Garza Podcast - 63 - WITHIN DESTRUCTION: Slam Police & Almost Dying in a Van

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

Within Destruction is a sic AF metal band from Slovenia. https://sadboikroo.com SPONSORS: Click this link to purchase from Sweetwater & help support the podcast: imp.i114863.net/rnrmVB WITHIN DESTRUCTION is: Rok Rupnik, Luka Vezzosi & Howard Fang TIME CODES: 00:00 - Being from Slovenia & Taiwan 11:54 - The show must go on 16:50 - Sakura writing process 23:44 - Howard joins, music gets sic 29:41 - Why a three piece w no bass player 34:35 - Getting out of Taiwan 42:45 - Deathcore elitists & slam police 47:00 - Yokai, Lotus backlash & reaction 55:45 - How long does it take to get exposure?  59:22 - Top bands from other countries 01:02:46 - Almost dying in a van crash

In Slovenia, a lot of bands are old, old, old school. So we don't have a bassist. Oh, we can't play a show. Like, they don't. It enables you to do shows without certain things. If you don't have a guitarist, if you don't have a bassist, if you don't have something, you can supplement that with backing tracks. But they just don't want me.

They feel like, oh, that's not true. Whenever I need music gear, I always go to sweetwater.com. If it's mics, headphones, or studio and recording gear, Sweet Water has you covered Next time you need any music gear Support the podcast by using the link in the description And comment section below Everyone watching listening today we have

Within Destruction I am honored to have you guys Literally from across the world Do you guys are from Slovenia correct? Yeah Wow I mean we're from Slovenia Yes yeah Howard's from Taiwan That explains it

Yeah I was like why I said why was Howard at the I was at the Thailand show, so I grew up in Thailand. Really? Yeah, yeah. How did you get hook up with these guys? So, I was in a Thai band growing up, and we went on tour in the States, and they were on the package. And so I spent like a month getting to know them.

After that tour, they hit me up as a fill-in member for one of the European dates. Yes. and shortly after that, I joined. You are a perfect addition. Thanks, man. You guys are like this trifecta of power, dude. It's sick. You know, you guys have your own sound.

And I didn't know this until recently, but you guys have been in a band for a while. Like, I saw a record you dropped in 2012. Yeah. I don't know that. We started the band in 2010. 2010? Yep. It kind of developed from a high school couple.

Are you shitty high school cover band? We were in the same school basically since primary school, but we didn't hang out that much. We started hanging out in high school because we're from the same town. Oh, okay. And in high school we wanted to be cool, so we started a cover band when we played like Nirvana. I think the hardest we went was Satyricon, which is black metal band from Norway. That's pretty hard. But after that, I kind of wanted to start doing my own music and rock felt the same way.

So we started with Indestruction. Dude, that's great. Any, again, I didn't know that. You grew up in the same town and you went to school together. Those were like the greatest bands that had like the, it is rare these days where you grew up in like the same school. Yeah, I guess. It's pretty cool.

I wouldn't really know for us. It's just the way it was. and it's a bit different in Slovenia because it's small so like everything's condensed the whole band was uh basically from the same town for like two three years yeah i mean and it's a small town like in our 15 000 people in our country yeah it's tiny you wouldn't be surprised if you would find like one member being in five different bands especially drummers probably because there's not a lot of drummers yeah so it's yeah it's not that uncommon to see like a lot of musicians being several bands at the same time yeah because there's probably like

a scarcity with really like because the most talented are probably in the same bands together i mean hence we're all right you're all sharing and also we have a population of two million people so when you narrow that down to metal community it's even scarcer so yeah yeah and strangely there's a high density of metal bands in that's true like one of the highest i think in the world. It's the same with Norway and Finland. Like the population isn't big, but like Norway, I think it's around 4 million people, but they have a shitload of bands. So like per capita, I mean, there's a lot of bands. Why do you think where you're from in Slovenia is so rich in metal? I have literally no idea. The funny thing is there's a lot of bands, but 90%

of those bands don't go past local shows. Because, so just like starting the band, the market where we can grow is tiny. It's like 2 million people. Yeah. And you have to grow on those 2 million people to kind of start spreading into shows in other countries. And that's fucking hard.

I don't think bands in the States understand how fucking... hard that is because like you have a fucking huge country with a lot of people and like bands in the States can live from music just during the States. We can't do that back at home. It's fucking impossible. So we had to spread over Europe first and I think the first show we did which was fucking horrible outside of Slovenia was in Croatia. That was one of the worst shows we ever had. After that we went to Austria And I think the next step was After that I think the first European tour

I think with disinthum visceral disgorch Who else was? Cranium yeah That was it I think And we were the opening act Yeah we made the opening act Yeah that was after void dropped The second album yeah Plus I also think that

in the States, for example, just the mentality of musicians is that they can pursue this as a business career. In Slovenia, it's not that the case because most bands or rather band members see their band something as a hobby rather than something that could potentially be like a business or like a thing they earn money from. So I think that's also one of the reasons why a lot of bands don't thrive in Slovenia just because they don't have, they don't treat a band like as a potential business thing. So they're like when you tell them, yeah, you have to spend this and this and this amount of money to get to the next level, they're just not willing to do that because just the mental perception is not there compared to the states when I think a lot of people just pursue it as a business opportunity or a career. So yeah, I think that's one of the reasons why bands in Slovenia are not able to get to the next level.

Yeah, people don't want to risk losing the job, I would say. Yeah, yes. Or just pursuing an alternative. Because they're comfy with their job, so they have their bands only as a side hustle. Do those local shows, maybe they play in Austria or something like that. That's an achievement for them. But like we didn't want to stop there. just wasn't the case for us. But I do have to say that we are extremely lucky

regarding our job. Because they have been very supportive of the things we do and the like the owner of the company actually paid for the RV rental for our first tour. Yeah. That's great. And we also have a really dynamic environment with our work. We basically work on tour all the time. We work remotely, so yeah, our job allows us to basically work flexibly throughout the whole entire tour, yeah. That's great, so what you do remotely doesn't affect how hard you want to go and pursue music.

