Garza Podcast - 238 - SYLOSIS | Josh Middleton: Metalcore Riffs, Architects, Guitar Rundown & Self-Producing

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

Garza sits down in-person with Josh Middleton. Vocalist & guitar player of heavy metal band SYLOSIS. Also known for his mix-ready drum & guitar tones at MDL Tone. Their new album "The New Flesh” out now! https://instagram.com/joshsylosisSupport the podcast here: https://patreon.com/garzapodcast 00:00 - C Sharp vs D Flat02:55 - Starting Sylosis05:06 - First Amp08:21 - Getting Into Audio Production13:02 - Early Jams, Korn & Band Story16:22 - Psychology & Internal Family Systems18:50 - Marriage22:43 - Art, Drawing & Museums27:27 - Writing ‘The New Flesh’32:05 - Architects39:54 - Riff: Lacerations43:19 - Nu Metal Riffs & Ross Robinson49:12 - Self-Producing & Mixing58:21 - Josh’s ESP LTD JM-I1:03:57 - Favorite Riffs & Decapitated1:09:22 - Riff: Garza Plays Josh’s LTD1:12:50 - Mick, Jim & Slipknot Riffs1:14:32 - Warming Up: Guitar vs Vocals1:15:31 - Writing Process1:17:03 - Cult of Luna1:18:36 - The British Way1:25:17 - ESP Guitars1:28:27 - 3 Albums to Check Out1:31:17 - Links & ‘The New Flesh’ Out Now

So that's, I guess depending who you're talking to, it's either C sharp or D flat. C sharp for me. C sharp for you, D flat for me. Oh, okay. Yeah. I guess this is easier. I mean, it's just whatever's more common. It's the same thing.

Yeah. It's the same thing. Yeah, same thing. I mean, I don't get into it from like a music theory point of view. I just get into it through other bands that say we play in C sharp like, I think Testament or like Kate Eternal. I think that when they say what tuning they're in. So I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what I'm in. That's kind of, I mean, besides A, that's my favorite tuning.

Same. Standard. Standard or dropped C sharp that's just my, there's something that, there's some dimension to that tuning. I'm like, what is that? Yeah. I agree. I mean, for me in particular, like, because I grew up loving loads of thrashy stuff

in Testament. Yeah. And they play in C sharp. It's got enough of that thrashy bite, like the jing, jing, jing. Yeah. that you kind of lose when you get a bit lower. But it's heavy enough that it's not quite as high standard. Totally.

It's also the most that this just hit me right now. It's also the most transcending tuning. If you're thrash, if you're new metal, if it's dropped their standard, it just kind of hits, it hits every genre. That's kind of the only tuning that does that, huh? Yeah. It's dying fetus C-shot as well, maybe? I don't know.

Or thereabouts in Hated Tunnel. Yeah, so like, Yeah. I never really thought about that, but you are correct. Yeah. He goes testament to Deptone's limb biscuit. Yep. And it works. And kind of Pantera, because they're in like D standard, but they tuned down a little bit. So it was all. I thought they were in between notes. I thought it was up. I thought it was like a little bit up.

Oh, so I don't know. Either way. They're close to it. I was a kid trying to play walk. I'm like, why, why does it sound like shit? I know I'm playing like shit, but why isn't it? And then like later you learn, oh, there's like some weird like tuning sense. like the like the like the sense or whatever you call him oh i don't know sense josh from silosis is in he's in the building he's in person and you are alive thank you for thank you for your time of being here man yeah i'm happy to be here like i said i watch this all the time so oh thank you thanks man i never really know it's like do they are they aware of this show i don't know yeah no i think you're i just assume no you're solidified you're out there as one of the

the main ones appreciate that i would say yeah That's just facts. Thank God. I think guys, it's only been five years. I'm posting almost every fucking day. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I see it.

It's like, it's like rips. It's just, there's just never enough rifts. Yeah. You've got to keep doing it and keep doing it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I didn't know, but, uh, silosis started in 2000, 2000, right? Rough, roughly thereabouts.

That's how long the name's been around. Okay. But we were kids. So we're of a similar age. So you were like, uh, 14, 15, right? I've, maybe, younger i don't know yeah we're in like high school um and like day one of getting there i was already playing guitar so i was just like waiting for to find other musicians and then i found i was sat next to a kid

and he happened to play drums and happened to live on my street lived on your street yeah nice so i feel like i went around his house that day with the guitar and the practice amp and we came up with the name just a made-up word um i think just because of slayer sepulterer slip knot s's all the ss is go to the s section you and you will find yeah exactly you will find a new life there yeah yeah and was this in new reading reading yeah okay okay okay yeah our hour okay yeah our half part hour a half because there's always traffic yeah yeah yeah probably yeah and then there was there's a big festival there that a lot of people might know about Reading Festival, which back in the day was very alternative growing up. Like, I think, you know, Nirvana and Regents Against the Machine and Smashing

Pumpkins, that kind of stuff in the 90s and then. It's been full on pop, right? They don't have anything like. No, but then again, like, you know, download and all these other more specific festivals popped up. So everything's a bit more compartmentalized. But that was on my doorstep and that was incredible. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. That's probably why they stopped. They probably wanted to separate themselves from what was happening, right? Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I mean, part of it's just like a right of passage for kids who are, like, 16 and, like, finished school, and they just want to blow off some steam.

And it's, when I go to there now, it's just 16-year-old kids. I'll go, I went last year to see Limp Biscuit with my wife. And, like, you're like, whoa, this is, it's like, they just look like kids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So you found somebody on your street and then and then you brought over your, I'm going to guess, is it a line six or something? No, it was a park amp.

Park? Yeah, do you know? It was like, never heard of it. It was in the Marshall font and I think they might have been owned by Marshall or like a, or like what Fender Squire. Is this it? That's the one. What Fender, what Squire was to Fender. Dude.

I think. With Marshall. Okay. So, so we found the Park G. G10, is it? Something like that. The, yeah, G25R? Something like, maybe like even more, yeah.

You got to park G10. Dude, a hundred and thirty bucks. Woo! Nah. That, dude, that's a lot for a pound. That's the one. This is it right here. Yeah.

Oh, this is. Dude, if you mic this up. It sounded like adrenaline guitar tone, which, no offense, not the best tone. It's not. Dude, this is your amp for the new flesh. Right? Is this, is this what you used? Yeah. No.

Do you probably could, if you could probably get some sick leads from it, though. Maybe, yeah. I'd love to try. I mean, I haven't played that amp since around 2,099. Do you still have it? No, no, no. Oh, do you? I still have mine.

Oh, yeah. Well, I don't have it. I, I re-bought it. I went on eBay, it was like a Fender 10. And it sounds. I did that with my first valve amp. I used to have a PV triple X, which I think is. super underrated.

It is their underrated am for sure. I think maybe I had that when we talked with you guys in the UK 2005 and then I sold it and then I re-bought it because it's just like

it's yeah that one, the original like it's so underrated I think it got I didn't pick up because it looked kind of dumb I think it I think people

it turns people off because are those chicks on on the grill? I never realized there's chicks of big tits there's titty and ass on on that grill and it's and the controls are like body bottom hair it's a quite misogynistic amp it is i just realized that it's just hard to get like uh like it's hard like

like you can't really plug it and play kind of amp kind of kind of kind of have to find your yeah yeah it's it's a weird one i think it's got like a active EQ or something i'm not very good with schematics but um you if you're at noon like you'll be cutting and if you go above you boost and that's different to a lot of amps but okay i'd have like the treble, the hair, down loads. And yeah, it's quite specific to dial in. But it's cool. It's underrated.

It's been on some of my favorite records, like guitar time-wise. What are some records that it's been on? So, I think, Anthems of Rebellion by Arch Enemy, that's a great tone. Really? This band's Stamping Ground, the producer, co-producer, Scott Atkins used to be in. They used it in one of their records. In conjunction with another ramp. So Andy Sneep would always used to do a lot of blending amps.

So two tracks, triple X, two tracks of 15 and 50, or the stamping ground was two tracks, triple X, two tracks of a rectifier. You, dude, you dove. Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, I mean, at some point, where did you go full on? Because, I mean, you have your channel, which you just cover heavy tone. How, where did you start where you just dove straight into, like, the production side and all like the geeky amp stuff?

I mean, I was drawn to that and I'd always look at the back of my CDs and just see the same two names like Colin Richardson or Andy Sneep. Oh yeah, it's always those two names. Back in the day, yeah. And then... Andy's still going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now he's in Judas Priest as a guitarist. Yeah.

