Garza Podcast - 229 - JAY WEINBERG: Drumming for Slipknot, Madball, New Band & Hip Surgery Recovery

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Garza sits down in-person with drummer, painter & songwriter Jay Weinberg. Best known as the former drummer of Slipknot, Madball, Against Me! Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band & the list goes on. Debut singles “Drone Operator / Sandstone” out now! https://instagram.com/jayweinbergSPONSORS: DistroKid - https://distrokid.com00:00 - Theme Parks04:39 - Early Shows08:29 - Musical Roots12:35 - Voodoo Child14:29 - Impact of Classical Music16:29 - First Concert & The Who18:47 - Hockey20:50 - Deciding to Pursue Music23:53 - Goalies & Drummers27:06 - Getting Into Drums29:59 - Advice for Drummers32:25 - CBGBs & H2033:47 - The Bouncing Souls44:30 - First Band // Sadie Mae46:37 - Playing w/ Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band54:00 - What Bruce Springsteen Taught Jay57:49 - Joining Madball & Recording Empire1:17:31 - New Music w/ Fuming Mouth, Deafheaven & Code Orange1:25:39 - Kurt Ballou1:27:58 - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard1:33:34 - New Band Portraits of an Apparition1:36:48 - Against Me!1:48:34 - Slipknot, Pressure & Regrets2:12:43 - Marriage2:20:11 - Art Galleries2:22:13 - Hip Surgery2:32:04 - LASIK2:35:35 - Punk Rock Museum2:37:59 - 3 Albums to Check Out

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And now let's get to the podcast. Do you know Epic Universe? Epic Universe. Never heard of it. It's the new Universal Studios Park in Florida. And they have a whole, they have a whole park dedicated to classic Universal Monsters. So like Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, Dracula, the Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, all that. It's like an entire theme park dedicated to that. And there's a bunch of other things.

There's a Super Nintendo world with a Donkey Kong country and a whole, like, it's like, it's totally insane. But that was like our last theme park thing that we did with friends. You're in there. Yeah, we're kind of in it. We're kind of in it. But we're kind of in it. It's cool. We got to go back.

We're going to Disney today. All right. It's so close to, dude. But it's one of those places where the price keeps going up and nobody cares. I know. We're going to pay it. I'm still going to pay it. Yeah, because, you know, you want to have fun.

You want to have fun. That's the price for fun. Especially if you have a date, you know. It's a good date. Yeah, I think depending on how game your date is for like, you know, for like what's their speed. Are they a space mountain person? Are they more of a teacups person or something? You don't know.

You don't know. They're like different levels to, to the ride. You'll find out. Oh, yeah. You'll find out if this is your soulmate. Yeah, totally. Jay Bradley Weinberg. That's right.

Yeah. Has anyone ever introduced you with your full name? That's probably the first. Okay, cool. Off to a great start. We are. And I'm not sure. I don't know why, but I thought you were my age.

I thought you already hit 40s. I'm like, oh, he was born September 8th, 1990. Oh, so he's 35? 35. I don't know why. I thought you were in your 40s. Yeah, man. Rock and roll ages you.

It does. It does. Ages you fast, but you just don't fucking care. No. I know. No. I think it's maybe because I thought that is because the amount you accomplished in such a short amount of time, maybe I just equated that to.

Oh, he's, he has to be like 43 or 45. I sure feel it. Well, thanks. You know, I've just remained busy, I think. It's kind of like that's when I'm much like you, I'm sure, like once you picked up that thing, it's kind of like, it's over. It's all you think about. It's all you do.

It's done. That's your thing. It's the thing I enjoy the most in my life. And so it's like, why not try to fill all your time with that, you know? So, so yeah. But I haven't really, I haven't really thought of it like that. But I think I'll take that as a compliment. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Because for us, we're just, it's just like a singular obsessive focused. And you don't even know what you're doing because you're so, it's just like, boom. And then before you know it, we're the past. decade ago. Where, uh, what are my two decades ago. Yeah, what do my teens go, man? Yeah, it's crazy, you know? Yeah, but, but, you know, we find like, we find our community, we find our people. And it's like, it's weird. I'm sure you can't conceive of your life without, you know, without this.

Absolutely not. Yeah. I was, I was smoking a cigar real, real quick out here, I have a little patio. And, uh, we're in Santa Ana. So there's a lot of homeless people tend to walk on our street. And I'm like, I was looking. It was like, 7 p.m. trying to clear the days over, trying to clear it clear mind. I was looking. I'm like, where would I be if I didn't find this instrument and the band?

I might have, would I be that? Would I turn into some crazy person? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, you know, when you have the, whatever, the butterfly effect of life, you know, and like if things were different, they would not be the same, you know? And so, but how lucky are we

that we, we did? We did find that. And like, when did you start? Like, I started playing drums when I was like 14. 14, right? 14, yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, I started playing like 12.

Okay. And I tried to walk away from it many times. I always said it. I tried, but it is, it is just, I don't know, it just comes back. I'm like, oh, I can't. I'm going to see this through probably until the grave. That kind of, that was kind of guitar for me as well. Like, guitar was my first instrument when I was nine.

Um, and bass rap where you're like, oh, shit, shit sucks. Yeah. Well, uh, my, my experience with it, like, I, I, I picked it up and then the natural thing was like, I'll go take lessons to, like, figure out what I'm doing here. Meanwhile, like, I had my own interest in what I wanted to do. I wanted to, you know, play Blinquin 82 songs and stuff. And I wanted to learn, like, the things that I loved, I wanted to get right to that. Uh, and then when I'm kind of, like, struggling with scales and stuff, it made it, like, school after. school and so I kind of lost interest and I'm nine years old. Yeah. So I kind of put it away, came to base and was like, I'll pick this up, see what I can do, kind of a similar experience. Like I had interest, but then developing my faculty on it, it was just like, ah, you know, this feels more like school work. And so I just kind of put that to the side. And then it was when I was 14 that I started to really discover what I loved about like this music that we all find and like it on, It took me, I remember clearly, I, uh, I guess it took like a couple years to think about it and like have it percolated my mind.

Um, I went to go see the band The Used. My first club show ever, it was, uh, my chemical romance opening for the Used at Irving Plaza in New York. Okay. And, uh, and I saw a guy who's become, you know, one of my best friends ever since then, uh, Brandon Steinecker. He was the drummer in the youth, founding drummer of the Youth. And seeing him and the ferocity and intensity and love for, what he was doing, that's like what clicked for me. For like whatever this guy is doing, that's like, I want to do that.

Yeah. And so that's where it started to click for me for drums, for this particular kind of music that I was starting to gravitate towards and find out about, do my research on. Yeah. And that's where that clicked for me. Like then 14 found a senior in high school who was like the other metal head in my school. Yeah, I say, hey, do you tell them, hey, my dream is to play chubbies. That was it.

That was it. Yeah, yeah. There was this like little... We're trying to find the place. Is it still around Chubbies or no? It's something else. I don't know what it's called now. It's something else.

That part of town has changed quite a bit. Was it on Main Street or... It was West Front Street in Red Bank, New Jersey. We were trying to find it, but couldn't find it, man. Yeah, no. So it was at the corner of West Front Street and Main Street in Red Bank. And across the street, there was actually an Internet Cafe that used to have, like, hardcore and early metalcore shows. with like people like literally people using computers for like you know they don't have a home computer so they're there just like doing their work or something and they have a kid like stage diving off of a table next to them because the stage is the floor and stuff and so that was like hugely impactful for myself and there are a couple people from that like particular era maybe like early mid 2000s 2003 2005 who I still run into like they're still doing music and

still doing things and we talk about like internet cafe shows and how those were so important for me but across the street was a club called chubbies and i'd seen a friend's older brother play there and it like blew my mind yeah and that was like i will one day play chubbies that was like my only goal when i was 14 wow and then straight from chubbies to giant stadium yeah yeah and hey jay i really want to uh i really want to take it back because uh i learned a lot about you in a in 24 hours Crash course. Yes. And I was like, you have a very long bloodline of, of a music.

Like your, like your mom's father was a pianist, correct? And he also was an physicist that taught at a university, correct? That's correct. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, he taught at Momuth University. He was in Signal Corps in World War II. And I heard you say that.

What does that mean? So he, during World War II, he was. stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. And that's where my mom... He was stationed on the U.S. base in Heidelberg, which is actually common. Former bandmate of mine from against me. He also grew up on this same army base that... He lived there for a period of time, the same army base where my mom was born.

So my mom was an army brat. Yeah, my mom was an army brat. Grew up in Heidelberg, Germany for the first five years of her life while her dad was stationed over there. Wow. This is, you know, post-World War II. too. But at the time, the technology was such that you, I don't know specifically. I'd actually like to know. This is reminding me that I should talk to my mom about, like, what did my grandpa?

Because I never met my grandpa. But I've heard through stories, the similarities that, like, that we share, you know, like, so he was both a physicist. After they, after they moved back to New Jersey from Germany, and my mom moved to the states for the first time, they were stationed at Fort Mammoth in New Jersey, which is in Eaton Town, New Jersey, which actually is kind of interesting, just in the last couple years, they have completely demolished Fort Mammoth

the way that it was when my mom grew up there, because the technology is obsolete. You don't need, you know, I think you're kind of dealing with like satellite communication and early primitive, you know, at least for in the 50s, you know, the advanced satellite technology or communications technology. That was like his specialty. That was what he was, he focused on communications and signal flow in, you know, in war time. So this is crazy.

So they moved back to Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, but now recently the technology has just been rendered completely obsolete. They don't use it anymore. Okay. So they demolish the entire fort. now it's becoming this, oh yeah, you got it right here. It's becoming the new Netflix campus,

where it's basically going to be like what Burbank is out here. It's going to be all studios. There you go. Netflix at Four Monmouth. So it's, it's been a long thing between Netflix and the state of New Jersey

where they're going to design this huge production facility. And it's going to be the new Southern California. Pretty much. Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, so anyway, so that's where my mom grew up, and he was a professor at, uh, at Monmouth University,

but he, so he was simultaneously a physicist, but he also had an interest in the arts, and he was a classically trained pianist. So you've got kind of your classic, both sides of the brain working there, your math guy and your art guy. Two different brains, doing one. Yeah, and so I think as like, as I started to, you know,

I think like the subjects I gravitated the most in, know, in my younger years, like in school, like I did well in math class, but I also liked punk bands and stuff and all this. So like both of those things were kind of coexisting maybe without me really knowing it. But that's how I was told, like, you kind of share this with your grandfather. Like that was how your grandfather thought about, you know, science and art, math and music, stuff like that. Wow. And then it was probably your grandfather that showed your mom classical, like, you know, Beethoven, Mozart. And then, uh, it's this. So I'm not sure this is true. I'm going to, this might bomb or my,

or my, or my hit, I don't know. Uh, so, so music started for you, even you were coming out of the life canal and during voodoo child. Is this, it's true? I was born to voodoo child by Jimi Hendrix. How? Well, I, I should clarify. Can you play music with someone's being born? Do you? Yeah. I mean, if you're, if, if, if you're wanting that is like you're, you know, I mean, I'm, I'm expecting my first child in a month. So I think we'll probably you know, I'll ask my wife, but like she'll probably want, you know, music to enter this, you know, this, this moment that divides your life into two distinct halves before you've had a child and after you've had a child. Voodoo child could either mean you're going to be successful or this, this kid's going to be a voodoo child. So I heard, so the way I've heard it, obviously I don't really have memory of the moment. But, but, but Voodoo Child started playing and my mom was like, no, no, no, no, no. He can't be born.

to voodoo child she had it switched to Pavarotti or something but I like the aspect that like as I was entering into this world it was I like that idea that's my entrance song I didn't realize that that's it that's an entrance song literally you're coming out

out of the life canal and you're voodoo children yeah I didn't realize that you could play music when when someone's being born you can do whatever you want man I mean within reason but like you can do whatever you want I want to have a show Well, let's consider safety.

Let's consider the sterile environment. It's got to be sterile. You know, I don't know what band I would want to be played. Like, I don't know what band I would want playing while I'm born. I mean, to be born like if Slayer is playing or something like that, that would be pretty hard. 90, yes, Slayer could, Slater be playing. Maybe. Maybe.

Yeah. But yeah, yeah, that was, that is accurate. Okay, cool. I was curious. Is this like a rumor? Factual. Okay, cool. So from literally birth to five years old, your mom pretty much continued and you were just jamming classical music. Yeah. You know, to give the context of like my family, like my dad with the East Street band, they had broken up or at least, you know, taking their long hiatus before I was born in 1988 or 89.

Okay. So rock music in that sense wasn't really like that wasn't the main charge in our household in a way. It was that it was like classical music. That was pretty much like everything that was played in our house until I was like five years old. So and what I found interesting about that is there have been studies on like the brain patterns of, classical musicians and like metal musicians. And the ways that, you know, we think in like layers and dynamics and complex dynamics and all this, like, that all is like the same kind of way of thinking about music as they

did when they were, you know, creating classical compositions. Yeah, well, there have been like these studies that it's like they study people's brain patterns and stuff like that and they find that there, yeah, there you go. Yeah. Paul Stanley and Beethoven right there. Um, so, uh, I thought it would be the, uh, the opposite, but I guess, I, I mean, I, I guess it's like something in the complexity about it and that it's like, whatever that is, like the thing that we find, like, I think, you know, in, in, in the heavier styles of things, I think we find like comfort or a charge or, or fulfillment or something in what we're creating in that aspect. And that takes from like the heaviness of it, the complexity of it. the, you know, this, that the other. I think there are similar things that at the time, you could relate that to classical music. But yeah, but then in 95, so this obviously kind of jumps around a little while, like the Conan O'Brien show had been, in its infancy, it'd only

been around for a couple years at this point, but Pete Townsend of the Who was going to be a guest on the Conan Show to speak about this tour that the Who were going to do, celebrating the album Quadrophenia. I don't know if it was like an anniversary. That was your first show, right? That was my first show. But the thing was, was like, I had no context of it. I had never heard the Who. I didn't, all I knew was like

Beethoven and Mozart and all this stuff. That was like really all I knew. So when... A big child. Yeah, I had Voodoo Child. But so when Pete Townsend was on the Conan show and my dad had this thought of like, oh, we got to bring the kids to see

Pete Townsend and go see the Who. And my mom's like, well, they won't care who that is because they don't know. Like, we have to start showing them like that stuff. So then that started kind of the hand-me-downs they received of like the Who Quadrophinaia was probably, probably to this day, still one of the biggest albums in my life. And then, you know, that record. Oh, dude, it's unbelievable. Have you read his book?

Pete Townsend's, no. Yeah, it's sick. I have to. Yeah, he talks about that record. It is an incredible record. And Keith Moon, obviously, being a huge influence then, like, right off the bat. The first drummer I'm really absorbing is Keith Moon, you know, and like the, just the wild nature of that, I think, set me up for like, that's what I love. I love this guy.

When did Keith Moon pass away? Oh, I actually have no idea. I think before I... I want to get this time. Yeah, 78. I was like, yeah, quite a long time before. So then when did this record come out? Oh, gosh.

That's a good question. That's something I should know. 73. Okay. Okay. So then it was like the stones, the Beatles, the band, Bob Dylan, you know, that was like kind of before I started finding out my music, you know, that I would discover on my own. My music. Yeah. Yeah.