Yeah. That's incredible. And we're also able to, you know, at least for me and Luca, we earn like our, our, voyages through our job and we're able to reinvest anything we earn from the band back into the band. So, yeah, like, ever since we started the band, we basically haven't withdrawn anything we earned from the band. We don't need the money we earn with the band

for like our daily expenses. We have our job for that. So whatever we make with the band, we just snowball forward so we can get to the next level. do bigger stuff going forward. Not only do, I guess, musicians and artists from your country have like the mindset of like, you know, oh, like I can't spend money and do do this. And then not only did you both all of you get through that, but now the money you do get, which is incredible. The fact you get any money coming back to you is pretty incredible.

You even take that and invested it back into the music. Yeah. Yeah. And even though from what you're telling me that the bands around there were sharing the best musicians, but it's kind of funny how you're just attracted, your energy attracts the right people, you know, and like the chances of you two having the band together. Yeah. Just had like that similar mindset.

The two of us were the most dedicated ones. We went through a lot of changes in the band. Yeah. Like from local people and the band was still local so we didn't play that much, but we already saw that there wasn't too much interest from those guys. Then we got two new guitarists and we started touring with them in Europe and in the States. Then those two had kind of job issues. Like they didn't want to risk, that was the case with them.

They didn't want to go on tour like to. months in a row because they didn't know what's going to happen with their job. And we were like, we don't fucking care, we want to do this. Then after that we got our first guitarist, filling guitars, who was on like two, three tours. He was from Norway. That was the first non-Slovenian person in the band. And at one point it was only us too in the band. So we only got like...

We did two US tours, only us too, with one filling guitars from the States each time. And on the second tour we met Howard. Yeah, at one point we were actually considering just being a two-piece and having everything on backing tracks. Well, if we're on track with that. Yeah. We did a show last year in... In Korea and in Philippines. Howard wasn't able to go to Korea or Philippines because of like a COVID issue.

Like there were some restrictions for Taiwanese citizens coming into those two countries. coming into those two countries. Oh, okay. So those two tours, it was only, those two shows, it was only me and rock. Yeah. Everything else was on backing tracks. We don't fucking care.

Like, uh, rock's voice was pretty busted at, on, at the Korean show, I think. The worst was the Philippines show, yeah. Yeah. So we were unsure if even rock's gonna be able to do it. Oh my goodness. Like, there was a chance.

It's gonna be just a fucking drunk clinic from me. Oh, sick. But yeah, like a lot of bands think, like that's the end of the world. We can't play a show. We just don't fucking care. Like if people want to hear music, they're going to fucking hear it. That's another thing we maybe have to point out. In Slovenia, a lot of bands are old, old, old school.

So we don't have a bassist. Oh, we can't play a show. Like, they don't understand or comprehend that if you don't have something like technology has enables you to do shows without certain things if you don't have a guitarist if you don't have a bassist if you don't have something you can you know supplement that with backing tracks but they just don't want they feel like oh that's not true or whatever they just don't understand how touring works don't understand how everything works so yeah if they don't have a member or they're just don't want to shows yeah yeah that is a very you're right that's a

very old school mindset. That's been dead for a long time. So it's great... There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. It's just... It's just like... We don't care.

Why would you want to cancel something if you can supplement it with like a backing track or something? I agree. I don't understand. Like, even like, for us, I think some bands don't want to or this band just because, I don't know, one person lives 30 minutes away or something. It has to drive to rehearsals. Like that's a like a breaking point for them to not be in the event.

It's just like yeah, the mentality of musicians I think is pretty like, I don't know, 20, 30 years like set into the past. Yes. Yeah. I agree and musicians are like what exactly they're like always 30 years behind. So the fact that you like all you have like the natural mindset, you know, it's the cliche like the show must go on. Exactly. Yeah. And you've seen it. You guys have, you all lived it and seen it.

And I have two, even in my own band, like, they just want to go back to the old school mentality. Like, oh, we can't do this, can't do that. And it fucking pisses me off. And so it's good that you guys just have that natural. Yeah. I mean, again, it's nothing wrong with that. We're just talking, like, from an opportunity perspective, like, why would you cancel something if you have alternatives that you can, you know, take? You're right.

Yeah, I miss it the first time. you said that there is there's you never know what show is going to give you like opportunity yeah just don't know it's crazy and especially if you're on a tour like on a really long tour especially with my voice or just like vocals in general you know you can get sick whatever like you have backing tracks and if I don't want to blow out my voice maybe sit out one show you know get my voice back into shape luckily that hasn't happened so far but you know I wouldn't feel ashamed or anything to do that in order for the show to go on.

Yeah. We did a tour in Europe, and two weeks before that tour started, I fractured my foot. No. Yeah, I was playing basketball, fractured my foot. Yeah, so we were figuring out what we could do. I actually hit up a drummer if he could fill in, he couldn't do it. Then, yeah, just it ended up me going on. on tour with a fucking cast on my leg and I was also driving and playing drums but kicks

were backtracked that shit was really really tight though everything locking up exactly to the grid we like this is sick yeah actually it wasn't that easy to play because like like there's a lot of fills where you use your kicks in between and I had to like disregard those and play just with my hands. It's like a weird, like, muscle memory thing. Wait, this is not out. Yeah, exactly. Because when you play, you, I don't know,

I just do everything by muscle memory. So I had to learn the set in a completely different way and play a different way. I mean, if you transfer that to guitars, it would be like missing a finger or something, you know, just... Yeah, I guess. Man, your level of dedication is inspiring. It's sick.

