Garza Podcast - 69 - GIDEON: Southern Slam, OutKast Influence & Meeting Rob Dyrdek

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

Garza sits down with American metalcore band Gideon. Their new album MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. is out now! https://gideonal.com SPONSORS: distrokid.com/vip/garza 30% OFF! emgpickups.com Promo Code: Heavy 15% OFF! Gideon is: Daniel McWhorter, Tyler Riley, Jake Smelley & Caleb DeRusha TIME CODES: 00:00 - Don’t Stop Believin’ in Yourself & Journey 04:28 - Suffocation Is Still Heavy AF 06:40 - More Power. More Pain & Writing Process 19:16 - ‘Bama, Nashville & Mississippi Boys 27:42 - Meeting Rob Dyrdek 33:50 - Embracing Their Authentic Selves (Breaking out of the Christian Metal Box) 51:08 - How Outkast Inspires Gideon (“South’s Got Something to Say”) 57:07 - Out of Control (Inspired by .38 Special Artwork) 01:09:16 - Chain Reaction & Bury Your Dead

Yeah, we went to Hollywood. We met Rob Deerick. Yeah. We went to the fantasy factory and banged on the door until he came outside. Yeah. He acted. Yeah, yeah. We were so nervous, none of us said a word to it.

We just stood there and looked at it. You went there knocking a door. Yeah, no, we like ring the bell, actually. It was like an intercom. And we were like, we were trying to act like we were. What was it? It was like steak or something. Use EMG pickups because they help you get the heaviest tone possible.

Head over to emgpickups.com and use my promo code heavy at checkout and get 15. percent off. And then once you write the heaviest song of all time, head over to distroKid.com slash VIP slash Garza and save 30% off your membership to get all your songs on all streaming platforms. And now to the heaviest podcast of all time. That's like a legendary artist I never got into. Really? Never got into Journey. I saw him in high school and I was like just blown away. You blown away was sick? I don't know you saw Journey. Yeah, I saw Journey. But it was like, you know, new singer, whatever. knew.

He's been in the band forever now. What year was that? That would have been like, when I was in shit, it would have been like 2008. Okay. Yeah, something like that. But still sick. Oh, it's amazing.

Their guitar. Yeah, yeah. Their guitar player shreds. One of the craziest things is that they all sing. Their drummer sings. Like, he has a lapel and, like, he'll sing a whole song and just like shred. I don't know. Is that the Britney Spears mic?

Yes. With the preacher lapel? No, it's like the full-on like... We gotta get Jake on that. Yeah, we gotta get Jake on that. There he is right there. Oh shit. Oh, Steve Perry.

No, yeah, he was 81. He was the G. Wow. Yes, sir. That is insane. So you saw a journey, I'm like, I want to be in a heavy band. I think that. That's exactly where we went to.

At the time, I was already playing metal. I was already there. But my buddy was like, hey, I got a ticket. You want to go? And I was like, fuck, yeah. There's one of my... You do love to noodle. though because of Journey.

Oh yeah, for sure. Like one of the first solos I ever learned was a Journey solo. You're serious? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They got it. Who's crying now? It's got like a sick-ass song.

Sick ass song. Yeah. That's a great song. Can you that solo? Yeah, yeah. No, it's sick, but it gets really fast. He'd be sitting high. He'd be standing.

Wow. On the Gibson, that's Paul Beatty. Yeah, with the Whammy too. Oh, that shirt, that shirt, though, man. My dad used to play Journey songs all the time when I was a kid on his Les Paul custom. The Les Paul custom. They all shred.

They for sure shred. There was like a whole guitar solo section that was like longer than a, it was like five minutes long. And I was just like, I can't believe this guy's like 80 years old shredding like this. He's probably not 80, but close. The drummer's just hidden behind those like huge ass rack tombs. Oh my goodness. Look at me. Let's see him now.

Let's see him now. Yeah, still. Where are, where are they now? small band it's very small band still in a massive arena yeah they're not killing it at all not at all

don't stop believing don't stop don't stop don't stop don't stop it sounds cheesy but I mean there's a lot of truth there man

I don't stop believing you can't dude I want to quit my band fucking ten times last week you can't but you can't but you can't

I try I can't I can't. Every single day, I want to quit. That's it. This is crazy, too, because I think, like, this singer, I don't know if it's true, but I'm pretty sure they were, like, looking for a singer, and he had covered them on YouTube, like, way, way back.

This guy? Yeah. And he sounded like a third world country. Yeah, he's from somewhere southeast stage, I think. But he, yeah, he was just so good. He sounded so much like him. They were like, you're in the band. You're in a band.

That's crazy. What a life imagine being. It's a rock star moment. You're from a different country. now you're injured and you're in a fucking arena and you didn't stop believing. No, he never did. He got there. You really never did.

Yeah. Straight up. Well, holy moly, I'm honored to have some Southern boys here. Gideon, the whole band. Yeah. Thank you guys for making the drive here. You're honored. Of course.

I'm honored. I'm honored. I'm honored. I'm honored. I have you guys. Heavy as shit. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. You know. Coming from you. I know. I don't know. No, trust me, I realized last night, last night I saw, I'm Excuse me, but I saw suffocation last night. And I was humbled.

I got the hoodie. This is a bootleg. It fits like shit. I put it on last night, and I'm pretty sure there was a cumm thing on it, like right here. I was like, what is that? If I was too tired of, like, care. True story. And I woke up today.

I put it back on. I'm like, I wiped it off. Yeah, I just get a wet. It was like a white fucking. I bought bootleg fucking. Bootleg come. Bootleg come. They had them in the party lot.

Yeah. Hell yeah, dude. You want to him like, okay. Yeah, I want one. I guess. I have two shots of Jack. I never drink Jack ever. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, fuck it. Yeah. It sounds great idea. Jack makes me. Sometimes the bootlegs though. Be better than the original. Sometimes. Yeah, yeah, sometimes.

But yeah, last night, I was definitely humbled. Like, you just watch him. Subification is still that band. Yeah. And it was like heavy as fuck. I mean, I mean, talking Hobbs, Terrence, like, OG from like, you know, 1990. Like all, I mean, us,

All these bands are with the, especially like the slam. It's all, dude, it's all Sopho, you know, early 90s. Yeah. And still, he's, I want to say he's mid-50s. Hey, Jay, can you look up how old Terrence is on the old wiki? I want to say he's, uh, he's 55, and they're still head banging. Derek Bore, the bass player.

We're still playing catch up. 47. I don't think he appreciates me seeing his age on. We'll leap it out. Yeah. Terrence Hobbs, dude. 95. 52.

Born in 1970. So it says age 52. Not bad. Man, I want to be rocking in 52. Yeah, my dad's like 56. Yeah. Holy moly.

Damn. And dude, they're still rocking. Like head banging. I was like, I'm 37. I'm struggling, but dude, that was it was really poor deceased. Heavy as fuck. Look great.

All right. You know, I'm buying a boule. Come on. Of course. Yeah. Got to. Not buying their merch. Just the bootleg.

Yeah. Now, for real, though. I think that sometimes the outside. That picks hard. People on that. Oh, my idiot. That is so hard. That's fucking sick.

Hey, can we do a quick intro? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. I want to know this what the hell is going on. Yeah. Who's first? Name. My first?

Yeah. I'm Jacob Smiley. Jacob, honored. You play drums. I play drums. Also, the OG. I'm an OG. Some would call me an OG.

Yeah. Sick. since I was 17. Yeah, wow. High school. Beautiful. Straight side. I'm Daniel McCorder.

I sing. I'm close to an OG, I think. He's OG. Pretty close. He's OG. I'm Tyler. Riley, I play guitar. I've been in the band for a...

