Garza Podcast - 3 - GUITAR TECH | John Douglas

Episode Date: March 1, 2021

John Douglas is a guitar tech, and bass player for Last of Our Kind. SPONSORS: Click this link to purchase from Sweetwater & help support the podcast: imp.i114863.net/rnrmVB  

See, that's why you're on the podcast, man. I knew I knew you're going to fucking add a whole new vibe to it. Absolutely, brother. Is it already rolling? We're going. Audio's going. Video's going. We're fucking going.

We're going live. All right. Hang on. Chris Garza. Boom. Tagged. Corona, California. That's what we're at.

Coming soon. Live now. Party. Facebook, too. And Facebook? Okay. I mean, like, Instagram goes to Facebook, you know. Sick, man.

I rarely, rarely will post on Facebook. Yeah. Like, the Facebook is just the mirror of my Instagram. Oh, of course. Sure. I mean, like, some people back of the day when Myspace was a thing, they would be like, oh, I have a Twitter because I could post on Facebook and Myspace at the same time, multitasking.

And, you know, I mean, I just like having things simple kind of thing where it's like, Hey, I post on one thing. It automatically goes to everything else. Yeah. It makes it easy. Yeah. It's hard, man. The older you get, too, like trying to keep things simple.

It's fucking tough, man. Dude, absolutely. All right. Well, today, JD, thank you for being here, man. Absolutely. It's fucking cool. I had a blast. I got to drive on the express lane.

I was like, you know what? $7. Send it. Let's go. John Douglas. hashtag J. Dogg. J. Dog. Headlamp Poppy.

Headlamp Poppy. So who's her? Who first came up with that? Honestly, at the top of my head, I don't really remember. My longtime best friend, AJ, I mean, dude, we went to kindergarten together. Sick. He, hang on, I'm going to fix my hat right fast. Good.

Boom, Shackalaka. All right. My best friend, AJ, I know he's totally going to be watching this, too, when this comes out. Cool. But went to kindergarten together, 1999, 2000. Yeah. Um, used to live in the trailer park behind my house, but we like never hung out. Yeah.

But he, uh, kind of like got, like inspired me to like say, hey, you should make an alias for yourself. Like, you know, where someone could call you and be like, yo, headlail poppy. What's up? It's just like. Ady boy. Oh, hey. It's not just like John Douglas or John or whatever. Yeah.

But, um, he kind of inspired me to like make an actual alias online public alias. Cool. Just to put all my tech stuff. Because the one thing I have always had the fear of when posting online is I'm posting too much. People don't like what I post. Yada yada. Like having the headlamp popping Instagram page, which will eventually be, which will somehow spiral into the abyss of Facebook. But we're also become its own website, become its own brand, so to speak.

Cool. I already do have an LLC, which is actually a very funky thing to get into. But at the same time, it was like, let's go. let's do it. Full send. Just do it. But he just, he inspired,

it inspired me to be, uh, to make it as a, an alias, so to speak. Where it gives an online extra, it's, its own world,

own identity, where I could just post tech stuff all I want. I can post. Yeah. Rigs. I could post, you know, things I'm doing,

bands I'm working with, um, with no filter. You know, as my own personal, like, you know, all my personal socials.

It's like, you know, like I'll post every now and then when I have exciting news, when I'm getting in and out burger and I feel this meal is absolutely delicious and I need to take a photo before I share it to the world. But, um,

uh, no, it just gives me somewhere I could post all my tech stuff too. And I get people hitting me up. I mean, I have people that follow me there that don't even follow me on my personal page. They just want to see the tech stuff.

They just want to see what strings I'm using, you know, what guitars I'm working on, before and afters, rigs them building, etc. So, but yeah, my friend AJ is the one who kind of like inspired me to do that. That's cool. And when we were sitting down making everything, he goes, you're already done the hardest part. You've already come up with the character or the alias.

You've already come up with the slogan, which is stay lit. I did that the first time I clicked my headlap and I was just like, that's so cheesy, but I'm so about it. let's go. So, but yeah, that's how that came up. I launched that in November. Cool. You know, it's just cool. And a lot of friends, a lot of tech friends, you know, it's just, it's something to do

with no filter. Cool. Well, cheers to a Headland Poppy, right? Cheers to Headland Poppy indeed. Remember, stay lit. Love you too, buddy. Already going. Cool.

How did you get into this whole scene of traveling circus and teching bands? How did this whole thing start? Oh, man. All right. So the origin of me playing music in general was September of 2010, sitting at home, going on Craigslist, looking for my first band, official band. My first band I ever played in was called Dead Sky Black Sun, Death Metal Band, Down the Street from my house. Shit was lit. I was in the band for about three weeks.

It counts, man. You're in there. I learned five songs. We played a show. My grandma came out on Wednesday night to Chain Reaction. Full send. All in three weeks? All in three weeks.

Wow. But, like, I mean, I learned songs. I was just dedicated. So time goes on. September 2010 is when I first started playing a band. And then about late 2014, like right at the start of 2015, is when I joined Spades and Blades. Spades and Blades was my 10th band to B-N, ranging from B. ranging from bands from three weeks, two months, five months, and then spades and blades.

Oh, no, the band before Spades and Blades was a band called Face the Throne. Cool. Which arguably was my favorite local band I was ever in before I ever got into a van and started touring or actually getting on the road. Yeah. I was in that band for about two, two years about, cut a record, did a video. we went from playing into the garage to headlining House of Blues. Wow. Yeah, it was sick.

And it was the first time I was ever in a band that was seven strings. No. I don't know. I can't remember off the top of my head. But no, it was great. It was great. That was my favorite, arguably, the favorite local band I was ever in. Cool.

Join Spades and Blades. And immediately started learning songs went on tour right away. It wasn't my first tour. I had done a tour at the late end of 2014. Yeah. which I will argue is my worst tour I ever did because it was 12 shows, you know, two weeks worth of shows, two off days. It counts.

37 days. Oh, spread out. Oh, real spread out. Like homeless in Orlando, Florida for two weeks. Yeah. I just, dude, the amount of stories I have from that tour alone. Yeah. Insane.

Anyways, so I joined Spades and Blades early 2014, or late 2014, early 2015. immediately hit the road spring and then getting to summer did another tour and then early 2016 is when I went on my first I'm going to say real tour

straight up like a day sheet we had load in times we were playing legit real venues we had real crowds it was like wow this is really sick I mean our final show was sold out Fonda Theater,

which I will come back in a minute and say the highlights of Fonda Theater because it's a very, it's a day I absolutely remember. Yeah. So go on tour in 2016, and it was Fear Factory and Soilwork. So two solid bands. Not a co-headliner,

soil work was direct support, but then here is my band, Spades of Blades, and we're opening up for Fear Factory and soil work. Sick. So do the whole tour. it was a buy-on tour and we were an unsigned band

so like you know we had to come up with the Capitol and we had to get real creative to do this and get on the tour but the thing is with Spades and Blades is every single person is so thoroughly dedicated and that was the band I wanted to be in because those guys knew what they were doing

those guys had a goal, had a future and they're like let's go, let's do it and I joined Spades and Blades and I let's go So we go on tour, we come up with the Capitol, we go, we do this thing. And tour is so sick. But, I mean, we were grinding, though. It was, it was buying.