And you guys, it feels like you guys are just here too. Like you were just playing Charing Action, it feels like... Yeah, six months ago. Yeah.

In August. In August. Yeah. I mean, we have visas for one year so might as well put it into use. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, if it calls for it, you know, and do it. It's sick. And I was jamming, um, correct me if, if I'm wrong.

Sukara. Sakura Sakura I knew I got it wrong I don't want to embarrass myself and they oh gosh you're right that is my

favorite song from you guys I like playing this I like going on Spotify and it's letting it go and it's listening as much music as I can from and I listen to so much of your band

and I'm always fascinated by sometimes you walk away when you're done listening to the band and sometimes a riff riff or two or a song this replay and it keeps going and going and that was a song for me like that like those riffs like what was the writing process for for that song so that song is a instrumental right basically the way that i think about it is there's since there's no vocals the guitarist it's just got to be

very hooked bass i'm basically replay replacing vocals with guitars so it's really front and center. So, you know, there's a lot of thematic things, a lot of things that you would apply to vocals, you use that for guitars. That's kind of how I built everything. Like, everything is based on a melody that repeats later and it develops. And yeah, that's basically it. I wanted to really make a super catchy instrumental song. That's what Sakura is supposed to be. So you had a mindset going into it, correct? Yeah, it's kind of like, I think it's a little different than writing four vocals, because when I write four vocals, I like to leave a lot of space so that it's not so, you know, busy.

But yeah, that's the difference. That's interesting because sometimes, like a riff will come out, like, like you're writing it, and then it just kind of comes out but before you had the mindset before and then then you started playing this needs to be like hooky this needs to be this means to be

catchy as fuck yeah I just kind of I'll start with a vibe like I'll think about what kind of vibe I want the song to be how I want it to feel it's really hard to articulate verbally exactly what goes on

but I would say establish the vibe you know think about what type of song it's going to be and it just go from there. I just tracked directly into Ableton. And, yeah. Don't we say for that song that we want an anime opening theme song?

Yeah, exactly. So. I think that's the one. Yeah, Luca came to me and, yeah, told me that we should definitely do some kind of anime intro themed song for this instrumental. So, yeah, right off the bat, I was like, okay, then it's got to be super hype. It's got to be super catchy, upbeat, and that's how it came along. That's no pressure, right?

It's still fun, dude. Like, I love writing music. It sounds fun. Yeah, like, even if I have free time, I'm writing music because I just love doing that. Interesting, dude. So, when you're playing that song in particular, like, is it, like, once you have the riff, do you kind of build off that riff and just keep, keep going.

Yep. Yeah. What was the first riff? It's this video, right? No, that's Ultima. That's Ultima. Okay, so you're talking about Sakara. Yeah.

I think for Sakara, definitely the main lead. That's the one, dude. That's the fucking one. Yeah, because again, we want to establish some kind of melody that kind of carries along the song. Yeah. So it starts with that and then Core progression those two kind of go simultaneously

Yeah, and after that verse chorus were so you know very pop-like structure But just with a guitar instead of a vocalist that's that's it Turn it up Jay? That rip is fucking ridiculous Hey Jay, go back 25 seconds boom perfect This fucking riff it's like when it's like when you're playing that What are you feeling? It's like, oh, this is like, okay, this is going somewhere. Yeah, so intro is kind of like anime character running.

So think about like Naruto running through a forest or something. It's kind of got that vibe. Basically just super anime intro going into that beginning of the song. So, yeah. So you have like image in your head. Imagine like this is like a situation in life happening and you kind of make it into a sound Kind of yeah more or less it's it's really not like I don't have like a solidified way of thinking about it But in this particular case when Luca told me he wanted like an anime intro yeah that's exactly what I was thinking

Well it was that was accomplished thanks and it's and this song on the record it's it's uh it closes the record which is a balzy move like to me it's kind of like it's i mean it's one of your top string songs i think it's like number two and uh it's funny how you put that in the end of their record that's a that's yeah we kind of wanted to close it on a more chill note i mean there is an outro after this one which is uh like a lo-fi chill vibe just a progression of this song Who's idea was that? Howie's? Oh, wasn't yours?

I mean... Yeah. Doesn't fucking matter. Humble, humble. I love it. Maybe more of like a clap, but you don't remember who said it. Hey, do you like a other version of this?

Yeah, I mean, it's hard. To be honest, it's really hard to think about who came up with what. Because at the end of the day, we all agree on what the songs and products should be. So it's not really like, oh, this is your part, this is your part, this is your part, it's just more like, this is our album. Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like you're a unit. You know, we're like a hive mind, dude.

Wow. That's sick. Yeah, like, we rarely disagree on something. Are you serious? Yeah. That's pretty. Oh, my goodness. I mean, and even if we disagree, we don't like.

We make a compromise. Yeah. Yeah. Every time. Usually it's like I kind of get an idea of about a song, what we should do, and I just tell how we do this, and the product is there the next day. Yeah. That's maybe another thing, like up until probably partially Death Wish, but mostly Yoki,

all the music was, or the guitar parts were written by Luca. So another thing, like once how we came to the band, you can definitely see the progression in the music writing as well. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I didn't know that. So because that was a question that I had for you guys. Like there was like an obvious like big musical direction change from 2018 with Death Wish and then 2020 only two years later. It's like, oh, this is like it's like you were becoming like your. like your own band.

This is like your sound. And I was wondering like, you know, you know, how, why the change and then it explains that's when you brought a Howie. Yeah. Howie is now an integral part of the band. Like, within destruction, can't exist anymore without Howie.

