Garza Podcast - 16: Javier Reyes | ANIMALS AS LEADERS

Episode Date: May 31, 2021

Javier Reyes is the guitar player for Animals As Leaders and Mestis. We talk about being a musician getting the vaccine, meeting your idols, and more. SPONSORS: Click this link to purchase from Sweetwater & help support the podcast: imp.i114863.net/rnrmVB

Our guest today is a guitar player for animals as leaders. I hope you enjoy this conversation between two guitar players, just chilling, having it a good time. So let's get into it. Please welcome Javier Reyes. I just got the vaccine, so I'm straight. Feels good. Yeah, I got mine a few months ago at this point. How do you feel?

Fine, good. You feel fine? Thinking about that one, right? Yeah, that was good. Like, I didn't, I wasn't tripping. I was like, yeah, whatever. Just give me the fucking, give me the thing. Yeah.

Yeah. Same. Do you think that comes from like you eating all that food around the world? You just don't care what. You know, it's funny. I was like, I'm like, you know, we all have our threads with, like, music musician, homies. Yeah. And I had the J&J, right?

And it was like, I got it like a week before. all that news came out. Oh, great. And somebody was just like, yeah, are you worried, dude? And I was just like, bro. It's like, between all the random crap that I've ingested,

random people that I've smoked blunts with. Dude. I was like, the vaccine is the least of my worries. Yeah. I was like, I'm good. Give me the thing. Let's get back to normal. Yeah.

Dude, I had the same thought process as you. I'm like, what? Okay. Put it in me. I don't give a fuck. It's like whatever. Honestly, I mean. You know what?

I've listened to transparently. I've listened to another Georgian podcast. I think the science is fine. I don't even know if the science is fine or not. Put it in me. I'm just like, whatever, dude. Like, it's free? Yeah, let's go.

Oh, and it's free. Free, put it in me. Oh, dude, especially when you're a musician. If it's free, that's a... I mean, dude. One way or another, I have no control. It's like... That's true, too.

I play guitar. That's about it. You know? Yeah. What am I going to do? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's also weird, like, that kind of subconscious sacrifice you're willing to take,

like, to do what you do, right? As far as the vaccine, I mean, I don't know, bro. I was just like... Sure, I'll get it. I don't know. I didn't think twice about it. It was just like, yeah,

I've done worse things in my life. Same. Sam, I didn't think twice either. I think there's like a, there's something more just like, you know, to us, that's just kind of something

that kind of naturally, that's your natural thought process. Of years of doing things a certain way, like, you know, making sacrifices, just kind of taking a lot of risks. You know, you'll naturally,

it's kind of, okay it's fine it's like cool whatever go to some country that you don't know anything oh what's you know when you go to japan and you go to a restaurant you're like i don't know anything that they're serving here because i can't read it but i'll take that thing hopefully it's good and you know more or less sometimes it is and every now and then you'll get the up the chance where it's like nah it's not that good dude yeah i don't know what this is yeah you think we're eating jellyfish dude Yeah, you just like see a picture of planet That's a picture I want

And like you point this This picture right here It's just like I guess So you guys went to Japan huh? Yeah we've been a couple of times Have you not been in Japan? Once you're sick I love Japan

It's a beautiful place It's the future It is Yeah Everything is just Organized and Designed a little bit better With a little bit more detailed

attention to detail. Attention to detail. You're right. Have you had their ramen there? Hell yeah, dude. Dude, that's... I think I discovered like ramen ramen there. And then when I came home, it was like all of a sudden there was like, I realized that it was a thing here too. But I was just, you know, for me growing up, it was like ramen was like cup of noodles.

And I was like, when somebody told me he said, you want ramen, I was like, like for real though like no you know when they're like no no this is real robin and uh yeah i mean it's ramen you had it and then it's part of life-changing yeah japan's food is awesome have you ever been to a 7-11 in japan yeah it's legit it is it's like they don't have that dried up you know little takitos and the dry-up pizza they have legit food it's like looks good Good. When you buy food from like a little kiosk at the train station, it looks like it does in the cover. And it isn't bad.

It isn't bad. No, and 7-Eleven's like the, that's like the massive, like, food store around. Like if you go like outside the U.S., that's like the place everywhere. They got them everywhere. Like, why is 7-Eleven everywhere? Everywhere, dude. Oh, crap. I kind of love them.

I'm not mad at a 7-1. Especially when they're open past, you know, midnight, the best time to go out is snackies. You know? Very reliable. Very reliable snacks. You need reliable snacks. I think I've been to a 7-Eleven at every hour of the day. At some point in my life.

Yeah. Oh, yes. When one's open and you got to walk across street and like, am I going to take this chance? Oh, yeah. I'm taking another risk. Yeah. Late night snacks, vaccine. You know, it's the same thing, right?

Same thing. All right. Same thing. Oh, man. So you're from D.C., huh? I am from D.C., born and raised. Born and raised. Wow.

How's the music scene out there? You know, I think there was a music scene in D.C. I mean, there obviously still is, but I don't know if I was, I think I was at part of that cusp where it's like the idea of like local music, you know, everybody when I tell people from DC they're like oh dude you know DC punk seed and I'm like yeah cool

but you know bad brains and Fugazi bands like that were it was a thing and I think that was legit a scene but I'm also in the generation where like the internet became a thing

and I think that slowly started kind of killing what a local scene sounds like i mean like what's this what's the scene in la you know i didn't think about that um there's i never thought about that yeah i mean whoa it doesn't no one's in my opinion no one's being like yeah dc music or like la music it's just like whatever some random guy just happens to be from l.a at this point you know he could have been from seattle he but he just popped off off the internet I don't know.

Whoa. Interesting. When did you move down here? 2010. 2010. 2010, we moved to California. So you're still like a teen and a kid when you're out in D.C. There wasn't like sick local bands coming up or...

Yeah. At least by the time that I remember being in bands, yeah, there was there was a local scene for sure. A lot of, you know, the time it was like when corn was coming out, Def Tones was popping off, and there was a lot of that. Skaw was a big thing also. Cool. Do you remember Skaw?

I never really, that's one genre I really never. I never liked it, but it was definitely a big thing in D.C. I remember, you know, it's like you either were Timberlands or you were like plaid fan shoes. Yeah. Nice. And it was definitely a thing. There were some bands. Actually, there were, do you remember that band, Nothing Face?

Yeah. They were like, in the metal scene, we were like, damn, nothing face did it, dude. We all got hope. Wow. And that was a big thing. Yeah, they got big. They got like the Slipmont tours and they got signed and the whole nine, man.

Exactly. It was cool. There was another band called. a dog fashion disco. Do you remember that? Same era. Same era. Yeah, dog fashion disco.

They were actually a band that won like a competition. It's like one of the first like music internet competition things. Like bands would submit and then people would vote on them sort of thing. Yeah. And they won and happened to be a band from DC.

And we were also friends with them, you know, but I was in my late teens. at that point and it was like, whoa, cool, you know, what is the internet? Yeah. I'm making myself sound real old. No, no, good. No, we need to hear this. We all need to show the world how old we are.

I'm 35 and I feel old as fuck, dude. It's all good. I'm 40. I look older than I feel. Good. No, I mean, especially the older you get. I mean, this might sound weird to say, but I'm looking forward to 40 already. I remember to me 35 was.

like age where I felt like yeah I'm getting older I feel like experienced yeah I mean you're pretty experienced you've been all over the goddamn world yeah but it feels like you know you could share with me your your experiences when you hit like for me mid 30s was like you have all these experiences but you can finally like kind of compartmentalize them and like you know give him like some meaning I think I think you matured faster than I did I'm just figuring that out perfect same You know, I don't... My myth... I mean, it was...

You know, we all have our different ways of doing it, but... 30s in general, for me, were, like, just pretty cool. Like, you know, I... It was basically at the beginning of my 30s when the animal's career was popping off. Yeah. So... And, you know, I had gone through all my 20s. I had gone through a period.

I was just, like... You know what? I'm not going to do music. I had quit music for like from 22 to about 25, 26. Slowly got back into music. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do. So I was already like up and down. I was, you know, I think I even got my real estate license at one point and was just doing random shit.

And then animals happened real fast. And then it was just like third tour. We finished out here in LA and it was like, I think we're going to stay. and all of a sudden my life was just like pretty much way different than how I had seen it just a couple years before. And then things just kept escalating with touring and living in L.A. You know, there was periods of like, I'm in L.A. Let me go out to this place and let me go out to this place. I hear this thing is cool.

I hear that thing is cool. And then it turned into like, okay, it's the same city in every, it's a city it has the thing just do normal everyday things so but 30s 30s were great you know

I've had a lot of lots of fun in my 30s yeah a lot has happened it's it's really interesting that like your career with animals leaders

took off when you're in your 30s it's kind of a story like you hear when like late teens through the early 20s, you know? Yeah, I mean, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, like I was saying, in my, I was probably like 21, 22. Actually, I was 21. We were talking about 9-11 earlier.

Yeah. So Toeson and I were in a band together when we were younger. And the day that I quit, or we, we did, we used to do like weekend warrior gigs, right? where it's like you do the three day shows on the weekend and come back home for the rest of the week and I remember flying or not driving flying driving back home the very next morning I wake up and it's 9-11 it's the you know the Twin Tower stuff on TV so that's why I would never forget you know like what I did that day and yeah etc and and it was either that night or the day after that I was, I remember I had up toasting first

and I was just like, yeah, I think I'm going to quit the band. And I quit, I quit music for a while. You quit the band, only a band but also music. Yeah. That's a big quit commitment. Yeah, I was, I was, you know, we were, we played a show in Paul Tuckett, Rhode Island. Have you ever been there?

No. Paul Tucket, it's a very interesting place. We played with this shot-ass band. And they were just kind of weird dudes. And, you know, there was, like, band-member issues in my own band. And I remember driving on the drive home being like, dude, I'm 21. Like, all my friends are in college. They're doing things.

Yeah. I'm in a band with some grown-ass dudes who are acting younger than me. like I got to do something and I quit I quit music I moved to New York do some try to just do other things

after two years came back to D.C. Was in college was bored and then slowly started getting back into music like started taking guitar lessons again with my old teacher and it was like started playing

and it was like I forgot that I could do some of the things that I could do and uh yeah and slowly i just kind of kept doing it and then you know maybe a few years after toson's like yo since you're still playing do you want to do play in this band and i was like yeah whatever and i guess i'll do it i mean kind of literally i mean it was just like you know i knew tosan and i were friends we both knew we were good guitar players and it was like i was like Yeah, sure, you know, just let me know when you get it set up and I'll be down, sure. You know, I'm not doing much else.

