Garza Podcast - 2 - THE MENDENHALL EXPERIMENT | Brandon Mendenhall

Episode Date: February 22, 2021

Brandon Mendenhall is the founder, and guitar player for The Mendenhall Experiment. Born with cerebral palsy, he followed his dream of learning the guitar. People told him it was impossible. He has gone on to start his own band, go on tour, and play with his favorite band Korn. SPONSORS: Click this link to purchase from Sweetwater & help support the podcast: imp.i114863.net/rnrmVB

So we're going and we're live a F. Cool. B, what's up, man? What's up, dude? Long time there's C. I know. I'm very, I'm lucky that you live so close by. You're in, like, the neighboring town.

Oh, yeah. Downtown River South is dope. It is. For those that, I don't know, if you ever been there, you know, check it out. Maybe come check it out when things are opening, but I like it down there. I've been down there for, like, seven years now. Seven years? Yeah.

Wow. And you, so you went straight from L.A. to downtown. Yeah, to downtown, yeah. Now, what made you make that move? Just, I had to get out of L.A. The place I was living in was basically, right on the border of Glendale, like, Burbank. But it was owned by, like, a slum road.

Whoa. So it was pretty bad with, like, the tenants that lived there. There was a lot of police activity. but it was just time for me to go. And that was right on my cusp of, like, the rent beginning to go up everywhere in L.A. So I think it got out, like, right at the right time. Yeah.

Good. Wow, so seven years. How long have we been hanging out? Oh, man, we've been hanging out since... Like four? Four years? 2016, like right after we played the Aftershock Festival together, because I went into you on stage with Korn, and I was like, oh, that's Goza.

But it's loud, so I didn't get to talk to you. And then literally, like, two weeks later, Mike ran into you in Corona somewhere, I think. So weird. You came out, we played with Islander locally, and you came out, we've been friends. like ever since. Yeah. Usually when you meet someone that loves corn as much

as you do, there's pretty much like you're guaranteed to be friends. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It's it. For sure. I mean, that's what it, like,

what it came down to was, like, we're super in love of corn. We're obviously, we love guitar. We're both rhythm guys. Yeah. And, you know,

we bonded over a bottle of Jack Daniels that night. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you brought the bottle of Jack. Yeah. Yeah. Man, Jack's a scary thing, man. Wow, I do, it was so weird.

Yeah, I remember at Ather Shock, remember watching Korn side stage and seeing you and then seeing Mike. And for some weird reason, I went home that week and I was like, I wonder how Mike's doing. I should have said, like, what's up to him? I should have talked no more. But then literally, like, a few days later, I was, for some reason, he was in my mind a lot. It was really strange. And then, park at the mall, his car pulls up right in front of me and guess he walks out. It's Mike.

It's like, how do you park right in front of me? That's so weird. Like the energy just brought us together. And then we had sushi. And then he shortly after that, he introduced me to you, which I was curious who you were at that moment. So it's just kind of like this weird, like this energy drawing us to, like, each other, you know? Yeah. it kind of goes back a little farther than that.

Like for me and for TMX personally, like when I moved to RiluSide, when I moved out here, a big part of it transition besides me having to get out of the place I was in was I found a lineup that was primarily based here. So I was commuting back and forth to a hoarse like three,

three times a week. And finally, I was like, I'm tired of doing this like L.A. to Riverside, Grand. And I just, I was like, I'm moving. That's great. But

when I moved here and my bandmates and all that, obviously suicide silence to us at the time was, like, the biggest band that ever come out of this area. So, for us, Personally, it was like, how do we get to know those guys?

Like, how do we, how do we, like, connect the dots, you know? And even when I played Aftershock 2013, I was wearing the Mitch Memorial shirt. Yeah. So, like, I've always kind of been a fan, and I always wanted us to, like, connect. Yeah. So in a real way, I feel like the universe just finally put us together. It does that. Maybe it should happen, you know.

Especially at, like, their right time, you know. And you've come to know me now. It's kind of hard to get me out of the house. And you guys somehow do it. You do it somehow. And I've gone out to Riverside at multiple other venues and seen TMX play, you know. I was like, wow, I'm actually out of the house watching a band play, and I like them, and it's cool. And yeah, I mean, you can't deny that energy.

And, like, you know, I shared some, you know, vulnerable thoughts and concerns with myself and, like, Mitch and the band. So it's, it's, I found it very rare to connect with someone and be open with them and actually get, like, intelligent feedback. You know, someone that listens to you and will, like, tell you, like, oh, you, this is my person. And you've done that for for me plenty in times And you know and you for me like you know there's many times I've come to you and from like Hey man what do I do here? Yeah and you kind of kind of break it down for me and it's a little easier to Digest things that you think in your head is catastrophic but Maybe not so much totally. Yeah, especially when you're talking about like

your band everything always seems a little bit more chaotic oh it's falling apart no the band's over you know but then it kind of just needs someone to give you like a fresh perspective and you know I'm glad

I'm honored to be able to do that for you and you did that for me you know thank you man it's cool it feels good to have someone especially you know talking about like my band and like Mitch and stuff it's always kind of

weird. So the fact that you really listened to when I kind of opened that door and then for someone to give me like a fresh like this is what it is. I'm, oh this is I never got in this before. I never got that perspective before. Then like it changes

your life dude. It's like something like you like things that you told me in your room I may have made me like a like a happier person you know so it's cool. Yeah that's awesome and yeah with the whole with the mix And you're going to talk about it very often.

So when it comes up and the door kind of opens, you know, I got to listen. Because there's a lot of knowledge in those years of touring and all the stuff that you guys have been blessed to be a part of. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't it weird that we're in bands? It's such a weird thing, dude. I was thinking about this city, I'm like, dang, like, what is? In a band?

It's so weird. And you grew up in the Midwest, probably about, like, over, a little bit over an hour south of Chicago, right? Yeah, yeah, about that. In, like, in, like, a trailer park essentially. Yeah, like, basically, like, in the sticks, it basically, it was, like, a little urban area in the middle of cornfields on all four sides. Wow So if you go 10 miles in any direction You're literally in what everybody

Called the country The country Yeah Wow So how did you go about How did you go about seeing shows Yeah Just

The same way I do it now Like hey man In flames is playing Like can drive me or buy you a ticket Nice I don't drive Like, I don't, like, I've never had a license. So it's always like, you either got to pay some money.

Yeah. Or you got to bribe them with a ticket. Yeah. Or nowadays it's like, oh, I can get you on the list or I can get you a pass. Like, let's go. That's what's up, dude. Yeah, remember, like, for, like, the longest time, like, my mom and dad were driving me to a chair reaction here. So they remember, there's one-fibbon memory of my mom and dad driving me to see skinless play chain.

