Garza Podcast - 116 - DAATH: The Return, Self-Promotion & Top 5 Metal Mixes

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Garza sits down in-person with progressive death metal band DAATH. https://www.metalblade.indiemerch.com/collections/daath SPONSORS: distrokid.com/vip/garza 30% OFF! emgpickups.com Promo Code: Heavy 15% OFF! DAATH is: Eyal Levi - Guitar, Sean Zatorsky - Vocals Kerim "Krimh" Lechner - Drums Jesse Zuretti - Samples, Orchestration, Guitars Rafael Trujillo - Guitar David Marvuglio - Bass CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Is Facebook Coming Back? / Gary Vee 05:24 - Craigslist Missed Connections 06:40 - Dååth Band Intros 07:30 - Sean Joining the Band, Band History 10:37 - Bad Live Show Experiences 12:30 - Coming From Atlanta, Signing to Roadrunner Records, Self-Promoting 18:34 - Success Requires Obsession 21:08 - Krimh Coming From Austria, Playing with Septicflesh, Working with Jens Bogren 26:46 - Krimh’s Drum Cover Videos, the Couch, Keeping it Real / Not Overproduced, Baard Kolstad 30:36 - Dååth Return Announcement, Signing w Metal Blade Records 33:38 - Garza Hates WeTransfer Files, Prefers Dropbox 37:01 - Are People Still Leaking Albums? 38:49 - A Guitar Company at NAMM 2024 Stole Eyal’s Girlfriends Artwork 43:15 - Garza’s Conspiracy Theories: Data Theft, Biometrics, Apps Gathering Data, Privacy 46:13 - Fake UPS, USPS Texts, Phishing 50:08 - David’s The Twilight Sad Shirt 51:46 - Death Metal Lyrics Are Not Serious 53:22 - Nail the Mix, URM, Audio Production Tips & Secrets 1:01:15 - Top 5 Metal Mixes 1:03:55 - Metallica, The Black Album, Some Kind of Monster 1:06:43 - Hearing Slipknot Brought Eyal Back to Metal, Sean Seeing Them at Ozzfest 99 1:13:42 - Bringing Dååth Back, Better Than Ever 1:16:32 - Rafael Trujillo Joining the Band, Being Godly on Guitar, Obscura 1:22:18 - New Dååth Album, The Deceivers, Coming Soon from Metal Blade Records!

and doing what those bands did that I heard about. So we printed up like 25,000 on our own and just gave them out like everywhere. Like I would fly to like London and go to like the parking lot of a Cannibal Corp show with like a thousand CDs and just done. Fake that. He's not lying. I'm not lying. Dude, back in the day. So in fucking real.

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And now to the heaviest podcast of all time. It's just a live photo? It's a live photo. Boom. Straight through YouTube. Straight to the tube. No, I just wanted it for personal stuff. No, that's for your Facebook.

Facebook. Yeah, Facebook. Yeah, yeah. Myspace. Sure, I'm in my MySpace. No, you know what I heard yesterday that Facebook is like coming back in like a big way? I've heard that too, actually. Interesting.

So this is like, it's kind of been brewing. But yesterday I was just browsing like Gary Vee stuff. That's where I heard it. He just pops up. He's like, I try to avoid him. And he literally just pops up on my phone. I was, you know, you're browsing. I'm like Gary B.

I mean, he's seems to be a great, cool guy. Yes. Okay. So Gary V, I think, is misunderstood. Why? Because, you know, when you get like these influencer types or these like, quote unquote self-help types, a lot of people think that they're scammers. And a lot of them are. Well, yeah, exactly.

But Gary V is actually a legit business person, legit investor, like just a legit powerhouse of a dude. And the social media thing is something he just does on top of that. Like his marketing agency and his wine business, all that's all real. So he's not full of shit. And he doesn't spend all day doing social media either. He has this huge team like 30 people or something on his social media team. Dang, imagine that. So, yeah, so that's how so much content comes out.

And also, I know people who have, like, worked with him. And the thing that I think people don't understand about people like that is he's wired. He is wired for like 19 hours a day. Like the dude is going for like 19 hours a day at like this. level of energy the whole time. Like he is that person that that you see on those videos. It's a little freakish, apparently.

But it's real. It's not an act. I wonder what he gets the energy from. Exactly. And how long can he do that? He's been doing it for like decades. Yeah, he's been going on for a while. Right?

Well, now we've said his name about a hundred times. So I'm sure it's going to be in all of our feeds. Oh, we're all fun now. He's already in my feed. I'm trying to avoid the guy. It just pops up. Literally in my face. His face is in my face.

I'm like, dude, this is... But what do you mean with the Facebook thing? What was it? Like it comes back or something like this, you said? Well, so it's been like falling off among, I guess, younger people. You know, if you've noticed Facebook has become like the place for like old people to say crazy. Or older, our parents. Yeah, to say, yeah, parents, exactly.

It's like a cesspool for like older people. Yeah, and they were not getting younger people. Like, they were the, they were getting, like, very low numbers of, you know, teenagers and early 20s. And it was just, it was, like, falling off a cliff. And it seems to be coming back. I don't know why. Mm-hmm. But it seems to be coming back.

I want my space. I want my space. With the pages where you could upload, like, one or two songs. That was the best. Scroll and have your one song that, yeah, you would highlight. It was perfect. I love it. So we got some stats here from Jay.

Facebook users in the United States as of August 2020 and three age group. 23.6% is 25 to 34. 18% is 18 and 24. That's actually a lot. That's a lot. That is a lot. And 3.4% is 13 to 17. Interesting.

Yeah, that's the group that, um, that's the, that's the group that, um, that, that, that they want apparently. Nobody likes the old people. Yeah. Interesting. They can't do syncopated dances on Facebook so people don't want to use it. Also, like, people have been sending me like these, oh, what is it? Facebook, so for example, I'm looking for a Mesa cab, and it's driving me insane.

I can't find anything. People have been sending me Facebook groups of people selling apps. I was like, so it's kind of been creeping back into my life without trying. That marketplace. Yeah. Yes. Yes. That marketplace is, uh, that's an interesting place.

You can find, you can buy anything. Interesting things and interesting people. Oh, fuck. Yeah, it reminds me of, what was that site? Man, I'm blanking. Craigslist. Craigslist, yeah. You know how dark Craigslist got is?

Does it still exist? I don't know. In the States, for us, we have different things. No, still exists. It still exists. Still going? Wow. Do not contact me.

I didn't know it's still going, really? Yeah, yeah. I guess so. I guess it's... Misconnections. Yeah, there it is. Do not contact me with unsolicited. Yep.

I was big on Craigslist, buying all the gear off there. I was selling all my shit there and buying shit there. Yeah, so I think Facebook marketplace, the idea is to, you know, be a better version. Oh, yeah. What the hell? Oh, no.

No, no. Click it because it always says, Do not contact me at the bottom. Oh, she didn't write it. Wow, usually they always put... So someone put up an ad looking for a lady to... You could use your imagination. Write off her to L.A. to L.A.?

Honey to B... Oh, wow. Oh, you could just do it in the car. It's going strong. Sounds very... In good shape. No, no, no. In good shape is definitely the most important part of that. In good shape, exactly.

These are the things that... You can't meet up with nobody in shape? A.O., these are things that you want to know before you're about to jam. Yes. You want to know what's out there, right? I think it's important. Yeah. I think it matters.

You gotta do your due diligence. Dude, it's an honor to sit down with their whole band. Minus one, correct? Minus one. Okay, cool. Yeah. Thank you guys for making time. Thank you for having us.

We have people from all over the world, correct? Yeah, like two Austrians, so we are the Austrian group. Nice. Here's America. Austrian coalition. I like how we segregated it right off the bow here. Yeah, true. Like Europe.

You guys have a share a mic? I love that. We're going to put them together. Yeah, yeah. They're kind of the same. Dude, God, I put, like, put, you guys. I just knew to sit at the same area. Yeah, you do.

That's cool. That's sick. Can we do a quick intro to names? Sure, I start. I'm Krimm, and I play drums. I'm Raphael, and I play guitars. I'm David. I play bass.

Sean, and do vocals. Aol guitar. Sick. Fuck, yeah. Yeah. So, the other longest standing member is you, right? Sean? Correct, yeah.

Is it kind of a trip that you literally like you, you mind, I mean, years ago, you were working at Best Buy. Yeah. Then fast forward, you buy the CD at Best Buy. Yeah. Fast forward, 10 more years now you're in a band. It's pretty crazy. Yeah.