But I would... It was more of a trust thing in terms of you'd have to save up all your money to record back in the day. This is before anyone could just do it on a laptop and find someone locally. that was going to get a good sound. And no one in our area was doing good metal mixes. So I was like, what I lack in skill, I can make up for with time and just tweak stuff endlessly until it sounds close enough. So I got into mixing just out of necessity because I didn't trust anyone else locally to do the job that I wanted. And then Andy Sneep used to have a forum and he had post on it.

Really? Yeah, it was, there's so many people from back in the day that posted on there, like Misha, Nolly, like, Glenn Fricker, like loads of people. It was like a hub of just information about metal mixing. What year was this? Just mid-2000s. It was going for, yeah, I first joined in like 2005, maybe. This is way before, like, technology came out where we had, like, we had, like, we had, like, access just, like, basically, I mean, on our phone at this point. Yeah, I mean, he'd share a drumming.

samples. Did he? Pre sets. Oh shit. That's sick. He was the guy that, um, you know, there's this, uh, he doesn't, he doesn't only get, get credit for that. I mean, I, I don't know. It depends what circles you're in. Yeah. Like, if you're in the no, then I think he does, but generally like he, I don't know.

But yeah, he was like, he would just share a lot of useful stuff. Like the, the Palmute thing that people do, like, when you're mixing, you like multi-band compress just that chuggy area. He was like, I don't know if he invented that, but he definitely like, it was his Andy Sneep C4, Wave C4 setting. And that was like, Wave C4 setting. Just for Jung, Jung, jing. Anytime you hit a parmute, you just don't. Is it right here?

Yeah, yeah, that's it. Oh, how? I don't know. He came up with this, but he was the one that definitely, like, championed it, that everyone was like, oh, yeah, you need the Andy Sneep C4 setting on your rhythm guitars to control that. It's just almost, if you're just so, if you're just listening. and we're looking at like an EQ graph and it's just like the slightest drop in like the base midsection.

It's compressing that area. Oh, okay. It's only when you get some out of control like womb, wombs, that it will just duck that area. So would this be an EQ or a... That's a multi-band compressor. So it's a compressor. And then you can choose which area of EQ you were going to compress.

So at the moment, that's not touching the high end or the subs. and you could move it around. And you found this on the forum. Yeah. Just that's like an example of this kind of thing. You just go on that forum and go like, oh, wow, this is leveled up. Dude, shout out to any sneak because a lot of, uh, depending on who you're talking about, like a lot of people tend to hide their secrets or hide their like, you know.

Oh, yeah. So the fact that seems he was so open to this here, this is something sick I do. This is a fact you're so open about it's posting it for basically anyone could. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, wow. Yeah, it was great. Dude, Annie's a good guy.

Yeah. I mean, this is a big piece of where metal production is at now because now, I mean, you have your channel and Nali has done what, what he's done to all of the drum samples that are out right now with the get good drums. I didn't really made that connection until right now. It's kind of like, kind of sounds like, kind of sounds like the early days of where it would eventually go. Yeah, I guess so, yeah.

Yeah. Hell yeah, Andy's, and he's sick, dude. Yeah, I'm, I'm. obsessed with like his mixes. I'm a huge testament fan and like everything he's done for them. I'm just like, nice. Alex. Yeah.

How do I, how do I get Alex's tone? Yeah, yeah. Well, I can't play that good, so I'm just going to get into production and try to make it sound that way. Yeah,

yeah. That means, I did that. Yeah. That's sick, dude. Well, cool. All right.

So I kind of want to backtrack real quick because I want to get the back story and then, and then we'll go into the new record. Yeah. Okay. So you're jamming with this friend, right? Okay. Jay. What are you guys jamming?

Um, just a lot of new metal, I guess, like deaf tones and no biscuit and slip knot. I think, to be honest, we were probably jamming before 2000. Okay. And like even indie, like Radiohead or whatever. Like when you're kids, you just kind of, you're just, when you're learning guitar, like I learned to play guitar to like Oasis and Radiohead to begin with. And then I go into like Nirvana, smashing pumpkin's rage against the machine.

And then I started buying Kerrang. And I saw a picture of corn. And I was into skateboarding stuff. I was like, these guys look cool. So I'm just going to buy something. And I bought the good God single. And I was like, this is the best thing I've ever heard.

Yeah, too. I love, I loved when a band just dropped singles, but it was like a CD single. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I, so I got into corn through that single, and then I got Life is Peachy.

And then the first record. And then the first record. And then the, the VHS. Just because he'd look cool. Yeah, yeah. I was just like,

oh, this is obviously going to sound good, you know. And I was like blown away. Yeah, there's not many bands where I'm surprised. Like, when I first heard Cannibal Co-Ops,

I wasn't like, oh my God, what is this? I was like, yeah, this makes sense that there'd be a band that sounds like this. I don't know why.

But then when I, but something about corn, I was like, it's just so unique. Yeah. That's a child brain. That is marketing without knowing as marketing.

Yeah, like if you look a certain way, you're like, oh, this is going to be. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I wonder, who does that now, you think? No one, I don't know. What do you mean like just the band? Yeah, it's like that to look. Okay, this is, this is going to be sick, dude. I don't know.

It's too hard now. It's so, I don't know, everything's just so spread out. I mean, like the mask bands, you never know what they're going to sound like. Mm-hmm. You know, like Sleep token, you could look at them, they could be a black metal band, or they could be you know close to pop but yeah it's but they're like a good example because they're they are like a focused look you know it's like a more like it could be a black one but this is this is something else i'm gonna yeah play like at least a song marketing yeah it's tough it's tough

to like make people stop and then i'm gonna fuck it i'm gonna jam something yeah i mean i think that's been a problem of ours just generally like um i don't think solosis has ever had like a story you know I think it like growing up like reading corang and just you know you'd hear about like jonathan davis or all these tortured souls yeah and i'd like now i'm like i'm like it's just a dumb thing to say but i'd like oh i wish i had something like that you know which obviously i don't wish i had like some trauma in my life but like it it was such a such a thing growing up reading that about these bands like having such a like a horrible childhood or some traumatic thing happen to these like tortured artists.

And there's me just like, I got nothing. I had a great childhood, great parents. But I can write cool riffs, but sometimes that's not enough. What's up, everybody?

Real quick, this episode is brought to you by patreon.com slash Garza podcast. Get ad free episodes early and the Tartone you hear on the podcast. Thank you so much for the support.

Isn't your wife-based psychologist? She is. And then didn't she teach you about an epigetion? and like uh and how uh trauma is passed down i mean right that that's a thing like that's um something she's more recently doing which is iFS which is what's that internal family systems which isn't about your actual family but it's more about what you're saying about like a family like passed down trauma potentially but i i don't want to speak out of line but yes i fs is definitely what

she is, um, she's trained in or has a bit more training left to do to be fully certified. I mean, yeah, she's fully certified, correct? She's a psychologist. Yeah. But like there are different areas that you can. Oh, yeah. She could like to say that she's fully like, like, IFS certified, which is a unique thing. She has to go through more training.

Yeah, but I have heard about that like drama, uh, trauma is actually in the DNA could be passed down. Like your like your grandfather was in the war, correct? Yeah. Yeah. And then your, and your mom would tell you stories about him, right? Well, yeah. Well, your research is good, man.

Yeah, I think, like, yeah, he saw a lot of stuff in the war. He was stationed in various places. And, you know, she said that they'd be on, like, a vacation and he'd just be like, we've got to go home. Are you serious? Like, just, like, PTSD or, like, anxiety, maybe. And I don't know I'm kind of like quite an anxious person so maybe that's been passed down to me. I don't know. I mean, dude, we we have primal shit in our bodies that's been passed down. You're talking thousands and a thousand of years. Yeah. Thousands. You say why why are you afraid of why are we still afraid to meet people? Because well, this person might fucking kill me. You don't you don't really know. And it's the, I mean, you're talking thousands of thousands of years. And this stuff like sounds like it could just be like, oh, if you believe in that like mumbo jumbo. But this IFF. stuff you know that I from what I understand I think you can it can be like on a DNA level like

you can see you can see the science there it's not just like oh I believe this it's like no this is backed up yeah so I think what you're saying is legit yeah but I'm not the the one to speak about my wife might be like you got that totally wrong yeah you guys have married for a long time huh yeah you got you guys dated for I mean over 10 years before you tight you're tight in that. Oh no longer than that. Yeah, we've been together since 2004 maybe and we got married in 2016. So 10 years married but been together since I was 18. If you don't want me asking it, why did you wait so long? Just because I just had no money and I didn't want to get married and be like, I still live with my parents. Do you want to come over wife? So I was just waiting until like

I'd saved up enough money for a deposit on a house and we could buy a place. I'm in I'm in a same boat as you like we've been dating for uh my chick almost seven years nice and it's not like you're not uh you're not counting years because okay once one i i don't know how to put i don't know how to put this but when you know you know yeah it's just like i knew like the first few dates dude oh yeah i'm gonna and then you date okay i want to i'm gonna i know that i'm gonna die with this person so i'm in no rush to do anything so i i kind of get now it's all like logic and like financial Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm in the same boat.

