Garza Podcast - 94 - SUICIDE SILENCE | Ernie Iniguez: The Story from Guitar Center to Joining the Band

Episode Date: September 4, 2023

Garza sits down with Ernie Iniguez. Drummer of Riverside/Corona deathcore band Suicide Silence. Catch them on tour w Chelsea Grin 10/13-11/9! https://www.linktr.ee/suicidesilence SPONSORS: Click this link to purchase from Sweetwater & help support the podcast: imp.i114863.net/rnrmVB CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Drummers Are a Different Breed 06:49 - Keeping Your Ego in Check as a Musician 09:06 - Guitar Center to Whitechapel to Suicide Silence 19:52 - Getting the Whitechapel Touring Gig 22:53 - Getting Asked to Join Suicide Silence 25:38 - Career Uncertainty, Post-Whitechapel 29:06 - Tracking Drums on Become the Hunter w Steve Evetts / Pandemic Era 32:59 - Ernie Joining the Band 36:41 - Having to Try Out for the Band 39:36 - Garza & Ernie’s Intense Conversation  47:39 - Bombing the First Audition 49:13 - Adjusting Playing Style to Suicide Silence’s Groove & Feel 56:15 - Fitting In & Belonging In the Band  01:03:18 - First Hometown Show in 15 Years w Lamb of God, The Acacia Strain (& Bill Burr) 01:05:10 - Double Stroke/Heel-Toe Kick Drum Technique 01:15:00 - Top 5 Drummers in Deathcore, Today 01:19:12 - Pumped for the Future/Metallica Breaking Records

For you, who do you think are like the top five best drummers in like the death chords on it right now? Ooh, damn. That's a good one, huh? That's a good one. Sick. Gotta give love to Austin, Archie. That's my baby boy right there. Of course.

Killing the fucking game. Man. A lot of doubles. Absolutely. Wyatt drummer is always crazy. We're weirdos, dude. We are. It's part of our nature.

We can't just be a normal human being like everyone else, like a guitar player. I mean, so is it a thing where drummers, they're just, it's just like a separate thing, you know? We legitimately march to the beat of our own drum, like, as dumb as that might sound to somebody, it's like, it's kind of true. And you know this, I mean, you've been in a band with multiple drummers now, you know what I mean? Yeah. And I'm not saying that being weird is a bad thing necessarily, but all of us are weird. All of us have some sort of weird quirk, you know, or a thing that makes us tick. that you know that makes us quote unquote weird you know it feels like drummers have more that they need to

they have more to contain as far as like their personality especially when it's like when you're off the kit more so yes damn that's yeah i agree with that 100% yeah yeah just by being around you or just being around you know obviously you know with our our lifestyle being around all the drummers you can you can like you can walk into a room at catering at a festival and immediately pick out the drummer you can't

fuck at 100% absolutely and it's not even because like I know who they are or whatever I've like you know we've been in rooms before but you can you can like walk into a you know a venue backstage green room catering

you know all the above and it's usually it's usually pretty easy to spot out the drummer and maybe that's just because I'm a drummer but even even like I've been in places where you're like oh that's probably the drummer right there

you're like yeah you're right they are wow yeah and they take one look at you like he's definitely an idiot 100% they hear the bust are up and they know I'm a drummer they're like oh my goodness too

yeah it's like are all it's just I mean our era's like you know late 90s early 90s early 2000s it seems like all of our favorite drummers are all great drummers destined to get kicked out of the band, leave the band, or die. There's like something to that.

What is that? Damn, honestly, I don't know. And I wish I had, like, what I would consider to be, like, some better insight on that. But it is kind of crazy. And you're not wrong. And I was just talking about this with Tyler on the drive back from Vegas. Yeah. It's because he, I guess he just went semi-recently and, like, visited Joey's grave and Paul's

grave in Iowa or something like that. And we got on the subject of that. And I was like, damn, like, you're right. Like, what is it? The dudes that, the dudes that made the most, you know, iconic moves in our, you know, scene or even, you know, in the new metal scene and metal and heavy rock, those drummers are either, yeah, you're right, they're either all not in their bands anymore, or they've passed away or had something crazy happen to them, or they're just not doing music anymore.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'd like to say that it's probably There's definitely some degree of ego Involved in that For sure For sure

And because that I think having Having having maybe a little more Than the average degree of ego Can lead someone down a fucking path Where success is not going to be in the end game form You know what I mean? Because they took it a little too far You know what I mean

And whatever the case may be whether it was, you know, maybe they're just like their cockiness or their ability to be like, you know, I'm invincible type of thing when it came to, you know, partying or whatever, you know what I mean? I think, I feel like a lot of it stems from that. And then once it branches out, you can kind of like individualize each drummer that, you know, we're referencing or talking about. You're like, oh, yeah, you know, they went that route. And that's why they ended up without, you know, without a band or, you know, I think that's kind of where it's like it starts.

It starts with some degree of ego and then goes from there. And I think if you're not able to check your ego in a healthy manner and like, you know, keep, what do they call? You know, keep the chip on your shoulder or off your shoulder type of thing. You know what I mean? And yeah, you know, and especially like, excuse me, like in rock, you know, rock music, metal music, all that stuff. You know, the musicmanship is very exciting. The drumming is very exciting. There's a lot going on.

And so a lot of the times, yeah, people will give those drummers a crazy pedestal to stand on. And then they take it and run with it. You know what I mean? I'm guilty of it. I've never, no, I've never like, you know, I joke. You know, we mess around. I mean, has an ego. Should be done in five years.

I certainly hope not. No. No. I think it's just I also don't think it's bad to have an ego either I think I think having a good healthy ego is good for you and understanding the difference between like

being confident in your ability and knowing that you're confident in what you're doing and making music and all that stuff versus just being like yeah I'm in this fucking big band and you know no one's going to take that for me type of thing and we've talked about it the very first time I did it you know with the whole band and it's like dude

there's no matter what no matter how much time passes there's always going to be hungry kids dude that'll be gunning for your job you know in essence totally especially when it comes to drummers

and it's yeah it sucks because like you it's such a like a struggle because you kind of know you're like a I can only imagine like being like a like a Joey or like a David crazy or like where you're just like you kind of have to believe you are this shit

because because you are and then once you kind of go down that path to get out of it and find that level of healthy ego. I can't even, I can't even imagine that, dude. It's,

I'm, I'm 100% certain. It's a very, very difficult line to balance, for sure. It is. Yeah. And especially at that level,

you know, of, imagine. People don't really know. I mean, just being a normal person balancing the ego is, it's,

it's just, this dance. It's a daily dance. Imagine we can throw on a career. Or now you're in arenas. Or now you actually, you were a loser when you're a kid. But now you're like playing these mass about shows. That right there.

And that's... Like the fuck. Yeah. And it is very easy to lose sight of those like humble beginnings. You know, and I, you know, it's super. Super. We see it happen all the time. It happens all the time.

You know, it's always, it's always refreshing when someone doesn't. Or, you know, like I said, I feel like at someone. point everybody's kind of guilty of it. Even, you know, even in small doses, but I think you were able to check it and be like, oh, you know what? There's no need to be that way. It's all good. I realize that, you know, there are other people that could be doing this too and not just me, you know, and, you know, but also understanding where you are in your career and your position and what you're, you know, gifted and blessed to be doing that other people wish they could be doing and stuff like that. It's like, you know, to me, to me, that's kind of like the, you know,

what keeps me, you know, my head out of the clouds. Yeah. It's like, you know, people were like, oh, you were in the right place, the right time. 50% of that is true, absolutely. You know what I mean? I also don't think that 100% of me having the drumming gigs that I've had were all just luck. You know what I mean? I practice very hard for the gigs that I've had and stuff like that, and I'll continue to do so

as long as my body allows me to. But having that understanding and keeping a good, healthy ego, check, I think, is crucial to not, you know, ending up one of the X, drummers of, you know, X, Y, and Z band or whatever have you. Yeah. You know what I mean? I think, you know, so far so good, you know. I've obviously not been doing this as long as some of our idols and stuff like that have,

and I'm sure it's murky waters to navigate years in and stuff like that. But I think, I think if you, you know, keep a level head and, and, and, and, and, and, you and fight the good fight every day, I think you'll be all right. I mean, you would know better than the most. I mean, talk, I mean, talking about your life, Ernie, like, you're talking from guitar center to suicide silence. Yeah.