Like, man, my parents are dropping off to see the death in the band play. It's so weird. So it's cool. Yeah, I mean, me and you did, like, things very, very similar. And I was very curious, which actually is something that we never even talked about before is, like, how do you, man, being from a trailer park, how do you get out of there?

Now, to now, fast forward, you're in Southern California. How do, I can't, I don't know how, how you do that. You know, everybody says trailer park and, like, you know, you think, Nowadays you think trailer park boys, right? And where I grew up, it was rough like that on one side of the park, but the side of the park I would have gone was a little bit nicely, but, you know, still trailer park living. Yeah.

And, you know, a lot of low-income people, and with low-income comes, like, low intelligence and ignorance and ignorance and discrimination and, you know, going on. having a disability, like, with those neighborhood kids, like, you know, they took it to me. And, you know, it was rough growing up. Everybody, like, you know, they picked on me. And then I kind of, what I did was I leaned into it. Like, I was like, well, if you're going to pick on me, then I'm going to give you a reason

to look at me. So I started breaking my head and, like, head from corn. and like wearing the purple valour jacket like Jonathan with like silver puma pants super like standing out. It's like

if I'm going to stick out anyway but I'm going to do it and saw and give you a reason to look and gawk and you know what I mean. But I think my saving grace to getting out of that area was

my grandparents helping me go to full sale for recording engineering. I was able to get my associate's science degree and pro tool certification for full sale in Orlando. So once I moved out, I was in Orlando for like two years. That's really when my life kind of started. And I grew up and was able to live on my own. and start figuring out life. And I've been on my own other since.

After that, I went back there. I went back home for like six months. And I was like, I got to get the fuck out of here. Wow. And I just, I went to go visit a buddy from college who was going to L.A. ahead of me. And I got here in Hollywood, man. And I was like, I'm not going back. And I just fucking lived out of the bag for four months,

slept on people's couches and did that whole thing. And fucking, luckily in my first 30 days, I was able to get a job at Target and retail and West Hollywood. Whoa. The one that's still in West Hollywood to this day. Sick. So, I mean, that kind of gave me my start here in California. and then I just built it piece by piece.

My grandparents sent me my guitars and amps and stuff one by one. I remember them they sent my Mesa Boogie, the Triple Wreck and the cabinet. And they sent the Triple Wreck not knowing they left the tubes in the actual amplifier hang. Oh, no, what happened. So when I got it from FedEx, the fucking all the tubes were broken. And then they picked up a cabinet with a forklift and put one of the forks through the cabinet. Oh, wow. So, like, my prized rig was, like, pretty much, like, not destroyed, but definitely a little one.

Wow. That's crazy. It's, like, Welcome to California. Yeah, what the fuck. Exactly. It's like, Welcome to California. Wow. Wow. It's like, all right, things are already hard enough, and it's weird how life just kind of happens like that.

Where, like, things are already hard, and you get that, that extra fucking knife in your side, dude. Yeah. And you can make it, you can, like, just let it boil over and, like, snowball into a million other things. If you just live in that, like, franticness. But you just got to kind of take it and take it deep. breath and move forward, man. For real. How old are you when you went to Florida? I was, I just turned like 19.

I was, it was a couple months after my 19th birthday. Wow. I remember I saw the night before last, I saw a tool. I'm a valet-a-lawful tour. Sick. at the United States where the Bulls play and

yeah I was a kid so I got all fucked up and fucking as you should had to wake up and like move out of my house the next day and my grandfather's all yelling at me like

get your ass up kind of thing what would you do that's like I know you're leaving, but you didn't have to go that hurt. Wow. That's crazy. So you're in Florida for two years. So you went back home for six months. Were you already 21?

I... Or you just turned 21? No, I moved to LA the day after my 21st birthday. Wow. So I went to Washington because I had a friend of mine that was a friend of my that was. stationed at the naval base up there. And we saw Osvest in Washington. And that was when,

Lamb of God, the Axis do it on Oswest. I don't know who else was on it. I know Super Joint Ritchell was on it because I ran into Phil and Zemmo when I told him my harem. Outta boy. Because at the time he was, he turned in.

to not a good person, especially in that band. Yeah. But I remember Lamb was on it in Hebrew and that's about it, but after that, the day after that, I went

down to LA. Wow. I can't even imagine being that young. All right, I'm going to live on my own. Fuck it, go. Yeah. It's pretty much like when we moved all in down there in Florida

and, you know, my grandpa stayed with me for like, I don't know, a week and when they left, it was like, whoa, what am I doing? Like, this is, what the hell am I doing? Reality kind of sets in sometimes. You know, and it wasn't that hard. I mean, I don't drive,

but across the freeway was like an album since, and there was a, gym and a Chinese food place and the school was just a couple blocks away. So it's not like I was connecting, even though I couldn't drive like I had, I could get groceries. I could take care of myself. So I mean, it was just a, it was a long period of adjustment. I remember like first seeing like a digital audio workstation for the first. time. I'd never even seen one before. I had no idea what that was, how it worked. Well, no, I'd seen one, but I'd never worked on one. Whoa.

So it was, it was totally like, um, a new frontier. For real. At what, at what point does Seb enter the picture? Do we got to backtrack? No. I, I just want to... I just want to try to figure out if I want to tell you the real story or the nut fabricated but the polished story. So I guess I'm going to go with the real story. There we go. Thank you, Pee. Appreciate that, man.

Seven and I, like, we met at, like, a corn fan event. and he had just moved to L.A. from France, and I just moved to L.A. from Chicago. Literally, in the first month of me being there, I met Sebastian at this event. It was like, wait a corn story. Tell us what corn means to you. so I've submitted my story. And then, out of like a thousand entries, they picked 20. And I was one that got picked. And I don't know how Sebastian got in.

I don't think he submitted a story. I think he knew someone. But he, like, I met him there. And we started hanging ironically. and I just realized this right now. This is another weird universe thing. So I met Seb, but I also met Vizzi

at the same event, the same day. It was me, Sean, Seb, and we used to hang out with this girl, Holly. She's not really in the picture anymore. And I think, I could be wrong, but I think Moon, Viz's wife, was there as well. So we all kind of connected for the very first time, like, at that event. And we just, seven, I realized we didn't know anybody. And he kind of had an accent because he's from France, and nobody could really.

understand what the hell I was saying because of my speech impairment. I guess everybody tells me it's better now than it was then. So we're like, yeah, man, let's, you know, we just became friends. We changed numbers and I'd go over to his house. He'd come over my place. We always stay connected, you know, and then he really wanted to work for corn. And, you know, and, you know, we would connect at corner events and eventually they hired them. And then, like, what, 15 years after that, he approaches me and says,

I'm going to blow your mind and please don't be offended, but I saw this video online and I think that we could do a documentary about your life story. And he sent me, this video of this disabled drummer who I've since met, Dean Zimmer, it was called Drummer Wanted, and Dean has, I think he has legs, but they're not, like, functional. So, like, he literally pulls his drums upstairs by his, like, upper body, and then he gets on the drum kit and plays, like,

John Bonn, and he's back by, like, but going to blank, I'm a drummer, it will come to me. But he, the drummer, Greg Bissonette, and he's done a lot of production work for Dean. So I saw this video, and my except was like, we could come by. Let's see if we can have enough to make a film.