That's my opinion. Agreed, yeah. 100%. Because before, like, we didn't really care. Because mostly, yeah, it was my and rock's ideas about music, about everything. The old guitars did do a lot. He did give in input, and some of the songs were done by him,

but still, like, it was mostly rocks and my ideas, but now, like, how is the central part of the band? He's the mastermind when it comes to music writing. There is kind of, like, you don't know, it was, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no, like, you don't know when you're doing it, but then once you have, like you're bringing another,

whether person or idea of way of doing things, wow, this is like it. And then you realize what you're doing early was so much harder. So it was like in a weird way, you were training yourselves to eventually when, when Howie came in the band, I was like, oh, oh,

now it's like, shit's really flowing because we've been doing this the hard way, like the whole, for years. Now when Harvey comes in, it's like, everything is just like, maximized you know yeah actually well how we joined in 2019 right yeah yeah so even before how we joined

me and rock already kind of knew in which direction we want to go it was just impossible for us to achieve that because like my uh guitar knowledge or rock's guitar knowledge is like practically non-existent compared to how we yeah and um when we were uh trying out how we on the european tour tour I told we were already kind of discussing if he wants to join the band and all that stuff and I told him if he has any demos or in which direction we want to go and he just started writing and most of those songs ended up being on your guy it did you have this shit built up like riffs saved or were you just like sitting down for hours and I mean, previously, I, again, I said before, I just write music for fun.

So I had some stuff that was, like, ready to show people. But I didn't build it with any intent or purpose or anything. It's just there. So as soon as they told me the direction that they wanted to go in, I'd show them some songs. And I was like, oh, this is actually... I know exactly what you showed us. It was no way out. Yep.

And we were like, what the fuck is this? this guy has to be in the band. Oh, sick, dude. I mean, at that time, the demo was completely different, but the main riff was the same. So once you guys heard a riff, it was like a no-brainer, you're like, whoa, this is... I mean, up until that point, you know, we knew like

a certain level of guitar riding. When we saw him, it was just like, whoa, we can be so much more. So it made total sense. not only from like a technical or like knowledge perception like we also got along really well as people as well that was also like another green light for us to just say yeah we want this guy with us yeah because we have a very untraditional lifestyle yeah that's yeah's true yeah we don't party at all so we want someone that's calm on calm the same the same way we are on tour.

Like, he was a perfect fit. Yeah. In a weird way, even though, like, there's, how you're extremely talented, you're a fucking ripper, dude. But, like, it's kind of like, in a weird way, like the personality kind of comes first. You know, wait, how, you know,

can we hang out with this person on all these fucking airplanes and bands and for, who knows how long? So, hey, we all get along together. It's kind of, is that, was that more important to like to you guys? I think if yeah I would say that if personally there would be like a personal issue with us to would have with someone in the band no matter how talented they would be I think the personal issue.

Yeah, it just wouldn't work. Yeah. That's I think that's also the probably the major reason why we're still a three piece. Like we could get another guitarist or another basis, but like we just don't want to risk for now. Like, because we got extremely lucky with Howie. So, I mean, it might happen again, but like we're just not stressing about it because it's just, I don't know, just puts too much pressure on us. And it works, you know. Why change something if it works really well?

Exactly. Like it would have to be like an obvious sign from like the universe. Yeah, I mean, the only complaints we get now is from, like I said, 20, 30 year olds, or people with the mindset of 20, 30 years ago still saying like, oh, these guys don't have a basis, you know, they're not a real band. And it's just like they don't like, that's a listener that has no idea how touring works, you know, no idea how like anything works. They just, you know, see the band and then they just.

That's it. Yeah, form their own opinion. of that show not taking into account everything else that goes behind, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, sacrifice behind the curtains and even you, pretty much losing everything in, in, in your life to just to you guys, especially you guys get to get out of your country. Oh, don't, don't even get me started. Like that, like, I mean, I, I, I can't even imagine what you guys have been through just to get here. Yeah. You know, just to do something simple. Because for us, like,

oh, you guys, you guys, you guys are on tour in California. Cool. Hey, great. You guys. You guys. You guys from the podcast, but it's not like that. It's not fucking like that. Yeah, and it's just like you said, yeah, it's like the perception of a person going to a show seeing a band, you know, they just form their opinion of what they see on stage, but have no idea where we come from, how much money we spend. Oh, how much we sacrifice. They just form, oh, I see this, this, this. I don't like that, that, that, but have no idea of our backgrounds.

So, yeah. Like, people don't realize a lot of bands have labels. and shit like that, we don't have anything. Everything is self-funded. Yeah, and from start to finish. Our country is super... They do have, like... They do give out money to artists,

but all the money goes to local artists who play fucking local shows. Interesting. And like we're probably like the top five across all genres, musical export from the country. country and we don't get a single cent. We could ask for it, but it's just like, I don't know if we even want to bother asking because that money is going to go to a fucking rock band that plays

in Dubrana anyway, so. Yeah. And also from a business perspective, our country is super unfriendly to international entertainment, just because I don't think we don't export that many like musical international musicians like or international musical entertainment we don't export it internationally at all so i think that i guess leg of the business in our country is completely dead that's why we always struggle with oh what are we going to i don't know the main thing we struggle is like card payments in the united states just because our countries like we just can't set it up because of that yeah yeah we're just gonna open a business in the states yeah that's that's the only like route we see through getting that set up yeah it's our country is like really

really bad if you want to do the the stuff that we do yeah it's so it's so strange because you would think that they would like encourage it but it's a complete opposite if we would play pop or maybe folk music than maybe but they just don't care about alternative scene because it's so small and it doesn't impact the country the way other

genres do. But it's still worried because you guys do impact a lot of people. I mean you're literally touring I'm looking at your dates right now. You're literally touring the whole country. You're touring for four weeks. You're going to be California, Oregon,

Washington, you name it. Iowa, to Texas, Arizona, New York. You guys are everywhere. Canada. I think we might actually try in the future with our country and trying to explain to them what the fuck we do and why it's important. But we're actually putting Slovenia on the map, you know? Yeah, it's like we're the second Luca Donchich.