Also OG. Almost OG. We're all OGs, damn it. In a way, we all are, but... I'm Caleb to Russia and I play bass. He's OG. I'm OG. My name is Christ.

And I'm O. Yes, sir. This is the OJ. Yes. Let's just fucking run to podcast right now. Come on.

We're all OGs. We've been around. Got to say thank you for providing the new record. By the time people was watched to hear this, it will be out March 17th. Yes.

Shit's heavy. It's sick. Thank you. I'll jam it. I jammed the whole thing on the way here because I already heard their first three singles

that you guys put out. They're fucking going heavy. It sounds awesome. Congrats. Thank you. Thank you. about it. I mean,

best record yet. That's how it feels. We've been sitting on it for so long. It feels so good to put some songs up. Yeah, ready to get it the hell out, you know, ready to just get it out there at this point. The response on the singles has just been incredible. Yeah, just ready to get it all out there.

I think people are ready, dude. A lot of slam. This is a very slammy pod already. I feel it. Yeah. You know it's going to be good when it translates live. when a lot of people haven't heard it yet and those of, I don't know,

just to hear people singing along with those songs right out the gate every night has been... Are you serious? It's been sick. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Fuck. That's, yeah.

We did this thing starting last year where we started playing songs before they came out, you know. We haven't really done that a lot. I don't know. Have we ever done that before? Back in the day. Like, it's been a long time.

But yeah, we started playing these songs before they came out and just kind of gauging it And especially in Europe where it's like we were just, we were touring there with, with the Amity Affliction and there were a lot of, there were a lot of people there that had never heard us. So playing like, excuse me, playing like songs that weren't out and to people that don't know our band, you know, they don't know, you know, they were just going crazy for the new ones more than the other ones because they didn't know any of them, but they just thought those were just sickest, I guess. Interesting.

So we were like, oh, wait, there's something special. going on here. This is sweet. Even over here, I feel like some of the new songs are doing better than the songs we've been playing for years. That seems to be an ongoing thing with your band, Gideon. Like, it seems like, because bands tend to the opposite. Like, you know, you go, you're like a heavier band and you go more to, I want, you know, I'm broke.

I'm going to go more metal core, you know, I'm saying. But, you know, we're not, we're not in a name names, you know. But, you know, but in your situation, you guys went the opposite. You guys, like, went from, like, the more metal core, and then you went heavier. Yeah. You know, and the reaction was great. Go bigger, go home, baby, you know. You know, it's like, I guess after the record Callis,

and he went in the cold, that was a big change, and it's weird how, like, it was very well, like, even, your songs would even stream more. Yeah, yeah, you know, how, like, that's lucky. That's lucky. Yeah, I mean, a lot of luck, I think, yeah. It's, we're, I feel like we're super fortunate. Every time we put out something that does better than the thing before,

it's like, all right, we're doing something, right? So, I don't know. I think we've, we've cast, wide net over our entire discography trying to figure out who you know what we should sound like what we want to sound like like what people want to hear from us and so yeah it's like every record it's like we hone in on it just a little bit more and we and hopefully people are receptive to it but yeah it's weird we've been a band for a while and gone through a lot of a lot of different changes you guys been a band already for 14 years i mean jake you've been a band since 08

Yeah, it's been a long time I think we wrote one of those first songs When I was Shit, I think I was either 10th or 11th grade 10th or 11th grade you serious? Yeah, wow And it made it, it made its way onto our first record

I think that was one of the I don't know, looking back I think it's crazy Because I was written in a classroom Like because I couldn't pay attention To what the teacher was saying And to think that it made it onto a record That people still listen to is pretty crazy

It's crazy, huh? Yeah. And a record that some small part of our fan base still considers the best record we ever put out. And it's like... Which just pisses us on. And never ends. They're like, go back to the first record. Go back to do the demo.

Kill yourself. You know, you know. Yeah, yeah. You know, it never ends. You guys suck. Luckily, they're out numbered. You get sick. Yeah.

I think this record was heavier, though, just because of the times it was written in. It was a heavy time. time, you know. Like everything just kind of shut down and that's how we were feeling, just dark and heavy. So I think that's kind of what happened with, what is a new one. Yeah. Yeah. Plus, I think like when we put out our song No Love, I don't even, you know, we were going through. It's like, you know, our music, we try to just reflect how we are at that moment. You know, we're not trying to fit into a certain, not trying to act like if we're bummed out or we're going through a hard time. We're not going to just try to act like we're not. We're

and write something that's inauthentic you know not an authentic so we put that song out and it was like the most I don't know like the vibe of it was just darker and and more like I don't want to say hateful but it's like the only way I can think to describe it I'm spiteful I guess you know like the vibe of the lyrics the vibe and the music was just heavy it because it just like made sense to write because that's what it felt the music felt like I'm assuming first yeah first uh I would say like an attitude song, I think we ever wrote.

Like kind of like a sassy little it had a little bite on it. I had some Southern set. Some spicy flavors. Alabama fucking National Tennessee fucking heavy. Yeah, so then once that, and that song is still I think one of our,

I mean, it's like our most popular song still close to it. How bizarre is that? Like you put out this like heavier song and then like this number one on Spotify. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I was like a two-song EP, too. So it's just like this one random song. And way bigger than the other song on the AP. How do?

Would you consider that an EP or a single? You know. It was two songs. It was two songs. But back in the day, EPs were, you know, you at least have five songs.

Yeah, yeah. The only reason you want to call. Just a couple songs. It's a couple songs. The only reason we even did that was we, uh,

there was some, We went to the studio for the album before. We had paid for some extra time and something. We were going to... We didn't need it, right? We were going to add, like, two more songs to that record before. And because we had lost some vocals or something. Oh, dude.

So we finished the whole record, and then we get a call. What was it, like, three or four weeks after or something like that? Your vocals had been deleted. The computer crashed for something crazy like that, and they lost half the record of vocals. So I had to fly straight back up there and record. Are you kidding? The nightmare. The nightmare.

That's a joke and a nightmare. What about the computer crash? You know, it's kind of weird, right? No, it really happened. That happened to you guys. Oh, yeah, 100%. But somehow through it all, we ended up, like, we were going to come finish a couple extra songs for Cold.

Is that what it was? The record wrote before it? Yeah. Yes. So we were going to finish some new songs for Cold, and we ended up just saying, like, you know what? I think it's good as it is.

But we said I had already paid for some extra time with Putney. And so, like, however long after, that nine months or a year after or whatever it was, he was like, you've already paid for this, so why don't you just come up and track like two songs? And we're like, all right, so that's kind of how that happened. And the label was just like, yeah, sure,

we'll do it. And that was shortly, that was right around the time Caleb came on board. A year after I joined. And this two songs musically I was able to put into the band. Really? This man came in with some heat and we said, let's do it. Let's do it, yeah. Let's go. It's like, this is serious.

I know. I had to bring it, bring the heavy in, you know. Yeah. It sounds like you, like, brought like your, like your vibe. But you, like, you really truly joined the band. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. No, I felt like, like with my old band, Those Who Fear, I was just trying to bring, I don't know,

want to continue those vibes and everything that I do. And so I just bringing the heavy feel to us more, you know, bringing the, beating it down a little. And we have been, I mean, way back in the day. We had known Caleb for like, you know, since we're young. Because I was like 16, something like that, yeah. Oh, yeah. nice known to trip for a while yeah yeah yeah used to go to Gideon shows back in the day you know their first CD release I was like up front knowing every word of the song so he kind of

knew what to what to bring to the table if he were to bring something to the table and then he he fucking brought it yeah try like imagine like some you know like you guys need a guitar player and it's like some dude that's listened to like you from the beginning and like gets your music and it's like super talented and then you and you're like and you're like and you just bring them on and he's just like it's like it's like that outside perspective you know how it is to be in a band where it's like it's different when you're in the band it's hard to know what people what other people want to hear from what they expect from what they expect you think you know but you just you know you're you're kind of biased yeah just try to make what you know like I wanted out

of Gideon at that time just music I was like oh well that's the next step how I felt you know would be musically you know yeah yeah and What I respect about your band, and to be honest, I was kind of, like, hesitant to ask you guys to come on. Like, you know, where, like, where they at? And I did some more research on you guys. And you guys are really, it seems you've been a very authentic and true yourself band. And regardless of any backlash, them might come. You know, I was like, these guys, these guys are the real deal.