I mean, I had a job in D.C. I was working at a studio by that point. But, yeah, I wasn't. I was like, sure, whatever, dude, this is, sure. Wow. Yeah. Like nonchalantly. I mean, obviously, like, very innocently, like,

Probably had no idea where it was going to go. Not initially. Not initially. It was just like, here's something cool and unique. Let's go try it. There was actually, I mean, we had done like two local shows in D.C. And then nothing happened for maybe like a year. Right?

And then I remember Tozen coming, Tocent had moved away and he came back into, in town. And he was like, yeah, I think I might just like, I don't think I'm going to do this. I think I might just like go to, I might move to New York and go to school. And by that time, I had heard the music when I'd also remember the two shows that we did were pretty like kind of unique. I was also kind of desperate to get the hell out of D.C. and doing something. And I remember being like, yo, if we do this for a year, I'm pretty sure our lives are going to be pretty different. And, I mean, literally like, I mean, it was less than a year before our lives turned a whole 180. Yeah, I've been quick, huh?

Yeah, kind of pretty quick. When did you guys, it sounds like you guys initially made a move together. Or pretty close. What do you mean to L.A.? Yeah. Yeah, well, we finished the tour here. We finished the tour here. We were on tour with

I wrestled the bear once. Sick. Darkest Hour and Dillinger. Oh, my God. And we finished here in L.A. Whoa, in L.A. And we stayed to do a music video. And I think there was like a photo shoot for a guitar world.

It was like finally the band was in LA, the label wanted all was taking opportunities to try to do any type of press stuff because we were just like in D.C. not doing anything. And we had some friends who we were staying

with and they were like, yo, why don't why don't you just stay in L.A.? It's like, what are you going to go do in D.C.? And we were like, I think you're right. And Tosin legit just stayed. Like he was like, all right, guys, you know, we drove the van back. But

Toeson just stayed. I went back home to get rid of my things, my belongings and whatnot, and then moved back maybe like a month after. I came back with like two suitcases and a guitar or something. Wow. That's a, that's wild. Like to go from one year I'm going to quit music and now you're moving cross country. Well that was it was multiple years at that point. It was my early 20s when I quit music, but then, you know, I, but around the age of 26, 27 is when I started getting back into music. And that was via, like, taking guitar lessons. And again, just forgetting what I could do.

And then that kind of escalated. I quit my job. I was working with my parents and I quit working with them. I quit school and just started doing my. music and I was I was playing with my teacher we would we would play tango guitar yeah you know just yeah like Latin American folkloric tango tunes and stuff like that and I was also playing in a hip-hop band a hip-hop band like you know sounds like like you know quasi roots but not as good yeah still sick

and that's what I was doing before I joined animals basically and it was just like all right this is my life here and then animals thing happened and then that happened real fast wow it seems that

he went toson established a very deep music chemistry very early on and kind of stayed yeah pretty early on we were like oh you we were both

the youngest guys in that band that we were in. And we were both really good guitar players. And we just kind of kicked it off, you know? And we just stayed friends. Like when I quit music is when he went off to do like reflux stuff and we were always just kind of in contact through.

Aim, instant messenger. I don't know if you remember what that is. Of course you do. Okay. Oh yeah. What was your screen name? J.R. 666. Oh, man. Oh, you're heavy, dude. I was heaviest book.

I was, uh, Ex-Incarnation X-56. Why do we still know our aim name? I don't know. I don't think I ever forget that one. You have to be a ballsy guy to put six, six, six in your name. I was metal, dude. That's sick, dude. Yeah, like, you guys have a...

You guys compliment each other so well, you know? But yet, I was... From my outside perspective, looking in, I could also see the differences. But those differences are very important when you're in a band. They just make the band sound. Yeah, I mean, we definitely have our differences. We've been influenced literally by different things growing up. But we've also influenced each other a lot.

Yeah. I introduced seven string to him. and then, you know, fast forward several years, he introduced eight-string to me. Wow. You know, the finger-picking thing, I don't think he had ever done any finger-picking until he met me.

And now I thump because of him. You know, so we've always just kind of gone back and forth. He's always been a flashy player, you know, even way when I met him versus me just being like, I I know that I'm good I don't need to like always do all the craziest things

yeah so it works you know it works yeah you're like a unless it's more he's like a more is more right but but we combine that it's like it's sick

it's good it's special no one's trying to step on each other's toast you know or even if you do fuck it right yeah whenever like you know me and Mark couldn't be any more different

but that like but that like but that music connection it's what makes it you know how did you guys meet we're just talking I mean Doc

Doc's band Gopra Bid play I don't even aware but down the street here is showcase theater which around here is like a legendary venue around the Inland Empire Corona scene so I saw Suicide Sounds opened for God forbid

2003 and I think that was Mark's first time seeing the band and then we had a bass player that knew him and we needed a guitar player you know so he our old bass player hit up Mark

and he came down in in his room we had Alex tried out in in his room Mitch tried out in his room and Mark and that's how I had met I pretty much met Mark in here

and just you know the older you get like you the more you notice like the differences yeah but that's like that's that's the thing you know it's so it's a it's a special time when you meet and you establish like similar to you and very similar toson where when you get older you could look back and connect dots and then as you just said like i you know like you actually

influence each other you know yeah and and kind of made you the player you are today yeah in a weird way it's always gamble too right because it's it's like you you probably get yourself in the situation more out of excitement than out of reason. You're like, damn, there's a potential dude. There's a potential bandmate. Like, let's make it work. You know? And when you're young, you're not thinking, oh, I'm going to have all the fights

with this dude later on in my life. You know, I have to make legit business decisions. My taxes are going to be attached to this fool's taxes. You're not thinking that. You're just like, you look tight, dude. You know? Dude, that's exactly it. Oh, my fucking God.

So, you know, we kind of get lucky. I remember. Yeah, you get lucky. It's true. When Matt or German join, he was like, he was like, all right, where do I sign? We're like, hold up, fool. We're like, slow down. Like, we don't know you.

Yeah. Me and this dude, we've been, we've been friends for long enough that we know how to, like, handle each other. Yeah. You know, let's go on tour for like a year. And then, you know, then we know if we want to be around you. you long enough. What a smart move? Who made that call?

Both Tosen and I, we were just like, we were like, yo, especially with touring, dude, like, you know. People break. A lot of people break. Yeah, it's just like, what if this guy hates being on tour? Very common. What if he hates us? You know, then we were telling him and we were like, yo, you may not like us.

Like, you may think we suck, you know? And you might be right, but whatever. Yeah. Sometimes you're probably right. But, you know, it's like, again, it's like that excitement, you're just like, whatever, dude, let's make it work, let's go, but. Yeah, true. It's fucked. But, you know, yeah, I guess.

So you get lucky, you know, it's nice that you guys have known each other this long and are still friends, you know? Yeah, you're right. I never thought about it that way. There's a lot of luck involved there. Yeah. A lot of. I never heard someone say that before. It's very true.

It's like going on Tinder or swiping right for. four times and it just works 15 years later. Dude. That's a great analogy. I just got mind blown. Wow, that's true. That's like, hey, you want you want it being abandoned together? But yet, oh wait, I didn't know we're actually can get married for the rest of our fucking

lives. Yeah, dude. I mean, it's like, I didn't realize that I have to actually know, know you, know you, for the rest of my life because I know what your sweat smells like. The feet, the socks. Yeah. We know who showers and who doesn't. We all know it's me.

That's fine. Okay. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's a weird little thing. But it's great though. Like you, even during the worst times, you just love them, you know?

Usually, yes. Usually, and they love you back. It's like, it's like brothers, you know, right? You have your moments when you're like disagree and then you're like, oh, you know, that's how the homie is. And I can't, you know, I can either stress it it or just move forward move forward you know and um having those especially being a band

when you're in it it kind of sucks but having those opposing opinion just so it's it's so special for for the music you know yeah i mean i think it helps to grow on all sides right like because i mean our creativity changes over year over years. And I don't know if I would think it has to do with like personality and how the person develops. And that can be that can be due to like how you interact with other people, how you learn to all of a sudden deal with somebody else.

And so yeah, I mean, it's all the evolution, if you will, you know? Yeah. Yeah, you're both like evolving and growing up together. It's strange, huh? Yeah, I mean, there's times where you're just like, I do not see eye to eye. But then all of a sudden you're like, all right, I don't think I'll ever. But, you know, we do on this other thing. And we were great over here.

So let's just, that's great. That's all I need. Yeah. It's, yeah, it's, you guys evolve together, grow up together. You guys, you know, this person is drinking. This person's getting sober. You guys are just having growing pains. of when you're in like the same life you know it's strange but it's cool you're you're sober right

yeah i am sober um i became sober about 20 almost 20 months ago that's recent yeah fairly recent um what what mean you get sober um you know just getting getting out of hand with with my using i was partying quite a bit um and i was partying um and i was partying alone quite a bit. And that's when it was like, all right, something, you know, has some shit happen.

And it was like, all right, I got to do something. I'm going to fuck everything up. Like my career, my health and all that stuff. Yeah. And yeah.

So, you know, for now, I'm sober. Yeah. We'll see what the features has. But it's been great, actually. How you,

how you been feeling? Good. Good. way more productive it's kind of crazy yeah way more productive save a lot of money

there's that too $2,000 a dollars wasted on just booze and thousands and I was you know like when I would go drinking at a bar I'd be the guy that's like after a few shots I'm like you want a shot too dude I got you know

so stupid and it's like I just I like being social and and drinking is fun like you know partying is fun I love I had some really fucking amazing

you know heartwarming parting moments but yeah I got a little I got started getting a little I was getting very secretive with it and I was just doing it alone like I remember when I told my dudes that you know I was like yo I got a problem

I'm going sober and they're like what really and I'm the one who parties the most in my band and they had no clue that it was like that extreme to that extreme so i was i was pretty good at hiding it you hit it yeah to where like people the closest to you couldn't even see correct if your band can't see you know that's very secret yeah dude i mean it's like dude we you know literally when you're on tour there's there is the idea of privacy is out the window out the window it's you know out the window so yeah i mean the fact that i was able to hide it that

well. I guess impressive, but yeah. But yeah, you know. And now that's kind of the vibe. It's just sober. So. Dude, luckily for you, like, you got sober

in the nick of time, dude, like right before the appended started imagining like you you weren't sober. Yeah, for sure. That would have been a disaster for you. Yeah. Because I would have been alone a lot.

