Okay, so what? When people interact with us, like, randomly in public, it's like in video games where you can press A and interact with them or don't press A and ignore it. You know? True. We put a A too many times.

Well, this interaction last night, like, was this old man who just saw me parallel park, or just parking with our van and trailer, and he was like, you did a good job, sonny. He was like, I used to run an automotive company, and you did good. great, here, I'm going to do something for you. He talked about to happen. And he just does caricatures. And he said, I used to work for Disney and Universal Studios and yada yada. And he asked me where I was from, and I told him I was from Dallas.

And he literally started naming my neighborhood that I grew up in. And I was like, whoa, this is creepy, actually. But this is, like, way too coincidental. So I was just like, yeah. You're like, all right, continue. Continue. Okay. And then he comes and sits down with us at Denny's.

Oh, I sat down with you? Across the table. And he just, I just kept going. You were just on my Instagram. If you look on my stories, you can see the post I made of the caricature that he made. He gave him,

you gave you a frame and everything, right? He gave you a frame. Yeah, yeah. He did give you a frame. That was very nice of him. You can hang it up in the trailer. Something. No, that's not me.

Wrong. Ramexkin. Park, park, park. Something likable. Well, anyways. Top left. He did a caricature. And he said he did a character of Jack Ruby,

Willie Nelson, and shit like that. Our tour manager was talking about this fucking... Oh, what is this? That's me. That's Jesse. Jesse's beautiful profile. That's pretty sick. He drew all three of us.

No, I got to see y'all's. Yeah. Yeah, I don't have the other ones. They're in the car right now, but... You better frame those. Oh, yeah. Oh, you can't get you frame. Here's a picture and here's a frame. Yeah. It has like a hanger and everything. That's a great

Denny's experience. Yeah. Right? Yes. We've had we've had really terrible Denny's experience. Oh, it was that too. No, it was amazing. It was a little life training a little bit, but he was like, it was like almost like he was an energy vampire, but he was putting it into the caricature. Wow. It was pretty wholesome too because he was like, I haven't talked like this and so long. But he was grateful. He kept talking. Yeah. He was mad cool. That's cool. That's cool. We made his night. Right. Maybe he's weak or a year. Maybe he'd be live. You might have saved his life. Then our tour managers just kept pushing A too much and went down a crazy rabbit hole.

There's that too. He's 76. Seventy-six. Yeah, it's got to give that a little, it was all right. His wife thought he drank too much, but he did not. That would actually start in the conversation with us, and we were like, oh boy, it's not going to be there. That was the first few lines and I was like, damn, we're going to be in. We're going to be rationalizing this guy's alcoholism at denies, like all night.

But it was nice. We loved him, though. Yeah. Was it one of the Denny's that had, that served alcohol or no? Oh, yeah, no, it does. What? Did it? Yeah.

I've never. I've never. You forget. You forget. You forget. Some Denny's serve alcohol. Oak. You forget.

Some Denny's serve alcohol. That's dangerous. Imagine if Waffle House did that. If Waffle House did that, it would be dangerous. That's really impossible. I don't think they exist anymore. That's no. Alcohol and Waffle House, that's this.

There's already too many fights there. There's already too many. It's like, would throw up so hard it would be awesome it's like that that's like that's pressing like the a button like every night every night every night phone boom bite bite bite that's fun too though it's like if you gain HP from it or XP from it Dennis is either really sick or it's a terrible idea yeah oh yeah no we've been robbed no one to get the appetizers we've been bipped oh yeah what's bit

I mean. Smash and grab. Yeah, smash and grab. It's like a natural thing that just happens in this place where people need money, you know? People just break into cars. And you don't get punished for it really. Wait, wait. It's like operations there.

Yeah, people break into cars and take things. And they don't get punished for it. But they do, they do get punished for it. But it's like, oh, you know, it's worth it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we, this was.

Socially acceptable. We parked our band out of Denny's after a show. And we played it in Oakland. and we parked out of Berkeley Denny's and they got security guards there and everything watching the parking lot and one of our old band members left something on the seat and you know just smash and grab

and the waitress comes up to us was like y'all in the big van and we're like yes and she's like oh your shit's gone like basically what she was in like yeah it was pretty stressful at the time yeah it wouldn't be stressful now of course but yeah I think we're

mentally prepared for it now no we're careful No, but that happened. Yeah, it was like right away. Yeah, Denny's. Shout out Denny's. Shout out Denny's. So would that fall into the category of like you break the window,

boom, boom, in and out. Yeah. So that's bipped. That's bipped. Yeah. I mean, people have gloves where they have tips on them so they can just press into the van and grab it and leave. It's kind of insane.

