HardLore - Marisa Shirar (Fleshwater)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, welcome. It's almost hardlore time. But first, hardlore is now a record label. That's right. Hardlaw Records has arrived. I heard the new Cosmic Joke songs and thought to myself, wouldn't it be crazy to put these out in some way? So Bo and I did that along with our good friend Sam at Triple B Records. And we wanted to start this episode with a very special world premiere. So here is the music video of Kamikaze by Cosmic Joke. let's make history. Hello, welcome. It's Hardlord's time. How are you, Bo? I'm very well. How are you?

Starting point is 00:03:15 I am also very well. This is a big day. Exciting day on the show. We're live and scenic, beautiful Van Nuys, California with a valley, I got a valley legend to my left. Stop. He's the valley legend. No, no, no, no.

Starting point is 00:03:35 Are you 818? I am 818. Wow. Oh, G. You bet your sweet. Sweet ass she's 818. Oh, I don't think I can show it on the camera, but I have a big 818 on my ankle. It's a big gun on your ankle. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:03:50 I don't think I can lift it like that right. No, they can imagine. Yes. Anyway, this is, this is big because a couple weeks ago during the award show, we called Fleshwater, the band to watch in 2024. It's now 2024. It is. All eyes.

Starting point is 00:04:05 So you're going to watch Fleshwater. Yeah. on Hardle right now because I've got my very good friend, everyone's favorite new front person in the world. Marissa, welcome. Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. You guys just toured together.

Starting point is 00:04:24 How was that? It was awesome. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. The freshwater vein, like that whole camp are such a collective group of pure individuals. that it's like there's such a joy and so easy to tour with it and like everything is just like I don't know I had a great time they were fantastic they played fantastic they were troopers I can't wait to talk about one of them at a video game yeah which I don't think I could even do and then and then I don't think I can the dynamic changes yeah agreed what I like one thing that that comes to mind right away is Where was the drive when your van broke down? Texas, somewhere?

Starting point is 00:05:12 Somewhere in Texas, right? It was Texas? I think so. Or Arizona or something? And it was like... What happened? We were driving through the night. I already knew that the van had troubles before the tour even started.

Starting point is 00:05:24 I was nervous. That was going to happen. But it just shuts down in the middle of the freeway in the middle of nowhere. And we all have no service or phone, say, SOS. Oh, perfect. And it's like two in the morning. use the SOS thing? No, no, no. Jeremy had to like walk around in the woods and he ended up getting a bar somewhere and he was able to call AAA, but they took hours to show up. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:49 And yeah, it was really scared. I was scared. They had to calm me down because what are they called? I'm blaking on the kind of truck that they are. Um, the trucks were going by. Oh, like, seven. Yeah, like an 18 wheel or truck. They were just flying by and I was like, that's going to hit us really. What did they do to calm me down? Dance? Make fun of me. No, no, no, no, no. They were chill.

Starting point is 00:06:14 They were really good at calming me down. The reason I even bring it up was because when Jeremy texted the group chat, it was like, hey, I think our timing belt blew, which is like cheap part crazy labor kind of a thing. And it was like, we're probably going to miss tomorrow's show and maybe the next show or something to get to L.A. Because we were on our way there. And then it was like, oh, hey, yeah, we got it fixed. We left by 9 a.m. Yeah, that was crazy.

Starting point is 00:06:41 We ended up getting picked up by AAA at like 4 in the morning. We didn't get into the hotel. They said it was going to take maybe a few hours the day maybe. We ended up getting it back like an hour after we dropped it off. Damn. Yeah, we were the first ones. And so we went to bed, woke up, drove with the actual van. We got to the show early.

Starting point is 00:06:59 Wow, that shop had a timing incentive bonus that day. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just, it was just proof of like this bunch of weirdos had a major problem and figured it out and didn't like skip a beat. And like that's that's my favorite example of what the freshwater team is. They always get it done. Yeah. And also a lot of the time they have bands like us with them to help them get it done. But more on that later. Yes. Let's start from the top because you, you have a very interesting.

Starting point is 00:07:32 Introduction to Extreme Music, I would say. How so? Your high school band coach? Oh, yes. Let's talk about how Marissa is basically sitting in this chair because of her high school band coach. Yeah. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, I was on high school band to play the Marimba.

Starting point is 00:07:56 You hear that? You hear that marimba players? Yeah. Hope is not lost. Yeah, exactly. Stick with it. I was also on the vocal ensemble and it kind of just like bounced back between them. Sure.

Starting point is 00:08:08 But the drum line, he's actually the drumline coach, but he just kind of worked with all the fields sometimes. He just had an ear for bangers. He comes up to me and he's like, he's not too much older than me. He's on the younger side of the coaches. And he goes, hey, I heard that you can sing. And I was like, yeah? He's like, have you ever been in a band? And I was like, no.

Starting point is 00:08:31 he said, have you ever thought of being in a band? And I was like, I've always wanted to be like I like bands with singers. Before that band, what were you into? Like, what did a band mean to you? Yeah. You know, I liked, you know, I liked like Paramore. I loved Paramore. I loved, um, there was a bunch of bands that I liked.

Starting point is 00:08:54 I really liked Head Automatica. That was a big band for me. Friends of the show, Head Automatica. That's awesome. I'd had no idea Glassjaw was a thing. I just knew Head Automatica, which is so it blows Anthony's mind. But now I love Glassjaw

Starting point is 00:09:08 because I was so into Head Automatica. I mean, the Beating Hearts Baby American Nightmare Glassjaw pipeline is very real. You can see, you can track that progression. For sure. I think I saw American Nothing at the time

Starting point is 00:09:24 with Glassjaw. Yeah. I went to, that was like one of the first shows. He got on my space and start making some tracks together. Yeah. Yeah. So he was like, hey, would you be interested in being in a band? And I said, yeah, why not?

Starting point is 00:09:40 So I get home. He's like, okay, we're having our first band practice tomorrow at that rehearsal space on Recita. Sound arena. I think so. It's not called that anymore. No, no, they changed it. And I was like, mom, can you take me to this room full of all these people? people I don't know so I can, men specifically, so I could be in this band.

Starting point is 00:10:07 She was the first, the last thing your mom wants to hear. Yeah, of course. And does your, does your family have any kind of musical background? My dad. Okay. But not my mom. Okay. So dad would get it.

Starting point is 00:10:18 Dad would get it. Yes. Dad was excited. Gotcha. Okay. I show up. I don't wear earplugs because I didn't know what to expect. And the whole next day at school I heard was,

Starting point is 00:10:28 for like 24 hours and I literally thought that I had permanent tinnitus just from one band practice but it was a lot of fun they handed me lyrics I guess their old singer had to go to college

Starting point is 00:10:40 so that it was so they were like oh you want to sing so they got another student where that might be an option good point yeah and they just gave me like

Starting point is 00:10:52 her old lyrics and I sang them and then we ended up writing new songs together eventually What was the vibe? Like, Evanescence type? You were the, you were the singer. He was the lead screamer.

Starting point is 00:11:03 Yeah, he was the screamer. The only footage of us online is an acoustic video, so he's not screaming in it. It's just me singing. Is that on Vimeo from Club 13 or something? No, it's on YouTube. It's a hot topic acoustic session. Oh. That's a legit gig.

Starting point is 00:11:22 Oh, yeah, yeah. Panic at the disco and pretty blonde. What? Yeah. So it doesn't even look like me. Let me ask you this. Was Rachel Ben Shaw in the in the house that day? Yes.

Starting point is 00:11:35 Yes, she was. Rachel Benshaw's always in the house. Shout out Rachel Ben Shaw. Yes. What was the name of the band? We were called the lights around us. That's very. What year was this?

Starting point is 00:11:47 What year? 2011. Eleven? Yeah. Holy shit. It's funny because she was like, I was doing math on my head. she was like, oh, before this, I was like into Paramore. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:02 And I was like, wait a minute. Yeah. Wait, does that add up? Well, no, what I'm saying is you were into Paramore as a very young person and I like had a job. You know, like I was driving to work listening to it. Yeah. That makes sense. I loved brand new eyes.

Starting point is 00:12:18 That album was so good. Me and Mac put it on the other day and blew through the whole thing. It's crazy how many bangers in a row. Yeah. It's true. I mean, my dad didn't like. like any music I ever listened to that was newer, but he would put on brand new eyes himself. Really?

Starting point is 00:12:34 It means something. These kids had something. You know, I still do. Yeah, you could hear it. So Taft High School. Yes. And what were you again? Birmingham.

Starting point is 00:12:42 Birmingham. Direct competitors. Yes. Huge beef. But I was long gone. I couldn't be seen. Yeah, exactly. With that person.

Starting point is 00:12:51 I was Lake Park. Oh. Who was your rivals? Also are rivals. No. James. Like where James went, Naperville. Naperville.

Starting point is 00:12:59 Yeah. And John Caution, right? And John Caution, that's right. Right. Go Lancers. So Taft High. Were there, was there a kind of a big group of hardcore kids at Taft High? Not really.

Starting point is 00:13:15 To be honest, I didn't even get into hardcore until like right when I graduated. Wow. So. What year was that? Like 2011. Yeah. Well, because I started playing those shows with that band. I went to the Cobalt a bunch to,

Starting point is 00:13:28 play those shows. There we go. There it is. Legendary venue. Yeah. And that's where I met a lot of the people I'm still friends with today. Wow. That's beautiful. Do you remember any of your first shows playing at the Colbolt? Like any of the... Do you accidentally play with some band who would go on to

Starting point is 00:13:43 be huge or something? No, but I definitely, like the first show I ever played at the Colbolt, I became a massive fan of that band. And they didn't blow up to be anything like massive, but to me, they'll always be like, I don't know, big to me. Who? They're called the victorship.

Starting point is 00:14:05 They're just a local band. Had you heard of them? Yeah. Wow. They're cool. I'm going to shout out them. Shout out to sign. I bought a CD and I had them sign it.

Starting point is 00:14:14 Damn. I'll wonder where they are now. Yeah. They might watch this. Friends of the show, the victorship. Victorship if you're watching. Welcome. So you were on your own.

Starting point is 00:14:26 You graduated high school. then kind of discovered hardcore through playing in, through against your will, playing in an extreme rock band. Yeah, it was, it was a lot to take in, especially the Cobalt shows.

Starting point is 00:14:41 But I quickly, you know, everyone here was very inviting. So you, you literally played in the stars around us. Lights. The lights. The lights around us.

Starting point is 00:14:53 And then, and you played shows with like, heavier bands that got you into local hardcore shows? Like that's the timeline? Not like necessarily heavy bands. But alternative? Alternative bands, which then I started, when I started going in that venue, I would see lineups.

Starting point is 00:15:14 I was like, oh, I'm not familiar with that, but I really wanted to be. So like the first hardcore show I went to at Cobalt was a Zabalba show. Yeah. Was that in 2011? I think, maybe 2012 at that point. Was it good? It was awesome. Okay, good.

Starting point is 00:15:29 And I met all my current friends there that night. Wow. That's beautiful. And then I started going like every weekend. I would just go. I don't care what the show was. I would just go. So you experienced the danger in a way.

Starting point is 00:15:40 And your gut reaction was like, I need more of this. Yeah. That's awesome. I was like, this is cool. And then I had to like, my parents started picking up on like how, how that scene was, I guess. And in a good way? In a way. They weren't happy about it.

Starting point is 00:15:59 So I had to start being like, I'm going to Rachel's. Hey, I'm lying. Yeah. And I convinced my parents that they had this like to find my friend's app, but it was like the Sprint version back then on my phone. And I convinced them that it was broken and it didn't work. Like they'd be like while you're at the cobalt. I'm like, I was there like three days ago.

Starting point is 00:16:18 Oh, it's glitching. Oh, my God. You know how it glitches. Yeah. And they're like, oh, okay, that's so weird. Oh, my God. Sorry, Mom. Mom, if you're listening.

Starting point is 00:16:28 Yes. She lied a lot. God. I only had to lie once. You had to lie all the time. It's crazy. What was your lying like? I'm just saying I would just be like, I'm going to whoever's house and then just be gone all day.

Starting point is 00:16:42 You know, didn't have a tracker on me. We got lucky. Our dad was very trusting and very high. So he, I think straight edge like blew his mind. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like to this. say he's like straight edge is awesome man.

Starting point is 00:16:58 Yeah. You guys say that's fucking cool. So he he also liked that hardcore shirts were like $10. Because like... So did he wear them? No. But school clothes.

Starting point is 00:17:11 Right. You know? Because I'm 14 years old going to these shows. He's like, I can give this kid 30 bucks and he's got three outfits. Yeah. Honestly. Versus you go to Target. Coles, brother. Yeah. You get laundry detergent for 30 bucks.

Starting point is 00:17:26 You can't wash them for 30 bucks. I don't know how my mom looked out. Because I was setting course to be a hellion for sure. And then discovered straight edge. And then she just like much similar to your dad just like trusted me and let me like do whatever. Well, she never forgot Blair Witch Bo. She always knew he was in there. You know.

Starting point is 00:17:46 God. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I know what you're saying. Even if you were hellion, she'd be like, that's just my scaled widow boy. My widow. My widow. Did I ever tell you that my dad one time saw a swear, like a swear word on a shirt or something?

Starting point is 00:18:02 And he was like, your straight edge, you should make that part of being straight edge is not swearing. Aw. No, dad. I was also straight edge. I say was. What? I say was. But hold on.