Definitely. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for saying. And then, you know, Caleb comes up, and let's solidify the band sound. Yeah. Oh, for sure, for sure. You guys really took a like a twist. When those two songs came out, EP or singles, whatever, we know, or let's call it a record.

Yeah, yeah. Two songs is bugging as a new record. Oh, my goodness. That's not it. It was pressed. We did press an whole big-ass LP for two songs. Yep. And did that inspire the next record out of control?

Is that kind of, they kind of lead? I remember feeling like that was kind of like, we're like, okay, everybody's expecting us to put out something that's exactly. like these two songs. And we kind of we kind of rejected that. Yeah. We've kind of done that a lot where it's like everyone's expecting this of us.

Let's uh, it's like when somebody tells you know or tells you what to do and you want to do the complete opposite. Totally. We're kind of hardheaded in that. Yeah. A little bit of an authority problem for sure. Yeah.

It's also really hard. Like when you know you did something like you, that worked and you don't want to like ruin it by. trying to copy it and doing it worse or you know something like that and I think like if we could have made a whole record that sounded like that probably would but it was just like we're like how do we how do we make this happen again I don't know I think it on the new one it sounds a lot more yeah those two songs would fit on this record yeah yeah definitely it's a lot more like that like overall Dan doesn't think so Kayla brings it up once here for sure I love it what is what does

Dan think. Let's go. Let's fucking beef it up. Come on. Right here. I like that it's its own thing. I don't know. It came out and it was just at that time.

It just made sense. And I like having something just separate. But I get that it would fit on the record too. It makes sense. Yeah, yeah. That's it. I'm into that deluxe edition. That extra two tracks on the man.

Give me that diggy. Yeah. Diggy ass. What's up? So you guys are based out of Alabama. Emma? I'd say we're probably based on Nashville now. Now, yeah. So Tyler and Dan, you guys are both in the... Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Are you guys from there? No, I am. He is. Okay. I was born there. Born there? I was born about like eight minutes from where I live right now. Oh shit, it's awesome. Right in town. Yeah. So I'm like one of the, one of the few and the proud, basically. All ten people?

All ten people that were actually born there that live there now. How do you guys feel about? about that because I mean obviously we're like I'm an outsider but I keep hearing about you know obviously there's the Austin Texas and people I keep hearing about Nashville yeah uh Tennessee like is it what do you feel about that yeah Tyler yeah no it's it's cool to me because I think I'm I'm just I'm like just the right age for it to be cool because you know uh you know I'm 31 so 10 years ago I was I turned 21 and shit started ramping up really hard it was already ramping up And it was just like as a 21-year-old in your town, like there's just more shit to do.

It's weird, you know, because I've been touring for a while. It's like every day someone's like, hey, I'm moving to Nashville. I'm like, oh, cool. It's the new one of like 5,000 people I know that have moved here and I don't even. I think I heard that something like 300 people moved there a day or some shit like that? I think it's like, it's over 100. Yeah. Like since I was a kid, the population is like double.

I've only been there seven years and it's way different. Yeah. They keep wanting us to move up there and I'm not doing it. Do it. Come on. I love it. I love it. Eventually, I won't be able to afford to live where I live, where I'm from, which

is that's the worst part. That's how it goes. It was kind of strange when people will start moving through the area because obviously I live in SoCal, so I mean, it's just constant. And then like, and your ran is going up and up. You're like, oh, shit, they're like, I'm getting pushed out, dude. Yeah. At least, like, for me, I've lived in every kind of outside area right.

around Nashville growing up, if I have to kind of move out of the city a little bit, it's like I already kind of know where to and where not to go, you know. But I just want to stay in the city. Tyler, you're booming when you hit the table. What's it? My bad. We got the most booming kick drum just going. What's it going to take for?

I mean, I assume that you want to stay there because you're born there. It's like a steep connection with that city. Do you actually want to stay there? Yeah, I do. I do. Some people, I don't know. It's always going to be home for sure. And it's a good place to live for now.

If something, you know, it'd probably have to be something pretty drastic for me to want to not live there. I mean, I could see, like, living somewhere for a year or two, but it's always going to be home, I think. Totally. Total opposite for me. Yeah. How we're going down? I came from a little town in Mississippi, Pearl Mississippi, and dude, go, like, no shows whatsoever. Like, any, no kind of music.

We were only just playing for ourselves pretty much at the time. So going from there to Nashville was like a huge change for me Being able to see bands that I like and being around actual Music industry stuff was just it was just cool And loving country and shit too so it's just always around there That's cool, yeah I'll be in Nashville for as long as I can be there 100% Wow

Yeah, I love it I'll just visit every now and then I'll stay in Georgia You know What's the name? Stay on your little farm What's the name of your town? Pearl Mississippi

Pearl Mississippi Yeah it's close to jobs and check it out. I want to see this shit. Mississippi. We got a Walmart. No, we don't,

yeah. Wait, do we have a Walmart now? You got a coach store, dude. Hey, okay, okay.

You're bowling, dude. That was built like three years ago, right? That was built like three years ago. Michael. That's where you got that hat. What the fuck,

dude? What the fuck? That place is a ghost town now, though. Is it? Like, they came up for two years and then everybody stopped going there, just a little out of the mall. Yeah.

Why is that, you think? Probably because the problem sucks. Probably because it sucks. Probably because it's a pro We do have a Bass Pro shop though That's sick You got to have a Bass Pro shop

Oh yeah That's nice What's the population It's probably up there It can't be too small Yeah what's the What's the population? Why are you looking up pro right now?

It kind of looks like Tuscaloosa in a way Yeah 27,000 wow Are you serious? Bro I think there's like 3,000 people where I live right now

Really? Yeah It's very small From Mississippi 27,000 currently As of 2012 Yeah 7,000 people have moved there since 1990.

Hey, Pearl's booming, it's on the way up. It's all the way up. Meanwhile, 100 people a day to Nashville. Holy shit. Did I move back to my hometown? Green Pond? A few years ago. The town I tried really hard to get out of Woodstock, Alabama.

And it's weird because I moved back and then COVID happened. So it was like just embrace all the different things that my hometown. town has to offer or lack there of, you know? Oh, there's the maze. The maze. Oh, dude, shit town. What's that guy's name? I'm gonna forget.

John B. Yeah, so, yeah, his town rose to fame a couple years ago. Okay. Because of this podcast. It was like the number one podcast in the-serial, right? In the country. It was a serial. We were out on tour.

S-town. And yeah, that has to do with that. That's right around the corner. I thought about that. That's like, that's like that maze. two minutes from where I live. So this dude, I don't know, you have to listen to the podcast. We're out on tour, actually, and somebody was like,

hey, somebody put out a podcast about this little town that you're from, and I thought I was dreaming because I was like, there's no chance. It's very small. What's the population there? Definitely not 27,000. No. No, it's not. Okay, I wouldn't guess he don't have a coach store, right?

Literally. They don't have a coach. But this dude, this dude, basically, basically called cereal. $1,500, $1,200 as it's $1,000. Yeah, I have a two-bedroom apartment for $575 a month. And that's why it's hard to move. But so this guy basically called in and was like,

I want to report a murder that's been overlooked. Basically talking about how everything's like kind of corrupt there and like covered up. And the guy ends up. finding this guy pretty interesting and just goes down there and starts interviewing this guy and I don't know it's... I remember something about a treasure right? Like a buried treasure or something? Yeah.