It's pretty crazy. He actually has the story of quitting a job to go on tour like two days later. Like I put him in the hot seat. Because we had actually another Sean that was vocalist for a little while. while and he quit and we had like two days before a tour like I think it was full US and Canada with dark funeral in 2007 yeah just called him and asked him and yeah he had to quit his job and just make that decision which uh I like that I admire that I admire that whenever someone's willing to throw their life away for taking basically what's happening well they were an Oz fest and he's like

you know start learning the lyric because we may need you and then it came time he's like hey yeah So I think we need you. Do you think you can quit your job and come on the road with us? I'm like, how many days? You got three days. That's a big ask. Yeah. That's a massive ask.

Yeah. By the way, to front a band that I've never played with before, and then only to play in front of the label three days later. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like we were doing, it just so happened to be routed to where New York would be the third show. That was when we were on Roadrunner. So the entire staff.

was coming out to that show. It was like literally his third show ever with us. Nah, it's fine. I just totally bombed. No, it was a shit. It was like the worst show. No, I'm sorry. Nah. It was just because we hadn't had enough practice

and they struck the drums and there wasn't a lot of mics. I think they just had two overheads for the drums. Sure. I don't even think they had kick mics for the drums. So the band kind of got off a bit and then I couldn't figure it out because, you know, when you're in a band long enough,

you kind of can pick up where the guy left off or you know where you're at, but I don't know, I have no idea. It was just one of those weird situations. I think it was at BB Kings where they're just first of all strange place. Do they saw a show show? I don't know, but it's a strange place for a black metal tour. It is. It is.

Yeah, and they. Yeah, so already it was strange. And we weren't allowed to just be efficient. So, you know, it was just one of those shows where everything's kind of. kind of going wrong ahead of time. And, you know, like, one thing leads to another, like all the little things that you want running well, or not running well,

and then it's our third show, and it goes like shit. But it's okay. I mean, haven't you guys had horrible shows? I'm sure. Still. I'm sure. Everyone has.

And you remember those specifically. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I never forget them. You don't remember, like, the life-changing great moments. You remember, like, the one or two. I miss that one word, man, the guy in the crowd definitely noticed. Oh, that's fucked up.

Have you ever had a terrible show where the crowd noticed? Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, yeah. So that's a terrible show. Even worse. People know you can't hide it. Yeah.

Because during those moments, you're like, you go into like, oh, sounds dumb, but you're going into like professional mode. Okay, I don't care what's going on. Like, you need to kind of, like, you know? Yeah, you got to make it happen. The show must go on. Yeah. You're still going to rock out.

You're going to pretend like the monitors is perfect. And it's sound. You pretend like the amp is working. But sometimes he just can't shake it off. Your soul's dead. The soul is dead. And people just, no.

Yeah. And we're one of those bands where like, there's no middle ground. We have either the best shows ever or like, if we're not all by firing, it's just something happens. It's like, it's like we're flop. It sounds,

it sounds, it like raised my blood pressure. just to think about, just to think about that kind of show. It's a nightmare. New York is a nightmare. New York is a nightmare. Because you have to continue. You cannot just say like, okay, it's a bad day. I just leave because it's like...

Yeah, let's just quit for now. We'll come back later. They were really trying to push metal shows at that one venue, too. I'm not sure why. Which BB Kings? Yeah, probably... They were really pushing it. They probably had a metal employee.

You know, metal head employee. then the person left. And I've noticed that with places or companies that suddenly will go into metal, like an instrument company or a gear company or a venue or something, suddenly they'll take this like left turn into metal and like metal, metal, metal, metal.

And then that person leaves and they are back out of metal. So usually I've noticed it's like this one person. It's always one person. It's usually one person. Yeah, the lone metal head. That's how you get the end, right? Always.

Wow. you know what's crazy about your band i was like how did you because you're you're based out of Atlanta right I mean this is kind of yeah it's where we used to be like it's where I used to live that's where he lives it's okay essentially where we're from yeah okay cool how do you go from being there to your first record and how do you what's the connection between that and roadrunner okay because I remember seeing that as like a fan and I'm like how do they get signed that fucking label holy shit. That was like, that was a plan.

That was a concerted effort. So I wanted to get signed a roadrunner from the get-go. Like that was nice. Yeah, it was, it seemed stupid, like stupidly unrealistic. And I know that it's, I knew then that it was, but the thing is I like to take unrealistic goals and figure out how to make them realistic and find like a logical path. So I just kind of studied what is it that bands did that got signed in major labels, heavy bands. And in those days, they were like given out CDs.

Like I heard that Disturbed gave out like 200,000 CDs, like that they printed themselves, for instance. Disturbed did that. And a few others, a few others. But I just found out that that's what they were doing. And I like, I just did a lot of research on what labels were looking for. and found my way to who Monty Conner's inner circle was Monty Conner for people that know. Yeah, like, he doesn't do that sign Slipknot. If you don't know.

If you don't know, yeah. Like basically, I think him and Brian Slagel basically made modern metal with a few other people. But like I consider Monty Connor one of like the pillars of discovering metal. bands, but I just kind of like found out who he listens to. And so I tried to find that circle while at the same time giving out CDs and doing what those bands did that I heard about. So we printed up like 25,000 on our own and just gave him out like everywhere. Like I would fly to like London and go to like the parking lot of a Cannibal Corp show

with like a thousand CDs and just done. Take that. He's not lying. I'm not lying. Dude, back in the day, so in... Fucking real. We'd go to all the shows in Atlanta,

and we would always see him outside passing out CDs. Always. Always, always. Without fail. Without failure. A.O. would always be outside the show, with just passing CDs to everybody.

So funny. Yeah. How'd I gotten this band? You fucking flew. Yeah. Just to pass out free CDs. Yeah. Also drove to, like, Maryland Death Fest

in 2004 to do that. Like, it was... I mean, 25,000 is a lot. Unbelievable, dude. But did you print the... yourself at home? Yeah, I used to call them factories. I'd have like a first started like on a 2x burner. Then it went to like a 4x burner. Then I got like two 4x burners. And like, yeah, we'd have these like all night Adderall fests where we would just like burn and stamp,

burn and stamp, burn and stamp. Slayer's coming two weeks like the next five nights. We need it. We need up boxes of Adderall stat. And CDs. And CDs. And Cs. Yeah. And then. Then what sucks is you get rid of like 2000 in like two minutes. And then. Oh, yeah, they just go. And it's a little.

Do you have like a backpack full? Yeah. Okay. Just two people with backpacks, three people with backpacks. Yeah. Remember when two X? Remember when eight X burners were the,

you're like, oh my gosh, we have eight X now. When CD Burgess came out, that was a game changer for, for bands of wine that passed out their own shit. Yeah. Yeah.

Miro LHUX or 4X I remember people being like Like how How did you guys get signed Or like how did you guys get the word out It's like

Burn 25,000 Cs Yeah like that I would tell them that We also We did the other things though Of like trying to always play out of town Like never play in town So we never

One Whoa So we wouldn't get looked at As like a local band We always wanted people in town To think of us as a band that they could never see. Yeah.

Like, so it would be a rare thing. So we almost never played in town. You don't want to be like the Masquerade Hell Band. No, we never sold tickets. It's funny you know. Got it. Yeah, yeah. How many, I mean, I'm sure you've had tons of bands.

Sean knows. I'm sure you guys have had tons of Atlanta locals play your shows in, that the masquerade. I don't remember one of them. Exactly. And that's why we didn't want to do it. You don't want to be that. Yeah. Exactly.

Cool. So the, I knew, I didn't know anyone in the bigger bands, but I knew that if we sold tickets and took that slot, they would definitely, I would keep on not knowing them, basically. So, so yeah, so that was basically the strategy and also make good music. That was kind of important, too. Yeah, well, that's a little bit of it. Yeah, but then also I started a recording studio. And so the idea with the studio was to try and record. signed death metal bands so that we could then tour with them. So that's how I met like

misery index and arsis. Um, and it's a lot of sense. Yeah. It like it is like a multi-pronged strategy. So when Roadrunner happened, it was like, yeah, it's unrealistic, but not that unrealistic when you like break it down and go after it strategically, I guess. And um, it might have failed, but we had a prosthetic also offered us a deal. So we had a good plan B. Um, so yeah. So it wasn't that crazy. Like if you were there, it wasn't that crazy. Well, maybe you're just like naturally wired like a fucking psycho. Yes. You know, which is, which is a main, that's, that's your main ingredient. Unfortunately. That's your main ingredient. Unfortunately. For better for worse. No, for sure. You have like, you have like, you have like the gift side of it. But you have like

this other side of, like to, to bounce like like your inner psycho. Well, there's nobody, there's, there's no bodies like under my house or anything no no no but but exactly well you have to like um what i'm like i don't think it's i say it like um joking around but i do think that um in order to actually get shit done um in this world this world's a hostile place it is and the world doesn't want you to succeed but anything that anyone's ever achieved uh there was a point in time when they didn't have that thing, right? So that's kind of how I look at it too. There was a point in time where Slipknot was a local band or whoever, whoever you're, whoever has the something kind of like what you want to do. There was a point in time when they didn't have it.