Starting point is 00:18:17 Let me explain. Let me explain. I broke on like a sip of wine because I was craving. I had known what wine tasted like. before I went straight edge in high school. Was it for the antioxidants? I just liked the taste. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:18:33 The pairing? Because we got age you want. I can get you antifaxons if that's what you're doing. We'll hear me out. I took a sip, had the worst allergic reaction immediately. Like as it went down my throat, my entire spine tightened up. I had this like severe like allergic reaction. Wow.

Starting point is 00:18:50 That's what he wrote straight edge revenge about. Yeah. Ryan allergy. Well then I like went to the paramedic. where I was because I was at an event. And he was like, well, maybe you're dehydrated. So I was like, maybe you're right. Because I've been in the sun all day.

Starting point is 00:19:03 So like a week or two later, I went to a show with Rachel and a bunch of my other friends. Rachel Ben Shaw. Yeah, Rachel and Shaw. Yeah. And they brought some alcohol and I was like, maybe I'll try it again. It was a different kind of alcohol. It was like a hard liquor. Took a sip.

Starting point is 00:19:17 Same reaction. No way. In the bathroom and fetal position like freaking out in so much pain. Wow. So I've never, to this day, I've never. ever been drunk, buzzed, or high. Wow. So you're still edge. It's fine. Kind of.

Starting point is 00:19:31 You smoke weed? No. You're so straight-aged. What you mean? I guess so. I just don't claim it. This is the official proclamation. Marissa Shriar from Fleshwater. One of the great straight-edge front persons of our time.

Starting point is 00:19:50 You heard it here. Tell me about bans before Fleshwater. I know it was there, were you in grave school? I was, yes. Was there anything before grave school other than the lights around us? There was lights around us. There was this band I was in called Dante. That's a dope name.

Starting point is 00:20:08 Dante was a really big one for me, like a huge, like, it made me realize this is like what I wanted to do. They were a group of really talented dudes. Actually, that band I mentioned earlier, the Victorship, that I played that first show with with the lights around us. I ended up becoming really good friends with those guys and they kind of like raised me into this like

Starting point is 00:20:31 into this music scene. I don't keep up with them that much anymore. One of them I saw recently. He was doing merch for Glassjaw and I was like, whoa. I remember you. What? Can I get a medium? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:41 No. But they started taking me to shows, showed me the ropes. They told me that one of their friends' bands was looking for a vocalist. and I really wanted to be in a band again. So they introduced me to them, and I ended up going to their band practices,

Starting point is 00:20:59 and they were so talented, all of them. I think their main influences at the time were, like, God, I don't even know. Honestly, like, they would listen to Diamondized by Deaf Tones a lot. That's the name of the record, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:20 Diamondized by Deaf tones. Yeah, Colin. Right? I guess. They would listen to that a lot. They liked, I don't know. They had a billion pedals on their boards. So that's just...

Starting point is 00:21:34 There you go. That tracks. That tracks. Yeah. That's having fun. Yeah, that all tracks. Yeah, that all makes sense. Joking, you know?

Starting point is 00:21:40 And we had our own practice space so we could practice whenever. And it was fun. It's on Spotify still. Yeah. But there's a lot of bands called Dante, so you'd have to search the record. It's probably just guys named Dante. Yeah. You have to search our record, which was called Revisions.

Starting point is 00:21:56 Dante Revision's checking out. What's the vibe? Defto. Yeah, but also, please don't judge my vocals on there because I was like 18 and I didn't know what I was doing. Ben there, my brother. It's really well recorded. Oh, good. But that, it's like a little bit too overp induced to my liking.

Starting point is 00:22:17 You got the share believe effect on there? Actually, yeah, a little bit maybe, but it's. No shaman. that listen to share believe that's one of the great songs that were written that's true life after love baby piano parts on that record though oh there you go that i like yeah were you always doing piano yeah piano was my first instrument um my dad threw me into a piano lesson when i was like threw you into a piano lesson physically no he started me on piano lessons when i was five damn but i couldn't i had really bad like ADHD I just remember every five seconds I'd be like, look at the teacher.

Starting point is 00:22:54 Can I have a cup of water? Can I go to the bathroom? Like, I did not want to be there. Yeah. It wasn't until I was a young teenager where I was like, okay, I actually want to know how to do this. I had the same story. Yeah. Really?

Starting point is 00:23:07 You got to figure, you got to get there on your own sometimes. Yeah. I just wanted to fucking surf the web. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You stopped me from surfing the web. I'm not coming.

Starting point is 00:23:20 with good intentions. But if I stumbling upon a piano or a drum kit on my own and being like, oh, that's how that works, way different. Well, what's funny, too, is my dad tried to give me guitar lessons. And it was immediately like chords and shit. I knew I wanted to play like rock stuff, you know? Yeah. So he stopped because, but I had a proclivity for it. So I was like, he was like, okay.

Starting point is 00:23:43 And then I have a half brother. And when he was a kid, he was like, I'm going to make Jack take piano. lessons. Like we're going to force him to do it. I'm not going to I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. How jealous are you that Jack rips a piano? Dude, he hated it. He never, he never, he's not musical because of it.

Starting point is 00:24:01 So it's like you never know. Sometimes studying an instrument takes you away from the love of it. 100%. Yeah. That's anything. Yeah. I majored in music in college. Where did you go to college? C-Sons. Cal State Northridge. Yes. You know that Cupid's is closing? Is that,

Starting point is 00:24:20 a big deal for you? I heard. Yes. It is sad. What's Cupid's? RIPA. RIPC, Cupid's Hot Dogs, the best chili dog in the valley. There's another location, but that's the... That's the one. That's our... Yeah, that was like our... Taylor and I, sucking on some chili dogs down there, no fun intended, is what made me... When we did the Nudy Mag demo, I, we, I celebrated by having like five chili dogs and finishing one of Shannon's. And that's when I was like, I should probably make a change. Oh, was that peak? Yeah, that was it. Oh my God, yes.

Starting point is 00:24:53 260. We call that Pete Colin. That's BFC. Yeah. So C-Sons studying music. Oh, yeah, that made me like hate music. How did you graduate? Yes.

Starting point is 00:25:07 Congrats. That's awesome. So you have a degree in music? Punk academically. Yeah. Wow. But it was cool. Actually, someone in one of your bands, I got to see every day at school.

Starting point is 00:25:16 And that's how we met. Miles McKintosh. Miles from Dead body, yes. Yeah. He would just be laying in the hallway, like sitting on the floor, just shredding. I just walked by. And then Andrew?

Starting point is 00:25:32 From apparition? God, I don't know. I think he's in, oh. I think he's in apparition. I think so. Yeah, maybe. He was always around too. I always, I never knew if they wanted to hang out with me.

Starting point is 00:25:46 I just kind of forced myself on them because I like, I know. I know you guys like same stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And that was when Miles was in harness to the listeners who are familiar with them. Miles is like a straight up, he went to Seeson for jazz guitar. Yeah, Shredder. So he's like a master jazz guitar player and somehow we wrangled him into dead body.

Starting point is 00:26:09 It's awesome. Got him. Got it. So what did you? Do you studied all of music at Csson? No, I studied. I majored in music industry. I initially auditioned to be a vocal performance.

Starting point is 00:26:18 performance major. Oh shit. But I didn't have enough classical background yet. And I was like, but isn't that one I'm supposed to be here for? Isn't that the point of the school? Yeah. So they told me if I studied music industry, I could still study an instrument. So I chose voice.

Starting point is 00:26:37 So I still got to have one-on-one vocal classical training. Wow. Wow. But I never like, I mean, but it was a really cool major too. I did get to learn a lot about the industry. What does a music industry degree? Like what's the end game? Is it like to do like ANR or agent or something?

Starting point is 00:26:55 You can work in management. Like we had to do internships. I did my internship at Velvet Hammer. Oh. So they go with their management company. So you can work in management. You can work in booking agencies. You can work out of PRO.

Starting point is 00:27:10 So like ASCAP, BMI. Ah. So when some manager schmuck. is bullshitting you. I know. You know the link. Oh, yeah. We took many weeks of classes of, what's it called?

Starting point is 00:27:25 Contracts. Oh, really? Which actually is very helpful nowadays. Yeah, big time. Yeah. You're in contract world now. I'll know if you're bullshitting me. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:27:36 Don't even try to bullshit us. Don't even try to bullshit her brother. Nope. Wow. That's awesome. Interesting. So Graves, what was that, Bo? I was just, I said that was really interesting.

Starting point is 00:27:46 Do you think, Marissa, that that is helpful? you in your musical career? Definitely. It also is cool because everyone that was in my classes, I'll work in all these companies now. So like when I am, like now that I'm on the other side of it, I'm the artist, I'll be working with these companies and it's like my classmates.

Starting point is 00:28:05 You have colleagues scattered around. Yeah. That's really cool. That's really cool. Yeah. That's crazy. Wow. Makes you think that school is like maybe a good thing.

Starting point is 00:28:15 Maybe, huh? Collin, did you go to any? college at all? Not a day. Not a day. Did you know that in high school? You knew you weren't going to go? Yeah. I knew I wanted a tour right away. Yeah. Yeah. The only real schooling I did was groundlings. You did groundlings? That's funny. Would you? Oh, just the show? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. I didn't know that. Wait, so you took a class there? I just did, I did the like beginner and the intermediate one. That's cool. The advanced waitlist was too long. That's a deep cut. Well, how brutal was the beginning? the beginning one had to be insane.

Starting point is 00:28:50 It's horrible. Yeah. It's all like games about sharing, like the first day where you have to share facts about yourself. Oh. One of the worst experiences my whole life. Ice breakers. I'd rather get my back tattooed again. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:29:06 Oh. Imagine sharing facts about yourself in a circle with a bunch of strangers right now. Comedians of all types of people. Oh, dude. I mean, that's. People that want to be comedians. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:29:15 It's being comedians. Yeah. Well, that's, it's even like more refined from that is like the first day at a call center job. It's the same shit. And all the, guess what those people are doing? They got five minutes at an open mic that weekend. You know what I mean? Like, it's the same shit.

Starting point is 00:29:33 It's the same people who need day jobs. It's so bad, dude. I would say podcasting is maybe the second biggest form of narcissism, you know? Yeah. us being like, we have so much to say. We got to do it. We got to get this word message out. I don't know how you guys do this.

Starting point is 00:29:51 I'm sitting here. When I came in here and calling out this setup, I looked at myself in the reflection and I'm just like, how do you, how are you comfortable? You're serving. What do you mean? You guys have a lot of, this takes a lot of guts. I'm putting that out there. You guys have a lot of guts. You have the guts.

Starting point is 00:30:07 You're serving right now. What's the number one most narcissistic? Comedian. Stand up. I think being somebody in going, I'm so. fucking funny. I should get paid for this. It is. I went to a comedy show recently in New York

Starting point is 00:30:21 and I forgot what the comedian's name was. But I was like, how do they go up and do this? I would throw up. Was it good? It was good. It was really good. It must have been Ian finance. It had. It had. It would have been Ian. I was, they actually put us front row,

Starting point is 00:30:36 which even as a front row person, I was nervous because they'll get you. Yeah, I'm like not a comedian, not funny. So I was like, please don't joke with me. I don't know. Crowdwork. You want to get crowd worked?

Starting point is 00:30:50 They ended up just picking on Gabby, so thank God. Fuck. That's, they go for the blondes. They do. Lana is notorious at getting crowd worked. Really? Everybody, John Mullaney crowd worked this shit out of her. Oh, that's cool.

Starting point is 00:31:04 Buried her. I was kind of, it was funny. Nick Cole, buried her. Buried her. They just can't stop burying my wife, these comedians. It's crazy. She won't go anymore. I'm going to go with you guys next.

Starting point is 00:31:17 Yeah, you should. I want you to witness it. I would love to. She won't go see live comedy because it always happens. Wow. I've only ever been to one ever. Eddie is or like way long time ago. I also think it's a really strange art form and like an activity for people to go like,

Starting point is 00:31:34 hey, we're going to go in a room and this guy's going to maybe make us laugh. Yeah. That's bizarre. And you know that person, if they're well established, they could be experimenting a new joke that like sucks. For sure sucks. Yeah. For the first like two or three months that they're doing it.

Starting point is 00:31:52 Such a crazy concept. Or it's like Pablo Francisco or something and it's like, Hope he does the joke from the CD I bought when I was eight and then he does it. And you're like, still good. I had the Adam Sandler like CD like his out one of his albums. Unbelievable. That's probably. Fatty.

Starting point is 00:32:14 Fatty with the like fire alarm. It had the the goat song on it. That's all I remember. Did I have the buffoon? The buffoon skit? Jesus. I really don't know. I got a snake, man.

Starting point is 00:32:29 That one. I really don't remember. Oh man. That's classic. My first and only swaree in the musical comedy. Yeah. Anyway, back to school. Yes, of course.

Starting point is 00:32:41 So post college. Yes. Is that when you start, is that when you joined grave school? Actually, it was while I was in college. So I was at C-Sun. And that's kind of what led me to not being in that band anymore a little bit. I was just bailing on practices all the time. Was that where the school part of the name came from?

Starting point is 00:32:59 Was that you being in school? No, actually, I did not come up with the name. But also, Aldo, who was in my band, he was going, he had just graduated from C-San. Aldo was in school for, he was a, he is learned that man. You don't know that about him, dude. I did not know that. He's educated. Really?