It was supposed to be like a 30 minute short. And by the end of the production meeting, he was like, do we get enough to make a feature length documentary film? So we took six years and did that whole thing.

And I mean, you were there. You saw how it came out. Yeah. That's crazy. So he was, So how long was he with you? To do the film. Yeah.

We worked on the film for like six years. Six? It was really six? Like, yeah, it was five years of production and one year of like post-production. Not post-production, but, well, I guess it would be post-production and then trying to pitch to find distribution, which we finally got,

similar films some many records to pick up the film that that's incredible dude wow it's weird how like again like the energy has brought you guys together to do that like I talk about like

he wanted to do like a documentary film and you have your story like just to combine that dude it was it was awesome I've seen it you know I've been lucky enough to see see that that film twice

before he even came out. Okay, so I got to say something first. Okay, so you invited me to a film festival in L.A. Yeah. Okay, okay. Yeah.

Okay, I didn't know what a fucking film festival was. You didn't tell me anything. I'm like, when should I be there? It's like, they're like, what, like, what is this? I found out what a film festival was when I walked in a theater, that was already playing a film festival and everyone just looks

and I just walk in like a fucking idiot I'm like, oh, it's a day there's a, you know, there's multiple films like going, it's not just I'm not just going to see Brandon's you know film. It's like, there's films going on and I mean, the only thing that made me not literally

shit my pants was I was with, which happened to produce our first record John Travis, I happened to see him outside of the spot. So I knew I was with John Travis. I knew people knew him. I was like, so I walked in with him.

So I didn't completely freak out, but I walked in and do a theater full of people, dark and a light comes in. And my dumb ass is walking in. I'm like, I thought of myself, fucking B, did it tell me when to show up, what a film festival was.

I got to show up early. I didn't know anything. But, oh, anyways, it's all good. But fast forward seeing that film. Dude, it was definitely over an hour. and a half man that just flew by yeah it was i think it sits right at like uh an hour and 32 minutes something like that i i don't remember it's been so long i used to know the the minute count but i've spent a couple years now sorry people do it's nuts and uh i mean that just shows the

talent of a Seb and to take in six years of probably so much fucking footage and turning that into that short of a time Oh dear, oh dear you don't even know. Like you know me personally

so you know how I can talk and tell stories and go off on tangents and like I talked about a production meeting with like Sebastian it was supposed to be a 30 million meeting, we sat there and he listened to me, talk about my life and tell all these stories

for eight hours. And that's why, at the end of it, he was like, buckle up because we have enough here. We're going to do a full feature film. And he was just like, like, enticed by the entire time, dude. Yeah. And so, um, we ended up having a full feature film. And he was just like, like, enticed by the entire time, dude. And so we ended up having 36 hours of footage that we shot for Mind of Matter. And it was mind-boggling to have to take that. Yeah. And like shave it and chop it and throw scenes away and stuff that you thought would be relevant is no longer relevant. People that you interview get, you know, they make.

the turning the floor kind of thing and you know past band members and girlfriends and stuff like that completely just cut out wow yeah I mean there's just too much to put in that short amount of time it's

it's fucking impossible you know yeah and then like we ended up having 24 different cuts of the film before we settled on the final one and the first one was like seven hours.

And obviously we knew that wasn't going to stick. But it's like, here, watch this seven hours of footage so that you can see the direction that we're going and then we can talk about what we can kind of take out. And, you know, it was a scary process for me and for him because it's obviously the first film that I've ever done, but it's the first film that he ever made as a director. So it's like we're second guessing ourselves.

Oh, so it's the worst. The whole way and like thinking it's just like that bad thing. You think every situation is like the end of the world. Yeah. Because you always have that level of anxiety of like, oh my God, if I fuck this up what thing you know

yeah it's always there dude it's always there it's always there before every interview before every show before every event

I suck it's like oh my god I gotta get there everything has to be perfect like even on the way over here I was I was annoying my

my girl with like just my energy of like let's go yeah yeah it's tough it's tough

to to keep that clear mindset, you know, things just show up and do it, man. But, you know, they say, like, when you no longer have that kind of feeling, then, like, you no longer give a fuck. Yeah. So I kind of... It gets worse, yeah. That's way worse.

Like, as much as I, like, loaves that kind of feeling, you gotta embrace it too you gotta embrace it I've come to you know kind of do the same thing I get comfortable when I get uncomfortable yeah

this is this is some shit oh yeah this is this is gonna be special yeah if it's comfortable then like something's wrong

yeah oh yeah totally well I mean you know fast forward six years and and going through all that footage

and 24 edits and seven hours of footage the end result was pro it looked great and it told and it's in me knowing you before I watched it you know it's like to find out things I didn't know about

and like to see like your whole life story on like a film like what what is that like? Um it was the entire process for me was surreal like when I was when I was making a film it like it never really felt real

to me like it just felt like this is what we're doing for the day, and let's get through this and get through that and get through this. And then when we all finally came together, it's like, this is awesome, you know? Like, I'm so grateful to the village of people that help put this together

because it took an army of people to kind of shape and more mind over matter to, the final product that you see today, and I couldn't be more proud of it and proud of the massive team behind it. It's still surreal, in a sense, being able to tell my life story and have people be interested in it,

and not only that, but then to be inspired by it all over the world, not just here, but all, well, why? Yeah. It's kind of, it's kind of my blowing, and you just got to be appreciative and just be humble. Totally. Like, parts of it for me were really hard to put down on tape and on camera.

I literally buried my entire life, and I knew some of the things that I put in there, I could have gotten judged for pretty heavily, but I kept it real, and I did it for the greater good. That was always the goal with me of Sebastian was we want to make the realist film we can possibly make. Well, that was, you know, I could say it, but that was accomplished. You know, it transcends. You know, transcends everything. You know, you, you go watch him, like, whoa.

Like, what? You get, it has that, what the fuck is his factor. It's hard to get, dude. It's sick. Yeah. It's such, like, a special time where, like, where you do something for the first time. And Seb was obviously doing that for the first time, but he's also extremely professional. You know, that it's such, like, an innocent magic time that could only happen once.