Yeah, like I haven't actually heard anything about Slovenia until I met these guys. Oh my goodness. You know what I mean? Yeah. How was it for you getting out of your country? Oh, you mean coming into the States? Yeah.

Or, you know, trying to play music and trying to get out of what your surroundings to do what, like, you want to do. I don't think it was, I don't think it was that hard or that crazy, you know. Growing up where I grew up, a lot of people went out of the country to go to school. So right away, there was already the option. of pursuing something outside of your country. That was always a path you can take. And yeah, in terms of traveling, it's really not bad. The only thing I have to do is a couple of visas,

as we said previously, how I wasn't able to go to Korea, how I wasn't able to go to the Philippines. There are some restrictions with that, but I don't think those are anything too bad that would restrict me at all. You do have restrictions going to China. I do have restrictions going to China. because I'm Taiwanese and that whole thing.

It would be obvious with what's going on. It sucks when you're not involved in politics, but they get involved with you. This sucks, man. Yeah. I feel you. So how do you guys practice? We don't. Dang, dude.

We do kind of the whole production check before the tour. That's it. One rehearsal. We go through the set one time. That's it. Sometimes we do rehearse only me and rock, because we just listen to the tracks we have in our inures, but mostly it's just everyone by themselves.

We play to a click, so if you know how to play the set, you know how to play with the band. Usually the first rehearsal is the first show. So are you like, for you, Howie, are you like at home? Okay, I'm just going to jam like the set list. I mean, you're just playing it, getting like the muscle memory ready. And then so by the time you guys get in the same room together and play it in person, with the three of you, is it easy?

I never heard of that. It's like practicing at home. Literally, I hear the same thing in my ears as if I was practicing at home. Are you serious? Yeah, the most difficult part of the whole process is actually putting the setlets together and putting all the stems together. But other than that, dude, it's just, you just play. You just play to the click.

Whoa. Because, I mean, your music is very intricate. There's a lot going on. As far as like riffing or like the drums and the boat, you guys are all doing something pretty, it's very intricate, you know. So just me thinking, like for us, like we play a couple notes and that's like, okay, we need to practice for two weeks and you hear like, they hear how your music sounds and you just naturally already have it down.

Yeah. It's fascinating. Again, just, I mean, with three people, it's much easier because I take care of the guitars and the other guitar, so we're hard-paned left and right, I'm on the left, I just have to make sure I'm playing, you know, the left tracks

that are actually on the album and not the right so that, for example, harmonies or specific parts where only left or only right are playing, like I have to nail those down, but that's pretty much it. Anything else, like, for example, vocal, harmonies.

So I'll sing, during the live show, I'll sing the main melody, and he'll scream it and in this case there are no harmonies but for example if there was a case that maybe Rock is singing the main melody and I'd have to hit a harmony maybe that's something we have to practice

but other than that it's just that everything else just goes you guys are next level okay and that leads me to my next question I will start with we're already on Howie how much do you practice

it just sounds like you to sit there all fucking day and this fucking rip. No, that's not true at all. Really? I'll practice before a tour and I'll practice the songs that we need to play on tour and that's pretty much it. And I'll try to nail

those down as much as possible. It's actually been a while since I actually sat down and practiced other people's music because, I mean, that's how I learned the guitar. I just play other people's songs and try to do it as best as I can as close to the actual real song

as possible so not a lot but I do play the guitar a lot because I write a lot so I'm touching it all the time I'm touching the guitar all the time okay so okay then that that leads me to make my question more precise

but you are playing it pretty often yes okay because yeah I mean writing music is a form of practice without really even kind of thinking about it you're like well you're just playing for a while yeah you're writing riffs or you're playing song

I guess I'll play this, slip my song. You know, like, you'll... Yeah. That is a form of practicing. Yeah, and, I mean, the only limitations that you put on yourself is your technical ability. So if you want something to sound really technical and it really fits the part, you're going to push yourself to make that happen. So you can either half-track it and then, like, learn it and pick it up and then track it for real. Yeah.

Or you just push yourself, you know, start with a slow BPM and then just move yourself up. That's not that hard of a process. So I, if the part really calls for it, I will, I will send it. I will go for it. Yeah, well, we're very similar in that way. You know, it's like, okay, I want to do that, but you got to kind of push yourself. Yeah. You know?

Exactly. I'll find, me personally, I'll find, like, songs are like a little bit more difficult. You know, I'll learn, like, master of puppets or something. I really lock in like the right hand. You know, I was like, oh, she, okay. I want to do that. So crazy how, like, your writing gets better without even trying because you're just naturally, oh, you're playing,

but the riding gets better. It's crazy, huh? Well, you guys are maniacs, so there's that. And you sound like you practice a lot. I don't. Oh, what? See, this is what pissing me on. I try so hard.

I used to, but now I just practice before we go on tour. the hardest time I have is like if we add a new song to the set list I have to learn everything from scratch so that usually takes the longest but I can't remember the last time I sat down and I wanted to learn a new technique or something like that I do there is one technique I want to learn but I just can't find the time yeah because there's There's a whole other dynamic, which it seems, for me, being an outsider, looking into your band, it seems like you have like the vibe on lock. Because your visuals, your artwork, the logo, the videos have a vibe to them. And it's very unique and it looks very well thought out. Like, you have your own vibe.

And it looks like I could see the hard work. Was that planned? Like you guys really... Yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah. Because up until death, which basically the theme was pretty much the same as any other death core slam metal band. And we kind of wanted to like set ourselves apart from the other bands. So thus the artwork and the whole like idea and image and the way the records sound were made in that way.

yeah yeah you had the the artwork and visuals and videos started to match like the intensity of the music that you know you got with howie you know joining yeah yeah we just wanted it all just like like you guys just like maximize it that that's a that's an exciting time you know it's cool yeah so now i think the band actually has an image yeah but before with void and death wish we did still stand out but that was only because of the meme Oh, yeah. Like, music was heavy, and there's a lot of other bands that do heavy music. Yeah.