Starting point is 00:33:17 Yeah. He got his degree from CISOM. He's a hustler, dude. Damn. He got, he grinds like you wouldn't believe on rails, jobs. We love Aldo in this house. This is an Aldo community. Yes, it is.

Starting point is 00:33:32 He's the mayor, by the way. He could stop by it any time. You got no say. He's the king of the valley. Yes, 100%. So how long were you in grave school? How many shows did you play? Did you do any tours?

Starting point is 00:33:45 Honestly, I don't remember how long we did play. I did play. I'd want to say five or six shows with them. We didn't play very often. So five or six shows was like how much we played that year potentially. But it was a lot of fun. I definitely like, like I said, kept bailing on practices. I was like overwhelmed with so many different things going on in my life.

Starting point is 00:34:05 But yeah, I enjoy being in that band. And those are some of my best friends like to this day. Oh. Now, let me ask you this. Were you dating our good late friend Kail at the time? Yes, I was. Really? That's how I met with us.

Starting point is 00:34:24 Yes. I was dating Kail at the time, and he, I remember the day he got the call. He looked to me, he's like, they want me to join Twitch and tongues. And I was like, do it. Because I loved twitching tongues. I was like, do it. And then he was like, oh, I don't know. if I'm good enough, but...

Starting point is 00:34:43 He was already in God's hate at the time. I actually had a really funny story. Love these. Okay, so this is like the day before your guys first practice with him. You guys have not seen him ever play any of your songs before. Hours, though. But I had been playing in God's Hate with him for almost like over a year at that time.

Starting point is 00:35:02 So I knew that if like I demoed drums and sent them to him, it was perfect when the time came. Yes. But there was definitely a bit of me that, was like, okay, Mike quit. Fuck. Like, I don't know if Kale is going to want this because it was, it's a lot of work. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:35:23 Oh, yeah. It was. So this is the date. Okay, let me back up a little bit. A week before your first practice with him. I was like, you should probably start practicing for the, for this practice. Incredible. And he was like, I'll get to it.

Starting point is 00:35:38 I'll get to it. I'll get to it. It's now the day before the practice. He has not practiced yet. I was like, you should start practicing. Let me just put that out there. He goes, just put, like, put them on, like, a playlist for me and I'll go through. You did this?

Starting point is 00:35:57 So I put together a bunch of, like, twitching tongue songs. I don't remember, like, how I chose them if maybe you guys told them. I don't know. We probably gave him a list. Yeah, so then I put him a set list. And then he goes and goes to the side of the bed and just goes, he puts them a head on headphones and just goes. Thigh practice.

Starting point is 00:36:16 Thigh practicing. And that was his practice. He goes the next day, he comes back and he's like, they said that I killed it. He killed it. I was like, I don't think the first practice he made a mistake. I think I remember you even saying that.

Starting point is 00:36:31 This was when Twitching was like really going. This was right before the Disharmony tour, which like we're playing a ton of that and it's really technical. Yeah. And he did not miss a beat. He was in. a music video a week later. He just did not, he never skipped a beat.

Starting point is 00:36:50 Yeah, no, he was an incredible drummer. We actually ended up, although had something he had to do for a grave school show, so we had Kail fill in on the drums. He didn't even need to practice. He's like, I already know all the songs. I put that picture in the Memorial Slideshow, yes. Awesome.

Starting point is 00:37:07 Very good. Yeah, that's definitely been so hard for all of us. It has, but it, I mean, you being, here throughout that has been very nice. Yeah, Colin and Lana and all of our friends have really been such a good what's the word I'm looking for?

Starting point is 00:37:26 Swag. Support base for me. Swag. Yeah. It's been very swag. Having them around. Good. Yes. Well said. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's been great. I mean, I feel like this is this is the most

Starting point is 00:37:41 time we've ever spent together. And like the just seeing the growth of Fleshwater and like the growth of you as a person The past couple years has been so like even from afar has been like damn Because we saw Marissa from the rip you know I watched Marissa grow up right and go from like You know the girl tag kale being like do you mind if Marissa comes in it's like yeah dude it's fine To like start

Starting point is 00:38:12 She's the rising star, you know, like, Fletchwater's success is so deserved to me. I know Bo feels the same. I really do. And we're just excited to see what goes. Thank you. Of course. After that band was that when, when did like Mercy start being a thing?

Starting point is 00:38:33 Well, actually, Kale introduced me to like this whole SoundCloud world. You know, we got really into like, super. suicide boys when we were dating and so many that that whole world like team sash gbc team sash friends of the show yeah they are big time yeah love them love also love gbc love that whole soundcloud movement i got we got really involved i so i made a soundcloud and i would just upload like i made songs on garage band Yeah. And I just thought it was so cool because I was always so nervous to post my own stuff.

Starting point is 00:39:17 But SoundCloud, even if it was like kind of shitty, people were so supportive. You'd get like all these comments like, you're killing it. Like this is so cool. Like upload more. And everyone, it was such a good community. And you'd go to shows and like everyone would know each other. And Caleb started playing drums for like suicide boys. And.

Starting point is 00:39:38 And I was like, that was huge. Yeah. Was that was that? Was that? Did Shakewell have anything to do with introducing them? Yes, I totally forgot. Shakewell was, is Kale,

Starting point is 00:39:48 was always Kail's like best friend. Oh. So, you know, I got to see the beginning, like, Shakewell go from like, the bottom to the top.

Starting point is 00:39:59 From the bass player of betrayal to, the leg lock video taken over. Yeah. He, we always knew he was going to blow up. He's like an incredible rapper. I mean, he's just,

Starting point is 00:40:11 And he's got this, like, he's got the Riz, you know, like the unteachable charisma. He's got it. Just like a character. Yeah. Yeah. So that was really cool. He definitely had a lot to do with like Kail being able to play drums for suicide boys. Like he, you know, just got to know all those people really well and introduced us.

Starting point is 00:40:30 It was just so cool that I got to experience like side stage for a little peep. Yeah. Like there's so many memories. I'm just like, wow. Such, such good times. And all, how long was all the mercy stuff done just by yourself and garage man? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I backtrack.

Starting point is 00:40:48 No, this is how this is, this is podcast. Yeah, that's how we do. Thank you for keeping me on track. So then I started uploading stuff, like I said. But then I realized that there was all these producers that you could just hit up and they'll be like, here's a beat. Which, which to us is like insane. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:41:11 Because here's a beat means here's an entire fucking song ready to go, just sing on it. Yeah. Imagine doing, imagine that in hardcore and metal. I remember, I remember a rumor that, fuck, what was the, what's the band? They were like a huge warp tour kind of Mosh band. They had the song that started with them singing did a little, little, la la la da da da da da. Oh, did to remember. That a day to remember, like had people submit breakdowns and they picked like from a

Starting point is 00:41:41 catalog. And used it in a song? And used it in like for that whole record. Like it was like a collaborative kind of crowdsource thing. Damn. That's an amazing way to say lazy as hell. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah.

Starting point is 00:41:55 But still, I mean. Is it not how different is it from the SoundCloud? It's not. It's the same model. I mean, it's just different worlds. It's just like like producing versus ghost writing. Mm-hmm. It's so different.

Starting point is 00:42:08 And in hip hop, it's literally like, yeah, my producer. That means like, yeah, the person that wrote everything you're hearing. Exactly. It's crazy. It's awesome. And, yeah, so I met a bunch of producers and we'd work together. The first beat I ever did was with this producer named Kat Soup and Curtis Heron and their Sesh. Oh, cool.

Starting point is 00:42:32 And back then I was like, wow, this is so cool. I have a song with them. And now actually, I just put out a new song with one of them. So that was cool. I was like full circle. And those are like kind of crushing the solo songs.

Starting point is 00:42:47 I mean, yeah, they Okay, so then I eventually was like, I want to make my own beats, I guess. So Anthony, my current boyfriend, kind of, he upped my swag, not kind of. He very much so upped the swag. And he taught me how to use Ableton.

Starting point is 00:43:04 Yes. And it. Is it hard? It actually was, once you get it, you get it. Once you get it. Dude, I love Ableton. Once you get it, it's locked. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:43:15 Do you think it is better and more conducive of like a beat, like a pop structure than something like logic? Yeah. Here's the audio listener. Because here's the thing, in my opinion, Colin, I don't know how you write your songs. But like. Riffs first. So in Ableton, you would put those riffs in the one view and then drag them over into the other view and you can like kind of piece it out. I'll need a live demonstration.

Starting point is 00:43:45 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great. I love Ableton. What I typically do is I'll make the song in Ableton, and I'll do the vocals in logic. I prefer recording in logic vocally. That makes sense. I mean, look at these Christmas trees over here.

Starting point is 00:44:00 Yes, gorgeous. Exactly. That's cool. So now you're doing it. That's pro. Like, that's not really different than what Kanye is doing. Maybe a better microphone, but other than that, pro tools. I have a shitty little one that, I used to have a good one, but.

Starting point is 00:44:19 Well, whatever you're doing on that shitty little microphone is getting triple the streams as any twitching tongue song. I'll tell you that much. So Mercy is, Mercy's still a project that you're still like, is it you're kind of always working on it? Yeah, I'm always working on it. Sick. I'll just bring my laptop. Like, even on the tour we did with you guys, I brought my laptop and, I wrote a couple things on Ableton, like in the van.

Starting point is 00:44:45 Yeah. I'm just kind of, I have so many projects on there that are just like this long. Like it'll just be like a loop of something cool that I like that I did. Yeah. Exactly. That's it. Yeah. And then like I'll just come up with a bunch of little ideas like that and then I'll maybe continue to work.

Starting point is 00:45:07 Whichever one stands out the most, that's the one I'll continue to work on. at home in the future or like yeah. I've been trying to do this thing lately. I saw a clip of Rick Rubin. I think it's from his book or something. Yeah. Talking about like starting projects and how even if it sucks, you have to finish it.

Starting point is 00:45:25 Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. I've been really trying to do that lately. I'm not good at that. It's my New Year's Resolution. I didn't write it. I haven't written a song in a year and a half.

Starting point is 00:45:35 The only songs I've written have all been on TV. You got 361 days to go. That's my favorite part about being in a band Is you don't have to rely on just you to write the whole song Yeah I gotta get used to that Yeah Colin's been in many bands and guess what

Starting point is 00:45:55 That ain't the motherfucking case Yeah But that's probably That's like part of the ego that I've got to shake You know it's just being receptive of Stuff I mean a lot of It's me and Taylor's

Starting point is 00:46:10 so much the time. But like when he's busy, I'd got to just like, it's just like, okay, I guess I'm, I guess I'll just do it. It's tough. But it's also, it also speaks to the relationship that you guys have in Fleshwater.

Starting point is 00:46:26 And, and like how you guys write and because like, Nick obviously played in vain a bunch. So I got, we got like an insight into like how they practice, how they write, how like how they operate, I would imagine it's pretty similar in the freshwater camp. Four hour practices and whatnot. I was just talking to Colin about this like this morning.

Starting point is 00:46:52 Yeah, we, they practice. I'm a person that's like, I like to go and practice the set a few times. Let's play the set and get home for lunch. Yeah. No, they're not like that. We show up at 5 o'clock. That's when our practice space is open for use. And sometimes you won't get out of there until like 11 or midnight.

Starting point is 00:47:14 But that's the thing. That's why you are where you are is those motherfuckers clock in. They love it. That's like I called Jeremy the other day, random hour of the night just to ask him a question. He's like, I'm like, where are you? He's like, I'm at the practice space. Just by himself. Riffing.

Starting point is 00:47:31 Yeah. You don't even, they don't even need to be like, they just do that. At one point I lived with all of them in a house. One bathroom. Let me put that out there. Nope. I deserve an award. Yeah, that's all they do.

Starting point is 00:47:49 Wow. It's inspiring. It was like failure was not an option for them. This is they never had a choice. To the point where like a night off to them is us still working on music, but like it's a joke song. Like we're off a whole thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:48:03 And it's funny too because like Nick is very similar. Like Nick is just and Casey. They're always doing something. They're always doing something musical. If Nick isn't like cooking a fucking five-star meal, he's, you know, whatever. He's working on something musical. And I think that's why he fit in so well with them. So it's just like it's an interesting, like, it's very different from what I'm used to.

Starting point is 00:48:33 Mostly because like, or just we instinctively, this is what, not what we do. Yes, just not. When I have the set down, I got it down. I don't need, I'm good. 100%. Yeah. Even making a joke song is like flexing and growing a musical muscle that you can apply to something else. So that's, it may seem funny when Nick is changing the Harmsway songs to be major scale for fun.

Starting point is 00:48:58 But like now he can rip a major scale song at any time in any other band and probably be successful for the rest of his life. His biggest thing is playing Sweet Child of Mine. but then leaving his foot on the D-tune pedal and just like going like this. So it's like, er, er, e'r, just constant. And it makes me feel insane. But yeah, I'm glad he's getting that workout in. Yeah, he's got to grow that insanity muscle. I love when Nick's in town staying with the guys practicing for Vane because he actually gives me a lot of advice too.