So obviously it's realistic to do in this world. So how did they do it? How does it done? So figure it out. That's amazing. I mean, weren't you strategic as fuck with suicide silence? That's true. Yeah. Kind of. You were more, like, on, like, um. Yeah, so I think we did touch on it, like, a little bit. Like, you have, like, a, there is some kind of plan.

Yeah, you're the master plan. Yeah. You have, like, okay, I'm going to do this and you do it. Like, you're passing out CDs and flyers, and you're just going all in, writing decent music. But, but you're outworking the other bands with your strategy and tactics, you know. Yeah, it's. It's crazy.

You got to do that. Mm-hmm. I mean, have you ever known bands where there isn't someone who thinks like that? No. I haven't. I have, but they don't usually go places. Well, yeah. Yeah, so.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Among bands who go places, there's always one or two members that are psychotic about getting shit done. It's true. It's a prerequisite. it. So when I hear should talk about that band member I never

like internalize it because usually would be me but like but that personality is required. It's like it's required. Yes. Like how do you you know how do you be a musician from Austria and then

now you hear? There there is like that like how do you do that right? It's crazy. Yeah it is I mean it was it was a difficult thing to do. Austria is very small and we don't really have a big metal scene. There's Belphigore, which is like the biggest Austrian metal band.

I mean, Austrian? They are, huh? They are Austrian? I didn't know that either. But the thing is, I actually started with moving to Poland to play with Decapitated. So that was my first thing. So I just decided I have to leave my country in order to make my dream come true. And yeah, just I played there a couple of years. with them and so there was like the first step into the business and you do like a tour and an album you just see everything for the first time and then you make contacts and also of course social media because

i i was a youtube drummer so i'm just that's easier so i was a youtube drummer or i'm still i am and so i was from the early year on youtube and that was like the place for me to present myself so even though i'm in in Austria in a small place or in Poland, I would still have the whole world just to show how I play. And, you know, then you meet more people. We just fall along and we just got in touch. I guess it was through the Bogron stuff. Through Bogran, yeah. Exactly.

Because I've worked with Jens Bogran before with my other band Septic Flesh. And then, you know, the U.R.M. Academy stuff. And so we could have started to talk. Yeah, we were going to do something that just never materialized. But I was like I remember telling you we should still like talk about doing something anyways Yeah, so yeah Bogren also told me that he's like the most pro drummer they've ever worked with Oh, so that that's a reputation I definitely take I take

Just kidding no no I don't know I'm not good, you know I think I have the same mentality like I want to get shit done and for me it wasn't an easy thing when I was I was a young kid. I just finished school and I was like, okay, I never lived abroad and especially in a country that I don't know the language. I know three people. But I was like, I have to do something in order to make it happen. And so I decided to do it and yeah, just work hard but consistent. You know, I don't want to destroy myself, but just be consistent and do one thing at a time and just follow one step at a time. And yeah, that's why I'm here. for like 15 years or longer. Yeah.

Or longer, almost 20 years. When did your first YouTube video come out? I started 2007. So 2007, when YouTube was still a small thing. Like Sammas, you know, 6'6 Sammis. And me and myself, like we did like some drum covers. And that's where it all started. Yeah.

Something is simple. That was simple. And I was like at the right time. Because nowadays YouTube is so full. of amazing people and the production quality is like insane. You have to really step up your game so much more because in the past literally I recorded my drums

with like three, four microphones, a kick snare, two overheads. It would run it straight into a mixer. In this mixer, also the audio goes straight into the camera, you know, no editing. One shitty camera, push record and put it on YouTube. Yeah, but I remember seeing your DEMU board gear cover from... Oh shit, that'll do it.

Yeah, from a long time. With the fucked up couch in the back. Everyone is covered in. That's couch, you know. Yeah, but even then, like, how old were you? I must have been like 18, something like this. It just finished school. You look like a kid.

I was a kid, yeah. The second picture there it was. Oh, dude, how tall are you there? My goodness. But it's badass. A kid, but it's badass. Well, that's the new stuff. That's the new one.

But there used to be a, because that's a different thing. But there was like from 2007, it was progeny's. Projudice of the Great Apocalypse. Exactly. That was the one. 2007? 2007, it must have been. And I do play very, yeah, that's the small boy right here.

I played very different here. What are you like 12? No, I always look. When I shave, I always look like 12. That's true. You won't look younger. But here I was, that was in my high school. So in the cellar.

So 16 years ago, it says. 16 years ago. Yeah. And you see it, editing skills. And he got an intro? Fuck. Fuck, man. You got the slate with the...

You see the couch? That is the couch, man. You look at Joey. Of course, man. He was my big idol. You're like Joey, dude. I learned just from the best. But yeah, that was it.

Yeah, but you could tell, even from that. Like, you can tell... You can tell raw talent. Yes. But absolutely. You know, I also made a decapitated cover, and that was... What did it? It got me into the band, you know, the decapitated cover, Invisible Control.

I mean, I couldn't really play that song that well, but it just... I didn't give a shit. It just, you know, put it out. But because of that, I got contacted by Vogue, and he was like, yeah. And he was like, yeah. Are you fucking serious? Well, but it's 16 years ago. Yeah, but still.

That's a lot, dude. I know, but still. Holy fuck. 9-900, wow. Everything started back then, you know, and just, yeah. Okay, so why did you keep the couch there? Well... I love the couch, that's why.

Look at it. Because now when you look at the new videos, you can see how far you've come with the new couch. Yeah, of course. Dude, once you get like that new couch, people are like, oh, we got a new couch, you made it. He's making money playing drums. Now we're here, right?

Well, you know, it was... But go find me to get crima couch. But I found it funny how people always look, like what shit they can find in the videos. Of course, man. They don't really care. I mean, okay, they care about your performance, but it's all those details like,

what is that in the back? You know, like, you don't even pay attention. That's what they care about. They are paying attention to everything. Everything. Everything. But the couch was like, dude, please. It's a band rehearsal space.

Like, fuck it. I feel like the more raw it is, the more people notice things. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think in a good way, too. Yeah, and I think in an overall good way. I think there might have been a time period

where raw was bad. But I think recent, maybe like five years ago, like five years ago to like 10 years ago. But I think nowadays anything raw is good because people don't believe what they see online. True. They think everything's fake. So.

Especially with AI going and things are you fucked right now. Yeah, exactly. And with like play through videos where, you know, people just think everything's either sped up, mimed, just not real. Anything to make it raw. That's why a drummer from lepris, Bard, who is amazing. He is amazing.

Have you seen that play-through? He does. I forget what song, where he drops a stick. It's in the middle of some crazy shit, and he drops a stick, and then he grabs another and he keeps going. But he left that in. And I know that at some point in time, people would have cut that out, but I really love that he left that in because that's how we know he's actually playing this.

Yeah. But he's legit. But we know he's legit because he dropped the stick so we know that that's actually him in the video. What's the song? Ah, shit. But honestly, I must say from it. I don't remember.

You can look up a lepros drummer's stick drop. Okay, nice. Once I saw him perform live and he dropped both sticks accidentally and he just kept playing with his hands. Oh my God. He's like that kind of guy. That's sick. But you know, he's 100% legit.

And I believe as a drummer, I can always notice if someone fakes things or it's a legit performance because the way it sounds and the movement it matches up you know if if drums are being too sampled or too edited that's not it yeah you can I think it was like it's an older video it's like a proper place it's like yeah it's got and it's got a lot of views it's maybe that one uh this one yeah the moon one could it be that but he was the thing is though with Bart he used to perform on the in Norway playing some dreams of the covers. He was like 12 years old or something like this,

and I would see his video like, who is that guy? He's a super funny guy. He's a bit lost, but in a, in a cool way, he loses his shit all the time, but he's so focused on drumming. That's him. So I would watch that, and you can tell the passion,

just drums, drums, drums. Dude, he brought his drums to the street. I mean, that's all I got to say. Yeah, but lots of times street musicians are... Yeah, but look at his... cart that he brought his drums on. That's dedication. I love this guy.