Fuck you. That was like kind of the steady diet of what I was listening to and becoming obsessed about and developing an obsessive nature about music. Nice. And then so you found the who, you see the who. and then you find soccer. Yeah, yeah, soccer was like, you know. Which will eventually that, did that lead you into hockey? In a way in that, like, I didn't take to soccer, you know, like, not like viscerally.

I took to hockey because I probably started playing soccer around like six years old, seven years old. And then when I went to my first hockey game, that was just like, I think there's something to it. I never really thought about it in these terms, but like, you know, the intensity and aggression and violence of it. See, soccer's intense, dude. Oh, I'm talking about hockey.

Oh, hockey. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, oh, man, soccer is intense. And I find, like, because even today, I can, like, you know, be somewhere and it's on TV or something. There's Jay, when he's 10 years old. Yeah, right. Yep. I'm finding somebody. Yeah, yeah. That's where I took my inspiration.

But, um, like, when you, when you watch soccer up close, my wife and I went to a game, and it is so incredibly fast. Because the playing field is so insanely huge. And so, I mean, I'm very, like, in awe of that. But it was hockey that really gripped me at first. It's so fast pace. It's so gnarly.

It can change on a dime. You know, the balance of the game can change super quickly. I think I liked, like, the drama of that, you know? And so that was, like, it for me. And music wasn't even a, it wasn't. wasn't even on my radar for like something I'm going to be a participant in you know like I said I dabbled with guitar kind of liked it but then fell out of love with it and like hockey was like that was what was like consumed you know this is my life yeah I'm gonna be goalie until I'm dead

that's right yeah yeah and then you know discovering music like in the ways that we do in our early teens or preteens or whatever then that sort of like hooked me with an even stronger interest and For a couple years, I kind of had to You were at a crossroads, right? I had to weigh in your freshman or sophomore, you're at your crossroads. That's right. Yeah, I had to decide, like, which do I want to do?

Like, I started a band in high school. I found one other guy that liked metal music in my high school, and he was a senior. I was a freshman. And he was on the wrestling team. He was like this big dude. And he had a guitar chain that was a, it was a tire chain. Or no, he had a guitar strap that was a tire chain.

A tire chain. What was a tire chain? You know, like when you're, like, when you're in the mountains and you're like, I mean, maybe not us, but like people who do that. Oh, okay. You know, yeah. That was like exactly his guitar. Oh, yeah, dude. So, so like he comes over and we, you know, we like the same.

We like the same bands and stuff. And so we, you know, he starts coming over. We start jamming. We put together a band. And now I'm like, okay, this is like, this is what I want to do. So I had to weigh both in my mind. And then I was just like, you know what? It's a tough decision, dude.

This visceral connection I'm feeling to this music is like, it's too much for me to ignore. And I have to just abandon everything else in my life to just do this. It's such a like, was that kind of your experience? Oh, yeah, dude. I was, I don't know how I think back at it, Jay. I'm like, wow, it might have been the same age because I love golf. I stole golf in my spare time. Sure.

And then I was probably around, then I think about it. I haven't thought about this ever. It might have been around six where I first got into golf. Or maybe like around there. And I wanted to be Tiger Woods. Yeah. I was like, I want to be Tiger Woods. And then I tried out for-

Tiger Woods back then. Maybe not Tiger Woods these days. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, I want to say early. Like, yo, I want to flip my car. Yeah. Pre-pills, Tiger Woods, Masters, fucking killing it.

And then, oh gosh, you don't need that. And then he's 50. I mean, he was the goat. So I tried out for the golf team. Okay. And freshman year in high school, one of the, I was obviously the only metal guy on the golf team. and then a coach would make it kind of like

snarky comments and then during the tryout we're actually on the course I kind of not like a conscious choice but I just didn't something I didn't put my soul into my swing

I stopped for first time of my life I'm putting my soul into when I'm driving when I'm putting all that I kind of floated on purpose I didn't like the scene I liked the people and then that's when that was that was my crossroads

And after the tryout, I'm like, I'm out. And then it was guitar. Mine was very similar. Yeah, yeah. Mine was very, very similar. I noticed that, like, because I started playing drums and I would, I would bring my drumsticks to the rink. Oh, yeah.

And I would, as a goalie, I would always get to the rink, like, really early and just, like, have my time and put on my pads and stuff. And to kill the time while the rest of the team was getting ready, I'd be drumming on my pads. And that's when I kind of noticed. I was like, I think I know what my bigger passion is here. So, yeah, so very similar. Yeah, you were bringing it to the ice. Bringing it to the ice. Bringing the heat to the ice.

Oh, yeah. Is there like a, I mean, is there like a parallel between being a goalie and drumming at all? Oh, like a million percent. Absolutely. And in fact, I know I play hockey with like with other guys in bands and stuff. And many guys are drummers who are goalies. Really? Yeah, and it's interesting because I've, and I've met goalies.

who play in the NHL who at least have a knowledge, like a deep knowledge of drums, or they are drummers themselves. And in particular, like, heavy metal drummers. There's something specific about it. Yeah, like, so a guy named Tuka Rask. He was a goalie for the Boston Bruins for the longest time. And he's, like, huge Metallica fan. And it was for his either, I think it was one of his,

he had crossed the threshold of, like, I don't know if it was a thousand games, but it was like a milestone in his career. Yeah. And the team gifted him a replica of Lars Ulrich's drum set at the time. And it was like he, you can see him. It's like all set up at the rank and stuff. And he's like, yeah, look at him. He's like all stoked.

Oh, that's cool, man. Wow. And so, you know, 500 games. Look at it. It's on the ice. I didn't know they brought it on the ice. Oh my God. That's awesome.

Imagine being a goalie and you're five in the game. They bring out a fucking drum set. That's it. Yeah. That's the kit. That's the kit. So look at that. So that's the goalie of the Boston Bruins.

And so that's just like the greatest example of how there is something. And I've looked at it as like as a goalie, you are the last line of defense. Often the first person that gets their finger pointed out if something goes wrong. You know, it's just like the position. It's a high pressure, high intensity, high reward and high satisfaction kind of position. And I often equated it like, I look. loved the satisfaction of like when I would get up the slap shot to my chest and I'd feel like I made the save like I did the thing you know very similarly drums kind of felt that same way for me where I'm like I'm delivering the impact I'm you know like I love that high intensity kind of thing and so I craved it when I was a hockey player I crave it as a drummer like having that physical experience and so I think there is something and also and you can probably attest to this is like goalie is usually a the weirdest guy on the team.

Drummer is usually like the weirdest guy in the band. I'm glad you, I'm glad you addressed the first elephant in the room. I kind of wait until it's like a natural. Okay, sure. Drummers. Yeah, what's with us?

I don't know, man. Drummers, but, but you need, you need a drummer. Yeah. My drummers. Can't live with them, can't live without him. Yeah. But there's, but I still love him. Yeah, man.

I still fucking love him. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, like anybody, like you would say to a goalie, like, you know, what's wrong with you, man? You've got these 100 mile an hour, you know, slap shots coming, whizzing by your head and stuff, yet you love this. It's like there is something about the, you know, the love for it.

And at a certain point, there is a, you know, words escape us with how to define why it is. We gravitate towards that. I think, you know, I had a predisposition, even though it wasn't like I had a motivation or even like I was pressured to follow in my father's footsteps. Like he never suggested like, never. Like, what about playing drums and stuff? Like, it was never even a conversation.

Wow. It was just like, it was a natural thing that I think as I started falling in love with punk rock and hardcore and heavy metal and stuff, I started to notice like the hard work and the intensity of the bands that I loved. And I would see it. Then, you know, my dad is an active musician. And when Bruce got the East Street band back together, I'm seeing them play shows.

And I'm observing the same thing, like, with my family and the people around my family. And, like, that was what kind of hooked me where I was just kind of like, this is where you can apply so much of your energy and, you know, your interests and trying to create something out of nothing and work hard at it and do it well and all this kind of stuff. Like, that's where that kind of hooked me. But it wasn't, like, an active conversation that we ever had. Um, you know, my dad. Yeah, yeah.

I think, you know, supportive in the way of like, hey, whatever your interest is, like, he was supportive of my hockey interest just as, just as much. And he was just like, okay, if that's your thing, like, yeah, like do it and, and practice it and do it, you know, to the best of your ability. Just like, you'd hope any, you know, parent would be. Yeah. And then when it switched to drums, there was a moment where, where when I started developing, like, you know, I really want to, I really want to go for this.

I really want to, you know, starting a band in high school and all these things that we do. 14? When I was 14, maybe 15 at this point. And it was a conversation we had of, he was like, you know, I could give you lessons or we could, you know, get you lessons at the, there's a drum store in Red Bank near Chubbies called Drummers Alley. And that's where, you know, they gave lessons and stuff. He's like, you could take lessons over there. And I was like, you know what? Like hell.

Well, I was like, I don't want to have happened. what happened with me with guitar and with bass, which I, you know, I gravitated towards since, you know, like my primary writing instruments are guitar and bass and stuff. But, um, but my, I was like, I don't, I want to find out what I love about this just for the love of it. And I don't, um, I don't want to fall, I don't want to fall out of love with it like I did with guitar and bass when I was younger.

And so that meant me figuring out how to play along to my Ramon's records. And then, you know, little bit I would I would feel accomplished that I could do that and then move on to something a little harder you know my Metallica records my my Slayer records my slip knot records stuff like that okay um yeah and so that's where that all started to take shape and then once you get the mechanics of it then it's like okay I want to like make stuff with my friends and and that's where that kind of happened nice I don't know if I should ask this question you already you already answered it kind of but maybe I want you to elaborate more because uh there is

There's an overabundance, Jay, of really sick drummers. And I find that some drummers get lucky and they get a gig. Our drummer is kind of a perfect example. Sometimes this happens. How do, if you want to be a drummer and you want to be self-taught, how do you start? Start small and set incremental, you know, logical goals for yourself. Like, that was always, you know, I'm always hesitant to. to give like advice advice because like we all have the things that work for us that don't work

for others or whatever. I just share strictly experienced. This work for me. This didn't work for me. You take it as you will. Yeah. But I think, but I think there are kind of like universal things that we,

a lot of us share that like a lot of people can probably relate to. I was able to push myself forward in my goals or the things I wanted to do by taking my, you know, if I have a bigger goal, breaking that down into smaller parts and just. going just one step in front of the other. Ramon's song one. Exactly. Yeah. So I was like, you know what? Surfing Bird. Yeah. It was next. Dude, it's like, it's legit.

Like, you know, the first song on Ramones, it's alive, 1975, 78, is Rockaway Beach. And so like the first song I taught myself, there you go. First song I taught myself was Rockaway Beach. And then I tried to make my way through that entire album, because I listened to that album nonstop, you know. So you went track,

one to track two. Yeah, just the whole thing. And I had the, that's awesome. I also had the fascination with like, when I was young, I would take the train from New Jersey up to New York and I would go to like St. Mark's Place and, you know, Lower East Side Places, CBGBs when it's still around and just kind of like explore the, you know, you'd see all these pictures of the Ramones outside CBGBs or whatever.

And I'm like, I can go there. I can see this stuff. and like feel it for myself. And so that's kind of like, you know, I got a huge, because I had this like proximity to that East Coast punk rock stuff because I was just like, you know, obviously I'm like decades after it, but like the ghosts are still there. And I was interested in that.

Totally. Is this it right here? That's C-Bs, man. Yeah. I got to play there twice. Were you played there? I did. With the Mabble?

No, no. No, that would have been fucking awesome. No, but I might die. I might die. Yeah, somebody might have. No, the first time I played there was I had been, it's like a long convoluted story, but to spare all the details. Let's go.

I played a show, my high school band, my second high school band, we were the first of like H2O, the band H2O, asked us to play. Because we, you know, mutual friends and all this. We were, you know, the first of like 10 bands or something, but we played. We got to play CBGBs because of H2O. And that was like, that was cool. The most meaningful thing ever.

And then I had also developed into my teenage years, I was developing a friendship with the bouncing souls. And the first time I ever played drums in front of anybody, even my family or anything, was with the bouncing souls, actually. it was it that's a long long story but um but that was like you're at the right place to tell it yes yes well so okay so that's oh my gosh okay so that story is 24 hour podcast right right right right so um this is 2005 uh the bouncing souls i become a fan of theirs and was interested in them from new jersey and they play yeah yeah from like new brunswick area and they and you know azari park and stuff i didn't know that yeah so um They'd be playing in New Jersey all the time.

So I'd see them like every couple months. I'd be going to a bouncing soul show from when I was like 14, 15. Okay. And they're also big, big Bruce fans, as many people in New Jersey are. And they, you know, my dad would come to shows because I'm like, let's go see the bouncing souls. And he's like, he's now getting an education into, you know, new bands and like through my eyes. Because he's now seeing not his generation, but he's seeing what his generation in the East Street band and stuff. he's seeing like, okay, so this is what we kind of raised in a way

and the bouncing souls and, you know, you could even take that to like other New Jersey bands, Thursday, My Chemical Romance and stuff. And like, these are all bands that are happening in New Jersey at that time. And so we would go together because, you know, I'm like, Dad, we got to check out this band. And we would. And so at a certain point, our friendship developed.

And they were like, they were like, hey, we do a cover of the Springsteen song growing up. We're playing this festival in Asbury Park that used to be called the Skate and Surf Festival. Okay. Turned into the Bamboozle. Oh. And I believe it was the first year of the Bamboozle. I missed that festival.

Yeah. Skate and Surf. Like, Bamboozle was great. They've brought it back a couple times, I think. Skate and Surf was unbelievable. I was at that exact show. Oh, is this one? This is before that.

So Andrew W.K., I was in the giant crowd. I've ever seen Andrew W.K. shows where he brings, like, a million people on stage. Well, so he did it at that show, and I got onto the stage from the crowd, and the whole stage buckled beneath us. It was insane. I was, I was, I think, before my 13th birthday. I was, like, 12 years old when this happened. It was nuts.

But so, like, Skate and Surf Festival was huge for, you know, for us growing up in New Jersey, seeing these bands, and you'd see, you know, early senses fail, the movie life, a lot of drive-through records bands. That was how, like, I was very influenced through my friend's brother, who, like, turned me. down to all these drive-through records bands and whatever. So Skating Serve was huge for us. Anyway, it turns into the bamboozle. They're like, hey, would you play growing up with us? Would you sit in on this cover with us at this festival? He's like, yeah, sure, like, you know, sure.

Because we're friends with these guys now. And so they came over where we had a jam set up in our barn shed kind of deal. And so they go through growing up. And it's like, it's cool. It's like a faster kind of, you know, more punk version of the song growing up. Yeah. And, and I had never played drums in front of anybody. I had just been learning my Ramon's records and then my bouncing souls records and stuff and whatever.

But so I was a big, big fan and here these guys are, these like heroes of mine. They came over to jam. Right there in front of you. And I'm like, whoa, this is so gnarly. And, uh, and I got the courage to be like, hey, like, could we play some bouncing soul? could I play a couple bouncing soul songs while you guys are here? And we play one. And then we play two.

And then three. And then we ended up playing like a 25 song like set of like, like, I've been such a fan, you know? And and and I was just like, this is my first time playing like music with people. And like, and like with, you know, and, uh, and my dad was there. I purposely like kept him out. I was like, I don't, I'm too nervous. I'm too self-conscious. to like all this.