We're not getting paid. We're slinging merch. We're selling CDs and we're getting, I mean, we had a three, I hired a three person crew for that tour. And I was like, I want you, you and you on this tour to help my band, even though we're not getting money. But like, we still like made it going through. Cool. So we do the tour. and

the last or the fourth the last show was Las Vegas and you know at the end of tour we get tired we're like

man I can't wait to go home I mean you know like you know the final stretch kind of thing yeah and we're driving back

from Las Vegas and our van dies and we're like you know we're almost home we're all from L.A.

or SoCal So van dies We went through I think it was about Five gallons of oil To get our van home Because we're not gonna be stuck in the I-15 We gotta get home

You know, we can get home The final stretch So we're leaking oil like crazy You know, it took us about eight hours To drive home from Vegas About four and a half hour drive Realistically in a van trailer Yeah

So we're just limping it home Get home And that day we have a show in San Diego What do we do? Get into a van Like borrowed a van from a homey drive down San Diego. So I'm already worn out from end of tour.

I'm home, but like, I'm not really home. And in this thought process of my head, I'm like, you know what? Like, I'm over touring. I had not even $150 to my name at this point. Be-oh, because, like, you know, buying food, buying gear, you know, surviving on a seven-week US tour. About $150 to my name. start driving from San Diego

or from home or L.A. to San Diego get to the club, load in, you know, Fear Factory is like sound checking or whatnot. And I'm sitting in my van. And I had already texted my boss at Starbucks before I was in the touring world. I was brista. You know, hey, welcome to Starbucks.

My name is John. What can I get for you started today? Kind of thing. And I already texted my boss. I was like, hey, I think I'm done touring. I get home on like Tuesday. Well, can you hire me? I was ready to go back to Starbucks.

Completely done playing music. Yeah. I had already made my dream rig. I had already met my dream girl at the time. Happily a Raptor kind of thing. I was done. Like I met my goals. I was satisfied.

20 minutes after that text as I was sitting in the front and the front passenger seat of the van, just like, not even our van. just like some random band we were having. Texting my boss. Dino Cazares walks up to me and he's like, hey, uh, you want to go to Australia

in South Africa in two weeks? I'll pay you a thousand bucks a week to be my guitar tech. And I was just like, huh? Like, okay. Sounds good. You goes, all right, yeah, we'll talk about it.

So the invite was there. So immediately, like, I had not given up of my music world, But I was like, this was actually really sick. Like, I'm going to go work and go travel. Like, okay. So we do the last couple shows. And at Fonda Theater,

um, no, we, no, the other thing, too, was we were driving from Arizona back to L.A. And we have, instead of seven people,

we had 10 people in our van, because we brought a couple of family and friends. Yeah. For the last couple shows. And I'm sitting in the backseat of this van. And I'll never forget, I have, this is why I still had an iPod classic. And I'm going through my iPod to play music. And my iPod deleted all of its music.

Hard reset. I don't know the phenomena. I don't know what happened. But I didn't even have music. And so I was already like, man, this sucks. I have a four hour drive. They can't even listen to any jams right now. So I'm like sitting there like, you know, the last like kind of.

things that are getting to me. And then basically we get to the Fonda Theater, last day of tour, high stress, yada yada, yada, you know, sappyness, and all of a sudden I'm sitting in the green room. You know Fonda Theater, it's got those, like, hallway. It's got the, it's a circle hallway, and there's, like, a green room, like, surrounding it.

It's super weird. We did it on the one suicide tour I was not on, but I was there for the last three California shows. Thank you for that. Yes. That was pure destruction every night But no Basically I was sitting in this green room

And the guitar tech of Fear Factory at the time Max Karen He goes, yo Come over to like you know the other green room like We're gonna have a chat And I was like oh okay I wonder what was talking about Dino Max Fear Factory manager and me Hey so uh you know what you're doing?

Okay cool you got a passport Uh stipulation. I thought I had a passport. It expired. And I was leaving Australia in two weeks. Like, what the hell? Like, what am I going to do?

So I was like, yeah. And Dino's like, all right, cool. You're hired. Instant. Like, I'm going from playing a show to going on tour, working for a band I just toured with. So I already knew their rig. I already knew the guitars.

But, like, I was not, like, working, so to speak. I was playing. So, yeah. May, oh God, I want to say, it was like first week of May, 2016 is when I became an official guitar tech. I went from playing in the band to working for bands. And actually my first guitar change ever, because I was shadowing the guitar tech,

you know, like last minute kind of things, what to do. My first guitar change ever, you know, you know, with like changing tunes or, well, suicide doesn't really change tunings, but, you know, giving a guitar over to someone and taking a guitar. Fonda Theater, I trip over the stairs and I fall. With two guitars in my hand.

And you just hear the whole crowd sold out Fondi Theater, Hometown show. Oh. And I was like, like, nothing happened, nothing happened. Everything's fine. The guitar is still in tune. And Dino's like, what happened? What happened?

I was like, oh, nothing. Just, you know, casual. So that was my first time I ever did a guitar change, professionally. fell and ate crap But yeah So 2016 is when I started working for Fear Factory And then

Did Australia tour First time ever leaving the country for music Immediately 15 hour, 13 hour flight to Brisbane Let's go To brutal flight I mean The most brutal flight

I've actually done Speaking of crazy flights Thank you The most crazy flight I've ever done Was a nine hour flight With a four hour layover to an 18-hour flight.

Cape Town, South Africa, Dubai, Dubai to LAX. Whoa. Whoa. It gets even crazier. Both of those flights. Okay, so this Fear Factory tour, the one that in 2016, Australia and South Africa, 10 flights in two weeks, ranging from an hour to 18 hours. It's already a struggle to go to, get up, go to the airport, load gear.

get on a flight, go through security, get on the plane, fly, actually fly, and then land and then, you know, get out of plane, get gear, get into a van, go to the venue, et cetera. So, um, this 18-hour flight and this nine-hour flight, the most brutal flights we've ever done in my life.

I mean, I've had some crazy ones, but like, these are the most brutal. Yeah. I had a child on each flight sitting next to me under the age of five. I love kids. However, hey,

my favorite color is blue. What's your favorite color? And you're like, mine's grain. You know, mine's black, but like also at the same time, please shut up.

But at the same time, we survived. That was fine. But we also flew Emirates, which was the, it's like sports cars for, for flights. Okay.

You, um, they have like twinkle lights up in the, up in the sky or the, the, the roof. So you actually feel like you're underneath the stars as you're flying. Huh. It's, it's boogey. Never heard of that ever. Emirates, yeah. Huh. Um, they're based out of Dubai.