I had that 100% like I was just, I remember like walking. I just went into town to buy a CD or something one day. And I just remember walking home distinctly going, yeah, like 100% want to marry this girl. Like after just, you know, a few weeks or something. And then, yeah, it was just a matter of, you know, and she like was studying and things. And she wanted to go traveling. We stayed together that whole time. and then when I had enough money saved up and she already had our own place,

I was like, right, will you marry me? And it was, I mean, how long were you dating? I mean, it was over 10 years? Yep. How long was, what, 12? Yeah, 14. So, like 11 years dating until I proposed, yeah. Wow.

But I mean, obviously when you were like 18, totally. You've got a lot of time to not rush in. Yeah. Getting married. It's good, man. At least you had the, uh, I guess at least you had the focus. And usually, uh, uh, usually the, you might get a little bit of pressure from like the female. Say, hey, I'll, oh, I can get married.

And then you're like, oh, fuck. Yeah, no, I mean, what am I going to do? I think we're both, you know, uh, well, we, we didn't spend any money on our wedding. Like, we, we, we wanted to buy a house. So we just had a super cheap wedding registry office. had a party in my parents back garden and then spent the money on honeymoon and the house and she's very much like yeah spend the money on a house not a wedding do she sounds like she had a good upbringing to not yeah she's great obviously that's why oh yeah obviously right yeah i mean

just just yeah she did really well for herself she was like the first person and her family to go to university and like super hard working and went to oxford university to be a psychologist. Yeah. She probably, did she help you keep focused with the music? Because you had a lot of ups and downs to like, to like hiatuses to,

you're what, like seven records in? Yeah, she's like super helpful, like just with me staying on, on top of my mental health, I guess. Yeah,

I mean, she doesn't like treat me because that's, a gray area. Yeah, yeah. And I'll go professionally. But yeah, she keeps me grounded.

It's awesome. Yeah, they, a good woman or a good partner or husband would just keep you. Grounded, I think is a good at work. Because, like, naturally, it's like a guitar player. You just want to fucking cause destruction. Yeah. They keep you like, okay, it's cool. But, you know.

Yeah, either that or anxiety about everything. And she helps with that. Yeah. It's great. It's cool. And you're also, uh, I mean, you do, uh, artwork too, right? I used to. I don't do it as much.

I've done some like merch designs recently, which I like, doing. I used to draw a lot. My mother, still alive, but is a retired art teacher. And she would take you to art galleries when you were a kid, right? Yeah, yeah. I meant, yeah. Go around like, you know, we'd be in vacation in France because it's just over the pond for us. So that's pretty common if you're from the UK to go on holiday there. And yeah, just go around art galleries as a kid. A lot of the time I was kind of like, bored. Yeah. But then I appreciate, you know, back now, some culture. This is one of my questions to you, Josh, because you said something interesting.

I'm like, really? Like, so you go to the art galleries, but still to this day, you say that when you see an art piece or a painting, you don't get emotionally moved at all. Yeah. That is interesting. Yeah, I've never, like, stood and looked at a painting and felt like, oh, I'm moved. No, really? No, no, no.

Whereas a song, like, I can be like, whoa. Yeah. You know, like, something, I would get a lump in my. throat or whatever or I'll be like super angry or whatever the song is um but I can appreciate art and I do a lot of art myself but I've never like had that thing where you just look at a painting oh I'm so moved can you think of any paintings you've seen where yeah I've been to quite a few museums I got in like a phase where I was like looking for a pop of Picasso paintings and I'm lucky I'm in Sokow. So I would there's a museum in LA I went to he has like a quite a few like small paintings like

I mean not big like little and then he has a big piece in Chicago and uh it's it's old it's old guitarist in in in Chicago I mean it's like it's fucking big part of the size of this uh yeah map here that one and then yeah I mean you just look at it I'm like oh my god like I don't know like like a it makes you think about your life so i was just i was but that's just my perspective on on this planet so so when i heard you say that i was like wow i want i want to ask him about that because it's so fascinating it's so like i'm dead inside but um i mean maybe i think you know if someone told me a backstory about a painting and they're like this is what they were going through and this is what this represents but i've never just like looked at a painting without any context and

you need context maybe i mean It makes sense. And it was fascinating about that, that painting in, in particular because it makes, it made people act weird. Because in this particular, it's a massive museum.

It's like in the city. And, and I went through, like, I didn't know until I got there, but that's actually one of, like, the main attractions. So I went through, I'll see all that small paintings,

some of my art pieces. Okay, I'm walking around that. I finally get to the fucking room. And I noticed this one room was different because it, has security. Right. I was like, why is it, why is there security here? And then, uh, this painting had a line. And then I was, okay, I'm going to wait in line. And then you get to the front of the line. You have basically have like your infiltations moment. And I, and I understood

why there's, there's security there. Because then people get weird. Like, uh, there's like this older lady. I want to say 50s. She like cut the line and went right like in front of me. Oh. Like extremely, extremely rude. Yeah. I'm like, just rude i was like oh shit i was like kind of like taking them back and you started talking to her friends about the painting i was okay like that's weird and then someone else cut cut like in front me once talked to me about the painting and telling like his french i don't know trying like impress his french or something i was like oh this is like a weird it's like this painting is attracting like a weird energy right and then and then i just walked away interesting i mean pissed i walk

yeah i think maybe like i was too young to appreciate or to i am even been to like art galleries as an adult really because i did it so much as a kid and if my mom's watching i didn't find it all boring um there was a lot of cool art galleries or like that i went to his kid but yeah in terms of like maybe it's because i'm i've done it so much i haven't gone and saw out as a grown up like looking at paintings so maybe now it's a word but it could be a cool date too for for you for you and a wife could be maybe i feel like she wouldn't be into it no yeah just like she that's your button that's boring yeah i'll forget that fuck that he's cool cool little rooms so josh i was jamming the new flesh which is your latest record came on in february 20th

yep 20th pretty sick dude thank you thanks a lot yeah i'm happy with it i heard you talk about um this was the first record where you made it a goal to get out of your own way um yeah i mean not And the last one, like, manager or I don't know what the role is now, because Allie, our drummer kind of manages the band as well, kind of manages. I don't know. He was kind of like, he's, you know, a big champion of the band and a fan of the band. And he was like, when we did a record cycle of suffering in 2020, start the pandemic, he was like, it's a great record, but you could do better.

And I first was like, what? He was like, you need more like moments. and I was like, what does that mean? What are they mean? And then he was like, you know, just like, like a classic metal album has these moments or these, you know, like, when you go see Metallica and they play something off the black album, you wait for the middle eight and that's the big sing-along, whatever,

like that kind of thing, I was like, oh, yeah. And then I feel like, yeah, I was in the way of the band a bit with... It happens. Yeah, yeah. just and just getting out of my own way for certain things like when we were younger and metalcore was coming in like we were into like whatever was going on at the time you know like kill switch and and lama god and stuff and then you'd play local shows and every band would be doing that yeah and you'd be like oh this is like love those bands yeah but when you just around it all the time

everyone's just doing a bad rendition of that, we're like, we need to do our own thing. And that also, did that also make you avoid low tunings in seven strings? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then when death call came in, we're like, well, let's just do our own thing. So I was like, we're going to E standard. Like, it's going to be like, complete opposite way.

It's a knee jerk reaction. Yeah, yeah. And not that I didn't like that stuff. And like, we're not going to play any breakdowns. It's going to, like, appeal to a more, like, metal audience. nothing that resembles a breakdown all the while i've always listened to you know like hate breed and terror and hardcore music and death core like or like suicide tolerance or like bands like case your strain down tuned and just like ignorant heavy stuff so it wasn't like i

hate this we're against it it was just like we need to just carve our own path but annoyingly there was no one else on that path like we didn't really fit in with any genre you know we could tour with the band like you know you guys or we taught with you a few times we did one with you but also with aslae nine and you guys and we can you know hang on a tour like that but we didn't really have our own um we weren't purest enough for the like the revivalist thrash sound and we were two metal for metal core and deathcore and stuff so um interesting it was hard work yeah because when these genres have like the revival periods you're not on those waves And I did, I just don't realize that.

Yeah. Interesting. But, and then more recently I was like, we can down tune a bit. Like we're in C sharp now. We're in D and then C sharp for the last two records. And if anything sounds like a breakdown, I don't care. Or like we all just deliberately do them. I mean, like, Pantera was a huge man for us as kids.