That is your new trailer. Exactly. The camper right there. Come on. Man, stick that right behind the van. You guys are good. He's like a super hyped dude, you know. That's sick. And phenomenal drummer.

Wow. Yeah. Wow. That's sick. Well, uh, congrats on. I remember you, so you, you post a picture of you on a laptop. actually the Sugar Free Red Bull Was there as well

It got people hyped And you haven't So you signed the metal blade And what you had You put out Musil for what 12 years? Yeah 12, 13 years

Yeah, man It's crazy The whole thing's crazy The whole thing Didn't ever expect to do again But It's one of those things Where like

You know The very very first picture I think it's on Daff's stuff Yeah, yeah You can fucking scroll But boom, there it is Yep

That's when Started writing new material I remember that Yeah We just liked it Okay 20, 21 Wow

If you have a sugar-free ripple You know this dude's working You're serious That's what you know You know shit is real Yeah Honestly I didn't

Expect anybody to give a shit And I didn't Like I'm not I don't do things for fun because I'm psychotic like we already now established okay but I but I was but I'm also not

delusional so when I started doing that I wasn't really thinking there's gonna be a label like metal blade like there's gonna be a new lineup there's gonna be a record there's gonna be yens Bogren there's gonna be all the all the shit like it's just gonna be back like it wasn't that wasn't really we were just gonna do one song yeah it was like let's write a couple of songs maybe like one or two and See how it goes. Yeah, see how it goes.

Go from there. And then, yeah, so, no, yeah, so we did one, and then I pushed you to do another. And then I pushed you to do another. And then you said, maximum three. Look, we have a full out. Yeah, but you know, Metal Blade, they're really interested. And then we could do five. I mean, we could just do six.

I mean, we could probably put 12 on there. We don't know. I hate odd numbers. We may as well do, dude. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, we did the three. We did the three, no rest, no end, which is the first single that came out is like part of that batch. We did the three and we just had this agreement of if it goes well, we'll finish the album and go from there.

So we didn't really define the criteria of what if it goes well means. We just said if it goes well. So open ended, because, you know, he's got septic flesh. Like, we've all got lives. it's a big ask but you know I guess metal blade coming into the picture and stuff means

it went well yeah definitely was the thing like okay so we gotta do the album right now we gotta do the other six true so is that is that the plan yeah album comes out in May really yeah oh hey I'm sorry

it's done yeah real quick just advice don't send someone a we transfer file okay okay because you can't play the fucking files oh that's right so i i haven't heard the record it's actually i haven't heard it and i completely forgot in my brain because i'm used to drop box well i can send you drop box okay it's fun it's funny okay now now we can't move on because never use we transfer no because i like a waking up day of and it's putting on like whatever i

new record or like the spot-up files go straight down and driving nice it's like it's like Five, it's like five, six a.m. You see the sun? The vibe's coming up. I'm like, okay, Blast speech. And then I want, I want to hear this. You cannot.

You will definitely be awake afterwards. I can tell you. Oh, my God. Don't fucking weed transfer file. Come on, dude. Come on. Come on. You are something.

You are fucking, come on. You fucking know better. That's actually the reason. The reason I do we transfer is because of Dropbox and Google Drive failing so often. Really? Yeah, yeah. They go down a lot.

So, yeah, for when you're dealing with, like, huge transfers and stuff, she can get finicky. We transfer, the only reason I use it is because it's the only way that I can actually know that someone got it. Well, it's usually a wave, and you typically have to unzip it, so it's like, it's a pain in the ass. Fuck, yeah. It's just with the other ones, I don't know that the person got it. What is the easiest way to send someone a record? Well, for what, what are they going to do with it?

Like if they were going to listen on their phone Like in your scenario I think Dropbox Yeah Is yeah you put it on Dropbox And you have a password That they can Password

Yeah password to access it But what can't actually wait I'm actually gonna contradict myself One what is What do you think is gonna happen With the record Right? And also like

I think people might be done Leaking stuff But then I just had a memory No no no No, I don't mean in that way. I mean more like if you have like, say, seven different versions like we do and you send and you're and you send them version four. Yeah. You want to make sure that like if they then share it, that they're at least sharing the correct version.

It's like a known thing that stuff's going to get shared. But I wouldn't want the wrong mix to be what like goes around. so at least share the right thing so I think that putting the password on there that way you can limit the access to the older versions and keep everything up to date so it prevents versioning errors that's what it is

can you put like a like a timeline like this will expire in a week or okay you didn't do that right no no I just want to give it to you oh shit Yeah, just gave it to you.

Okay. Maybe I should have been more clear. Hey, I'll, let's do this like the of. And it's fucking go to gym and just jam it. Yeah. No, I just sent it to you with no, no password, no expiry. Well, there is an expiration that's built in. I just gave it to you.

No, no, uh, no restrictions. No restrictions. Should have completed that. Yeah, you were cleared. Do you think leaking is coming back? Um, what does it even mean? Where are you leaking it to, though? Yeah, like what?

There's one place you could leak it to, which I won't say, no. There is a website you can download any record that comes out because they leak it. That's still going on. It still goes on. My buddy gets all his records from that. You know what happens that I've seen lately? Producers get hit up by people pretending to be in the label. That's what I want to talk to you about.

Yes. So that is fucked up. I didn't hear about that. I'm not worried about me sending you something and hopefully you thinking it's sick and you showing somebody else in some other band or in your band, that's fine. Or like me sending it to somebody else, they show it to somebody else, cool. And then it's out there. That's fine.

But what this thing that we're talking about is people will pose as a friend or as an employee of the management company or the label or working for the band who hit up the producer and be like, I didn't get the files. And it'll look real. It'll look real. looks totally real. I know several producers who have been duped by this. So someone got duped? Yeah, and when it's like a huge band, when it's a huge band, and we're talking about like six-figure budgets and stuff like that, it's a big deal.

It's a big deal. Yeah. How do they, so I'm curious, how did these people know? Because it freaks me out because this is very extreme inner circle stuff. How do you know the producer? How did you know, they know who's master? it and like the band knows and maybe people at the label know and when people were hitting up people that did our masters for a record I'm like how did how does someone in the outside know someone talks

yeah exactly someone talks yeah I just had an experience um let's hear yeah you know the with the guitars oh yeah yeah so I don't mind talking about it because because obviously it's out there right somehow so we're just at the nams show and I was walking around and walked past the booth and this relates to what you're talking about of how word gets out. So walk past the booth did a double take and was like, what am I looking at? And what I was looking at was stolen versions of my girlfriend's guitars. Yes, right there. So she paints for the Fender Custom Shop. And these are like commissioned guitars. They're purchased by these are the fakes. But they're, uh, The ones she does are like commissioned straight by the Fender Custom Shop.

They're not commissioned by individuals. And then they go to like dealerships or to like really, really rich buyers or whoever buys those like really, really expensive fender custom shop ones. And these are all like one-offs, one-off hand-painted. And so I saw her designs at the side view and was going to show her. But then when I looked, I realized those aren't fenders. and the art looks shitty. And then I looked a little more and I noticed three of her designs there.

Three? Yeah, they had three. So I did a story with a little slideshow of the three. But anyways, word got out, I guess. I guess the slideshow's gone. But yeah, it's actually on my Facebook page, on my personal Facebook.

But anyway, point being, like, they did three. I put them on blast. And today, I got a DM from a company saying, we apologize for stealing your girlfriend's artwork. We have removed the guitars. We would like to pay for your and your girlfriend's upcoming trip to Japan. It's like, how are you now going to Japan? Yeah.

So whoever told them about your mastering, told them I'm going to Japan too. It's that same person. It's that same person. Just in the industry. It's a deep state. We're obviously in L.A. It's someone here.

Is it you? That's why I have a podcast. I know what's going on. It's fucking creepy though, right? So are we going to go there and get killed? I don't know. That's worth a shot. Yeah.

How did they know? Like, right? How can you get the artwork like that? I don't know. I think, oh, well, how did they get it? How do you get that? You just copy it. You just copy it, but I find more crazy is how do they know that he goes, wants to go to Japan?