So that's how. Oh, it was their home, home terminal, home airport. But, uh, very high end airline. You know, if you like, try to get up at your seat, like to go look for water, like, they're like, oh, here, here's water. Like they can like read your mind. Whoa. Yeah. It's gnarly. Um, yes, we flew, a nine hour and an 18 hour flight. That's the longest I've ever done in a flight.

Um, I'd say my first time I ever left the country, ever. Yeah. Was in 2009 and that was LA to JFK layover. JFC, yeah, JFK to Tel Aviv. And from JFK of Tel Aviv was a 15 hour flight, followed by a six-hour flight from L-A to J-F-K or to J-F-K. So, you know, a day of traveling, basically, a whole 24 hours. But that was gnarly. And that was the first time I ever gone on a plane to go leave the country. So basically what happened with my Australian tour is I had a kid passport from when I went to

out of the country a couple times, family vacations, and the one time I went to Israel. and it had just expired three months before, four months before. So I was like, crap. So took a loan out with a family member,

paid $500 to get a passport issued to be same day. Same day? Yeah, they had to have my passport to buy a ticket. You can't just buy a ticket to go out of the country and not have a passport.

So, forked out, you know, stupid money, got my same passport. which I still have to this day. I actually have a really short hair in this passport. It's like in the awkward stage.

It's great. But I, let's see. Oh, yeah. So yeah, 2016 is when I started working for Fear Factory. That's how I got into professional touring. But I will never forget the day that I was getting ready to leave. I think my flight was at like 7 p.m. or something. And it's like one in the afternoon.

And one of my family friends had shown up just to come hang out. I mean, like he had known my mom, you know, before she even had us kids. And I remember looking at my bank account while this guy was here. And this guy is, you know, well off, retired, but like, you know, a very wholesome family member. And I looked at my bank account. I still have this screenshot on my phone. Do you want to guess how much money I had in my bank account before, six hours before an international flight for my first international tour? It's bad.

bro a nickel a dime and a penny six 16 cents in my checking account getting ready to go and so I was like I probably need some money like but at the same time like money wasn't an issue for me to go do this because I had the opportunity the flights were paid the transportation was covered I was going to go work but at the same time I was like let's go like I got the shirt on my back I got my tech box that had just gotten a month before, which is the same still tech box I have to this day. But yeah, I went to Australia. I mean, I borrowed

a couple hundred bucks so I could have the, you know, emergency money and then Fear Factory spotted me some money too out of my pay, you know, just in case of something happened or I wanted to get a souvenir or whatever, you know. But that was fine. You know, I was like, I ready to go get in the car

with 16 cents in my bank account. So, and on the way to the airport, I went and bought a T-Mobile phone. and I still have that T-Mobile service to this day. Wow. It's crazy. I was like, yeah, I'm going to Australia right now. Give me a phone.

That will work. But, yeah, 2016 is when I got into touring. And through Fear Factory touring, I want to say it was like August. Because the last tours I did with Fear Factory were the last times they went international. They did live up. They did one show after I was working for them. I couldn't do because I was on tour of suicide. Yeah.

But August 2016, I did Monabella Rock Fest and you guys were playing. And that was the day I met you guys properly. And, you know, I mean, I'd seen, I had seen Mark before. I had met Mitch before. But this was the first time I was in a live music setting working for a band where suicide was. and you and D.K. came up to my tech world during Free Factory set. Now, one thing is, too, is like, when I'm working,

I should not be on my cell phone. Like this, like, you know, like, you got to be in the zone. But I was pretty geeked out. I was like, yo, cars and DK are like watching for my tech world. This is pretty cool. So I bust out my phone and I take a selfie with you guys. And you're just like, you're like, yo, like, okay, cool. This is sick.

So do the show, pack up And this particular festival Was another one of those days Where it was just like In and Out kind of thing It was almost like a drop and go Yeah But inverted

It was a drop and go but for a show I think that kind of makes sense I don't think so maybe who knows We did a border crossing that morning The previous night we played in New Jersey Drove 400 miles Border Crossing played Montabella Rock Fest at like

two in the afternoon, 2.30 in the afternoon. Bus call was 5 p.m. Like, by the time you get done with sound check and you're at catering, it was the time we had to be loaded up and driving back

through the border crossing. Yeah. It was crazy. So, did the show packed up. Catering that day was insane. It was. They had the best festival catering ever had. They had

a whole pig seared. They had like 30 lobsters you could choose from. every side you could think of because it was every top chef in Canada that they hired to do that catering. It was a maze. Literally, I felt like it was insane. Yeah, so catering was lit that day.

But how I formally met suicide and got like, you know, like, hey, like, we see you, we remember you. My friend Max, I can never pronounce his last name, it starts with a G, but he now plays guitar lead guitar in Falling

Reverse. He's from Canada and this was his first time ever playing his first time ever playing his hometown on a tour. At the time he was playing for Escape the Fate and you guys were playing the same stage as them.

So I get done to my catering food and I'm all like you know food combed out but I walk over to his stage as they're playing. Now you know walk up on stage you know sit inside stage. In between songs he walks up to me he's like what's up john good to see you give me a hug i'm just like oh hey nice to see you man i'm glad you remember me but like yeah we're homies kind of thing because you know he's just in

in the moment of playing and i was like it was like 430 and i was like all right got to get back to the bus or we had like a sprinter van and go because we got to go at 5 p.m. to make it to long island new york the next day um for a gig and uh ed walks up to me and he's like yo yo yo yo I'm just like, who to hail? Who to hail that? Like, who, me? Me, you're calling me? And he's like, hey, my boys saw you tech in.

And, uh, we're looking for a tech. And I was like, oh, what's up, man? Cool. He goes, you want to come hang? And I was like, sure. He had no idea that I was like, GTFO, got to go. Yeah. But I walk over there.

I ended up being late for bus call, but fuck yeah. Yeah, I was just like, hey, Dito, I went to hung out with suicide. And he goes, oh, okay, sick. Like, we're late, but like, all right, like, valid excuse. But, um, chat with Mark, exchange numbers, chat for about 20 minutes, you know, talking about stuff. Yeah.

And he goes, and this was what you just had, no, this was the end. I want to say the end of, you can't stop me cycle, but you guys had already recorded self-titled. Got it. I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think you guys are already done self-titled recording. Because my first tour with you guys, you guys were getting mixes back from Ross. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so basically chat with Ed for a little bit. Or no, chat with Ed, chat with Mark, exchange numbers with Mark. And I was, all right, well, we've got to go.

We're going to go back to New York, you know, border crossing number two today. Get over, or I walk to our green room. The green rooms are like trailers, you know, like festival style. And it ran to you. And I was like, I don't know, like brushing my teeth or something. I don't know what I was doing in there. But you're like, oh, yeah, man.

Like, what's up? Like, nice to see you. I'm Chris. I'm John. What, not. Chat for a couple of minutes. I was like, all right, well, I got to go. See you.