Mm-hmm. They had, you know, breakdowns. I never really saw them as breakdowns as a kid because it was like Pantera. and I swear it's separate to like hardcore or whatever but you just chugging it's a breakdown and like we like cut that off like deliberately is like a as like a knee-jerk reaction but it wasn't because we didn't want to do it and and now um I'm just I don't care so anything is fine for us stylistically yeah just is it's right just throw it in it's throwing a little chug yeah oh yeah I love it I love just chugging and that's what

led to us going on hiatus because i'd put so many uh restrictions around the band that um i boxed it boxed myself in i was like this isn't even fun i'm just standing here playing these riffs and like there's no like fun bit where i just get to go jim jim jim you know so yeah you're like okay i need like a take a step away yeah 100% yeah where was uh what's the timeline with your hiatus and uh you did three records with architects yeah three records with architects yeah three that that's a while dude yeah yeah so i mean we we did a headline tour in the uk in 2016 we had decapitated on that and um after that tour i was like uh i think i'm done wow and i wanted to start like dwindling a different band maybe and i was like writing new demos

and stuff and then i was even submitting some demos to nuclear blast like hey this is a new band Are you serious? Yeah. And then they were just kind of like, this just sounds like solosis. And to me, I was like, huh. And then I kind of like rewired my brain a bit to be like, oh, I don't need to, you know, solosis can be whatever it wants, needs to be. And now we can change the sound a bit.

You got, dude, Josh, you got, you got your own brain. Yeah. Yeah. But then because I felt so strongly and frustrated, I wasn't in a rush to get back to doing solosis and all the while I'd filled in for architects when

the guitarist Tim left in 2012 I did like a run of summer festivals and then the next year I did another run of festivals and they'd asked me to join in 2012 and I was like loved hanging out with those guys loved like playing Tom's wrists

sorry I have a bit of a cold for all the sniffing and I kind of regretted it and then obviously I was aware of Tom's cancer and stuff and then when he passed away they were just like do you want to come and tour this record like Tom wouldn't want anyone else to do it

so I was like wow it felt like you know like synchronicity you know like when the universe just goes this is what you want to like here you go here's the path to take and I was like Oh, yep. So I did that. So like it was it was like I neatly had finished silosis for that period

and then was regretting not joining architects. And then under the worst circumstances possible, ended up joining them. Wow. Yeah. So sad, man. Yeah, yeah. It was rough.

Like the first, you know, like the first tour, and it's like super, I mean, I'm sure like Eddie. knows how this is like where you're you're stood in their spot on the stage and i was very like aware of that i'm like this is where tom should be right now so like after every song i'd sort of like just go kind of stand at the back of the stage like but i'm here to deliver the riffs and like perform and stuff but i'm this is like tom's thing and then like the moment the last note hits and the rest of the band are like saying you know thanks to the crowd and throwing out picks i'm like i'm already in the dressing room because i'm just like head down and i i

I think I some level kept that mindset even without realizing until the very end I'd just always be like head down I'm out of it even if the set list was like half like songs I'd written I'd still be like this is

not my spot you know this is Tom's spot so I'm like I'm out so it always always felt always felt that way not always but I think that's just my own thing especially that first tour because that was my first door, my entry point to the band, under those circumstances, it's not just like you're replacing a member, but someone very loved has passed away and you're in their spot. It's not the same as just like, I'm the new guitarist.

Like, so it's a very respectful environment to have been in. Yeah, what's it, I was wondering what it's like, uh, yeah, well, I was, I probably should ask Eddie this too. And what is like, what, what's it like, what do you feel playing those songs? Yeah, I mean, there's a song Gone with the Wind, which I knew what that was about, like, before the record came out. And there was a few of us that kind of knew about Tom's cancer. And then when it came out and people were like, oh, my God, like, he's writing songs about, you know, coming to terms of dying. Or, like, his, like, battle cancer, that was kind of, yeah, super heavy to play that live.

The whole band would be like, you know, welling up on stage. What's the main difference between silos and architects as far as? Because now you're writing riffs. Now you're writing songs. What's, did you, was it like a mental switch? Like, what's the main difference? Yeah, I mean, funnily enough, some of the demos for this new band, um, ended up being a couple of songs on Holy Hell.

So, more to laugh at all. Wow. And modern misery. I mean, my original demo is, quite different. But, you know, it took me a while of playing Tom's riffs night after night to get a feel for, because they play in C-sharp standard, but the low string is either a G-sharp, so you play a power cord and it's an octave, or some songs where it's F-sharp where the low two strings are in unison, but super low. Okay. So it took me a while to get used to that,

you know, there's sort of things that Tom would do writing-wise and then sent those demos to Dan and then he kind of restructured them you know everything went through his filter um after tom die because tom was like the primary songwriter and then i'd he'd like that verse that's the chorus that's this and like chop stuff up and at first i was like this is so hard because no one's ever done that with my music yeah like just to like i spent two weeks writing this song and you're just and uh now i'm i'm super grateful for that it really helped me uh in my you know, ego when it comes to writing just to like... Probably helps you to let go.

Yeah, yeah. And I like seek out a producer now. Like tell me if stuff sucks or tell me what could be better or rip it apart. So it definitely helped break me down a bit in a good way. Because I was always so like controlling with solos. This is it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I've spent a month on this song, please go and learn it.

Which isn't great to the rest of the band. Yeah. Yeah. So then the last two records, that's why you're more open. Hey, let's... Yeah, and the last record in particular is like the most collaborative we've done. Where like more, you know, the guys are writing more and I just have more of a say. And I'm just like, yep, or like the track listing, I'm not like, this song has to be on there. Isn't it interesting because you having the experience, because I know what, I know how that mindset is.

I've been guilty of it too Where it's like Okay, like the more you let go And then you see the reaction When you let go And your ideas are like When you bring more people in To have their opinions

And you see a better reaction Than as if you were like Close-minded This is the way the song is Yeah It really breaks down your ego Yeah Yeah

This is like Yeah It really It really helped Like my approach to writing now Where Like I seek it out you know i want the best for the record and i don't know what that is all the time i'll always

you know i try and fight my corner for stuff if i believe got to figure battles but if everyone's like no that sucks or no that's not going to work or whatever and then i'm like oh okay mm-hmm trust yeah again i was jamming it uh i got really into lacerations oh yeah and uh i actually learned learn the chorus oh cool yeah i kind of i was gonna put you on a spot i was like I kind of want to jam the solo part with you because that solo is just, I love a tasty, like, not shreddy solo, but like, okay, there's like some emotion behind it. Yeah, yeah. Tell me, can I play the chords first? Yeah, yeah.

Okay, I want to see if I'm playing it right. I don't even know if you're going to be playing it right. I won't know because there's like a picked thing, like, or something. It's quite hard to tell just listening to the record what specifically the guitar I'm doing. and because I play the lead I haven't played Yeah I think in some

picks like It's something like You're probably better off sticking to the The core of power of this Because I can remember Yeah I've noticed for the chorus You hit like you hit the zero

But during a solo You go to three Right? Yes I can't remember Alright should we just try and see how it goes Please One

Two Yeah, a bit faster. That was my bad, counting it in a bit too quick, but... That's lead tone, B. Oh, I'm good. One, two, three, four. And then it goes to the... Which one's my rhythm?

Oh, A. Oh, yeah. Oh, right. And look who's chugging now, dude. Oh yeah, dude, yeah, of course. Yeah, that's kind of like, uh, you know, death core adjacent. Yeah, a lot of morbid angel inverted power chords. That's sick, dude.

I love that progression, dude. melodic stuff i think do you remember the first new metal riff you learned we oh i mean i would have tried to have learned good god but i would have only had a six string so i wouldn't physically be able to go dando be but do i still can't play it it's hard yeah no it is it's really hard oh no it's it's tough yeah yeah i mean that or like mine summer and like stuff on around the fur and i was like i think life is peachy and around the third probably the first and um lind biscuit three dollar bill were like the first new metal records i got i think so anything off them you are i think you might be the first guitar player

i think ever josh were you you just busted out like a limb biscuit riff like it was nothing like you played this before oh yeah yeah yeah that riff yeah but when i was a kid i was going to drop I just assumed more was drunk But yeah Yeah it's such a good record I mean it's so like Viby and dark And I don't know

Like urban sounding And then when significant other came out I was super polished And you know like Happy sounding I loved it dude I was horned up Oh no yeah

I was horny I tried to get into it And then I think I sold it Or took it back You took it back Yeah You fucking took the record back Dude

When Slipn not came out I thought I was like, this is exactly what I want. Like, you know, life is peachy and corn, but, you know, heavier. Yeah. I was primed for getting into that stuff. You like the Ross Robinson just over the top. Yeah, I mean, you know, like, I'm sure you're the same. Like, he just, anything he touched back then was so good.