Yeah, that's crazy. Because you didn't post it by there. No, no, it's, it's just trips. Did you click that link in your email? You did. Yeah. So, like, what's going on? Like, who are these people?

Some, like, okay, so this is a company that's from Japan, correct? No. I don't know where they're from. Probably China. China. Okay, so where is this guitar company from? Taiwan. But like when you click on their, when you try to find them online, it goes to a fake website.

Like that doesn't look like a real company, right? Yeah, you have one post. They're like, we have one guitar. Yeah, it's sketchy. Anarchy, of course. Sketchy, right? And they're at NAM. Selling guitars.

There were a lot of, suspicious. But they had like EVHs. EVH models there. It's like, you don't have an EVH license. Like, no way you have. This is freaky shit, dude. Yeah, and Sawa do they know I'm going to Japan? Like, so what's going on? How do they know that?

I don't know. That's what I, that's, okay. I had, if you, how do people find this shit out? Like, same with, like, what you're talking about with the, with the mastering stuff. It's extreme inner circle stuff. Yeah. The only people that know are, like, maybe a couple of, like, maybe a couple of, like, people at the label that know who's mastering the fucking record. How did it?

And I don't know. Who's the rat? Yeah. And if they know like your personal travel. Okay. So I have a theory. All right. I thought about this when I was high.

It's probably right. That's probably a groundbreaking moment. I get sketched out by putting my ideas in the notepad. Because now it's now it's, now it's, now. people, because I'm well aware that people know what I type. Especially when we have TikTok or Instagram.

It's very, it's known around the world that now you're, the way how you press your finger on the screen is tracked. Oh yeah. So, but I'm like, okay, if I'm putting my ideas down there, someone can see this. If you have TikTok on your phone, though,

that could also be a lot of it because you give them permission. A lot, like, didn't you remember that? They were trying to ban it. Yeah. Because you were giving them permission to look at everything on your phone. Sure. So that's, if you have it, that's a red flag.

That's what I've heard. Yeah. I'm thinking, Mike, if I put these, I'm, I actually stopped putting so many of my ideas on there. And now I go straight to, straight to paper. I notice. It's like, this idea. It's like, you know, for the pod or a song or like, there's any idea you have, I kind of, I stopped putting it in a notepad. Because it's kind of known for, it's known.

This is a perfect example. I haven't thought about this in a while where I like that. Oh my God. I need that. Tinfoil hats, baby. People in a different country will steal your idea. Because they're probably, they had the access.

They're probably the ones that have the access to the way you're typing. Of course. It's freaky. Of course. It's, uh, key logging. There's no such thing as privacy. No. That is long gone, dude.

So if you want it, analog. like you're doing. And also, that's actually better. There's lots of studies show that actually writing stuff down is better for learning and remembering. Learning and retention. Yeah. Dude, but did you ever suffer with that when you're writing? I know I do because I never write anymore.

That when I write, I always, like, put letters ahead because I'm like, my brain is so much faster. And I'm used to texting it. Then when I write, I, like, put letters out of place. I'm like, damn it, rewrite that work. Sure. Happens so much. Yeah, I think it's good for your creative brain, too. Like, it's, because with the phone, it's too, it's too finished too quick.

Whether you're writing something, it's just like, it's kind of like, you're able to, like, kind of sketch it out. You, well, okay, with it, okay, this word's wrong, I'm going to spell it, and you cross it off. You kind of, there's something, I don't know what it is. I really, I really don't know. Yeah. But something happens when you just write, write shit down. Yeah, I mean, bite dance is like one of the biggest defenders of that, by the way. So, I mean, I have it.

We all have it. I'm sure, you know, TikTok, but, you know, that was a huge. I don't have it. That was a huge thing. They were like, they're basically key logging. Yeah, and they're listening to your. I mean, like Instagram and Facebook, they're all listening to your mic. And you give them all access to that.

But, you know, when your data gets leaked or, you know, something like that, that's where they get a lot of that from. And especially these days, I get these, you know, I'm sure we all do living in America. We get these sketchy. USPS, your packages, you know, are ready. Yeah, yeah. And it's a plus, you know, 4-8. You're like, mm-hmm. But we get the same in Europe.

I get all the time scam calls and, like, yeah, pick up your. package here, you know, your tracking number is blah, blah, blah. And it's like, I don't worry anything. I'm not, I'm not ordering anything. I'm like, what I'm supposed to, you know, pick up. They got me. So, and I'm, I am good. I am a tech person.

I always double, triple, quadruple check, like my emails, any websites that people send me. And I got a text message, and I was expecting a package from somebody. And it says, hey, we need to update your shipping information because something's wrong. And I know the person who sent it where I live, uh, There's a nine or a four at the end of my zip code. So it just really depends on where it's going. But the official puts a nine, but when I write it to someone, it's a four. So sometimes it can be a mess.

So I click the link. It tends me to the USPS website, and I put in my information. It wants me to pay a 30 cent fee. So I put my credit card in. And then the next day, the next day, the next day. Wow, they got you. $2,000 charged in my credit card. What the fuck.

Someone paying their power bill in North Carolina. Carolina. It was like power, power, power. I'm like, whatever. Wow. So it happens again, except, I mean, because the website looks legit. It is a, it's go, it even like the first, you know, the prefix of everything is legit. It's all the suffix at the end.

That's like zero one question mark, cue, you know, after the forward slash. Wow. I'm amazed. Like USB. But then, so this time it happened again, I'm like, let me see if I can click other things. So I scroll down to like to ask us about us. all leads to dead links. Oh, no.

That's the trick now. That's the trick. If you ever get that and you go to the website, always click around on all the links at the bottom, the hyperlinks, and see if it leads to a real, real site, because they got me, but they won't again. Can your bank get that money back? Yeah, it was a credit card. So they just had it in two seconds.

Oh, really? A debit card, obviously, that takes like two weeks. You can still get that back, though. Yeah, yeah. Ask me how I know. Yeah, debit card is like two weeks, but credit card, it's instant. They just write it off and they're like, whatever.

We'll fix it. Yeah, there it is. Yeah, there it is. Yeah, delivery failure notification. Yeah, and that's an email, but like when it comes through as a text, that's when it was like, oh, because I always get text of like you have a package at the front office. I'm like, oh, yeah, let me go pick it up. So you can just, you're in like an autopilot mode and you don't think.

And it got me, man. Bless you were expecting something. I was. No, I was actually expecting something to come like tomorrow or the next day. So it was like, oh, shoot, they're holding it. It may have been delivered. Let me just make sure I. adjust my and all I did was change the zip code to the four instead of the nine and yeah

two grand later oh my goodness well that's that that's how people get you it's like it's when like you're just on kind of autopilot you're on their phone it's kind of scrolling oh yeah you look at this that looks legit but that's not what mine look like but it was very similar to that yeah it looks legit you're like oh shoot yeah UPS oh damn my tracking number oh damn that's mine I should fix that oh shit I really want this package yeah exactly but They will never do that, obviously. I've learned that they'll never text you to change your information ever. They would just hold the package.

Yeah, you'll never get a text from the post office, from UPS, from Amazon. Never. They'll just contact you through your account. And they won't even email you. They'll actually try to call you is what they'll happen. So learn. We can learn from your situation right now. I'm trying to teach you.

Exactly. Don't make my mistake. Always click the damn hyperlinks at the bottom. Like click the contact us and see if it leads to a real page. Thank you. Thank you for sharing this information. Thank you, John. You're welcome. So first tour back is going to hit North Carolina.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fucked up, dude. That is fucked up. You know, it's been bugging me. What does your shirt say? Twilight Sad. What's that? It's a Scottish band that I saw Open for the Cure.

Oh, shit. You're serious? Yeah. What's it called? The Twilight Sad. Twilight Sad, dude. If it's a new band, I got to hear it. I got to trick it out.

Twi. Were they sick or what? Yeah. Good enough for me to get the shirt. If you bought the fucking, what, the $30 shirt, it's probably... Yeah. It's probably... Okay.

So they open up for the cure. Yeah. Is it kind of that, like, style or what? Yeah, kind of in that, like... Nice. Yeah, when you're depressed, you got to listen to the cure. Yeah. It helps.

Sometimes, like, you don't get, like, a certain banner of music, but if you're in the mood, like, let's say you get dumped or something. It all makes sense. It all makes sense, yeah. You're like, oh, dude, when I, when I, uh, when I, uh, when me and my chick broke up, cold play made a lot of sense. And I was jamming that shit for a long time. I thought this best band in world, oh shit, that's a nice guitar.