And four days later, I got off stage in Spain to a text from Mark saying, hey, you're our guy. It wasn't like, hey, here's how much we're going to pay you. This is the tour. It's just like, you're our guy. I'm glad. I'm glad he fucking said that. Yeah. Yeah.

I probably have a text somewhere in my phone. He's like, yeah, you're our guy. And I was like, all right. Sick. When did we go on tour? And first show with suicide was not this. 2016. Oh, it was.

That was the biggest home show you guys ever did, I think. But there was like 40,000 people there or something. It was a lot. Yeah. But like pressure was on. And here's Dino. and all like, don't fuck up,

don't mess up. Like, you're watching me. People were just watching, dude. I'm, you know, here's a 22-year-old kid

with short hair, you know, in the awkward stage of growing the main out. Um, but it was six songs. It was all we played. But like,

dust everywhere. Yeah. First time, but like, because it was the first time to ever tech in three people. And it was the first time I ever teched

with a real Floyd Rose. And it was the first time I ever teched with real two amps. Oh. So it was like, stress was on. But, like, had a blast. It was a great day.

But, like, that whole first tour was sick. Yeah. And then the rest is history. We're here hanging out, having bruise and on the Garza show. Yeah, now we're here together. And since then, especially since that show, we've traveled on many metal tubes together. Dude. On wheels.

On wheels. Wings, yep. All over the world. world, dude. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy how fast shit just fucking changes, dude. Five years. Five years this year is when I first started working for y'all.

Five years. Are you serious? 2016 and 2021. What? Wow. Yeah. Crazy. Damn, what was your personal favorite tour? Ooh. And then I want to ask you later what's your least favorite.

And then later, and then later I'm probably going to ask you what's your least favorite. Oh, my least favorite. Okay. Well, favorite tour for suicide, I would have to say, oh, man, you put me on the spot here. I mean, every tour was sick. Every tour was sick. But self-titled tour was cool.

I brought my mom to work that day. My mom was working at a school two miles from observatory. Oh, yeah. Yeah, bring your mom to work day. It was sick. Um, that was that was a great home show. Um, um, um, yeah, self-titled tour was sick. Um, Caliban tour was sick. But that was the first time, most of the tours have done have been headlining tours, but that was a direct support. So that was quick changeovers and whatnot, but Caliban just had a Kemper rig. So it was just, they had one little cubic foot of stage and the rest was room for activities. Remember that that tour. I was the only guitar player. with a tube amp on that tour.

Dude, you were. It was crazy. Mark was trying out the Kemper. You and Dan were both tubes because Dan had an SVT classic. You had whatever Mesa Head you could find from Capture Live. I want to say it was a double a dual wreck. But yeah, Mark

was trying out Kemper. And I was so excited for him to try out Kemper because I took his whole rig on a USB stick. And I was like, dude, this is tight. But at the same time, realistically when it comes to touring with Kemper's and touring with tube amps, if you could tour with two amps, sick. I'm all for it.

The real OG sound. But if you're doing fly day after flyday after flyday, sure. The word is the consistency of having the same tone, go to front of house, whatnot. I mean, you are losing a little bit, but at the same time, it's pros and cons. I mean, I like two amps. I got my 51, 52. that Mark gave me

and I'm still restoring it. You know, you guys now play EVH. Born to Osiris now plays EVH. Like, full send. It's cool. I'm all about two amps. Just got to have a good case. Got to have on wheels.

I would like to hold my grandchildren one day. You know, just like not carrying stuff. But hey, man, if you can have tubes and cabs, I love it. But yeah, every band. What was funny, though, on that tour in particular is all these other. bands had Kemper rigs,

which is cool. But their cases for their rigs were like 500 pounds each. Because they got their in years, they got their split,

they got their monitor rig, they got their wireless, they have everything. And we get to some of these venues where you got,

oh dude, I will never forget, well, my 23rd birthday was in Prague on that tour, the Caliban tour. Oh.

And there was like 30 stage hands that day. I was like, oh, this seems dangerous. Why is there so many people loading gear? Like, okay. But it was a full, it was like four or five stairways down to get to this club. There's no self-service. Like, it's a basement of some, you know, Eastern European building. But then the exit was through the backstage and it was a single, like, three-foot

wide stairway. And you got these bands with like, oh, yeah, we're all kept. world die versatility 500 pound rig trying to take it up you know with like no side room so that was a blessing because Mark had a little small rack

for his Kemper and you had a tube amp and we just rolled it on up so it was great but um yeah you were the only guy that had a tubeamp on that tour besides Dan but you know he could just got a DIY at the base it works of course fucking Sansam straight straight into PA

still sounds sick it does It does. That's what we did for That's what we did for Not Fest 2016 because the one thing, my first show ever, you know, sweating blood practically being like, oh my god business. I thought bad man. No, no, no, no, it was good.

It was good. No blood, no bones, no problems. One of the quad boxes went out mid-show and I had to get it live again before Mark's solo. So I get the stage and it's like, yeah, running a quad over here and I'm like running around like this. But Dan had Phantom Power for his base DIY and he's just like,

dong, down, don't, don't, down, down, down, don't. And I re-turned on the amp and just before Mark's solo kicked in,

I think it was, might have been slaves or it might have been, I forget what the set list was, but it came in and Mark's amp turned on right as Mark went to the lead channel. It was like, D-D-L-L-D-L-D-D was great. That's sick. Yeah.

Do you happen to have a, a least paper tour. Suicide or in general? Let's do in general. Let's do in general. There was a tour. So the only suicide tour I did not do was in 2018, which was Rage Fest. I hired one of my longtime friends, Nate Jarden, to come guitar tech.

Cool cat, though. Dude, cool cat. Cool cat. He could build a guitar in his sleep. He's so knowledgeable. He's my tech god. When I have tech issues, I can. send him up to him. I've overnighted him guitars.

Oh, yeah. And two pieces and, you know, puts them together. Yeah, he's, he's fixed him some stuff for him. He did a great job. Yeah. He's just incredible, incredible dude. He's from San Diego, and now lives up in Portland. He worked G.C. Tech for a while. And then, uh, now we just

nerd out about gear and he fixes guitars. I'm actually sending him a guitar that's not two pieces, but three pieces next week. Nice. And, uh, he's gonna play it back together. So, I'm excited. But, um, The one tour I didn't do was, the one tour I didn't do suicide and I took another tour as I went to Europe and I worked for a band called Ministry, big industrial band.

I mean, I'm sure heard of them. Yeah. 17 people in one bus. Fuck. Lost my wallet on that tour. And I was actually telling my younger brother of the story today. I was like, yeah, dude, like I didn't have a wallet. I had to do Apple Pay with everything.

But thankfully my cards weren't stolen. It was just my wallet was lost. Yeah. You know, the sentimental value of losing a wallet, losing your IG. I lost my Starbucks partner card in that wallet. I was bummed on that. It still works my phone, though, you know? But I was teching four guys on that tour.