It's like you, it's like you kind of did it. Yeah. It's in probably one of the weirdest wildest, like, you know, full circle ways or whatever. you know it's such it's it's it's so strange to be like yeah yeah like we've all kind of known a lot of the same people from the area for years you know yeah i you know i dropped out of high school in 2004 started hanging out and partying in whittier met alex lofess that way you know and all those dudes you know and all those dudes you know what i mean like just from hanging out in that area

going to backyard parties and we would play we would play local shows and backyard shows with my with my original band, Solomonus, with Mylan Sheath and fucking Blackheart Eulogy and all those bands. Whoa. Yeah. It's so crazy to think back to that. And then I get the concert reminder, particularly in the last couple months,

my 20-year high school reunion is coming up, which is fucking terrifying. How are you going? Absolutely not. No way. Actually, I think we're going to be on tour. So that's my out. That's my excuse.

I'll go for you. But yeah. And to just kind of, you know, I guess do the work involved, you know, whereas, and we, you know, we've had this discussion before. I really, I really put all, I put all my chips in one basket with my band Solomis when we started. And, you know, I was like, damn, I was determined. I'm like, this is going to go, this is going to go someplace, you know what I mean? And we did, we had, you know, mild success at the local level and stuff like that. And it was cool, you know, we sold out the whiskey handful times, which in my eyes, I was like,

16 or 17, and that was a badass. You know? Yeah, I was a kid. I was a kid. So to be able to be like, oh, yeah, I sold that place out before I was able to drink is crazy. You know what I mean? Yeah. And then, you know, slowly but surely some of the other guys, I wanted to slow down and do other things and, you know, get stable jobs and all that stuff. And, you know, I think, I mean, I pretty much knew when I dropped out of high school, I was like, I'm not going to have anything else work for me.

Like, I'm going to make sure that music works for me. one way or the other, you know, in any capacity. And so, yeah, I, you know, fast forward to 2013. Yeah, 2013, I was working at a guitar center in Orange. And, yeah, I met a couple people there who were also, that's where I met D'Avier. And he had just moved from Puerto Rico. And me and him kind of broke down, and he was telling me how he was just like, I just got here from PR. you know, I have this band, my entire band moved from Puerto Rico,

uprooted our entire lives to move to the mainland because we want our band to get signed and we want to go on tour. And listening to his story was like, damn, crazy inspiring. I was like, damn, I'm over here thinking I'm struggling. These dudes uprooted their entire lives on an island and moved over here to just try and make it work, you know? And I pretty quickly realized I was like, man, okay, this whole guitar center thing, like, this is just to help float the bills while I, like, while I,

while I'm figuring it out, because I'm going to figure it out, you know? And, yeah, I did the whole, I quit my job two days into my first tour as a drum tech with Chelsea Grin. Sick. And went out and did that for four and a half weeks, came home, moved to Salt Lake City. How did you get the gig with the Chelsea Green? Just let people know. So I, damn, this is an even crazy story. I got that gig as a result of doing a one-off gig for Baby J

when he was playing drums in Amir. They were playing, oh, Not Fest Oz Fest when you guys did the Doors video. That same day. They got into town the night before and they were playing on rental gear. And Baby J was mutual friends with my old guitar player because they played video games online. And he asked him, hey, do you guys have a studio we can borrow me and Josh Traveau? just want to run the set a few times before we play this weekend. I was just like, yeah, that's fine.

You guys can come down here and use our gear, no biggie, you know? And so we ended up broing down, and Baby Jay played my drums and was like, yo, this kit sounds phenomenal. Like, do you want to come to Nodfest and just like drum tech me? I'm playing on rental gear and I'm sure it's going to be shitty. And I was like, yeah, sure. Like, I'm not doing anything. He's like, I'll give you a laminate and you can just have access all day.

Fair. Good enough for me. I don't even give a shit about getting paid. And I was like, yeah, I'll just go hang out, you know? So fast forward to that weekend, I go down. there. Drum tech for him. He's stoked. He gets pumped. Uh, as a result of them playing that show and him being on like the type of drum kit he was on that same brand offered him an endorsement. Fast forward. Six or seven months later, Amir was on tour with Chelsea Grin, Siler and Attila, I believe.

Yeah. And Josh once again hit me up and was like, hey, we're going to be in your town. We're in Pomona. Do you want to come down and I just got a brandy drum set to me and I need help putting it together like at the venue sure thing i'll come down i did that put his drums together and pablo happened to be walking by and saw me tuning up uh josh's drums and just kind of was like hey man like this drum sound really good and i was like oh thanks you know like you know i didn't know who he was i had no idea who he was uh and he goes hey do you want to take a crack at my kit like it's back here you know in the green room like i you know i can't quite get it to like sound how i want to so i said sure i walked over after i was done took a crack at his kit and

And fucking literally, they played that night. He came offstage and was like, and this was October of 2016. And he goes, hey, man, we have a headliner with Ice Nine kills in March of 2017. Like, are you interested in coming out on the road? And, you know, I said, yeah. I was like, yeah, I'm not going to. I'm not going to say no. That's an opportunity.

Absolutely. You know, and to be honest, I really thought he was yanking my chain. I was like, this guy's not going to call me back, you know. I went home that night. He called me the next morning and was like, hey, do you have a passport? If not, go get one. Like, we're going to book you a flight and everything. Like, you're good to go.

And I was like, oh, okay. Wow. And so I went to work, told him, hey, this is a situation. I got offered this tour, and I'm going to take it. Whenever I need music gear, I always go to sweetwater.com. If it's mics, headphones, or studio, and recording gear, Sweetwater has you covered. Next time you need any music gear, support the podcast by using. the link in the description and comment section below.

And yeah, I pretty much told him like, hey, you know, I'll be back in four weeks. At that time, I still had a guitar center allowed you to leave for tour. You would build up time off and they would give it to you to go on tour and stuff like that, which is pretty tight. However, the loophole was if you got written up within 30 days of applying for tour leave, they wouldn't approve it. Well, I got written up for, you know, being an idiot. Of course.

left on tour and they called me two days in the tour. The corporate office was like, hey, you know, there was a problem with your paperwork. You said you submitted for four weeks of tour leave. Well, it didn't get approved because you got a written, you know, disciplinary notice within your 30 days. So you need you to come back to work. I was like, I'm somewhere in Idaho. I was somewhere in Idaho. And I was like, yeah, that's not going to, you know, it's not going to happen.

And they were just like, oh, are you not in the area? I said, no, I'm out of the state. And they basically were like, okay, well, if you can't get back, you know, within this time frame, you know, we have to let you go. I said, okay, just go ahead, let me go. Like, just send whatever my last paycheck is to my, you know, direct deposit. And the rest is history, dude. When that happened, I was on the bandwagon with the guys, you know, getting fired. Pablo goes, are you okay, dude?

Like, do you need to, like, fly home? And I was like, no, I'm good. And he was like, are you sure? And I was like, yeah, I just quit my job. Like, I'm not going to go back. and he was like okay and literally the rest is history i never went back we got home from that tour in april he asked me to move in with him i agreed i went back home packed up my little sign on my box packed all my stuff in it and drove up to salt lake moving in pablo and shortly after that

well he was in europe uh i got the call from whitechapel that they were looking for a drummer you know ben called me and told me that, you know, he was a parting ways and that, you know, he was like, hey, if you're interested, the guys are looking for someone and I'm going to help them find a replacement. If you're interested, I was like, yeah, absolutely. Like, give them my info. And so, you know, it just kind of was like, yeah, it was the craziest happenstances of just, like, my name getting tossed around.

And to be completely honest, I'm still not entirely sure. It was such a fluid situation that even when I, like, you know, even after like joining up with Whitechapel and. in being with them for, you know, two years or so. I still wasn't like, I knew that a couple people hadn't mentioned me. John Berklin was one of them, which was really odd, because I didn't even know that he knew that I played drums like that type of thing. But it turns out, like a bunch of this is all kind of stemmed from one of my cover videos

that I had done on YouTube that I thought was, you know, kind of a half-ass cover. Which one was it? Saul's Law and Our Endless War. Really? Yeah. Mel, Torres, asked if I wanted to do two cover videos because he needed someone to record in the studio he was working out of. And so I told him, sure, like, yeah, you know, and he was like, I'll mix the audio, the whole nine yards. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the one right there. So, okay, it's funny because I thought this came out when you were already in doing chat.

No. This was before. No, this was before. I didn't know that. Yeah. Play this shit, Jay? Yeah, that's solid, man. I was like, dang, Ernie looks young there. But that, but that explains it because you weren't...

Yeah, this was, this must have been 2014, 2015. Huh. Seven years ago. So, yeah, 2015. Yeah. So you posted a cover seven years ago on YouTube. And now you're in, excuse that sounds. Exactly.