It's probably karma. I used to do that when I was teenager, whatever. I'll be watching videos on Instagram like all of these like this is crazy you're in like an open like parking lot is sunny outside it's like at it's like a I was like a oh no like some like makeup shop or something yeah it's like hit hit some car window boom grab grab shit and leave did I'm like what is going on out there bippin dip they're they're bipping out there dude yeah dude a shirt a shirt straight straight bippin just straight bippin oh that's it's it

Bip and Diffing. When you bip, I did it. We're condoning this. Hey, don't target us, you know, target other people. Also, also at the gas stations.

Someone will be pouring gas. They'll look the other way and someone creeps up in a car beside them, either opens up the trunk or at the window, boom, when they're out. And a person's still right there.

That is fucking crazy. Yeah, that shit is crazy. You can't even mad at that one. That one's like, damn. Pretty sneaky. Well, I like watching our own video, I guess. It's like, whoa. Yeah, watching on video is cool.

Until it happens to you. To you. Yeah, and you're fucked. Content is content. Sometimes it's like, why do I watch this? We do watch this stuff. We do watch it all the time. Watch your place.

Get lost. Shout out to doorbell. Doorbell news. Get lost. Hours and hours of entertainment there. And we watch home videos of people getting robbed. Like while we're eating in the van, you know, eating like fast food, we'll just put it on. Oh, he's looking at the bips.

YouTube and eating. Oh, fuck. He's in the driver's seat? I mean, that's skillful, though. It's kind of just, uh, it's kind of like. It's an art. And also the fact that they're longed through. That really shows the Wild West vibes that we have out here in the Western civilization.

It's actually kind of sick. The European minds are also, you can't hear. People in Europe are just like, whoa, America's crazy. like that. And I'm just like, well... It's like a GTA online server. Yes?

It, you know, I think I had the secret to not get bipped. Yeah, what's that? You just leave your car open. Yeah, I just let them open to the window and just... Well, some people do that in San Francisco.

They'll link their trunks open. Yeah. I did that at my old apartment. Yeah. Like, for real, like, singing like, yeah. It's like, it's like, come to my car, see what happens. Damn.

No, that's true. It's got to be preemptive and just know that there are hard times. And if you're there, to be prepared. Yeah. Yeah. It's like,

or the karma in your life will build up to this one moment. Yeah, exactly. It's funny. We got our gear stolen. This is like back in the day

in 2000, fucking three or four. And to to compensate for that, yeah. There was, it was in the same neighborhood as our previous bass player

that played on the cleansing. He said there was someone that there was a band there. They had a mason boogie. Yeah. And he fucking walked right up and took, took that from someone's garage and we just got jacked and we jacked someone else's head.

You know what? But karma though, karma. Instant karma probably got it. Because that head took a shit and my PV's on tour took a shit. So I always look back on like, well, we stole this guy's stuff. All your shit, bro. Stuff fucking neighborhood shit, those tendencies. Could happen.

I learned a lot from karma and that like, it's a span of like two years from our shit getting stolen to the Mesa break. to my shit on the road like just I said well we was real I I said yes I personally said yes to stealing this amp from price of some broke kid yeah and now my book on P-Bs I cost more than that mace ahead yeah yeah yeah karma there you go it's fucked up yeah it's like it's a full circle moment you know I mean it's I mean it sounds like an episode it sounds like TV yeah it's something I mean when you're hit it. I mean, you can't process thoughts. You're, you're stealing stuff. You're, I don't know. So you're around the right people, got you, got you the right way. Yeah.

It's like if there's people doing bad shit, you might be around some back shit, do yourself, I feel. It's all nurture, you know. It's why I never hung around Mitch. Oh, really? Fuck, nah. The way. Yeah, he was straight-edge, but all those Frit-Dage guys, dude, they were, they would do other stuff to overcompensate the fact that they don't drink. they would go by the freeway

and start throwing golf balls and cars and shit I'm not I'm staying home or I'm working because I was a dishwasher at a restaurant for a few years and that really saved that saved me out of a lot of trouble

because I was always working and I always heard stories of oh we went to fucking over here and threw this golf ball this car I'm like I was washing beans off plates dude I'm

oh gosh that's that's I thought about that in a long time We pulled that one out of you Working the kitchens Yeah, yeah Staying busy definitely

That's definitely a good way to stay out of trouble Music, dude Also, I believe I believe that there's different levels of A karma as well So let's say like, you know It could be something small Like he steals something

Of equal value Yeah Something will get stolen from you That kind of same value Yeah Yeah I like On karma

I heard this idea that it's not it's it's real I'm gonna come down right now I'm sorry oh no it's fine

it's fine back down in reality I'm good I'm good I got I got me existential crisis

I'm right nightmare nightmare I'm right there with you brother fuck karma fuck karma yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah believe in it, but I think it's just kind of gotta... You don't gotta be karma? Probably really.