So I was teching two guitar players, singer who played guitar occasionally, but he had a Biggsby bridge. You know, like the Gretsch. Oh, yeah, yeah. Super, they're cool, but they're super funky. And I had never worked on one before. So, I mean, you know, Googling first show how to change strings on a Bigsby. You know, on my 2G team mobile European service is great.

But that tour in general was very stressful for me. And I was actually thinking about this on the drive over here because I was like, yeah, it was like my favorite tour was my lease tour, you know, just like random general questions I could think of. Yeah. But that tour in particular offered me so much money. And I was like, oh, cool, money, money, dollar sign. But realistically, at the same time, that tour was great.

But it was mentally and physically challenging. attacking four guys, all amylog rigs, 17 people in a bus, smoking cigarettes in the bus. Oh, dude, I could not do that. 6 a.m. And, okay, so the back lounge is where the smoking was happening. I was in the Cliff Burton, the suicide bunk at the front. I actually stole the driver's bunk night.

two of that tour. I just took all his stuff out, put it in the bunk I had. And I was just like, I need to be as far away from the back lounge. But yeah, it was just, I mean, that was the most the tour of the end of the, it wasn't the, it wasn't the, uh, the tour itself. It wasn't the crew. It was losing my wallet and not being able to go do things freely because, you know, it's a part of every day when I wake up, I got keys, phone, wallet, pocket knife. Four things. They're always on me no matter what. But I actually came home early on that tour. Basically, long story short, I,

Al, the singer from ministry comes off stage. We were in Switzerland, and he's like, hey, you got a cigarette? I don't smoke, but like, I had a pack of cigarettes in my tech box. Don't know how they got there, but they showed up there. Yeah. Give them a cigarette. Where's a lighter?

I don't have a lighter. Like, I don't smoke. so he's like you don't have a lighter like angry like I've never seen someone so angry in my life mid show singing looking to me and he's like

off the microphone he's like and I was just like what like I already had a wireless RF issues this day I didn't have a lighter for a cigarette and it was just it was chaos anyways long story short I ended up coming home early

from that tour the band didn't want to send me home the team didn't want to send me home but the singer was like losing his mind that I didn't have a lighter for a cigarette after this, after this, uh, the show or for the encore. Yeah. And, um, so I went home early. I was just like, you know, like, he was all like, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna, you know, book me a flight home right now and just like total rock star both. But at the same time, you know, to each his own, totally cool. So I went home.

But as I was in Frank Free Airport, this is actually the only time I've had a physical mental breakdown where I didn't have a backup plan. Yeah. I didn't, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, an Eagle Scout. So scout motto is be prepared. You know, if something happens, I need to be able to have it to plan A, B, C, and D. Yeah. And this was the first time of my life that I was literally up like, just, it was insane.

So I get, you know, I go checking my bags. I have three bags with me. I acquired a case and I had my tech box, my suitcase, and a pelican for my tech tools. I'm loaded up the gills, you know, 50 pounds each bag, 150 pounds with gear my tech box my backpack and uh

they're like oh cool there'll be no 220 USD no wallet and I was like oh my god I can't pay for this I was like

here I have a photo of my ATM card I have a PayPal here's my routing number to my bank like I was just like I had everything

I was willing to pay I would have literally cut open a kid out of my intestines and give the kidney to walk on that plane along like here. Man. And they're like, sorry, like, if you can't pay for your bags,

you can't take your bags. They didn't know the situation I was in, though. Yeah. I mean, like, I said, oh, I lost my wallet. You know, I have this. They're like, well, I had getting on a flight. It's like, well, I have a passport, which I thankfully had.

And I was literally ready. I went through my bags. I grabbed the most valuable private possessions possible, and I was literally ready to walk on a plane with my tech box, my Jansport backpack, and leave everything behind.

And I almost started to. And like, I'm sitting there, you know, crying to myself being like, dude, like, I'm ready to like, go home. That's it. You know, I have a 17-something-hour flight with a layover. And this lady comes up to me

from American Airlines and she's like, hey, like, we can tell you're not just faking it. Like, we get it. You don't have money. Like, we like, we see your paying right now, we're going to comp your bags for free. And I was just like like, this is like

yes, it was the one time of my life I really need a miracle and it happened. And they're like, can you convert, confirm your zip code, confirm your name? And I was like, this, this, this, etc. And they're like, cool, sounds good. Here's your bags. They're like, you know, here's your tickets, you know, have a good flight. And I was like, yo, that's tight. And I went home.

And, yeah, went home. And that was actually the last real tour I did of that year. Well, no, actually, I came home from that tour, but then Rage Fest was the last three shows were in California. We were talking about Fonda earlier. Yeah. And the last couple of those shows were in California and Meet Jarden was like, he'd never done a tech tour.

He'd played on tours, but like, it was his first tech tour. And he'd call me, he's like, man, this is just brutal. like, yeah, like this and that, you know, breaking guitars every day. Like, it was a lot on him. And he's like, dude, he's like, I need you. And I was like, I'll come drive down to San Diego, you know, 100 miles, Ford Focus of Doom, you know, drive down. Yeah.

And he literally told me, he was like, dude, I think I'm just going to quit today and go home. And I was like, no, you're not doing that. Like, these are my boys. You're going to stick us out. I know you're in your hometown, but you got to do it. You gotta stay. And he's like, all right.

He goes, I need you there, though. I need you there. I was like, all right, sounds good. I'll be there. So he's like, you come up to Fonda today? Dude, I'll never forget. I walked in the San Diego venue. And your guys' trailer had broken down that day.

Oh, yeah, yeah. You guys had to drop the trailer off at Daymakers house. You had to get a U-Haul. Yeah. And you drove down. And I was helping unload the U-Haul. And you guys were, you know, not panic mode, but just like, we got to get the stuff going.

got the stuff going and I forget who it was. Someone on the crew for suicide was like, oh, you guys aren't playing with cabs today or something or like,

you guys are playing with one cab and I walk in there and I was like, Garza, what's up? You're like, hey, help me load cabs. We loaded all the cabs in. It was great.

Yeah. But, yeah, did that show, did Fonda, but the next day was in San Francisco, last day at tour. And Nate was like,

dude, I can't do the last show without you. Like, I need you that. And I was like, dude, I had a family event. The next, on that, it was Saturday or Sunday or something. I was like, no, like, it's my cousin's, like, family, you know, whether it was a bridal shower or engagement party.

I don't know, something. And, like, I felt crappy for, like, I ditched it. I ditched it. And I drove, I drove, I, drove to San Francisco with Nathan. But I was like, he's like, please, please, please, please, please. And, um, Nate was like, dude, like, I'll give you a guitar. if you come do San Francisco. And I was like, I mean,

guitar or not, like, I'll still go do the show, but like, all right, sounds good. So at Fonda Theater, instead of driving back home to Anaheim, I just got my car on Nathan.