Yeah, you know, and it's easy to get away. I mean, that's kind of the thing too. I mean, dude, we come home from tour, you know, and you're like, all right, I don't know what to do because I don't have my writer or my day sheet. I don't have anybody bugging me. I know that I don't have to do anything for the next four months. Just party, you know. And it's easy to do that. And especially in L.A. when it's like all the friends and homies from tour come visit.

it here or they're on tour and they play here and you're like there's a reason to party there's a reason to party and there's another one Wow and then it just becomes that's all you do you know Yeah it's very alarming

How quick that habit can just happen and it's a habit You don't even realize it's a habit Some people are really good at controlling that shit You know they go hard and they're just like yeah I gotta go do my shit tomorrow Some people can do that. I'm like, how do you? I don't know.

I was good at, I was good at that, but then I wasn't good at like stopping. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, I would be like, okay, are you going home yet? Because I'm going to party put myself. So, uh, wow. Yeah. You were, you were that guy. I was that guy. Oh, dude. That's, that's nuts. But what good thing that, that you stopped? Before this time, I mean, yeah, I met you at the observatory and we were both, we're partying. Yeah. I was like, hey, what's up, dude? Avi, what's up?

All right, see you. Yeah. That's how I met you. It was during like a drunken hangout. So everybody was just like running from Green Room with Green Room. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, what's up, dude?

What's how? Yeah, that's how. And that's like, that's also like the confusing thing with alcohol is the good moments you have with it, make it very confusing, you know. It's like, oh, it's really bad for me because I met like so many cool people when I was like, you know, I met you when I was at the observatory, you know, taking shots of Yeager. So you have like he's confusing some conscious things. Yeah, that's what I was saying.

It's like a lot of it, you know, 90% of the time was actually pretty awesome. Yeah. It was, was, and yes, like, you probably wouldn't have socialized with a certain group of people. I mean, I have some best friends that I'm like, that I've, party beyond and what anybody should party with who I'm still best friends with and I'm like I would have never had that type of relationship had it not been for party you know that's a yeah so there's definitely I mean even like you know you there's some dream come true moments you know you're on tour with some of your your idols and all of a sudden you're like oh you you partake

dude oh yeah you know what I mean And then I'll-warns your heart. Yeah, and you're just like, I feel good. I'm partied with this guy. Yeah. And so that's awesome, right? It's great. It's kind of a bucketless thing.

It's amazing. But, you know, again, some people have a little bit more control than others. And, you know, for me, I get, and again, it's not like I got arrested or I didn't go to rehab or anything like that. It was just like, this is getting out of hand. you know, some, some shit had happened, you know, that it was just like, it was too much. You know, and I was like, this is, this is my opportunity to change. That's good, man. I'm proud of you.

And I just saw everyone listening or watching now, hobby's here. And we're drinking water. Drinking water. You're hanging out and you're drinking water. It's cool, huh? How does that feel? not going out and and this is what you do

well I mean the few times that I've gone out to socialize even with the pandemic I'm fine you know you feel fine yeah I feel fine I'm not it's not like I look at a drink and I'm like oh God oh God

you know like yeah I mean even earlier today I was at the studio and you know they have tons of liquor at the studio and it's like I forget that it's even there so it's not really like

a thing that's great a lot of people don't have that yeah I know wow talk about another lucky moment in your life you know a lot of people don't have that man

that that's that's rare I think and not even have that itch yeah I mean I miss the social aspect for sure, but like actually drinking and stuff like that. I don't, dude, I mean, when's the last time you went a year without a hangover? On 30-5 and it's definitely been over a decade. It's kind of nice to not like have a hangover, dude.

That's awesome. So it's, yeah, I mean, I haven't done a tour yet. We'll see how that goes. I think I'll be fine, but... I think it'll be good. It's more, you know, it's more so, I think, when people come up and they're like, yo, fucking... Yeah.

The ones that didn't get the memo. Yeah. It's where it's where it's shirt, this is a memo. So they were like, well, what's the memo? I'm like, well, this is the memo. Like, yo, bro. Give him a quick silver slap. No, it's kind of...

In a weird, the pandemic has been a cool little, you know, blessing. It's weird to say that, but it's allowed me to have some... significant time before I go back out on tour. So yeah, what are you been up to? Bro, writing music. I was like streaming on Twitch for a little bit. Started doing like a,

I started working on a little company to like for patches for like X-FX and Helix and stuff like that. Yeah. I started learning. I started learning how to code, like, all sorts of, I'm trying to make a software, so. Oh, you're in it. And I, yeah, I'm kind of a nerd, so, well, I'm, I tell myself, you know, I didn't, I didn't ever graduate college or, you know. Sick.

But I'm just always in front of the computer and, like, you know, either fucking around the Pro Tools or some other fucking software, you know, I almost do that more than I. I even play guitar. So I wanted to figure out how to do this contact stuff. And I was like, you know what? Let me just figure it out. And I started figuring it up. You figure it out? Yeah, currently figuring it up still.

It's hard as hell. That's impressive, man. It's like guitar. You're constantly trying to figure it out. Yeah. It's like, well, now I can make it kind of sound good. Like, I'll just keep going. It's like, what else can I do with it, you know?

Yeah, it's ip in it never ends, huh? Yeah, it's never ending, dude, you know? And we always reach our plateaus, and then you see somebody else, you're like, damn, he's better, let me do that, and then you all of a sudden can start doing that. I don't know. Yeah. I just like learning and trying new things and making things. Yeah. You know.

If you're trying to learn a new skill, how often and how much do you practice? And then how long does it take for you? oh wait I kind of okay I'm things are trying to click I actually play it now uh it's hard to say um I don't know and you it depends on on the thing you know like let's say let's say for for instance for thumping um when I learned that it took me about a year you know to like learn it um to the point where I could be like okay I can I could perform this now you know um whoa yeah it took me about a year to like get it to a point of like all right all right um well that's encouraging year that was great you got a you know free year you can learn thumping too

wow especially being an outsider like hearing a year it's like and again being like outside's perspective of looking in, like, you're a very, like, great guitar player. So when I hear a great guitar player say, oh, this took me like a year to, like to land and execute on a level where I could actually perform it. It's like, wow, that's... Am I read that, man, it's cool. I mean, it's, you know, we don't stop being human, you know,

like we have to still... One, as musicians, we have, like, you know, a standard of what something is, right? it's true there's also like it's like okay i can in theory i can learn the technique i can learn to play the right notes um but it doesn't necessarily mean i can present it you know um think about how many guitars i'm sure you've met or homies that are like yeah i'm i play guitar and you see them play you're like, damn,

I'll be shot, you know? Yeah. It's like they can play the notes. They can play. You see, they kind of have the rhythm, but they're kind of shy.

You know? And, yeah. So that's the difference, you know? So as a, you know, I think what separates,

you know, the big boys from the little boys is the ones who have the ability to be like, no, this has to be at a certain level. You know? It's like,

when you guys, perform it's like that's a pro band they've been they know how to sound a certain way as opposed to yeah we've we've all had to play shows where there's like some really young local band and you're like damn they sound like locals okay it's rough it's like what what is it you know and yeah i think through time we learn that ability of so i mean yeah yeah where did you uh now that that that you bring up the local band at what point where

how does you learn that because everyone kind of has your own story like how did you learn like to take it to that level where you know oh wait this is how you actually present it and then execute it I don't know I think just through experience you know of having

I don't know like even in my like when I was in high school I had you know my little high school band whatever or my friends. And we were always pretty good. Even the band that Tosa and I were,

we were pretty good. And there was always, there was like a, we would go do shows and we were like, you know, being a little self-aware, being like, damn, we're way better than that, than that band, you know?

And then I think that was kind of like, there might be a level of like competitiveness that is part of just being able to all of a sudden being like, damn, I can all of a sudden sound like my favorite bands, you know? And then I think the more and more you do it,

the better and better you start sounding, as well as like even looking on stage. You know? I mean, you're on stage and you have hell of stage moves and no one's going to be on some like, this guy's only played a handful of shows.

It's like, it looks like you've played thousands of shows. Yeah. Right. Meanwhile, we've both seen local bands who are like, they're kind of just starting off. And they're stoked to be opening up for suicide silence. Yeah. They're hell of nervous. Yeah.

And you can just read it, right? I don't know. Like, you have to just perform a lot to, like, get desensitized to that. To know how to deal with, like, I can't hear myself for fuck all, you know? Like, yeah, he just fucked up, but that guy still look cool. Oh, yeah. Like, how do you learn that, right? Like, I think it's just through experience.

And it's like. Experience. In little pieces. Yeah. It's like, damn, my guitar literally stopped working. You know, how do I continue sort of thing? Yeah. Yeah, that's a different kind of person.

It's strange that, like, when. you naturally just do that when like you know someone you know drummer just fucked up but you keep going like that's like a special thing you know how you just we have this kind of this natural like oh from like kind of day one like the standard what subconsciously said it's like man yeah and we get and the more we do it the faster we get at like reacting to me like oh he fucked up and we look at each other and the drummer's looking at you like where am i go where am i oh yeah oh my gosh um and then we have that, I've had those moments where I'm just like, yo, I straight up brain farted. I was thinking about my male.

Like, what song is this? Okay, right, thanks. Yeah. You know, like, I mean, it's, you know, natural. But it's the experience. And then having those moments and not freaking out when you're having those moments, if you're like, sorry, guys. Everything's cool.

Yeah, everything's cool. I swear. I just, you know, thought about grandma, dude. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy how much focus you need, you know. Yeah, there is like a level of being competitive when you're, especially when you're like a younger band, like first R and out.

Yeah. You're like trying to prove yourself, you know. Yeah. Both, you know, one, you're trying to prove to your parents that you're like not ruining your life. Oh, yeah. That's a real thing, man. You're like, no, mom, I swear metal's cool. I'm still doing it.

Yeah. I'm doing it. Mom, trust me, it's going to work. Yeah, yeah. That was cool. Meanwhile, they're like, Cortate el pelo. Oh, me, it's okay.

You guys sound good. Yeah, exactly. It's like, it's, it's good. Yeah, there's so much competitiveness when you're a kid, you know? Yeah. When I look back, the most competitive I was was definitely like those early, early years, just playing showcase. It's like, like, you see like local bands.