It's gotta be kind and like be a good person, that's it. Yeah. It's not what we're all trying to do? Yeah, that's it. We're all trying to be like just a decent human on this crazy planet. So I think what we're all was trying to do.

Especially when you're older, you're just trying to be less of a piece of shit. You know? Real talk, dude. Yeah, pretty much. Hey, Chrissy, I was curious. What was it like for... What was your experience?

experience like in high school? That's an interesting question because I'm like younger than all these guys. I just turned 26 last week. Happy birthday. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much. I had an unexpected day off in New Orleans. It was frozen over.

But I went to a really big public school. Thousands of kids go to this school. It was kind of interesting because they're very strict there. There was a school shooting that actually happened. Before I was even in the high school, I think I was in elementary school. So the principal that had tackled this student was not the principal yet, but became the high school principal of the school after tackling this kid. I think he's out now, actually.

Yeah, he's a whole other thing. Yeah, they got like fucked up or something. Yeah, oh my God, he got like samurai sword attacks or something. Yeah, yeah. This is a weird start to the story. Maybe I can backtrack. I don't know how far at the backtrack. You have plenty of time.

Okay. No rush. That's another story. But I had a really strict school that didn't have, like, a lot of funding for arts. They really focused on sports and whatnot. And I'm very artsy kid, so I didn't have a lot of friends that I could find, like, other artists' recommendations or, like, music recommendations. I had to find a lot of that, like, on my own. And I guess I had a lot of preparing for, like, art school and whatnot.

I had a lot of free periods just because it was. really, I wasn't pursuing anything other than like going to a private school. I didn't need a lot of electives. I had a lot of time to like focus on like what I liked in terms of like the music that was listening to, going from like Listen to Slayer to New Wave to the folk to, you know, rock, like classic rock, stuff like that. And I had some of my dad's influences behind me. But it's definitely, it got a little difficult when I came out my last senior year of high school.

I feel like a lot of the conversations of Gengrenucial bathrooms are just starting to emerge and yeah Caitlin Jenner had just been on like Time magazine and all that it was very hard for me to exist for a little bit I definitely you know I was able to like focus on you know playing music you know I practice in my bedroom but I can have a lot of people

to play music with until I left like college so I definitely I think I have a lot more of a unique experience thing my band makes in terms of growing up. In terms of going to such a big school, yeah, very different. And I don't really resent my upbringing in high school as much as I used to. I look back now and I think I had probably a lot easier than a lot of other kids that were probably trying to come out and be themselves. I was definitely doing a lot of things to compensate for that. Like, I was definitely skipping school a lot.

I was doing a lot of drugs in school. I was like, I don't know, my friends were just, like, bringing, like, ecstasy. We put in water bottles. Yeah, it's like, eating water bottles. I'm, like, 15 years old, you know, doing all this. And, you know, we're taking, like, there's this drug called M-bomb. It's, like, it's supposed to be. It's like, I guess it's, like a Jen Z drug.

Type an M-Bomb, please. It's like a research drug, technically. Don't say N bomb. M. Oh, that's a... Oh, that's a... Oh, that's a... I thought it was M, but...

Yeah, it's like a... Whoa, that's fucked. It's a research chemical, I'm pretty sure. It was like a gel tablet, and we were taking just, like, weird stuff, and... It's too overpowered by... Oh, there it is. I've had, like, really bad experiences on this. What is this?

It doesn't sound great... If you can read it again. I see meth... Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's probably something that you're... probably has something to do with it. And methobenzyl. Methylopoxybenzybenzy or a group of psychedelic drugs.