Yeah, kind of like, I want to do this for myself. I just want to learn what I want to do with this. And so then, um, they were like, that was nuts,

uh, you know, and I just like hacked my way through, through all this stuff and just had a lot of fun with these guys on this afternoon. Anyway, they fast forward like a couple, like a week or two and they're like, we are playing a secret show at the Asbury Lanes,

which was like down the street from where this, you know, the main show, the bamboozle was going to happen. Uh, it's literally, a bowling out at the time they've now made it like an official venue with like

a real stage and sound system and everything how far is that from a stone pony oh it's like down the street okay um yeah it's all like that isbury park kind of like you know square mile was where like so much of my formative years were um it's where my parents met you know it's like there's so dude like the asbury park environment is like it's still

to this day I think it's one of the most inspiring places to be when I was teenager, you know, that was a band called the parlor mob who then eventually signed to Roadrunner Records and I befriended, they were like the hometown hero band. What are they called? The Parlor Mob.

And they ever signed a Roadrunner? They did. How do I not know this? Oh, dude, great band. I never heard this band on Roadrunner. Are you serious? Great band. They have an album called And You Were a Crow that was like, that was one of my I listened to that album like every day when I was a kid. So they signed a Roadrunner and and truth be told.

Okay. So I was like 16. And I went to a parlor mob show that I couldn't get into. I wasn't old enough. And they snuck me in. And their new ANR guy at Roadrunner, his name is Dave Rath. And he was there. He had just signed these guys.

My hometown hero is the parlor mob. And we just got tacos before this show, right? And watched the show. It's great. Never heard from him again. Until a couple years later, he gave me a phone call of like, hey, my name is Dave. And Dave, if you're listening, like, you know this story.

So he was like, hey, my name is Dave. We met years ago. with the parlor mob and he went into this thing how he had a band um that was on tour their first headlining tour in america and he was like i don't know if you'll remember me but like i've got this band they're on tour their drummer just hurt his arm i need a drummer to like get out to this tour tomorrow and do the rest of this tour are you around are you available this like fast forward to like 2013 or so and uh and i was like yes like what band is it there was a band called cavillertac um incredible band from Norway

that I had seen a couple times a few months earlier I was on tour with against me and every couple days we were all emanating from a festival

and this is like the craziest tangent I've ever gone on but it'll all circle back it'll all circle back I promise anybody listening so on this tour that I was on with against me

we were all emanating out from the fun fun fun festival in Austin you ever play that really cool Cool. I've heard of it. Very eclectic festival. It was like one stage, it was like,

against me, napalm death, converge, Tomahawk, Caval Attack, Torch, Municipal Waste. It was like wild. But then, but then like on the other stage, there's like run DMC and stuff. Like super, that's a lineup. Super eclectic festival. I don't think they do it anymore.

But anyway, so we were all, we all played this festival, all these bands, and then we're all kind of touring out from there. And every couple days, we would be in the same town as the Converge Tour that had Covellertac on it. So as a fan, I would just like go all the time. And I would just see them like every three days.

Like, oh, shit, we have a day off. And the Converge Tour with Coelotag is on to it. You know, so check it out. And I'm like, okay, I remember that band from that tour I saw a couple months ago. Like, yes, I'm in. I'll do it. I'm down. So anyway, that's all like, that's how the Asbury Park scene and the parlor mob,

that was like my generation. And then before that, that was Bruce and the East Street band, the Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jutes, you know, all these bands that kind of like, it goes in generations, seemingly, but like it's the, like I said about like CBGBs and stuff, the ghosts are still there, the ghosts on the boardwalk and stuff, you know?

It's like very much a real thing. Anyway, so they're like, come play at this secret show, or you come to this secret show we're doing at the Asbury Lanes, and it's just like a packed rager punk show. Literally the stage was just a plight, a sheet of plywood on the bowling alley. And people are bowling, like, right next to us.

Oh, sick. And so, um, so I get up on stage, or they're like, hey, play one of those songs that we played at your house. It's just like a fun, you know, secret show. There's like zero pressure, but just like, you know, wild kind of punk rock show. And so I got up and we played two songs. And that was the first time I played live music ever, ever. Um, so where are we connecting this?

because then that, um, uh, we're talking about Attsbury Park. We're talking about the bouncing souls. Um, talking about,

oh gosh, where do we, I know, where do we, where do we come from? You took me on a whole journey. I was just like, I feel like I'm on like a roller coaster.

I don't know what's coming next. I can usually circle back to the thing, to the crux of what. Do you have the notes of what we were talking about like 20 minutes ago? Yeah. Bouncing souls. Bouncing souls. You,

I mean with Bunch of Souls and why. Asbury Park. I don't know. Oh, well, so, so, you know, this was like, I was finding the music that really spoke to me at that age. And that was the stuff that was, like, seriously hooking me. And we're talking about, you know, I'm learning how to teach, oh, teaching yourself how to play drums and stuff. So, here we go. Yes.

So, so. Yes. So those were things. So we're talking about an advice. I love this podcast. And not, you know, not necessarily giving advice, but the things that I, that worked in that context was like, you know, I had been teaching myself in solitude, not sharing it with anybody. But then, like, having these guys who I was really looking up to and they, you know, this, that, this connection through my father and myself sharing, I'm sharing my love for this punk rock stuff. He's like, taking an interest in an active participation and like, okay, I get this.

Like, it's not my generation, but like, this is cool. and we had been going to shows, seeing heavy metal shows and stuff and finding out the cross-section of where all this stuff exists. And so it was like, it was a big step for me to kind of raise my hand and be like, hey, I know some of your songs.

Like, can we jam on some of those? Yeah. And then just having the, like, putting my, like, my rational brain or my fight or flight, like, you know, that fight or flight kind of thing that we all have certain moments in our life where, like,

you're too nervous to do it but fuck it I'll just do it anyway um that would then resurface like you know say a couple years later um when I was 17 I was uh I've been you know been playing around and booking you know booking my own shows booking little regional tours

and stuff my high school band was was breaking up because we were all going to go to different schools and whatever was was your high school band named after a uh Charles Manson a family member? Yeah, Sadie Mae. Oh wow. Who was that?

Well, Sadie Mae Glutz was the was the pseudonym for one of the Manson family members, Susan Atkins. And I became like, I was a big fan of the band Alkaline Trio. Still am, obviously, but there was an alkaline trio song called Sadie, and they wrote a song about this woman, Sadie that, you know, carried out the Manson murders and stuff.

Oh, yes, okay. So, so yeah, we, after. King Lincoln. We were like a really super shitty hardcore band. Sounds like a fucking crust band, dude. Yeah, so Sadie Mae was my high school band. That was my first band. Man, you have any shirts?

No. Somebody, I think, I think the singer of that band, like he made the shirts, he screen printed the shirts. He might still have a couple. Adam, if you're hearing this, maybe if you have, I'd love to see. If we have any shirts left, that would be. Oh, man, you gotta wear a shirt.

I mean, that was, wait, maybe that's another band that called themselves Sadie Mae. That looks, yeah, we didn't have a Facebook. We were broken up well before Facebook. Yeah, this is like, whoa, it's like an actual band. Yeah, they have like records and stuff. Oh, wow.

Oh, there you go. Clearly, you know, yeah. That was not us playing dime fest. That's out here, isn't it? I mean, this is, is this pre- Myspace or? Yeah. Okay. So this is, well, I mean, like, 2007.

So like, um, I guess in the, in smack dab in the middle of like, my space being a thing. But so, so, you know, we're talking about these, like, there were, there have been these moments where I'm kind of, you know, throwing myself into my high school band and this and that. And we were breaking up. We were going to different schools. This is the summer of 2008. And I've obviously, you know, I've been around Bruce and Steve and my dad and all these guys of the East Street band, like my whole life. Like, this is this family to me. And even to this day, I try to see them, like, as much. as possible just to like squeeze all the and like I you know I love celebrating that aspect of like our families dynamic you know like I still derive so much inspiration from that and they still kill it anyway I was the last child of the members of the band to get up on stage and like do anything because I'm like you know it'd be one thing for me to if I was like messing up on guitar they could be like okay take him out of the mix or whatever if I'm like

messing up on drums, that's like, that's impossible. You know, so, yeah, and, like, I do that in front of, like, a lot of people, like, the pressure. I'm just like, oh, that. So I never, I never thought I would. It was just like, you know, I saw my, I saw my sister do it when she was, like, 12. She played keyboards at, like, Madison Square Garden. It was nuts. Yeah.

And I'm watching, like, my 12-year-old sister, like, play, you know, keyboards in this arena. It's like, so very family dynamic and, like, I love that aspect of Bruce's, you know, the way that he orchestrates the band, even to this day, Clarence Clemens's nephew, Jay Clemens, is the saxophonist in the East Street band. So it's very, the original saxophonist, Clarence, his nephew is in the band. So, um, very family.

Very family oriented. And, uh, and that's like total Jersey style, it feels like. And so, uh, but I was like, I'm deathly afraid of that. I can never, I could never see myself doing that. But Bruce asked if, like, if I would get up at sound check and play a song and it's kind of like when the boss man asks you know you got to you when he says jump you say how high that's just how it goes and so it's like oh my god okay so i learned a song played it with emma's sound check and i was like okay i played in an empty giant stadium and i can say i technically

played giant stadium you know and i'm like okay i'm satisfied with that yeah and to bruce's credit he was like that felt pretty good why don't we play that during the show oh my instantly like my stomach is just like no like you know how how can i wrap my head around that but like i said if he asks you like who has it in them to say no to to him no you can't say no you can't say no to the boss and so uh so we played it we played the song born to run uh which is uh you know one of his most iconic songs in the state that birthed you know burst in the history band so it was like a very It was like, you know, that was one of those moments, just like asking the bouncing souls, like, hey, can we play some of your songs together? That was one of those things where I was like, I am nervous to my absolute core, but I'm going to, I have to, I can't, I can't live with myself if I didn't, if I didn't give it everything I got and, and try to own that moment.

And so that happened. And then I was like, okay, I never have to do that again. That was totally insane. Didn't feel real. Didn't look real. But I got through it. I got to the end. No train wreck.

Okay. And then after that came this unexpected scheduling conflict that my dad had with the Conan show. It was originally, you know, the late night with Conan O'Brien filmed in New York. They were now taking over the Tonight show that was filmed out in Burbank. So this big shift. had to be the beginning of that, and that timed out with a Bruce tour literally at the same exact time. So he had to be in two places at once. And so Steve had seen Steve Van Zant, Silvio Dante

of the Sopranos and of the East Street band. He had come to see my high school band, not Sadie May, but the band after. And we're very, you know, inspired by like Macedon and Slayer and stuff, and we're doing crazy time signatures or stuff, whatever. And Steve was like, I don't understand this at all, but I love it. And he, when, when this whole thing is like, okay, who do we have do this? Like, we've never had to have a sub for Max before. Like, how do we do it? You know, at that time, like, what, 35 years, something like that?

We've never had to do this. What do we do? And so Steve, he, like, raised his hand. He's like, what about his kid? And he's like, I saw him play at this bar in New York. And he told me this story, actually, like, a year or two ago, because I didn't know this. But he said, he goes like, what I said was that your, he's like talking to Bruce, because they're all like, what? Like, really?

Like, he played that one song, but like, you're thinking about this as a tour thing. And he's like, your music will be like Mary had a little lamb to this kid. Because he's seeing us play, you know, this crazy math metal stuff, whatever. But that also means like a 17-year-old, 18-year-old taking on this responsibility. You're 17, 18 years old? Yeah. 18 when this conversation was happening. And so they talked about it.

And it was just, Bruce called me, asked if I would be, if I would be up for this. And it was just one of those things. So it's like, I can't, obviously, this situation is what it is. And it's my family. And I'm kind of, like, in this position of trying to assist. And that was very unique to that situation. So that's not, like, advice, because that's like, you know, I lucked out, sure, in that dynamic of things.

Yeah. But I think the, the aspect of, you know, luck being preparedness, meaning opportunity is that it's like, this was my life and it was consuming me and I was practicing and, you know, just developing a thing to go out into the world. And then when this thing got asked of me by my, you know, the people I've known my whole life, I was like, I can try to wrap my head around that. And then that's what we ended up doing. So all those things to say, it's like, that's not exactly one foot in front of the other.

That's like a quantum leap into a different kind of thing. You're taking a spaceship into another planet. Yes. But what I felt was important, and this is the great thing about Bruce, is that he was able to break down something for an 18-year-old that would be like, how do you wrap your head around this? Bruce, in his ways as a band leader, I've never been around anybody. else who's ever conducted a band like this where he broke down something so gargantuan like that for an 18 year old down to like you can accomplish this and and let's do this together and and we did and that was like what allowed me to look at it in the same way that I was looking at you know I want to

play I want to play Chubbies I want to play the internet cafe I want to book a show for my high school band in Philadelphia or whatever and like this just was able to kind of in the way that I was kind of guided or directed at this thing I was able to kind of like slip it into that where I'm like I can see how it's going to take a lot of work and like a lot of you know effort and stuff but like I can see where this would work and it did what it's like a main takeaway or what did what's like a main point that that Bruce taught you? Um, many things. I think, you know, work ethic and discipline and,

and a responsibility to the task at hand of like, because he expressed to me, you know, there's an element of it, like, you know, we're family and we're, you know, connected in this positive way, but we've never had conversations of like, this is this thing that we do, and it is serious. And it's taken us decades. We have built this for decades. and I have built this for decades and my songs and my relationship with my audience and this and that, I'm coming in as a teenager.

And so to wrap my head around like, and that's not to say that it was an intimidating thing, but it was to express in a way that I guess like an 18-year-old could understand, like this is high-stakes rock and roll. And it's to be treated with respect and with diligence and with all. honor and and focus and drive and attention and not be, you know, not to be distracted and stuff like that. Those were the things that I was like when I, because I, I've been observing them and their work ethic and like they're playing fucking four hour long shows and like, they have long sets. To this day, like three plus hours. How do you learn three hours set? Yeah, well, he gave, he gave,

he gave me a list of songs right at the beginning. Like, this is what we'll start with. And it's like several hundred songs. What the way? How do you even? Well, I had been, I had been attentive and just like, loving it, you know, there, there were the songs on the tour that I had never sat down, on the tour that we did together, that I sat down, and I had never played

that song on a kit before, but he calls it out and you can't like deny the boss. So it's like, okay, I've been listening to this song since I was a kid. Like, I know this one, and we just go. Are you, he calls it out and you got to fucking play it. Well, at that time,

You know, the set list, we often joke that it's like the set list is, at the end of a show, it looks more like a football play with like, okay, this song got scratched off, this one moved down here, this one got pushed up to the top of the set. We changed, you know, we changed the song we're opening with before we walked on to the stage. What the fuck? There was a space in the middle of the set, so it would look like that with his handwriting. And there was a space in the middle of the set that was just, so you see all the songs. on that tour, songs 12 through 17 were just question marks. And we'll just feel it out. But I had understood that dynamic from watching it all the time.

I'm like, I know that is part of it. So I have to be ready for that. And so, you know, all still while, you know, I've been playing drums for about three or four years at that time. And so I'm still developing mechanics and this stuff. But it was like, it, uh, it, um, yeah, it was a, it was a tremendous challenge at the time. But then I feel like, and that came to its natural conclusion. But, uh, but then going on from there and like, I, it had just wet my appetite for then, you know,

many things that happened since 2009 that I was like, you know, that drive and focus and attention and the love and the, you know, the, like everything I felt as a part. of that, I was like, that's, that's how that's done. Okay. So now I, so now I want to apply that into other, you know, other things and, and went on to, to do that, I suppose. How do you go from this to Madball? Sure. Uh, yeah. Um, yeah, you wouldn't necessarily put both of those bands in the same room. How do you? Um, okay, so, um, to this. Thank you for sharing that. Of course. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Um, um, So shortly after, you know, that tour ended in the beginning of 2010, I think, and, or end of 2009.