You know, even like at the driving, glass drawer, no matter who he worked with, it just had that vibe. I remember I always reference it for like when people ask like, what? what does heaviness mean to you? And there's a song called Pretty Lush by Glassjaw that was on a free Karrang CD. And before the last chorus, he just goes, you flew by that. Like he doesn't even verbalize like, it doesn't even swear. It just sounds like so pissed off. And I was like, that sounds so cool.

And there's only more recently that I learned that he did the classic through a plant pot at his head or something when he was tracking. And that was him just going, you like saying it to Ross. I thought it was like just to peak like so frustrated, he can't even. and verbalize it, but that sort of, um, that era of Ross Robinson records was a special time. And no one's really done it since. No. No, there's no producers out there that are like, that's the guy that's going to get like everything out of you.

Well, I know you've worked with him since. Oh, yeah. Like, there's no new, like, it's wild. There's no Ross Robinson of this, you know, newer era. I think, uh, these days, because at this, probably back then, people didn't only talk, but now if a producer tried to do that, it would be like, oh, this person's hard to work with. Maybe, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, oh, yeah. I mean, like, like, a lot of people back then. Records. Like, would have been, like, horror stories from Ross. Or it would be like, oh, this dude's canceled because he was, like, abusive and, like, violent. Exactly. Exactly.

Which. Yeah. It sucks, dude. But, I mean, for all accounts, I've heard of Ross, like, he sounds like a sweetheart, but he's just trying to capture some. He's a sweet guy, man. Yeah. So I'm not, I'm definitely want to clarify. I'm not assuming that he is abusive or whatever,

but like, yeah, there's stories of him throwing shit at people when they're tracking just to get something out of them, which is an artist, I'm just like, I respect it. Totally. After that record, I, uh, this was, that was before this, but, like, right before the podcast, I was thinking, like, I, I wonder, I kind of want to be a producer, but I know, it kind of popped in there.

I'm like, I don't, it wouldn't laugh. Because I'll be like it would so cool to have like like a psilosis or like a metal band in there and do that process Yeah, because man, what if I'm just a psycho and it's like throwing shit at people and and then and then make him track and I realize it's in the metal scene that that word will get around so quick and like don't don't go to Garza. He's fucking he's fucking throw shit at you. You're right. I haven't really thought about that. Yeah, I thought about it. I'm like it would be kind of cool to work with some metal bands and like just freak him out but yeah I don't think it'll work. Oh man, yeah. It's a shame. I mean, like, the records that he made there, like, he definitely captured something on all of them that was just like an intensity that,

but I kind of still look for and try and strive to bring out in our music in some ways. I think more, more than anything like, just vocal performance wise. And like, I don't, I don't double track vocals. You don't? Unless it's a chorus. and I'll have like two left and right and one in the middle. But for verses, it's so, you've got to just like repeat everything like a machine.

So they double up. And then there's no vibe because you're concentrating on doing everything perfectly. Whereas I'd rather just trying to moat, you know, when tracking vocals and then if it's a, if the take's not maybe the best, but it sounds like the most pissed off, then I'll keep it.

Yeah. And if you're double tracking, then it becomes more clinical. to me. Hmm. So there's like elements of like Ross Robinson era stuff, but admittedly I produced myself and I'm doing... Yeah, that was a, that was also one of my selfish questions, but also I know a lot of people

are in bands and I think we're in... I was having this conversation last night. I think there's a new era of artists coming out. It's going to continue to evolve, but people are learning to truly do things themselves. And there's no more one road. you're actually a great example of Josh and you're actually the perfect person to ask because we were just looking at the credits of your new record and you're the producer and you're and you're and you're the mixer yeah yeah I so how do you how do you do how do you do you do that how do you produce and mix

your own band the reason I said oh god just quickly is that when one of our singles went up on YouTube it listed the credits and it was like Josh Middleton lyrics Josh Milton music Josh Milton, producer Josh Milton mixer and like, and someone was like, oh my God, this guy's like Axel Rose, the ego on this guy. But right underneath all of that, it says credits generated by YouTube AI. It wasn't like I was like, make sure they put that there. But as you know, like you have to submit when you submit like masters to the label. You just have to fill out forms for this stuff to do who did what.

And I ended up doing a lot of that stuff. but I generally have always tried to hide how much I do. Or like in the past, Silosis would always be more music by Silosis. Like I'm not looking for sure. But anyway, yeah, it turns out I did do a lot on this record.

It's just, it's more that I have an idea of how I want things to sound. Like I wanted someone to mix a sign of things to come to the previous record. And got some mixes back and I was like, no, I know what I want it to be like, sorry, give me the files back.

um wow and not that i would do a better job i just i know like the nuance of every type of thing and i may not do the best mix but it'll be as close to the vision of my head that i didn't think i had because i didn't want to do it but yeah i just took on the work i think now i'm too much of a backseat producer or mixer like i've driven scottackins who's a good friend of mine who we've worked with and co-produced this record he engineered drums we tracked guitars of them on the last record, I've just been like, you know, essentially over his shoulder like, oh, can you do this? Can you do this? Can you do this?

I mean, we'd be mixing and messaging via like messenger and stuff, not in the room with him. Yeah. But I'd essentially just be pushing him to do stuff where he's like, if I just left him alone, he'd done a way better job of mixing. But I just had these like very specific ideas. So instead of driving someone else crazy, I'm just like, I will. I'll drive myself crazy. exactly yeah because scott kins is the man he's he gets some of the best guitar tones out there he does

all the cradle of filth stuff he's done like the last seven records for them he did like he used to work with he's done stuff with andy sniep he did behemoth and evangelian with colin richison oh yeah yeah engineered that mix so like he's like one of my favorite producers so he could do a better job than me but i don't want to drive him crazy so i do it Yeah. How do you start this path? Mixing and production? Yeah. Just doing it every day.

Like, just, just nerding out. I mean, like, you've got to really want to do it. Like, I will reverse engineer guitar tones or records that I like. Like, find out all the gear that they used. See if I can, you know, match that tone for fun. I'll do that. Really? As like, I'm going to do that this evening.

there's something like someone might play computer games. I'll do that instead for fun. Or my brain's just always thinking about it. Or like, or it's kind of like problem solving mixing. It's kind of like doing a puzzle. How can I get this to work with this? And, you know, yeah.

Okay. It's fun to me. But yeah, I think maybe it's just like either you like it and you're into that stuff or you can't force it maybe. I don't know. So you actually, so you have to want to do it. I guess so, yeah.

Like, I'm, I'm not, you know, someone like Nolly is like super intelligent. I speak to him most days. And he shares, you know, tips with me and we talk about tones and stuff, but I'm not academic. And I'm a bit of a hack when it comes to mixing. I've just got to a point where I can do what I think is a good pro-sounding mix. But, I mean, when I first joined architects and Dan came away in my house and we're demoing, he would see me going to file save. He was like, you know, you can hit like Command S.

I was like, oh, cool. Like, I'm terrible with computers, with technology, but I just love, I just love the sound of a good record. Like, as a kid, I'd always, I'd pick up Andy Sneeple, Colin Richardson Records, because they'd mixed it. And I'd enjoy listening to it, even if the music was a bit like, yeah,

I'd just still get a kick out of the way it sounded, if it just, if the mix was that good, you know? I got into bands that I wouldn't, When we listened to, like, I was never into Judas Priest. And then the first record, Annie Sneep did with Judas Priest, I listened to it nonstop. Wow. Firepower. Just because, and then I, like, appreciate it more.

Like, I've always done my homework with, like, metal and stuff. But I never went that old school. But that's an example of, like, if Andy Sneep's mixed it, I'm going to listen to it. And then I would get into it through that. So, yeah, there's a type of mix that I gravitate towards. that I'm just excited by and I want to learn how they did it. And also, I like to get my ideas across. I'd always want to present demos to the band that sound like a finished record.

Because if you've got like a really basic riff, like if you've got the riff to walk, there's a fine line between it being incredible or just really boring. And if you can dress it up with like good production and show people like, just hear me out, this is how it could sound. Because if I just go like, here's the riff just on its own and you're at band practice. So the same one could just be like, no, that's a terrible idea.

Whereas when you could be like, no, hear me out. And you, like, have some good sounding drums and you can mix it and like present it to the guys. And then they can see like your vision. That's a big part of why I got why I go into like mixing and stuff. So it sounds like it's, uh, it sounds like something that you didn't force. It sounds like you're just interested in it. Like yeah, you were generally super interested in it. what I want to do.

But at the same time, didn't trust anyone locally. Not trust, they just wasn't anyone. There was, you know, I couldn't go to a local studio and expect them to even know, like, oh, have you heard, you know, Fear Factory, like, do you manufacture or something? Like, I want it to sound like that. They were like, they've got no reference.