And I'm pretty, I don't know if you say lucky or spoiled, but we had a very great local scene. Like when you were just saying like kind of many thing, thing in the back like, all like, you go on tour and local band, it's not like, it's like, man, I was used to like, if a local band played here, you knew they were going to be sick.

And there's so many bands around here. There's a lot of bands. You got Orange County, Orange County hardcore scene, LA hardcore scene, the Empire Hardcore scene. Like, there are so many. great bands doing different types of heavy like inobated stuff it was very like inspiring but yeah my okay like we're gonna stick out like I'm I have to fucking kill these guys like like literally

I mean you're you know fucking 16 no not but still there was like that level competitiveness that I noticed that I had that the other bands didn't you know you have you kind of need like that and then you get that experience in time it's strange how that kind of just naturally comes out of you yeah I still look back on my, where did that come from? Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I don't know. It's a little bit of everything. I mean, by the time I started playing out, it was like, I was already a pretty good guitar player.

I didn't know anything about a local scene. You know, I was just like some fat kid who was just trying to play Pantera tunes and, like, you know, sepulatura tunes or things that sounded like it. Yeah. And, yeah, I mean, I definitely wanted to, I always wanted to impress. And then it would It was kind of nice when You know the older guys would be like

Damn you guys are pretty good Yeah Dude dude dude dude You mean you feel so good And you're like oh shit dude They're gonna have us at the 21 and up show dude Dude There's something to that

When the older people start saying like Oh dude you guys sound really good You're like Whoa dude Dude we're like He drives When you have your first friend that drives It's a game changer man

Oh man My first My first friend that drove That was a person that got Arrested with But man When your first When your first friend

That gets a vehicle It's huge You like value their opinion So he says like Your fan's good You're like Dude you drive Holy shit man

You value their opinion That's amazing Dude you do If your friend drives It's a matter They're a loser You value their opinion He's like

I got a pickup truck Dude he's wise Dude he's wise Dude he's wise dude all I know is that he drives, all of us don't so he knows what's up, fuck it so if he says my band's good

then fuck you guys that's amazing it's strange man especially when you're in high school yeah it's gotta I got to drive early on I don't know if anybody valued my opinion

but how old are you? When? When? Oh, when you started driving? 16 Oh you're one you're one the lucky one

I was sick Yeah I was kind of spoiled You know It was just like So good Oh, you're 16 now. I actually, low key, I actually started driving earlier than that.

Yes. My parents were hella laid back, dude. Low key, this sounds like a fake story, but I swear it's real. Let's go. I used to be, my mom would let me drive to middle school, right? My dad showed me how to drive early on, like literally as a kid. Like, you know, he would sit me on his lab. like, all right, just grab the steering wheel.

I'll do the gas stuff. Or he would let me shift gears. And then just had a random little opportunity. It was like, yo, move the car from here to here in the parking lot. So I would be able to do that as a kid. And, yeah, it was like in seventh grade or eighth or eighth or eighth grade. We had this like, you know, one of those old Toyota minivans that every Latino has,

you know what I'm talking about? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We had one of those, and you could start it with anything. You get a plastic, you get a sport, a sport, you get started up with one of those. And my mom would let me drive it to school. She was just lazy or tired. She's not lazy because she worked hard,

but she was just like, yeah, whatever, just take for it. And I would park it like a few blocks from the school and just walked the rest. And it was dumb because my school was like a mile away. But, you know, she just let me do that even by the time I got to high school. My freshman year, I was driving to school. And it was like a quarter mile away. I just wanted to be that kid that was like, yeah, I got a car.

Dude, that's awesome. I remember the scary, you know, I had like my small group of friends that I'd be like, yo, dude, let's go to Taco Bell, dude. you know um i was like they're like yeah i could drive and uh i guess one of the teachers found up and uh calls my parents and is you know they're like uh signara mrs reyes um we've been hearing that your son's been driving to school do you know anything about this and she's like no no way he doesn't even have his license he doesn't even know how to

drive he would never do that no That's so wrong. Hang up the phone and then go pick up the car at school. You know, and then meanwhile, I'm like just going through class. I remember that this, the one time that when I found out this was happening, because I go outside to the parking lot after school and the car's gone. And I'm like, oh my God, the car is stolen. Like, how do I, how am I going to tell my parents and how are we going to explain this to the police? You know, like that the kids, the car is stolen from the high school, you know, like, how are we going to explain this? And so I call my mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom.

The car's gone. She's like, I know, miho. She's like, I'm going to go pick it up. Your school called. They were asking about you driving. I told them that you don't know how to drive. And I was just like, all right, cool. And then whatever.

I just like, for the rest of the year, I would still drive. It would be like, she was just like, whatever. he knows how to drive like that's amazing dude how cool did you feel driving at school it was awesome man i never experienced that i used to i used to skip lunch me and my homie and be like yo let's go to tagel let's go to macdano you know doing all the things dude one of the funniest things so we were trying to leave um we were trying to leave the school and every now and then this there was security you know one of the security guards from from the high schools were like hiding in the be in some bushes.

All of a sudden we're driving out and a homie just jumps in front of the car. We're like, oh, fuck. And this one, you know, not so bright security guy was like, what's your name, dude? I was like, George Costanza. He's like, where are you headed to George? I was like, Taco Bell. He's like, there's no open lunches, dude. I was like, oh, my bad, dude.

Like, I'll turn right back around. I was just like, I can't believe this. fool thought I was my name is George Costanza and you used to remember that name you told him huh was that is that the actual name that's exactly the name that's exactly the name because I can't forget that story that's like I told somebody my name was George Costanza and they believed me oh my gosh dude yeah that was that was your deep subconscious you're you're george in there somewhere wow George Costanza I don't know why I didn't even a Seinfeld fan I was just like George Costanza

It worked though right It worked He's like you look like a George Costanza Yeah He uh That security guard probably appreciated your Creativity He's like

Yeah Either that or either he was the dumbest dude Or he was just like Ah fuck kid You know Like Go back to school Yeah

Fuck it But for my recollection He was He definitely wasn't the brightest guy Man Stop by the security guard I never got that feeling you got, ma'am I was like always people driving in school

man, you look so cool man, driving in the school parking lot when you're a junior or senior man, I didn't try driving until I was 19 I was late, well I filled the fucking written test like nine times I'd take like a class for it like to help me pass the test

I'm pretty sure I filled it again but I think whoever was scoring I was like all right dude just fucking just get it just fucking just get it just get it do something man I feel that nine times he was fucking embarrassing

nine times you didn't even try dude I wasn't fuck go yeah yeah I do you started folding the test into a little airplane and shit yeah

I was always horrible a test man I never got I was always getting D's D's and Fs never never studied for tests never did homework I was back and forth I was like

one semester I'd be all sick and then my teacher would be like damn he got all A's we got to put them in AP classes. Then I'd get to the AP classes. I'm like, this semester, I don't want to give a fuck. Wow. And then I would skip school, hell of.

That's sick. Yeah. And then all of a sudden be like, oh, homie, got hell of D's. He's got to go to summer school. I think I did summer school every year throughout high school. But then I'd be like doing straight A's C's summer school. Stray days, C's summer school. It was like that.

Wow. You treated. You're treating school like guitar. I'm going to go hard and then I'm going to take a break. Yeah. You go hard and break. It's like, this teacher sucks. I'm not going to do the work.

Isn't it weird that like when when you're in school, like you don't want to do work? And then when you get out of high school, when you want to go to college and you want to read and like do homework. Yeah. And practice. It's weird. It's so weird. I like listen to books now and shit, you know? It's strange, huh?

It's like, the news is like, ah, NPR. Nice. Yeah. Did you start going to gym After you got sober or during or like or the gym? Yeah No, I've been doing gym stuff all my life Oh great Yeah

I was in high school I was pretty Pretty active I played football and I was in wrestling But then I also I also was like I was huge I was like by the time when I graduated high school I was probably over three 300 pounds.

Whoa. Yeah. And that's big, dude. Yeah. And so kind of around the time that I quit the band when I was 20, 21, I had lost like 100 pounds. So that was probably another reason why I'd also quit music because, like, yo, life was completely different. Like, it was literally, it was just completely different.

You lose 100 pounds and everyone looks at you 100% different. Like, all of us, it went from just people like avoiding eye contact. to like, you know, older, younger women looking at you. Kids all of a sudden being like smiling at you. Whoa. The world was a different fucking thing. And I was just kind of like, damn, is this what I want to do with myself sort of thing? That's how it is?

I mean, yeah, it was pretty gnarly. I remember going to try out clothes was a weird experience because I would, you know, I used to shop at the big and tall, which was, you know, 4X is the smallest they have and after that. I used to shop at the big and tall. And, you know, I remember trying, going to places and being like, all right, these are skinny jeans. They look cool, but I, psychologically, I was just like, I'm not ready for this. You start having all these weird little sort of thoughts.

But so due to my weight loss, I started going to the gym a lot because I had like the crazy sagging skin. And I look like a, I look like the old dude from the Metallica video, you know, from nothing else matters where, or unforgiven. Yeah. Where he's just like, you know, deprabed. And I just started going to the gym a lot. I would be there for like two, three hours a day. and I became a personal trainer after about a year or so doing that or more. I was just like, man, if I'm at the gym all the time,

I might as well just get a job here. And I became a trainer. So when I moved to New York, I was going to school, but I was also a personal trainer. Wow. Yeah. I was so wrong. I was like he probably went to New York to eat pizza and then they came back home.

I mean, I went to New York to do a lot of things. There was pizza involved, but, you know. Yeah, I was I was in school and I was a personal trainer. Wow. Yeah. You're helping people through their, do their physical and spiritual journey. I mean, that's what I was hoping for. But the clients that I was getting were, you know, just weird.

You were just like, you know, older gay dudes stuck that they had this younger Latino, fucking exotic trainer. who's 22 or whatever or older ladies who were like where should I move you know Dang, it's weird, huh? It was a little weird. It was a little weird.