And Blink 182 was on tour at the time. And I went to a blink show, and a friend was able to sneak me backstage to where there was like a hang happening at Madison Square Garden and talking about hockey. The guitar player for Madball at the time, we had been at a lot of, you know, shows, and I would, you know, show up at, like, New York hardcore shows. I was like, oh, I know that's the Magal Ball guy,

and he always wears a New York Rangers hat and stuff. And so he's backstage as well. And I'm like, I don't really know many people here. Like, I know some people, and my friend had snuck me back, but then, like, he kind of went, did his own thing. So I'm, like, trying to find people to talk to or whatever. I'm like, oh, my God, hockey fan, right. You're the guy from Madball.

And so he's wearing a Rangers hat. And I'm like, oh, you know, let's talk about hockey. And then we end up doing that. and exchanged numbers or something like that, became friends on Facebook. And he hit me up like a week later. And he goes, I was doing a thing with my dad,

which is actually getting brought back this year, is actually really cool. Guitar Center has their drum-off event. And they're bringing it back this year, which I think is really cool. But so Tommy Lee and my friend Frank Zumo of Some 41 and Street Drum Corps and all these things, they were putting on a show where they wanted to

celebrate all styles of music. And my dad and I had just shared this thing where we were like tag teaming because I didn't play on that tour alone for a good bit of it. They integrated me into the tour. That's probably important to also say how it's like I wasn't just

dropped out of the sky playing four hour shows. I would play, you know, two songs, one show, four songs, another show, and my dad is playing the rest. Eight songs, ten songs. I play the whole first half of the show. I play the whole second half of the show. I play the whole second half of the show.

play the encore, whatever. So then by the time it was incumbent on me to play full shows, I had already played each part of the show partially. Wow. And so, we had done this thing where it was kind of like my dad and me playing in the same band at the same time, sharing this responsibility. And that was actually an interesting dynamic in and of itself, because like, here you have this classic rock guy who's been doing it forever, And this young punk kid, his kid, bringing that kind of into this thing. It made for kind of an interesting dynamic. Because we don't play the songs quite exactly the same.

You know, I'm, I'm... No drummer is the same. No. And I'm approaching this music through the influence I got from Dave Lombardo and these guys and stuff. You know, so... But trying to do justice to it. So, you know, we had done this together. and then Tommy and Frank are like,

hey, we should have both of you guys on stage together, do something that takes both of your styles and smashes them together. And you can see this on YouTube, the guitar center drum off that we did, where he's playing more of his big band swing style, he's got a suit, he looks sharp. And I'm like, I like hand drew my bass drum head,

and I'm like head banging and doing more of like a Bonham kind of style heaviness. Think to a swing. song the song uh sing sing sing um you you'd recognize it um like sepplin style dude yes so um uh so i'm out doing this drum off thing i was here in l a and uh and this guy from madball reaches out because we had just met like the week before and he's like hey um i see yeah this is a this is the thing that that we did or wait no that's that's that's tommy look at that kick drum my god is that okay that's like a 90 inch kick drum. Jay, is that a real kick drum?

Yeah, clearly. Or is it like a front of a kick drum? I mean, maybe it's in front. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. Come on, dude. But maybe it's amplifying it in some way. I mean, I mean, you know, we've all done that trick. We've all done that trick of like putting kick drums one in front of another in the studio and it has an effect. Yeah, you put you put the mic in front, right?

Like, like, in between, right? That tunnel effect where it just creates the depth and, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah. Anyway, yeah, and there's Frank. So they put together this show. We did our thing in that. And this dude from Madball hits me up and he goes, hey, are there any drummers out there that you think would be into playing with Madball?

We're about to go out on this European tour in like two weeks. We don't have a drummer. And I was kind of like, I would love to do that. And he was like, really? Like, I didn't know you'd be into that. I was like, absolutely. Like, that sounds like a dream. And so I crash course, you know, the set that.

that they had at the time, got into a jam room, we played together. A week later, I met Freddy, the singer of Madball. I actually, I met him walking onto the stage

at our first show together. And then we went to, we went to Europe and had like, you know, a four or five something week tour where, you know, it was just like, I was like, this is everything

I've ever dreamed of, like, getting in a bus and in this hardcore band. And there's, stage dives and mosh pits and stuff obviously you're not having that in the bruce context yeah so I'm like this is you know

this is everything I love and so so yeah that that happened and and then you were you were going back and forth from home and Queens trying to do the record while also going to school right yeah so this whole time

I was yeah I was a student at a place called Stevens Institute of Technology which what is that it's a great school and I'm really, you know, I enjoyed the education that I had there, but even like kind of just as important as the education I got, I was outside of New York City. So I'd be in New York every night or Brooklyn, every night,

absorbing those creative environments. And that, you know, I developed like an interest in visual art and going to these boutique galleries that were run by people who were kind of tangential to music as well. They did posters for bands. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to your gallery and see what this is all about. and just really exposed to all this stuff. But yeah, so I was going, I had a full course load,

and I'd be, you know, in class for, you know, whatever, 10 hours a day or something. Then I'd take the train out to Queens, and we'd work on this Madball record. And did that for, you know, a handful of months, I don't know, four or five months, something like that, made a record, actually with Eric Rutan, who I discovered we went to the same high school together.

Do you know Eric Rutan? Are you serious? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, random. Yeah, so Eric and I, we got to know each other. He's like, oh, you're from Jersey.

I'm from Jersey. Like, where'd you grow up? And I'm like, oh, like, you know, grew up in the Middletown area. And I went to Rumson Fairhaven high school. He's like, I went to RFH. He's like, are you kidding me? And so we get, I'm like, dude,

Eric Rutan. I've been like a cannibal fan, you know, since I was a kid. And so now I'm making this record with him and his studio. I didn't know that Eric did that record. Yeah, it's called Empire. Empire.

Yeah. I don't know he did that record. Holy shit. Yeah. That's in a way Why it sort of has Like That explains the sound

I thought it was kind of interesting It's like okay New York hardcore band With a death metal producer And you know Eric's done what Eric's done And like that's

What he's done is amazing It's like how How do we bring these two flavors Together It's an interesting combination It's a great time Because uh 2011

Uh Yeah about then Or 2010 Okay Because I think Cannibals If Vesceration Plague, might have dropped right before that, and we were jamming that record.

And it had this, like... Dude, kill. Down. Kill is like one of my favorite records ever. Wouldn't it kill drop? That was like 2006, right? Yeah, I've seen Timeline is perfect. Okay, yeah, so kill is right before evisceration plague.

Wow. Yeah, so he was so... Yeah, Eric was just on the role right there. So we learned this whole thing. I had no idea. He was, like, from my area, and we went to the same high school and stuff. And, and so, yeah, And that was my first, that was the first record I ever made.

A huge learning experience, you know, just like being in a jam room, hashing it out, doing the thing, you know, with a band that had been doing it for since before I was born. Before you're born. And, yeah, before you're born, brother. You know, so, and that's also kind of a thing is like, you know, since I was in, like, high school, like I said, going back to when I approached, like, the senior in my high school, this, like, intimidating dude on the, on the, the wrestling team, I've always just kind of wanted to like play up. And that was, that was actually

advice that I got as a hockey player, like play with people who are better than you. Oh, because it will it will push you into that fight or flight. Like, I will push myself to keep pace with people who are better than me, who have been doing this longer than me. Yeah. I just absorb all of that knowledge and experience and stuff and try to gleam something for myself. And, um, and so I always took that into, you know, say the, the, um, um, experience with badball or against me or a slip knot or whatever um that's kind of been like you know i've been like the youngest guy in any band usually by like 15 20 years uh or so um so and i always felt like that was a key part in you know it was necessary for me to just apply myself a hundred percent

because that because in my eyes that was the only way i would survive um so um and and that speaks to the bruce experience as well these guys are 50 years you know for 40 years older than me. You know, so it's like, I feel like, you know, you term it, you know, playing up. You got to play up. You got to play with people who are, you know, going to push you and your abilities and stuff. And that's kind of how I always looked at like these situations. And it led to, yeah, this record empire.

What's your big takeaway from this record? Who? First record. Man. Established hardcore band. It's so crazy seeing it. I haven't seen this in a long time. Their name's on there, dude.

Eric Retan, produced by Eric Retan and Matt Ball. Yeah. What do I take away from this record? Well, I think, you know, for myself, it being like, you know, much like we're talking about my first live experiences and just like understanding what it takes to like really apply yourself and respect the process, respect the, you know, what it is you're creating. Because like, you know, I'm sure I'm sure you relate that it's like at a certain level, when you're doing this. this stuff and you are investing your soul in it. This is your soul music. And that's something to be respected. That's sacred. And I've always considered that. You know, like in whatever music it is that I'm making, it's like it's to be respected as something sacred. So when it came

time to be like, these guys are entrusting me. Whoa, I've never seen that version of the, wait, pull that up, pull that up, pull that up again. Is that like a special edition version? I've never seen that. Reissue. It looks like there's multiple reissue. I need to get a copy of that. That looks cool. you get vinyl right yeah okay yeah we got you gotta get the bottom okay i want to get that i've never seen that your name your name's on there somewhere so yeah so um so uh this was my first crack at actually you know i did like recordings with sadie may and with my high school bands and stuff but um which is actually a funny story with that like my first recording experience i don't know what i'm doing you know i'm trying to my best but like magic to it though well so you know it's my first time like

I'm playing along to my guitar player who's in the other room and I feel so disconnected. I have like headphones that I can't really hear what's going on. So I'm kind of, I was playing a little softer than I normally would. And the guy and the guy that we, the friend that we had record us, he said in the headphones that I never, ever, ever forgot this. He goes, he just goes, is that as hard as you're going to hit? And I was just like, motherful. Like internally, I'm like, what?

You know? And so I took that as like, like, a lifelong challenge. I probably feel like I always have this like that guy getting on the intercom going, is that as hard as you're going to hit? And being like, I will now throw down. And are you going to not suck? Yeah. Yeah. Can you stop sucking really quick? That'd be cool. But so, you know, but this was like my first real experience with it. So like knowing that like to me like the stakes were, you know, all or nothing. I have to I have to treat this like this is, you know, the life. last record I'll ever make.

And so with that, it's like, you know, to me, I haven't listened to it in a long time, but I feel like it's me pushing my abilities at the time. And, and yeah, I'm proud of it in the way that I'm like, I'm a kid. Oh, my God. You know? So, and to be, you know, legendary Madball with, you know, all the respect in the world to what Freddie has created with that.

And it was actually really cool. Like, you know, obviously, it wasn't the right fit. I felt it wasn't the right fit. And it was, and I was just like, you know what? Like, I learned a lot. Did this record. Really excited about that. But I think I'm going to, I want to find where I fit in, you know,

in music. I'm just feeling it's not this. That's okay. And so Freddie and I actually reconnected last year suicidal tendencies, we were on the Metallica tour, which was like the most insane, insane, incredible experience. And in between some of the Metallica dates, we played the Black and Blue Bowl,

which is kind of like Madball, Freddie, very much, they run this festival in New York. So when we roll up and I get to see Freddie and we get to like, you know, hug and see each other first time in like 15 years, something like that. Very cool moment because it's like, you know, our lives have, you know, I kind of went this way and they've gone this way, but like to come back

together and like, and hang and catch up and that was really, really nice. That's good to hear it, man. Yeah, yeah, but so, so that was like, I look at my, my time in Madball is like, you know, such a primordial version of

these things that I kind of like was getting myself on the track and reaching out to a hand that was reaching out to me of like, hey, like, we need a drummer can you do this and i'm like yes i'm totally into this and um and so lots of energy captured in that and uh yeah i want to listen to it again i haven't listened to it in you know 15 years but uh it sounds so different to you know it might yeah but you know it's like

to to hear or are you playing it for us now that's j waymbard that and that eric rutan kind of you know fullness you know it makes so much sense like all All of the tones. Yeah. Since he said that, I'm like, oh, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I hate to ask, can I run and use the bathroom?

Go for it. Okay, cool. Pause. Cool. We're into so much great stuff. But let's keep this up because we'll know where to. Oh, please. I'm also recently sober, and my brain is literally working way better.

Congratulations. It's crazy. I don't know. Good for you. Yeah. Probably five weeks in now. Congratulations, man. So weird.

Good for you. Yeah, this is actually like a moment for me. like, oh, like, I'm really like, I'm hanging out with Jay. I can really, I'm internalizing what you're saying more. Great. So it's all kind of happening real time. The past three guests, I've been like, oh, that's different. Congrats.

It's cool. That's really good. Good to hear. And the lady's like, you're looking good. Yeah, man. That's a nice positive reinforcement. I love that. Yeah.

We are back. We're back. Okay. P break. P break. Jay is empty. Well, so, all right, we were talking about Mabball. Sure.

Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've, you know, yeah, amazing experience just seeing that. I haven't seen, and I got to get that, that new edition of that record. Well, yeah, because how many years? 15, 16 years now. Is that 16 years ago, dude?

Jeez. Oh, my God, I'm old. It's how it is, dude. Yeah. The time, like, the years is fly by, brother. Like you said, when we started, you're like, I thought you were like 40. I thought, yeah. I feel it.

I feel it. I thought it. I'm like, dude, 1990, no. Yeah. No, I was 19 when we made that record. You're 19. Yeah. When did you make your first record?

Or how old were you? I want to say 1920. A cleansing 2007? Mm-hmm. I'm 40 now. There you go. So it might have been 1920. Not knowing what you're doing.

Yeah, man. I always tell people, I try to go back to that, which is what I do here. It's like I try to empty the brain and try to not know what's happening because that's kind of where magic happens. Yeah, sure. You know, not knowing what you're doing on that record. Yeah. You will capture something that you really can't ever do again. Yep.

Because then you know too much. You know, it's funny. So I, in the month of January this year alone, I made five albums. And I was talking, I was talking with a friend of mine who were making an album together, this new thing that we're working on. I'm really excited about it. But, you know, as we're... What's it called?

It has a name, but I can't... Okay. I can't... We're so early days with it. It's just like, we're discovering what it is. Like, both of us are kind of just like, okay, so, like, you know, let's discover what this is together. A friend of mine who had a lot of songs,

and I'm kind of like, okay, I'm honored to play on this. Let's discover what this is. That's sort of like where we're at with it right now. But we were having a funny conversation as I'm, you know, tracking drums and stuff. And we just get to joking. I'm like, isn't it funny how what we're recording now, if we go on and like play this stuff,

you know, a million times or whatever? This is the worst version it will be. And this is what we're laying to tape. And, you know, in a funny way of just talking about how it's like when you go in to make a record, unless you approach it in the way like Clutch does, where Clutch, like, they play their stuff live to feel out how exactly they want to be laying it down in the studio. So they'll take a song that they've written, test it out on the road. And then they'll do a tour to the studio playing all this material and then go in and track that album because of the way.

Exactly, because of the way these songs, okay, this is how I want to play this live or and whatever. This is how this is feeling better. Rather than making those decisions before you ever hit. a stage, which is kind of more so how modern, you know, it's more so how we do things. It's like, we work on it in private, we release it to the world, then we play it live for the first time. But so that's like kind of, at least relative to that other school of thought, that's kind of backwards, right?