It's like a band's first record. It could only happen once, you know. You have that innocent, but yet everything just clicked, you know? Yeah, it was really hard for me because we worked so intensively on my movie for six years. Like, my phone rang off the hook, and me and Sebastian were, like, connected with hip. You know, I dropped everything to make this film happening, to make this film the best it could possibly be at the end of it when the phone didn't ring anymore. Like I really, I went into like an eight-month, like, heavy depression. I counteracted me the other way because I was so used to, like, you know, doing things every day.

And like being, having to do this and having all of this press and this filming and emails and craziness. And then when it was all over, it was like, well, what, you know, I was. left with this feeling of like nothingness. Even though we created this awesome thing, it was just, it was weird. Wow, so after it was all said and done, it actually came out like, oh wow, it actually happened.

Oh, wow, it was actually a badass. It all clicked, things, it happened. And then, so for an eight-month period, you were just bummed. Yeah, it's like you go from doing interviews with like Metal Hammer and Revolver, And, you know, being on K Rock with Monkey and Adam Carolla and, like, you know, you saw the grand, like, premier event. It was, we sold up Beverly Hills on, like, a Monday night.

It was sick. I'm like, dude, this is like, being there, I'm like, this shit's sold out. It's like, I was like, what the hell was going on, dude? It was like, literally, like, being on a roller coaster. And then once you get to the top and the movie comes out and then the come down on the other side, it kind of, it mess with me for a while. I had to kind of really take a step back

and kind of re-centered and figure, we were going through a lot of things with the band at that time too. So, I mean, that didn't help, you know. we've got a couple of line-up changes coming currently so we were kind of dealing with some of the fallout from that during that time as well so it just compounded stress dude it's so weird like the band drama always comes at the worst time oh my god doesn't it it's like

I'm like you're like do I really need this right now I don't need this right now dude totally yeah there's stuff I never told my band like literally I've I've broke up with my chick and like just walked in same day here and practiced I had extreme I still haven't told a bad and bad at like you know years ago I having like crazy health issues with my parents and woke up on the bus and played put the show didn't didn't tell anyone just slated it and then then they'll add like this band drama I something will happen it's like

none of that matters it doesn't it's really hard to like to I struggle with that like checking my feelings at the door and there's been

there's been a few a few times like you know I've had to play shows like right after like breaking up with somebody and it's like you know

that's on your mind but you're still going to get up there and kill it because that's where the people came to see you and you've got to own that. You have to own it.

You have to you, man. How did you get out of that eight month funk? Man, I basically just picked myself up and was like, yo, you gotta focus on the band.

And it's not about the movie anymore. The movie is going to be what it's going to be. And now you've got to make the band pop. You're going to make the band carry the movie. And I think for a long time, people behind the scenes kind of have this over expectation of all the movie is going to carry the band. And I always told them, I was like, I hear what you say,

but I really believe that at the end of the day, it's going to be the band that carries the movie because the band is consistent and you know here we are after it's all setting done and that's what it is

the band is going to carry the movie and keep the movie relevant yep at the moment you guys put out you know another single online I mean that's going to people are going to listen to it and oh what you know was this movie

you know it's just it's always gonna it's always gonna tie in somehow you know and it's really hard like you gotta be really grounded in in yourself because someone else will always kind of put their own like narrative on you especially when you're talking about like industry so you got to be really careful about what you take in you listen like you got to be really careful like oh shit I mean they just said something that I don't agree with it's okay man uh talk about that man I learned that the hard way. I think, you know,

going through the gauntlet with TMX and I've definitely learned that the hard way we've been mismanaged and mishandled and we've had our hands tied because of the film, we weren't allowed

to really release anything beyond the record that we had released in the film. So the longer the film took to come out, the longer it became that we weren't allowed to release any new music, any new singles, a new record, new videos.

Because when we wanted the movie to come out, and have the most current thing, like as humanly possible. So us as a band were kind of, we were handcuffed. And, you know, that caused a lot of problems in the band. And I'm not going to over-speculate, but I think some things could have been, could have been and probably would have resolved differently had we not have those kind of setbacks. But, you know, it's all part of, like, learning that stuff the hard way.

Yeah, you got to learn the hard way. Then you fall on your face. And then you make mistakes. You lose money. Then you make a bad business decision that you'll suffer the consequences for the years to come. And then you're still learning from those mistakes. But then you're learning, like, the current, you know, it's always a constant learning experience. And then you're trying to grow up.

Yeah, it's just like what... Can't win. And then you're trying to mature and grow as a human being and be more in tune with the universe and be a better person, the best person that you can be. You know, when you're just kind of surrounded with, at times you can get overwhelmed and be surrounded by, like, negativity and other people's bad energy

but just kind of believes into your life. it creeps in dude it's why it's why you got you guys to fit that shit off it creeps in we had a lot of that from the industry oh you guys

should do this and that and you guys and it was just you know a lot of background noise and we we were young

as musicians and we took it seriously because we respected a lot of people that were telling us those things and and we didn't want to make any mistakes but at the end of the day

like not trusting your gut is a mistake yeah yeah you gotta trust that instinct you know only you have especially like we kind of have like this similar

thing where your perspective on your band is different when you're the founder you know like you have a very unique perspective that even like your band members can't really relate to you and it's tough to explain you know and so so one thing you have like which that that comes with both strengths and both weaknesses the strength is like you know that first brick you know like you know what the band's about you you have that instant you have that primal like you just kind

of have that feeling of yes or no but with what the weakness is you might you're kind of too close to it and you need like your band to have like the fresh eyes and like sometimes they're right and sometimes you're wrong. You know, knowing when that is, it's super tough but yeah, having that a, yeah, so you being the founder is a very

extremely tough it's fucking tough, dude. It's fucking tough. It is like, you know, you're talking 37 different band members. in TMX from the beginning, the very, very beginning to now.

And it's like, you know, you always won't hold on to the band. Like, it's my thing and this is the way. No, like now that I've learned, that's not the way. You've got to ease back. You've got to let your team or your people that you trust. your bandmates kind of influence and be a part of it, you know? You can't, you can't spearhead it. It's not the branding show.

It's not the Goers a show, even though Goers a podcast. And the Men Hall experiment. Right. We're just a bunch of dicks. It's all right, whatever. But I think that's what you and I connect on, too, is that, like, we're both, like, the founding members of our, respective bands and

you've been able to open up a lot of doors in my mind in terms of that you know and kind of like that's a learning process in itself and like

the music business being your own business owner being the leader of your own band being a great leader and not a shitty one it's it's a it's a it's all a learning experience

and there's no fucking world map to this shit. There's not, we're all on our own journey. Every band's our own journey and then you're on your own journey as your own person. But I mean, I think you're on the road because you hold on to like

do your thing. It's like, oh, this is my band, it's my thing, but then you realize it's not my dream anymore. It's our dream. It's their dream too. They want to be in a band on tour when they were kids. You know, it's their dream as much as it is mine. And you got to learn to like, then you grow up and you mature, oh, you know, this is, you kind of assess situations a lot better. Oh, you know, this is our band.