So how are they going to do a good mix for a metal band if they don't understand it? So that's why in the early days I got into production. I bought a bunch of mics, would just learn as much as I could. Our first two EPs we did, one came out in 2005 and then 2006. One was casting shadows. One was called the Supreme Oppressor.

They were both just meant to be demos just to submit to labels. They weren't meant to be released. And that was me just having all the time in the world, living at home, recording guitars in my bedroom, making up cabs, just kind of tinkering until I could get something that sounded semi-professional for the time. Sounds terrible now.

But when I look back, I'm like, well, compared to a lot of other mixes that were out on like the underground scene, it holds up to a degree. Yeah. Hmm. Interesting. And also, you're also doing what you had access to as a kid because you put out a lot of videos. I see a pop up. on my phone. So those are secrets.

And it makes sense that you do that because that's how you got into it. People were giving you secrets. And it's like you're kind of passing it on. Yeah, you don't need to like keep all that stuff secret and like coveted. Like, you know, just you can help people figure out because everyone, it's all subjective anyway. Like tone and mixing. There's no like, you know, you can learn all the secrets. but you're going to have your own tastes in like guitar tone or drums.

You know, it's never a good idea to like try and be like, well, I want this record's kick drum and this record's guitar tone and then try and mix it all together because it may not work. But there will be like tastes that you're like, well, maybe you can't steal that snare sound exactly, but you like the fact that it's a high tune snare and how can you make that work in your mix. So it's all subjective. So like you, I don't see the point in trying to like keep secrets with mix. That's awesome. A lot of people can learn from that. There's a lot of gatekeeping with the secrets and how you do certain things. So it's cool. Yeah. It's awesome. Let's talk about the fucking guitar, dude. Yeah. What do we have here? This is a JM1, my signature model with ESP. It confuses people because, and it's a joke on this tour, like the first one was the JM 2 and the second one's the GM 1. But this, this, this, this. This, this, this.

body shape is an M and the one refers to how many pickups. So the first one, when I got the prototype back, the Jam 2, because it's based on an M2 guitar, and they just put a J in front of it. I was like, that's so funny. It's like a little pun, just because my initials of Josh Middleton, too, but it's also a M2. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was just like, oh, that's cool. So, yeah, like I'm a huge ESP fan. And like, I remember, you know, around the fur inlay, just looking at Steph's guitar and just been like, that's so sick. Yeah, yeah. And then I think it was later on when like Chimerra came out around passive existence era, or at least when I was first aware of them, they were playing like LTDs. And I remember seeing like Dillinger back in 2002.

They were playing that like LTTMH 301 or 300, whatever. And I was like, I need that. So I got one. And, you know, just, they're always like my face. favorite guitar brand. So it's a dream come true to have a signature model. You shout out to Tony, ESB. Yeah, so it's really, my main focus is like how good it sounds, you know, like recording and for it to sound good. And I don't know if your construction is the same, but I like like a bolt on neck, an older body, which is kind of typical for fenders, I guess, as well. Yes. I think older wood

sounds good for like articulate picking and I think a huge misconception is bolt on necks are like cheaper and like people like why wouldn't you get neck through but it sounds snappier you get that there's something about boltons yeah especially for like the that kind of pick attack you can really hear it and um I've noticed it when we did our first record with sky Atkins

and he did the whole production the whole mix I took a bunch of guitars with me and the ones that older body bolt on neck sounded noticeably better for what we were doing for that kind of like you know metallic thrashy stuff so yeah there's a big part of it um the construction being bolt on is very deliberate and plus it like i can get up the high end without any problem with that stuff and then bridge wise a lot of people like really small bridges and i played low profile bridges before and then when I got the first process like back, I was like, oh, it doesn't, it sounds kind of scratchy and thin.

And I was speaking to Nolly about it. And he was like, it's probably the bridge. Like, so the, the tunamatic bridge, I think is the best like all rounder for tone. Really? But just to get it like to have that modern playability, it's like sunken into the body. I was looking at it. Is it in the body? Yeah. So you get that really low profile feel, but the tone for me is more suited. I never seen that. in person before yeah i mean ESP done it on a few guitars but this was the first production model

or like ltd to have this type of bridge i also like it i think um when i've played like really low profile bridges if you're like moving around on stage and like you know jumping around and stuff i'd always find like you know i want to lock into my palm mute spot and when the bridge is so small and you can't really feel where the bridge starts i'm like oh where is it whereas this little anchor point for me is kind of like a bonus so As soon as I feel that, I'm like, I know exactly where I'm getting the best palmute spot. And then Fishmen, I've been with them since like 2018, maybe. I always used to like active pickups.

I mean, for me personally, like, people, like, they just regurgitate the same stuff. They complain that there's no dynamics. And I'm like, cool, yeah, I'm in a metal band. I don't want any dynamics. Like, like, I mean, maybe for lead stuff, you can be a bit more expressive with passives but for the majority of the time I'm playing rhythm and like rhythm's way more important to me and like have you heard the black album you know yeah active pickups are sick so I've always been an active pickup guy and I pride myself on how any consistent aggressive right hand but I still want

to pick up to even things out you know yeah as well and I always like quad tracking guitars I think if there's any nuance in the difference in playing with passives it's more noticeable so Yeah, but yeah, that's pretty much aspects. Alderwood body, maple neck? Yeah, it's like a roasted maple. Roasted maple, okay. It's got like looming lays glow in the dark, locking tuners, quilted maple top. I should have cleaned it.

I'm sorry, Tony, for bringing it a dirty guitar on the podcast. But yeah, it's, I mean, I got this offstage last night and I just put it in my bunk because it would have been buried in the trailer. Oh, yeah. So I just took out of the Enki. and then uh thank you for that no worries uh yeah i mean i'm just have any prep board yeah epinelli fretboard stainless steel jumbo frets um the main choices is like just for time like for being a good recording guitar just so happens that that translate to a good live guitar as well scale length is 25.5 just standard i guess yeah do it

now now we got to hear it yeah what did it yeah what what what are some of your favorite silose's riffs um there's a riff in like a song called pariahs off the record before that's really fun to play like it's a fun one um yeah i mean on the new record there's there's a bunch of new riffs that i really like there's the most boring riff to play on its own there's like a two-step riff in the in the title track the new flesh that's just like when we play it it just goes off live but it's just It got horned up Yeah, I mean I just love chugging, you know?

That's it. Yeah, my mind goes blank. All-Glory Noval. There's a good riff in that. there you go what's your favorite riff off the new new record oh it's tough to um yeah i don't know i i like that one a lot that one's really fun um check my tuning real quick i've just probably been never ever so slightly out it sounds better it sounds better yeah a bit more i like i like my guitar just a slightly out of tune it's give me i'm kind of like that with drums like it's a

producer like if the snare drums too perfectly in tune it sounds weird to me oh hell yeah it needs to be about like bong good just to sound heavy uh there's like a really fun like riff and beneath the surfers like that's another fun one uh mirror mirror that's a that's a very fear factory inspired kind of shrug there you go yeah i and i like the breakdown and lacerations that's a fun one It's cool. It's really, it's, there's really no nonsense with, with, with, with, with, with, with, I'm trying to get back to that. Where it's just like, it's no nonsense. It's exactly what it needs to be. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, we have our technical moments, but, um, I don't necessarily think that's always makes for the best riff. Totally. You know, growing up, like, I think in the era of music, like, you know, we both grew up listening to, like, getting into heavy music.

through new metal where the riffs were super simple kind of gives you that kind of like DNA or backbone of like if the riff can be good when it's simple then that's great and not pantera as well like dime bag was in the same guitarist but loads of their riffs are super easy like most of them are easy doesn't mean that there's anything you know less if they are but then again i'm a huge fan of decapitated and they put out a record in 2002 called nehillity

which is oh my says insane just like you know you've had fog on here and like obviously he was talking about that riff uh being inspired by uh lumb biscuit as well like the but that that album's got like some of the just it's like god tier riff after riff like every song is like about a hundred riffs and they're all insane and they're super technical so iconic tephanal riffs there there was a song on that record called babylon's pride and it's maybe not the first riff but there's like you know an intro riff and then it drops to this halftime thing that is like the best like yeah yeah that that rips just so good man i forgot about that riff yeah that's a yeah so that that that record is like the riff encyclopedia

i think sometimes when people ask me like oh how do you keep writing um like loads of riffs and where's your inspiration come from i think having uh being like super into death metal from early age where the focus is just riffs. You know, there's rarely, there's no choruses really, you know, there's not many, if there are any choruses on that record or Cannibal Corp stuff. So, and there's not much melody,

and the focus is just on riffs. So the riffs have to be good. And I have a, you know, growing up listening to a lot of death metal and thrash, where the focus is just excellent riffs. I think, um, today's day and age when kids are growing up listening to some more like generic,

metal core stuff where the riffs are really just a rhythm and a few notes they don't have that uh you know encyclopedia of inspiration to draw from whereas i can just be like oh i'll just go check out to capitated record and feel inspired oh totally i don't know it fucking lights you up dude yeah yeah can i uh can i play that thing of course i always always forget and i finally i finally fucking remembered i love bull tons dude this is Hell yeah, same. Roasted maple, huh? Yep.