Confuses acid. Yeah. It's as acid. Fun. Your real life you're already. I was taking this in school and stuff because I had like four free periods, free and whatnot. Like, I had a lot of friends that, you know,

kind of I think we're trying to escape some things too in their childhoods. Yeah, I don't know. I definitely was compensating for a lot when I wish I could have been, like, growing more as, like, a musician. or you know even i see high school kids that are like playing shows now you know it's like i wish i could have gotten on that train a little bit earlier uh there's my friend ben he passed away recently

um rest in peace yeah we just recently did a show in albany that um you know if we tried to do a show like this thing albany before covid um i just don't think it would have ever worked out we sold out albany underground whoa it's probably yeah empire underground it's like a new Used to be the capital rep theater in Albany. I don't know if y'all ever. I don't think a lot of metal bands used to play there. But, yeah, he brought a lot of queer kids, you know, people of color together to, like, these college, you know, houses, you know, throwing shows and whatnot. And, yeah, this is the kind of stuff that I wish that I had in high school, you know.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I, you know, I make a lot of friends in between, you know. I don't resent that time. where I was trying to figure out myself, but it's interesting to look back on now, definitely for sure. I know that a lot of my friends now in high school that I used to do a lot of drugs with.

I used to, like, escape with, you know. They probably see me doing this now, and, you know, I hope that it influences some people back home, you know, that probably feel a little stuck. And I think about them a lot, for sure. Yeah, they probably look at you like, wow, what the fuck? Rockstar. We were just doing M-bombs.

We were just doing emphom in the school cafeteria It's so crazy Yeah, dude, I was like, you know, I was snorting pills On the cafeteria table, like, I don't know what I was running from, you know? Like, what I was... Storny pills off the cafeteria table? Yeah, we had a really large cafeteria, like one monitor, so, like, we got lost so much, like, yeah.

How many people were, we're in school? Mine was, like, 3,000. Mine was, like, 1,000, I think, yeah. Okay, that's a lot. It's big for East Coast, yeah. Yeah, we had the biggest class, I think, of, like, any... any any year I think of that of that time and when did you graduate 2016 yeah wow yeah oh my god holy I graduated old four

oh wow wow oh oh everyone said it's so disappointing like oh oh no no you're all like oh I'm taking again like wow I'm like I'm like seven that's cool no it's cool I hope to to look cool like that you know what I mean You're on the way. I have a lot of friends that listen to, you know, like, Brumme with Horizon and Suicide Silence, you know, in school. And, like, that was my idea of, like, what, like, core was, you know? Okay. I wasn't listening to, like, through the eyes of the day or, like, anything like that or, like, any technical stuff.

Like, there was, like, a very certain... For kids that would go into my school, there was a market for music at the time, I believe, that, like, they were very much in a tunnel, you know? and I think with like streaming today I think it's changed a lot I was finding out about like new bands through like Pandora Radio you know it's like who uses Pandora Radio anymore like I don't even does that even exist

I don't even know A lot of people like hear you use but you know I was like I'm a kid who was like you know last FM was like kind of like kind of I don't know out dig for me and stuff like you know like writing your music and stuff like I don't know that was different for me

I was listening to like iTunes previews and stuff Whatever would get recommended to me on the home page of iTunes, you know? So I definitely had like a different experience finding bands. Yeah. So in high school, I mean, did you see like the T-shirts around? Yes, the T-shirts, like everything, you know, whatever kids could get a Hot Topic, you know? Sick. I remember getting like, I had a black dolly or a murder t-shirt from Hot Topic and all my friends were make fun of it thinking it was like, like, death core.

I was like, no, this is like death megal. This is like, and it was hard to explain that I'm like, the differences between these bands and whatnot. They just saw the shirt, you know what I mean? It's funny you mention that. The shirts were like a huge thing. That's what you see first. Yeah. Do you remember those like rubber, the rubber bracelets?

You also have some of those? I got them all. Wow. I see those being sold on D-pop for like a lot of money now. It's crazy. Yeah, like, kids are trying to like We should bring it back. We should bring those back, y'all. fucking low wow I'm excited now I'm gonna really

excited that's a great yeah that was an error for me I totally missed that I totally miss that they have six

they got like knock loose shirts now I want the computer guys go I want like that shirt that shirt holy shit they're badass

cigarettes after six I was like I love that man yeah I love that I just remember like you know I'm from a small town

too so like we had the hot topic at them all and I just remember the one just badass bitch that worked there whenever my mom went in and was like,

is this band like cool? Do they like do cool thing? When I wanted by like a converger or something, she's like, oh yeah, they're fine. They're really, they're really tame. Like nothing to worry about there. Like anything I wanted, she would always be like, I got you.

Sick. Definitely one of my bandmates that was like, kind of like my older brother. No, I never had. Very sweet. No, he worked there. He's like never stopped working there since we were in a band. I think he's not going to...