Like you're setting it in stone before you've ever had this thing, have a life of itself on a stage and where to me, like, that's where, that's where music, and I'm sure you feel the same way. Like, that's where our music comes alive is when we, when we do it. in that environment. So we were just joking. I was like, man, this is so great. And this is the worst it's ever going to sound.

Yeah. Thank God, man. I thought it sucked. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. So what have you been doing new musically? Because I saw that you're doing a few things. Can you talk about you're doing a record with you know your mouth?

Shout out to Mark. Yeah, relative to if this is, yeah, if this is, when is this going to drop? This Monday. This Monday. Oh, shit. Okay. This freaking Monday, dude. Oh, my gosh.

Okay. Well, so, Mark, don't be mad. Yeah, well, so I am working on a lot of things. Like, I'm, when I found out that, you know, my wife and I are expecting our first child in a month, you know, in a month now. But when I was, you know, when we're faced with that reality, back in October, I was, I was, you know, kind of just like, whoa, okay, I have like all this stuff on my kind of creative checklist in a way that I kind of view it as like creative spring cleaning in a way. You know, like I'm sure, you know, like we both have had, you know,

a running checklist of like, I've got this song. I've been working on forever and I'm like, I want to get it across the finish line, but I've just been toiling at it for years or whatever. It's just kind of some of those things that I've been, I've been wanting to commit considerable time and energy to be, make those a reality. So what that's kind of looked like for me is like I have all this material and you know the classic thing when we're on tour and we meet friends and we're like oh we should start like a side project together and then it never happens. But I was like I could I could approach this

in a way where this is like less pressure. We're not starting a whole new thing but let's like I have a song that I you know I'm playing everything on it all the instruments but I you know I want my friend George Clark from Deaf Heaven. Like this would be like this song, I just feel like you would be great on this. And so I send it to George. And George is like, I'll sing on it. And so I'm like, okay, like let's make this like a real song. Not starting a band, you know, but just like, let's do one song. Excuse me. And so that became a song called Sandstone. And I was kind of like, you know, thinking about what I'm doing. And I'm like, I'm not starting a band like this. And I, and I'm not going out You know, I do things on my own, like drum clinics and stuff, like solo, you know, performances of clinics and stuff.

But it's not like I'm starting like the Jay Weinberg solo band. Like that's not, you know, what my interests are with this. But I have all this material that I've been working on for a long time that I'm like, okay, I'll put like, I'll put my name behind this. And I feel strongly about it. It comes from my heart is what I've been working on for a long time. And like we're talking about this, you know, having started on guitar, I'm using. that's how I write. And so I'm like, you know what? I will find an avenue for me where I can record all this stuff and play all the instruments and collaborate with different friends because it does stem from different inspirations

that I feel like it's kind of eclectic in nature but not unfocused in a way because it dips into my inspirations from bands like neurosis and My Bloody Valentine and Interpol and, you know, quick sand here and there. So, you know, stuff like that.

So Sandstone was a song that I worked on with George that I released in November. And then a song that I put out just a couple weeks ago or a month ago called Drone Operator, which is a song that I collaborated with my friends, Nowhere to Run, which is Jamie and Shade from VanCode Orange. They have, their project, Nowhere to Run, is unbelievable.

in its scope and in its direction. It does many things. And I was like, you guys are the people, like, this is the kind of skeleton of what I've got going on. Let's put our minds on this together. Not start a band, but like, let's start a thing together where we do this one song, and that's what drone operator is.

Oh, okay. And I've, you know, as I've also got, so I'm talking about this record that I can't exactly name just yet, but like I did that. We'll get to a few, mouth in a second, but like I've had a lot of stuff and I paint and I've wanted to treat all these songs as a way that I can just do all of this stuff, but just even from like a time management as I'm like getting ready to have my first child and stuff to get this stuff across the finish

line. It's important. I want to collaborate with my, you know, my friends, my community, people I've always wanted to work with. And so I just haven't had the time to commit to making art in the way that I wanted to for this. So I saw it as an opportunity, and I hit up my friend Paul Romano, who you might know his artwork, has grace the album covers from, you know, Macedon and Trivium and

Dallek and Withard and, you know, amazing, amazing bands that he's created these visual identities for. Yeah. Paul and I are friends, and we talk art, we talk art, and I visited him and his family.

And, uh, and so I'm like, hey, like, I, I just literally, like, I'm under the gun with many projects and getting ready to be a father for the first time. I'd like to extend this collaborative nature of this project. That's kind of like my thing, but I want to do it with all these people. Would you take on doing, it was just for the first single, actually.

And then he, I shared with him all these other things because it's part of a greater body of work than I intend to, you know, get out towards the end of this year. If I can, you know, try to get that done. he was like, I like what you're doing here and I want to create like a visual character for this. You know, like it won't just be for sandstone. It'll be for drone operator and these other collaborations

that are happening. Nice. And so, yeah, I'm, so I'm honored in taking on this like collaborative thing. I'm planning to release the next song. If I can make it by early May, Because I'm kind of like, I'm releasing this stuff kind of as it goes. Like, it's all happening now.

It's happening and it's done. Yeah, and I'm kind of like, the world. I'm kind of like, yeah, I can just like do this, you know, in the world today. You can just do this stuff yourself and get it out there. So I'm very excited about that. But then, well, I'm going to be purposely tight-lipped about, you know, certain aspects of other projects.

Because I'm just like, I'm in this creative kind of zone where, I feel like creativity begets creativity. And the more and more you just kind of are active in working those creative muscles, the more and more that kind of builds into something that, like, you can look back on and be proud of and a body of work that you're stoked on. That has now become more things. And I'm kind of just in a phase of my life where I'm like, I'm into taking on these things. Like I said, like, January this year was like the busiest I've ever been.

being a studio rat, really, for, like, kind of the first time in my life where I'm, like, really spending considerable, more considerable time with many projects in the studio and just being like, I am loving this. And, uh, and all projects that have different creative voices. Um, like, for instance, the next song I'll release under my own name doesn't even have any drums on it. Oh, wow. You know, and it's the first time I'm singing on something. You're singing on something? Yeah. So, you know, it's, it's just like, interesting ways of like, you know, it's what's feeling inspired in this moment. And, um, so take it back to last year. Uh, I'm between legs of the Metallica tour. And, uh, and I get an

email from a guy I don't know. And, uh, and he's like, hey, I've got, um, you know, this is who I am. I've got this band. And, uh, we're recording an album with Kurt Ballou at God's City Studios. I mean, like, say less. Like, that's, you know, my, one of my heroes and all of the records I've, like, ever made. I usually, you know, when I'm meeting with a producer, I often, they're, you know, like, what kind of records, like, drum sound-wise, are you, like, do you dig? And I'm like, Kurt stuff.

Like, you know, like, these are my favorite sounding records, nails and converge. We're supposed to have Kurt here the next month. Oh, hopefully. Kurt's the best. Yeah, he's awesome. So, um, so he's like, how. I want to, I want to ask,

would you be down to play drums on a new record? And I'm like, oh my God, yes. Like, I actually, I have a week in between, you know, or a week or two in between legs of this metallic tour. I can come up and meet with you. I can, you know, we'll jam out, you know, let's get a rehearsal space. I can like learn this material.

We'll get into a room. and go in and record this album and we recorded an album in just a few days and it's like for myself it's like it's like one of my favorite things i've like ever been a part of um it it came together really quickly but he and i you never you ever just like meet people who you're just like you just connect on a level that that you like things just flow like incredibly well we have a lot of the same interests a lot of the same you know touchstones and references and one of the first things that we spoke about as I'm like kind of getting like okay so like this is the project and stuff um I hear a song and I'm like dude that song like is that the motorhead stay clean beat dan do down down down down down down like that and I'm like that's my favorite motorhead song he's like it is the stay clean beat I'm like that's about like a death metal song and I'm like same wavelength it happens fuck dude like yeah

You know, like, I'm like, this is so, like, you know, I'm loving this. And so that is something that took place last year, and I think will probably be, yeah, yeah, there's some pictures of us. Oh, so that record, so that picture, that's me, that's Mark Waylon of Fuming Mouse, Zach Weeks, of God's City Studio, awesome producer, and Connor Sullivan, who goes by Argus. And do you have, we have time for another tangent of things? All right, this is what we're doing. My brain is locked in for however wrong, dude. Go back. Go back. Go back to... I'm locked in, dude.

There we go. Okay. So Connor and I, Connor lives in Nashville. I live in Nashville. And we met, I moved to town like 11 years ago. And we met and I was instantly struck by this guy. It's like, you know, this like kid doing wild like modular synthesizer noise machine, like making just like fucked up sound with this like table of pedals and crazy stuff.

He's the guy on the right there. So in the last two years or so, I've become friends with the band called King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Do you know them? No. From Australia. Okay. I'm going to send. Intense name.

I'm going to send you all their stuff. They're the most inspiring band, like, I've ever seen. Australian band. Yeah, Australia. They're from Australia. They release like three albums a year. They're incredibly prolific. They are so in touch with what they do.

They, they, like. It's one thing when you have a band that, like, plays all styles, but, like, isn't a master of any of them. King Gizzard can play any style of music masterfully. And it is, like, the most insane thing I've ever seen. I actually, I was a little bit intimidated to, like, where my entry point was to the band, because I'm like, oh, my God, this band has, like, a million albums. They've been a band for, like, 10 years, but they've, like, 20-something albums. Like, where's my, where's my on-ramp to this band? But it was really cool.

Cavs, who's now like my bro, their drummer, I was on tour in Australia a couple years ago with the band Infectious Grooves, which shares members with suicidal tendencies. And Cavs came out to a show with his dad, and we're hanging out, and I'm like, yeah, like, King Gizzard, like, I'm so stoked. Like, you know, I got to get into you guys.

Like, you know, I've been, I see your name, and I see the records. I just don't know where my on-ramp is to you guys. And so he's like, okay, You know, we're coming on tour in the States. Like, come out and check it out. I'm like, okay. So they come to Nashville and like a couple days beforehand,

Cavs text me, he's like, bro, like, we're going to be in Nashville. You should get up on stage and like rip a drum solo or something. Oh, my goodness. I was like, I don't know if that seems intrusive. And like, I don't want to, I don't want to spoil the fun and just be like, hey, everybody. You know, like, that's not my style. But I was like, I'll play a song with you guys. Like, that could make more contextual sense.

And he's like, yo, really? Awesome. So I learned one of their songs, and I met the guys at the show, and we played a song in Nashville. Super fun. And we all became very, very quick friends. And this is back in like 2024. And my couple, it was like a week before my birthday. And they were like, oh, we're playing Red Rocks on September 8th, which happens to me on my birthday. And my wife is like, we should go out to Red Rocks and see King Gizzard for your birthday. And they were like, dude, come out for your birthday. And they were like, dude, come out for your birthday. birthday, like, learn a couple more songs and, like, we'll, you know, let's do it again. And we'll run it back. And I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to Red Rocks and I'll play a couple tunes of you guys, sure, like, let's do this. And, and so we're just, you know, stoked. And, uh, and so we go and they played three shows in two days. And their shows are like also three hours long, you know, like, and they play, it's insane. I mean, with that amount of songs, you have such a catalog that you're just like, they, they have, they're,

their whole, like, they have an archive of, like, all their songs and, like, making sure they don't repeat songs that they played either the night before or in that same city and stuff. It's, like, incredible. The, you know, thought and attention that goes into that. Anyway, so, we're there to see a couple of their shows at Red Rocks, and they had gone to a festival site outside in, outside Denver in, Buenos Vista, Colorado. beautiful scenery and everything. And they're going to start their own festival called Field of Vision. I would just name one of their songs. And I was hanging out at the show,

and they'd just come back from this, checking out this festival site. They're like, yeah, you know, next year we're going to do our own festival here. And they're like, you got to play it. And I'm like, oh, yeah, totally. But, like, I don't have a band that can, like, play it. Like, I don't have a project. So I'm like, you know, I'm working on all this stuff,

sandstone drone operator and stuff. like I'm still kind of putting these things together. But then I thought they were joking. And it comes to like a couple months before the festival and they're like, and then they announce it. They're like, hey, so we're like announcing you. Like, what are you doing for the festival? And I was like, I didn't know you guys were for real. Like, okay.

Like, I got to figure out something because I like, just like Bruce when he's like, this is the deal. It's kind of like, yes. You know, the answer is, like, whatever the question is, the answer is yes. And that's also kind of like an important, you know, in all these kinds of things. It's like that's sort of a philosophy that I like to kind of keep in the back of my head. It's just like, the answer is yes, what's the question? Because it's just like when you get an opportunity, like King Gizzard, this amazing, you know, once in a generation band to be like, would you play at our festival? It's like, I don't have it in me to say no, even though I don't have a project to do it with.

I'll figure it out. And so I hit on my buddy Connor, Argus, and he and I'm like, okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going to take your noise stuff. I'll make it like kind of my own. And in fact, we got Mark Whalen of Fuming Mouth to like riff, you know, riff Lord Mark Whalen, recording riffs on top of it. And I'm like, fuck yes. Like this is taking what I love about Connor's stuff. And now we're making it these like godflesh, dancey sort of, you know,

dance club, but like grimy, gritty death sort of deal. And so I took, like, Argus material did that. He took my material that I'm putting out under my own name. He made it more Argus style, a little more noisy and modular synthy and stuff. And then we got together at my house because we had like a month or two left. And I was still on the Metallica tour at the time. Oh, my goodness. And so I get home and I'm like, okay, now let's come up with like 20 minutes of like original stuff between you and me.

And so that picture that you had up a moment ago, the four of us in the studio, we went to God City and recorded. We did this performance because it was just going to be one show at Field of Vision for this project. We just made this project for one show. And when we were playing, we were just like, and there's a video of it on YouTube. We were just like, we should do this. Like, this should be, we should not just have this be for only this one show. So we're, so we gave the project a name called Portrait. of an apparition and went up to God's City this January.

That was one of the records that I was working on. And yeah, I thought that was the four of us making the new portraits album that we'll try to see if we can have it out by like this summer or something. There's us. Okay, cool. Yeah, we're playing a couple shows in the UK later in September. But so that relationship started out of like Mark asking me to contribute to this album. So be on the lookout.

We got some good stuff coming down the pipeline. I'm really, really excited. And yeah, you know, these are all projects that it's like they're eclectic in nature, but it allows me to kind of dip my toe into things that it's like I've never done before. But that's just like incredibly freeing and exciting. And yeah, so that's like what we're up to. I believe it'll probably start making a little more noise in about a month or so. Okay, cool.

So we'll see. Nice. And right before this ends, we're going to tell people where to, where you want people to go. Yeah. It seems that there's going to be like a few places where you want people to go. Yeah. Yeah. I have a website and you can find stuff on there. We all have a website, right? Dude, suicide sounds just not have a website. And that's the first thing we're going to do with our marketing money. Have you never had a website? No, it's been like, it's been years, dude. I've been telling the guys, we're going to take that Central Media money.

Hey, we're just take a grand out and make a sick of website. This, this internet thing is going to be huge. Dude, uh, the internet. Dude, uh, me and Jay have been posting on Facebook and that shit is popular. Yeah, man. You just wait. You just wait. Okay.