We just drove straight up to SF. And we did the last show of tour. But it was cool, but they like come back from such a brutal tour to do, to come back straight to my family of suicide silence. And like,

Yeah. I mean, because home shows are like the most energy of shows because you got family, you got friends, you want to put on a good show, and I'm so glad that that tour ended in California. I mean,

if it would end in in Portland, I probably still would have driven with Nathan to go to the fourth show. That's a good friend. Because that's what real friends do. But at the same time, um, yeah,

going from a brutal tour, going to a good ending of a tour. That was the highlight. And then at the end of that year, I only did one other tour which is probably the biggest tour I've ever done which was Danzig and that was teching for Tommy Victor

and that was only seven shows so and that was it for that year wow yeah thankfully man you fucking came out and helped Nate I knew he was struggling but there's nothing I I can do I'm like well Jay Dog said you're you're fucking ready to tour

here we go here we go to his credit man Man, that was definitely a very heavy tour. And we were, I mean, Alex were even going more agro than, like, usual. Yeah, I remember that. Dude, that last show, too. I don't know to forget, Ed walked up on stage, ready to play the song, or ready to play Yolo was the opening song.

Yeah. And Mark wasn't even on that tour. It was Lone Star from Darkest Hour. Yeah. But, yeah, Ed walked up on stage, grabbed his microphone, in his show attire, turned around, put it on the base cab, walked to the green room.

Like, it was just like, what? Like, it was instrumental. I mean, like, you know,

the crowd sang along and whatnot. But then, I think it was Darius from spite was like, oh my God, like, do I have to go do unanswered right now? Like,

he's like, I'm not ready. Like pinch me. And I was like, hang on. So during Yolo, I like, ran up to Ed.

And I was like, yo, what's going on? Let's do this. And Ed's like, I'm not good enough on stage. I'm not doing it.

I was like, bro, hometown show, last show at tour. I was like, just do it. He goes, no, no, no. I was like, look, bro. You like, you can play the show. You can, in your stage clothes, you can grab your backpack, and you can go get on the bar in the Bay Area and go home. Like, just knock it out.

And he finally walked back, and that was actually no joke. I think that was the hardest suicide silence show, the most, I don't want to say anger, but just like raw rage. Yeah What's up It's my mom Hey mom Sorry I can't talk right now

I got it Fuck it Yeah Do Not Disturb was on But my mom always has priority Anyways long story short I think that San Francisco show At Regency

I think it was Regency ballroom But it was the most just Brutal Like with like four zeros Like heavy And then once it was done We packed up the U-Haul truck and we all went home.

Even though I wasn't even on the tour, I think I, like, found an all-access pass that someone had, like, dropped or something. I was like, cool, my tour, what's up? Yeah, you're on, you're on tour now. Yeah, so, but, you know, even though, going back to worst tour, best tour, I always try to find the best in every situation,

no matter what, because it's your mindset when it comes down to it. It really is. Yeah, like, I had a crap tour in Europe. I love Europe. I think it was my last time I went to Europe. yeah i didn't go in 2019 yeah so that was the most recent time i've been in europe but um i uh you always have to find the best in every situation and coming home and feeling defeated having to go to downtown disney to go get a new wallet i was just like wow like this is wild like i lost my whole physical identity in my wallet journalist was right by disney so i'm i literally am in the same square mile as disney i walk out my front door i look at my cats, I look at my garden and there's just Disneyland hotel.

Cats for us, Garden X, and then Disneyland. Absolutely. But yeah, they always have to find the highlight in every situation no matter what. And coming home doing those last three gigs was sick and stoked. So it turned my moral compass around 180%. That's great. Yeah. So it was awesome, especially after such a grueling, like, month, especially for us, like seeing you.

Six weeks, almost seven. It was a long time. In a van. Yeah. Yeah, that was nuts, dude. And seeing you in the last few shows, seeing Nate still struggle. No, Nate conquered.

Nate conquered. Oh, he did. No, because after that show, he did. After that show, his fiance flew down. Oh, yeah. And they went to Disneyland. They took their engagement photos.

And I'll never forget, sitting at the Paradise Pier, we sat, like, right next to the water, and we all had an alcoholic beverage. We were just like, he shaved. He looked all nice. improper and I was like, you did it, man. Like, this is your reward. You get to hang out with your fiancé, now wife. I actually got to be

in his wedding the next year, which is actually really cool. I flew up there. Yeah, you got married. But yeah, we uh, you know, I mean, he crushed it. He crashed that tour. I mean, it was brutal but at the same time, you know, there's some people that are made a tour

and there's some people that are just like working on guitars with people who like jamming and jam bands. Those people that like, you know, working on tech stuff. You know, it's, there's different, I don't want to say different levels, but there's just different passion areas and skill sets. Nate is just an incredible guy, super skilled what he does, one of my best friends, you know, it just is what it is. So, but, yeah, we went to Disneyland. I think that was actually the last time I went to Disneyland.

I think it might have one other time. But yeah, it's been one, been a minute. I see it every day. But it's been closed for the last year. I know. And they did take away the passes, huh? They did. Well, basically.

when the gates of heaven open up, everyone's going to want to go in, but they can only hold 80,000 people. So they'll more than likely bring it back within the next 10 years after everything settles down because this last year of, you know, pandemic and not being able to tour and, you know, so much of our normal daily lives has changed.

Yep. The, you know, what was it? to say. It's going to take a while. Everyone's like, oh, I'm ready to go back to normal. Normal is not normal. Normal is a setting on your washing machine or dryer. Everyone, everyone has a different way of going about

things, living their lives, you know, etc. But yeah, it's going to be a minute. But at the same time, I think the reservation system for Disney is going to be a good thing because there's only going to be, if they only want to have 40,000 people in the park one day. So sick. They're only going to have 40,000 people. And every ride is going to be a 15 minute wait.

God, so sick. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. But at the same time, it helps keep numbers down. I mean, they're going to want to have as many people in the park to make as much dollars, but at the same time, they got to do it safely. Totally. I wonder

how much that ticket's going to fucking be. I'll pay it, though. Oh, dude. Totally. Totally. Totally. We're all paying it. And that's what's fucked. One day, I mean, out of all the jobs they could want to do in the world, the one thing I want to do is I want to drive the Disneyland train around Disneyland, and I will do it.

Yeah. That is a goal. I want to be able to go do-d-d-d-d-that's all I want to do. And drive, I mean, like, not just once. I mean, once would be sick, but at the same time, like, it would be so sick to drive to that train around. Dude, you should go on your 30th birthday. Yes, but

Or I just do it I have a goal Before my 30th birthday Everyone's like Oh, your 30th birthday You know Dirty 30. What are you going to do?