You fucked up. you know what but did you did you just post this or do it just because I'm just gonna post a video on yeah yeah I you know I so I have unfortunately it doesn't exist anymore I have a really terrible ex-girlfriend

that I had I had an old YouTube account that I had probably like 20 or 30 videos of me playing drum covers at home in the garage I used to have how old fuck I was like 17 or 18.

So older than... Oh, way older. Way older. Way older. And when we had our nasty breakup and all that, she blocked me out of the account. She changed the password and shit, so I couldn't log in. That's what you get. That's what I get, dude.

I went back searching the videos and they were all gone, all of them. So the only two that exist, well, other than this one, because this is on my channel, or the only two that existed are like, you know, like recording quality was that one we just saw. And then I did solve the law all the same night as well. And so basically that's what they sent to like Wade. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And so Wade hit me up on a on Facebook DMs like messenger and was like,

hey man like you know, we're looking we're looking for a drummer to do some do some touring. And I was like yeah, dude like, you know, Ben hit me up. I'm definitely interested, you know. He's like, cool. We got a couple festivals that we're already taking another guy out for. And you know, we're going to see how that goes. But you know, we want to keep you, you know, on the book. And I said, okay, cool.

And right around October, the end of October of 2017, Wade hit me up and was like, hey, we want to fly you out to do this 10 years of somatic defilement tour. How fast can you learn these songs? I didn't have a drum set in Salt Lake with Pablo. I was using his kit at their rehearsal space, which is nothing like the drum set I'm used to playing. And we have a mutual friend, Chris Sweet. Shout out Chris Sweet. Has a pretty sweet kit in his basement down the street from where Pablo lives.

they asked me for tryout videos of as many songs as I could send them and yeah these don't exist on the internet they only exist in my iPhone in a drop box but I basically set up an iPhone in this dude's basement like on a super shitty like you know little tripod type thing a little baby tripod we put it on top of a PA speaker so that it was like a decent height and I basically just sat down there and had Pablo hit record on the phone and I ripped through like I don't know like seven or eight Whitechapel songs, and I would, you know, take them, splice them into individual songs, send them to Wade, and he'd be like,

okay, yeah, like that, you know, that needs a little bit of work, but it's pretty decent. You know, can you send us this song? Go right back, learn it real quick, play it, send it to them. I think in total I sent them, like, what I sent them was probably like five or six videos. And then, uh, Wade was like, yeah, we'll fly you out. Did my, you know, two years of touring with them, had some crazy moments, got the tour with, um, with so many, so many cool dudes, Dalia. Got to spend a month and a half of Trevor, rest and peace.

Yeah. And then when my time there came to an end, you know, we, I don't, man, I wish I remember this accurately. But I believe, I want to say it was Dan Kinney. I think Dan Kenney called me and was like, hey, man, like, you know, how's everything going? And I was like, oh, you know, it's cool. I'm just, I'm looking for whatever my next gig is going to be. And he's like, I know it's going to sound weird. He's like, do you want to come jam with us?

I was just like, what? He's like, yeah, like, you know, just come down to studio. Nothing crazy. Just, you know, come down and jam some songs. And I was like, sure, you know, and, you know, without delving into too much. I was just like, I mean, yeah, like, that's fine. He's like, hey, Jerry's going to call you tomorrow and kind of feel you don't know what's going on. But, you know, we want to jam with you.

And I was like, okay. And then, yeah, and then pretty much, damn, yeah, everything from that moment on, the way it just kind of kept coming back full circle is super crazy because you know what I mean I was helping you guys out you know I was like oh yeah like I'll lend a hand absolutely I'm not doing shit right now why not you know and then yeah fast dude fast forward through COVID sweeping that record under the rug you know it's crazy you know we're almost done with 2023 and there's people that still don't know we put a record out a week before COVID shut everything down yeah but you know it's uh it's been a crazy ride and it feels like it's been forever when in reality it's only

been you know six or seven years but damn dude so much has happened in that six or seven years you know that i'm super grateful for and like i'm very i'm very happy and grateful to be where i'm at you know and i mean i could i could be i could be doing anything else you know i could be working at mcdonalds i could be doing you know and there's nothing wrong with having a regular job but like I said, when I dropped out at 16 years old, I made the promise to myself that I would make music work. And here I am. I'll be 37 in November and still going.

And I, you know, and I'm just as thrilled and happy about it now as I was then. It's a, you know, I know a lot of people tell, you know, we'll tell you guys or other guys like, man, your drummer just goes. He just doesn't stop. And it's like, I just, I don't have it in me to like, not necessarily turn it off. but I just, you know, everything stokes me out. Even when, you know, even when there's a little bit of negativity or something like that, I, I'm quick to tune it out. I won't let it, you know, stall my day.

You know, if something not sick is happening. I'm just like, well, you know what? It's cool. We'll put it off the side. We'll work around it and just keep going. I'm just, you know, as Mark says, you know, I'm just happy to be here. When you and Chap really split ties, How long was that time when from that day to to D.K. calling you?

I think like, I remember the dates pretty clear. I got back from, I got back from Mexico City. The dates were January 25th and 27th. I got back the 28th. And I'm fairly certain Dan Kenny called me probably like. Hammered. Dude, honestly, I don't even think it was a full week. It might have been like five days.

Really? Yeah. Dude, the timing was so crazy that I thought like, that's why I thought it really weird. Because he did. Like, he, when I answered the phone, you know, I thought he was going to be like, hey, we're having UFC at the house this weekend or something. You want to come watch the fight. I was like, oh, yeah, for sure.

You know what I mean? And, you know, right away he was like, hey, dude, like, dude, sorry to hear about the chapel gig, man, it's a bummer. Like, you're sick drummer. Don't worry. You'll land on your feet. Like, you know. And I was like, oh, cool.

Thanks, you know. So I thought it was just like one of those type of things. Like, you know, I got a couple phone calls when people would be like, oh, you know, it's all good. You're a sick drummer. You'll find another gig. Yeah. And that's why when he asked, I was just like, what? He was like, yeah, you want to jam with us? And I was like, I didn't understand. I really was like, are you guys just trying to like hang out and like jam? Like, yeah, sure. I'm not doing shit. I'll come down and hit some fucking drums, whatever, you know? And then, you know, when I got there and then was explain the situation and all that stuff, I was like, oh, shit, okay. And I just remember thinking myself, I'm like, how crazy was the timing? Then it's like, you know, I left that camp. And I did. That's, you know, I've never spoken about it publicly.

But I, after I got the phone call and got let gove, I panicked. Like, that's the first time in a long time where, like, I sat home and went, what am I going to do? You know, my then, my then girlfriend was like, you know, don't worry about it. You've got some money saved up. Well, you know, we'll figure it out. but I was I was terrified I was like shit like I you know I blew a gig

I don't what am I gonna do you know yeah that that was one of my actually one of my questions like okay so that that stops I didn't really I didn't know the time period I don't know this five days but probably for you when you're grinding for years when it's like

a gig goes away like yeah you know what were you thinking like this is it I mean did I just blow it and yeah Yeah, yeah. And I think, again, like anything, it's a learning experience. You know what I mean? You're getting, you're getting your feet wet. You're learning the ends and outs of how certain things work and stuff like that. And I mean, realistically, yeah, up until that point, I'd never lost a gig. It was just, you know, I was getting a gig or somebody's like, oh, hey, you're killing it. Cool. It's hire you for this. You know, so I was like, okay, cool, awesome. You know what I mean? So to, you know, to essentially, you know, lose my first gig or whatever, or lose my first big drumming gig. yeah it was it was a blow i was like oh shit like you know what am i going to do and i did i had that

moment of like panic at home like i sat in the kitchen just like fuck what am i going to do you know and so like i said when dan can he called me i was like okay this is weird like what are the what are the chances that these guys need someone with a jam with a week after playing my last gig with chapel like strange you know so weird and yeah and then we went through that whole process and you know i got to cut a record with steve evitz and i had a blast doing that you know i i i had a blast doing that you know, I, despite, you know, the, the, the shortcomings of the situation in terms of it, like, being released in COVID and all that stuff, I'm very proud of that record. It's my, it's my, it's my first recorded drum performance. Yeah. Yeah. On any, on anything that was like,

well, not anything, but, you know, major, you know, like major label type of thing. You know, I had done records prior and local bands and stuff like that and, like, you know, just, like, independent stuff, nothing that you and I would have ever heard. You know, so that, that was, that was very much like eye-opening for me too, you know, because initially I was, I was just supposed to help with the writing process of kind of like speeding things up and, you know, Alex would step in and track his drums and all that stuff. And then when I got asked to just track the record, I was like, oh shit, like, again, it was another one of those moments where I was like, damn, I've never done this.