He's got a bunch... He had a bunch of stuff buried. This dude made this maze at his house. He made the maze. Yeah. He was like kind of a genius. It makes claws. He's just like this different... Yeah, and he like fixes grandfather claws and weird shit. But just like this super

smart dude just kind of like feeling out of place in the middle of the tiny town. Not the smart part, but I could relate to the, I could relate to, you know, not really feeling like I'd fit in a lot growing up, especially when I got into heavier music and started going to shows and stuff. I was seeing like everyone around me, everyone I worked with, kind of had like, there's a different worldview. And I just like, I would dream about more. Like I would want to get out and like go see what's, what's outside of, of Alabama. And so we started traveling to like Georgia, Florida, Tennessee while we were in high school just to play like these shows. Our guitar player at the time, Daniel McCartney, he would base, back in the MySpace days, he would just hit up promoters and be like, hey, I see where you have a show this coming Saturday. Could we open it? And sometimes we would get paid. Sometimes we wouldn't. But it helped us make our way out of Alabama. And eventually,

up the East Coast, and then we came out here for the first time. And what year was that when we came out here? The advocate in 2010? That's so? 2010, maybe? Yeah, so it was a year we graduated. And when we came out to California for the first time, it was actually with Dan's old band and with Tyler's old band.

And we're in three different bands, but we all came out here together. And now we're- Yeah, we went to Hollywood. We met Rob Deardick. Yeah. We were serious? We went to the Fantasy Factory. and banged on the door until he came outside.

He actually came outside. Yeah, yeah. We were so nervous, none of us said a word to it. We just stood there and looked at it. You went there knocking a door. Yeah, no, we like ring the bell, actually. It was like an intercom. And we were like, we were trying to act like we were, what was it?

It was like Staples. We're like delivering some paper and we're like, we're with staples. Mr. Deneck, please come out. They should have kept us in the southeast. Man, they should have never let us out of here. Our first time going to California, first thing, we were just like, we got to meet a famous person. Like, let's go. You drove the two of the fantasy factory.

Which is right next to a garbage facility. Yeah, yeah. We looked up the address. Like, there's some shit on the internet. We were like, yeah, we found it. And yeah, he came out and said what's up to us. He talked to us for a minute, and we were just, like, blown away. Are you serious? What a cool guy, man.

He told us to come back and see him when we're millionaires. Or he said, make a million dollars and come back to assuming. Stuff like that. We got a while. So, yeah, we're working on the way. We'll be back. Didn't he say something about somebody's piercings? Yeah, we'd all gotten our notes.

He's like, so you guys like piercings, huh? We played, you know what art ambush is? Oh, man, I forgot about that. It was in, what is it, Waco? Texas, Texas somewhere. It's like Waco, Texas or something. It was this venue we were all pumped to play. Like, it was attached to a tattoo shop, and we were like, they were like, yeah, free tattoos for like, for all the bands that play.

And piercings. And where, you know, like, those were they, yeah, dangerous. I got, I got a tattoo from that day still. Of course you did. Yeah. And I got my, I think I already had my nose pierced, but. Oh, I got both my. nostrils and my septum done the same day

the same day right ambush yeah yeah that was a tattoo of it a microphone with the AR 15 next year that's that place was awesome it was like where was this wakeo I think Waco Waco Texas what was the band yeah wait Waco

you're right there it is yeah see tattoo studio body piercings yeah they they fuck with that yeah so we every one of us had a nose ring like every like he was like so you guys like nose rings huh We're like, yeah. Yeah.

Just got him out last night. Yeah. We didn't even explain. We were all speechless, but he was like, well, cool. Nice to meet you guys. See you later. We made it so awkward. Yeah.

We didn't, we, he walked away and we were like, we didn't even ask, like, can we come in? Or, like, we should have, I feel like he was waiting for us to be like, can we check it out? Yeah. Yeah. Those days were weird, too, because we were like these, like, Southern kids trying to make it out. And everybody at the time was either, like, Heavy bands were either northeast or like west coast. And so we were like, do nobody gets like who we are?

And I think it made us feel kind of, or at least me. I remember feeling like a fish out of water for a long time. Definitely. Being like I feeling like you couldn't really embrace like or find out who you are. Like it took like a minute until it was like, I don't know. I remember our manager outside of Dallas one night was just like, you guys have an image. You guys look different like everywhere you go.

It's just you have to like, you have to embrace who you are more. You have to just be these guys like that you are already. And, uh, but dude, it was, it was weird coming out here for the first time. And even like up in Canada and stuff,

I remember just feeling, uh, I don't know, strange a little bit. Yeah. For sure. I had a place like, is everyone staring at me?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone's staring at our singer's hat. What are they doing? What are they doing? No, I remember Tom straight from the path the first time we toured with him. He came up to the window.

First day we ever met those guys. He came up. He said, hey, y'all, are y'all ready for the show? And I was just like, damn. So this is really how they think we are. Dang. It's been fun. There he is.

I'm sorry out Tom. You know what? I'll be very honest with you guys I wanted to open up this pot of saying howdy.

I'm like, what are you doing? You have thoughts in your brain and I'm like, you're an idiot. And they told me to do it too. My trusted team told me to do that.

I was like, howdy, what an idiot. I had that internal dialogue all day long. Anything I plan on saying, I'm like, idiot. Well, welcome to the podcast.

I'm a lot of things you say, oh, I'm an idiot. It happens. It happens. So you guys kind of felt like, you know, out of place being like a heavier band, being from like, you know, Tennessee, Alabama. But you guys still found your place. It's cool. It took us a while, but I think we did, yeah.

It does. I think it just takes not giving a fuck. 100%. Oh, yeah. That's very, very nice. Not caring about what people are saying or thinking about you. It's like really just deep down being like, this is me. I just have to do that.

I got to be me, you know. And if you ain't got no haters, you ain't popping at the end of the day. It's true. What? That's the clip. Thank you, Jake. No, it's true. I mean, I told us to like, you know, you get asked questions about, you know, how do I tour, how to be a band?

I'm like, well, if people got to love you and hate you, because they don't, no one hates you, no one's going to love you and no one loves you they're not they're not really you got to think what people do like we like when we go to shows we buy tickets with our harder and fucking money and actually leave our house and drive out to in out in the world to have someone get in their car and leave to go see your band they got they got to love you man yeah yeah and who's gonna fight for you if nobody hates you you know what I'm saying if that makes any sense yeah maybe it doesn't but I feel like the people that do, that are in your corner, I feel like they start riding for you harder when they see hate and shit like that, you know. Yeah.

And that comes from, because people could smell it when you're not like being real. Right. And now you guys have a very, you know, dedicated fan base, you know. So, I mean, I was curious, like, was there like a conversation that that happened after you put out those two songs and going into out of control? Was there like a conversation guys had, going from the transition, from like, okay, from like going from a Christian band, and now we're like, we're trying to find out who we are. Was that like an internal, like?

Yeah, we all did it together, I feel like, which is a crazy part. Like, I don't know, we've done a lot of growing together through the years. I've spent more time with them than my actual family at this point in my life. And so whenever that came to, I don't know, whenever that was slid across the table, like, hey, are you ready to like, you know, just say how you feel. Do you, I don't know, it was kind of that thing where it was like, do you feel this way? I feel this way.