Starting point is 00:49:31 Like, Nick, what was it? one of our first Fleshwater tours was with Vane Coyo Living Weapon Fleshwater And Nick was on the tour

Starting point is 00:49:43 And every night he was like A Hight Man for me to help me with my Like tone and my pedals And like Yeah Yeah Just I wasn't used to performing yet Like with a guitar

Starting point is 00:49:54 And he's one of the only people on that tour With one job on that tour So I bet he loved to help me Oh yeah No he was It was great having him around He helped me a lot that's what's interesting about him is like he's got a crazy brain when it comes to music

Starting point is 00:50:07 and he's able to come up with stuff that are it's honestly very impressive both heavy and not but then he can also like totally figure out a pedalboard totally figure out like a tone like he's a gearhead too he's a unicorn that guy i tell you what yeah he really he totally mixed around my pedal board for me to make it like all work it's it's funny to think about order mattering, but God, does it matter? Oh yeah, it's like plumbing. It was funny. We'd even be at band practice and he'd come up to my guitar mid practice and just turn my, what's the word?

Starting point is 00:50:45 Pickup switch. Oh. Yeah. Oh, I'd be playing with that motherfucker off by accident on the reg. It's so annoying. It'll be like, why do you sound like shit? I'm like, I don't know. I'm playing perfect.

Starting point is 00:50:58 Yeah. So tell me about, let's backtrack a little bit and tell me about meeting those guys. Fleshwater. Yeah, meeting Fleshwater. Meeting, Anthony, your partner. Yes. And how that came to be. You don't have to do the whole.

Starting point is 00:51:18 No, I will, I will. I actually met them. Okay. So I went with like a friend to Sound and Fury 2017. And I wasn't really in. the mood per se to go that day. I was kind of like, I think I was heavy in my SoundCloud era.

Starting point is 00:51:39 And I was like, I could be making beats right now. I could be making beats. Yeah. But I was okay. If we go, you have to promise that we'll go to the Cecil Hotel down the street. I said this to my friend. Are you familiar with the hotel Cecil, Bo? Tell me.

Starting point is 00:51:56 It is the site of a tragic event in L.A. Oh, that girl. Yes, the tour is from. Canada? Yes, I believe so. Tour from Canada goes up the hotel. Lisa Lamb. There's a video of her like acting frantic.

Starting point is 00:52:11 And then she was dead. The hand shit. Yeah. Well, she was in the water tank. They found her in the water tower, water tank. Water tank. Yeah. The reason they ended up finding her is because the people staying at the hotel were

Starting point is 00:52:24 complaining of the water tasting weird and like. Tasting and smelling bad. It's literally the plot of 10. different Japanese horror movies. Well, yeah, literally dark water. Dark water, yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:52:37 So is that why you wanted to go? Yeah, I was like, please take me to Tisa Hotel. You sick freak. But it's like such a famous thing and it's in the worst area. Yeah, it is. Really?

Starting point is 00:52:52 So I'm not going to just roll up by myself. Okay. So my friend was like, yes, of course, if that, if you want to go, I'll take you there. Yeah, if you want to go, I got some other freaks that will go with you. Yeah, so we'll go.

Starting point is 00:53:02 go to the show and my friend his name's Xavier. I don't know why I just keep saying my friend. Xavier goes. Xavier from Bamakar, Hands of God, Zabalba. Upon Stone. As the Lord. SOS booking.

Starting point is 00:53:16 Yeah, wow. I didn't realize he. That's awesome. Yeah, good for him. Xavier, still a really good friend of mine. He goes, hey, you said you want to go to Cecil Hotel, right? My friends in this band also really want to go. And I was like, oh my God. Awesome.

Starting point is 00:53:30 So he introduces me to Vane. And I just immediately start talking their ears off about my theories because I was like, they know. They know all about it. And there was one person who was paying like extra close attention. Anthony. Oh. That's right. You dog.

Starting point is 00:53:50 I'll tell you what. His fingers are going everywhere, but his eyes straight ahead. The intensity of his eyes. He has intense eyes. Oh my God. Yeah. He's got them. I know.

Starting point is 00:54:02 So they were listening to me. There was so much fun immediately to hang out with. And then that was it. We went to Cecil Hotel. I think it was closed. So we ended up turning around. But we looked at the tank from outside. We're like,

Starting point is 00:54:12 well, that's that. That was it. That's it. She was dead in there. Yeah. So that was the meat cute. That was the meat cute.

Starting point is 00:54:20 Then we parted ways and I was like, damn, I want to hang out them more. But I don't know where they are. It's, we're at a fest. And then I watched them play. And I was like,

Starting point is 00:54:30 holy, shit. You're like pretty lit actually. I had never heard of them before. Wow. Yeah. And I was just like, like I think Xavier was like you have to watch Vane. Like they're really good.

Starting point is 00:54:40 And I watched them and I literally felt like I had to sit down after because I was like, I was so overwhelmed with like how much I actually, I don't know, felt it like through my whole body. Wow. Wow. When in this did it become romantic? Okay. So then later that night, we drove far.

Starting point is 00:55:00 to Highland Park. That's not that far. But no. What is that? Where was 17? Was that the Belasco? No, the Regent. The region.

Starting point is 00:55:11 Oh my God. Yeah. That's 20 minutes. Yeah. Well, we drove like 20 minutes, meaning Xavier and like a couple of our friends. And veins at the taco place that we rolled up to. Senna?

Starting point is 00:55:22 Senna. Yeah. And I was like, oh shit. That's the same guys. And Anthony and I started talking and he asked for my number. That hound That old dog Dog

Starting point is 00:55:34 Yeah So that was that And then we started talking And beautiful And then we made a song together The first month we started talking Is it a banger? It's called parallel

Starting point is 00:55:45 It's put out through mercy Okay But I've really It's like one of my favorite songs We've ever made together Is it in in terms of like So some of those songs Have straight up like millions of streams

Starting point is 00:55:55 That one's not That one's the low key Like it's not even on Spotify Oh okay It's just on SoundCloud. SoundCloud secret banger for the old heads. I recently uploaded it to YouTube. You can check it on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:56:07 Check it on YouTube. It's a banger. She loves it. Yeah. I love that. But he was, it was awesome because he knew all about like the SoundCloud world, Sesh, GBC. Like we were into a lot of the same things. So it was cool.

Starting point is 00:56:23 Did he, did he, was he familiar with the Mercy stuff? No, but he knew. So he's kind of a poser. I was no one at the time I also didn't go by Mercy at the time by Marissa 0000 Wow That's kind of hard

Starting point is 00:56:37 Yeah AI robot vibes Yeah yeah yeah And then I came up with Mercy when I was dating Anthony mercy's badass Mercy's sick and the way you spell it is cool too Yeah I like anybody ever called you that by accident or something You were just like this is me now

Starting point is 00:56:51 It's kind of like the edge from you too Yeah That's basically you I just try to come up with something that kind of sounded like my name. No, it's sick as fuck. Yeah, thank you. Check out mercy.

Starting point is 00:57:03 Hardness interruption. This is very important. It's Manscape Time. Tell them about Manscaped. I love Manscaped. I use the Manscape product every damn day. Every hour, really. All the time.

Starting point is 00:57:16 I use body wash every day. I use the trimmer fairly often. And I use the crop Reviver all the time. The Reviver and the Preserver are so important to me. And let me tell you, we just got. got back from FYA where some of y'all really could have used Manscaped, Code Hardlaw, 20% off free shipping. If you had just done that, that room would have smelled a little better.

Starting point is 00:57:38 Everybody around you would have been a little happier and, you know, more excited, I would say. So go to Manscape.com, put Hardlaw, 20% off, get the works, the body wash, the preserver, the reviver, everything. The trimmers, the handyman, the weed wax. The balls will thank you. Your draws will thank you. I will personally thank you. Now also, as we said in the beginning of this episode, Hardlore Records is here.

Starting point is 00:58:03 The Cosmic Joke, debut 12-inch, is here. It's out now for you, the Hardlore listener. Everybody else has got to wait until tomorrow. But if you go to hardlorepod.com, you can get all kinds of cool stuff on there. Hoodies, shirts, hats. We got a tote bag that is specifically designed to hold a Master Killer. We've got a glow-in-the-dark slip mat. We've got a spinning shuriken enamel pin to...

Starting point is 00:58:27 kill your enemies with and to put on your cool jacket. So get the Cosmic Joke record. It's our first one, the first press. You sell that thing out, then we'll do a second press. But before then, you'll own the first one. So thank you so much. So how far along until Fleshwater starts? Well, they had the Fleshwater demos for like a very, very long time.

Starting point is 00:58:49 Oh. Since before me and Anthony even started talking, I'd say. Damn. They had them recorded. like Linda Claire, this if anything. The actual demo we put out. They had all those three songs recorded. Really?

Starting point is 00:59:02 That's something that was missing. Linda Claire was a demo song? Yeah. It was a demo song. Who is Linda Claire? It's... Linda Blair? It's actually a name that is something that means a lot to me from like my childhood,

Starting point is 00:59:20 but I mixed the name around. Clinda Lair? I know her. I'll say that, yeah. She used to go to Club 13 all the time. She moshed hard as fuck. Yeah, it was, I knew it. Maybe one day I'll say like the true meaning, but.

Starting point is 00:59:35 Is it Rachel Benshaw? I just mixed around the letters. Rachel Benshaw came up. Yeah, and then it's I am Lord Baltimore. Yes. That's awesome. Yeah. So they've got all those songs done and then.

Starting point is 00:59:48 And then they were looking for vocalists. They had like a bunch of their friends try or like they tried. and they just like what wasn't sticking. Was Anthony always going to sing? Yeah, he wanted to sing when they were, he was thinking about being like just doing the vocals himself. But then one day I got really bored. I think it was like 2019.

Starting point is 01:00:12 And I was at home and I was like, you guys, can I just try? That's what I sounded like. And they were like, holy shit. I actually called Anthony. I'm like, can I record vocal? on this, which was the Linda Claire instrumental. I was like,

Starting point is 01:00:29 can I record vocals on this? And he was like, yeah, go for it. They're just sitting there. So I wrote Linda Claire. That was just like, do you like this? I was like, I won't be offended if you don't like this. Like, I just wrote this because I'm missing on like a heavier band. And I want to like hear what I sound like on it again. And I was really insecure about it.

Starting point is 01:00:49 But then he was, him and Matt texted me back and they're like, no, you're going to do it now. this is the whole band Yeah and I was like damn And I remember I worked at Airwann at the time In Calabasas So you still lived here I lived yeah I lived in Tarzana

Starting point is 01:01:09 So if you if you go to the Calabasasas Airwain you could have had your fucking $20 bar meal assembled Yes By Marissa from Plus for her But I remember I went to work that day Erwana was like guys I'm in a band And I just told everything

Starting point is 01:01:25 on the loudspeaker Oh yeah Hello everyone Price check on Marissa's band She's in a new van So then how quickly did stuff Because like

Starting point is 01:01:35 From a semi outside Point of view I would say that it seems like Fleshwater was like Like an alligator Under the water And then all of a sudden Like really quickly

Starting point is 01:01:47 Stuff started happening You know Well Anthony ended up flying out To L.A. Because I had a nice microphone at the time that I was saying earlier, but I don't have anymore. And I was like, we gotta use my microphone. What was the microphone?

Starting point is 01:02:02 It was like an AKG-4-1-4. Is that sound right? Yeah. 4-14. Something like that. Taylor was listening to this nodding his head going. I love Anthony like, I guess I got to go to L.A. now. Yeah. I was like, no, we're not.

Starting point is 01:02:19 We have to use my microphone. So he flew out to use my microphone. I also wanted just do it with him. I just wanted to. Of course. You're going to have to come here. Trust me.

Starting point is 01:02:30 Trust me. This mic was 500 bucks. How much are flights? 600 bucks. Yeah. So we recorded vocals together really quickly. When I say really quickly, I should just, it was like a few days.

Starting point is 01:02:47 We worked on the vocals. That's, I mean, that's pretty quick. It was like three songs, though. Yeah, that's quick. Yeah. That's great. I think that's really quickly in terms of, How music is made now.

Starting point is 01:02:57 And then we got really bored one night when he was in town and we're like, let's just put the demo online on band camp. That's how you did it. And he was just like, we were just like, really should we do it? And then we just uploaded it. You're just feeling pesky one night. Yeah. And just dropped this demo that changed your lives. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:03:14 That's nice. It's like Post Malone. Like overnight. Oh, I know. I remember I watched him interview with Post Malone. He was like the second I recorded White Iverson, I knew that it was. was going to be huge. Damn.

Starting point is 01:03:26 Yeah. He put it on, I think he put it on song clode and like overnight, it was millions of plays. Really? Changed his life. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:03:33 How does that work? Right place, right time. I'm a post-mal. And plus, yeah, I kind of am too. That song was fucking sick.

Starting point is 01:03:41 He seems like a cool guy. He does. Yeah. He really does. He's got some flush water shirts, I'm sure. Oh my gosh. That'll be awesome.

Starting point is 01:03:50 He's listened. For sure. I would bet my fucking legs on it. Yeah. Those are nice legs. And so what really interests me is like, do you think, similar to Post Malone, do you think Fleshwater was right place, right time? Like, do you think dropping that demo on band camp was just like really good timing?

Starting point is 01:04:19 Well, we put it out like right, like maybe two weeks before the pandemic hit. Perfect. So maybe wrong place, right time? Yeah. Right place. Wrong time. It might have just given people time to like bond with it. Because no one was playing shows for a while. Right.

Starting point is 01:04:36 Yeah. What was the first Fleshwater show, by the way? I don't remember. It was with, oh, Harm's Way. No, sorry. I was like trying to remember the date, not the actual show. No. The show itself was Harms Way's.