I've never tracked drums in a big studio with like a big producer or anything like that. So it's like, you know, so everyone's always very like, why aren't you the same age as the guys? I'm like, yeah, but it happened a lot later for me in the game. Whereas you guys already had four or five albums under your belt. I didn't have one. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it was just like everything was like super like learning as you go on the fly, you know?

Fake it until you make it. Kind of. I mean, yeah, kind of. You know. And, you know, thankfully, Evitz is a stellar dude to work with, you know, he's got his quirks about him. But I had, you know, I enjoyed tracking drums on. We had a good time. You know what I mean?

That was a cool experience for me. You know, so much momentum. And then, like, you know, we got the record done, sent it off to get mixed and all that stuff. And everyone was stoked. And then COVID was just like, well, hang on, guys. We got other plans. And it just kind of, you know, yeah, kind of put the candle out on that one real quick. And I was like, wow, shit, okay.

and then again, you know, right back to that, you know, somewhat of a, of a scary time. Because then it was just like, damn, you know, what are we, what are we going to do? Now it wasn't just scary for me. It was scary for everyone. Yeah. Because now everyone in music and touring had no gig, had no job. Yeah. And, you know, and suddenly, as much as I hate to say it, I didn't feel so alone.

And I was like, damn, you know what? I'm not the only one struggling or not. everyone else is too like this is real we don't know when it's going to come back or if anyone's ever going to you know go you know go back and tour and uh again that also made me real resourceful you know i started out my drum repair business out of the house during covid and that pretty much carried me through most of COVID um then we you know got on tour and i was out with ginger as a drum tech and uh yeah i did those couple of filling shows with you guys on that tour.

And, you know, fuck, that was other than the fact that, you know, I played the songs 800 times too fast all four nights that I played with you guys. Yeah. I didn't, you know, I didn't realize it. I was nervous. I was nervous. Jacked up on Red Bull. Being like, holy shit,

these guys are having me play the set with them, which I learned in the green room on a practice pad with Mark. Of course. I was like, oh, this is going to be a nightmare. And, you know, I can look back at it now fondly and laugh because I was like, well, you know, know it wasn't great it definitely wasn't great but it probably wasn't the worst thing either you know i was definitely hard on myself after the fact um yeah and then and then it was like reliving that whole thing over again i was back home tour was over i uh i was at i was at the bar

working when you called me you called you it was dude was like it was like fucking like nine a m when you called me yeah so so for for listening ernie got two calls calls. One was to play drums for becoming a hundred because we were having issues which I'm going to imagine so you mentioned that okay like you

this is my first like real album I'm with Steve Bavis for I mean you're thinking it until we make it yeah yeah I got it you know and then but on top of that you're also walking into a situation where we're not exactly

the best frame of minds which is even more weirder? Yes. Which means what you really had to, I go imagine, you had to really maintain, like a professional, like, super, like, how was that for you? Intimidating.

Intiminating. And I can say that to you now confidently. Of course, yeah. But, I mean, yeah, I, yeah, I didn't, I didn't, well, you know, and here's the thing, too. It also left me with, like, the, uh, the whole, like, I understood what my assignment was.

I was filling in for a record. But even just filling in for a record, I didn't want to come in over promise and then under deliver. Sure. And be fucking shot and be like, well, okay, you know what I mean? Yeah. It was my worst fear. It was my worst fear.

And then, like day one, getting sounds with Evitz, and then him rambling off the list of albums that he worked on that we grew up listening to it. I was like, holy shit. I'm tracking drums with this dude that's track drums on every one of my favorite records in the early 2000s. And I'm just like, this guy's going to work me. You know what I mean? But I felt like you guys definitely made me feel welcome through that process.

It wasn't like, you know what I mean? I didn't come in and immediately feel like I was just like, oh, okay, well, you know, I'm being kept completely separate from whatever's going on. And I understand, like, for business purposes and stuff like that. Yeah, there's certain shit that I wasn't involved in, and that's fine. But as far as, like, you know, like, when we got in the jam room and started and started writing and stuff like that, and, you know, it took me probably like two or three days worth of jamming with you guys before I really was like, okay. Like, I can, I can breathe a little bit. You know what I mean?

I was like, I was still unsure of what my ability was going to be like in terms of what you guys wanted to. to have written and stuff like that, you know? Because, and again, I've always been used to the, the hired gun gig. So it's like, you know, you step into something like that. I can't just walk into a situation and be like, cool, this is what I'm going to do. You know what I mean? Versus like, well, it's your guys as band.

It's your guys as call. And you got to tell me like, oh, hey, is this a no-go? Is this a yes-go? You know what I mean? Like, and so same thing. I just, I wanted to be as professional as I could and not show up and, you know, be a total chooch or whatever and be like, yeah, I'm just, kind of going to do my thing over the record and whatever, you know, hope it sounds good.

It's like, but I'm also aware that you guys don't do things that way either. And so it was very like, it was very reassuring, even though there was a lot of negativity going on with the situation and everything. Yeah. The process was still one of the most fun times periods in my life, like, to just be like, hey, I get to hang out with the boys in the studio for eight hours a day, track drums on this record, be a part of the creative process of hearing these songs come together. Which is still to this day my favorite thing to do. I love I love playing on stage

But I love being in the studio watching something come together. It's fun. Yeah, and then Something it happened. I don't even know, but we were Were we about to do a Oh, thank you. Don't make a fucking mess dude. I'm not. It's on the coaster There's a So there was like A kind of What's the word?

Inkling where maybe Alex is not going to come back And we heard a rumor That Ernie was saying that He was in the band and we were fucking pissed Pissed Fast forward So we heard a rumor Alex

Came back But he had but he had a tryout So you So you and Alex had to try out. Yes. Because we, to be real, I don't really know what was going on. We were still at the phase where every person is kind of trying to grow up. And then, so Alex had to retry out.

And then you tried out. And so people understand what kind of person you are, Ernie, is that you were helping Alex with stuff. Yeah. That he might need to make his. Yeah. To make his try out better. Yeah. Talk about what's going on in your mind, dude.

That's a trip. That is a good climber right there. Heavy, heavy. You know, and A, I just, I like, you know, Alex is my homie. I love the guy. I love him to death. And I'm the kind of person that, you know, well, I don't think anybody would ever feel good about being in bad standings of somebody or feeling like you're, uh,

stepping on somebody's toes. Yeah. Because it was, I mean, honestly, dude, it was a big deal. It was a big deal when it went from being asked to just help write to just being like, hey, fuck it, do you want to track the record? And I believe, you know, I think Mark asked me at the rehearsal space in Pico. Yeah. I went home and like, I thought about it for like the whole night.

I was like, is this something I want to do? Is this a good idea? You know what I mean? Like on one hand, it's like, damn, it would be a sick opportunity to do this. because I love the guys and it would be my first, you know, recorded performance, you know, in the big time or whatever. Yeah. On the other, Alex is my homie, and I don't know how I feel about that. You know what I mean?

It's a tough spot, dude. It's super, super, super. There was so much weirdness going around. There was. And then to get put into that spot the second time, this last go around when you finally, you know, asked me to join and stuff. like that. This is the second phone call that Garza is going to tell you guys about right now. Sure. Yeah, it was like, oh shit, here we go again.

Like, you know. Okay, so again, fast forward. Ernie helps out Alex. What was I'm going to stop? Alex got the gig again. And then it ended up really not working out. And then part of way is great. And then what was it January?

Around the same time that DK called you the first time. The last week of January. So I had to do some... Okay, so... I personally didn't like you. As far as, like, you're, like, drumming style. Yeah. But then once...

I don't know. We were all going through a phase. I was going through my phase, and I was really processing. Okay, what do I really think about myself? And then, obviously, now you get to have a better clear, you know, clarity with other people.

Yeah. I was like, you know what? I'm just going to call him and his talk. And then... Yeah. Let's just see how we really vibe as opposed to like you walk into a situation and it's just weird.

Yeah. You know, no one knows what's going on. And all right, so we, I called you, we met. So this is a span of two days. Like, we talked with Alex. I called you that day and we met the next day. Yep. And got lunch and talked about two hours.

Went to a, was that boss cat? Boss cat. It was a great restaurant. We just sat. They have a nice, like, kind of outside, but inside. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was sick. And I had questions ready.