You know, it's even, you know, and knowing when to listen or when to listen to your gut, all that stuff is super tough, man. It's tough. But yeah, you got to really bring them in and kind of have, kind of have like an equal say sometimes, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and I've learned it was really hard for me. to step back sometimes, you know, on business decisions, on songwriting, little parts of rifts and stuff like that. And because you get tunnel vision and you think your way is the only absolute way,

or at least that's how it was for me. And then I must be maturing in some way because now I can kind of like anticipate that And that's when I like Step back Great And I'm like Okay Let's let's hear

Like let's try it You know Let's see if it works Let's see your idea Let's see the artwork Let's like Propose to me Like you know

Let's talk about Yeah talk about it And at the end of the day You know there's no There's no rush Everyone should have their say Let's hear all the riffs Let's hear all the ideas

Let's hear all the ideas You see all the artwork, and the best idea wins, you know? And I think that's where TMX is currently in 2021. The people in the band now, I think we have that chemistry, where we know when to kind of step back and listen to each other's ideas and keep that energy good. That's great. Because I think that's a big part of it, right? Yeah.

It's to have like, even though we play heavy music, you want to have good energy and good vibes in the room. That's key, you know? Yeah. Yeah, you got to manage the energy in the room. That's actually, like, I'll talk to this subject with this. Sometimes you got to keep the energy in the room up and keep the vibe up. sometimes and I know my band's not gonna like this but sometimes you gotta suck it out you know you gotta like you gotta ruin the vibe hey this is how this is how really is actually you know so but that is

and that's a whole other learning experience knowing when to do that and ruin someone else's vibe when it's right that is also a tough uh because sometimes it's called for like hey i mean you got you got you got to say like something pretty bluntly then the whole room's like but like this way it is and then the next day is a new day, a new song, a new rip, a new vibe, a new new energy. I guess the biggest thing that bands have to learn about sucking the vibe out of the room is to suck the vibe out of the room and not want to actually kill your band members for it. Yeah. Like, know when to just say what you need to say.

Say it, and either the session's done or, like, you just walk. walk away and you come back the next day and everything's all good. You know, it snowballs into, oh man, he said this, fuck him, fuck that, you know. You know how it goes. And then all of a sudden you have a problem in your band. And it's like, that's not cool. Yeah. So learning how to manage that technique is good.

Yeah. And, you know, you know, there's that curse of being creative. where like you'll you like make up little arguments in in your head like you'll like you'll like make them up you'll be like walking in your room like you'll like fuck that guy fuck that guy but it's like it's just your own like it's that creative uh juices that but there's that other side of being a creative where like you just let you make up like arguments and stuff is it's fucking it sucks man this is proof right here that musicians are fucking psychotic people

we are we're like norman bates kind of people we have all these different voices and perspectives of how a situation's going to go i know that i overanalyze every situation and try to like project every particular outcome but you know that's not really healthy for you either no no especially when you're in your 30s things got to be done differently yeah you know and it's tough man and everyone else is growing they're all on their own journey and knowing some guys are more sensitive than others so you can say one thing and this person you can't see this thing the other person you gotta like built her the truth sometimes which kind of sucks but uh you know i like to think that i'm a pretty open book and like i'm pretty tough-skinned

you pretty much say anything to me i'll work the next day it's all good but i can't be myself i can't be like hey fuck you you're a fucking pussy because that's what i wouldn't want someone to tell me that. I would love that because I'll wake up the next day, but I'll stop being a pussy, just go. But if you bring that same energy to someone that's super sensitive then you suck out the energy in a room in

a bad way. And so learning how to communicate with other humans you know, while still growing in your own way, it's a fucking... It's hard. People think that like us being in bands and just all fucking

rainbows and bottles of whiskey and fucking potting and you know it was like 10 years ago you know a big shows with actual people yeah it's actual people and you know you guys still jamming a room together right oh yeah great same you know that that that kind of art is seems to be lost we do the same thing we're in the room looking at each other with a like just looking at each other jamming I get what bands don't do it It's way harder But it's way sicker I think for us

Like we'll jam We'll go off on jam tangents We have a million Like Just tapes of Just jamming and coming together On things I at least try to come in

With some kind of Starting points Sure And then we'll jam for the others See what pieces What pieces don't Yeah it's it Like, yeah, sometimes, it's nice having that one riff sometimes,

but you just come and start playing it and, you know, like another band member will ask something that you didn't even think was like an option, like, oh, that's fucking, like, dude, something that would play something? I'm like, damn, I didn't even think about that. Holy shit. Right.

Or I'll start playing a beat. I'm like, oh, wow, this is fucking nuts. Right, and that's like the beauty of it is like, it's like, I'll play something, and then that guy will play something else. And he's like, oh, no. man, move this course here. Do this.

And you play it and you're like, oh, fuck. That's awesome. It's a drug, dude. It's that one thing. It sucks. Straight up. Being in a room of your band fucking sucks. I get why bands don't do it anymore.

I get the whole computer thing. But it sucks. I get it. But man, those moments when you guys start bouncing ribs off each other, bouncing beats and switching and switching stuff and like collaborating. Dude, that's. It's a magical time, man. But it doesn't suck, though.

I think it's always stressful going in because they're like, oh, we don't know what fuck we're going to do. But then when you find that vibe and that connection, there's nothing better than life than that. No, dude, it's so sick. You know, when you know that your energy is connected, it's fucking the best. It's the best, man.

Oh, then moments like that, you know, Of course, you don't really think about it then. But later on, I'm like, man, I fucking love those guys, man. Like, we're in a band together. We're in a fucking real band together, man. And that, you can't break that connection. Even though I'm pretty sure they might want to kill me sometimes. I want to kill them sometimes.

I want to fucking kill them. But, man, when you have those moments, dude, it makes everything worth it. And, man, I'll be here. Like, after a session of writing or after a tour of my man, I love those guys. Holy shit. It's like going to war. A lot of people don't realize that. It's like that's your platoon.

Like you've been up war together for better or worse. You know, you're married to these people. And sometimes it gets ugly. But sometimes it's fucking beautiful. And when it's beautiful, it's all worth it. It's all worth it, man. It's so worth it. I can't even,

you can't even, like, imagine not, not doing it. I can't even, like, imagine you're not going, you're not moving to L.A. Imagine that. Like, you can't.