Starting point is 01:04:47 Repert release were. It was the re, I think it was the re-release. Re-release. Oh, that just happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it? Damn. When was that?

Starting point is 01:04:56 What year? A year and a half ago? A year and a half ago. 2012? Wow. And that was like right when that crazy COVID outbreak was. What was it called? Delta?

Starting point is 01:05:09 Umarion. I really don't remember. I don't remember. I'm probably getting the year on because the 10 year would have been 21, which we, I don't, did we do it at the end of 21? I think you did. And it was very last minute and neither of my bands could play. Yes. Yes.

Starting point is 01:05:25 So that makes. sense. I was so nervous for that show. I remember. Hey, you're rocking now. I remember the sound guy was like mean to me too. Who was he? I'll find him. I remember you being, I remember you being nervous. I remember you guys doing the Bjork cover and as a big Bjork guy, like I loved that. One thing that's crazy, Marissa, what is the, what is the song that you guys opened with on on the tour we just did? Oh, it's like an unrelty. one, but it's called standalone. And the first word, is it goodbye?

Starting point is 01:06:01 Yeah. Dude, the note you have to hit as your first note. Yeah. Like, essentially, like, because you know how it is. Like, you sound check, whatever, you line check. You get on stage, everything's fucking different. Everything's different. So for you to have to go, goodbye, it's like crazy.

Starting point is 01:06:20 And you nailed it. So it's like, it's one of those things where I think you get, you get in your own head about it because you perform. What a lot of people don't understand is it's like when you're doing that kind of singing, like the belting singing, Colin can understand because he's belt singing. And Bo, you belt sing too on like certain parts of the set. Fun. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:06:45 Yeah. But what people don't understand is shit's loud up there. Yeah. And if you don't have the right monitor mix, you might watch back your set and you're like, fuck. I just sang that whole thing out of key and didn't realize it. You'd have no idea. You're flying blind. Yeah. Because I mean, I bought in ears last year. They broke so quick, but they're also so cheap that like even with them on, I still, it's taking enough out. Well, we're going to get you in touch with my boy Jerry Harvey. There we go.

Starting point is 01:07:17 There we go. Yeah. I will say. You can tell when I can hear the monitors. Oh yeah. Are you vibing? Is it ever, are the monitors ever too loud? Yes, sometimes. You're like, fuck. Yeah. The show we played in Utah. Salt Lake. I think. I think the monitor was so loud for me. I was like. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:07:35 I'm exposed. Yeah. It's just have you, have you committed? Because I know on that tour you were kind of going back and forth between using, she didn't use her in ears for weeks on this tour. Do you ever just do like nice ear plugs? I just use the foam ones. I have really.

Starting point is 01:07:53 So that cuts about 35, negative 35. decimals. And and frequencies too. Yes. When you only need to cut about 25 and certain frequencies you just need to have the like like when you cover your ear and you can hear your voice. That's kind of all you need. Yeah. But obviously a monitor mix of like oh here's this is this is reverb and delay in my head. This is amazing. It's different. But even just ear plugs, I, the worst thing that you can do that That feels so good as one earplug. Oh, dude. It feels so weird.

Starting point is 01:08:30 Ted Nugent. Have I talked about this before? Ted Nugent, his whole career would only wear an earplug, he normally would play stage left. He'd only wear a right earplug to block the drum noise and then nothing in his left. And he's like super fucked up from it. Obviously, he sucks. It feels so good. One of my biggest fears is Tinnitus.

Starting point is 01:08:52 Well. Welcome. What you said? Tonight, you're going to get this. No. I wear the foam earplugs. The reason I wasn't wearing my in-ears on our tour was because one of the ears didn't work. Perfect.

Starting point is 01:09:08 Yeah. So I was like scared. Yeah. Then we get to 1720, the one I was the most nervous about because I'm from L.A. So all my friends and family are going to be there. Yeah. I show up and there's no monitors. And I was like, are you telling me my first night I have to use my in-ears is the night that I do.

Starting point is 01:09:24 don't want to use them. Yeah. So I put the in ears on. I go up there and I'm like, okay, I think I'm doing okay. I watch back. I think both saw me. I, after the set was over, everyone left. Like the whole show was over.

Starting point is 01:09:41 I go on Instagram. I'm like, all right. And I'm like sitting on the stage. And these videos, this is going to be the best videos I ever watch. I'm sitting on the stage, like cross-legged, just like this. And all of a sudden I hear me. me sing like a whole song at a key and I'm like no and then I crawl I think Bo walked out I was in on the floor like yeah I'll tell you what I was there that never crossed my mind

Starting point is 01:10:08 at no point was I ever thinking like they're great but my god Marissa needs there it was I was sitting there thinking like I'm watching I think I'm watching the best set anybody in this band has ever played like straight up it was amazing That was celebrity Marissa night, too. Like when she walked out. That you got, you got a road warrior pop. That was crazy. The pop, what do you mean?

Starting point is 01:10:33 Pop is a wrestling term for a reaction. You walked out and it was like, yeah, yeah. It was crazy. Also walking around the merch area with you before, people were like shaking and crying. Oh my God. That's where we are.

Starting point is 01:10:49 It's so funny when people are like that around me, I like accidentally mirror them. So if they're really nervous talking to me, I get really nervous talking to them. That's also kind of your vibe day to day is like unsure. Yeah, exactly. Marissa's very like, I'm not sure. It's true. So, yeah, it was interesting to see.

Starting point is 01:11:13 I still think that you're adjusting to this very well. Thank you. Because you're just such like a nice, good person. Thank you. that just you know if you're at the show and you really want to meet marissa she's new to this yeah she's she's doing her best she really appreciates it i do um and she's awesome so but also bum rusher go up to her just get the picks get the picks on the stage oh my god yeah that show was funny i feel like the mic stand was down more than it was up the whole set and i didn't even

Starting point is 01:11:47 sing really that much so i wasn't that upset that i could do that hear of myself. The crowd was saying it so loud that it didn't even matter. That was really crazy. The vibe was off the charts. The vibe was crazy. Um, so let me ask you as stuff is, as you're doing stuff, you're doing shows and tours and, and all this. And you can see the Spotify number's doing real good. I know merch was doing good. You know, like the reactions are good. Do you guys, like at one point were you as a collective group like, hey, this this might be the thing. Might be the thing.

Starting point is 01:12:25 Honestly, I still have, to this day, will always have imposter syndrome. I like, you're not an imposter. I don't know. Somebody, I think I was talking to

Starting point is 01:12:40 Cat from Scowl. I'd like me and her like to talk a lot because, I don't know. It's just, we're both doing the same thing. You bond over a very specific, very few and far between. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:12:54 And she was telling me she felt the same way as me for a very long time. And it wasn't really until like her headliner that she like really was like, oh shit, this is real. Like people care. You know. Yeah. Oh, I did this. Yeah. Like I, this is my show.

Starting point is 01:13:09 She's like, you're going to feel it during the headliner. And so that's coming up. So I guess maybe I'll stop feeling that way around then. But like I hope it's just like it's hard. You're going to accept these things sometimes. I'm like, what do you mean? You're... Let me tell you.

Starting point is 01:13:24 A week into the headliner, you're going to feel so good. Yeah. Like, when you just, there's all these metrics that start to get hit, you know, along with the most important part, which is like the vibe of the sets, the excitement of people coming to see you.

Starting point is 01:13:43 It feels so good. It does. It feels so. Honestly, it took me, until now to be comfortable as a singer, which that's like 15 years. So it just takes time. So if you're feeling discomfort,

Starting point is 01:13:57 it's like that's a thing. Comfort is a thing that will come with time and, and practice. You're experienced. You are practiced. But just like repeating it and repeating it and repeating it and repeating it and repeating it. And obviously,

Starting point is 01:14:13 you've been playing live with Fleshwater for a year and a half, which is nothing. Yeah. The muscle memory that you are going to develop with these songs is going to be insane. You can sing them in your sleep. Oh, I know. We recently played Riot Fest and we watched The Cure, obviously.

Starting point is 01:14:29 Yeah. And watching The Cure live, it's insane. They. Effortless. Effortless. They're effortlessly, like, incredible. Yeah. And I was just like, I can't imagine being, like, that good as a band.

Starting point is 01:14:46 Just wait, like, 50 years. Yeah, exactly. And then somebody was just like, yeah, well, they've been a band for like X amount of years. And I'm like, true. And they've been playing that set list for like 35. I saw them earlier in the year. But same, like, it's the same tour. And they just like, they had to wait, blah, blah, blah.

Starting point is 01:15:06 And they played Ryefest. And so I didn't watch them at Ryevast because I had seen that same set list a couple months before. And I went alone. somebody couldn't go and gave me a pair of tickets I couldn't find anyone to go with me so I just went alone sat and was like legitimately choked up many times

Starting point is 01:15:28 during their set because they're so fucking good and it's like you said they look so effortless to the point where it looks like they're not even playing but you can tell that they obviously are but it's like

Starting point is 01:15:39 I don't I don't know it's really impressive bands too where during the set the next song, you just go, oh my God. Every time. And Robert Smith's voice. Yeah. Somehow he sounds great.

Starting point is 01:15:56 He looks like melting ice cream. Yes. But he sounds unbelievable. But it's incredible. But how good is ice cream? Yeah. Ice cream's the best. And I stayed for two on course.

Starting point is 01:16:07 It was like two and a half hours, dude. I was just like entranced. Yeah, but what were the two encores? Like Friday, I'm in love and. Dude, you want to talk. They, they, they're set list is like fucking. They're, they're scientists. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:16:21 They know exactly what to play and wear. It's unbelievable. Your eyes start to close and then fucking. Pictures of you comes out and I lose my mind. I don't understand how people can play for that many hours either. Me neither. Yeah. No.

Starting point is 01:16:35 And the other thing too is like, I love Metallica. I've heard that they can play between two and three hours. I don't want that. I don't want that with anything. I don't want that with my. favorite band. I don't want them. Wow. I know even the first time I saw The Cure, I hate to say it, but I didn't stay the whole set because I was like, I don't know if I could do this. Yeah. I regretted it after. I was like,

Starting point is 01:16:58 why the fuck didn't I just stay? But the same time, it's like two and a half hours of one band. Sometimes I'll go to a show to see the headliner and I'll leave during the opener because it's like, I'm got tired. Just watching the 25 minute first band. Yeah. So that's, of those that stick through entire shows, especially the people at the front the whole time, which let me tell you, the Fleshwater people, the new kids, say what you will about these TikTok kids, you know, the people that are discovering Fleshwater through means that we didn't have. They go to the shows and they're in the front the whole time.

Starting point is 01:17:34 They make me nervous? They should, I mean, yeah, it's scary. I sometimes want to go up to them and be like, you might get hurt. They might be, yeah, caution. Yeah. But they're learning. We all have to start somewhere. That's what I'm saying.

Starting point is 01:17:45 They're learning and they stay the whole time and they're like they're exposed to different kinds of bands. And it's I think it's a it's a tire net positive. Oh, dude. No. In the biggest way. Yeah. In the biggest way. I'm positive that we accrued like hundreds of new listeners every week because of the people coming to see Fleshwater who stuck around, you know.

Starting point is 01:18:13 And that's the ideal direct support. it you want on any tour. Exactly. And you want to cross-polling. There were some people that would come up to me like, you know, I'm a Fleshwater fan, but thank you so much for introducing me to like these other bands. I love like, I'm going to remember them forever. And that could be their first exposure hardcore ever.

Starting point is 01:18:31 Exactly. And then you change their lives. And there's the people who want to be haters about it, it's like, I mean, you were that guy one time. Straight up. You were that guy. They were way less cool version of that guy because they were at Warptor and Warptor era was swagless.

Starting point is 01:18:44 Yeah. khaki shorts, big fucking tank top. Flatest hat, yes. Oh my God, the flattest hat you ever seen. So shut your swagless ass up and let these kids who are already Gothic in some way. They're already looking at pictures of Susie and being like, I want to look like that. Right. What music is out there?

Starting point is 01:19:07 Give them a break. Dude, I haven't told this story yet because I've been waiting to get Wes or Josh, anyone from American. nightmare on the show in some some way. So I won't spoil it. But I, I just wanted to see them and I went to a hardcore show, like my first real hardcore show. And it was,

Starting point is 01:19:28 you know, everyone who I would later become good friends with. And I just like was terrible. I'm sure they talked. I'm sure in the van afterwards, they're like, do you remember that fucking kid? God,

Starting point is 01:19:39 what was his problem? Yeah, Josh does not remember. I'm telling you. Yeah, that breaks my heart. Maybe, maybe Westwood.

Starting point is 01:19:44 I haven't hit him with that either. I have a picture of it. If Wes was like, oh my God, you're that fucking nerd. That idiot. Yeah, dude, it sucked. I hope so. Yeah. I mean, I get it.

Starting point is 01:19:56 The first show with the Cobalt, I think I made my friends by saying, hey, your tattoo is cool. Oh. Like, it's not. I don't know. You never know. Go say the tattoo is cool. Yes. Because eventually you might.

Starting point is 01:20:10 What was the instrument you played? The mass. Marimba. Marimba. Yeah. Sounds a lot like. Marissa. Maybe that's why I chose it.

Starting point is 01:20:17 Maybe that's why. I am a Leo after all. Yeah. That's what I meant. Are you a, are you a horoscope girlie? Not really. I just know that I'm a Leo and. What does that mean in terms of, like, what do you perceive that as?