I had some good moments. There was definitely some cool shit from it but yeah people are just weird. That's true. People are weird. It's true too. Well technically

you're still a personal trainer you still help out people in the gym. Today I was at the gym I was like fuck it I'm gonna go on a I'm gonna listen to animals

as leaders man that shit took me on a emotional rocket shift to the future man it was you guys have a very innovative

futuristic sound but somehow which is very rare maintains the emotion and those two things don't tend to be the same

you know yeah it's cool like your core progressions are like they like they they hit me it's cool and it's very rare especially coming from like a rhythm guitar player i really don't tend to go there but if i'm in a mood for that kind of music i i put on you guys yeah i mean yeah i mean that's the thing with animals it's pretty it's pretty unique you know we we like to encompass um everything that we listen to you know Like, I mean, I grew up listening to metal.

We all kind of did, but I also listened to all the different styles of music. There's periods of times where I'm like, I don't listen to any metal. And there's periods where I'm like, I'm in a metal, a metal phase right now. Yeah. And I, you know, also growing up, I mean, dude, I've been listening to metal since I was nine. so 30 any oh that was my first concert

I was probably starting listening to metal before that so over 30 years of my life I've been listening to metal um and I get it I get it

like you know I want to know some extra other things too um and you know I metal hasn't progressed at the same

rate as like I think most people's taste in music or or the or just music in general. I think it's it's a slower progression. So you know when it comes to writing I think just incorporate what you like, what you know, what you know, put it into, you know, the music. Yeah. Yeah, it's cool how you can get inspired by an artist or a totally different genre than you could put it into like what you're doing. Yeah, I mean, that's, thankfully we have the ability to do that, you know, like the music,

we've always kind of laid it out so that we can always just do whatever we want. Like if we want this song to be more poppy, we can do that. And it still sounds like us. Yeah. So, I mean, I think we kind of laid that out for ourselves, which is nice. But I think that's a dude to just, by the time animals already was becoming a thing, it was like, I mean, I was, like, again, I was playing in a tango duo and a hip hop band. The first incarnation of animals that Toeson had showed me was way different.

It was not metal. It was like kind of very experimental and all this weird stuff. So, you know, we were already in that, like, let's be different sort of thing. Yeah. It's very important to establish. that like from the get go. It's very important. And like yeah like you're

like the musical landscape you guys do it's so wide but yet you still have the sound. You know I noticed I'm like man they're going all over the place but I know who I'm listening to and that's also very rare. Yeah. You know you can hear like way different kinds of influences it's really cool and

there'll be like a core regression you guys hit them like you know sometimes you'll listen to you like a a rip or a song and you're kind of waiting for like that certain chord to hit and you guys hit it i hope it hit that that like sad part oh there we go i feel good i'm like especially you're doing leg day i'm already don't want to fucking be there you want you want sad music on leg day dude that's pretty dude dude i want that dude i need i need that fucking cord dude and i'm like okay and then uh yeah it's it's really cool man it's especially when you're talking anything like like like like you were saying, how maybe, like, the metals progresses a little bit slower than maybe other genres.

So it's really important, like, for metal or anyone in the metal band, like, to really push that, you know, bar. Yeah, I mean, at least for me, you know, obviously I have my own taste in music and, and for me it's the same way with any other style of music. Like, with hip-hop, I can't listen to everything. I want to hear the next new thing that I think sounds interesting and not like a rehash. And that's the same thing with jazz or even a pop song, you know, anything. Yeah, it's true. Do you ever hear bands that are maybe doing something

a lot similar to what you're doing? Yes. I think there's a lot of them that are coming out. I have a weird theory about this. I would love to hear it. I think animals has been able to create such a signature sound that it's going to be a while before someone can do it or can copy it in their own way. I think people

you know there's tons of bands that are learning or tons of guitar players that are learning how to thump and they're you know obviously they're influences animals leaders and they're like you know putting videos up and it's like cool it sounds good good job it sounds like

you know the animal's leaders I think it's going to be a while before someone comes out and fucks it up fucks the game up I don't know I mean, we've also been around for 10 years. It could be, actually, for me, I'm thinking it's like any day now it's going to happen.

But from what I've seen online, I think people are just starting to get, starting to get technique-wise and stuff like that. But also, another thing is that I think for the people that are copying, in some ways, I think they're missing the point, you know, of being original. you know for every every era or every generation of music that comes out in my opinion there's like four to six maybe you know maybe eight bands that are the defining bands of that era um and after that comes the thousands of bands that sound like them some become successful some not so successful other ones tend to like have long-term growing things and some just come in and out right away but ultimately

five years, ten years or ten fifteen years from now that original five bands are the only one still doing the thing I mean very true think about when corn came out oh my gosh so many bands everyone in their mother sounded like corn

deftones incubus Libbiscuit, you know I can't tell you how many fucking bands wanted to sound like that Slipknot When Slipknot came out

Yeah You know how many bands were like I'm gonna I'm gonna do that dude Yeah And there were tons of bands That kind of pulled it off And sounding like them

But here we are You know 15, 20 years later And it's still just those bands So so sue Yeah Those are so few There's a way, people have to learn how to like get that, like take that influence and learn to make it their own.

Yeah. You know, how do you make that fresh and new without, you know, it's like without kind of just sounding like a rehash or like the baby version. Totally. A friend of mine, a producer friend of mine was working with this band here in L.A. And he was, he asked me, was like, yo, you want to help me produce this band? And I was just like, I was like, what are they like? He was like, well, they're very influenced by you guys.

And I was like, all right, well, let me hear it. And I hear it. And it was like literally like, copies of, you know, and homie, it was really good, well done. Yeah, it's really good. It was just like, damn, this is, he sounds good, but in a way, I can't really help with this because it's like, it's so much like us

that it's, it's not. It's not going to do anything for them. And then I remember telling my buddy the producer, I was just like, also they're missing the point. They're like, obviously they're very influenced by us. I'm sure by me telling this, it would be heartbreaking for him. But they sound so much like animals that we would never, ever, ever take them out on tour. You know?

It's like, at least for us, we want to curate a cool show where it's like, here's this. this other gnarly-ass band that you guys should know that doesn't sound like this because I mean we got a lot of notes how many notes does one need to hear in a fucking show yeah yeah true you know um so I don't I don't know um there are a lot of copies

you know and one day somebody's going to come out and fuck up the game and make us sound like dads that's that's I mean that's initially what you want Yeah, that means it's like it's working. It's, you know, I mean, fuck, dude.

Like, we have our influences, you know. We're heavily influenced by, you know, Meshigah. But we don't sound like Mishiga. It's like we definitely play, we play eight-string guitars just only because of Mishugah, you know. But we took a little bit of what they did and all of a sudden incorporated with everything else and it doesn't sound like Mishua, you know. Yeah. No, it's great. Yeah, I've always struggled with that feeling.

Like, you know, how do you react to, like, the copycat bands? You know, it's like, exactly what you said. Like, you're missing the point. It's like you're missing the point. You're missing the point, man. It's like you just took a sound. You copied it. You didn't take what's behind the sound.

Yeah, or the originality. Or the originality, you know, yeah. It's like trying to teach someone how to be cool. And you're just like, I mean, I can tell you, have what to say, but I don't mean you have the same swag or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't, you know.

It's always been a struggle in mine. I'm like, I mean, you want to tell them that it's cool. And some bands are actually like, you know, successful too. They like, they get signed and I'm like, okay, it's cool. Yeah. But you always like this weird feeling, man, but you just, what? What happened? It's always been strange.

But then the older you get, I mean, I guess it's cool, you know? Yeah. I mean, and whatever, it's going to happen. So there's nothing, you can't stop it. You know, yeah, you want to hear like, okay, what did, like, our bands do? Like, you want to hear that next band that fucks up, really fucks up the game. You're like, oh, shit, I gotta start practicing more. Like, you want to, like, you want to get inspired.

Oh, you hear that. Oh, dude, they're like, this is it. This is the next level, dude. And it inspires you. Yeah. You know, it's super cool. And it is, I guess it's not inspiring. Maybe it's foot that feeling I'm, maybe we're looking forward.

like you want it when you're inspired you get kind of bummed out yeah i mean dude i've even gained like respect for bands that i i never cared for especially when i started seeing them live and stuff like that you know um all of a sudden you see them live and perform and you're like okay this is i see why people would like this now and yeah and they're doing the thing and it works and then there's other ones that they just kind of miss miss the target yeah i think that's also something that separates animals from other

especially when we were talking like progressive to me as an outside looking in also being like a rhythm player I got like a very like you know

cave man brain ear I like that simple riff but what you guys it sounds like and feels like most importantly it sounds like that's what's really in your head

the simple no like not like like the riffs you guys have it sounds like that's what's really inside you guys. And then you put it on in songs. Yeah, I mean, yeah. I mean, you know, part of the trick is like, I mean,

I've been playing guitar all my life, you know. Tosin's been playing all his life. Matt's been playing drums all his life. We ultimately want to play something that is interesting for us to play, you know, because for whatever reasons we've just always been gravitated, you know, independently. things that are on the challenging side, you know. We've also, you know, like grew up in a, in an era of, like, hip music.

I mean, for me, there was metal, there was German bass. There was all sorts of cool shit. Yeah. So, and it's just a matter of, like, being a way to, like, all right, how do I incorporate all this crazy shit in a style of music that I can still like feel

heavy groove and heavy pocket without just sounding like a music theory exam. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because obviously the music has it. You can break down rhythmically, harmonically as far as it is, but

you know, to you know, to You know, I would think that part of the success of the band is that with on top of having all that stuff, you can still feel the groove. You may not understand what is happening, you know? You're like, I don't know why this is grooving as good as it does, but I know that I'm grooving. You know, at least I think that's been part of some of the success of it also. How do you do that? I don't know.

We just. kind of just do the thing. So what's the meaning of life, hobby? I think that's, that's, your answer was perfect

because there's something we just don't know. Yeah, you just do. Yeah, I mean, I don't know why I gravitated towards like,

you know, good, I was a kid and being like, you know, seeing my teacher playing all this crazy shit and I was like,

I don't know how to do that. You know, as opposed to being like, I want to get really good at video games. You know? Yeah. I was the kid who was trying to just get a guitar as opposed to. Mm-hmm.

Like other shit. Yeah. I didn't. What did I tell? I told Herman Lee, I hadn't discovered vagina. Yeah. It's like, I don't know what it was. I just was a fat kid who liked playing guitar.

And I didn't know there was a thing called vagina before. Yeah. There's a, I got this from. I won't quote them because I don't want to get him in trouble, but I'm probably just going to say is the band. But I was on tour with a guy. I was like, but they're actually, I mean, they're great guitar players. I mean, I mean, bands that we like respect. You're like, oh, it's that guy.