You know, it's like. No, man, I always knew I wanted to be here in Los Angeles. And this was one of, I was a little before I even thought about music. But even, even when I first got into music, I was like,

dude, I'm going to move to L.A. I'm going to start a band I'm going to like you know and people are going to want to care because I'm different because I have a disability like that's something there's something there

and then you know flash forward years later to me having that conversation with monkey and it all like fucking clicked here's my hero like telling me to do it myself and based it around my

own capabilities and it's like that thought when I was a young kid like came back to me and just clicked together and it's like yeah I mean this band and music and and this is what I do man like yeah you from from that moment what how long was that gap with with you talking to to monkey and then you actually starting the mental hall experiment That was, we played, I talked to Monkey, was it 2006? Yeah, and then I had surgery in 2007, and I was laid up, and then after that I took a month vacation to go to Illinois, and I had the batch of songs, and we played the first show in 2008.

So two Two solid years huh? Yeah Isn't anything crazy I won't I won't go into To my stories But I know like you I

He'll say something And it's a seed He'll say some shit to you But it's like It explodes like Two years later For you Exactly two years later

Yeah Like How crazy is that He's gifted And he knows That especially with you and I He knows Like that

that we listen to him and we were influenced by him. So he knows the right things to say and when to say them. He's very aware of his influence, at least on certain people. Mm-hmm. Yeah, good. Good. I mean, so Tyson Six, you, you, you, get the seed

you know it's like oh man you get that thought and now it's like now it's actually happening and now you're probably thinking about things differently now it's like okay now it's becoming something now you're starting like the band fast forward to Athroshock what what was that show? The first

one or the second one? Let's do the first one. The first one was 2015 and monkey was monkey made that happen because I I was dealing with the guys from Monster, and they were trying to get us a slot,

and that was before we had the endorsement with Monster. I was basically just begging them to, you know, pull us on the show, Megadeth was on it, Korn was on it, five-finger, revenge, all these people, and I'm like, just give us a shot, you know?

Yeah. And they said no. And I took my shot. I asked Monkey and I was like, hey, trying to do this thing. I'm being met with some resistance. Is there anything you could do that kind of maybe smooth that out? Literally, literally two hours later, I got an email from him and he said, it's all good. That's what's up, man.

And then I remember when the production company called me and it was real. And after that phone call, just like jumping up in town for, like, you know, everything in life. Like, you just won, like, a million dollars. Because, like, at that point, I'm like, I did it. I'm on the same festival as corn and all these other fucking bands. that's a big moment man what was going on through your mind when you were there

we just wanted to kill it and in the truest purest sense of a form no matter like if there was 10 people there or like 10,000 we we wanted to make it count and we wanted to turn some heads we knew

that we were there on a favor kind of basis and and maybe we were Were we being there? Maybe we were. You know, there's a lot of small bands that come out on that early ball stage.

I think you were. We just wanted to be taken seriously and making impression. I think we did that. And I know in the movie it looked like there was only 10 people there, but by the end of our set, there was close to 100 people in front of us. The real story of what actually happened with that show is we were, our time slot was 10 a.m., doors opening. They didn't open the doors until 10.7.

So then all the people had to follow in and, like, find the stage. And so literally our set consisted of people running to the stage to watch us play. So by the end we had like maybe 100 people there. Wow. But that was only for like 10 minutes

so like 20 minutes set. Wow. The first 10 minutes was like empty. Damn. Yeah, I mean when you're talking about opening doors playing at that same time, seven minutes is a long fucking time.

Yeah, that's like two and a half song. Yeah, yeah, just fucking two and a half song. Yeah, yeah, it's fucking two and a half song. man what the fuck yeah so like um yeah it was it was definitely um it was a lot of fun for us that that that experience was super fun because we had no obligations we just showed up playing in catering hung out with all the bands that we wanted to hang out with add a boy we had no restrictions backstage because we didn't know anybody so we were just wandering around like just doing whatever.

We didn't have management or direction. We didn't have to do press. We didn't have to be anywhere. We just had fun. So that was the first time. The second time, you know, when we came back in 2016, Pro Monkey again, it was a lot different. Like we had places to be, we had press to do.

We literally did not leave the press tank the entire day. I was so mad that I missed you set. I wanted to, you guys were in the top list of bands that I wanted to see that day, and our management team wouldn't let us or me leave the press tank. For a good reason. We wanted to make that day count as much as possible and be as big for our career as possible. So we put in the fucking work, man. Yeah, you guys, you guys put in the work.

It's funny, like you just said that, I was just literally just thinking that is, like, sometimes when you get somewhere, you feel like you don't belong there. Like, you know, did I earn this? But then you forget about your whole fucking life of sacrifice and doing what you did and everything you've been. through your whole life getting into that moment you forget about all that stuff when you think about like oh have i earned this you forget about all that shit you went through you know it's just funny how it just it just it just happens you know yeah and you still feel like in the beginning you still feel like small because you're like all these bands are you know they have huge records and and we we we we don't like do we do we deserve to be here but then

you know as time goes on you you get bigger people know you you feel you feel more at home with the situation but that very first time it was like it was it was different it was fun i i wouldn't trade it for anything that's for sure yeah that was that was nuts man you guys uh it's funny i should take my own advice but it's it's like yeah you like you earn that spot and you and you deserve to be You're like you're there for a reason, you know? Yeah. It's just, yeah, I go, I go to that same thing. I'm like, why I'm my in this room?

Why? I don't fucking deserve to be here. You fucking suck. You know, it's like, you, oh, God, it's so, pissing me off. The, the human brain is, oh, God. But, yeah, I mean, you got, you guys fucking earned it, dude. And then that was obviously, when you're doing the, the press,

after shock, that was the second show. And then, like, you know, I saw you. talking to to Monkey. Actually, I have a quick story how I got on that stage. So if you play the second stage, you weren't allowed on the main stage.

I found a loophole how to get on the main. The moment I'm walking up, because you always try it. You told me your wristband, they're like, no. I've been there. You got to walk up with a group of people that were walking up.

I did. And guess who I walked up with? Who? Nate and Nick and Nate Diaz. Oh, well, yeah. The moment I'm walking up there, I see their crew walk up. First of all, I'm like, holy shit, it's fucking Nate Diaz and Nick Diaz. Oh, my fucking God.