Starting point is 01:20:32 According to my friends who are really into it. Rachel Ben Shaw. Rachel Ben Shaw. Gabby Gilman. Oh, Gabby Gilman. Beloved friend of the show. Yes. They told me leos are like, considerably.

Starting point is 01:20:44 are lions. So they like to perform. Like you'd be lying? Yeah. You be lying. Colin. Has anyone ever told you

Starting point is 01:20:55 that of the description of male Virgo's, you're like to a T? It's kind of crazy. You're a Virgo? It's fucking insane. My Barbara the other day

Starting point is 01:21:04 was like, you're a Virgo, aren't you? Rachel's a Virgo. What is a female Virgo consist of? Yeah, they're different. They're lovers. They're little lovers.

Starting point is 01:21:14 She's, She's a lover for sure. Yeah, she is. Mm-hmm. Me, I'm... Dude, it, it's actually like I've read, I've read a couple descriptions and have laughed out loud. I'm gonna do later. Looking at it, like, my desk.

Starting point is 01:21:29 Yeah. Is like definition of a male, Virgo. What's your sign, though? I'm a Scorpio. What do you got to say? You know, what's funny is I actually, like, my friends had me get that co-star app. Yeah. And I logged in.

Starting point is 01:21:46 I noticed that like a lot of my friends are Scorpios. I was like, wow, I must like really like Scorpios. Me and me and John, same. Taylor Young. Taylor Young. But you know what sucks? Here's what sucks, though. The realization is nine months before the middle of November is the middle of February.

Starting point is 01:22:06 And there is a lover's holiday in the middle of February. And that's all that is. You know it's nine months before mine? What's that? Mother fucking Christmas, baby. Oh. You know, it's nine months before mine? I'd have no idea.

Starting point is 01:22:19 My birthday's July 31st. October 31st. Wow. Wow. Spooky. Fuck. What were they wearing? I don't know.

Starting point is 01:22:30 That's disgusting. What's backtrack? Speaking of Marissa, you believe in ghosts? Oh, are we getting there already? I like when we bop around. I think it's fun. Because there's something I want to talk to her about. that happened recently.

Starting point is 01:22:48 I want her to share with you that she shared with me already. Oh, well, let's go. I was thinking maybe we save that for the end because I want to talk about we can go there.

Starting point is 01:22:58 No, no, no, I'll save it, save it. All right. And you, the listener,

Starting point is 01:23:01 now you have to wait. Yeah, you really do. Trust me. I was sitting in my living room with like goosebumps listening to this. Oh,

Starting point is 01:23:09 I forgot what I even told you. I'll, I'll remind you. Tell me about, A, the dynamic with writing. with Fleshwater and recording with Kurt Ballou.

Starting point is 01:23:21 Oh, cool. Writing with Fleshwater, I will say I'm like pretty new to guitar. Like I not one to like write the guitar yet. I'm not at that point yet. Anthony and Jeremy and John. Like the guys. They're experts at this point. They do the writing instrumentally.

Starting point is 01:23:44 I'm more so on the vocal end of things. Maybe I'll add like, maybe I'll have an, I don't know. Actually, that's a lie. I haven't done that yet. But maybe on this record. You could. Yeah. Maybe on the next record, I could.

Starting point is 01:23:58 Write a riff. Write a riff. Or like, or maybe something on a keyboard or maybe something. Yeah. You never know. The possibilities are endless. Incredible. Have you, Colin, did you grow up in a place with like a piano, like a real piano, just out

Starting point is 01:24:12 and about? A half. A half grand. Like a upright? Okay. Dude. they're the best. Having something that can produce melodic tones.

Starting point is 01:24:21 It's crazy. It's the best. My dad also had a Hammond B3 in the garage. It was really cool to have around with like Leslie's. Yeah. What is a Hammond B3? It's like an organ. It's like an old.

Starting point is 01:24:34 Yeah, in my parents' garage. I would be an illegal vampire if I grew up with an organ. I'd be sucking blood day and night. My dad knows how to play the, God, no, why am I blanking on the name? Marimba. He knows how to play the whole thing. That's awesome. Dracula's theme song?

Starting point is 01:24:52 Yeah. Sorry. Back to recording with Kirpilu. Yes, Kirpaloo. It was awesome. I was there for the whole process of it. By the time we got to vocals, we ran out of time. Perfect.

Starting point is 01:25:09 Yeah. So that was done in a living room somewhere? So we did it in Jeremy's closet. Perfect. But Kurt, like, told us how to set it up and, like, you know, everything we had to do for that. Because he mixed it as well? He mixed it as well. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:25:23 Kurt's awesome. He's hilarious. He really is. He's really close by to us. Like, we live about 20, 30 minutes away from Salem. So, um. That's the best case scenario. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:25:35 We still stay at his apartment connected to it because it's like, why not just walk downstairs. Yeah. I mean, the summer course experience of that, even I would do if I was there. Exactly. But he knows what he's doing and it's fun. How much input do you think he had versus you guys and just like the way the music sounds? I mean, he definitely at one point had like 3,000 pedals on the floor in front of Anthony. Like he just was like, I have this, I have this, I have this.

Starting point is 01:26:04 And was Anthony just like, oh, okay. Or is he like, no, I want this, this, this. No, Anthony was very like, Anthony wrote everything. Like Kurt didn't like have any like write. ideas per se like like a producer role or anything but sonically just the way it sounds sonically he was like you should try this like this might sound cool also anthony being a little converged nerd he was like oh my god can i use that guitar right yeah yeah that one video from 1993 he knows like that guy yeah also uh matt and anthony being like massive converge nerds and jeremy um a lot of the time

Starting point is 01:26:43 the reason we ran out of vocal time is because they were asking him a bazillion question. Just chatting through your time. Does Justin know that? Well, this next time, I'm like, you guys can text now, you can ask you questions. Yeah, they've already talked about it. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:27:03 It's time to work. It's time to work. And we booked more time this time. Good. Beautiful. Good. Can't wait for the next one. We don't have to talk about that though. Oh, yeah. I just kind of dropped that. there's no next one yet. It's just an idea so far. This is a crazy question.

Starting point is 01:27:17 Does your relationship contribute at all to just the way the songs are written or the melodies or the structures of the song or anything? Yeah, I mean, me and Anthony have to like kind of turn off boyfriend, girlfriend, mode and we're like writing together. Yeah. Because we will bicker. Yeah. Like obviously. No, I love this riff.

Starting point is 01:27:42 Yeah. Like even if it was like, let's say you and I were in a band together, I'm not dating you. I would probably still bicker with you about vocal placements and melodies. Yeah, exactly. It's a creative thing. You should, it's okay to disagree. But we both, like, we'll come up with parts in the song vocally that we both really, like, are attached to. Oh, shit.

Starting point is 01:28:07 And that's where problems are. Like, the last record we did, the first song, Bald Pate Driver. that one was so stressful for so many months because we both had like full songs written that we wrote on our own locally and we were like fighting about like I want my part there and he was like no I want my part there

Starting point is 01:28:30 and then was it a band vote in someone well no so then we ended up just putting them both in it cool yeah cool and that's why there's so much layering of us in there because we're like let's just use all the ideas Dude, the ultimate non-compromise. We're doing both at the same time. So that was good.

Starting point is 01:28:52 It was fun. It was like, thank you for that. But then afterwards, like, when we bicker about that kind of stuff, we go like, all right, ban mode off. Let's hug it out. You're my boyfriend. That's sweet. That's nice.

Starting point is 01:29:05 I still love you. Yeah, I still love you. Even though you're wrong. Yeah. And then piggybacking off of that question, what is it like touring? with your significant other. I can't. Zuma is very positive about touring with Santa and cruelty.

Starting point is 01:29:21 He says that like it's better that we're together than one of us is at home worried or alone. Do you feel that way? I really like it. Really? I mean, you know, we'll get, on this last tour, we just got one room every night. I get to share a bed with him.

Starting point is 01:29:37 And John and Hoseon got to cuddle. Jeremy's, Jeremy always chooses to sleep on the floor. I got floor. He prefers it. He calls floor. Yeah. I got floor.

Starting point is 01:29:50 Dips. Nobody touched my floor. Exactly. He's sick in the head. Dude, I will go bankrupt before I sleep on a hotel floor. I do. Yeah, it's like, that's the nicest thing that somebody in a band can do, especially sharing one hotel room. Dude.

Starting point is 01:30:06 What a gift. That's a gift. It's nice. Yeah. And I don't know. when there's problems like I mean when you're on tour especially a lot like there's going to be

Starting point is 01:30:18 real life situations happening you're going to hate each other individually at some point well yeah sometimes yeah exactly but also like even outside of that like if there's a health issue it's like I'm happy that he's there

Starting point is 01:30:34 or like I get migraines a lot like severe ocular ones you really do which I suffer from and you were very helpful with when I had one. And I don't know. Did I get any crazy ones on this tour that I freaked out in front of everyone?

Starting point is 01:30:49 I don't think so. No. I don't believe so. I get many ones a lot though where they're not the full-blown ones. I was having one earlier when I got here. Really? Yeah. Lana talked you off it?

Starting point is 01:31:01 Yeah, she did. But it's nice to have him around like on one tour recently. I got a really bad one and I had to have him like do a lot for me. I was like, can you go get me this and that? Like, I was like full blind. Wow. You're one of the only people I know that experiences those the same way that I do. So, I can't see anything.

Starting point is 01:31:23 I can't believe you had to play a set like that. That was one, that was maybe the hardest other than like singing without a voice, which I've done. For those unaware of what an ocular migraine is, you go blind. Yeah. Like you lose your vision. Oh. And then you hallucinate like. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:31:41 Lights shapes and colors and frequencies around you. I can see, let's say I was like looking straight at the lens of the camera. I could see an object. Yes. And then I can see scattered things around the object. The rest is just like light and particles. So hitting symbols was like, I don't know where this is. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:32:05 I would have simply ran off the stage, but good for you. Yeah. I had to be harder. Yeah. No, you did. You did have to be. I will not be, but You would.

Starting point is 01:32:16 No, maybe I would. I don't know. It's never happened. It happened before us at one time, but not during. We'll run like a panic mode drill, you know? Exactly. A ocular migraine drill. Yes.

Starting point is 01:32:27 But yes, moral of the story is it's good to have them around. Yeah. That's awesome. Love to hear that. Favorite shows and cities you've played so far? Oh. Shows and cities. 1721, 1720 show was like one that I'll remember forever.

Starting point is 01:32:48 That was a lifetime achievement, it felt like. It was also just growing up there and like seeing shows like that. I mean, growing up I was a big like title fight fan, you know? And I was like watching their shows and they had like those kind of reactions. And I was always like. That was literally just like to anybody that hasn't seen a video of it or anything like that. that's how I felt watching it was like I felt like I was watching

Starting point is 01:33:14 title fight in 2011 or something or like straight up like hate breed in like 96. It was like oh I'm watching the birth of a phenomenon. I feel like I don't know. It was awesome but like not to compare myself to title fight because they're like godly but but that show was crazy for me like a huge moment.

Starting point is 01:33:38 I was like wow this is happening. Yeah. That was a big one. So that show was cool. Texas is always like really cool. It's a music state. San Antonio, you play there?

Starting point is 01:33:49 I think so, right? How was San Antonio? We didn't play San Antonio on our tour. Sorry. When you do, you're going to love it. I think I did on maybe the no pressure tour. Okay, good. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:33:58 All the Texas shows are usually like crazy. Good. We did Austin at Mohawk. The like semi-outdoor one. That one was awesome. It was fucking awesome. Beautiful. That was a really good one.

Starting point is 01:34:12 Yeah, honestly, like those ones. Gorgeous. How was Sound and Fury for you? Oh, that was also like a huge moment for me. Because I've been going to Sound and Fury. Of course. Since I was a little 8, 17 year old. Since before you were Marissa 0-00. Since before you were in grave school.

Starting point is 01:34:32 When it was at Santa Barbara. Oh. Oh. It's cool too because you met all those guys. going begrudgingly to a Sounded Fury thing. You know, like, that's cool. Oh, that's true. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:34:45 That was something that I was like, wow, this is kind of a full circle moment because I met you guys at Sound and Fury and now we're all together playing Sound and Fury. So I was like, wow, this is really cool. How was playing Riot Fest? I know you were kind of sick. Yes.

Starting point is 01:35:02 I saw you there and I told you. I had Eustachian tube blockage. Excuse me? My right ear. Tell me. I'll have you know I'm offended. It's when your ear like can't like drain. So all the fluids get trapped in your middle ear.

Starting point is 01:35:21 Ew. I get that. I get that about every other month. It's so painful. Really? Like excruciating. It's like fluid is pushing on your ear. Are you a Q-tip, girly?

Starting point is 01:35:32 No. They feel so good. Yeah. You got to get into them. They're awesome. All my E&Ts were like, do not. do that. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:35:40 Yeah. What do they know? I go in and get them professionally cleaned. Damn. Yeah, that happens when I, okay, that's the beauty of in-ear monitors. You put those fuckers in. They're coming out with something. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 01:35:52 The phone. And then you just scrape it off. Yeah. Yeah. That show was, I was dreading it because, oh, I was so excited for it. I don't want to say dreading it. But, like, I was in so much pain. Interesting.