He was like, I'm happy where I'm at. You know, I like, you know, I like going out and getting pussy. I was like, oh, yeah. I mean, there is so much time to like, you know, it's the balance of life. Yeah. You know, some, you know, a lot of time is for your friends. A lot of time is for how much you want to practice. And then there's, you know, there's that.

There's the other side. Yeah. Which just makes it very important to have a girlfriend. It clears your head, man. And you get practice a lot. So thank you. You practice a lot more. I notice a lot more focus on practicing.

That's for sure. You're not like, where is this? I need this. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's just clarity. clarity clarity and lack of distractions that's key and those are

those are hard to accomplish man it is because you're always distracted and you're always trying to find clarity at least I am stuff it's like what can I do to get clarity okay I guess like I could go to gym not enough okay I guess I'll meditate

it's not enough or I guess I'll read I'll read some books I still feel like a fucking idiot so I guess I'm just idiot yeah I have those moments where it's like I mean I'm at the gym And then I'm like, damn, I really should be practicing guitar. And then I get home when I practice guitar, then I'm like, I really don't want to practice guitar.

I'd rather be at the gym. And then I'm like, all right, let me just stop doing this because I'm not being, I'm not being productive. And then I'm like, let me watch some Netflix. And then after like 10 minutes, I'm like, ah, I should practice guitar. And, you know, it's just like kind of have these, like, little battles. And then after a while, you're like, somehow you get shit done. Find the one thing that clicks for that day.

Yeah. You ever feel like you're not doing enough? All the time. All the time, huh? That feeling never goes away. Never goes away. Like, you could do something all day and do some cool shit and like, next day I'm like, I didn't do enough. Yeah.

I mean, then you go on Instagram and see all these pictures of like, you know, this guitar player or this like rapper doing it. I'm like, I'm not doing enough. Yeah, I mean, dude. It never goes away. And I don't know if it's due to the sobriety thing, but I'm having those moments where I'm like, I need more hours in the fucking day. Dude. Like,

oh yeah. I need more hours. Like, I only got these things done. But I needed to get all this, all this stuff done too. And it's like, yeah,

it's a constant battle. Yeah, it's a blessing, it's a curse. You know, it's that same kind of, it's better to have that and know that we're like

productive individuals as opposed to being like, I'm good. I'm good, you know, I'm good. Dude. Netflix is good.

I haven't finished it. I still got a whole lot of Netflix to watch. Yeah. Yeah. You know, transparently, that's one big mistake. I made it earlier on in my career, like that feeling of being complacent. I remember that feeling. So, all, you know, the band's doing good.

Oh, I'm doing. It's like, well, I mean, I put a record here and there. Yeah. Yeah, well, dude, like, I remember, you know, it was like, okay, you got your guitar endorsement, the band's playing everywhere. You've toured with some of your favorite bands. I was just like, you know what?

I accomplished my dream. Like, the fuck do I do now. Like, and I was just like, I didn't think about after. Yeah, you don't. You don't think about that shit. I was just like, I want to be in a band. I want to travel the world. And I'm on my own guitar.

And it came real fast. And then I was just like, I shit. Like, I'm not, what do I do? And now, you know, obviously shit's changing. But yeah, but yeah, it's weird how that happened. You're just like fucking run. Yeah. Rock, dude.

Yeah. It's like, wish someone like, sat us down. Okay, wait. Okay, cool. Great. What are you going to do the day after? You know?

There's no fucking book to read. There's no, there's no road map. There's no, like, fucking metal band, you know, economics 101. You know,

living the dream. Yeah. 101. So, this is what's going to happen. You're going to go on tour, you're going to drink way too much. You're going to feel like an asshole.

You can see all the fake dicks drawn on the walls. Yep, all over the world. All over the world. It's like for some reason people love drawing dicks. That's a universal language. What the fuck, man. It's weird. Yeah, you'll be in Japan.

And it's always guys doing it. Why is that? I don't know. You don't see girls drawing vaginas anywhere. You know what? I think I probably drawn at least by dicks under definitely under five

but I only did it because there's other ones on the wall and I guess I got to contribute to the art piece this is your bedroom though yeah yeah

that's true yeah I've definitely I've definitely drawn some I'm not as crazy about it but it's impressive sometimes when I'm like

wow this whole green room is covered in dicks yeah do you remember like the old masquerade in

Atlanta Atlanta? Yeah. That was one that was just like everywhere. I was like, man. It's messed up. Have you been to the new one?

Yeah, it's not as cool. It's nice, but it's not as vibey. Think so? Yeah, the old one had a vibe, dude.

It was like an old male. Yeah. It had that fucking like sketchy-ass like crane that lift, I lifted the gear to the stage. I'm like, that thing's gonna fucking break, dude. The first crane ever.

Yeah. That shit was sketchy. But I guess. Yeah. It's, the new, the main room is all. It sounds amazing in there.

Yeah. That's pretty sick. Yeah, it's great. I just, I liked the old... It was one of those venues that you're like, oh yeah, I know exactly where we're at, the masquerade. Yeah. You know? It was always hot as hell.

Yeah, it's a hot one. They always had good catering there. Especially like those are one of the rare venues where, no matter how big or small your band was, you know you're going to get good. was you know you're going to get good of food. Yeah. You remember like, yeah, playing the first time. Isn't like the one downstairs called hell? Yeah.

Yeah, it used to be like heaven was the big room. Yeah. And then hell was the downstairs. Yeah. Where they put us rejects. But yeah, but I remember showing up like, oh shit. Like when you get catering for the first time, it's a big fucking guy. I think that was a masquerade.

It's like sick. Dude, damn, they made us food? It's like, I'll take... And there's cookies. It's like, there's a thousand island, dude, with like mixed greens. Yes. And dressing?

Yeah. That's my first sour in my life. Dude. Damn. And we don't have to pay. It's like, where are the showers at, though? Yeah, those little things, man. It's weird.

It's weird how they did it stay with you. Those moments. They should have, like, touring boot camp. You know, it's like, When you get out of high school, you get to choose to go to, you know, real college, the Army or, like, touring boot camp. They make you sleep in between the van seats. Yeah. You have to learn how to pick.

You get to learn how to, like, you know, shower at a truck stop. Yeah. And a snow at 2 a.m. How to poop in the snow. Oh, my God. How to remove a trailer. How to back up with a trailer. Dude, one time we were on tour, we had this, we were in a bandwagon.

Yeah. And the driver, this was when bandwagon was like recommending drivers or had a list of drivers. And we got hired this guy from bandwagon. Yeah. We get up in the vehicle and the guy's like, just so you know, I don't know how to reverse with a trailer. And we're like, my man's, the fuck are you talking about? Like, you don't know how to reverse. It's like, you're the driver.

Yeah, like you're doing it every day. How did you apply for this job? You didn't put that in the memo, did you? Yeah. Like you so did not put that in the memo. On purpose, yeah. Like, you motherfucker. Wow.

Yeah. You get, yeah, you get, like, unlucky sometimes. Or sometimes when you're, it's like, the worst feeling ever, which is one feeling I always, like, makes you pray for, even bands you don't like. Like, when you're trying to sleep and it's like 4.30 a.m. like the driver's hitting like the rumble strip. You need to wake up, like, is this it?

Is this it? It's that feeling. I know we all feel it at a time like that's when I pray for everybody, man. That shit sucks. When like, is he going off the road? It feels like he's going off the road. Fuck. Dude, yeah.

Horror stories. Oh, yeah. And then you have dreams like, I had dreams like the bus or the bandwagon or the van's going off a cliff and going to like the water. Yeah. That's a reoccurring. dream I have. I'm trying like get out

I like hop out like my bed and just trying to run out of wherever it's like it's a then hopefully you didn't do shrooms

the night before oh well there's because then then you have a little twist interesting dreams you wake up

and you're like is it still the shrooms you're like oh no I'm just at the masquerade yeah oh my god I don't know

what it is about late nights you want to do stuff you want to do at home my two times I did DMT was on tour. I don't know why this just seems like a great idea.

Yeah, it's on tour. Whatever. Such a simple decision. It's like, yeah. TMT. Don't know what stands for, but I'll take it. Life changing moments right now? Oh, yeah, sure. I mean, twice I put on corn.

And then it sounded so good. Yeah. I've heard some music on, you know, some substances. And it's like, Oh my gosh Just best thing ever Sometimes I wish you could listen You know It's hard to listen to music like that

You know It is yeah It's cool how you could You could have multiple experiences With like Your favorite bands Or favorite records again and again Like there's

The times you heard it when you were sober as a kid There's time you heard it when you're drunk The times you hear it when you're high The times you hear if you're on mushrooms Or DMT You have like multiple It's like It's the same record

But you hear it differently you know yeah oh man your first time being high hearing music man

it's special do you mind you're like reliving it I'm sorry I forgot I forgot I forgot where you were

I'm sorry dude you got to you got to listen to any record from Ross Robinson high you hear all those little things

those oh that it's it's magic do you think do you think having worked with him

do you think now you listen to those albums differently? Yeah. Like your perspective, you're like, oh shit, I could see how he would have done this. Dude, it's been a trip still as recently, like, his last week. Like, I was heard from Iowa for, I don't know how many hundreds or thousands of time. And I'll hear something different because I know how what he's, I know what he's doing with like with the tracks. And oh, I'll hear like another like guitar noise I didn't hear like the past hundred times. It's like, wow.

That dude, that dude broke so many bands. It's kind of, well, like, you know, made them something. Yeah. Because I remember hearing the first, the corn demos. Yeah. And then hearing what he did. It was like, oh, my God. Changed it up.

The same thing with Slipknot, same thing with Glassjaw. Glass Joll is sick. Yeah, I love Glass Joll. But their first demos were like, you know, and then he just made it all sick. Dude, he knows how to. to flip the switch dude he could flip the switch there's like some uh if you do some digging

on youtube there's seconds of him in Inigo Ranch with doing the first slip knot record and you can just see him at the main room like they're rocking out and Ross is going insane you're like

the being that room in that time special it's so cool I'm sure you know he was he was here a But last month, and I was hearing those stories, man. It's like, dude, you were in those rooms.

Yeah. And now, a surreal moment was Slipmont played here in SoCal. They played Iowa front to back. And it was a very nice, you know, outdoor venue. And I was lucky. And we got like a stool of a booth, you know, and Ross is like right behind me. And we were watching Iowa, Slipa, so I don't play Iowa front of the back.