Wow, okay. String through. Yep. Yeah, I don't think I ever played a guitar that has a, like, the bridge is in there. Yeah. It might take it off so, like, get used to that. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Chugged up. Yeah, it sounds good. Dude, this guitar makes you want to riff. Hell yeah, it does. I don't know how to rip, but I'm riffing right now. Yeah, you are.

That sounds good. I was just thinking, like, would you ever, would you ever consider doing some C-sharp stuff for suicide? I can't. You just got to stick to the one. I try going up. I try going down. Right. I try going everywhere.

I always go back to drop A. I tried. Yeah, yeah. But it's fun to play. I bet if I left you in a studio with that guitar for a day, you. you'd write a whole EP. Dude, this is... This guitar is making me this horned up.

I'm just... I just wrote probably four riffs in a matter of 10 seconds. Yeah, it's the guitar. That's right. It is, dude. Dude, okay, I need to stop. I'm stopping. You're addicted, yeah.

Dude, it plays great, man. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. What are the string gauges? 11 to 56. 11 of 56. For a C-sharp standard. C-sharp.

Yeah. Dude, I might need to steal that. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I can see about getting one in your hands. 56, okay, nice. Yeah, it just makes you one of this. Yeah, yeah, I mean, like, we're writing on tour and just, we have a couple of these that me and Ben, who's our bass player, he's writing a lot at the moment, where we just,

riffs are fine at the moment. Yeah, the, the bridge and the body is, I get it Yeah Yeah You have to try it for yourself That's fucking sick I mean

I could only I would love to For that guitar I would love to tune it to drop A and play like Iowa songs Oh yeah I could kind of feel like

That's exactly I would just I might die Yeah I mean we're one night away From Drop B On

That's actually really tricky rift to play. That rips hard. At that speed. It's faster than that. That riffs hard. I try to play it a few times. It's really tough. Mick and Jim were like the first couple of guitar heroes I had. Mainly Mick like because he was like the more the death metal guy and Slipknot got me into like Mord Angel and stuff. Such a good riff. He is fucking. Being a fan of like Slipknot when they first came out. I mean I guess maybe that's what

fans feel like like young kids feel like about sleep token the whole kind of like myth like myth or mythology what I'm trying to say but yeah uh it was it was an exciting time when slip not came out for sure no if you play some of the songs I mean I've done it that makes you it's like there's some hard riffs and it really it does like improve your playing oh yeah for sure yeah there's a lot of like you know really primal easy stuff and then they'll just throw in a riff like that we're like this is really tricky to down Oh yeah, I'm trying to downpick. I'm like, fuck. Yeah, yeah.

Fuck. Hell yeah. I'm gonna relearn it. That riff in in particular actually is like, it's a riff that I'll jam. I'm like, this kind of dictates where I'm at right now. Right. I'm not playing it solid. I'm all right, boy, some, every one's to while I'll nail it.

Like, oh, I'm in a really good spot right now. Right, right, yeah, yeah. That's probably a good riff to warm up on and like, if I can play that at Tempire, then I'm good to go on stage. It's like, dude, I'm fucking. But some days I just don't pick up. just don't pick up a guitar until I am on stage because I'm lazy. Uh-oh. Yeah.

Do you warm up or no? I want to, but I focus more on my voice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot about that one. Yeah. Yeah, so vocals take precedent for me.

And like, I try and write riffs and solos a level where I'm this good and I only need to be that good on stage. Like, I, it's all within my abilities. I'm, I make mistakes. all the time um but i i can get away of not warming up guitar but vocals i'm i'm more worried about vocals like i just get in my head i think my singers do you wake up you're like oh do i have a sore throat today oh no so you panic whereas guitar it's like whatever you know i could be sick and just the guitarist in a man and just no one will know whereas as a vocalist you're like

not hiding no hiding from it no no no you're your front center man yeah yeah if you wake up yeah Like I had a sword throat. Oh, no. Yes. Yeah. I heard you, uh, I heard you like to, uh, reverse engineer songs. So you'll, you'll come up with, uh, a bridge first and like the emotion first. And then you'll write the song around that.

Yeah, I used to do that a lot. True. Yeah, I used to do it more back in the day with some of our old stuff where we'd have these big melodic epic sections. Um, I used to, I've never had piano lessons, but my parents have a, like, an upright piano that I just was in the house. And I'd always just kind of let my hands dictate and just fumble around. I know that you can do octaves with that hand, triads with that hand,

and just come up with like stuff. I mean, everything sounds so good and emotional when you write on a piano. Oh, yeah, yeah. But I just found it a good way of getting out of, you know, the boxes that you live in as a guitarist. You can just see, you know, the same core progressions or the same old stuff that you do day after day on a guitar. And like, sitting down in front of an instrument that you don't play as much.

or don't, is just a good way of like coming up the new ideas. And I'd still find out, I'd get this like core progression. I'm like, oh, this is incredible. And then I'd transpose it to the guitar and be like, oh, no, I've used that core progression before. Oh, well. And still do it and still use it again. But just that coming at it from that angle. So I used to do that a lot and I'd come up with these like melodic sections in songs.

And then I'd, that'd be like the focus of the song. Then I'd work backwards from the middle eight. But that was more like on our record, like monolith in 2012. And dormant heart, like we used to have this period of being a bit more like kind of progressive. And like, I really like bands like Cult of Luna,

where it's like super kind of doomy and epic and melodic. So we're trying to get a bit of that into the music at the time. That kind of post-rock, lots of delay pedals. Culta Luna, one of those bands I had, never even jammed once i mean they got some really good stuff like that record eternal kingdom or there's a record called vertical um incredible but even i myself don't have the attention span anymore so like really progressive music um i don't know if that's the case of all of us in like you know where we're at as a society with everything on your phone just being instant but i don't

i rarely find myself listening to a col of lunar or neurosis and stuff that I used to listen to a lot. Or maybe it's just a phase. I still love that stuff, but I'm just kind of go back to what I grew up listening to, which was a lot of death metal and just instant riffs. I could tell. You said earlier, Josh, just because we're here and I know what it's like. You mentioned earlier that psilosis,

doesn't really have a story or not like not a lot of us out there which is i i noticed that when i was doing some digging yeah yeah it's not really not a lot out there about the band and uh is there uh i got an interesting question for you what would uh what would you want out there if if you if you were if you were doing interviews back then what what would you actually want out there and people to know yeah i don't know you mean like back in the day yeah i think that's the problem i I think, you know, I was really proud of all the music we've done, but there's not, like, a lot to latch on to, you know, from a press point of view, like, okay, the record's good, but what else? Like, what can you tell us about the band? It's like, well, we're just a bunch of kids that, like, grew up, you know, hanging out, listening to heavy music and trying to be the best band we could.

But that's not that exciting as a story, you know? so i don't know there isn't much like i can think of you know we're like i think uh we've just always been like driven and like try and write you know the best music possible i mean i've definitely uh you know i have like anxiety or i've been you know had periods of like depression so that's like where that comes from in the music so it's not like i'm just like happy go lucky all the time but it's not enough of a story to write about or maybe maybe I could have been more outspoken back in the day about like myself personally or like the stuff that totally troubles me totally but I'm too reserved or to English like too like you know

closed off is that is that an English thing by nature yeah I think so yeah I mean there's there's a like a pink Floyd song um I forget the lyric exactly it's like hanging it on in silent desperation is the English way so just like everything's fine you know put up a bit of a barrier and not talk about your problems yeah I think that's something on is it on dark side of the moon or um that kind of sums up englishness or like i i don't do well like when people offer me compliments you know oh yeah so like at the end of the show and people like you have no idea and i'm like oh thanks that's enough being nice to me yeah like i'm not being rude like it's amazing to hear that kind of stuff but um yeah that's a very british thing as

well like I'm I'm better off when people are like making you know banter like like like making fun and stuff and I'm like yeah yeah you know that that's easier for me to take them compliments so that that is definitely an English thing for sure we're a lot more like closed books I guess close books yeah I never really yeah I never put tuning together yeah I do kind of notice that me not not everyone but just generally I think that's the thing yeah yeah it sucks because people only have your your records right they'd only have like the what was what was Josh like yeah I mean like I'm way more outspoken now and I try and make my lyrics um super obvious what they're about um and I'm happy I'm much more mature and like can share that stuff but back in the day

I'd have a lot of I'd kind of dress the lyrics up and part of that was stylistically like at the time I was going through this phase of listening to loads of like do me stuff stuff and Mastodon, where the lyrics are a bit more like ambiguous and, I don't know, primal sounding. So I like kind of hide what the songs were about to me. Usually just a lot of feeling mopey, like a lot of teenagers do. Or when you're in your early 20s, just that vibe. But I'm way more like open now.

like um and i'm i'll i'll just happily to to discuss anything and i don't really hide what the lyrics are about that's another thing that our manager adam at the time was telling me just like you know you need to be relatable you can't just hide everything away because people don't care if it's all like if everything's behind like a closed door so i'm way more kind of just open generally and just like more confident as a person i guess takes time yeah and especially being a front Like because I grew up as a guitarist. I was like, I'm going to be a guitarist. And then when after our first record, we had a singer Jamie Graham, who was an incredible vocalist, still is.