Doing some corporate shit with him now, but like... That's cool. I got a fucking... He got me a fucking interview, and I didn't get the job, but that was really sweet of him to get me to just get me there just to be... That's true. Shout out to Hot Topic. Do you remember fliring at Hot Topics?

Huh? Remember fliring at Hot Topics and shit? They had like a bulletin board, and you would flyer at it and all that? I don't... That was past five. Remember that? You have a street teams? Never once.

Street teams. Yeah. We were talking about doing promo for our next show. We're going to take a long time off. But we're going to start, we're like, we should start fliring our show. Yeah. Like, we look like, we start going. Kind of a trip.

Like, people see us at the show outside. It's like, because me and Ernie, our drummer lives, like, literally five miles down that way. So we're always together pretty often. So we're going to shows around here, like, all the time. We're like, we're already here. This is flyer shows. This is flyer. show. We're already here.

I miss, I miss flyers. People would love that, honestly. I think it's coming back. Do a sick flyer? Because you can hang on to it it and they'll bring it to you to it. It's like a cool, free little physical thing. It's nice of sign of things for fans. They get excited. I think it might be coming back. No, it has to.

It honestly has to in a lot of places because like, it's so difficult to like understand where things can be seen now, like what they change the algorithm, the catch-all term for all of it. But like, it's hard to know like where to put things to be noticed and and how to promote things so like you know

where you're going to have the show you know the radius around it and you know someone's going to be interested if you just flyer and put it out there like it always worked in the past it's not going to not work now you know what I mean so I mean I like to throw flyers on the ground sometimes because people always are like for some reason looking at the ground most people when they walk they're looking down anyway So actually you should put your flyers on the ground. Yeah. And when people are walking, they fucking see it.

Because you're not going to see it as a gum on it. You won't see it up there. This is dumb. This is dumb. Put it on the ground. Just chop it on the ground. Go it step forward. Put some gum on it.

Put some gum on it. Put your flowers on the ground. That's a good idea. Throw the rubber bracelets on the ground. What does this say? Oh, interesting. It's a good idea. Yeah, the pyramid.

Studge. Yes. I still have my Hot Topic belt. It has the classic font, and it's like blue and black stugging. Don't ever get rid of it. I should keep it, yeah. Yeah, I got rid of all my stuff and it's stupid. I definitely regret it.

Wow. Yeah, you got to keep it. Got to keep it. So your latest EP, whose idea was it to spell it that one? I don't know. I just thought it would be cool. Well, it's like a copy. It's like each letter is a copy of the next.

So that was the... That's my point. How do you say it? Death metal? Just death metal, yeah. Threat metal. That's all you just saying it lately. Oh yeah.

At the shows, I've been going... This fucking death metal, fool. Hey, you know what? It got my eyes, so it is something. I was like... Is that death metal? Oh, shit, it's death metal. Okay.

Yeah, it's like a second look. It's like for you to give it a second look, yeah. Someone asked me if it was like, are you supposed to scream it? I'm like, sure. Yeah, whatever. Do whatever you want. Second looks are important.

100%. 100%. And I was really stoked to see you and Chrissy jamming in the same room together. So your band still kind of keeps that vibe. You're in the same room. Yeah. Writing a song and see you're tracking on logic. Yeah.

So in the same room. It's definitely evolved. Like now Jesse's on Electrona kit. And I just have to plug in, you know? It's like, we used to like really try to do everything like with mics and. We've come a long way with that. Yeah, in terms of figuring everything out.

Yeah. We'll lay it down on, I'll just practice in the living room with the drum kit. Nice. We'll just be sitting there. We'll just have like YouTube playing or something. Yeah.

That's close. It's Tom too. You know. It's cool. And then we'll be like, well, I guess it sounds good enough to be loud so the neighbors think it's cool at least.

You know? Working out grind core is probably pretty tough, I imagine. Well, it's right. Well, I don't know, I guess because I gotta do is

throw some blast beats in there with some like punk riffs and then it's like Grand Corps and you can put anything else on it, you know? That's cool to see you in the same room still keeping the energy and vibe. Some bands don't do that. I can't imagine not doing that.

Yeah. It's in the basement. It's all there. My dogs are upstairs, my cats. Whenever we're home, That's like when we have to write now because we're on the road so much. So something we've had to learn. For real.