There's a shitload of bands that have fucking monsters on the cover. Like, we didn't stand out from that point, but our memes definitely did make the band stand out. Like, I mean, we came up with the term slam police, fake slam, shit like that. Really? Yeah. I didn't know that. Just to piss off people. Like, there's a lot of elitists in Slam and that score.

Why is that? I don't like that shit, dude. I don't know. I mean, I do like to have those people around, because they will spread the word about your band. Yes, true. So we just capitalize on haters. We've been doing that since 2016.

That's smart. You know, because, I mean, it all comes down. Play for PR if un-angry kids going to say shit about you online. That's the best thing that can happen. Yeah, well, you want people to hate you because if they don't hate you, they won't love you. You know, and then love comes from them. You have people come out to the shows. You're thinking about it, like, you're a band coming from a different country.

Like, you have people driving from their house, stopping their date to see. That comes from, like, emotion. You know, you got to invoke something from people, you know. Not many bands do that. You guys had a lot. Yeah, I think too many bands played safe. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's like, and like, not to name names, but yeah, you, you know, you know, like, you see it, like the artwork or you hear the sound.

Like, you know, it's just not that, like, unexplainable thing. You know, besides something's missing, you know. That's why when we did your kai, we weren't worried at all. Like, we knew we're going to lose some OG fans. but like i mean if don't like they don't like it i mean what's the point of being an artist if you're not able to do whatever you want to do you know you just you know lock yourself in this you know we'll do this and we'll do that but we won't explore anything else just because we know a certain amount of people are gonna like this and we're afraid of i don't know disappointing them it's just

like that's not what art is about it's not about pleasing people it's just doing something you like and if people like it, that's awesome. But if not, you know, that's okay as well. Yeah, I think when you really start to change yourself for the sake of other people, with that fear of disappointing those other people, that's when you really do lose yourself as an artist. Yes.

And I think you can hear when bands do that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and yeah, you want the longevity. You know, there's something about when you do what you want to do. That's why each record we do, it's a bit more mainstream. Because that's how the band grows. You have to, new ears have to hear your songs. Otherwise, you're not growing.

We could be doing Death Wish part two, part three every two years, but we wouldn't grow. There's a pool of people that listen to Death Corps. and there's a pool of people that listen to metal core which is far bigger than that core. There's a pool of people that listen to butt rock which is far bigger than metal core. So, I mean, that happened.

Also, personally, us as people, we don't listen to that kind of music anymore or not to the extent we used to, we listen to other stuff that inspires us and we want to also pursue that in our music. So if we wouldn't be doing that, then what's the point of even, like, I'm making music just for the sake of making it, you know, not making something that you really want or really are passionate about? Yeah. Yeah, that was my next question.

Like, what was, like, the reaction when that record dropped? Did you notice, like, a little backlash? Do you notice, like, a big jump in? Or both? Which one? Yochai or Lotus? Yeah. The numbers from.

Yokai were at the same level as Death Wish within half of the year. Okay. So that's... Two years. Death Wish was out for two years, two and a half years, Yonkai for half a year, and the numbers were the same. So the growth, like, when we released Death Wish, I think we were at 40K monthly listeners, and we picked at 180K with Yokai. Wow. So like that's three times. the growth. Dude, that's a lot of growth.

And people were saying shit like, oh, this band's not going to go anywhere doing music like this. Of course. Like, death core kids were pissed off. I mean, it works for us. And it's the same with Lotus. Like, numbers just

kept getting better. And the funny thing now is the same people that were talking shit about us after releasing like deathcore kids listening to Death Wish were pissed off about Yoki the same people are now pissed

about Lotus because it doesn't sound the same as Yon. Now they're saying Yonkai is so fucking brutal you fuck make up your mind it never ends yeah hopefully yeah you know if people keep listening to you to you guys

you know that's all I don't really know where it is be guys it's something right you know it's a weird thing like To me it sounds heavier. There's something, you guys know, nil something. Sounds like being authentic.

I think the thing we're trying to do now is like, we don't have that many heavy parts in the songs anymore, but the ones we have, we want to make stand out. Yes. So even though there's a lot less heavy parts now, those do go way harder. Yes, the music is more dynamic. It's not just, you know,

100% time we give the music space to breathe and then when it's heavy it hits really hard when there are solos it's you know when you hear the solo that's that song it has melodies it has choruses so each song is i think its own song so when someone hears it oh i know which song that is as compared to death which where it's just brutality from zero to from a to z all the time and it's just it's i mean it serves this purpose but it's just like uh like a like Not diverse, you know, it's just like a whole thing. Yeah, with Lotus and Yuki, we feel like each song has its, shines in its own way, so it's unique in its own way. Yeah, I feel like if everything's at 100% all the time, it's not going to feel heavy.

It's just going to feel super oversaturated. Yeah, yeah. I do love the, like, the new and fresh dynamics that you bring to the table. you say out of nowhere it'll be like this you know a beat out of nowhere and then boom a slam like you know it's just something like about like a reset in your ears it just feels good yeah you know and I think it still retains its heaviness

because we're still using you know really heavy guitar tones the drums the bass everything like mix wise it still sounds heavy I don't think you necessarily have to be playing a super heavy genre to sound heavy I think a lot of it also comes down to the way it's mixed Mm-hmm. That's true. Yeah, mixing is a big one.

I'm also learning recently that, fuck, mastering's a big one. Yeah. Yeah, like the sound of our record will dramatically change when you get a master back. I'm like, what happened? Yeah. Holy, yeah, all those things need to align, you know? And you guys do everything, yourself, everything looks pro. Colors are sick.