And we kind of just like all had that conversation. And honestly, I think the main point of it all was to not be in a box. You know what I mean? To be able to freely create art and say what you feel in that moment without having to go back over what you've written and be like, oh, I need to change this for for these people and I need to fill a certain way for these people. It was like you said, it's the authentic part of it. It's just being like who you are writing your, I mean,

everybody should be able to write about their own story freely, you know. And I think that that's kind of how it felt. And I don't know, it was one of those things where I think we upset a lot of people, but at the same time is like, we were upset, you know, and hearing, like, I guess seeing, like, a lot of the backlash made us kind of feel like, all right, like, this is how it's going to be, you know, like, it kind of strengthened our resolve in that, too. Like, I haven't come from that world, like, when, for me, personally, when we were still, when we still believed all of that, like, when bands that I liked, kind of made the shift like I felt a certain way you know like I like under oath first talking about about like separating themselves a little from the

Christian scene I was like kind of hurt about it you know at the time I was just like damn like I like really looked up to you guys and like thought this was you know so before we even did it because you know then life comes full circle and you're like damn now I'm about to have to do that to all these people but the thing is we're trying to be as like transparent as possible you know if we had put out another record without talking about it we I feel like we wouldn't have been able to like live with ourselves because like we just had to get it like we had to be honest about what where we were and like it was just uh we're just like damn so we're really going to do this all right it's about time you know like we

we have to do it's going to be hard but we have to do it and and we just went for it you know But we already knew how people were about to react because we lived that. Like we understand the feeling, but and trying to figure out how to navigate it properly was difficult. I feel like through, it was a painful process, but I feel like also the amount of people that gained a voice through us being able to do that, the amount of people that come up around like I grew up the same way. And I got, you know, looked at the same way when I started questioning things in my life. I don't know, it's crazy because you have like certain fans or friends, whatever you want to call them, that kind of came up with us and have gone through a lot of the same chapters we have as members, but like in their life, you know, like we, so a lot of people have, I don't know, been on this crazy ride with us and are in the same exact, I don't know, spot in life that we all are. And it's the way, I don't know, getting to relate to those.

people feel so rewarding almost like I don't know it's we're all going through it together in a way where it's I don't know trying to break out of this this fence and just like be yourself just blossom as as your as your own you know human is a is something that I feel like we really stand up for and that have we've tried to help people through that as well so yeah not not many people or bands had the balls to do that you know and I really admire that's one one thing I really admire about your band the most you know because a lot of people have things to say but they don't say it at the moment when it really comes down to it

you guys you guys did it you know it was hard but yeah I mean even if you think about it in the opposite context how how intense would it be for any band to completely make a flip on what they've been standing for for the whole their whole career. And at that point, because that album came out, and we were already banned for 10 years, you know.

Yeah. It's a long time to establish a... And you've seen the whole country, you met all these people, and then your, and then your beliefs change, and you're driving in the middle of nowhere in a desert at 3 a.m.

You start thinking about your life. Yeah. You got a lot of time to think and a lot of experience to base your new opinions on, you know? And like, and we were lucky to, like,

get out of the country pretty early in our in our career as a band too and like that changes a lot because we especially being from the south you're really in a bubble of like everyone around me is used to this and gets this and goes to church at you know three times a week and just like me and that's that's all i know and then you go to like japan and you're like they don't even like there's there's temples everywhere that for a different completely different religion and yeah everyone here is the nicest person i've ever met and yet somehow they're all doomed you know and then you just start thinking you're like damn that doesn't make sense but also this other shit doesn't make sense to me and so it's like they were a great thing

there are always there will always be positive and good things about about religion but there's there's other shit that just it's not for not for me you know no after all that it's like holy shit I'm realizing how much how much it's been some you know a fess me in my adult life trying to figure my own shit out. I got all these hangups because of the way I was growing like I was I grew up you almost like forced to live you know for so long in our lives. I think that there's there's definitely positive things that I still carry from it like just like loving loving people like loving your neighbor as yourself and things like that but then yeah there's just things that I don't know. we just started questioning a lot. And I think it helps too whenever you start, you start making friends that have different world views that you have. Yeah, true.

Andy from Byard's murder, it was like one of the first friends I had that would actually sit down and we would have these long, like, just deep dive conversations about this kind of thing. And I think that that's one thing people lack a lot in the South. is like hearing somebody else's worldview out and like how they yeah their perspective like you know what that fun conversation of well what do you think happens when you die and how do you think we got here and yeah and things like that and i don't know it's like the more uh the more i said and with listen

to other people's views and and things like that it it left me feeling very uh very hurt like uh okay well why doesn't this person deserve, why do they deserve hell at the end of all this? And I think that's where the wheels started turning for me. It was genuinely out of love and questioning things, you know. I don't know. It's been a crazy ride. But like I said, there's, and even the people that, I almost envy people that never question anything. and they're just content

and they can go through their life. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's weird. I completely, I don't have that kind of brain. I can't just turn it off. Like I always have like the wheels turning like, well, how does this work? And why is this this way?

And I don't know, maybe that's, maybe that's dangerous, you know? It's like once you feel something you can't unfil it, once you think something you can't unthink it. You know, once you open up that door, can't close it. You can't. Absolutely not.

You know, and there's, you know, I mean, Jake, that's a very special trait and you're very special group of guys and band, you know, you, you, you crack the door open, then you, all right, then you just open it up and then you, okay, that's, kick it open, yeah, yeah, kick it open and run down the hallway, you know. Yeah, it takes you, yeah, it's really, I think it's very healthy to hear other people's, uh, perspectives and you gotta be truly objective to hear other people's perspective. and you need to make space in your own mind. They just sit there.

It's funny, you said it because I put it the same way. Like, you know, we're about to have a conversation about, you know, dying. It's weird. It's weird. I get it. And you've got to be like to have like a cool sit back, you know. Not only people can do that, you know. I love to get weird with conversations.

Yes, he does. Yes, he does. It's what, you know, what happens. I always kind of felt like, uh, what, not bad. I don't know the word right now, but, you know, living in Corona, they have like, there's different kinds of religions that approach your doorstep. You have like either the Mormons or the Christians and like, I always find it kind of, typically they are younger. And I understand that they approach people's doors and they most time they get the door slam on in their faces.

So I make it a point. Like, we all talking for like, you know, a few minutes. I'll be outside. I'll drink, drink coffee and shit. You know, I'm blasting skinless and in the back, you know, but I'm pretty sure it's weird already. And I just, you know, just entertain, you know. Did it on the same way. Listen, am I cool?

All right. Thank you. Have a good time out there, you know. There was a, there was some, there was a lady that came and knocked on our door one day when I was, I was pretty young. And it was a Jehovah's Witness. And my dad just like, he would always just like, you know, don't answer it. Don't answer it. But, dude, I remember this one day.

I went out on the front porch and just had, like, an hour-long conversation with this lady. Just to, like, know what she, I just wanted, I was interested. You know, like, what do you? I love to hear different people's, like, just perspective on things. Like, why do you think the way you do? What makes you tick? Totally. And, dude, I'll listen to anybody tell me, you know, any of that stuff.

I think it's cool. Yeah, you learn. There's, like, a golden, number. I'll get in every con conversation. You're like, oh, shit, you know, I didn't realize that. You know, no one fucking knows what happens when we're dying. You know, I'm not, I'm considering every 10 like I know. I have, you know, we have our belief system, you know,

and we could get comfortable with, you know, being spiritual and our own God and stuff like that. But, man, no one truly knows. Life is weird, dude. I'm 37 trying to figure my shit out. I don't know what's going on, dude. Exactly. I don't know. Is it even real?

Yeah, yeah. That's like. Yeah, that's a big one. You know, we're in some fucking... Simulation right now. Oh, my goodness, you. Walking around in Tokyo will definitely make you feel that way. Coming from Greenfield, Alabama.

I definitely made this up in my head. This is not real, no way. Dude, that's crazy. Being, like, from Alabama or, like, or Tennessee, like, you know, and then going out to, like, you know, Japan and Tokyo. That's the first place we had ever been out of the country. Out of the country. Was straight to Joe.