How is kind of forced to write when we're at the house? Well, the last year, I mean, we've been on the rogues, so Jesse's been ragging in the van. We have a little, um, the Mustang micros. There's like these little fender things that go in and it has like a Bluetooth. Or you could plug the ox, like regging to the ox of your van. And we're just riffing through the van. Yeah. What's it called?

Mustang it's a Fender Mustang micro mini I think Chris let's let's get up there It's got like all the pre-sacs Yeah They have like a dirty channel There's a TikTok of me Playing in the front seat actually

Fire tone for just your For car app What is this? Yeah just plugs in the input And then yeah like Chrissy said You have a little ox input Fender give us all one But yeah it has Bluetooth too

And you can actually stream your music through it It's like weird that your phone hooks up to it and can use that as a device that goes into your van. Good tool. It's been very helpful. Holy shit. It's so useful. And I play music through it in the van.

Hey, what's good? We're going to NAM tomorrow. Let's get the hook up. We're going to NAM. You can play music through it out of your phone and riff over it at the same time. Yeah, that's cool. Damn, what about, I'm not even, I better get some money out of this. Fender.

But it's cool because I posted a TikTok on the Squatelagram page of us doing this. And so many of the bands were like, why don't we do this on tour? You know? It's like, it's a very eye-opening to a lot of people that like probably struggle with thinking if we want to do this full time,

like how do we keep things rolling. True. Yeah. It is. You know, today you can, you know, there's so many ways you can do that. True. And we got an album done with it

and we recorded it with Kurt and we did good, I think. So. Yeah. It served its purpose. No, I did. I think some of my, the most thought-out riffs are definitely van riffs because we're just like,

I'm just playing it over and over and over and over and over and over. And I'm just like finding more and more subtleties to it. And it's just like, well, I really like all those subtleties. We also think of the bands that we're on tour with too, you know? Like we were on the whole summer pretty much with the Acacia string. Yeah, check. And we went on tour, Greg Pucciago, who just recently filled in for Jerry Cantrell,

and they were doing some Alice and Jackson's, stuff solo. So we have all these influences around us too and it revolves around their head while we're in the van and you know lots of advice. Lots of advice yeah. Also like I don't know maybe this is too like philosophical

but like it's forward motion like you're moving forward when you're writing those riffs like it's got to get in your head somehow. Yeah of course. It's like well we have to get this done there's a deadline fuck. Just take a deep breath and just riffs. I was like okay I just keep riffing. We do that for ourselves

though, like, I don't know, we set goals for ourselves and we reached them. I definitely think, you know, we push ourselves. Chrissy wrote some stuff too. Yeah, pretty sick. Like, the intro and outro riff of Ball and Chain was a Chrissy riff. Really? Yeah, I fixed, we kind of sandwiched it together. I wrote that at the launch pad in Albuquerque.

Wow. And someone remembered that. They actually told me that when we were just there. Yeah, it was like an LL exercise that I was doing, like working in an Albuquerque. with the guitar and kind of trying to get like inter control like inter control like dexterity between my fingers and sure yeah it's like that's like I don't even look at the fretboard when I play it now you know it's like an exercise so there's a big chrissey riff in the next LP too yeah boom hopefully some songs in the next ones too that's what's up yeah a little different it's like not all four four but you can still really

bang your head to it and just little little things Bang your head, Grand Corps. Right style. Yeah, see, that's the fucking genre. Well, it's cool. Maybe you can riff some. I want some riffs. Can you all give me some riffs?

You can never have enough rifts. There's never enough. There's never enough rifts. I heard that when, it makes sense when you're driving or sometimes, you either driving or washing dishes or watch a movie. Like, it helps when you're writing because you're trying to tap into your subconscious.

So when you're doing, like, it's kind of like a normal one. habit thing, that's when you're fucking really there's when you're thinking of it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's this one riff that Jesse was talking about. I was playing a lot of apex legends. I was like, like, too much.

Like, I wasn't coming to practice of certain points, but it's very competitive game, right? And like, you're in it. And I think, like, that riff came to me because I was, like, really, I don't know, I was feeling something in the great aspects of, like, just doing things that made me

comfortable, too. Like, Yeah, it's crazy. When it comes to you at the most unexpected times is interesting. There's truth to singing in the shower and like you said, like accessing that part of your mind. Oh, driving, yeah. Ultra potency, though. It's good word. Yeah.

It's good word. Yeah, it's healthy. How's Dante and Chow? Oh. Dante's alive. He's good. Cal is past. She passed away.

Win. Last year. It was Nero is the one that passed a little Nero. He's like, over the summer. Yeah, two cats. Damn, yeah. That sucks. But we were there, which was an interesting part.