I mean, it's kind of the future. I mean, doing shit yourself. Yeah, I mean, that's how you make the most money. That too. But, yeah, all of the grind work falls in you, if you choose that way. Yeah, and I feel like we're really lucky because I feel like Rok and Luca has obtained, like, throughout the years, lots of knowledge about how the industry works. How to run a band, they have all the connections. So it's like if we're able to do it ourselves, we have people that are able to do it.

why outsource it if you can do it yourself and you can do it right. So I feel like I feel pretty lucky because I joined a band with people that are, you know, really competent in that. So, yeah, pretty good situation. That's great. I think, you know, bands like you guys are ahead of the curve, even like way, you know, ahead of us. Like, you know, I just recently, you know, started looking at budgets and you're just, when you're ignorant for a while,

dude, you don't really know the business, you know. And in a weird way, something I was wrong about, it affected the music. You know, when things all lined up with the business, the music got like kind of weird. It was so, it was so strange. But knowing how, like, knowing the really deep internal dynamics of your own band, you know, it's super crucial. You know, it's just nice to know. You know, you know, knowing where the band's going, where you guys want to go or your or your business side, you know, you. shit there's people in art

you know I guess people that you know did stuff for the band I didn't know what they were getting paid it's like recently

you know you gotta you gotta pay attention to me oh now now I know where the money is going you know that's the first thing we think about yeah always money yeah because if you don't

I mean shit's going in the trash essentially sometimes it's like oh where all the shit go you know But yeah, you guys are, I think you're ahead of Caribbean guys should be very, very proud. Thank you. Thanks, man.

He came from a clear across the fucking planet. You're in California right now. You're in Southern California. Holy moly. We do love it here, though. We also just announced an Australian tour. We're doing right after this one. Really?

Yeah. Asia afterwards. Are the, yeah, I know something about Asia. Yeah. There's, do you have the dates up or no? This should be one of the last posts. Yeah, we got a... Oh, no, it's on our Facebook.

Oh, Facebook, dude. People's on it on Facebook? Or kind of? Yeah, I guess. We do promote on both ends. Yeah. IG and Facebook. I think we should have used,

should you start using Twitter a bit more because it's quite present in the States, right? And in Japan, surprisingly, so. It's weird how different places in the world have different... Yeah, Europe is still fixated on Facebook. Wow, that's so fucking nuts, dude. I mean, dude, you guys help me out a lot, you know, seeing how other bands work around the world.

Oh, wow, look at this. Lotus, Australian Tour, 2020, in March. Four days after this one ends, I think. It starts the second. You go to Brisbane. Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and End in Perth, March 8th. That's going to be sick. Yeah.

You're busy. Yeah. But last time we were in Australia, it was our first time and we had no idea what to expect. Of course. Like, we were, okay, it's going to be, it was in summer, right? Yes. Yeah. So we were like, fuck it's Australia.

It's going to be fucking hot. somewhere for us yeah yeah we come there it's fucking cold yeah we all got sick on the first day oh no yeah yeah that sucks so i hope it's gonna be better now because it's gonna be autumn there oh right yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah right yeah well that's that looks a lot it looks uh my body's hurting looking at at those dates but also it looks like a lot of fun yeah i was curious what what you guys think about you're not a newer band but it's kind of funny

how long it takes you sometimes to get like the exposure until you guys 10 years if you really think about it. I would say six years yeah because we started popping up after Void

yeah okay but yeah definitely Death Wish was the crucial point yeah I mean you could say it's 10 years because if we would have been a US band

we would probably have better like a better starting point so just the starting point for us as Slovenians is I feel like it's way harder to break through the scene than it is if we if you if you if you compare ourselves to a US band for example there's like US bands that like blow up after a year yeah and if you go from California to New York not much changes for for us if you go to from Slovenia to, I don't know, what's a good example, to Spain or Portugal, like, you know. You go through like five countries, something like that. Yeah. But I think that's not a Slovenian specific thing.

It's maybe more noticeable because, like, it's a fucking tiny country. But I think all the bands in Europe have the same issue. Because if you look at, like, the biggest bands, most of them are, from fucking states or Australia or the UK. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like European bands are at a disadvantage right at the start. Mm-hmm.

Compared to bands from the States, for example. It's a lot harder to grow. Because like, they're... Name one band from Austria, for example, or Italy. Boom. And they're not tiny countries. Hey, Jay, type in heavy bands from Italy. Flash God.

Probably Flash God. Oh, yeah. Austria, probably Belfergo. Is it? Yeah. Isn't Luccaulte coil from there? They might be. Yeah.

Heavy bands are? Yeah. That with that aren't, okay. A rhapsody. Yeah, flesh god, you're right. Oh wow. Yeah, like there's not much happening in Europe. You have a lot of OG bands that are fucking huge.

Like, I don't know, which bands? Craneum, if that's considered... No, no, no, like huge, huge bands. Oh, huge, huge, huge. Like, like Ramstein. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Obvious one. But there's not a lot of bands on our level, for example, in Europe.

Mm-hmm. Like, still growing and kind of known. Yeah. Yeah, just... Yeah, you really do have a... like a disadvantage right out of the gates you kind of you guys have to be just really sick yeah because you have to be really good you could be a u.s band and just tour united states and be successful for us just touring europe like staying with it within our own continent it's it's not i mean it's i guess

it could be possible but not to the same level if we were in the united states for example but i mean you You guys hit it. It's nuts. Yeah. Top. These are obviously USA. Scorpions. Scorpions are Germany?

Oh, whoa. Scorpions is from Germany? I didn't know that. Bohem and Poland. You're right. It's only a small handful of bands. I never realized that. Bodom is from Finland, obviously.