Are you serious? Yeah. That's a place to go. Culture shock. Yeah. Four times now. It's a, it's one of our favorite place.

It's the best place in the world. We love it. It's such a cool place to be, man. Wow, the vibe there. I don't know if you would assume just by looking at us that that's our favorite place in the world. But it is.

By far. By far. Yeah. They got me to eat something other than McDonald's when I was there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, really?

Yeah, definitely open up my My mind with possibilities of food. I never had a ramen. I had never had ramen either. Their McDonald's is really good, though. Fuck, yeah, it is, too. So the first time they got me to eat ramen, I never had it.

And I don't know if this is what got me sick, but I was like, I don't think it was because they all ate it. They were fine, but we were like about to play the show. Five minutes before we go on, I just start puking in this stash can right before we play. Play the set,

fall asleep on our merch bags for like two hours afterwards. Just feeling like trash. Never ate ramen again. Oh, no. I mean, I'll have it now, but at the time, it was just like, I'm never trying to do. That's because people's, like, Waffle House experience. Yes, yes, exactly. Fuck Waffle House.

God, that sucks. But you had a bad bad, bad. Yo, yo, yo, yo, waffle house, man. You had some bad hash browns, buddy. Don't say Waffle House sucks. Yeah, exactly. Waphouse is good, man. It's sick.

It's open. It's 3 a.m. We're like, we're going. It's a great idea. Yeah. We have... Dude, I'll wake up in the morning. Let's go to Woff House any time of the day.

Breakfast all day. Let's be clear, though, it sucks. But it's good. It's good. It's a good suck. It's a good suck. You never leave without a story. Yes.

There's going to be a fight. There's going to, I don't know, something's going to happen. I've had some family that's worked there. My aunt and my sister both have worked at, I don't know why, but they both worked at Waffle House at some point in their lives. Oh, my goodness. And they tell me that the friars don't get cleaned about one time a year. Hey, it keeps the flavor in, you know.

Yeah, baby. Seasoned. Seasoned. Seasoned oil. That's the word. Because they're 24 hours and they only close on like one, like Christmas or something. So they just like pump it all out that one day of the year and the rest of the year. Did you walk in anywhere and it smells like an ashtray?

You know you're about to eat good. That's true, though. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, it's true. See, I mean, you're broading my perspective on life. Yeah. Thank you, Jake. You know, always listen, always be objective.

You know what's old school. That's what it is. So now I'm craving that cigarette smoke. Yes, sir. Yes. You know what pissing me off most is my round some because my, I don't want to be smoke still. Dan, our base player, it smokes.

And when we're inside, like, there always be one person that starts it and then it starts to change. So he'll be like, always second. I'm like, you fucking dick. I don't like when people smoke in a room when I'm in there. However, last night, hanging out with, you know, suppo. I know it sounds cool. and Derek, their baseball player, pops will open the sticks.

I started smoking and a small content. For some reason, it didn't bother me. I was like, hailing it. I was like, I love you more than my own band member. I'm hearing of something. Weird. We were just talking about this the other day. It's like, I grew up with my mom, like, smoking cigarettes in the car and stuff like that.

For you guys, it's like, oh, what? Those Virginia slams, boy. Yeah. At one point, my mom, like, growing up, she did. They smoked in the house, you know, shit like that. Wow. That secondhand smoke, like, is... That's why you got that beautiful rasp on you.

You made you who you are. No, I hated it. I love it, you know. My mom was smoking in the car, and I would hold my breath in protest until I passed out, turn blue, just... I was not going to breathe out. I have asthma.

I just can't be around it. No, I'd be sitting back there sucking it all in, blowing over in and just listening to Alan Jackson. Oh, my goodness. Do you guys smoke six? No. I used to. but scarred probably yeah yeah had to stop it was it was like once I stopped for I don't

even remember why I stopped initially but then once I did it was like I don't want to smell like cigarettes anymore it's like the biggest it was not about your health it's about how you I know some people can do it classy though for some reason yeah you know you see one person smoking a cigarette it looks distinguished sometimes the smell of a nice cologne with cigarette mixed together you walk in a row oh man that's my damn I want to fuck. Yeah. This guy fucks.

Oh, man. He fucked. Any smokes? Yeah. I'm tired of jacking off, dude. Come on. Give me some cigarettes. Yeah.

Ladies love the cigarettes. Hey, Jake. Hey, buddy. Oh, my goodness. Jake, I heard you talk about, uh, pretty often. Outcast. How is Outcast inspired Gideon? Sal.

It's got something to say. That's where they, I feel like that's where they really, I don't know, made us believe that, oh shit, this is possible. Just because the similarities between, I don't know, the heavy world and the rap world, different eras, but how they basically, you had East Coast, West Coast, you know, beef and how they came up from Georgia and we're like, nah, like, we're serious down here. And now Atlanta's like a hub. You know what I mean? And that video of them winning the award in East and West going at it. And I was like, y'all shut the hell up. Sal's got something to say.

He just walks off. He's like, I know everybody, you know, everybody wants to say what they want to say. But South's got something to say. And he just mic dropped right there. Yeah. They were getting booed. They were getting booed? Yeah.

So they won an album with a year or whatever. And they come up to accept it and people are just booing. It was like, it was like BETT Awards. Yeah. Is that what it was? I think so, yeah. Why, why were they booing? Because they, yeah, they just thought they were, they were corny. Because nobody from the east or west won. Yeah.

Yeah, they thought they were corny, and it was like, whoever was up for it was, I think this is it. I don't see this in a while. South God. It's like we got a demo tape. No one of the people who's like, that's all I got to say. Wow. Yeah. They got like in goosebumps.

Yeah, every time I see that, yeah. Now, we watch something to say, wow. We watched that and we all, same thing. We all got goosebumps. We just like, damn, that's real. And who has bars like, Andre? Let's be honest. So, I mean, you actually, all these actually being from the South, I mean, seeing that and hearing that, that must be like, this is our shit.

Yeah. And they're, and look at, look at that album art right there. Like, nobody was dressing like them. Nobody was doing the things they were doing. The, the blue one in the middle? Honestly, any any picture of them, like the way Andre carried himself

and just like had his own style. Being himself, yeah. Yeah, artwork, dude. Woo! Yeah, that's sick, dude. I won't not fuck with those guys.

Nobody was doing what they were doing. And I think that that's, that's the main takeaway. It's that, that, like, Southern soul thing, you know, like they were funky with the,

like, from the beginning. You just see the genuineness in them and just like, it's who they are. And they're just, being it yeah yeah there's just being them you're right taking different like inspirations in music like instead of uh i don't know i think this was a big takeaway is like okay you're an artist playing heavy

music you can try to you know i personally none of us only listen to heavy music we're inspired by so many different types of musicians and i think that uh whenever you let that creep into not only your music but your fashion and like just how you express yourself i think that that's kind of i feel like that's exactly what andre was doing is like all these different flavors he was like i don't want one flavor like i want all the seasoning you know and i think that's cool personally that's awesome wow and uh yeah i was also going to say that i like uh you're like how it sounds weird to say but as a guy talking to other men. But I like how you guys dress.

That's not weird to say. We tell each other we like how they're dressed all the time. All the time. Yeah. So like guys, you guys from the South, you guys are from the South, you guys dress like who you are inside. It's dope.

Absolutely. A lot. You know, I'm just out there, dude. I just knowing like someone's not being them. You know, so you guys, you know, Gideons of a fucking breath of fresh air, you know. Thank you, man. Thank you so much.

Anyone that's going to speak, speak their mind and be, transparent and vulnerable and not care that that's like that's really my favorite shit. Yeah. It takes a long time to get there. So it's just like it feels good to be able to like just let it let loose and not really. I don't know. Obviously I feel like we all probably still care about.