I was like trying not to freak out. Like, Ross is right behind me. Let's go I cool Don't have bang Don't have been you fucking loser It's like Yeah

It's like Those moments you have You know When you're out there You're like Well it's like real It's a real life I'm drinking with so and so

Or I'm hanging around so Or you know It's I don't even know Like the word for it It's a trip man It doesn't seem real It's a little

It's surreal surreal is probably a good word I remember touring with Meshiga they changed how I listened to music I didn't know odd meter could be done in a certain way

and I remember seeing them for the first time and I was like 16 when I saw them they were opening up for Slayer back forever ago and then to go on tour with them and then seeing it every day and it was just like this is awesome

and dude I remember one time at nam um I'm like walking around in the upstairs area and all of a sudden I see Frederick and he he looks over at me and he's just like you know and it was just like it's like when your idol

is more excited to see you than you are to see him sort of thing and I was like what's that what's that feeling that's that's like that feels amazing you know like what a feeling huh yeah it's like cool it's like yeah you're just like it's like cool signature guitars cool whatever

that right there that is that's priceless like I don't know what that's called but it feels amazing it's amazing man it's hard it's hard to be in a moment when it's happening huh yeah or yeah I mean you know we were like

on that same Michigan tour you know when you're on tour, you know, you're just like practicing your guitar or whatever. Yeah. I remember Frederick came up and he was just like, man, you guys are always just like playing on your guitars practicing all day. I was like, yeah, kind of.

He's like, that's inspiring. And I was like, motherfucker. I was like, we're, we're inspiring. What? Like, you're inspiring. I was like, we play eight string because you're ass. Like, what do you mean? Wow.

You know? So it's like, those, Those are some, like, magical moments. It is, man. You're just like, wow. It's pretty rad. I'll take it. It's rad.

You're not, like, you're not, like, kind of, you're not looking at the past, like, you know, all of, like, the good old days. But you've ever, like, like, years down the road, like, look back, like, wow, that happened. Yeah, dude. Yeah. Like, years later, you're like, wow. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's been a handful of them.

Yeah. that happened or like I'm friends with this person now what the fuck you know I'm buddies with this bass player Stu Ham do you know Stu Ham no just like you know legendary bass player and you know I remember hearing about him in high school

like all my jazz band buddies being like dude Stu Ham because fuck shake me please you know tap and now I'm like friends with him like like we talk on a regular basis and it's like that's crazy that's crazy uh but it's cool you know and you you have those little moments and i don't know it's it's nice to do that it's like yeah it's like all right cool i i'll again i'll take it it's like yeah it's even more of a of a trip that like you're just beginning maybe kind yeah i mean fuck knock on wood knock on wood yeah yeah

Animals is a very Innovative band Definitely like a very FutureGrasta band in my In my personal opinion Where do you see the music industry going I don't know dude It's changed so much

Even since animals started You know I mean we're 10 years 11 years And that's not a long time but you know we when we started it was like my space was still a thing and that's definitely out the window um Spotify didn't exist uh I don't even think iTunes existed um if it maybe I can't remember but it was like it you know it was only a laptop thing it wasn't like an

definitely not a phone thing um Yeah. There was zero YouTube. Definitely Instagram did not exist. I don't know. That's all, like, new. You know, everything's kind of shifted. Streaming.

I mean, when's the last time you bought a CD? You know? It's been a while. It's been a minute. Like, I think most new cars don't even come with CD players, you know? I'm seeing that. Yeah. So I, I don't know.

I mean, as far as, like, what's, what's going to be popular, I don't know. You know, I don't, I don't know. Yeah. What I do know is that whatever, across all genres, the original, like, artists tend to, like, be the ones that last. They may not be the biggest for any current year. You know, there might be somebody that comes out that sounds like, you know, a remake or something and they might blow up and but the ones that like tend to last for a long time are the ones that sound original yeah i think you're right being being original is huge

and i think maybe the uh transcend the the the trends you know yeah you know i believe that i also think that there's going to be a mix of a mix of what's going on now with the streaming plus doing what you're already doing just being like who's like who's really a badass band live but I could also kind of maybe incorporate where music is going with like you know

like the internet and streaming and so on but maybe be have a balance of both well I think the performance side of it is always going to be the true test because obviously through the internet here's one thing I think because of YouTube and Instagram and all this kind of like

even TikTok, there might be people who become very famous through that. But then when you go see them perform, they have that thing that we were talking to before where it's just like, homie does not know how to handle people looking at them, doesn't know how to handle all of a sudden you tell the monitor guy more kick and then he's just blaring kick and nothing else. You know, like doesn't have that experience. So I think the performance is the test. there are bands who perform so well that I'm like

I'm sure you've seen all the like billboards are on tour where they're announcing other tours and you're like damn that band's still around you know like I haven't heard anything about them in forever and then you see them and they're like phenomenal live and it's just like oh yeah okay yeah they kill it live great live you know

my experience has been that like performance, if you sound phenomenal live, you might have a very good career. You may stop showing up on the radio all the time, but you're gonna, you just kill every time, you know? Yeah. And it's like, oh, okay, it's go see them. Go see that band.

Yeah. So I don't know, I don't know as far as like what's going to happen, but I think performance is the test. Performance is a test. I agree. It's kind of interesting how things kind of... Yo, hang up before we start. Is there any way that...

Can we cut this and I can go to the bathroom real quick? One thing I can't have in a house is protein bars. Really? Yeah, it sucks. You know, you have like your trigger foods? Yeah. I don't know what is protein bar. I can't...

This is great. It's healthy. I can have a quick snack, but if I get a box, They're all gone. They're fucking gone. Same day. Or they have like protein almonds now, like chocolate almonds. And it's just the last an hour, maybe.

Yeah. And that's what like me being in my room is torturing myself. Don't eat it. Don't eat it. And then eventually you just go get the box. Sucks. What were you talking about? Future of music, right?

The future of music. The future music is. And then we went into chewable tums and protein bars. So there's Spotify, there's chitubel vitamins. Yeah. Okay. A buddy of mine from the gym, who's a comedian saying, is like, you know you're old when you start burping through your sentences. When you're like, oh, so I got to do this thing.

That's true. That's kind of true. Yeah. Yeah, I'm burping more. Shit. It's going to happen. Well, that's the future. That's the future.

Yeah. Dude, so, yeah, going back to the future music. I don't know. Maybe we got to put tattoos on our face. Fucking put a little diamond on our fucking foreheads. That's cool. You know? I'm just to put a tattoo in my ass.

Because eventually we're going to stop doing selfies in our face. We're probably, we don't know how I was going to involve. And I want to be ahead of the curve. Yeah, it is. See, I think that's how you're true. Start getting knee piercings. Yeah. Knee piercings, the next vibe.

I don't know. Dude, I remember I got My lip pierced in high school I thought that was so cool Yeah I had both my eyebrows pierced I was like A fucking metal

Oh you were new metal dude I was sick I was new metal as fuck Oh dude Boy you know what Low key I've always wanted to get my eyebrows pierced Because of John Davis Man looks so cool

Fuck Yeah And I never did it I barely My parents let me do my lip I had my ears pierced too It doesn't look my head's too big or something It looks weird

Yeah It's like nah Don't it There you go Well at least you're self-aware enough to know Okay this is not It's just not my move Well I became self-aware

After getting After getting them It was like It's like wow That looks terrible Or that will cause Self-awareness Yeah

There's that too Do you journal I try and I'm just terrible at it. So no. But I have probably like three or four notebooks in my apartment. Dabbled maybe, like a little bit? I'll do like three or four days and then I forget that I have it.

Of course. Same. You ever look back at what you wrote? No, I definitely don't. Really? Oh, shit. Well, maybe I could help you with something. I was reading, an interview you did, like probably six years ago plus.

and it was the more you can learn the more you can create and I said that yeah you said that that's pretty tight it's pretty tight dude you're like kind of smart

that's smart to say and that was like oh that was like for me that was a gym like literally I literally wrote that down it was cool and it hit me and it was like that is true

and I noticed you know later on in my career I do very recently like the more I dive into learning or practicing a certain skill the more I create

the more riffs that come out and it seems like there's like this kind of infinite uh storage of uh inspiration and riffs when I used to think that it was limited

and I noticed like what you say it was like it's very true the more you learn the more you can create yeah um i mean i think that has an exponential uh like benefit to it i mean even so like learning one technique right it doesn't mean that all of a sudden all your guitar playing has to turn into that one technique it can mean that now you can implement that into your other shit now the contrast that you can add between one section of a song to the next section of a song

can be completely different. Your ability to learn something lets you look at what you've already done differently. You know? Very true. So yeah, you can start creating more. Also, I think something that's important is always like, even learning stuff,

I think it's always important to like write what you know like I mean like we're both metal guys um you know we even even with everybody in animals it's like you know maybe Matt's probably the only one who could probably pull the other stuff off but we're like you know we incorporate jazz into our shit we incorporate all sorts of styles of music electronic into it but ultimately we know metal and we write the metal

we just add a little bit of this, right? I can't, I cannot go to like a jazz jam session and being like, all right, dude, let's play giant steps. Yeah. So I write metal. And even with like mestista, the solo stuff, it's like, it's what the other stuff that I know that isn't metal, where I can put it in a context,

you know, that's still one piece of body, like one body of work. Yeah. It's still learning stuff, but it's like ultimately still what you know. Yeah. But when you're learning, you can add a more variety to your style. Absolutely.

You know, what I just said, I also got from the same interview. Yeah. Fucking, you said that. It's pretty cool. That dude, smart. I was like, dude, who wrote that? Damn. Do you all, I was going to bring up, like, if he journal, like, a second second second.

Second second second. It's like, is that a hookabex? Damn, dude. dude i'll like you know i dabble in journaling and like you know i have stuff like years ago like i'll look back from a previous week a month or a year or a few years i'm like i wrote that i said that whoa you're like damn that's like smart i'll like buy his book it's so weird that like sometimes like you do something or you say something i'm like whoa that was do you how deep do you go in your journals though like if she if she read them would you be

be like fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck i thought about that and that's uh low key that's a secret fear i i i that's a thing i battle with if i would want someone to read my journal or if i'm comfortable or by or how i would feel you know yeah i don't know maybe because it's would you rather than find nudes of you or read your journals nudes in me that was very quick that was very quick that was that was easy one He's like, dick fake. Any day. If I went on a PRP, like, Chris Garza has nudes.