I had shit on my mind. And I was like, you know what? Let's just hear him out. And me not be a closed-minded idiot like I've always been. So, you know, I love, never get this boss cat. Yeah, we sat. We sat right there. Damn, baby.

We actually sat right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Love that. Love that. Now, what were you thinking when I called you the second time? Um, I'm going to be brutally, brutally honest for a second. Yeah.

When we got to the end of that Ginger tour, you know, in the fall or whatever, you remember everyone went home. I flew to Knoxville and filled in for Whitechapel one more time for that Christmas show. And Wade was like, hey, we need someone to, you know, I was like, okay, cool, y'all come here and do it. I flew out and did that. But I remember that last night in Arizona, it just felt like everybody was walking. around on eggshells with the situation that was going on. And I was just like, man, like,

in the back in the back of my head, I was like, damn, like, is this it? Like, is it kind of happen? Like, you know, like, everyone's, everyone just kind of seems very tired and stressed and like over the entirety of the situation, you know, and I mean, poor guy, dude. I mean, you know, you know, Alex losing his father didn't help the situation any whatsoever. It exasperated it. And And so I went home. I went to Knoxville, did that show, flew home, you know, spent the holidays or whatever, and went back to work, went back to my regular job at the bar. And I think I just kind of like put it out of sight out of mind type of thing.

I'm like, okay, cool, I'm back to work. I'm at the bar, bartending the morning and, you know, that whole thing. Definitely not expecting a phone call, certainly not one that soon. And like I said, I have the text, dude, January 29th. I'll show it to you. You can look it up. Sick. You called me.

I picked up, and the only reason I answered is because there was only like two people sitting at the bar and I had already served them. So I was just like standing behind the counter washing dishes, you know,

just waiting for, you know, some of my regulars to show up. And so when I answered the phone, I was like, should I answer this on the job right now? I was like, I was like, hello?

You were like, hey, like, you know, what are you up to? And I was just like, oh, I'm at the bar serving right now. You were like, can you talk? And I was like, yeah, give me one second.

I literally went in the back office, like, in our office, like where we count our drawers and stuff out and just left those two people out there like unbelievable being a total stand-up employee dude you know what I mean but the truth is I got excited for your phone call and I was just like well I'm not going to fucking you you you had to know okay this is a this is this is a phone call yeah yeah sick there's there's honestly dude there's something different in like in a person's voice when you can tell it's like hey like this is serious you know like we're about to talk business

type of thing. You know what I mean? And I think everyone who's ever been in a higher gun position or, you know, trying out for something, knows that feeling. You know what I mean? I've experienced it multiple times now, you know what I mean? And so yeah, you were like, hey, like, do you want to get lunch later? You know, how's noon? I was like, dude, I get off at noon. That's perfect. Let's meet at Boscat. Cool. Honestly, dude, I didn't, I didn't know what to expect. I know what I wanted the conversation to be like. Sure. But I didn't, I didn't know what it was going to be Like, because I also hadn't gotten that kind of face time with you, like one to one. You know what I mean?

Obviously, you know, we goof off on tour or whatever, you know, joke around, get coffee, whatever the fuck, you know. But it's like having a serious conversation like that, I was very, like, I was very intimidated, but also very like. You guys don't know, dude. Garza's buff, dude. He's scared. I'm pretty shredded. I'm fucking shredded. I got.

I got two inch triceps, dude. It's all the thin crust, dude. Yeah. And, you know, so we sat down and I'm actually, I'm really, really like, I'm really thankful that that conversation happened the way it did. You hit me very straight. You know what I mean? It wasn't like, hey, we're going to cut the shit and we're going to have this conversation. You know what I mean?

And I was just like, damn, okay. Like, we kind of got right down to it, you know? And I appreciate it. We covered a lot of ground in two hours sitting there. We did. Yeah. we did and I was just like damn all right this is

this is a thing like this is you know this is this is happening and uh you know I again uh you know you you uh you recited to me what your guidelines were and what you wanted from me as a drummer

and all that stuff and I was like cool and you know I take all that stuff very like constructively too I'm glad that I'm not one of those people that'll get you know offended if someone's like well hey I don't like what you do type of thing. Yeah. That's cool. I'm not for everybody, you know what I mean?

But I'm not going to take it as, oh, well, you know, what do you know? You know, you're a guitar player. Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's just like, you know, I did. I'll never forget, dude. I went home. I went home and literally I still had my full drum kit set up inside my room because of COVID.

Oh, yeah. And it had the mesh heads and all that stuff on it. So I could play it. And it didn't make any sound. it was quiet. And basically I kind of like, I kind of like booted sit out of the room, dude. I was like, yo, like, you want to go hang down

and living for something like that? Like, I got some work I need to do type of thing. And immediately just started like, you know, not necessarily unlearning everything that I had learned up to that point, like with chat and stuff like that, you know. But just kind of like letting the technical stuff, the super techie stuff take a bit of a backseat and learning how to, you know, be more of a, you know,

big, you know, big heavy hitter type of thing. Because that was, it was my forte, you know, and that's, that's what you wanted for me. And I was just like, damn. And at first I remember finding it really difficult. I was like, shit, dude. The day that I go sit down and jam with these dudes, I'm going to blow it. I'm going to hit the drums, and he's going to be like, nope, you got to hit them

way harder, you know what I mean? And he did. We jammed, and you were like, you can hit harder. Like, you could definitely hit way harder. By the way, quick backup. That, that coming out of become the hunter when me and Alex had to try out essentially again

that was the most I can't even tell you that would dude like that's the most embarrassed I've ever been trying out for anything I was so fucking unprepared dude and I remember

Mark called me he was like hey man so you know I want to add on to the pile of weirdness you know you just got done doing this record of this how do you feel about coming out and like learning the set you know potentially maybe going to South America with us and I was like oh shit and I was like okay well like when do you know when do you guys want to jam or whatever and he was like this weekend like you know Friday or Saturday whatever was and I was like

oh yeah like yeah dude what I should what I should have done was immediately sat down and learned the songs instead I spent an entire 24 hours panicking about how I was going to learn these songs the right way listen to because that's it's kind of my thing like you know, I learned my ear. So, you know, I put them in headphones and listened to the songs, you know, the classics. And then went down there and then just completely fucking blew it. I was like, holy shit, dude. And like, when we got done playing and I tore my kid down and left, I remember just thinking, I was like, Jesus, dude.

I felt sick to my stomach. I was like, I just looked. Oh, I was like, dude, I looked like a total amateur in front of all these dudes right now on my super sick, Sparkle Blue kit. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, yeah, so that was another thing But, you know, yeah, moving back to, you know, present day or whatever Yeah, I took I took very seriously what you had put down on the table And, you know, I was just like, basically, basically I was like, you know, you need to, you need to hit harder

And then I was really evaluating what I first thought of you, and then I really So looking at one thing, you know, we as humans have a tendency of like, okay, I'm going to look at this fucking thing like a micro scroll wait it's not just this it's like it's a whole thing wait then i thought about oh wait he's been on tour with white chapel for fucking two years learning a certain way a certain tempo a certain style of drumming it's very different from us it's very different completely and then you go straight from now to us yeah it's gonna it's gonna be so what were some things that you had to unlearn um the the um the um I guess a degree of like

I don't want to say tightness because I still like playing tight but you know like there was it was it was floppy it's fine yeah you know what I mean dude Orville Redenbacher on the on the popcorn feed no but you're right I had the biggest one

was getting the click out of my head because that's really what's side swat me for playing in suey I get you know I get that there's a record you know, Black Crown or whatever that was done with the click, you know, and stuff like that. But even at that, I mean, dude, I mean, look, it's been almost fucking two years now and we have not played with the click, not once.

We play all those songs with no click, no nothing. And people don't even know. It's true. You know? So that was a big one, was learning to play without a click, learning to play without backing tracks. It was obviously a much more raw feel. And then the big one was, yeah, was hitting with more volume and power and, like, intensity. because in Whitechapel, I had gotten so,

I don't even want to say reliant. It's just the way that those songs are structured, you know, there's so much going on that after a certain speed and, like, technical ability, you're not going to be able to play some of those songs at a volume up here. They're going to get played right here where you can comfortably play 17 of those songs a night

and not be burnt out because they're fucking difficult songs to play. They are. again yeah that was another big one too stepping into a guy like ben's fucking shoes i was just like he's a monster he's a fucking freak a freak and so um like having to unlearn that kind of method in style it it honestly was difficult and just trying to like get out of my head and be like yo swing swing a little harder you know let your high hats ring open a little further you know what i mean loosen up your symbols hit the shit out of me you know what i mean it was like a conscious effort

to get to that point you know what i mean that was that was definitely the biggest one, you know? And then, yeah, like I said, I was so, I was so stoked my first tour of chaos and carnage with you guys when I finally broke a pair of sticks on stage. I was like, holy shit. No, seriously, for anyone watching, I mean, breaking sticks, it's not a thing for me. It's not. I mean, I can, I can count on how many shows I played at Whitechapel how many sticks I ever wore out. It didn't happen. I might drop one here or there, I never broke a stick. Literally, the day I broke a stick playing on stage with Suey, I was like, there it is.