You hear someone say something. It might hit you deep. But you're like you just got to maintain. Let it roll off. Yeah. Let it roll off. Just be yourself. Oh, do people say like the nastiest shit to you?

Like I think it's like they'll where do they get off? Where do you find the nerve? Where do you have the nerve? It's crazy, though, because when you're, at least for me, I remember hearing all the time when I was younger, like, oh, just be yourself, just especially with the last name, Smelly. Like, it was like, oh, my goodness. It was like, just be, you know, be proud of who you are, be who you are, be yourself. And I think that it's so hard, especially when you get into high school, you start feeling like the peer pressure. I got to dress how these people dress.

I got to act like these people act. I mean, it's kind of, unless you, unless you get rid of that early, it kind of carries on. And I wish that, I don't know, if there's any, like, young artists listening. Like, I feel like that is a cheat code. You need to crack early on. Yes. Is don't, don't listen to anybody else's opinion and be who you are entirely. Totally.

Yeah. You're right. Or even further than that, like, be yourself even, like, we were talking the other day. It's like, be yourself, buddy. even louder. Yeah. Like, if it's at 10,

take it to 11. Yeah. And that's how people love you and that's what people hate you. Right. Yes. You know? And then that's,

yes, and then that, that does affect the music, you know? It does. And it's cool. It's cool. So you come out with the record

and how to control them and again, make this announcement. But, I mean, ultimately, we could do our best to put out the best

music that we can. But ultimately, as we're actually talking earlier like once it's out there the people and the fans they have the ultimate say you know so we do our best to be ourselves which is why you know you're kind of only just if people are going to hate you at least or hate you for you you being you and like people dude the fans loved it it's crazy isn't that weird though it's stuck it's stuck man isn't it weird to like as musicians we just put our lives like out there and the world tells you like whether it's good or bad

It is very strange It's awful It's very strange It's like if it's good or but it's just my life You know Everything you love sucks I do love this cover It's very you guys

Thank you man I love that album art It reminds me of like some I don't know I miss the old album arts That were illustrated Like a pull up 38 special Dude oh this one's great

Which one? Dude any of them Wild Odd Southern Boys is a good one just babes. Oh, my good. Okay. Dude, the one in the shorts

right there. Yeah. Okay. Let's use this. Oh, okay. Dude, it's all illustrated. It's an already cover. Man,

I got that on vinyl just in my room. Dude, there's one with a lipstick. You got to get that a bunch. You got to get that a bunch.

Yes. There it is. Right there. Yeah, in the bullet. It's a bullet. That's tight. Oh, that's so sick. Oh, wow.

That's a sick cover. Yeah, dude. Who is this? 38 special. 38 special. 30 special. It's the, so the guy that sings for Leonard Skinner now.

Yeah, put that in your notes. This is him. So the guy in the middle with the belt buckle, he sings for Skinner now, but the original lead singer is his brother. And my dad, this is the stuff my dad raised me on. It's good, though.

You never heard a hold on loosely? Don't let go. No. Don't let go. They got some good stuff. Great covers. Yeah. But yeah, that kind of inspired out of controls album art where it was like the old illustrated

stuff. But then we meet this guy and he's doing like the 3D rendering stuff where he can actually go in and make a full. Make a scene. Yeah, make a scene. So we kind of tried to mix those two vibes where it's like, I don't know. Yeah, it's like completely 3D rendered. But like...

Is it? Oh, okay. It's all 3D. It's like, you can call it everything. You could, you could walk around in there if you wanted to. Yeah. Oh, shit. So we were able to experiment with like different angles and stuff like that.

But yeah, and that's the other thing is that, that album had a lot of new metal, like aspect to it too, which is very like. Dude, bite down. Oh, that's right. That's tough. That is my track. That was going to be an interlude. No way. It literally had no lyrics in like a few weeks before we went to the studio.

Jake was like it was even less than that one. It might have been. It might have been days before we went to the studio. We were like, this needs lyrics. And I was like, Jake, please, please get on. Dude, I was walking around at town and country Ford pulling car parts because it was just like, I got to come up with something for this song. I remember Jake called me. He's like in one of this little units.

Just rapping it to you. He's on the phone. He's like, you know, the part the end. He's like, talking about the misery. And as soon as he starts out, I'm like, this is it. I was like, this is exactly what it needs. It's also crazy because when we recorded that, it was, like, like it said, it wasn't like the single. You know, when you go into the album, you're like, all right, there's this song, this song, this song, these are full songs, like, contenders.

We put the last song on the album. We were like, final song. And it doesn't have a chorus, and it doesn't repeat anything. Musically, it doesn't really repeat. It's just like, you know, it's just like start to finish, pretty short, no chorus, like, whatever. And after we recorded the record, we were just like, damn, the song is so unique and cool. Like, we should just put it out. And told the label, like, we want this to be a single number.

And they were like, are you sure? We're like, yeah. They're like, it's weird though. And it's like, no, let's do it. And now it's like the number two song. Yeah. There's no love. And then by down is like the next most popular.

What made you guys trust that song? To me, I think. The groove, I think. Yeah. And it's just the heaviness. Yeah, the weirdness of it. Did we play it live before we decided? No, I don't think so.

No. But also, I remember when we put out cursed, which up until that point, cursed before no love cursed was the one you know and like when we put out cursed i remember thinking when we recorded it it was the weird one you know like we're like this the the part that it's like a unique sounding like you know we're hitting these harmonics on there is like something we hadn't fully done before and but it was just apparent by the time it was done recorded like okay this one's different and special so when that like hit because it was different i think like then we had a different perspective on what is going to hit now

Also, Brian Garris came in and fucked that track up. That's true. They were at this. Knock those was at the studio at the same time we were. And we had just got off tour with them not long before. And the song, Cursed, was written about we were in Oakland, we got broke into. And then the following week, we totaled our van in Canada. Played the show that night, though.

And I think that it was just like that year was so, was so, it left us feeling cursed, man. It's like we can't do anything without film like something bad is following us. Yeah. And they were there through all of that with us on that tour. And then they happened to be there at the studio. So Brian hopped on the track. Sick. It ended up pretty sweet.

Yeah. So then that one doing well, I think it just like whenever Byte Down came up, we were like, this is definitely unique in our, you know, our discography. One million news. It's going to hit. Yeah. Oh, it hit a mail.

Oh, I didn't even know. I didn't even know. Hey, you guys know what you're hearing it here first. That's chump change these days though, you know what I'm saying? That's awesome. That is not an easy task. Congratulations. Holy moly found out here.

Thank you. That's literally had no idea. That's crazy. Was it right at it too? Yeah, it just says one M. Are we getting a YouTube for a while? Nah, you forget. Do you get a flagged?

It sounds like you guys just fucking trust and trust like the weirdness of like a song it's like oh it only I was having a conversation last night like you're better off staying out than like being sick as fucking no one even caring yeah you know if it sticks out you know it's kind of more of what what you want right you just gotta go with that first feeling of like you know you first hear something you're like oh man this is it and then people will be like oh it's too heavier it's too weird it's like but I felt that feeling and I feel like other people are gonna feel that when they

hear it so I mean yeah you just gotta trust yourself you know yeah go with that first thought We'd be trusting each other too, which is a really nice. A group of friends too. Yeah. Yeah. A really nice part of this band is we lean on each other a lot. You need it, man.

You're fucking alone out there, dude. Yeah. No, for real. At the end of the day, it's like you really, what we have is each other, like, all the time. And nothing else stays the same, you know. For real. I feel like this whole group is like, for me personally, it's like it really has brought me to this point. of like trusting

more than I ever had. I might. I might shed a tear. Lift those glasses up. Lift those glasses up. Look into the screen and cry. Yes. No.