I've pretended I was in their crew. I was like just, literally. It was like a small, like little entourage, but it was small enough and big enough to where I could kind of creep in there. You're like, I can be a Diaz for a day. I'll pass. Oh, my God. I was shooting my pants. first of all because they were in front of me

I'm already shit in my pants I'm trying to sneak in trying to act like I'm cool you know so I'm like hopefully the security guard that's thinking I'm a fucking dork hopefully they don't know the real me Mike has a fucking picture from that day of him like squaring off

with Nate Diaz so sick yeah man and then that's first time I I saw you and I was like damn I got to fucking meet that guy. And then monkey at the end of the night

fucking broke that guitar and pulls me out of stage and gives me a broken guitar and I'm... I'd never been on the center of the court stage. I'd been on stage

with corn five stage a bunch of times. But like to walk out on the stage set and you're right in in front of like Jonathan's Mike Stan the bitch and there's 30,000 screaming corn fans in front of you? That's a big fucking deal.

It was sick, man. What a moment? I was like, damn, what's happening? It was sick. I think everybody was like what's happening. I know my band was like, they had that reaction, our management, had that reaction.

everybody were like, what the fuck is happening right now? And like, some people, a couple of people knew that something was going to happen, but they didn't know the extent of it. I don't think anybody did. That moment was completely organic because I remember monkey walked that stage and apparently the entire band of corn. They were like, jaws on the floor, like, just couldn't believe that just happened. And he said all those things.

And Monkey himself was like, I don't even remember what I said. It just happened. That's fucking sick. It was super real and super organic. And, you know, really shows the connection that him and I have. and it was super special. Still have that broken guitar. Wish I could play it, but hey.

No, it's way cool. It ain't up broken. It's sick. It's way sicker, dude. Yeah, he wasn't supposed to break it initially. He finally told me. He goes, I wasn't supposed to break it. It just, I got carried away.

That makes you even cooler, man. I got in the moment and shit just happened. Dude, even the way he broke it was fucking cool. Damn. It's like, damn, what the fuck's you doing? Yeah, because, like, how many times we've seen him break guitars? Like, never?

Yeah. I've seen over 150 corn show. I've never seen that guy break anything. Yeah. Super fucking dope, man. And, like, he did it over, like, he went overboard with him. Like he went over the top of the head.

I know, I never seen that have you before my damn. Even you find a cool way to do it, man. Like fucking Pete Townsend style. He would, man. Special guy, man. God. It's like he even found a cool way to fucking break a guitar, man. Jeez, you would.

So sick. It's weird how that night, like, yeah, it kind of, it was the beginnings of a friendship that I'm glad that I have with you, you know? Yeah, man. definitely um i know we connected when we finally connected it was like i i remember walking away after the first the first show that you came to and we hung out afterwards i was like man you ever meet somebody you feel like you've known me your entire life and that's like the connection i i have with you to this day and it's that's just a really weird feeling yeah it's weird huh

It kind of, it's weird. Like, I don't know. I honestly don't know how to connect in other than corn, you know, corn. Plus, there's also like this, this very obsessive mindset that very few people have. Very few people have. And I know a lot of fucking bands, dude. I shoot a lot of buses with dudes worldwide, dude. That mindset is extremely rare.

And that's something that I personally, like connect with like someone who just has that that that mindset that driven obsessive drive dude i love i i i live for it dude so if i could have i have i have access to you i could text you called and hang out and get that like get that feedback and thing you know yeah yeah it's an exchange of energy yeah and it kind of like it revitalizes me and i'm sure it does the same for you it goes both ways man and um i know you come over and like You helped me a lot after we met as far as my guitar playing, and you really helped me get tighter and clean up my rhythm technique and get heavier.

And, you know, you were able to teach me things in a way that I don't think any other person, guitar instructor, has been able to communicate. Because, like, we're people. part of a group of rhythm guitar players that are completely our own thing. We're on orthodox in a sense. So it's kind of like only us understands

our breed. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's a different language dude. It's a different language. When you have someone that's more of a lead player try to teach you something, you know, I deal with it. It's like it's like someone's saying another language to you. you and them expecting you to get it, you know? Yeah, because you and I come from the mindset of, like, you know, we like guys like Monkey and Kirkobain, and those two guys, especially, have always done things rhythmically that were different,

and they thought about the guitar in a totally different mindset. And because of me and my disability, and the functionality of my friending hand, I had to take that approach, and that's why those guys are definitely at the forefront for me as far as, like, influence, because those guys gave me, like, the faith that I could go and make it my own thing.

Yeah, dude. It seems they did that for both of us. that someone, when you see someone, like, show you as possible. So, oh, you, you, you, you play some, some pretty rhythm style, risk or different, but yet it connects with people. Oh, shit. Oh, something as simple as like, and it teaches you subconscious shit. Oh, you know, play, play, play, play from the heart, play differently, think differently. All of these little things you kind of take in, like, subconsciously, you know? Yeah. And just to have a band like that kind of show you as possible, it gives you, like, another roadmap. That's completely different than work.

like you're hearing from like you know like a teacher or like peer bands you know it's like it's a different it's a different lifestyle man it's a different language a mindset totally like like Hendricks so you shoot

though he's considered like the great one of the greatest lead players like I think he completely just always looked at the guitar like not from a musical standpoint but what he was able to do

with it was to make beautiful tunes with it, but he did it in his own way. His own way. And there's very few guys like that that can sit there and say there are no rules. It's only your ears.

Yeah, and unfortunately, yeah, I mean, you, I know that you know that. It's just like rhythm players, they don't get a bad of rap. It's just not like a publicly not a respect or talk about way of playing but yet yet like you could tell

a shredder hey write a simple riff that makes 10,000 people fucking move they can't do it you can't fucking do it man yeah but but does that mean that we're better than them?

No it's just a different style a different way of doing things but like but if you and me play next to a shredder the people are going to be like oh those those guys suck those those just

It's just the way it is. And like that guy, that guy over there with like the really long hair and the fucking solo is in the wall. Like, he's the cool guy. It's just, this thing, but it kind of like, but it, that is positive. It gives you that extra fire, you know? It gives you that fucking thing. Yeah.

Yeah, man. For me, it's always been about, like, making people move. And I take, you know, corn to this day, they say it. They just want to make music that makes the crowd move. They took that from rage against the machine, and I take that from them, and Pantera, it's like we want to just make rhythms that make people want to bob their head, and we want to see the crowd move.

And it's different now than it was 15 years ago. Sure. Like, people don't really mosh anymore. So that's a different kind of vibe. And we've always kind of written music to, like, we want to see people move. I mean, I remember seeing Pantera when I was, like, 16, and the entire floor was a pit. So as a guitar player, you want to make that happen. At least, at least for me, that's what it's always kind of been about.

is like write songs that make people move and then focus on the quality of the song. Like the song structure and how the song is laid out. Write good songs. You know, people talk about Pantera and they say, oh, well, why does Pantera still have, like, the reputation they do 16 years later?

everybody holds Santa up to this bar and it's because they wrote good songs that good songs man that just resonate the songs had good structure they were laid out good but you can you can sing most of them like they wrote meaningful

songs that's what people want to hear they want to hear good songs and they want to move yeah I do I totally agree and that seems to be like there's something that's lacking, especially in like the metal scene where, you know, my, it happens to my band, you know, a lot where they'll talk about like a new sick band. I'll hear it. I'm like, and I forgot every riff the moment I turned that shit off.