Like, I'm, you know. I did it, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like, it was like a weird sense of accomplishment, you know what I mean? Are you proud of me, Garza? I said, no. Are you proud of me, nah? That would, that would have to be what I would consider to have been the most, like, most difficult slump to overcome, you know.

And then also understanding how to write with you guys while still having my own flavor on it. Of course. And not wanting to just be like, okay, well, I want to replicate whatever Alex did. You know what I mean? We're two different drummers. Very. You know, he's definitely much more the punk rock fucking flailing everywhere. You know what I mean?

That's his shit. 100% and you hear it. You can hear, I mean, obviously, people knew before we had even announced that I had done the previous record when the singles came out, people were like, oh, that doesn't sound like Alex playing drums. You know what I mean? There were people that right away were like, oh, strange. You know what I mean?

And that's because at that point, I was definitely still playing a lot of the, you know, my mentality was still very much, oh, I had like the Whitechapel Chops thing. going stills. Everything was very tight, very precise, very consistent. Yeah. You know what I mean? And you can hear it. You can hear it in some of those songs. And so that's, I'm very, you know, with the new album with Remember You Must Die, I, I'm really stoked that we went with somebody like Taylor Young also because he's very much, you know, like a super raw guy. And I think he helped get a little more of that out of me too, where he was just like, he was like, yeah, you know, fucking, you're doing too much. Do less. And I'm like,

okay, you know what I mean? And that's tight. I've never had anyone tell me to do that. Yeah. You know what I mean? You know, I've never had to do that. So I was like, okay, cool. And then sure enough, listening to those takebacks and being like, damn, okay, this works.

This makes sense. You know what I mean? And so that's, and now I think, at least I'd like to think I'm at a point with my drumming in suicide silence where I'm like, okay. I'm starting to shape my own identity, you know, or I can, I have a bit of my flare. while also retaining the very big, you know, bombastic, like, punk-type drumming. But, you know, now we, now you've got the secret weapon of having, you know, double strokes on certain songs. I can play, you know, a fast passage here or there.

Yeah. Not overkill it, you know what I mean? Because you don't want to beat them to death with that shit. Mm-hmm. But it's there if I need it. Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's cool.

I'm very, like, I'm very, I'm very blessed and very happy that having a, having you allow me to be myself in the fucking band. Because I know there are people that own bands that run bands that wouldn't do that. They'd be like, well, no, it needs to be done like this. And I won't accept anything different. You know what I mean? You basically gave me the guideline. And you were like, here, do this, but do it the way you would do it.

And that's pretty badass. Yeah, it takes, you got to let people fly, you know? That could potential, that has the potential for it to be better than you would. think that you can do personally you just let people fly go go through the growing pains you know it takes a while to find to find your groove the shit it took eddie fucking the decade to find any kind of groove it takes it takes a while and you i think i think you're doing a great job ernie thanks man you know it's you know i uh i do i i wholeheartedly like firmly believe i couldn't like couldn't have picked the best

better group of dudes to like wind up with and be in a band with you know what i mean like i it's it's you know i'm not going to get emotional about it it's like it's oh it's it's like dude especially from going from being in a in a local band that i was in for almost fucking 10 years at that point with my brother and friends from school that we had come up together yeah to watch that kind of diminish and fall apart and everyone go and do their own thing yeah and me be like fuck okay like am i ever going to get that feeling again? Am I ever going to have the, you know, the camaraderie, the, the, the tightness with a group of dudes that are like very much on the same page, you know, in terms of like, hey, what we're

doing, you know what I mean? And it was, it was difficult, dude. And same thing. Like, I, you know, I, I think I think I felt the first bit of that while filling in for Whitechapel, you know what I mean? Those guys have all grown up together and come up together. And they were very polite to me. They were very nice and made me feel as accommodating as possible.

But I think in my own head, I never quite felt. You know what I mean? Like part of an entire unit. And, you know, and who knows? Maybe that could have just been me being in my own head because I was like, yo, this is my first gig. Don't fuck it up. You know what I mean?

But this situation was completely different in the best way. Like in the best way. I was like, damn, okay, like this didn't feel forced. I came in, you know, got my bearings, grease and stuff like that. And it just felt like I'm like, hey, I'm hanging out with the boys. and we're writing music. And everyone's stoked to be writing music together.

And, you know, it's a, it's a very special, cool thing to have that with a group of dudes. And yeah, man, I mean, I'm,

I'm pumped to be here. I'm pumped to still be able to be doing this. You know, at the level that we're doing it at, and I'm glad that things are, you know, on the, on the up and up.

And, yeah, I don't, I don't see myself slowing down anytime soon, you know. Holder you again? 36, I'll be 37 in November, so not too far off the mark.

You're pretty much 37. Oh, yeah. And yeah, you haven't another thing people need to realize is you never lost your energy and you're super enthusiastic. You're fucking driving a fucking Penskee truck across the country, dude. Across the matter what. And, you know, you've, you're, like, we're all older. you got you're you're getting a very like unique hazing it's not it's not like you're the new guy blah blah blah blah so it's more like i can drive drive the truck and you're and you're and after everything

and you're still super like positive the matter what and then um actually this this morning i wrote down uh i have a gratitude list yeah i learned that from uh from randy randy bly Um, I, I, I, I, I, I just finished reading this book. And I guess like this thing, like, uh, a gratitude list. I was, I know, you know, I'm gonna try it. And today's my second day. And now, uh, you were, you were in there. Oh, yeah.

I know, I'm grateful for, for the, the energy and enthusiasm and just positive vibes. You put into back, back into the, the band. It's cool. That, that, that does, that does, um, that shit does mean a lot. to me. I, like, like I said, this, this kind of goes back to the whole, like, you know, you know, if, whether there's some kind of something, you know, some sort of small, you know, negativity, you know, we get a fucking, a less than pleasing email, whatever, you know what I mean? It's like, okay, you know what?

Which is going to happen. Yeah, 100%. And those are, those are punches you have to roll with, you know, but I've, I've come to find that it's like, dude, if you, if you let small things like that, sideline, that bad, this is probably not something you want to be doing. No. Because it's going to continue happening. It's not always going to be sick. And that's something that I think a lot of people, these days especially with social

media, don't get. Because all they get the scope of is the sick stuff. Oh, look at that fucking room. It's packed out. Stage is fucking crazy. And it's like, yeah, that's awesome for the hour that we're up there and stuff like that. But there's so much behind the scenes, work involved and phone calls and emails and conversations

you don't want to have and stuff like that. It's like, if you, if you're the kind of person that lets that kind of thing ruin your entire day, this is not a gig for you. However, if you're willing to be understanding about that and understand that with the negativity also comes to positivity. There's always going to be plenty of fucking good times, you know, amongst the, you know, the lows. There will always be highs. I like to think of myself as a kind of person that, you know, and I know I can be a bit of a fucking cheerleader. but I like to keep everyone's morale high. It's like, you know what I mean?

It's like, hey, dude, like, you know, we're out here. We're doing our thing. You know, we could fucking be at home flipping burgers or doing nothing. You know what I mean? And so, yeah, it's just, I don't know. I get that from a lot of people. They're just like, damn, dude, you're just like, how are you? It was in such a good mood.

I'm like, because it takes too much fucking energy to being a bad mood, man. Like, you know, and I'm not saying that I don't get negative. I mean, everyone has their days. You know what I mean? That shit's going to happen. However, I, I, I, I, I do my best to not to not bring it around the group. You know what I mean?

For the sake of, hey, we're keeping things rolling. You know what I mean? Anyone can have a fucking bad day. You're allowed. You're human. You know, but when it comes to, you know, us as a unit, dude, the steam that we have right now as a group and as a, as a unit is, it's crazy, dude. It's crazy. And I have the rare perspective of being an outsider.

having watched when things weren't going super great and when you guys were going through your ups and downs whether it be from Mitch, from Eddie joining from, you know, and fans not being accepting of Eddie, it's just like, damn, dude, like, you know, talk about kicking someone while they're down, you know what I mean? To here we are. To here we are in 2023,

and now I'm in the band with you guys. And it's like I got the rare opportunity to watch that on the sidelines. It's crazy. And understand that I'm like, man, I want to do my part and my best to make sure that that never happens again. Like, I'm going to give it 110 always, you know what I mean? And so, yeah, so, like...