And then I was just like, we're not going to spend years trying to find the right vocalist who can tour, sounds good, get like the whole package. I'll just do it. So it was never on the cards for me as a kid, like to be the singer in the frontman. So it's kind of like, took me a while to. become, you know, the front person, you know, the lead singer and not just the guy who's just screaming. So that took a bit of getting used to, I guess, because I was always guitarist first and foremost. And then now I'm, as evident with me not warming up on guitar before a show, I'm way more focused on the vocals. Yeah. Yeah. Well, cool with that. It's, I'm in the same boat as you,

like spending, like, now you guys spend the rest of your career, re-telling your story. re yeah yeah i mean i mean like obviously we've never enough taught together back in the day uh your first u k tour we did yeah the first one and you were quite a closed book then of course yeah um close as fuck dude i mean i've watched enough of this to know that you've gone through that change thank thank you man i i stole it from uh dana white oh yeah where i watch all his interviews and he'll tell the same stories i find myself like why am i I like I always watch him yeah and I realize like you can never tell your story enough because someone new is always always watching yeah because to you you will feel like you told something

already but there's thousands of fucking people that are going to watch a certain thing or listen to some yeah that have never heard that story yeah and the people that are rewatching it are are obviously fans and don't mind anyway yeah yeah exactly so it's like uh yeah you got to keep and also like your your art is always growing your music always is always growing you're always getting a new new fans yeah that don't know shit about you and like that whatever interview they choose that's going to be their first exactly introduction to you yeah yeah and your fans anyways will want to read hear the story who cares yeah for sure yeah it's never enough and we put out shit all the time no it's never it's never enough yeah yeah for sure i still meet people that don't know

anything about suicide silence. I don't know. How many times I told this one story? I don't know. Yeah, yeah. Last count the date, they don't know.

Exactly, yeah. I get that for sure. Is the, hey, Josh, anything that we might have missed, um, we got the new record. We jammed some riffs. We talked,

we talked about the ESP. Do you, think about like, you, um, you're a kid and you're listening and Washington depth tones and step in. Yeah, get ESP and now you have your own.

Oh, it's insane. It's insane, dude. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Yeah. Congrats, man. It's crazy. It's beautiful.

It's really humbling and just like a dream come true. Like a huge bucket list thing that I can tick off. But hopefully, you know, I can keep doing some. Maybe make some new ones. Yeah. But just having, I mean, just doing the one was crazy. I mean, I think a big part of getting the first one, you know, I was in architects at the time. So a bigger band.

And like Tony, my guy who was, you know, doing artist relations, you know, he kind of has to put it to, in my head, like a board of directors and might be like, well, he's in this band. But even now the second one, it's still doing well. I think I've always had like a more of like a cult guitarist following with Solosis because of how, like, technical it is. I'd always see people buying the signature guitar even when I was in architects, but they'd tag me and they'd be playing like Solos's suite picking. stuff whatever oh so i think like i can now that i've had that first one out i can justify even though we're not like the biggest band on the planet maybe not what a lot of companies would consider like a signature artist level band i think i've got enough of my name out there as a guitarist to like warrant warrant that as well beautiful um but yeah i'm just like super grateful like i genuinely

just like like you you were done like not to try and sound like a salesman but i pick this guitar up i'm I'm like, I just want a riff. Yeah. And like to do, you know, I say design it. You know, a lot of this is stuff that already exists in the ESP world. Actually, like, I remember like those old joining the vein Roadrunner VHS videos. Did you ever get them? But that was one like, we're replicated by Fear Factory and it's very similar to this look.

Okay. And I've only just looked at it. I'm like, oh, yeah, it reminds me of, I used to watch that every day after school like Dino in the replica video with his old ESP. Oh, yeah. Six string back in the day. I read about that. Single pickup. Yeah, which again, like that's another, like just core memory for me as a kid, like just seeing ESP guitars.

Like, that's it there, yeah. Like, it's not a reverse headstock, but it's just like an M single pickup. And I think some of the inlays and stuff and just the overall vibe of the guitar, I'm like, oh yeah, that's kind of close to what I ended up with. Because I remember watching this video after school every day, like just jamming this VHS. This was so good. Like, this was such a gateway point for me. like this roadrunner VHS tape, it had Fear Factory, Machine Head, Sepulura,

obituary, typonegative, essentially all the ingredients that goes into silosis. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, and like all the inverted power cores from obituary. Like, yeah, that was, that was like my youth encapsulated in one VHS tape. But yeah, that's, a lot of it's going into this guitar as well.

Beautiful, man. Yeah. Okay, last question. This is how we close off every podcast. What are three albums, should check out could it could be any era any genre it does no rules not siloysis just oh yeah sure sure i mean you've got thrown your own oh okay but generally you just mean anything yeah okay so i'm gonna say the new flesh by solosis because yeah that's what we're

out fuck yeah dude obviously do it more banish dude talk about your own shit just that's just also just the easy one so i don't have to use much brain power um but then i'll say yeah Nahility by Decapitated. Oh, yeah. If you like riffs. Rift, I mean, it's a death metal record. It's a technical death metal record, but there's a lot of like Pantera groove to it at the same time. So that's up there for me.

I'm going to shout out, well, I think one of the most underrated heavy bands on the planet burnt by the sun. They have a record called soundtrack to the Personal Revolution. And it, I think, it's also in C-Shop Standard, I think. and it is to me the heaviest record of all time in some ways I think it's it's Dave Witty who was in like

Discord and Access he's the municipal waste drama Oh yeah this record okay I'm gonna cover a grind core or was like it's kind of it's a relapse record in the mid or early 2000s a lot of grind elements

a lot of maybe you could say metal core but not in any way it's a super unique record that so many riffs and so many what me and our old guitarist Bailey would refer to as table-flipping moments where you literally just want to like trash your bedroom like so primal and like it's it's not recorded by Ross Robinson but it's got that like energy to it's quite a live sounding record and it's just so heavy and I think it's a masterpiece and very very underrated and a huge part of solosis when we first started.

out we just wanted to sound like that. Oh wow. Which will surprise people because we don't sound like that. But it's so heavy, so good. But not death metal. It's just the most abrasive record. Braceive. Good rifts.

Yeah, but like tons of groove. Tons of groove as well. It's not like just, it's not a lot of blasting. There's a lot of just like pummeling steamroller big riffs. Yeah. Quirky rifts. Brimped of sun has not been brought up yet. Cool.

That's why I picked it. Yeah. I got to hit people with a deep cut. But I genuinely hold that album in very high regard. So yeah. Nice. The new flesh out now. Check it out.

A great record. Thank you. Produce and mixed by Josh. Yeah. Produce mixed. Everything. This is a good on a lot. What do you want people to go?

Facebook. We got IG's. Yeah. Instagram. Solis is official. I have. Facebook. I guess the thing I didn't plug, which I don't mind not plug in is I have like a plug-in company. So I do like my drum sounds and stuff. Working on a new product at the moment, that's metal tone.

M-D-L-T-O-N with an E at the end. It's like my surname, Josh Middleton, but take a few letters out and put any at the end. Middle tone. That's a shameless plug. Boom. But yeah, no, check out the new size of record. That's what we're out here, you know, promoting. Genuinely feel like it's our best record, you know. I'm 100% like back in that mindset of being a 16 year old kid, just trying to remember the excitement of getting into like heavy music. And that's, you know, where I'm at more than ever now, I'm a 16 year old up here listening to Slim Rock for the first time.

Of course. So you can't ever lose that, man. You can't. And your YouTube channel? Yeah. Personal. I can't even remember what the handle is. But you'll find me.

Just search my name. It keeps popping up on my phone. Josh, great. Thank you so much for hanging. It's a pleasure. Pleasure. All right, everyone. That's it.

Love you guys. Thank you, man.