Yeah, I heard some quote. It was like, uh, lyrics are great when they mean nothing, but when they mean something, you know, they definitely hit home. Like, and it's like in that moment where like you're just listening to you're like, whatever, this song is great. But then when it, when it hits that moment, you're like, this is, this is, you're like, this is, Everything I've been thinking for the... This is the answer.

Yeah. It's kind of a trip that... Hopefully you never feel that way about brutal death metal lyrics. Yeah. Like, like, old cattle corpse. No. Hopefully those never been home for you. This next song.

It's all the women are. It is kind of funny how we don't care about... Like, we don't care about death metal lyrics. Yeah. It's just... It's not... It's not serious. Yeah.

I don't think. I mean, it's like serious music, but it's not a manifesto. It's just art. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Well, humans are drawn to just a fantasy. Yeah, we don't have to say the name, but yeah.

Track one, baby! Oh, my. I think that's from Tomb of the Mutilated, actually. Great record. It's great record. Oh, sick. I mean, I mean, humans are just naturally drawn to fantasy. Yeah, totally.

It's cool. There's a positive in that, Whereas, Death Metal's a previous sample. Like, you have, like, these lyrics. It's obviously not serious. There's, like, the fantasy element to it, but this makes you feel good.

It's crazy. Yeah. I think with Death Metal, for me, um, it's not so much what the lyrics are. Because I kind of almost don't care with death metal. It's more just like how it sounds. Like,

rhythmically. Absolutely. Yeah. It's like, it's just a feel. It's a vibe. Yeah, but also, though, it is good. If the song is heavy. to be able to belt out that just like,

fuck you. I mean, come on. Sure. Fucking, what is it? Fuck everything? Dude, come on. It's great to scream. Fuck, man, especially in the car.

Yeah. Yeah, seriously. I mean, yeah. Say it with me. Fuck everything. You know, you're like, so that works. Hardest to come up with those stupid, simple stuff.

With the, dude, your journey of going into, like, production of audio has been really fascinating to it. to see and the idea of like nail the mix to give people access which I'm sure was a fucking hassle all that it's like behind the scene stuff I'm sure trying to get like that's most of it trying to get the tracks

yeah dude so um nail the mix is another one of those things that seemed really unrealistic to pull off like to think you know we're going to get

uh there he is yeah I know that. Yeah. It's the same jacket. I love this jacket. Just to think that any of those artists,

I mean, we've had you guys on a few times. We had septic flesh on. Like, at first, it was like, and Gojira. Like, it just seems super unrealistic that anyone would be cool with allowing that. Just because, you know, remember speaking about leaks and the era that we come from that it just seemed like no one would

ever be cool with it. So the fact that it was allowed to happen in the first place, it was a miracle. And the fact that it's continued to happen is a miracle. But I think that we've made the case for why it's not hurting. It's not hurting anybody. It's not hurting any of the artists. So you know, like we're paying license fees, first of all. But Second of all, like our community members aren't allowed to do anything with those tracks. So even you're downloading OPEC, like, there are actual tracks and doing mixes. You can't just post it on your own site and be like, I mixed OPEC. Yeah.

Come, come record with me. Like, I'm OPEX mixer. Yeah, like, that's a good, you get. Yeah, that's weird little things to like, you know, navigate. I'm sure it's like, oh, shit. Yeah, how do you navigate this? Well, there's, I mean, obviously, there will be like, you know, Russian sites that will just like steal everything and put it up.

Of course. But like people are, artists and labels are understanding of that because they know that like the amount of piracy that comes from there. But we're really, really serious within the community that if someone breaks those rules,

like it's a sacred thing that we don't fuck around with people's tracks. So if someone posts them outside of the community, like do their own mix, post it on YouTube. It's like, I've mixed suicide silence. They get banned. And the thing is our community self-polices because we made it basically really clear

that it's kind of an honor that we're allowed to use tracks by so many great bands. And the only reason it's allowed to continue is because we don't have a track record or doing fucked up things with those tracks. If we did, the shit would go away. And we let the community know that.

And so whenever someone violates it, I get like 500 DMs or emails or people like directing us to the to the post or whatever. Like it happens fast. It happens really, really fast. And then, yeah, you just get the shit taken down. Andrew Wade. But, yeah, like, the thing with Nail the Mix, though, was,

uh, have you ever been into production? No, just like, logic, trying to drink a tone. Mark's more of the dude in your band, right? Yeah. Okay, so, like, I think that, um, there's a lot of metal. musicians there have been for like the past 15 years who like want to record to some level some want to do it for a living some just want their own music to sound better you know everything in between but back in the day if you went to look for information on how to do it there was literally

zero like nothing like you could find shit for any other genre you could go to school for any other genre but for metal there's like literally nothing true yeah and the metal producers, like the old guard, were like guarding that shit, like the CIA or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, my tracks. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So I just figured like, look, this, this home recording thing is only going to get bigger. It's not going to get smaller. More and more musicians are going to get into this. More and more producers are coming in. If we don't want the next generation of metal to sound like fucking shit, someone's got to help them. And so, yeah, that's where it came from.

And we figured it's better if you have the people who actually made the records that you listen to showing how to do it than some rando, like, who is, like, guessing. Like, if you want to know what's happening on an O-Path record or in a sugar record, why don't you hear it from the dude who mixed it with those actual tracks? It's a crazy thing, though, that it even happened. But, yeah, it happened. The thing, though, that I keep, like, telling myself is, how bad are we spoiling people or asking myself? Because, like, can you imagine being a producer or just a beginner, like, you want to learn? And you're like, oh, I'm just going to download Devon Townsend, and go to Nail Mix and get, like, like Devon Townsend tracks and Suicide Silence tracks and Mushugat Tracks and like whatever and like

this is what you're working with now. And then you go work with local bands and it's not like that. It's so it's a, like I worry about spoiling people sometimes because like that's not reality. Like you're not you you work a long time before you can work with bands that good and you have to learn how to solve problems with bands that are not that good. Was this you in year 2000? What year? Yeah, they were. Oh, Muttlang?

Oh, shit, dude, that's fucking legendary, dude. That is that Shania Twain? Is it? I can't tell. If it is, good eye. Wow. Well, weren't they married? Were they?

I have no idea. Yeah, they were married. Oh, well, there's another fun of fact that you knew I didn't. He produced her, then married her. Not anymore. Isn't it a trip to hear the tracks? And like, you're like, oh, wow, they are. That's why they're that band.

They are that good. Yes. Well, no, not a trip. Like, more like a confirmation. Like, when you hear like a Gojera track, actually the best example is Mushooka. Like, because we did destroy race improve. Oh, my God.

It's 23 tracks. 23 tracks. What's the song called the opening? Future Breed Machine. Future Breed Machine. That's right. We did Future Breed Machine. machine.

Yep. Yeah. It's 23 tracks. All tracked analog. It's like one drum set. Like one metal drum set is that much. Yeah, exactly. But you play it, and it's like, oh, all right.

They sound like this. That's what they sound like. Have you ever been in the room with this really great musician? And they sound exactly like what you know them to sound like. but like playing through like some shitty practice amp it's like oh all right they that's what they actually sound like they're like they're like they're like it's 85% them yeah yeah yeah it's crazy like the hands or their brains this I did actually watch this just because I love that song the whole album is phenomenal oh just one of my favorite absolutely it's my favorite

band I don't I have curiosity what do you think are like the top five like best metal mixes. Let's go around. Tough. That's tough. Yeah. That's tough because there's so many great ones. The, I think,

Ghost Reverie's album. Interesting. I think a lot of people think that the Watershed Mix is better, but I don't know. I think the Ghost Revereverex mix, I think what was... Europe. You come off as

like an O-Peth guy. Yes, I love O-Peth. Okay. But, but Also, I've heard mixes and I don't remember the names of, so I'm more think of, like, who I think are great mixers. So, like, I think Buster Oda Home is, like, the next generation of... Busters, Kale. Yeah, Busters, like, Busters the future. I think there was a time period. You have to think about, in context of the time, because production standards have changed.

So if you go back to, like, the early 2000s, you listen to, like, the impossibility of reason, like, with Colin Richardson mixing. Like that is like the pinnacle. It is. Of what was... Impossible. It is. Sounds incredible.

That's the pinnacle of what could be done in 2003. I'm surprised you don't hate that band. Why? I'm kidding. It's fine. Because they stole my band? Hey. I'm sorry.