It's cool. Yeah. I like to stay as positive as possible, you know? Yeah, man. You know, from guitar center to playing shows of the Laman God. It was sick, man. It was great. To playing with the boys, dude. It's a great weekend.

Absolutely. Great weekend. For its hometown show in 15, 16 years. Riverside showed up, dude. It's cool. Riverside showed up. That was a crazy show. It was.

It was a wild show. How was it for you? Fantastic. It was sick. It had a great time. You know, I had some points during the set in my playing where I was like, you know, I knew I was getting a little adrenalineized, you know what I mean? But, you know, I real did it in. Like I said, usually yourself or Mark will take a look at me and be like, you know, bring it down.

I mean, other than that, it was good. Had a good time. Good friends, good hangs. All the boys in Acacia Strain, the Lamb of God guys, sweethearts. We saw Bill Burr. Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. You fucking look over there.

There he is. He's a real person talking. He is. Damn. And he plays drums, dude. It's so sick, dude. I love that. He's probably one of the best comedians on the planet.

Absolutely. I mean, my two top picks are him and Chappelle, dude. Oh, yeah. Dude, Dave and Bill Burr, can't touch him, dude. Just fucking. just legends, man. Straight up. I don't see him at the show.

I wonder if he just came out just to chill for like an hour. That's pretty cool. I guess he had something to do because I asked Randy because he was standing inside stage with me when he was talking to art. And I was like, is he staying for the whole show?

He's like, nah, he's like, he just came down to hang with art for like sound check and like, you know, get the sound check experience and like get to rip on his kit type of thing. Nice. But I think he had something to do. But that would have been real tight. Imagine Bill Burr watching our set, dude.

He would have been like, damn skies are shot, dude. I'm seeing, probably hearing doubles. The cleanest doubles he's ever heard. Dude, what made you start doing? They're called doubles, right? Double strokes. What made you start doing that? Um, so, uh,

I, you know, when I got into heavy music, and all that stuff. The two, like, the two, like, drummers that I looked up to the most, like, in, like, right in that 2000, 2001 era was Raymond from Fear Factory and Andals from Camero.

And they were both machines. And that's why so much of my sound kind of got shaped like that where it was very, like, you know, like a drum machine. And for some bands, it's fantastic. That shit works, you know? Yeah. Then.

Funny enough, my local band played a show, holy shit, in 2009, 2009 and 2010 with Knights of the Abyss. And new guy was playing drums in Knights of the Abyss. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he, that's the first time I'd ever seen somebody do that. Oh, wow. And I was just like, whoa, what the fuck? Like, what's going on over there? That's crazy.

Like, his feet are barely moving. you know and so I watched I watched him from side stage for a little just like whatever that guy's doing I need to figure that out because he's playing lightning speed and it's like he looks like he's doing half the work and then so

as luck would have it who would have known fast forward you know two three years later that he would wind up being in Whitechapel and when they put out self-titled in 2012 I was fucking blown away the drumming I was just like holy shit this dude carried him to another level of musicality.

And so the parts that he was able to play with his feet because of playing double strokes, I saw it as, damn, you know what, that's another cool tool to have in the bag right there. You know, if you top out at a certain speed with one technique, you can learn how to do this and, you know, and achieve higher speeds and stuff like that.

And so I essentially kind of learned from just like watching, like, videos on YouTube of like other cats that were doing it, him. I'm spacing on the other guys. I mean, I would watch guys like George Colius, but those dudes are all, you know, heal up and swivel, which is wild. It's also a wild technique.

And then, yeah, basically it was Ben that kind of, like, put me in the fast track being like, damn, okay, I need to learn how to do that. And then I figured it out on my own, started slow, gradually worked my way up. Can you figure it out on your own? You saw, okay, well, I don't do that. Then you started practicing.

Yeah. And I would record myself with the phone. I would stick it on the ground right behind my pedals. Yeah. And just watch to see if my feet were both, you know, doing the same thing and staying consistent. You know, a lot of trial and error. I would have really bad days of rehearsal where I would like record myself, look back and be like, Jesus, this learning curve is going to take forever.

And then it just started to click. It became such a natural motion for me that, you know, I mean, yeah. You know, I'm at a point now where I can start and stop whenever I can go from playing a slow passage heel up and just drop my feet down and start, you know, immediate playing fast. You know, we have a couple parts like that in the new album. Yeah. You know, even just like, you must die, you know? Bump, bump, bump, bum, bum, bing.

You know what I mean? That's going from a single foot to dropping down and playing doubles real quick. Yeah. So it's, you know, it's cool. It's a cool technique to have in the bag. I think there was a time when I thought it was everything. I was just like, hell yeah, dude, doubles on fucking everything. Yeah, yeah.

And then I realized, I'm like, you know what? It's not everything. It's a cool trick in the bag. Yeah. Don't, don't overdo it. You know what I mean? It took you a couple years to, uh, on that with us. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. To really hone in on that and not fucking beat it to death.

You know what I mean? And now you want to put gravities on the next record, dude. Let's go. Dude, gravity is coming right up. It's crazy. So it was Ben before he got the Whitechapel gig. I know. I don't think I knew that. It's a small world. Insanely small world. I remember seeing nice of the bit small. They were pretty good. They were sick, dude. Culling of the wolves? Nasty, dude.

I gotta revisit that band. They have a show. They got back together. I don't know who's playing drums. And I know their dude Griffin passed away a couple years ago. They did like a benefit for him in Arizona. But the band got back together

and they're playing a show. I don't know if it's an AZ or here. It might be like a 1720 or something like that. I think it's a chair reaction. Is that a chain? It was, yeah. Oh, did it already happen? Yeah.

Oh, shit. Shows you how up on my dates I am, dude. Yeah, it was like. Oh, yeah, it was on the 5th. Oh, shit. There you go. Three weeks ago. Crazy.

Oh, damn. I gotta jam this. Okay. Sick. But that, yeah, that's how that came about. So random. So random. Because, you know, and they're from A.Z.

You know, they were from, you know, Ben was from Flagstaff. Yeah. But just watching him do that, I was like, Jesus, what the fuck is that? Like, I'd never seen anyone do that. Up until that point, everything was Raymond Herrera. Dude, heal up. Handels, heal up. You know what I mean?

Just like watching him play that kind of stuff. stuff. And then me being like, okay, cool. How do we take that to the next level? You know? Yeah, who was one of the first, like, drummers in, like, the heavy genre to start doing double strokes, you think? I have no idea.

Dude, to be completely honest, neither do I. Most of those cats, a lot of those cats are all heel up or swivel. It's just... All like the George is from Niles and that just heal up. Yeah, boom. That's his fucking lightning fire feet. Yeah. Or, dude, even art, when he was in Winds of Plague, he was doing the actual heel toe.

Like, he still does it now with Lamb & Out too. Oh, yeah, yeah. His technique is crazy, dude. Like, it's like, it's really extreme, like, to get, like, the doubles out of it. Like, he's picking his whole heel and the ball of his foot up. It's intense, like, and respect, because that's way too much work. It's way too much work for me. Like, you know, but it is a very, like, it's a very consistent technique, and he's real good at it.

And it works perfect for Lamb of God's music. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm trying to think. I don't really know. I know there's dudes like Longstreath and, you know, cats like that. But I, well, I think Longstreath might be doubles. Yeah.

I think he's a guy. Hey, Jay, look up first. metal band to use double strokes Google's got to have the answer for sure Hope it doesn't show someone jacking off No I'm immature I know I couldn't hope it

This is why we get along Who was the first metal drummer to utilize An intricate double Chris Adler Well Chris Adler plays the same technique Art does they both have the It's doubles but it's heel toe So that would be

considered double strokes. Yeah, because they are getting two strokes out. And like ruin, right? Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Like this is a this is a good example of it. Chris was innovative as fuck, dude. Even Wilders, he was a bass player

before he was a drummer. Which is fucking crazy. What the fuck? Is that not wild? That is wild dude. I remember when you're not a metal drummer but you're in a metal band seeing that you're like, what the fuck? Yeah. Yeah.

Insane. And he would keep that going, you know, for a 15-16 song set every night too. Hmm. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, that's a crazy technique. Like, respect for anyone that takes the time to get that learning curve and learn that. I definitely would not. Sick.