Starting point is 01:36:05 That I was like, even talking was hurting my ear. It was also sensitive. sound. So like, I was like, oh my God, this is going to be so scary. But then once I was up there, I was just like, this is so cool. You and Kail, y'all got ailments. You motherfuckers are always ailing. It's true.

Starting point is 01:36:30 Yes. You guys love an ailment. We do. But Bo told me about this net, this thing. Netty pot. Oh, I'm obsessed. Yeah. I'm obsessed.

Starting point is 01:36:42 I don't fly without it. I bought one on the, it's the, it's the automatic netty pot thing. So it's, it's like a $20 one that goes, you know, flushes you out. Can you use tap water? No. So bottled water or distilled water only, which is fine because you just get a bottle of water. It's no big deal. I love bottles of water.

Starting point is 01:37:03 Yeah. And I love that thing so much. I started to get sick on the tour we just did. in Pittsburgh at preserving hardcore or is that what it's called? Preserving Underground? Underground, excuse me.

Starting point is 01:37:17 Yeah, it is underground. I fucking post-mated one to the venue because I didn't bring it. So now I got three of them. I remember that. And then you were still sick for the entire tournament, right? I've been, dude, this is the first day where I was like, oh, I'm not sick.

Starting point is 01:37:32 Really? Today, January 4th. I got sick twice on that tour. Dude, twice. We all were just passing it back and forth. It was brutal. The second time around on that tour that I got it, I had full fever, full body chills, like for four or five, like, no, like three or four days. I remember the show we played in Denver.

Starting point is 01:37:55 Yeah. I was like, I hope this isn't a big one. And it was like the best show. That was like one of the best shows. But I literally sat in the van, like shivering, sweating, like full on. fever. Vaxed. And I'm faxed.

Starting point is 01:38:13 Yes. And I was like ready to like pull the plug. Wow. And then I walked out there and I'm like, oh, this rocks. Oh my God. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:38:22 Yeah. That was a really good show. It felt like a fever dream. Dude, I don't, I don't know. It's almost like I was dreaming with a fever or something. It's crazy. We're,

Starting point is 01:38:30 we're gearing up to go to FYA this weekend. Yeah. A year ago is when I got COVID. And I have been on and off sick since then. You got that long COVID. I got the longest COVID, dude. I was chilling. I got COVID from the-G-1.

Starting point is 01:38:45 What is it? You got COVID from what? From my first Flashwater Show with Harmsway. Really? Really. I got it bad. That's why I brought up the COVID thing earlier.

Starting point is 01:38:57 Yeah, it was Omnacron, I believe. Omarion. Yeah. O'Marion. Me and Anthony both got it on Christmas Day. Woo! Merry Christmas. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:39:07 You filthy animals. I knew it was going to happen, though. What is, what's the, what's the dynamic between you and the rest of Fleshwater like? I know John loves Cracker Barrel, so. Yeah, John loves Cracker Barrel. You endure a lot of Cracker Barrel. John is just purely only eats McDonald's and Cracker Barrow. That's true.

Starting point is 01:39:29 Jeremy will pretty much be down for anything. Loves chicken. Yeah, I don't know. It's good? It's a good dynamic. Yeah. Yeah. They do, I will say, they like, they're one of those bands that's down to just stop at Duncan for food.

Starting point is 01:39:50 Yep. And that's like the lunch. And I'm like, no. Yeah, then what do they get at Dunkin? Like the egg and cheese sandwich. Oh, fucking repulsive. Like the sausage. No way.

Starting point is 01:40:02 That shit rocks. I love. I love that stuff. I think I've finally come to the conclusion that I just don't really give a shit about like a breakfast sandwich. Really? Other than like a fried chicken breakfast sandwich? Yeah. Then you got me.

Starting point is 01:40:16 I'm on my way. I don't like eggs. I love egg and cheese on a bagel. You know who else doesn't like eggs? Guy Fieri. Guy Fierre. That's right. I'm going to hit him out.

Starting point is 01:40:24 And he's pretty successful. So I wouldn't worry about it. Egg and cheese on a bagel, I'm set. I love it. Cream cheese on a bagel. I'm back in. Now, Colin, does that mean you don't? don't give a fuck about McDonald's breakfast.

Starting point is 01:40:36 I don't really care for McDonald's breakfast. Oh, that's right. I knew that about you. I'm not really into it. How about the chick-fil-a breakfast? Yeah. Just fried chicken. I haven't been awake early enough in like years.

Starting point is 01:40:51 I know. To have that, but I would. Here's the thing. I don't think anything beats just, well, A, you know, I'm a steak and eggs, man. I do. So if I can get that somewhere, I'm getting that. But I'll go biscuits and gravy? That sounds good.

Starting point is 01:41:04 Nothing is as good as that. I just recently started eating like meat again. Well, Colin actually took me to In and Out and I ate my first real cheeseburger in like 10 years. We had a beautiful lunch at In and Out where we just, you know, she needed, she needed companionship while she took the plunge. What did you think? It was so good. He had me eat it with the mustard grill. Oh.

Starting point is 01:41:31 Yeah. Mustard fried. With pickles on there. Did you get the chopped chilies on there? I got the pickles. The chilies? She's not there yet. Okay.

Starting point is 01:41:40 I like the chilis. Yes, I do. I do. Welcome. Yes, yes. Grilled onions. Chop chili, Marissa, that's what they call her. Yes.

Starting point is 01:41:49 They do call me that. Good. Flashwater's music videos. Yes. Very unique. I see a lot of the band's personality in them. Who is making those? Anthony.

Starting point is 01:42:04 No shit. And I didn't even know that. Really? What can't you do? No idea. He just made those. He films them, directs them, edits them. What a fucking gangster.

Starting point is 01:42:16 Yeah. So they cost zero dollars to make. Well, we had to pay the city to let us use the, like the only charge is $100 to use the carousel for two hours. $100. We had to pay Anthony thousands, but yeah, the videos are. And then... Lowell? Was that in Lowell?

Starting point is 01:42:36 That was in Salisbury, Massachusetts on the beach. Home of the steak. But I'm sad because they had that there for years, that carousel. And then we filmed the music video. They got rid of it. Wow. So it's not even there anymore. Yeah, but it's immortalized in your art forever.

Starting point is 01:42:51 That's true. So I'm glad you did that. Yeah, me too, me too. But the Razor music video, we found this really cool antique shop in Lull. And we filmed, we paid them like probably. whatever they wanted to let us use the space for a couple hours, filmed some scenes in there.

Starting point is 01:43:09 But then we just kind of took like B-roll, like a bunch of cool things like around Massachusetts. Massachusetts is so fucking beautiful. I mean, it's beautiful visually and bizarre to look at. So there's always something interesting. I know they're big like Silent Hill resident evil guys. Yep. So it's funny that that's just that's all it like,

Starting point is 01:43:29 Silent Hill is the biggest influence I see in Fleshwater. Yeah, Anthony's also really into like specific directors like David Lynch, Wongar-Wi. Wonkar-Wi was a big one he was into and we were filming Kiss the Ladder. He's a student of the game, this guy. Yeah. He loves it. It's fun to watch him do these things. I mean, like working with people that creative is, it's inspiring.

Starting point is 01:44:00 Oh, yeah. Makes you better. It makes everybody around him better. Mm-hmm. Tell me about it. So you've told me before that like Anthony gets kind of stir crazy if he's not writing a song like every single day. Do you feel, are you trying to be that way as well? Or do you have a plan like a roadmap for writing music this year?

Starting point is 01:44:23 I'm not one of those people who just writing constantly. It'll just kind of come to me or I'll be like doodling with my guitar and I'll just like, oh, that sounds cool. I'm going to go try and do that with a different instrument on Ableton or something. And yeah, and I'll kind of just, it'll just come to me randomly, but I don't really like, I don't strive or anything to be one of those people that's like riding every single day. And he's not striving for that either. He's just genuinely. Yeah. He's just, he's watching a movie and he's got a riff.

Starting point is 01:44:55 Yeah. He comes from. He's constantly doing that. It's cool. It's really inspiring. But I definitely will never be doing that as much. him. All right. So don't.

Starting point is 01:45:06 So leave her alone. Yes. All right. Well, now I think it's time to get into ghost world. Hey, Marissa. Yes. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes, I do.

Starting point is 01:45:17 Do you? Marissa has had maybe more consistent active paranormal experiences than anyone I know. Take the title. You know? That's cool. What you've told me about like, even like your childhood and your home. Mm-hmm. wild. And then the real recent thing, let's start with that. Yeah, please. Oh, yeah. Let's start with that.

Starting point is 01:45:43 So our good friend Kale passed recently, drummer of twitching tongues, Marissa's ex-boyfriend. What did you do shortly after receiving that news? Well, I know a lot of people probably won't believe in this kind of thing, but I do. Mediums. I really wanted to see one. I've been wanting to see one for a very long time. This is your first time? Yeah, this was my first time.

Starting point is 01:46:15 I've read my own tarot and stuff in the past, but I've never gone to like an actual medium. So I went to one. Well, I've lost a lot of people that were close to me growing up. family friends. So when this Kale thing happened

Starting point is 01:46:32 it was like okay I've been wanting to do this but now I'm actually going to do this because I'm just like you never know it'll come through. Just looking for any kind of

Starting point is 01:46:39 solace with this yet another tragedy in your life for sure and I went into it like still kind of skeptical I was like

Starting point is 01:46:49 I don't know what this is going to be like right you know but it was really cool and Kale definitely came through. Can you?

Starting point is 01:47:02 Can you elaborate? I'm hearing this and I'm like, what do you mean? Kail definitely came through. But like we know Kail really well. Obviously there's no way that this medium would have had all the information or knowledge of Kail's, just his behavior that we have. Yeah. Can you tell Bo what you experienced?

Starting point is 01:47:23 Yeah, I'm trying to think of like the funniest. Like how to even like where do I start? Yeah. But obviously like other people were coming through to my grandma, my brother Robert, my God, who else came through? My uncle. But Kale kept coming right back in, which was very Kale style.

Starting point is 01:47:47 Like it would, uh... He kept interrupting. Like the media would be like telling me something that my grandma's telling me. And then she'd be like, hold on. There's something that this person's trying to say next, which was hilarious because Barrycale style. I'm going to pull my phone out for this. Okay.

Starting point is 01:48:04 Oh, you wrote it down, didn't you? So the medium starts laughing out of nowhere and goes, did this person make a lot of funny voices? Like mimicking people, like just making these like hermit voices or like, and I was like, yes, he did. And he's like, he keeps doing them like this whole time and it's really fucking funny. Well, he didn't say fucking, but, you know. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:48:26 And then he goes to this person experience like a big amount of hearing loss. Wow. I was like, yes, from what I've been told. Oh. Yes. Yes. He sure did. And I was like, yes.

Starting point is 01:48:45 And he's like, well, he keeps making jokes to me to tell you to like keep wearing earplugs so you don't end up like him. Wow. Like, holy shit, this is crazy. That's insane. Yeah. um this was crazy but he the medium was like did you guys share something like artistic together recently in real life like in person and i said yeah we did actually we i didn't say what we did because i wanted to like yeah yeah yeah and he goes well he's telling me that you guys

Starting point is 01:49:18 did something artistically together recently and he got to see what you did in real life and um he was very proud of you and he wanted me to tell you that. And that was like a really great day for him. And he's also right after our Gilman show. Yeah, the Gilman show. Which was one of the last shows that he played with us. Yes, twitching tongues, flush water, harms way.

Starting point is 01:49:41 And grown, jive bomb to say the little lineup. Cruelty. Yes, yes. Cruelty. How could I forget? And I was like, oh my God. And then he said also he's telling me that he wants you. to tell

Starting point is 01:49:59 whoever he was artistic with that he's thanking them for like continuing his legacy and that he is watching and he loves all of them. So basically he's band members. She's telling me this as I'm editing the tribute thing.

Starting point is 01:50:17 Yeah. Like I'm in the middle of editing the tribute video and she's at my house telling me this. Yeah. It like I seem put together right now but when this was happening. Yeah. I was like...

Starting point is 01:50:29 Yeah. Of course. Yeah. It... Yeah, it was pretty crazy. There's a lot more. The guy goes, did this person like weed?

Starting point is 01:50:39 And I was like, yeah. You could say that. And he's like, he keeps making jokes to me about that. And I'm like, there's so many things that like I'm like, this can't be fake. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:50:51 He also was like, he keeps showing me foxes. That was Kail's favorite animal. Favorite animals? He had all kinds of fox memorabilia. He had a big fox tattoo on his arm. Yeah. The medium goes, is there a Kathy that rings a bell? That's his mom's name.

Starting point is 01:51:06 He, which I did bring this message to Kathy. Oh, wow. Yeah. He told me to tell her that she loves him, that he loves her. And just so many, he was making a lot of jokes. I'll say that too. The interrupting thing killed me. Because you're like talking to your grandma and thinking of

Starting point is 01:51:29 being back being back and be like Marissa. Marissa is so, it's like the most kale thing imaginable. There was even at the end of the whole thing when like the dude was like signing off. Like he was like follow me on Facebook like and show me to your friends. Like tell your friends about me. Then he goes, hold on. And I'm like what? And he goes, that one person that was talking earlier has one more thing that he wants me to tell you.

Starting point is 01:51:54 And I was like, this is fucking hilarious because that's exactly. We're alive. Yeah. But he made a joke about how much I loved Halloween. He's like, he just wants me to tell you that he doesn't want you to ever stop living Halloween as much as you do. Oh. So that wrecked me, obviously.