I don't. If it's that, I'll choose that over someone reading my journal, for real. That's, what's up? That's very, I mean, at least you're, you know, it's your place to be honest with yourself. So it's nice that you can do that. That was kind of, that's why I think I've never been able to quite do it. Because when I do it, I'm like, I don't want to write this shit down. Like, yeah.

Like, what is the fucking? Yeah. No. Like. That's true. fucking leave it in the wrong fucking place or like, um, do you,

do you do it on tour? Yeah. Here, tour. Fuck. The whole nine. None of your bandmates are like, fuck you,

dude, you piss me off. So I'm going to read your shit. Oh, no, man. Then we have, like,

Eddie, Eddie just like goes up on stage, like, mm-mm, mm-hmm. It takes a turn to read out loud. It's like, oh, fuck.

It's like, where is the fucking news, man? It's doing it right here on stage, man. I got some new lyrics, guys. Oh,

God. Dude, that will be terrifying. I think it's because, because of what we do, that's literally the only private thing I have in my life. So it's kind of... Maybe if I wasn't in that band, it wouldn't be so, like, sacred, but because that's literally the only privacy I have.

But, you know, maybe with age, it would be like, okay, read it, or maybe put it out, I don't know, we'll see. Yeah. Because another thing I worry about, just what you just brought up like okay i wrote it down what does someone sees this you know i think about like shit i'm out driving around i'm in like an airplane or on tour and uh you know there's you're in like a rocky airplane ride which is very common like shit my journals are in my

fuck fuck i always have that feeling i'm on driving and like someone almost hits me and like my my journals are my fucking room it is like it is a it's a it's a thought of always keeps up man what am i leaving behind somebody all those journals i read they're gonna fucking read them it was like in a movie or something that i somebody said you never really know a person until they're dead and you start discovering all their shit you know because all of a sudden you're like that's true you go into the shit it's like damn dude dad had a foot fetish yeah it's like all these stack of magazines whatever yeah it's crazy especially with uh with the internet i forgot who was i think it was neel strauss very uh very good awesome

there. He said like your mistakes live longer live longer than you do because everything's online. I was like, damn, that's true. Shit. Yeah, it's like immortalized. Yeah. It's like from here to like

the end of humanity. Yeah. Dude, that always trusts me out, you know, especially we have experience with that. It's like, you know, when the artist passes away, suddenly like, man, like that was your last Instagram post

and they had no idea that was that was it boom it's like damn was it and then we all you know I've done it and we'll go on like

their page and I think a recent one was Kobe like you go on their page and you see like their last post and we're all just you know

I'll put a comment I don't know why but it feels like you're talking to them oh maybe like we'll see this it's weird yeah it's kind of

Yeah Man that was his last post And he had no idea It's like He was just like Stoked about his water burger dude Yeah at least not as bad as Someone reading my journal

Yeah I mean I was impressed with how fast you would rather Have somebody see nudes of you Dude that's the easy one You were like nudes Nudes Nudes

Nudes now Not nudes from late 20s I was fat So I think Now I'll be cool so if they pick a good year that'll be all right

yeah it's so personal but I mean yeah I don't know is it's your therapy it's your it is I notice me personally like it helps me

like process thoughts and feelings when you see it on paper and like it looks back of you you can kind of carpentimalize what was that word part of mentalize thank you you kind of put things

where they are and you could process them and, you know, I found a lot of help with that. Years, you've been doing it for, at least eight years. Wow. Been very helpful. And then your words give, like, new meeting as a years go on. You kind of, like, mean, like, moments you had with, like, your, you know, favorite bands,

they have, like, new meaning as, as a years go on, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I'm kind of weird with some of those stuff. I mean, it's nice. I mean, even with my, like, with photos, you know, I used to, like, go to a place and be like, damn, I want to take a picture of this thing. And especially on tour. And then after a while, you know, I catch myself being, like, never looking at those photos.

You know what I mean? Like, going back way after him, it was just like, oh, why the fuck did I take the picture of that? Like, whatever. Yeah. True. So, I don't know. I think over the years, I've kind of turned into just, like, you know, I think over the years I've kind of turned into just, like, like just enjoy living that moment.

But I do see the value in it. I, it's just my, I don't know, my brain is always like, yeah. What's your take on social media? Like, um, like how much to post because it's,

it's necessary for us. But, but you want to be in a moment when you're doing things for you. You got to take a picture. of which I haven't it's kind of been like a and back and forth feeling well we're

in a weird situation where like our social media obviously connects us to our loved ones but almost it connects us to the fans right or the people who are supporters you know

with the supporters with just with the culture that exists one, there's always people looking for reasons to hate or to make fun of you. So I think posting, it's not like you can just be at, like, you know, you're at your, you know, your cousins, kids, you know, birthday. And you're like, oh, let me post. What most people are doing is like posting the little family event. And they're like, look, the rest of the family is going to like this picture here.

we can't necessarily do that without it being like taking like it being looked at as in a weird context because it's like we have guitar videos here's an interview here's a guitar play through oh here's little fucking you know chepe with you know it's getting you know busting open his pinata and it's not quite the same thing um so so it's weird i don't know would you ever have like a personal one I've thought about that of just like all of a sudden one specifically for the band and then have one with like a fake-ass name for like and I tell that to my family. So no one can find me and start following that one. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough because then what would you think that's just more work?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. But, you know, I don't know. I also don't like if I want to stay connected to my family or like my close peers that I can put down. shit like here's a little you know you go to the animal petting zoo and you're like look guys i'm playing with the donkey yeah um we can't put that on our necessarily on our that's true it has to be a story because it only lives 24 hours it can't be like part of the yeah the time it can't be it can't be there permanently yeah only the shit that's like guitar little clips cool yeah um any if i'm doing a

clinic cool um but like me you know me shooting the shit um um um Yeah When you're at the gym You're trying to deflect One of these Yeah It can only be a story That's true

That's true Man I gotta do a gym story pick Fuck Man Where have I been Yeah dude I would go

And Because It's low key I walk in a bathroom And it's like These guys flexing In the mirror I'm like

You know what I should just do One pick Just one And then I'll post it on my story And then I'll And I'll be the one. But then it'll be one person does a screenshot

and lives forever somewhere. Yeah. And that'll be the picture they put up on the new sites. All of a sudden you become the favorite new meme. Yeah. See? And then I'm a meme and then probably have that happened. Even though it's probably going to be funny.

But you're like, fuck. Damn it's good, but fuck. Fuck. Yeah. Especially in the world of memes. Yeah, people are like real fast. Real fast. Yeah, people are quick and witty.

I struggle to enjoy them because you know where a majority of them come from I mean you heard about like the like the whole thing where memes in Russia No No okay maybe you shouldn't dive into a rabbit hole Because it's a rabble hole

Yeah Where uh Where there's a Certain area actually makes How actually Make the memes To cause some kind of like reaction I mean I'm sure that there are some

But I would say a lot of them At least the memes that I like Are fucking funny And a lot of them have to do with like social shit that's happening currently like you know that takes it takes

knowing the local humor to understand you know and I don't think it's like some you know Russian agent being like oh if I use the word bra it'll be really funny you know like

yeah I doubt but I'm sure there's like some political shit that's probably out there but yeah You know, I'm looking at, I'm not looking at those. I'm trying to find funny, funny ones. I like that. That's, see, that's the way you should live. Yeah.

Yeah, don't, don't ruin the main game like I did. Because then it ruins your life. Yeah. And then you're not happy. So don't be, don't be me. Well, shit, Hobby, let's, let's wrap it up. I don't want to take too much of your time. This is our first.

late podcast and I've enjoyed this eight eight eight eight o'clock they say it's better to do things late and you're more creative what do you what do you think about that uh I think I think it's pretty accurate you know it's hard I mean it's like how many of your tunes have you been like oh it's 930 in the morning I feel like being metal as fuck right now um I don't think it's hard to do that, you know. That was kind of one of the weird things that with the streaming stuff when I was doing it, it was like, because I was trying to write stuff. And I was doing it earlier in the day because it has more, you know, attendance throughout the time. But it was just like, yeah, it'd be like 11 in the morning.

I'm like, fuck, I don't feel like being metal right now. Like, I'm, I gotta take shit. Yeah. Yeah. It's like. Yeah. It's like. Yeah.

It's like, yeah. I just have a morning copy. I'm taking shit right now. Yeah. Dude, it was like, I'm like. I want to do that. I want to go to the gym. Yeah.

I don't even want to play guitar right now. I usually start later in the day. Yeah. So yeah, I think there's something to it. It might also just be our conditioning where we're just become night owls, you know? Yeah. But I don't know. Even the same, you know, I've been learning this coding stuff and it's like earlier in the day, I'll stop.

I can do some work, but come like 11 o'clock, I'm like, you know what? I think I'm going to figure it out. And then all of a sudden it's like four in the morning. I'm like, oh, shit, yeah. Wow. You know, so, but, you know, we've all had that with music as well. So, yeah.

It might be a conditioning thing. It might be, that's just how, you know, what's worked out for us. I don't know. But I don't know too many musicians that are, like, waking up at 10 in the morning and being like, yeah, let's get creative as fuck, yo. That's true. fuck

and notice like you said the different kind of created ones later it is true it's weird I think that's also like generally speaking with humans like you're just like you tend to go more

and you can create a flow state at night apparently I learned that from Tim Ferriss I know if you're familiar with Tim Ferriss um

the artists and more more so musicians tend to, like, say they're really creative during, like, the wee hours of night. Salvador Dali used to, like, to deprive himself of sleep. Oh. To paint.

He would stay up so much that he would hold... I think he would try to hold a spoon by his knee or something like this, and then when he would... And he would just try to get a little, like, you know, 10-minute naps. And then the second he would drop the spoon,

he would hit his foot. And he'd be... He was like, all right. fuck up start getting creative whoa yeah that's that you know I don't know if that's fact you know sometimes I've been known to say non-facts but um well it's back now I think you know if we put it in the internet it becomes a fact like these days yeah yeah these days yeah yeah what do you got going on and where and where you where people find you Well

I'll probably still be doing the Twitch stuff here and there And it's just like the same as my Instagram Have your Reyes but with an extra J and extra S at the end But it's my name It's pretty easy to find You know Although Just social media platforms

World was there Um The Animals's Leader site The Mestis site Um You can even do Yeah pretty much just that cool IG

IG have your radius cool all right we want to check it out thank you for listening and watching until next time later