This is a hard summer. Damn. Actually, Dante was on our first record, indoctrination. Really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. He did a little noise intro, and he's just, like, singing in the background. Got some effect.

We got a vocal, a vocal effects on it. That's the, that's the worst part about tour is, you know, when you have older animals and family, of course. 100%. It's terrible. They held on until we got home and we had our time with them. Lucky. Like two tours in a row. Lucky.

Yeah, the next tour we come back home, Neuro Passing. We just happened to be home for all this too. My friend had passed away, Ben, had been shot and killed. I just happened to be home. Shot and killed? He was shot and killed in Albany. It was tragic, you know, gun violence. This was right down the street from St. Rose.

A very big college. It's closing soon. Yeah, it's crazy. It was crazy that we bring home for it, you know? It's weird. Yeah. It was like the day we got home. Oh, it's, yeah.

It's terrifying. You had everyone go. We left literally, we left to go play Iowa City with a case of string fit from autopsy. We had to drive 18, how long was it? Like, 11 hours or something like that? And we had just gotten to go to the memorial. Like, it was just like crazy how we were able to be there. But, I mean, we play like 250.

shows last year. I don't know any other band that's really done that. And to be there and to experience that and feel it, I just feel really lucky. I'm sure you guys too. Yeah. Crazy. That's, yeah, like, gosh, we live such a strange bubble of existence being on tour and like this lifestyle of which many people like aspire to do and are jealous of and whatnot, but you miss out on these moments and you miss out on like life moments and growth and for us to have been able to be there for Ben's family and and for our families and it's uh gosh yeah I don't know I don't know how to express it you know I remember even watching the like Slipknot documentaries stuff like that like being a kid I was able to like and almost like relate to these you know Sean Crayan

would talk about that kind of stuff like missing missing family and stuff like that. And I'm looking at Paul Gray just right now at this picture. It makes me think of it, you know? And I remember exactly where I was when they passed, you know? It's like crazy. They had to deal with that and the whole band surrounding it and keep moving forward.

It's like, you know, relating to that as a kid, you don't even think about like all the stuff that each member is dealing with, you know, in their personal lives. And it's like they're all just like flying through like this, you know, this space that they have, of like a meteor, it's like, it doesn't stop. The train does not stop.

It doesn't stop. The train stops moving, people get off. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's true. And it sucks sometimes to keep the train moving. Yeah, but. It's hard.

Yeah, it is. I find, like, I'm one of those people that, like, goes into work, like, work mode when emotions get really high, like, especially, you know, when all this shit felt like it was crashing down around us, we had the, you know, we had the, like, you know, it. tour and our tour mates, you know, fit and Acacia Strain, we had them to go to and really pour everything we had into the work that we were doing. Amazing. And we made, like, such headway on that tour.

I think, like, I think we really, like. Yeah. Yeah. The thing we always say is that we just remember that we're, to be grateful as hell to be, like, that small percentage of bands that someone cares about. And it may seem selfish to some people to be like, oh, we're out here doing this kind of thing, but we're sacrificing so much. It's like really feels selfless because at this point, like, we're only out here

because people want us out here, you know? So it's like a, I don't know. It does feel good to be out and about, I do get adrenaline from it. Maybe it is a little selfish. Yeah, that's hard. That's a weird one. Sometimes, you know. We work in like a social environment.

It's like, I don't think there's a lot of jobs, like the jobs that we have. People get really hurt. and you know and that will weigh on on a person like us like me like

damn someone got I don't know people just been getting hurt this one part in meat maggot catarina okay yeah

it's insane catarina got hurt at the very last part of the meat maggot riff and the next following night someone cracks their head open like bad real bad

they're out for like 10 minnics dude like people were leaving because they thought like you know they were going to witness someone got carried out

and covered. So thank God. Thank God they're alive and they're, you know, they've emailed us and whatnot, but it was during the same part where Katarina got hurt. It's crazy. There we go.

Oh, yeah, throwback. Oh, wow. It was basically like that. Yeah. Your band's fucking insane. It's crazy. I want a lot today. Thank you.

Let's close it off with where do you see the Glykewer scene going? different ways. Different ways. I like that. Yeah, like, there used to be this, like, people would describe

these two versions of hardcore as like egg and chain punk. I think there's going to be, people will call, like, us, like, false grind. That's what we talked about earlier. Yeah. But that's an old thing, you know, because we leaned into it,

and people were just like, oh, these fucking assholes leaned into it. So now, really, I just see it as just like, we're just like the gateway grindcore band, you know? Like, fucking. And then there's like the true grind, which is like the, I call that toilet grind. We loveingly call it.