It's going to be next level. Oh, dude, it's wild, man. Uh, what, so how do we go from Madball to against me? Sure. Okay. Yeah. Um, well, uh, um, similar to, uh, say like the bouncing. souls and these bands that I started to learn about, you know, at an early age, against me,

was in that sort of fold of bands. You know, you're bouncing souls, hot water music, against me, alkaline trio. There was kind of like a nexus of like the bands who were really in a flow of like, you know, doing a lot of stuff together. They'd often be playing shows together and stuff. And so that was kind of like a whole community. So as I was, getting close to the bouncing souls, they were on tour with against me, probably, you know, when I was younger and I saw them, became an instant fan. I loved what they were doing. It was back in like 2004, maybe, three or four. And, uh, and I got to be friends with, uh, their bass player, Andrew, who was always just like the friendliest, nicest, you know, jovial dude. You saw him on stage, you know,

he was in the center of the stage, just like doing his thing, had so much energy. And I really connected to that. And so we struck up a friendship and shortly after I had left Madball, they had a few remaining shows on their schedule that Andrew

hit me up. He was like, hey, if you're free now, we have a couple shows and like, you know, I'd been a fan and we would play on occasion I'd sit in on a song and stuff kind of similar to like the Bouncing Souls thing. And and so we

We, they needed somebody for these three shows. That was all it was going to be. And I got down and kind of similar to that experience I was talking about with the souls of like, hey, can we play one, two, 40 songs, you know? And it's just like, as a fan, I'm just kind of like, I never saw you play this song. Can we play this song and stuff? Like, you know, just excited and stuff. And so I kind of came to these three shows with all that like, I'm going to get all my fan boy, you know. energy out here and play as much as I can, you know,

why we have these three shows that we'll do together. And then that just kind of, we played one rehearsal together. And then it was just kind of the vibe like, do you want to just join the van? And that was really, it was like the next morning, and that was really it, you know? And with that, like, so I was still, like we were talking about with Madball,

I was still in school and kind of doing everything at the same time. And my school was actually really cool. I don't think I would have been able to do it if it was at like a, a larger school. Because they would have been like, if you're not going to be at school, like, you have to fuck off. Like, you're not, like, you can't be a student here if you're just going to be on tour all the time. Yeah. I didn't think about that. But they were really cool in like letting me, you know, instead of having to be on campus at like a, yeah, there we go.

Instead of having to be on campus, like, doing an exam or something, I could write an essay to, you know, demonstrate my understanding of like any subject or whatever. Um, so I was doing that all the time throughout the East Street band, throughout Madball, and then through it with against me, we were on tour for like nine months in 2011, like, nearly like straight. It was nice. Because that, I mean, for me, I'm 20 years old. I'm like, this is everything. Like, you know, like, I'm talking about the Madball tour. I'm like, I just like, you know, fuck my apartment. I don't want to be home. I just want to, I just want to be gone forever on tour. And luckily, and luckily this band, obviously, you know, they're 15 years older than me, but like they were still in that moment. And so like my interest in that was just like, boom, we are just out. And so we went, you know, did a month and a half long headlining tour into a straight into a month and a half opening for Dropkick Murphys, straight to, you know, Europe. And then we're back and we are right on the warp tour. And then right after the warp tour, we're doing a tour with Blinkwint 82 across Canada and all this stuff. Like, you know, just full, full. on you've done that stuff you know it's full on and I was you know 20 and just like absolutely like yes and in fact you might get a kick out of this one of my favorite exercises that we did was for Warp Tour where you only get 30 40 minutes to play we were like let's we said it as a challenge for ourselves that there would be literally no break in the music so that the last downbeat of any

song is the first downbeat of the next song all the time. So it is just you get on stage and you just strangle hold the audience until until you're done. It is one song. And so we were like, okay, so what song can go into what? How do we transition into this? And so we created like a set list or a pool of songs and we would figure out like that's the way it was. Warp Tour, we were just, there was no speaking, no nothing.

It is just one song, boom. Or, you know, one song comprised of, you know, 15. song. How was that? Fucking insane and amazing. But like a challenge, you know, you're playing, you know, you guys, you guys have done Warped Horror and stuff, right? Yeah. So, like, the heat and that, you know, everybody is like the great, you know, equalizer that like everyone is just in it, you know, in the heat, in the gnarliness. And you never know what the, what time you're

going to play. You might be playing at, you know, 10 in the morning or you might be playing, you know, whatever. Get some bad luck. Yeah. Yeah. So this is like one of those shows that we're, you know, we're playing song after song after song. And they all And that actually, so then we went on to playing like headlining shows from the Warp Tour show. So, okay, now we have like an hour and a half that we're playing. Let's apply the same philosophy. Oh, that's stupid. And so it was insane, but like, and totally like sadistic, but enjoyable from the aspect of like, you know, you're pushing your limits.

You're pushing your, you know, your energy and stuff. So, like, those were, like, you know, endurance feats for sure. but like very, very enjoyable, but yeah, also like too much. Well, it explains why you're not in the band anymore. That would fucking piss me on. But he's like, well, where do you tune? Where do you? It's all the same tuning.

But you can, you know, there's like a drum intro for one song so you can switch out guitars and stuff. And like that was that was baked in there. Like, you know, you have to be logistic about, you have to have logistics about it and whatever. But yeah. So, so that was, you know, there was so. much activity.

And then, you know, it was just another kind of one of the situations of like, you know, I'm, I enjoyed this, but I think I'm ready to, honestly, I wanted to, I wanted to finish my school. Because at that time, like I said, being on tour for nine months out of the year, there was a moment, this is a funny story, there was a moment where I was doing one of these, like, online tests just so I could be a student, you know, and still be on tour at the same time. I was doing an online test on a Blackberry to show you how I am. I was doing a test

and we were driving from, we had played in El Paso and we were driving our next show was at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. Oh, sick. So we're doing this drive and you've done those drives from El Paso to to Anaheim or something where you're just in the desert and there's no cell service or whatever. It was my first time doing

that and I was like, you know, doing this thing, sunk like four or five hours into doing an online exam on my Blackberry just like typing out answers super like and it's just like painstaking but I'm just like getting it done and then I went to click submit and I had lost internet

while we were driving in the desert and it lost like my five hours of work just went away and I like you ever see that movie Little Miss Sunshine when the young teenager realizes he wants to be in the Air Force but then he does this test and he realizes

he's colorblind and so he can't like you can't be in there Air Force of your colorblind or whatever. And he has like a freak out moment. Yeah. I had a internal like, I've reached my breaking point. I can't. And it was one of those things, much like hockey and like a little bit of sunshine.

Yeah. So that's, that's me, you know, against me on tour. But so, so I hit a breaking point similar to my crossroads that I had with hockey and music. Yeah. I was like, you know, the Ron's. Swanson philosophy, like, don't half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing. And I was like, I never heard that. Yeah, it's a good, good advice. That's cool. And so I was, I got to the parking lot of chain reaction and I called my school. I was like, this is what happened. I can't do this anymore. I can't, I finally, it's after like two

and a half years of being a student. I was like, I can't balance this anymore. Something's got a break. And it's school for me. I need to, I need to be committed to this tour to be, to be, if I'm going to do this, I got to commit myself. And so this is my choice, and I hope you guys understand. And they're like, okay, well, you know, let us know if you ever want to come back and we'll have that conversation. And so I just kind of got to this point in my life where I was like, you know what? I'm ready to go back.

I want to finish school. And I did. I had like a year and a half left. And so I was like, I'm going to come off the road. I'm going to go back to school, finish this because that was important to me. And there's the show that we played at chain. Oh my God. Oh my God.

RIP chain reaction. I know. Yeah. You know. Yeah. I think someone tried to sue the venue. Parents. As happens.

But so anyway, so I go back to school and I wanted to take like a course overload. So I took more courses than I usually would have because now I'm kind of behind the eight ball. I had taken a year, a year off from school, a year and a half off. Because we were just on tour so much. But I was eight. able to just like apply myself to that now that felt important but now I want to apply myself to school and so um I did that and then um and then the day that I submitted my final thing this is in um this is in December of 2013 is when I finished up school because I went back for like a year

in between then I did the Kevaller attack tour that we were talking about like I had I had just finished like a semester of school and was like boom, I can do this tour. I was so excited. It was the first tour I had done since leaving against me. And it really like,

to this day, those guys are like some of my best friends. And we always talk about like, man, that was like, it's probably the most fun I've ever had on tour was with those guys. So we remained very close friends. And there's me and Jettel, the drummer, that he heard his arm. And that was the night we met.

I had just flown out. I'd literally just flown out, learn their whole show on the flight. And I meet him and he's like, hey, I got to go back home. I got to go to the doctor. He's like, you're going to play drums tonight. I'm going to do the lights.

And so he, like, we're at El Corazon in Seattle. And he's, like, doing all the lights and stuff. And he's, like, stoked. But so that was, that was the, that was the first tour that I had done after against me. And it just, like, re-vitalized my, like, my love for playing and meeting,

know, meeting these guys and the high pressure of learning this thing right away and getting out there. It was so cool. And so we did that, but then after that tour, you know, I went, went back to school, finished up. And the day I submitted my final requirement for school, it was in December of 2013, is when I got asked to play with Slipknot. Are you serious? That's an insane timeline. Yeah. Do you remember when you heard the news about Joey? Yeah, it was after our first, jam session together. Oh, man.

Yeah, it's the next day that that was announced. I didn't know that. Yeah. Oh, fuck, dude. Are the rumors true? It's not like you're not told who you're jamming with. You literally get the contact and you're in a room. That's correct.

How do you, what are you thinking? Well, like we're talking about, you know, bouncing souls and against me. and, you know, my fandom of just like, this is how I, this is how I taught myself to do this. You said, yes, without, without. Yeah, well, you know, as the story kind of goes, and, you know, there are many, it's been written about, I got a phone call that was, you know, cryptic in nature,

but, like, obviously, as you're even speaking to it, it's like, this is a big change. And so understandably, the stakes around that information are high. And so someone in my position receiving an invitation based on this change is like, that's, there's a lot of like trust with no information that you just kind of have to be like willing to jump down a rabbit hole of like, we can't tell you what this is about, but can you please come and join us for a thing? and that's, you know, and that's it. That's all the information that I had.

So, as I, you know, entered a room and understood what was happening, I had to kind of put on, because I had had similar experiences before, obviously where I had known ahead of time what I was like, you know, against me, hey, we got a couple shows, can you play with me? You know, can we play with us? and I'm like, oh my God, I know all this stuff. I taught myself how to play drums, you know, playing along these songs.

You know, can we play this? Can we play that? Can we play this record in full right now? Like that sort of stuff. That's how I, like, I, you know, I think at the core of many things in my life, I think a lot of it stems and a lot of people listening to this and yourself probably relate of like, you know, we are fans first. Like, that's what hooks us is like what gets us to this spot

of wanting to participate in some way. originally. So in there is just the person who like remembers what it was like being a fan and and that enthusiasm and wanting to pretend you're the guy

you know, doing it or whatever. Play guitar in front of your mirror thinking you're Johnny Ramon or something, you know? And so much like the situation with the bouncing souls or against me where I'm just like, I taught myself how to play all this stuff. I remember the muscle

memory of what it was like playing, you know, all of these songs. And it was kind of just like, and I've even heard, you ever hear Henry Rollins speak of the, when he was asked to audition for Black Flag, how it felt he was like, I, it was an amazing story and you should listen to Rollins tell it, but he was a fan of Black Flag and they were in the position where Des Cadena, the guitar player, or the singer, rather, was wanting to switch to guitar and they needed a singer. And they're like, hey, we know this crazy guy from D.C. Henry. He got up on stage and sang a song. How about Henry?

And he was like, you know, it was like putting a quarter into a jukebox of like, you know, this is the band that I love. And here I am singing for Black Flag. And now like, okay, you're the singer in Black Flag. And that's like how that went down. That I had, you know, had my own experiences of playing with bands and similar sort of vibe. and you just get that sense. And hearing, you know, a hero of mine, like Henry Rollins talk about his experience,

like, this was my audition for Black Flag, that is sort of like, you have to just zero in on this moment. And for me, I was kind of like a, you know, what if this doesn't go beyond today? You know, I'm the first person to learn of this change. I know these guys. I know their work intimately.

I've been around them all the time since I was young. And so I'm just going to enjoy today. Enjoy the moment. And then proceed to do the thing where I'm like, hey, can we play this whole record? Can we do the blah blah blah blah. And just the enthusiasm and excitement. And so that's kind of, that's where, you know, that's what happened.

I was trying to put myself like it and you're literally in like in your body. I'm like, what is, were you like, you were already behind the kit? Yeah. I was like, man, I was like, man, what is you? What was Jay thinking? What was Jay feeling? Well, you know, at that point, I think, you know, I was 23 at the time. You're 23 years old.

You're 23. And, but like we, you know, know like we talked about at the beginning of this thing it's like you know when i immersed myself into these things that i i found myself as a part of or you know was navigating all this whatever um i um those experiences that aspect of like the bruceon east street band experience intimidating sure and challenging and in every capacity as a drummer and a budding musician I know I've been playing drums for three years. Yeah.

I could lead with, okay, remember that? You did, like, I could talk to myself. I was like, you did that. You did that. You can do this. I did the same thing sometimes. Yeah, you did that.

It's fine. You have to. You know, I think there are moments in our lives where you do have to, um, you do have to have like conversations with yourself of like, like, I'm ready for this. Even if I don't know for certain that, like, I'm ready for this. It's like you decide that you are ready for it. It's a decision, dude.

Yeah. You're never really ready for anything. That's right. I mean, yeah, like, I'm a fucking decision. I mean, this moment that I'm in now, becoming a father for the first time, you know, in about a month, I've never done this before, but I'm deciding that I'm ready. And I'm excited. And my partner and I are excited. My wife and I are excited.

And you do the things that you do. because you're like, I've decided that I want to do this in my life and our life. And so, yeah, so, you know. First what, then how? Exactly. Yeah. The answer is yes. What's the question?

Yeah. From an outside perspective that you really immersed, you immersed yourself as a drummer of Slipknot, as like an outsider where like, we're like, it's funny. Like, people think you work and you get this gig and that's where people get comfortable. but you just posted shit constantly. You were just posting shit for a fucking, almost, I mean, a decade. You're, with all of the GoPro stuff,

which I, actually, I should say this publicly. I actually stole it from you, and I didn't even know. Is, uh, we're about to do some, like, live stuff. I filmed the drummer. I look all cool. You know what? The first person I saw it do it consistently was you, Jay.

Interesting. I was like, oh, you do, we got to, you know, push it out there. you know, stop not. You know, they're always consistently, you really put yourself out there. Well, yeah. I just realized that.

I had seen, so we're, you know, we're talking about my, you know, my heroes and my friend and hero Ben Kohler of Converge. He was the first person that I saw do that. Really? Yeah. And Ben, and Ben did this stuff.

Like, wait, now that we have this stuff up, look up Ben Kohler, Converge chest cam. It's so insane looking because he has, you know, he's like, Ben is so forward thinking in this stuff and this is back in like, I don't know, 2009 or something. He filmed himself, and I'm a huge Converge fan. He filmed himself with like, you know, a chest harness

that you usually wear if you're like a cyclist or whatever. Oh, this is. He's a drummer. And I'm like, look at this. This is nuts. This is a great. I don't know why more drummers don't do this. So, so, well, that's, that was exactly my thought. So I saw this back in like 2010 or something. I'm like, Ben is, this is unbelievable. like this is a, a sight line that you literally can never,

you are in his head. Like, this is what he sees when he's doing this. That's incredible. And like, we have the technology. We have the, the ability to share a way of looking at the, you know, you can't get seats close, that close. You know, you can only see this if it's at a,

you know, a club or a VFW hall or something where you can stand right next to the guy. So, wow, that's awesome. So I always enjoyed the aspect of like, you know, within reason because, you know, things about projects, like you do want to have an aura and a mystique and stuff, but I think there are ways that you can also balance that with, like, vantage points that you've never seen before,

or you, you know, are only relegated to concert DVDs and stuff. It's like, hey, this can be like a way that you are along for a ride, for a longer-term sort of thing. And so I'm stoked you dig that. but Ben was like the first person that that I saw do that. And then it was just like, you know, okay, what about if it's not just like one GoPro? What if I got two? What if I got five?