Dude, it's so sick. I'm right. And I'll say, all right, well, I'm not rip back to me. Then, you know, someone gets kind of offended. I'm like, well, again, like, I'm not better than that guy or no band's better than each one. But, like, just that, since when did they get, like, not cool to write a, it's a good song that just gets people moving that you could hum the rip

you could hum the rift back and like what like what happened to that and it kind of explains why metal isn't like a weird spot where people are just kind of do and like all right like but then the thing is it won't it doesn't resonate it doesn't have it doesn't fucking grab you from

from the core of your fucking heart and then like in your bone is fucking keep you there fucking 20 years later 40 years later and these songs that last forever yeah what happened to that simple riff that just resonates, dude. It's all about, like, how fast can you play? Oh, it's so sick.

Oh, it sounds so perfect. But yet, nothing is resonating. Blah. All that fucking super fast, steady bullshit. It all blends together. Yes, mind you, as a hip player, you are talented.

But it's fucking meaningless. Like, unless you fucking Steve by and you can put emotion behind it or, or diamond. bag where you have feeling and you have emotion

behind it, it's just fucking mindless Shred. I know. It all blinks together after a while. And people are going to hate better stuff, but I don't care. No, that's fine. It's funny. And we will openly say that

we suck is fine, but, you know, at least we just have a different mindset. You know, it's like writing a simple riff. But you know what? There is guys like dying back that They are that exception where I call them bilingual guitar players. They can speak both languages. That's a rare fucking guy, man.

You could play sick-ass rhythms, but do these crazy fucking leads and it, like, stick with me. And it had melody, though. Dude, that's so insane. His leaves had... Excuse me. His leaves had melody that meant something that, like, it would come back. It stuck in your head. Like, when you just...

When you're just playing so fast to play that fast and it doesn't, your progressives don't read to anything other than a bunch of tapping notes. It's just a bunch tapping notes. It doesn't, there isn't like a melody there. There isn't a pattern. There isn't anything that people can hold on to. You know, it's like, Pink Floyd to me, like one of the best bands in the world.

And David Gilmore, in my opinion, is one of the best lead guitar players ever. But he can do more in four notes than like most of these shredders can do with a hundred. Oh, yeah. It's weird that I was showing just like, would just hold a note? And it was like, whoa. And then it just sucks you in.

And then after a year or two will pass you, you go back to that song or 10 years will pass. you know, like a David Gilmore, Pink Floyd, or Hennock, you keep going back to you that's like, why is it when they do a lead that just brings you back? You know? It's like they just access something and play from somewhere so deep in like another like dimension. That is a hard thing to do. That's something that a lot of guitar players will not admit that they don't have access to.

I may suck, but my, one of my core strengths is I could go deep. and that's like I can make a couple notes sound or resonate with someone then you play it live, you record it and it resonates with people you know it's like you know where to go and that's and that is a different style of playing it's not better or worse with you know a shredder I don't think I don't think I'm better

but it's a different style of playing you know oh yeah completely and it's like yeah a lot of people we suck as we've been players right but you know like it's a different approach and whether you're a league player or a rhythm player the truth is people want to have emotional connections

to your songs and you get that like writing a good song will invoke an emotional connection with your listener that's what you want to do and that's what I feel like a lot of bands lack. A lot of new bands, there's not a lot of new bands

that I'm, like, really into. Like, I think the newest band, uh, I like Techirk a lot. They're good people and I think they're doing something special. And, like, Polythia. And those guys that I feel like

are doing, like, uh, you know, something that, Steve I did for guitar but they're taking it and they're putting their own spin on it

yeah there's always gonna be someone that comes out or just does something sick you know it's just always going to be a rare a rare fucking thing we'll be I don't want to keep you

for for too long this was a great combo that we're at definitely over an hour hell yeah man that that shit flew by man it was uh it was definitely

a good time. We just kind of got into it and, you know, let it kind of go where it went. It's good. Let it go, man. We could talk for hours about shit. I was hoping, like, we didn't talk about corn so much, but it happens. It's all good, man.

I mean, we fucking love them, dude. We love them. I'm super excited for, you know, a record they got coming out sometime soon. And then I'm super excited for Brian and has a new record

for Love and Death coming out like in a week so I'm super excited for him and the whole corn camp across to us

so we'll see you yeah hey I think yeah I think Brian has yeah so they have he has a new

a record coming out right yeah so check out love love and death and they have they're doing a live stream

I saw that right oh yeah the live stream show but my Live stream show, something,

love and death beeps.com. I would check it out yet, but I guess take it to like 15 books. Sick. I can tell you, like, love and death to me, like, they kick

ass. Very heavy as shit. That is sick, and hopefully, I think this episode's going to come out before. So yeah, it's definitely worth with the push. Well, we'll be, where can people find you? Where can people find the ban? The, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, the, uh,

the documentary, now is the time. You know, I guess we never really talk about what we have coming up for the band, so I'm going to throw it down. Let us do it, now. Now's the time, man. In two minutes, so you can get everything for the menhole experiment at the menhawelexperiment.com.

We have a brand-new merch store underneath the version of the tab. You asked me how I came out of my funk. That's kind of how I came out of my funk. I took the business side of TMX and completely redesigned it. We built a merch store. We brought all kinds of

merchandise to people. So, menholexperiment.com. We've got a new record in the works. It will be out this year. It's going to be entitled against all odds. And don't know what label it's going to be on, but it's going to be on somewhere. Before the end of 2021,

and going to be produced by Chris Collier who has worked with our friends and heroes in corn, obviously. So, excited for that. We start recording the middle of March. So, yeah. Cool. What about the doc? The documentary is now streaming live worldwide

on Amazon Prime. So if you have Amazon Prime, We just dial it up, man. It's on the super blessed to have that connection. And if you haven't seen it, you want to watch it again, go for it. Again, the documentary is called Mind Over Matter. It's fucking heavy, dude. And if you want to go to the website, it's Mind Over Matterfilm.com.

Thanks to everybody, Samaria Records, for making my shit happen. That's dope. And thanks for everybody. for you and everybody else for supporting us, putting us on like you guys have done for us. It's been awesome.

We'll be, thank you for your friendship and thank you for your ear. I need that, man. Likewise, brother. All right, guys. That's it. Later.

Cool.