No, for real. Shubbing tears. Tears on my guitar. No, this group, all of us being together really is just like, I don't know.

There's not a trust I've ever had with a group of friends like this. I'm like, especially coming into the band. It's like, I mean, they trip without a control with all these songs.

Like I wrote a lot of the music on that. And then they just fully accepted it. And we're like, bro, you got this. Let's like fucking roll with it. So, no, it means a lot. It's sick. Yeah.

You're going to be surrounded with, you know, three of the best people in the world, you know. Oh, my goodness. Southern tears. Come on. That's what I'm saying. Next thing is ballad? Cowboy tears.

That's the next time. Southern tears, yeah. Southern tears. I kind of like it. I kind of like it. T-shirt, back? Yep. Impact font?

And it's the glasses down and it's just a tear coming out. Yeah, that's it. Give me 5%, what's up? Yeah. You got it. Who came up with the How what That I really love the outro

To that that song It's so weird It gets to stop And then it kind of It's like this kind of reminds me Like a late 90s kind of like The beat kind of fades out Where's a jam out

And then the song ends Yeah yeah And it's a single Yeah That's it I mean I think it being the last song In the album too You're talking bite down

Yeah Oh yeah Because I guess I thought it was gonna be Anerlude first right Yeah yeah And it being the end We were like Oh let's do the typical

You know you fade out the end of the album. And also, if you listen, back to back, it fades out, and if it starts the album over, it fades in. So it's a cool, like, in-out. We also end our set with that song a lot, which is, like, I never thought that it was weird,

and people keep bringing it up to me, like, on this tour and stuff. What are they saying? Saying, like, what the hell is saying, Tyler? You guys suck. You didn't tell us what they said. No, I've heard, like, a few people on the tour,

and I've sent some comments. Who? Give me names. And that dude, that dude, it's like the nature guy, that takes nature photography. He said it to me too, but talking about ending the set with that

being like, he was like, yo, you guys don't give a fuck. You just, I'm like, we're just ending it with that because it's a popular song, but, just feels like you're like, ending a set with like bass and drums

and just like a jam out for like a minute. It never feels weird to me, though. It doesn't feel weird. We've done playing it for a long on. We don't fade. out live. We do like a couple measures.

Yeah, we don't fade the drums. Yeah, you know, we turn the ball and down. I'll start it down while they play. I get back to the same. No, but, but yeah, I guess it's a little weird, but it works. Ending with just. I can't believe they said that, dude.

Dude, they're saying it. I've heard a lot of people say it. Dude, every time I watch the video, I'm like, we need a real music video for this song. Yeah. There's a dragon. See, this is cool. The CGI kind of, it's just like,

That's cool. We took the little, the dragonfly from no love on the cover, tried to implement feelings of that. Dude, once we, maybe it's just because we used it as an album cover. So I started, I don't know. It's like once you see something, you start noticing it more. But I swear, dude, dragonflies would not leave me alone for a long time. Seriously, me, we would be on the phone talking and we'd just be outside chilling.

I'm like, a dragonfly. Just like that, it happened all the time, everywhere we'd go. I'm talking. And there was a, they had some kind of nest where I was working. They were just everywhere. Some kind of nest. But it was a reminder every time like, man, I need to get out of here. I need to go write some music.

Like every time I saw one, I was like, I would think. Interesting. Yeah. It's weird. Well, they say beautiful things and animals and birds that inspire you to write music. Yeah. Or do anything kind of art form. It's true.

Yeah. They're free. Do whatever they want. You said looking at you like, Because it forces you to be present. You're like, oh, wow, that's fucking wild. That's true. Wow.

They free, but they also be working. Yeah. To survive. Yeah, they got to go get that bread. Nobody else is going to give it to them. I got to call Caleb. Early bird gets the worm. That's right.

I'm going to start rapping. Dude, just imagine me in a, I don't know, just a row of rusty car park bins. I'm sitting by the screws. and I'm just, I call it, I'm just, I'm just rapping to it. Oh my goodness. All right, well, the new record is out. By the time it just drops, could be either this Monday or next, probably,

or around pretty soon so the record will be out. If you're still listening to Washington, thank you. Check out the new record. It's fucking heavy. It was written in a forest. It was written in a forest. It was out. Fucking sick.

Go to the swamp. Listen to it. you got to see you guys I really appreciate you guys as a band and you being transparent in the genre it's not very transparent it's very rare so

so thank you guys for for being you no thank you for you for being you and it's paving the way for musicians like us man oh wow you guys inspire me you've been out of longer than us

it's weird yeah shout out Ernie Ernie Ernie is but yeah Ernie brought a new fire to us, so it's nice to have that new energy, kind of how, you know, Caleb brought. Someone comes to, you know, oh, wow, you know, he's sick. I gotta be sick. I gotta be sick. I got to be sick. I don't want him to be sick, not me be sick. I think I'm a fraud, you know. I don't want that shit. Anyways. I can't have that.

All right, I'm parking to see you guys tomorrow at the Echo. Yeah, okay. Sick. Born raised, California. Echo is the famous venue in LA. Never been there. Yeah. It happens. It's funny he could be from somewhere. It's never even. even. Yeah, never even know. It fucking always both people. There's so many places.

LA especially though. Yeah. I mean, it's just used. There's so many venues. Yeah, there's lots of shit. Dude,

the venue were playing tonight, chain reaction. Dude, that was a, before we ever made it out of Alabama, I would, me and my buddy Daniel

would sneak into his dad's office when we knew he was at lunch. And just look up our favorite bands playing chain reaction. That barrier dad set back in the day? Oh, yeah. I watched that. So many times.

Yeah. Chain reaction. I remember the White Rabbit? Of course. Yes, sir. Same thing. That was one of those venues. Any venue that had like a backdrop that said the name of the venue, you're like, I can't

wait to play that place. I mean, I've probably seen videos of the, I mean, Palladium was one of them for me to Kill Switch DVD. Of course. You know, I was like, yeah, I gotta play that stage, you know. Gotta play there. Yeah. But chain will always have that feeling.

Yeah. Chains always that. Yes. Oh my God. So well, those transitions are And it looked so much bigger than it is Of course Yeah, you get in there like, really?

Yeah. You're like, oh, is it a 300 cap? We actually play that show. Really? Wow. Really? What? Get out of here.

No, you didn't. That's so sick. I want to see it was two nights. Two nights. I love Barry you dead, man. We love Bear you dead. Yeah. Goats, man.

They're doing heavy shit, dude. For real. She's Louise, dude. Huge inspiration. Yeah. buried it, shout out. This video is that Mark? I couldn't tell you, I was like, is that one?

Oh my goodness, dude. Was Mark in the band at that point? The drummer? Yes, yeah, that's Mark Rippin. He just got like, you know, changed through the years. I can't recognize him. Shout out the Mark, man. No, he's the dude.

Believe he came from up between the Barry to me. To buried at. Pretty short. I had no idea. What's that other band of Barry? He was in Cross fade. Cross fade. Back in the day.

Yeah, yeah. Looking back at me. So good. Those are the guns. Well, holy moly. I know you guys got a showy night. Records out now. Finally, after my name of you is fucking 20 years.

Feels good. It's good for it to be out, man. Where can people find you guys? Yeah, getting in. We're just hanging out. Let them know, Tyler. Getty an AL on everything, I think. Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, it's. Is our Twitter Gideon A.O? Shit. Just put Gideon. Gideon. So it's like Myspace.com

slash Gideon A.L. For Alabama. TikTok is underscore A.L. Gideon underscore A. Oh, that's true. It just made a TikTok. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah, Instagram, Facebook. All that. All that. All right. That's it. Thank you.

Thanks for having us. Mark on.