What if I got like? What if GoPro sent like 10 or something, you know? And like just just have fun with it. I always enjoyed that. Excuse me. I always enjoyed that like we're talking about fan first. what are aspects of this that like can be immersive in that way and honestly for me a lot of this like take it back to hockey i used to film myself i used to have a tripod that one of my parents would like i was a goalie so i'd be playing at that end for one period that end for another period and then that end so they would just have the tripod and just go like that and then that for the second period and then that for the third period and i would watch i would get to watch it objectively and have game tapes to where i can be like, you know what, this, like, I want to work on this. I'm holding my glove too low or something

and I'm getting beat on that side. I want to correct that. I'm using watching game tapes as a way to be like, I want to learn about my playing. I want to improve. I want to, you know, all the stuff that we do. And I'm like, as a drummer, you can like also do that. As a musician, you can also do that. So that's kind of, that was sort of where I was like using it as a way to, you know, you're in the heat of the show and you're doing your thing and you're not critically analyzing that. You're fucking ripping. You're ripping. But then I'm able to calm down and sit down and, yeah, you're, you know, you can do it in a living room and stuff. You can do it anywhere.

You can do it anywhere. And to then use that as a way to be like, I'm making benchmarks for myself that it's like, you know what? I play this song that I've been playing for, you know, for seven years or whatever. I play it better today than I did seven years ago because I've been, first of all, just repeatedly doing it. You just have no choice but to just, you know, develop your chops within it. But I always felt that that was like a really good tool and you see it. You know, it's everywhere.

It kind of, I think, you know, we're talking about like 2014-ish. I remember seeing like a lot of my friends. Like we started all doing it kind of around a similar time. And it was cool because we all had like windows into, I had windows into like my peers and my friends work that I could kind of like see. Like we've all got our way of showing this stuff, drum cam stuff. And it was like, it was fun. And it continues to be fun. It's like, I still, I'm actually, I'm building, like we're talking about this checklist

that I'm like getting off before our child arrives. I'm building a studio at my house. where I expect to do more things. This is a God's city, but similar things to this where, yeah, just, you know, showing what I'm up to and like we all do.

And yeah, that's cool that you took something from that. Yeah, totally. Actually, even go further back, Alex, we never posted because then, I mean, once you post something and you start doing it again and again,

that's what separates you from basically the world. Alex did that. Like 2009, you got to hear, You just got a girl pro and you put it on his fucking chest. There you go, yeah. And now that I think about it,

he probably got it from Ben too. It might, yeah. Because it's the same time frame. Interesting. What, even though you're literally in one of the biggest metal bands in the planet,

what meant you do it so consistently? Because that's where, especially like, again, you said it earlier, like drummers, they're just like, they're just different. And to make the drummer be disciplined in something and then be,

keep doing it. Like, why do you do that and how? I think, you know, when you truly immerse yourself and it becomes, you know, wrapped up in your identity and your, you know, like every fabric of your being, when you make that decision to like, I'm committing myself fully and fully means fully, like, everything else kind of just gives like, you know, it all becomes secondary to that, you know, that effort. You find ways to just immerse yourself further.

So, like, and for, for my. myself with, you know, like I've, I've spoken about it before, so like, with, um, with joining a band that like, you know, you have a, uh, deep emotional tie to, something that is very, like, strikes to your core. Um, I think it's, it's easy to just invest yourself fully. And, and, uh,

and I, I think I found for myself, I was like, there is, as I would search deeper and deeper for the, you know, through the deep well of my interest in this and commitment to it, I'm like, I don't find the bottom. I find myself, you know, there is no bottom, you know, you're in a, yeah, there, there's, there's a limitless, um, when you, you know, when you take, when you take on that challenge of, of going for it, um, I think you find ways to just apply yourself completely. And I think, you know, there are ways that, how do I put this? There are ways that you can do that, I think, like, responsibly without, like, losing yourself completely into, like, you know, the darkness of what happens to some people in, you know, our shared world of rock and roll.

and but when you apply yourself to the right things and for the right reasons and um and because that all starts with like like i said fan first mentality what would i want to experience if i were if i were an observer to uh or an observant um observer observer observant if i were an observer if i were an observant to this i would um i would hope it was done in such a way or or whatever Like, that was always kind of like the deal I had with myself. And as I kind of, you know, you do your work with your collaborators. And I think early on, you know, we had one day with each other where it was kind of that like excitement. Like, oh, hey, let's play all these songs that I've loved for so long.

And this is exciting. And then the very next day, we started working on new material together. The next day? The very next day. Oh, my goodness. Because, well, you know, I mean, think of it from a practical sense. It's like, okay, great, you can play our old stuff, cool. Can we create with you?

Can we actually create music? Yeah, because like, we're not looking, we're not just, you know, we're looking ahead. So where do you fit within that? So I had to do the mental kind of switch for myself of moving beyond that moment of like, you know, fan first or fan only or whatever. And it's like, okay, now we're, now we're stepping over a line that is now. we are co-creating a thing. And so I have to imagine in my head what is that like? What's that responsibility?

What's the seriousness that I need to apply myself to this? Because obviously it's like, you know, I'm no stranger to the seriousness of the music, the seriousness of the band, the seriousness of the moment. Like, you know, whoever was going to be in my position, um was going to have uh significant responsibility welcome to hell uh so um so i knew that and that it would uh like anything that's worth doing it's going to take all you've got and it's going to take all you've got every day and more yeah yeah um so uh so knowing that but i think that was informed by you know, this is

late 2013 and I did that Bruce tour in 2009, so we're talking four years of like, I've been you know, in Madballing against me in between there, we'd had I'd had the experience that led me to understand like the feeling within my

heart of knowing if I'm applying myself to the fullest and I just had to just, you know, like anything and I still have that, you know, today of like you know in your heart when you are applying yourself and you know if you're not you know and so so i think that's like that's like a daily yeah it's like a daily thing that i think i would like just check in with myself of like you know i've had heroes and friends of mine uh use the the phrase and it's very true give everything expect nothing and that's very true is that you no matter what

the stakes are, you have to, it's like your responsibility as a creative person, a drummer, artist, painter, fucking whatever, you have to commit yourself completely if you want the satisfaction of what could await you if you work hard at it. And that's within the context of a group and you're one part of a group. But like if your contribution is meaningful or does carry significance in how one thing is going to turn out a song, an album, a tour, or whatever, you have to make sure that that thing, like, you don't, you don't want to be the guy that, that short changes anybody's experience. And myself, having that, that deep-seated fan within myself, I'm like, I, I understand to a significant degree what that responsibility means. And so I don't, I don't take that lightly.

And it's something, you know, still to this day, when, you know, when suicidal and infectious asked me to, um, uh, to play with them, it's like similar thing. It's like, I understand the lineage and trajectory and the responsibility of like a band I have a deep respect for. Um, so trying to bring all that history and, and, and, uh, come to it with, you know, my own things that I, that I've, uh, done or whatever and finding a way to create something special with my new collaborators and stuff. And I, I, I think, that's kind of been like I don't know I think that's like like like the band in high school with the kid with the fucking you know yeah you always go back to that yeah well it's it's just like that's

kid that's you know when you're doing things for the right reasons because it it is just you're inspired in the moment there's no you know there's no there's no there's no there's no there's no but the artistic fulfillment of what you're doing in the moment if you can maintain that is like you're you know your your goals like then you've you've you've achieved it that's that's That's success. I heard a great quote from Ian Mackay of Minor Threaten Fugazi, where he, someone asked him, like, how do you define success, thinking he'd say something about like, well, when we were like this big or something like that, he was like, no, I was a success when I picked up a bass and I learned how to write a song. That was, I was successful in that. So I consider

myself a success in music before playing in front of anybody. And that's true. And so I think like when you have that, those sort of like things as your guide posts. And another friend of my Thomas, who's tattooed me a lot, has shared a quote that he likes that says, you're only as good as your reference. And I think that's very true that if you keep your heroes in mind who do things for the right reasons, who lead by example, you know, myself,

like I look up to, you know, my heroes in. converge and neurosis and these guys that I believe are, you know, and, you know, you go into other, other scenes, avail, you know, and, and, uh, and these bands that do things, Bouncing Souls certainly fit within that, like, bands that did it their own way,

started their own label, made their own music, you know, did all these things for, that was the payoff. Yeah. Then, I, then you're in it for the right reasons, I think. Totally. Yeah. I don't know where this is all kind of, kind of, stemming off from but it's all circling around a theme yeah i like i like doing the big circles but now so now that you have hindsight jay uh was is there anything that you regret or wish you did something

differently no no i think it just kind of ended where it ended yeah i mean you know much you know much has been said about it but like uh no i don't think i don't think living with regrets like your trajectory it is what it is and I think you know as long as you like work your hardest try your best and apply yourself and do things

for the right reasons I think those are the things that lead you from fulfilling moment to fulfilling moment and I also another friend who said something like I really believe in just like being in tune with the things that my friends and people who I've shared creative spaces with

saying saw something recently that a friend of mine said of like the only thing that's consistent in life is impermanence. And if you're comfortable with that, then you

stand the chance of continuing your your path or whatever is meant for in that sense. So and with that in mind, the idea of impermanence and this and that, it's like, no,

I don't regret any of any of these things. It is. It is what it is. We actually did something similar. I had a career Devani moment like last month and we did the same thing. So you went out for like a 20 minute walk with with your woman. So based on my selfish question, I just said the same thing. Where like what did you think about like where it's like you're just walking and you're just thinking?

That because that's that's what I did. I was making like a major career move. I'm like walked. I just let my brain just go Yeah, you know, little walks are everything, man You know, um Well, I mean, you know, not getting too personal But like, uh, yeah, my, my wife is my best friend and and we've been together

Um, since the fall of 2018. So what is that? Eight, uh, coming up, well, we'll come up on eight years. We've been married for six years. Um, uh, uh, yeah, uh, we, that's like our, our thing. is, you know, we have all of our, all of our ideas. Yeah, there are pictures of us on the internet. Beautiful.

Well, it's like, you know, we share, like, she's, she's my life partner. She's my, she's my, my person, my other half. I get it. And at a certain point, it's like I can't conceive of life without this other, you know, I feel like my brain is one half and hers is the other. And we, many, I often say it's like, and I think anybody's, anybody's married and out there, if they're being honest with themselves, I would agree. It's like, I might be the guy out there doing the thing, but much of our life or my life,

as it might be seen out in the world is like our collaborative nature of how we bounce ideas off each other. She's an artist and creative person. That's how we met. We actually met through, shout out to Ray Luzier from Korn, because Ray, Ray was the first person who was like, I think you should try living in Nashville. Like, I think you might like it. Oh, sick.

And this and that. And I did. I took his suggestion up and he and his wife were working on a project. They needed a painting done. And they asked me if I would do it. And I was like, yeah, absolutely. And my wife ended up being the director

of the video shoot surrounding that painting. That's how we met. So we met in creative spaces. We began to get to know one another in a creative sense, just sharing our love for art and music and travel. And, you know, we even said, It was like in our like one of our first dates. We were like, you know, what's a crazy place that you've like always wanted to go?

And we both set, we were both like, um, Machu Picchu in Peru. It was like, you know, I've always dreamed of, excuse me, going there. We ended up having a slip-not tour that started in Peru. So I went a couple days early and, and we got to go to Machu Picchu, and that's where I proposed. Oh, nice, dude. And based on, you know, this is like a conversation we had, one of our first dates. And we also said we were like, it would be nuts to go to Antarctica or to go to like all seven continents. Like, wouldn't that be insane?

And so when I joined suicidal, I, Mike asked me to start playing with the band literally like a week before our first show. It was kind of a thing where he was like, hey, we need a drummer and we have shows in Japan next week. Can you be also our drummer? And I was just like, yeah. Yeah, one of those things. The answer is yes. supposed to question. So,

we had shows in Japan. And then I went to Australia with Infectious. And then we had suicidal shows in the States. And then we went to Europe with suicidal. And straight from Europe,

we went to do a whole tour in Brazil with suicidal. And I'm like, I am just checking off every continent in like the span of like three months here. Then we got an offer to play in Casablanca.

And I was like, whoa. Or, yeah, in Morocco. And all of us were just like, oh my God, yes. Like, that'll be so sick. Like, none of us had played in Africa. I never thought I'd be able to play in Africa. And I'm like, and so I'm like, wait, this is six continents.

Like, there's only one other continent to go to. So my wife and I talking about, you know, these dreams and we don't have, you know, it's just the two of us. We don't have our child yet. So we're just like, let's see what it would take to get to Antarctica. So we had a suicidal show in Buenos Aires. Argentina, which is basically like the last major city south that you would have to get to to then get on a boat and sail the Drake Passage to Antarctica. And we did that. And so

these things like, you know, we have many creative and life and just experiential goals that we've been able to really allow tour life as it is to be like, hey, this is a show I'm playing. And then we can just do things, you know, Machu Picchu before a tour starts in Peru, Antarctica after a show in Buenos Aires, stuff like that. Yeah. Because I have other friends who like travel is meaningful to them in that way as well. And I've seen them like, yeah, after this tour, like my partner and I were going to go to Easter Island and check out those crazy totem head things. And whatever.

I'm like, that is so cool. Like, so to share that with, you know, with your significant other is really, really rad. And now we're embarking on our, you know, most daring journey. Yeah, becoming parents. You'll be great, man. Thanks. Yeah, you'll figure it out. Yeah, we'll see.

We'll work hard at it. That's the thing. Is anything, you know, worth doing is worth doing 100%. Yeah. Especially with your favorite person in the world. Yeah, yeah. It's cool to have a favorite. It's like, damn, you're like, you're like my favorite human on the planet.

So it's a very, if you're blessed and have that husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, and partner, if you have that, you're very blessed. And it's cool because, like, she came from a, from a, a life that, like, she, you know, like, she had heard of Slipknot, but, like, didn't know anything about the band, that kind of, you know, like, that, that was her removal from, like, the world that I had found myself immersed completely within. And we met in my capacity as, like, a painter, you know, and like that. So, so it was really nice to, to share this with somebody who, like, I can, it's been amazing. Yeah, it's been amazing, like, seeing the world together as, like, and she finds the stuff that she loves about this art form that, like, I'm like, I've committed my life to this.

And so as we're getting to know one another, and, you know, we met while we were recording an album called We Are Not Your Kind, and we were writing it, and we started, like, dating right at the beginning of, like, the recording of that album. Wow. And so she got to understand like the attention and time, like the massive amount of time. And we were out here in California and working on this thing. It's like she was such an integral part, at least for, you know, just me and my private

life, like this, you know, in this undertaking of creating a thing that is like really important to me and my collaborators. And to share that like creative space as like one creative and like coming up with ideas of like, you know, stage outfit and mask ideas and stuff like that. It was like, to share that with another artist where I'm like, I have like a sounding board that's not just like, you know,

my wife giving me suggestions or anything like that. It's like she's an artist who I really respect. And yeah, this is another thing, paintings I've been working on for better part of like a decade. And through, you know, through our early stage, of our relationship. She was like, you should do like a gallery show. Like, we can make this happen. We can do this ourselves.