I mean, Mark's 30th birthday Was Whiskey a Go-go End of cleansing tour Oh yeah Yeah That I was

To go back to the question before What was your most brutal tour you've ever done? Yeah My most brutal suicide tour Was cleansing tour Yeah, Clemson and Tillo where we just got somewhat violent

at times. Yeah, that was a lot of shit going on. That was gnarly. And to go in to how great of a job you did. And we've talked about this last summer hanging out. Now we can look back and laugh. Totally. But dude, that tour, like that last day,

I was seeing red. I couldn't wait to get home. I don't think I got home until like 10 a.m. the next day. So I woke up in the bus at like, yeah, it was a whole 24 hour a day. You know, wake up at 10, you know, load in it 11 or noon. And like that whole time I was up, you know, cleaned out the bus. Yeah.

Got everything done. But that was actually, that's actually a crazy story. That's actually one that my most memorable, humbling moments of being a guitar tech. Yeah. Was walking up to you in the bus of the green room or something. I was like, yo, you can't play your guitar today. The one guitar had set for you because I lost the nut of the guitar. You were freaking out.

I was like, who cares? Who cares? Like, grab a Fender. And then now here you are, you know, as a Fender artist with a Cep Custom Shop 7 string, like, full send. Crazy how things work out. Yeah, I mean, just, like, I definitely, during this whole, those couple years of just trash and shit, like, I mean, you were, you know, a lot of people don't really see behind the scenes, but you were my backbone during that whole time where I knew, like, no matter what we did, the show is going to be great. great and the next show is going to be great. Yep.

You know, it's just, so like, hey, you were, you were, I was the tech that was like, hey, if we're going to light a guitar on fire, let me make sure that you have a Zippo, a fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher. And, you know, like, something to, like really start your guitar on fire if it came down to it. Like, yeah. Dude, we had, yeah, 20, 2017. Actually, you know what? I take, I take it back my favorite suicide tour.

It was not self-titled. It was the U.S. The UK tour we did with D's Nuts. Yeah. Dude, that was just every night destruction in the best way. I was listening to the episode, the first one with Alex that you did. I have like 10 minutes left to go on it. But I wanted to refresh on it.

Cool. But that was my favorite tour that we did because you're like, dude, I want to break a guitar every night. And we only hit eight shows. Six shows UK, two shows in Russia. And I was like, okay, so we got two cardboard boxes. Oh, man. Jesus. Four guitars in each box stacked like this.

Like, when you ship an instrument, like, you pack it, you put it in a case, you know. You declare its value. These we did not care. They were in a box, dude. I wrote in three different languages. I wrote in English, Russian, and turn. Turkish do not crush. So I cannot have the excuse of like, no one would crush this guitar.

Or these guitars, plural. Yeah. And we shipped eight guitars from L.A. I don't know if we had a layover. We might have. No, I think it was a direct flight from L.A. to St. Petersburg. And we went to Russia and we broke. And we did six shows.

Sick. Dude, that was a horror story going from, uh, going from, uh, going from St. Petersburg to Moscow. I became tour manager that day. I was like, let's go. Oh, yeah. But, yeah, we did eight, we did the breaking guitars, played baseball with the kick drum. Yeah.

Took our kick drum on the freight on the train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It did that. But yeah, it was lighting guitars with fire, Coco. Oh, man, that was great. That was great. Anyways, long story short. That was my favorite tour that we did for sure. Dude, it was, it was definitely a fun one.

It's funny how, like, things were kind of chaos, but you were always, people were telling me John Oaks was kind of pissed, but then you would tell me, dude, you should do this. I was like, what the fuck do I believe? Right? Yeah, dude. The energy was alive so well. So well, we did it.

We crushed it. I remember at Coco, like, there was, like, some word guard around what we were going to do. And then, like, you got back to us, like, don't light anything out fire because it's going to burn down the venue. Right. And it's like a 200-something year old England building. Yeah, it's like an older venue. Yeah, but I was like, I'm an Eagle Scout.

Trust me. Katie, I think if you weren't an Eagle Scout, I probably wouldn't have listened to you subconsciously. I was like, maybe I shouldn't do it. And then you're like, do it. I'm like, all right, I did it. Scout motto, be prepared. Yeah, be how I roll, baby. I always see like a fine.

I always see a fire signature in the corner of like the stage. Oh, no, I got, I got, I got one in my tech box now. Oh my God. You bet. So, I mean, whether again, if we, you know, like, to go back to the, when, what Alex was saying, like, you know, just like, hey, I'm going to do this. And then I'm going to do it. And it's just like, we just did it. Full send.

Like, if we're going to do it, we're going to go all out. Like, you're literally heavy metal Jimmy Hendricks. Full send. Oh, man. Oh, man. But that was, yeah, I just had to be ready for anything. But also at the same time, it's having the safety of the stage, the crew, the artists, the people in the show. But like, we could do stunts.

We can make it sick. But at the same time, when there was a, woo. I live by a fire station. I do, too. They'll be super early. Man, my hat is just all. I'm going to take this thing off. It's all good.

I hear it here. But, dude, during that whole time, man, you were, you were my backbone. Yeah. You know, now, again, we, we can kind of look back at him. Man, like, John Nugless helped me out so much, dude. Jeez, just making sure everything was great and everything worked. And you also had other guys who take care of. Yeah.

You know, I never had to. Mark with the Floyd Rose. Yeah, fucking. I mean, I mean, the, like, the player that Mark is, like, he needs a Ford Rose. Oh, absolutely. He's a Ford Rose. I'm a hip-shot guy. But, man, setting up with Floyd Rose fucking sucks.

I remember when I had Floyd Rose's back in the age. I hated changing strings. Oh, totally. It's just, it's like, oh, and I never got it either. Yeah. It fucking sucked. Well, the trick is when you're doing, when you're doing Floyd Rose, you go, if you're not going to clean the neck, if you're going to work in the neck, if you're going to work on the neck, you block the bridge. You just put something in, you know, a block.

ESP told me, oh, put a AAA battery in. I was like, oh, okay, cool, sounds good. You know, whatever, whatever. But, like, you block the bridge. and that's how you do it. But if you're going to just change strings, one by one. Actually,

you know what? It's crazy. Speaking about Floyd Rose. Here, going back to Nate Jarden, so my very first tour I ever did with suicide was 2016,

which was, uh, headline, no, it was a co-headlining one with Whitechapel and us. Oh, yeah, yeah. And so we did not fest.

And then Nathan lives in Portland. And our first venue show was in Portland. Oh, yeah. So he came out to the gig. And I was like, hey, this is my tech friend, Nathan, yada,

chatting and um hawthorne feeder was that venue and there is no real tech room on that stage so you have the fire lane exit door for moving gear and when i say a closet i mean you have a closet for tech world it's a long little corridor hallway i feel like i'm in an 1800s silo or like yeah tiny silo yeah so i set up i set up tech world in this this little room and not Nathan and I spent two hours after Soundcheck. He taught me everything about Floyd Rose. Do this, do that, do this. Sick.