I mean, is Chris Adler one of the OGs or what? It's crazy. Jesus. Is he? Huh. Yeah, see, his is kind of similar. Watch. That's sick.

Yeah. So that's, that's, that's, That's also a variation of doubles. You're getting two hits out of one stroke in the motion of your foot. Mine is definitely much more of a pressure thing. A lot of people will place their entire foot on the pedal board and do that kind of thing that Art was just doing. Whereas mine is much more reliant on catching the rebound of the hit and then squeezing it back down with your foot. which is why, like, I mean, you know, we have foot cams or something like that.

You'll notice my feet drop back substantially when I start playing doubles. If we're playing single stuff or just slow double bass, I'm at the top of the pedals. And the moment I start, you know, flying, you drop your feet back, heels down on the ground, and you're kind of mashing the pedal. Yeah. That's sick. Yeah. But it works.

You know what I mean? It sounds crazy. It is. It is very crazy. But, you know, it's another, it's a different interpretation. of a different technique. You know? Yeah.

And you've been playing that style of drumming for years. I mean, for you. Who do you think are like the top five best drummers in like the death chord on it right now? Ooh, damn. That's a good one, huh? That's a good one. Sick.

Damn, top five. Gotta give love to Austin, Archie. That's my baby boy right there. Of course. He's killing the fucking game. Man. A lot of doubles. Absolutely.

He's taking a couple tips from me. Sick. Mike Caputo. Oh, yeah. Caputo's a fucking freak also. Also, an insanely consistent player. So let's see. Yeah, Austin.

Caputo. Dude, Bobby Crow. Sides in the swat. Another guy that also plays bass that just somehow is like, hey. He is ripping. I'm going to get sick at Fripp. fucking drums. And I'm just like, okay.

And he's ridiculous. God. See, that's three. Ernie. It's another one, dude. I'm definitely not in that list. I'm trying to think. Ben? Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah.

Yeah. I wish he was still playing. But I mean, yeah, you know, Whitechapel at the top of their fucking game, you know, 2000, you know, 2011, 2012, and Ben joined, he changed the game. He changed the game. He, I truly feel he changed the game of deathcore drumming.

He made other dudes have to be like, shit. That is true, huh? We need to catch up. And in that time, to me, it was a very, damn, I might get shit for saying this, but for me, personally, it would have been a three-way tie between him, Shannon Lucas and fucking Charn when he was in JFAC. insane. Like, just between the three of those dudes,

leveled the metal drumming community. Yeah. So you have Austin, Mike, Ben, Bobby, who's that fifth one? Yeah, who's that fifth one, man? Oh, dude. Stephen Sanchez. Oh, yeah. That's my poppy right there, dude.

Stephen Sanchez. He's ripping. Rippin. and he's very like I think it's a great top five Absolutely And he's very disciplined Like in his practice regimen

Yeah My man loves playing drums I'll jump on his live on Instagram Every time he's on And just pull up and be like Yo what's up You know what I mean? Fuck yeah that's cool

And he's you know what I mean He uh That's that's a dude who's improving Every day Like at a frightening speed Like he's passing dudes up Oh damn you know what I know we narrowed it down to five dude

But I've had to throw that six one in there too Bryce Butler Butler Oh, yeah. Bryce. Price is ripping, too. Full grown adult, man. Absolutely.

Bryce is such a pure-hearted. He is. I love him. He is a very infectious dude. He is. He is. Yeah, also,

another one of those dudes is just like, you feel good around him, you know what I mean? He's a maniac. He's a ripper. He also wears Adidas tracks suit. That's right, dude.

That's right. And he's got him in every color, dude. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so sick. Well, okay, then the last list, the two worst drummers in Death Corps, I think you and Alex might be. Yeah, dude. That's sick. Two worst drummers of Dead Corps.

It works for this band, dude, you know? It does. That's how you got the gig. We're like, okay, Alex was terrible. Who was the second worst drummer in Death Corps? And your name came. People were speaking your name. Guys, this is actually how they hired me in the band.

Like, who could we get that's just fried? If he's that terrible, he's going to join the band, dude. Somebody call her, I made the call. And then, look, here we are, dude. Playing with fucking Lamb of God, dude. I heard that fucking popcorn double-stroke, dude. It was love it for sighting. I fell in love.

That shit was sick. Well, shit, I think we covered your whole career, man. What a shot run, huh? And so you, it was, it also was kind of crazy is that you haven't even, like, you haven't even started yet. No. Like, you really haven't, like, damn, it's crazy to, like, to, like, to, I think about that. And to add to that, that, right there, like, you know, the fact that I haven't, you know, that I haven't done it at the length time that you guys have or other bands have. That's, that's really another reason why I think a lot of, are, a lot of people get confused.

as to why I'm like not jaded or fucking shitty about this or anything like that. And I'm like, well, dude, some of these people have been at it fucking, you know, 20, 21 years or whatever. Yeah. I've been playing music that same amount of time. But I've been doing this at the level I'm doing that for only, you know, under 10 years. It's been fucking six, seven years. It's not too. I've got, dude, I've got so much fucking fight left.

I mean, man. Like, you know, I want to, I want to do this as long as my fucking, my body and mine permit me. You know, I don't, uh, I don't. I don't envision myself doing anything else that isn't, you know, music related. You know. Look at Metallica, dude. Wild. Still going.

Just outsold Taylor Swift, dude, at SoFi Stadium. Yeah, how many tickets did they sell? I think it was... Jake, can you pull it up? I think it's like 80,000. Something like that, yeah. I think, uh, crazy number. I think it was 80,000.

And Taylor Swift did 17,000. That's what I heard Jesus, dude Over 156,000 for both shows Wow I'm really shitty at math But if you divvy that up into two shows That's still a lot of tickets

So eight times two That's 160 So maybe like One was 80,000 And the other was like 76 That makes sense That is That's crazy

That's wild Yeah I remember I've been talking for a while Yeah this is gonna be The biggest mental show in California Oh, hands down, hands down. And it is. It is. I don't think that will ever be topped.

80,000 for a metal show. Jeez, Louise. God, and it's also really crazy to think about that's got to be another weird, like, full circle moment for, like, Metallica's on tour with Pantera. That's crazy. And they did Monsters of Rock together in Moscow in, what, 91?

Or something like that? Wow. Yeah. That's so many fucking people, man. Wild. So wild. Well, shit, Ernie, did we miss anything for Day 1? I don't think so. I feel like we covered a pretty good amount of ground, you know,

as far as like getting the history correct and everything leading up until now. Yeah, I just wanted to get like your history out there first before we start talking shit to each other. Yeah, yeah. And then the next one, which I'm thinking, well, so you're all going to hear it here first. We're thinking. We're thinking. about adding a second episode during the week on a Wednesday or Thursday and having Ernie be the co-host

to meet him to talk shit for an hour to... It's gonna be great. To entertain you during the week thinking about it so wanted to get this official one out here. Number 94. Damn, seriously?

94 dropping Monday. Crazy. Holy what? Damn. Seventy-four, dude. What are we doing for episode 100? Are we gonna body slam me through the table, dude? I'm doing her. heroin. Sky knows how to party, dude.

No, I'm kidding. I've never done heroin, and I will never do it. That's a no-no. I'll probably die the first time, for sure. I could barely drink alcohol. I barely smoke weed. I'm doing heroin. Yeah, I was going to say, that's a big jump, dude.

But you know what? If someone told me, like, I got to talk to Kirkobain or something. Like a ghost, he was like, okay, Garza, to write the best suit the son's record, you need to do. heroin. Garza said I'll bleed for the art. You know what, dude? I would have to think about that for a solid

5, 10 minutes, for sure. You know. Oh my God. Right, Ernie. Well, dude, appreciate you coming out here. Of course. Sharing your story. This will be the first

of many. I'm excited. We're going to grab dinner, right? We can grab something sick. Well, fuck, yeah. Where can people find you? You can find me on every social media outlet ever.

Instagram is my first and last name. Ernie Yenigez Drums. Facebook, same thing, first and last name. My Twitter, it's just Ernie Drums. You know, I post a lot of mindless thoughts and cool pictures of shit we do when we're on the road. Yeah, if you care to follow me on there, that's where you'll find me most of the time. Sick. All right, everyone, real quick, Garza podcast, coffee.

Get this shit. All right, it tastes good. Ernie. Honey hide it. Absolutely. Absolutely. 10 out of 10. It's fucking good. It's badass.

Conceptcafays.com. Check it out. And yeah, until next time. That's it. NATO.