I don't bring it up. No, no. That whole story is funny. That was great, though. That helped so much, man. I mean, come on. It kept us going pretty much. Yeah.

But you're right, that mix is just like, I mean, if there was an era, if it was touched by Colin, it was just like you knew it was going to sound sick as fuck. Yeah. You knew exactly what it was going to sound like. And you wanted that sound. Yeah, absolutely. So I'd say impossibility of reason, ghost reveries. Wow, that's up there. Damn.

Yes. Wow, that's on your list. He's just asking about mixes. No, I know. I just didn't realize that that was on your list. That's cool. Yeah. Obviously black album.

What do you think about stabbing the drug? drama. That was one of my favorite mixes. Soil work. Like, it's great, but it's... Very specific. Yeah, it's very specific. Well, I think that there's, like... I'm in the At the Gates contingent.

There's like... I feel like there's three contingents of, like, fans of the Swedish melodic death metal from the 90s, there's the In Flames contingent, the At the Gates contingent and Soilwork Contingent. I'm in the At the Gates contingent. So for me... the Frederick Nordstrom at the gates stuff is like the pinnacle.

Oh. Imagine fucking being in the room and recording the black album, dude. Imagine that. I felt like I was with those movies they put out. I love it when it's so like raw and behind a scene stuff.

I love that shit, dude. Dude, you want to talk about balls? Metallica have the biggest balls. They do. Out of anybody. Like putting out some kind of I will 100% agree. They are fearless.

Like, they are not afraid to, and I think that's part of why they have remained so big is whether or not people like their new stuff, like they're so willing to be, uh, to just show the truth, whether it's ugly, whether it's embarrassing, whether it's awesome. Like, it doesn't matter. Like, just the balls to put out some kind of monster. It's like, wow. There's some scenes I was laughing. It's seriously, but I loved it.

I love it. I love it. It's just putting down Lars or Lars is. I just putting down James. It sounds stock to my ears. Yeah, because when you do that, that like in the room bickering with your band, it's kind of hard to be an outsider, but I'm pretty sure there's an outsider. It'll look really and sound really bad.

Oh, yeah. When there's like that in the room bickering. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. It's like, dude. The one I'm talking about sounds to my ears. Which part do you think is clear? It sounds in my ears.

It's, have you seen it recently? No. It's been a while, man. You should watch it again. Probably like two years. Oh, so I watched it when it came out. That's recently enough. Yeah.

Yeah. It's, I don't know. You're seeing them in their worst moment, but also in now that it's been 20 years or whatever, seeing this, it's like, wow. This is why they're so huge. I love that Lars, though, this is like complaining about Rifts being too stock. And it's like, bro. I'm not going to say anything. Dude, that's one of my favorite beats.

Boom. Yeah. I just want to put a drop-bait chug on there, dude. Yeah, I love drop-age. I love his drum beats. Yeah, that what a record. Holy shit, dude. I'm up with you, and I told you, I'm on a shit mood,

and what are you been doing? I love it. So good. That's what I say to Eddie. Let's watch it right now. Let's not the podcast that's just watch. That's said that that looks. very familiar.

He slams the door. It's so dramatic. How do you distract a bunch of metal heads is just watch some kind of monster? Yeah. It's so relatable. And when Lars' dad

tells them to burn the record or it should be deleted. Oh dude, sway. I would delete that. Jeez, I forgot about sway. And it's also great that so in in 1999,

you were, so you were ready to like to leave metal, correct? Yes. And then you heard the first slip knot. Yes, that's correct. So what was it about that record that kind of brought you back? I mean, back. I mean, you're fucking here.

Well, I started, I was doing like, I mean, we're talking about a long time ago. But I was writing death metal in high school. Actually, some of the stuff on the Hinders album were death metal songs I wrote in high school. But. Seriously? Yeah. But then I started going into orchestral composition and thought that that's what I was going to do. and just wasn't going to do metal anymore.

And it was kind of like uninspiring to me in the late 90s. But I decided I needed to learn some modern stuff, just so that I would keep my guitar playing modern. And I had that perception of new metal bands that dudes from Death Metal had that were like those fucking new metal bands. I'm going to just, who's this Slip-Nod band? I'm just going to learn some of this new metal shit. And you heard the first song,

and it's just like roaring. That first, that opening song is just so awesome. Yeah, it's insane. It's like so much energy. It just exploded. And it was just like, this is what I've wanted metal to be. Like this is what's been missing for metal. So yeah, as soon as I heard it, it was like, oh yeah, metal was fucking awesome.

Just no one's been making it fucking awesome for a while. So. Yeah, the album was definitely groundbreaking. I remember going to the record store and they would just listen the first song. And I was like... I was hooked. I was hooked. I was not yet a metal head yet, but I think that album changed my mind. So I was like, that's a weird album cover.

I'm checking it out. That's how you used to buy albums was that way, yeah. I saw them out like OzFest 99 and they were like the side stage thing. Yeah, same. The small... Yeah, they play West Palm. So I actually found the video of somebody and I saw myself in the video in OzFest 99.

Like you can see me from the back of the head, yeah. And I remember when... Because the album wasn't out when they played Osfest. Yeah, I would have loved. I got like the Roadrunner sampler with like Fear Factory and like two songs of Slipknot. I was waiting for that. I would have loved to see them during that time. No, yeah.

This was the first time I saw them 2002. That's when they came over to Austria the first time. But I would have loved to see them. Imagine following them on stage back then. Oh my God. I think like Snott was after them. Like it was either Snott or it was a system or was like head PE was literally after Slipknot on that side stage. It just seems like it would be really deep.

demoralizing. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, that would make you want to... Not a lot of people lost. I remember, everyone just stood and stared. Yeah, it's kind of weird, yeah. Yeah. People didn't know how to, like, react to it at first. What is happening? That is so funny. Yeah, there's a point in this video you can actually see my head from the back, and I'm like, oh my God, I'm actually standing in this crowd.

That first record is literally Ross Robinson's masterpiece. I agree. It's just like, it's just a masterpiece. It's the whole The mystique about what he did with bands I feel like that is the pinnacle of it And you can see it in like some of the clips They have of the making of Yeah you just go crazy

Everyone pops up I'm looking for everything I can find out of like recording sessions from Iowa In the first album It's like There's nothing There's so little snippets out there But I always look for like

What did they do back then. He got those techniques from his mom. Wait, wait, wait, stop. I think that's me. Go back on the right-hand side. Oh, you're actually on there? Yeah, no, I told you.

I was at this show, yeah. So whoever's video tipping this, because I just watched, so I was in the bottom right-hand corner. I'm wearing a white shirt, and I had a bowl cut, and I was shake. Oh, that was you? Yeah, no, I've watched this video so many times.

Right there. Yeah, exactly. That's you right there? Exactly, yeah, that's me right there, yeah. Okay. So, speak, you don't know that. That's true. I had a ticket, so I've shown my buddy as proof.

I'm like, here I am, right. How did you find yourself? Well, because I remember, and like I always look back on old shows. Like I watched an old death tone show from 97 in Fort Lauderdale. I found a limp biscuit show from 97. And so it was like, yeah, let's look up Slip 999. And I found it and I start watching it. And I'm just like, dude, that's me.

Like, I remember my hair cut. I remember the shirt I wore. I know what the back of my head looks like. Yeah, no, I mean, dude, it was the, that was the bowl cut, the split down the middle, and I was shaved all up underneath. So you can see it. Yeah, it's so stupid. Damn, that's fucking sick.

Oh, wait, no, no, see, no, there I am right there. Straight ahead. That is actually my head right fucking there. That is me. Yeah, that's me right there, bro. That's sick. That is fucking me. That's fucking sick, dude.

Yeah, 100%, dude. That is me. That's so stupid. Yeah, you look like, what's going on here? Well, because I remember... Is that one the beard just grew? I didn't have a beard. It just grew at that moment, though.

I had no beard. Let's see, I would have been in... Shit, I guess. I would have been in 10th grade at that point. Yeah, because I moved up to Georgia, I think that year, 10th or 11th grade. Holy shit. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, so I found myself in that video.

And I was a buddy of mine. There I am. Yeah, so I posted something recently and then somebody commented on it. And then I showed him the picture of the ticket. I was like, here I am, dude. I was at that fucking show, man. I actually met Mick, and it was really funny because he's like, yeah, we're playing at 3 o'clock on the side stage.