Wow. Opet of Sweden. King Diamond. I didn't know that. King Diamond. Diamond is from Denmark. Austria, okay, yeah, there we go Bepa Gore, I didn't know that

Bepa Gore is from Austria Yep They're fucking insane Gorgusts Canada Norway, Emperor Gigerra France Oh Gouira Yeah, it's only like

Each country kind of has one One or fucking two Jeez man That guy The vocalist is actually a politician Is he? In my country, yeah how do you say their band name again?

I'm sorry Tonic So the C.H. I think is just silent. Oh, wow. Tonic from Taiwan. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, they? Yeah, they were playing Ospas here, like 2007. Okay. That was probably a big deal. But he went straight into politics. I mean, the band is still active, but not as much because I think everyone has their own thing going on. Mm-hmm.

Warm Spain. We were just talking about warmed. They were fucking brutal. Celtic Frost, Switzerland. Let's see. Russia. Russia, you have slaughtered. Belgium aborted.

I did not know that. I thought they were from Germany. Belgium has my favorite beer. Belgium triples? Ooh. Oh, have you had a Belgium triple? So, yeah. We don't drink.

You got you guys on drink. Wow. So we have. I haven't had a Belgium triple. Do you drink? I do, yeah. Okay, how often? Not that often when I'm on tour.

Okay. But actually not that often when I'm off tour either. Smart. Just kind of like every now and then if I feel like it. But I don't feel like it most of the time. You're in like, you guys are in the perfect band together. You guys don't have to worry about the drunk bass player. You guys don't need to worry about that.

That's so sick. Dude, just because like the, the, the, physical consequence of drinking. It's just way too much. I don't want to deal with that. Yeah. And since we're doing a lot of stuff, like physically still ourselves, we don't have a crew that's, I mean, we have a small crew, but not like a huge crew that would take care of everything

for us. It just can't afford to not help or just be wasted while you're doing that. Yeah. When we were talking about budgeting and expenses, we tried to minimize that so, like, we don't have a driver and I drive yes yeah yeah it's rough but like it's better to have more money yeah it's it's important yeah plus it's really it's a huge liability to put your life into hand into hands of someone that you don't know you know just you rent a person to drive your car like you don't or to drive your van you don't know this person

you don't know like his driving skills you don't know anything about him and then just place someone to drive for you it's like with Luca we know he's a responsible driver you know if he feels tired he'll stop we'll sleep whatever you know we don't have to have that you know at the back of our head you know thinking oh shit are we gonna be alive tomorrow like what's what's gonna happen we have flashbacks because we did almost die once in the states with a different driver really yeah let's so Yeah, we were driving in a Chevy Express. We were all, you weren't, no, you weren't on that tour.

We were sleeping on the benches and like, I just wake up me there. No. Wake up me there, bam, slammed down on the bench. I wake up, like, what the fuck is happening? Another bump. Yeah, the driver fell asleep. On the highway. So we were actually really lucky because we were on the highway.

and most of the highways in the States, they don't have any barriers in between both. Yes. Lanes. Yeah. And that section actually had a barrier, and we went into the barrier with the front wheel. I still have no idea how the fuck we didn't flip. If we would flip, like we weren't wearing in any seatbelts

because we were sleeping with fucking die. And yeah, we stop, go check. the van and I think only the left front tire was flat and the bumper was a bit dented. That was it. I still have no fucking idea how the damage was so minimal. After that, we told the driver you're not fucking driving anymore. I took over the driving, but like he knew he made a mistake and he's still a cool guy. So we kept him on tour.

He did other stuff. But yeah, no more driving after that. So we, yeah, we kind of have flashbacks and trust issues. So it's, yeah. If we don't get a professional driver, I'm not fucking risking with people. Yeah, or that we know in advance that he's like reliable. And yeah, we have past experiences with him. But yeah, just getting someone fresh, it's like always.

Yeah. It's the same with other crew, like merge guys, shit like that. We also had bad experience with that. I feel like it's a huge gamble in the state. because a lot of people want to do it and they have no fucking experience. I just want to go on tour. Who's going to let me go on tour with them? And it's also fair to say we have really strict rules

because we're here on a visa. And if we, you know, cops pull us over because of something a crew member that's a hired gun did, then we might get that on a record, which might... And not... What's the word? Basically, we might not get our visas approved the next time we appeal for them.

Or just playing it safe with everything. So like... Yeah. Whenever we are looking for crew in the States, I always tell them, like, there's no drugs, nothing at any point in the van. Like, we're not taking any risks. No open bottles. I mean, we...

Yeah. Like, there's a ban on alcohol. hauling the van anyway so but that we're really strict you have to be it's your it's your safety in your life and an experience like that will definitely traumatize you you know for for the rest of your career but holy moly i'm glad you guys are still alive you know your your focus is now obvious to me when you know you guys are pretty much right edge it makes it makes a lot of sense if it works for you fuck yeah man you know yeah well um well I know you guys will get back.

It's time for, for Loden. Thank you guys for being here. Yeah, thank you so much for having us. I'm honored. I'm honored, I'm honored to have you guys. I'm like, damn, they're fucking, a band from across the fucking planet. Dude.

You know, and you guys should be very proud of what you've accomplished. You guys have come a long way more, more than I can ever imagine maybe for people watching listening. You guys have probably been through a lot. And it's very, it's very sick to see you guys here. So, uh,

yeah, but this comes out, so this comes out Monday. Okay. So when people watch it, so you're, yeah, the tour is going to be happening.

So you watch and listen right now, they're on tour literally in, in the States. Check them out. Um, going to Vancouver. Hell yeah. That's going to be a home show for,

uh, Carcosa, sick. Yeah, where do people find you guys? As far as, as, like,

social media. I think all are pretty much everywhere yeah yeah we're I guess our main one is IG and Facebook but we're also on TikTok Twitter yeah I think that's it maybe a few mean memes here and there yeah okay cool definitely well again thank you guys for being here and yeah I'll see you guys at the show tonight all right everyone sit later