So it's gateway grind for. And toilet grind. But there's more, actually. This is a large spectrum. Sometimes it's a, that's a weird thing when like you're in, and it's like, we're like, people are hating, but your band's blowing up. There was like, I won't say who it was, but there was a band we went on tour with. They were straight death metal. Yeah.

And we were like, we just dropped the cleansing. And we had no idea what's going to happen. Yeah. And, like, we would play. Some shows were, like, 80, 90% that people will fucking leave. Really? And they were cool.

There was, there's some weird shit there. Like, they were, they were talking shit on stage, like, what's up, everyone? All, ready, I think you for staying for the real metal show. Like, kind of, like, throw on the music. Throw on these shabs. We're back there. Like, we hear this.

Oh, wait until tomorrow. Oh, jeal tomorrow. We're gonna go harder and making you the fucking old and dead. And sure enough, the tour got worse for them, and they started taking away their catering budget. Really? Damn. That's this, uh, that's, uh, yeah, this.

Yeah, we were, it was us, we were, it was us through the bands. We were sharing like little seizures hot, hot and ready's like a case of like beer. Like, they took everything. It's like, well, karma will, we'll fucking trash you. Yeah. It's like shit. Carma, man. So that's cool.

He's just kind of like, that's, uh... Why'd they bring you on just to, like, talk shit the whole time? I think they brought a song because their Bukkah Party told us. Hey, this is this new hype band. Yeah. I guess we gotta do it is throw them on there. Yeah. The guy, I know, a big, a big reality check.

Was it sick for you all though? The tour? That's fun. That's fun as fuck. It was awesome. And you know what? I didn't hold a grudge. I fucking literally, next story we did was,

Mayhem 2008. Still wore the band shirt. Yeah. I always separate the, the art from the artist. I like people don't like that. Don't like that. People don't like that.

But for me, that's what I do. I separate the art from artists. They can be a dick to me. I'll actually prefer that. Yeah, word. That's just me? I'm like, you know what? Now I had this sick memory there

like mean to me. I'll still put them on. I'll still buy the marriage. Who cares? Oh, word. That's even better. But if it's the stage, Yeah.

That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's crazy. It's, it's, it's, it's,

it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, that's kind of a time where, like, you, you,

you, you, you know, that's just, when you have, with someone, lights a other fire and into your ass,

like, it's just, it's, you, your mind goes other places, it's, it's, like, it's, like, yeah, it's a primal thing,

it's crazy, like, that's crazy, like, that's, wow, Did we miss anything and any part of the story you want out from about your band? Hmm. Well, can I plug stuff?

Of course. Well, we're, when is this coming out? Either this Monday or the next. Oh, wow. Sick. We're on tour right now. Yeah. With, I think around that time, we're going to be on tour with Bognator, Brat.

Take offense. take offenses got some crazy new riffs right now. Holy shit. They're singing along our heavy. They gave my mind last night. Holy fuck.

That was our first night with him. We have an LP that we worked on with Kurt Ballou. His quote is my plan for this album is to make all your current fans call you sellouts. So we drop our first song on that in June.

That's exciting. And we play one song called I'm always watching you now And we play third on our set So if you want to catch that song You need to get there early Which actually everyone does So yeah

It's a good dancey song All our shows are early right now by the way We start before 10 almost every night And no encores No encores That shit is corny People are expecting a lot of songs after Cliffhanger And sorry

No Sorry Bug it Cool, dude, do we got everything? Yeah. Where are your people finding, you guys? Who? I mean, Instagram's crazy.

Everywhere we got a website, Eswella-dashgrind.com. We've got Instagram, Asquilla-Grine, Twitter, Tiki Talk, you do. Yeah, we just, we're one of those bands that just kind of puts it all out there.

We're almost posting every day because we're on the road every day. Which, like, people have asked us, like, how do you even fucking do that. And it's, yeah. So, um, so, uh, if you want to get to know us, you can pretty easily. And you can find us all right there. At Esquilla grind. Yeah. Sick. Everywhere. Esquilla grind. Thank you for your time. I, I appreciate it. I'm an honor to get, get the hang out and be in your band for an hour and a half. Dude. Pretty cool. Thank you. Come on towards this.

Just do it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Cool. Thank you. All right. One. That's it. Later one. Hey!