You know, you probably won't care about my band. Like, he didn't think that it was going to be anything you could. tell at that time. He didn't have his mask on, so nobody knew, but I was one of those that I think I picked up like a spin magazine or something, and in the back, I remember they had albums coming out, and I remember just seeing the cover, and I'm like, dude, I've got to get that record. Yeah, and then they played that year. And then I believe it came out in June of that year. Like, I think it was like June 17th or July 17th. I don't know why I remember that date. Because I actually, or it was like the 19th or something, because I moved to Georgia and I got

it like a week early. So it's something like that. Slip-Nat trivia. June, there you. See, look, that was close, man. I was close. I remember it was something like that. And so I think I had gotten it on the 17th. Yeah, I have a stupid memory. I'm surprised they didn't do the 19th because it'd be 19, 1990. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I may have gotten at that

because the guy I knew at the record store, he had had copies of it early. And so he was a buddy of mine and I was like, I'm moving. And yeah, he let me get the copy of it. So we listened to it, the whole drive up before it had really. And I had already memorized most of the songs. And that record is actually what got me screaming in that style. So I used to practice my scream. Because I used to try to sound like Chino a lot.

I really wasn't into doing a lot of the like screams that I do now. And the fry scream, I guess. Yeah. And that's kind of what got me started was that record. Damn. That's a good story. That's fucking sad. It's funny that we just fucking.

Thanks for pulling up the video. Made a cameo. It's fucking badass. Stupid as fuck. So after, so you were doing. the Rift Hard podcast, you're doing the you, you're doing the U Rion podcast, and then

it's cool that you got the itch to fucking come back and get a sick band together. Had to be. Yeah, it's only worth doing if you're going to do it right, I think. True. True. So, you know what it's like,

replacing band members. It fucking sucks. Terrible. So, so it's one of those things where we kind of, Sean and I were just like we're not we're only going to do this of like it works musically and like we think

the dues are cool and yeah but we just wanted to like it with our agreement was this has to sound the best thing we ever done it has to be better than what we used to be or it just ain't happening so that and I feel like if you kind of

set that as the standard and then just stick to it that's that's a thing because sometimes man when band come back, it can go either which way. Sometimes it's like, I wish they stayed in the past. And I think that the fear is always coming out with something and then it being like old and tired sounding or something like that.

So yeah, so we just took the time to make sure that it was not that. And that it just sounded like basically we never went anywhere. but got better somehow. Good goal. Yeah. Well, first step is a sick drummer. It helps. Yeah.

Definitely helps. I think that it's like really, really important that even when there's like a central writer or something, you know, like or a central vision for a song that you figure out a way to. make it everybody's song but that means that like the people that you're working with have to have like their own like way of contributing to that or like taking things their own direction and that's actually harder to to find that's harder to find and pull off than it seems like it because you find a lot of people that are really good players or really good writers or like really good at their own stuff or only good at like learning shit

exactly the way it's written. It's actually really rare to get chemistry with people who are great players and then also able to write and then also able to interpret stuff in a style and then add their own style into it and it

work. Like there's a lot of factors to it. True. Speaking of, Raphael, what do you have to say? Yeah. I haven't heard you say anything. What up, dude? That's all right. I'm listening. Let me know. You guys have funny stories to tell.

No, we're saving the best for last. So we are hearing from you, badass, and close it off on a high note. The highest of notes. Yeah, you were able to adapt that style and take the reins, man, for sure. Yeah. Speaking of. I mean, I'm like, I just listened a lot to what you guys have been doing in the past. And I mean, I've been in three.

the whole process with like a all together as of the whole songwriting thing and we worked hard on it but yeah I'm happy to be here that's what's up yeah crim showed me a video we were looking we were we wanted to make sure that um whoever ended up being lead guitarist was like godly and that's and basically we're looking at different different people and crim showed me this video of him that i had never heard of him but what was it it was like i think you were doing some something from an obscure song i don't know could be yeah like there's a bunch of arpeggios really really uh not just fast but like really musically cool but like yeah crim showed it to me and was like i think this guy would be good and uh i heard like i think this guy

This guy can do it. Very good. Very good, yeah. Yeah. I forget which one it is, but like it's a black background. And... It's probably ethereal skies by Obscura. Yes.

Yeah, it can be that one. That shit is crazy. So I saw that and was like, yeah. All right. Under black skies. I got to talk to this guy. That's the guitar. Yeah, look at that.

I think that's a different one. I think it's called ethereal skies. by Obscura. Yeah. Yeah, and there's a video of him with the black background. It's not that one. It's a little bit older, but like...

Yeah, it's old. It's great. I like that you put the title. That's nice. It's easy to find. I can't even older. So he's sitting down. He's sitting down.

I think you can find it on YouTube. Much easier if you type in Obscura, ethereal skies. Play-through Yeah, so I saw that and was like sold Sold

This would be Yeah, it's this one Boom Yeah, you're a baby But it was the But it was the middle part, right? Oh yeah, right Yeah, it was the middle part

There is a most free Yeah, it was probably there Most played, yeah, let's see A good guess Yeah, you try coming in there Yeah, no, not me I couldn't do that if God himself was teaching me. Are you thinking numbers?

Are you just thinking memorization? Or are you thinking because you know the scale? Like, what the hell is going through your mind? That's a great question. What are you thinking about? Yeah, it's basically quartz. Like, I'm thinking quartz and then just... Arpeggiating the chords.

Yeah. And then, like, adapting some of those things. Because I've written this together with our drummer, Sebastian. And actually, he sent... me like a sketch of this thing and he doesn't really play guitar so I had to tap a few of those things and adapt it so that it sounds like it's supposed to sound that's badass yeah so yeah so yeah I saw that was like the thing about it he's right he's in well yeah but it's not it's not just it's not just the shred it's the fact that um the classical influence um in that and um yeah the ability

The fact that it sounds like real playing, there's a bunch of factors. But like, the way that he was getting around that note choice and got to, like, really point out Crim's great ear for sending me this exact video. But like our song, no rest, no end, we're working on this middle section that is like this big Baroque part that is, it's not as fast as this, but it's like, I guess, in a similar vein. um so it having someone that like understands classical music um varroque music that's that's that's i was not going to say a requirement but something i was really really hoping for so hearing this it was like okay that that's legit and you can really tell the difference between a guitar player that just learns like the neoclassical like entry level shit like just the harmonic minor scale and diminished patterns and stuff versus someone that

that actually understands the origins of where that style even comes from in classical music. And that's the latter is what was looking for. It's a rare find. Yeah, yeah. You got the perfect band. Yeah. That's sick. Did we miss anything?

Well, we have a record coming out in May. Date? No date. What is the date? there is a date. You should have a date before you do a podcast, right? Well, I'm not allowed to say the date. Oh, shit.

We're allowed to say that the record's coming out of May, but we haven't announced the date yet. Let's just guess the date? It's a Friday in May. May 35th. It's a Friday in May, and there's a one in front of it. Okay. Okay. All right.

Okay. So it's probably, that would probably be the second Friday in May. A metal blade? Huh? Yeah, I'm a metal blade. It's called the deceivers in, I guess, in the lineage of the hinders and the concealers. We don't count our self-titles. You know how that is.

Me neither. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, our self-titles a bit of a disaster, so we don't, yeah. We decided to just forget about that one. It's time for reissue, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So the deceivers, it'll be out right at the beginning of May. The first single is going to be coming out right in March. Cool. Yeah. Boom. The thing is happening. Well, it was honored to hang out with the whole band. I know your schedule today is pretty fucking crazy.

You probably are going to straight to L.A. Yeah, we have like a 12-hour rehearsal right now. Well, that's, well, you're, yeah, it's fun. It's fun. Well, not anymore. Rebel coffee. I'll get another one. Sick.

Well, where can people find you guys? At AL-Levy, U-R-M audio, or, you know, I'd say find us on Instagram at Doth Official. Okay. And it's all right there to get all of us there. Boom, sick. I do make my own creams. That's what people always tell me, Sean's creams, but actually it's Sean Z screams. Okay, okay.

If you look at it. Yeah, I have an assortment of creams and tattoos. I have a whole line I'm developing. Oh my goodness. Sean's creams. Somebody said that to me and I have not been able to stop seeing it. You're fucked. I've never thought about Sean's creams.

I'm going to cream, dude. Sean's creams. No, no, no, no. Loions and tattoo creams. That's what we're going to stick with. Okay, that's fine. That's fine. It's all positive.

All right, dude. Appreciate you guys. All right. It's good. Thanks, man. Dude, thanks for having us. Anytime. That's it.

Later.