And we just went on like, it was, I forget what the site was, but it's kind of like Airbnb for art galleries. And you can just like run out of space for a week. And we did that in LA. And I built this like virtual art space that kind of little world of these paintings that I've been making for like 10

years in between, you know, touring and recording responsibilities and stuff. Thanks. Yeah. So I'm in a I'm in a place now where I'm really trying to, you know, as I'm trying to, like, focus and slow and make things be a studio rat, as I'm making, like, this studio at my house, get back to, this was in 2022 that I had released all this stuff. So, like, four years removed from that.

So I'm really, like, feeling the itch to, you know, to get back to that. This ended up coming pretty cool. It's pretty cool. Yeah, you got the itch for it, man. Oh, and in this, like, you can actually hear primordial version. of the songs that I'm actually now releasing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, like demo versions of these songs. So actually, if you navigate, if you navigate this, like, I, you know the video game, Doom?

Yes. I wanted it to feel like it's my artwork, but like you were walking around in Doom. Oh, that's sick. And so, but I wanted to put my music to it. So actually the next song that I'll be releasing, it, you can find a primitive version of that demo as you now. navigate this like each area has its own song yeah so you can find a a demo version yeah what i can't really hear it but you know yep that's not it but that's a different one but like yeah yeah is it multiple songs in yeah there's like there's like six or seven songs in there something

like that oh it's cool yeah how's your uh send you around around around the same time you're also dealing with uh a hip injury yeah what how did that ever how did I pan out? It sucked. It sucked. No, well, yeah, I'm good now, but at the time, yeah, that was difficult. I think this goes back to summer of 2018. You know, my whole life, we're talking hockey, goalie, you know, you're up and down.

It's wear and tear on your hip, but I'm a young person and I'm not really noticing that. And I never had an MRI to show me what was going on with my hip. but in my early 20s I also like kickboxed. Like I had a, there was a kickboxing gym near where I live. You got a kickbox and you're a slip knot, dude. What's that? You got to get into kickboxing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You have to. So I, so I was kickboxing for a little while. But that motion on a bag is like, it's a lot on your hips. I, in the summer of 2018, I'd go for a run. That was like my favorite way of exercising on tour is because I could just go out the backdoor of a venue and just run for a half hour that way and a half hour. back. Um, but then I was at home and I would go running for like five minutes and all of a sudden I'm like, I have this like debilitating pain in my left hip and I'm and I can't even like walk like for days. We were off tour at the time so I was lucky that it wasn't interfering with, you know,

those kinds of responsibilities. Excuse me, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't walk, I wouldn't run for like a month and then I'd go back and try again, you know, do my stretches and I'll go running. I'm like same pain. I'm like, what the fuck is going on with my hip? And so Early COVID era We're making an album And we've got tours I'm like, you know

Just kind of trying to baby my hip And drumming, active double bass playing Didn't make it worse But running really did And like that form of exercising was like It was hurting It hurt a lot So I

Early COVID Like Fever, no That's might have been like towards the summer maybe or something. I got an MRI that showed your femur as it enters your hip should be kind of shaped like this on both sides, like going inwards like that.

Well, on one side, the outer side of my femur as it went into my hip, it bulged out on the one side. So instead of going in, it came out. And it was just this excess bone that over the course of my life and activity, it had torn my labrum. as my femur went into my hip, which the term for it, look at this,

I feel like I'm at the hospital. So the term is, you can even look this up. People can see this if they're, okay, so it's called FAAI, femuroacetabular impingement. That's what I had going on.

And so what it is, it's very common. It actually is very common. So yeah, that's basically what I had going on. exactly so it had torn the labrum where that is and um and that causes inflammation and the pain and you know you like once it like inflames it's like it hurts a lot so um i had it checked out by a doctor and he was like look i do this surgery on active nchl players in fact um i mean it's public

knowledge he did this exact surgery this corrective surgery on uh tyler sagan of the dallas stars and Brad Marshan of the, at the time, the Boston Bruins, but now he's on the Florida Panthers, two active NHL players. This exact doctor did that operation on. And I was like, okay, so I was like, and he told me he was like, all right, you know, consider surgery for this because I think you're a candidate for it. I do this surgery all the time. Do it while you're younger. You know, I was, I was, what was I? 30 at the time?

Yeah. 30, 29. It was like, do it while you're on the younger side because you have a better chance of, like, recovering completely and living a comfortable life with your hip without this pain. And I was like, okay, well, you know, what's the recovery time? It's six months. And basically, like, two months, you're basically, you don't get off the couch. Oh, fuck.

Yeah, it's pretty gnarly. But I'm like, okay, understanding that this is, you know, either pain I have to live with or I have to address this and do this surgery, but also try balancing that with a rigorous recording and touring schedule and stuff. It's a difficult needle to thread. So, yeah, I made the decision to get it done because it was like, look, this is going to start deteriorating, or I'm not going to be able to, you know, it's going to restrict my movement.

it may, maybe it'll start affecting my drumming. You know, like, I'm running like worst case scenarios of how this thing could get worse. And I'm like, I want to address this. So I made the decision and he had the availed. My surgeon had the availability in his, in his window. It's like, all right, November 14th, doing it. And so that was that was it and committed to that knowing like that. You know, I've had like minor, you know, operations.

Like, actually had operations on my toes when I was younger. Like, we don't need to get into that. It was like gross. but uh but i this is the first time i have a surgery where like i'm i need to do significant um uh physical therapy so and i started physical therapy literally the next day like you have you have to get right literally right back on that bike um so i had the surgery they they make three holes in your side in your hip and they just go in its arthroscopic surgery so then he shaved away the bone, the excess bone that was creating this, you know, this impingement,

shaved away the bone, reattached the labrum, and then you're sent off like, okay, six months of recovery, here you go. And literally the next day you are on, oh, don't show that shit. I actually haven't even looked at stuff like that. Oh, wow. But so literally the next day you are on a stationary bike, like, because you've got to work out that tissue and like, because if you don't, if you don't do the physical therapy that's required, you actually have a chance of that bone, like, regenerating. And the problem coming back, but coming back worse.

And you'll have, like, a locking up sensation in your hip. And it's interesting, I've actually met other musicians who are like, damn, man, like, I have that going on, or I did that surgery or whatever. And it's like, you find there's, like a community of people who have, like, who have had this, but it was gnarly, dude, like, four or five days of, like, rigorous physical therapy for like four months. And then literally, when Mike Muir asked me to play with infectious and suicidal,

we met up, and I had my first jam with Infectious coming out because we had a slip-knots song that got nominated for a Grammy. So went to the Grammys and came out here and had my first jam with infectious grooves. Oh, wow. And that was my first time sitting down at drums. after my surgery

was like my first jam with Infectious and it literally, there's not that much like active double bass playing, but there's a little bit and it literally I'm like dude, it feels, and I'm telling the guys or like, you know, my new friends that I'm kind of jamming with, I'm just like, bro like, because I had said like

I will be ready, we had a tour that we were going to do in May, which is when I expected like November to May, six months. I'll be recovered by then. Because he had asked me like, where are you in your recovery? like would you be down to do this tour? And I was like, I was still laid up on the couch,

but I was just like, I will do that tour. And like I said that, that was like my bulletin board material. I was like, I will do that tour. You know, it's an honor,

you know, it's an honor and this and that. So, but I'm like, okay, now I've got my thing. I've got my carrot on the end of the stick.

I get through this physical therapy and I get to do this tour. And, uh, but at the time, our jamming, I was like, what?

February, March or something like that. Only, like, I asked my physical therapist. I'm going out to jam with a band and it still feels like I have a hole in my hip. Is that okay?

He's like, yeah, you'll be fine. And so I was like, all right, fuck yeah. Like, I got to do this. And, you know, it's just about like being intelligent with it or whatever. But I mean, the process, yeah, it fucking sucked. Like, you're on the couch and just like all I can do. I had this crazy contraption that like, it's like a girdle that fills, I don't know if this is interesting to anybody. Yeah, that was our first jam session.

after I've been on the couch for like two months but you have a you have a girdle that fills up with like ice water and a machine that's called a continuous passive motion machine your leg goes in it and you just you just like literally watch like two hours of a movie or something and your leg goes like this to just break up all that scar tissue that's being formed because of the surgery and that was like you know two months of my life pretty much was like that yeah yeah exactly

So fully. It's kind of crazy to see because I haven't looked at this in a while. Fully recovered. Yeah. Yeah. I feel great. You know, I run and draw them obviously.

And, yeah, no, I feel good. I'm glad to have done it that, like, surgery was the right option for me. Difficult to do it.

But it's just, it's one of those things. You just got to do it. You got to do it, man. Yeah. It's cool. It's cool. Once you say something,

you realize, oh, shit, then people kind of come out. Oh, shit. I got that surgery. Yeah. I'm thinking about it. Yes.

You don't only know until you say it. Yes. Then people will start. I had LASIC surgery last week. So similarly, like, you know, peers of ours are just like, dude, I've been wondering about that. Like, what was your experience and this and that? And so I'm like telling them. And it's, yeah, it connects us.

You know, we're all doing this stuff, man. We're all just doing our best out here. We're all just plain human. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good way to put it. I like that. I like that. So yeah, that's actually why you're in town.

Yeah, yeah. So the place I went to do it with, they would only allow me to do it if I would stay, if I would be able to come to my one week post-op appointment, which will be tomorrow. It will be one week since I had LASIC. And getting a lot of, like, I had gear stored out here that I'm getting home and like other things. The East Street Band had a couple shows in towns. I'm like, oh, I get to see my family. I get to get my gear. I get to have LASIC and all this stuff.

So we get to sit down and have this. This chat and stuff, so it's been great. Have the eyes now. Good. I get the sensation of, like, you might hear from other people that have LASIC. Like, driving at night, you have, like, halos of light and slight blurriness or stuff. But it's, like, safe. And I feel good.

I'm on the path of recovery with my eyes. But it was kind of one of those things. I was like, you know, I've heard that when you have your first child, you are entering a world of intermittent sleep and falling asleep with your contacts in and stuff. And I've been wearing contacts for, like, 25 years. years. Oh, have you? Yeah. So I'm just like, dude, and I hate, when I fall asleep with a man, I'm just like, do you wear contacts at all? Oh my god. I'm blessed with perfect eyesight.

If you do and then you wake up and you're just like, oh my God, you feel like this like skin is fused to your eyeball. It's like the worst sensation. Anybody who's done that knows it sucks. And so I was just like, I probably have like a whole, I have months or years ahead of the head of myself with like not sleeping all that great and falling asleep. My contacts in. I'd rather, I've been wanting to do it for a long time. So I'm just like, yeah, I can read. Oh, keep that up.

I can probably read the F-D-F-L-T-C-E. Oh, that's the second of bottom line. it's pretty good so oh wow congrats man thank you wow and also and we were talking earlier this is a if you're getting LASIC this is not something to try to say money on no no I mean yeah like I had a yeah I'm not advice like I mean everybody do their research I'm not a doctor and I'm not making any suggestion that anyone should get LASIC but I found it was right for me that I was a candidate and um asked around friends who had it done and they uh a friend group actually had it done by one specific doctor and they had great experience with it. So that's where I

kind of focused my research on it and made the decision and I'm glad I have. Nice. Yeah. What's like a good asking price like over five grand, you think? Like what's around there? I think, I mean, I'll say, I'll say this is like, it's your eyes. So don't, don't, don't. You're not doing eye surgery on a budget. Like it is, you know, it's an, it's an investment in my life and my future in this. I'm not going to, you know, we're not,

not sharing figures, but like, it's, uh, it was important to me to like, this is a measure twice cut once sort of, uh, sort of opportunity in life.

I'm not going to mess around with my eyes. Uh, I want to see my daughter, you know, um, so, so yeah, but,

um, it's an investment. I'll, I'll put it that way. Great. Good. Sure. Well,

I'm glad you got, you got it done. Thank you. Yeah. I feel good about it. Well, Jay, we're going,

uh, over two and a half hours. Oh, boy. Anything that we miss, anything that you might want out there? I have one more question, but I'm sure. I mean, yeah, like, there's stuff happening. Like, you said this will come out next week. So next week, I'm in Las Vegas during the festival.

Sick New World, the weekend the festival will be out there. I'll be doing tours of the punk rock museum. Have you ever been there in Vegas? I've only heard about it. It's incredible. It's this huge collection of just, like, punk rock artifacts. things like Joan Jett's leather jacket, lemmy's amps and his hat and his boots, you know, artifacts from the misfits, from Black Flag, from like all your favorite bands.

I'm actually kind of be contributing a couple of my own drums that I collaborated on with the amazing artist Shepard Ferry, Obey. We collaborated on my drum set that I used with suicidal tendencies featuring all the classic iconic suicidal imagery. That's actually actually on display at the punk rock museum. So I'll have my drums. It has this artwork made by Shepard. Yeah, there you go. That takes designs made by Lance Mountain. Nice. That's awesome. And that'll be there at the punk rock museum when I go and do these tours next week.

Excuse me. I've got a lot of stuff. I'm releasing a bunch of music of this project. That's the first time I've ever released music under my own name. I really hesitate calling it a solo project. It's not. It's a collaborations project. where I get to just have fun with friends. And there are many things that I've got coming down the pipeline and more. Like we're talking about, I think activity begets activity, creativity begets creativity, where you just keep this momentum going. That's a video of a song called Drone Operator that I did with Jamie and Shade from Code Orange,

nowhere to run. Yeah, so just having a lot of fun, doing a lot of free, creating, you know, experiencing freedom with this, like, creative, um, these multitude of creative outlets and just enjoying that. And then obviously, you know, having a, having a child

will be like, I'm going on paternity leave is, uh, is as my wife and I have been describing it, which is a nice way of like, you know, I want to be focused. But then, you know, once I get the hang of that, I'm, I'm, certainly have creative ambitions that'll take me here, there, and everywhere and excited about it. Great. Okay. Okay. That's question.

Sure. What are three albums for people to check out? Three albums for people to check out. It could be any genre, any era. It does not matter. Okay. Let's say the Who Quadrophenia, as we were speaking of before. Epic.

That was the first album I ever fell in love with. Let's see. The Who Quadrophenia? Hmm. This was just... Man, I'm always on the spot. And I feel like I should have like a note on my phone about like when you get asked about your top three, this and that. But okay, Quadrophenia.

Yep. That's a good one. Let's say the new album from Converge, Love is Not Enough. That's been like I've been listening to that constantly. And we just caught them in Dayton, Ohio last week. It was incredible. Quadrophenia, love is not enough. And the Jimmy Hendricks experience, are you experienced?

Does that have Voodoo Child on it? whether it does or not are you experienced by jimmy hendricks yeah that's the one that's the yellow cover it is boom Mitch mitchell unreal a three piece dude yeah power trio that's a power trio dude if you're in a if you're in a band with just three people that's a dream dude drums guitar bass some semblance of vocals in there so hard who do i who do i got got a kick out all right i'll kick out mark or we can start we can start one i've got a new project i've got a new projects all the time you and me and who who's on base two two piece okay all right even better jayne wyberg thank you man thank you what do want people to go uh jy weinberg official dot com there stuff on

there instagram the the uge nice you know all right hell yeah all right one love you guys all right everyone love you guys all everybody