And so, like, he set me up for success on that tour. Wow. But at the same time, I was like, cool, now I've got Floyd's. I mean, you know, tech and for Tommy Victor having four Floyd's, three in the same tuning, and he didn't play with a tuner pedal. He would literally walk up to me, goes, oh, let's switch a guitar. And it was all in the same tuning. It was the same guitar.

It was like just revolting or Huh I'm gonna think another word I guess you could say revolving Revolving Yeah Yeah crazy stuff But yeah Floyd suck

I mean I have one It's cool Yeah But like it is what it is so Yeah Well Jady I don't want to keep you Too long thank you for For being guest three man

Absolutely bro This was absolutely rad I'm so stoked to sit down Yeah, dude So much history in this room I mean got now The candles going

I know obviously You know you've You've been in this room Many times You hung out with my family My mom and dad You know you I mean obviously why

Why you're still Like we're still with With each other Because I mean we're We're family You know My mom and dad Ask about you

And shit dude So you know how's John doing Mama and Papa Garza Meho I want to stay for dinner I'll text and drive call me and you're here. I'm just like, yo, this is red.

You want some tacos? It was up. One thing in closing, I'll say, um, no rush me. Um, out of all the bands I've worked for, teching,

touring, etc. Um, every band that I'm involved with, for the long run becomes family. Whether if that's me playing in bands, whether if that's me working for bands, um,

there's some bands that's a corporation. We're like, you know, this is when we load in, this is where we start, this is what we do this, you know, the schedule. I mean, dude, there's even one band where if you don't answer your radio, you get charged $25.

Whoa. Oh, yeah, straight up. Straight up. And you're a fan of this band. I won't say it, but, uh, but yeah, no, straight up there. It's a full on touring corporation. But like, for, for me,

working with suicide and also with Born of Osiris as well, those bands, it's a family band. We jam in the garage. We hang out. We go on tour. you know, we're a full-functioning band. Yeah. But those are the bands that I cherish most to heart and eminent with the long run.

Spades and Blades, the band I play in is the same way. When is this air? This air is Friday? I say another week. A week and a half. We can have a half. Okay. So I haven't announced this yet publicly.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I did join a new band. I've been working with them last couple months. The band is called Last of Our Kind. Our EP comes out on Friday the 19th. Music video comes out the 20th. And there was several bands. I was looking to join as well in addition to Spade the Blades.

And I was like, man, like, I need to join a band that's going to be a family. Like, I don't want to just join a band just because it's like, oh, we're just making music and hanging out, rock and roll, you know, whatnot. Yeah. But, uh, no, joining Last of Our Kind was such as cool thing to do because I show up. We have band practice, but it's like a family. You know, the drummer's dad has got goats. He's got chickens. He's got vineyards.

Yeah, that's sick, man. You know, my brother David's home right now, and I took him down there last week, and we all hung out, had Cornia Sada. David, who's a Marine, and drinks a lot. Mark, I invited Mark to come hang, too. And David and Mark were all like, Mark nerds out on David and likes David and David nerds out on Mark and likes Mark. So it's all hanging.

That's beautiful. But Mark texts me the next morning. He goes, bro, I have not been this hungover. It was great. But yeah, I joined a new band called Last of Our Kind. Self-titled EP is already out. Music video drops on Saturday the 20th. And I'm excited.

It's a band where I've gone from being the youngest person in a band to now being the oldest person in a band. Wow. And, dude, it's really cool. It's, uh, it's like joining a family. And, uh, yeah. The other thing I was going to say, too, my personal lesson that I've learned in the last decade, I earned last half a decade since I've started touring.

Yeah. Is if you're going to go do something, don't let money be an influence. And that's something I kind of like had to really sit and like learn because like, 100%. Like, like, going back to like, like, do something. Like me going on my first tour and having a dime and nickel a penny in my checking account to seeing all the doors, I just went and went with it. Like money wasn't an option. Things come and things go.

Money is just a tool. So when I went on this tour to Europe and I was like, oh, I'm making all this money, yada, yada. But like it was the worst tour of my life. You don't let a dollar sign or don't let a substance be your divining factor, so to speak. And working with Borner-O-Syrus, working. with suicide, playing in spades and blades, playing in Last of Our Kind, the family aspect is there. I could call any one of those people from any one of those four bands I'm involved with and be like, hey man, like, I need cheering up today. What's up? You know, because if I work for a band that,

you know, gets charged $25 on the radio, my artist is like, oh, email my manager. You have your people email my people or something like that. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's crazy stuff. But, dude i uh yeah that's uh it's it's it's really excited um yeah my guitar player danie um he was actually my client originally with uh with uh guitar teching oh wow he brought me guitar i mean i met him through suicide yeah yeah mark used to live together and um great cat man dude great cat very talented cat uh danny mollano no danny ex maladano on uh instagram is his tattoo work yeah but um great artist yeah just uh it came down to it We're like, he's like, hey man, you want to join my band?

I went down to go hang out and we got like seven acres of property down in Temecula. You know, it's like room for activities. I was just like, dude, like I feel like I'm like part of the family. Like this is like sick. So that was my immediate answer I went with. But yeah, just, I love what I do wholeheartedly. And this is so cool to sit in this room and do a podcast and actually like just, you know, talk and live life. and so much history is in this room.

So I'm excited. I know it's cool, man. It's cool that you know, you, like, you knew the room before it was what, like, what, like, what it is now. So, you know, like, you can kind of feel like the vibe, you know. Absolutely. Bad ass. Dude, the, the vibe is real. This is, uh, as I said earlier before we started this podcast.

This is the birth, birthplace of death core. Oh, wow. Crazy. Many, many, many years ago. Back in my day. Dude, back in my day. I was in second grade. I don't, I was in second grade when you guys did your first grade.

when you guys did your first EP. 2002. Full send. Anyway. Anyway. But dude, okay, so you already announced the info for your... Last of Our Kind, yeah. For your band. Is there...

Where can people find your band? And then where can people find you? Okay, so, band, the easiest spot to go is last of our kind band.com. Instagram, Facebook. Those are the main ones.

EPs already out, Spotify, and on Apple Music, Last of Our Kind. I will say there is a lot of bands called Last of Our Kind. Just look for the most brutal looking one, and you'll see it. It's a good indicator. Do not click on the dance music one. For the love of God, just do not. It's great.

It's awful. And then my Instagram personally is I am John Douglas. That's all my socials. And then for all my guitar working stuff, it's Headlamp Poppy. You can find my Instagram, from either or yada yada but um yeah that's where you could find me in the the worldwide web or cool coming to a venue near you once shows come back sometimes sometime sometime in the future you know we we just kind of still be here i told i told myself the day of the world shut down

it would be two years i i think damn you're right i was right i was right just like it's like other moments of my life you knew before me so i try i try i try bad bad ass right right again thank you man and i all right everybody and it's it thank you guys later later cool man dude so sick oh we gotta i gotta do a quick picture man totally no you good no i don't got i don't got i don't got my age