Starting point is 01:52:15 Yeah. Of course. It was very special. Yeah. And even if that motherfucker was throwing blind shots at a dartboard, God, he killed it. And he gave, it just gave us a little bit of relief. Yeah. Right.

Starting point is 01:52:26 It was huge. Also, like I said, I got to like, hear things. from my brother, which to me was big, huge. Of course, yeah. My grandma. I wear this necklace for her. It's like three sevens because she was really into gambling. Fuck yeah.

Starting point is 01:52:44 So am I. So was he. So are you. Yeah. And I wear it for her. And the medium was like, my short little lady with short gray hair is telling me that she really appreciates the,

Starting point is 01:53:01 necklace that you wear for her. And it's like looking at these three necklaces on here. Yeah. Or two and a half necklaces on here. I wouldn't be like one of those is definitely for grandma. Yeah. And also with like angel numbers being a thing. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:53:18 Like I would assume I would profile Marissa and be like, oh, she's like in the numbers in like a spiritual way. Not like, oh, that's for her grandma. Yeah. I would assume you just like gambling. Yeah. No. Exactly. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:53:32 So huge. I definitely believe in spiritual things. Tell me a little bit about your growing up in a haunted house. Oh my gosh. Yes. That is real. My parents' house is definitely haunted. Huge.

Starting point is 01:53:50 I've had friends come over and refuse to walk in. Just the vibe? Because of like the energy, like some sleep. weird six sense thing. What? Yeah, like literally I've had this happen twice. Really?

Starting point is 01:54:05 Rachel Ben Shal? Yeah, Rachel can confirm. Rachel was with me one morning. We were eating breakfast in my parents' kitchen, dining room table, and we're just, you know,

Starting point is 01:54:16 we're that comfortable in our friendship, we're just both on our phones, not talking. Yeah, that's fine. And all of a sudden, let me grab this for reference. This buscottie lid that, from like a bascotties we were eating,

Starting point is 01:54:29 starts like, slowly moving across the whole table like towards Rachel and not stopping. Like it's not like a wind blowing or anything and we both just look up at each other like what the fuck. So it's like the chair in the kitchen poltergeist. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And my mom says that like

Starting point is 01:54:52 shit flies out of the cupboards. Place is dark sided, dude. Yeah. Dude, we need to do a hauntler there. We need to stay over at Marissa's parents. Yeah. Hardlore Spends the night and Maris's parents. I do have one really scary story that could tell.

Starting point is 01:55:08 Please. If we have time. We've got time. Okay, good, good, good. Okay. This is a two part. So Rachel's involved too. Of course.

Starting point is 01:55:19 I was house sitting down the street at this person's house and it was really scary because it was like massive backyard, all windows house, no blinds. I was supposed to sleep. Yeah, I was like,

Starting point is 01:55:30 fuck this. I'm out. I was supposed to sleep. sleep there. I was too afraid. So I was like, Rachel, come with me to my parents' house and we'll just come back really early in the morning to feed the dog. It was already like two in the morning. So I wasn't going to be gone very long. We go back home. We're in my room. We're like, oh, we're safe. We're good. In my closet, we hear it's out of key. So I'm going to sing out of key on purpose. We hear like really out of key for lease. Oh. And we were like,

Starting point is 01:56:10 like, do you hear that? And she was like, is that your phone? I'm like, no, that's coming from my closet. So I go into the closet. This old... First mistake. So anyways, I go in there. Alone. And I... Hello? White people will be like... Yeah. And there's a music box from my childhood, like, open. And in the back of my closet, just playing out of key. Terrifying. That won't do. So I was like, me and Rachel were like, fuck this, fuck this, fuck this. I tried closing it and it wouldn't turn off and it like was still playing. So I was like, okay, it's just busted.

Starting point is 01:56:47 It probably is old and it probably just started playing on its own. You know, like logically, that's probably what happened. I close it. I have to like borderline break it to get it to stop. And it finally stops and I'm like, all right, whatever, this is fine. We go to bed. I want to say a month later. Four weeks later, I go to work at Frankies.

Starting point is 01:57:12 Frankis Italian Kitchen, recita and Ventura, the drunken chicken or the drunken pasta. We both used to work there. Thank us later. Yeah. Yes. I had just gone home from Frankies. My parents are both at work. My brothers at work.

Starting point is 01:57:27 It's playing again. Oh, my God. But it's not in my closet. It's on my bed. What? It's on my bed. Open playing for early. question yes don't you piss me off you mother phone do we have any I like the logical questions

Starting point is 01:57:46 do we have any um house cleaners no we don't have any kind of does would somebody who was cleaning tidying putting something in the room overhear it no I also left this part out I fucking hid that shit underneath a bunch of shit when I put it away okay because I was like fuck this thing. Did you look in the closet after you found it on your bed? No. So this is the rest of the story. I go into my room.

Starting point is 01:58:16 It's like a fucking movie. I'm like, yeah. I see it on my bed playing. As I lock eyes with it, I hear what sounds like. The only thing I could describe it as my mom's bathroom was on the other side of my bedroom wall. It sounded like someone took a blow dryer and slammed it against the wall.

Starting point is 01:58:35 Like so loud. that I was convinced someone was in the house. Right. I was like someone's in the house. So I ran outside screaming. I called my dad like screaming. I didn't even set the alarm. I didn't even lock the house.

Starting point is 01:58:50 Right. I'm outside screaming. I call my dad. I'm like, dad, someone's in the house. Someone's in the fucking house. Like you're positive. Positive. 100%. Someone's in the house right now.

Starting point is 01:59:00 He's like, I can't leave work. Like, he's like, go back in, chat. No. What the fuck, dad? No. And so I. I like drove to Rachel's house. I was like, fuck that.

Starting point is 01:59:12 Rachel Benshaw. Yeah, Rachel Benshaw. Yes, Rachel Benchall. I was crying. Yes, she's single. She's single. At Rachel. Dot Benshaw.

Starting point is 01:59:20 Okay. All right. All right. All right. So I go to her house. I'm like crying because I like actually thought my house was invaded. No. My brother comes home, goes through the house.

Starting point is 01:59:35 No one was in there. The alarm was on when I got home. I turned off the. alarm when I walked in. So nobody could have been in there. But I had my dad, I slept at Rachel's that night because I was like I'm not going home. I had my dad.

Starting point is 01:59:47 Rachel Ben Shaw, yes. I ended up telling my dad to throw the thing in the trash. Okay. Yeah. Did that work? Yes. You were rid of the spirit once and for all when you threw it away? Well, no.

Starting point is 01:59:58 The cursed object? Still a spirit in the house. Oh, no. But the cursed object is now gone. Who got you that cursed object? Do you remember where it came from? Huh. but Rachel

Starting point is 02:00:09 Which Rachel? Rachel Benshaw was around for all of this so she can confirm. Okay. Rachel, if you're listening. Yes. I also have a picture

Starting point is 02:00:18 of me and my brother with a ghost in the background. Now, when you say a ghost, what do you mean? Why don't you look at the picture right now and you tell me? I can't wait to see it.

Starting point is 02:00:31 That was crazy. Wow, that was nuts. I'm terrified. I believe. So I'll explain it in the picture. because if they're looking at it in this moment, you will see me and my little brother.

Starting point is 02:00:43 This is a house that's not our current house, which makes me convinced that something's following me. You are the problem. Yeah. Is Lowell? Have you had any things happening in Lowell? Yes, in my new apartment, similar to what happens in my parents' house.

Starting point is 02:00:54 Your curse is fuck, you're haunted. Yeah. And guess what she's sitting right now, brother. The same thing that happened to me at my parents' house, similar happened to my new apartment. So I'm like, okay, it's me. But anyways, this picture,

Starting point is 02:01:05 me and my brother Look on the staircase It's a man in a fucking cloak With like a top hat Walking up the stairs The hat man And now Colin's office is going to be fucked Nope

Starting point is 02:01:21 I'm worded up I got a candle Yeah he does That's how that works So that's any That's irrefutable proof Go surreal You heard it here on our show

Starting point is 02:01:34 For the 18th time that goes surreal. Now there's no deny, really. Well, also, I think part of the reason I'm cursed is because growing up when I was seven, my grandma gave me her Ouija board. Oh, it all starts with them. Damn Ouija boards. Amateur move. And she just told me it was a fun thing that moved on its own. I didn't know it was like cursed. She said that.

Starting point is 02:01:56 Yeah. So I would be sitting in my room with like all the lights off playing with this thing like every night. And it moved on its own? And it moved on its own. Yeah, I would like. What? And I do it with my friends. I'd have like my friends come over every day. I'm like, look at this thing. It like moves.

Starting point is 02:02:11 So when did you find out? That's the most important part of this story. Yeah. That's step one. And I wouldn't know. I didn't learn until recently. You're supposed to tell it goodbye. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:02:20 Or else they stay. Didn't know that. Now, when did you realize it's not supposed to like? It's not supposed to be like a thing until the movies came out. And I was like, wait. This is like, you're not supposed to. This is a fun toy that just moves.

Starting point is 02:02:35 And my grandma, before she passed away, she lived in an old people's home. She would always insist that I brought it. And she wouldn't want to do it. It's so embarrassing. She wouldn't want to do it in her bedroom. She wanted to do it in the common space. So, and I would be like, Grandma, can we go to your room?

Starting point is 02:02:55 She's like, no, this is where I want to do it. And so we'd be sitting in this common space. And we'd be using the Ouija board like every week. This is hereditary. Yeah. She's the grandma from hereditary. She's from Massachusetts. Is this the grandma who you wore the necklace for?

Starting point is 02:03:13 Yes. She was setting you up. One day you're going to... I know. I love her. You're going to be crawling on the ceiling coming to get me. Can't wait. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:03:27 It's definitely why this happened. But anyways. Well, that's irrefutable. Ouji boards, don't play with them. Don't play with them. And if you're going to play with them, come on the show and tell me all about it. remotely. Okay?

Starting point is 02:03:39 Don't come to my house. Yeah. I brought it by the way. No, you don't start with me. I picked you up. I know what you got. Yeah, silly, don't run. Here's a question for you.

Starting point is 02:03:53 Yes. We might have asked you this before. Who do you do? I do. You have asked me this before and I've thought about it in depth in the past like ever since I answered it. So I'm going to answer it better this time. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:04:06 Okay. I believe in you. It's hard though. So give me a second. And if you're here for the first time because you're a big fan of Marissa, who do you do? We're talking about who she does when Fleshwater plays live or Mercy plays live. Yeah. Who are the artists that she is inspired by that has taken, she has taken some kind of physical inspiration from in her performance.

Starting point is 02:04:30 Yeah. Or just aesthetic. Could be attitude. Attitude. Yeah. I mean, it's so hard to say. I've watched like countless videos of Sonic Youth. And I've also, you know, grew up with Paramore.

Starting point is 02:04:46 And I love, I think I said this last time, I love Evaness and Amy Lee when I was a kid. Legend. Yeah. So like those three combined, the amounts of videos I've watched of them growing up. There's going to be some of their stuff in what you're doing one way or another. Exactly. Those are great answers. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:05:05 Those are good at it. Yeah. So B. York. Actually, the list goes on. I'm just constantly watching live videos of all these people and just. Getting inspired. Getting inspired. I can't say that I do that all of them justice.

Starting point is 02:05:19 No, none of us do. Yeah, none of us do. But I love them all. Beautiful. Beautiful. Being inspired is the best. Inspiration makes the best art. When you stop being inspired is when art starts to suck.

Starting point is 02:05:34 Yeah. I could. say now for people watching. One of my ailments. She's always ailing. Because I have middle ear issues, I live with constant vertigo.

Starting point is 02:05:49 Oh, this is big. This is big. Yeah. The vertigo community, Marissa gets texts from people in bands. I do. Hey, I heard. I can name you a list of so many bands

Starting point is 02:06:02 that I've been reached out to about, just being like, hey, I heard through the great fine, how do you deal with vertigo? Can you help me through it? Really? Wow. I don't think people realize how much this affects being on stage. Oh, wow. I had vertigo for a few weeks in the beginning of 2022. And we weren't playing shows, so I didn't experience that.

Starting point is 02:06:22 But it is a terrible. I have it to the point where, like, it's chronic. So if I just move my head the wrong way, I'll get like a vertigo attack. I can't head bang because I'll get a vertigo attack. Damn. I can't even look down for too long. I can't spin So like

Starting point is 02:06:37 I'm very limited on stage Like I can't I have to really rely on the other guys To be doing stuff Because I have to stand pretty still Yeah but your body's gonna thank you In 10 years Tell you what

Starting point is 02:06:49 Well now I mean if anybody has Gives you shit now Yeah right Oh fuck That's why I thought it was worth mentioning Because I definitely deal with that a lot And I will watch other bands Where I'll see them just being free

Starting point is 02:07:04 and doing whatever they want. I will get emotional because I'll be like, wow, what's it like? Wow. What's it like? Couldn't be me. Yeah. Vertigo, to me, like what I was going through

Starting point is 02:07:15 because I think it's one of those, it's kind of like your migraine things where it can be different. It's basically a sense of like, your brain isn't agreeing with what is happening around you. Like you're kind of perceiving two different things and you get dizzy and confused and you can like overheat and you can like overheat

Starting point is 02:07:33 and you can like, Like all these. What happens to your body? You, your eyes, what's technically happening is your eyes lose connection with like your brain in a sense of like rapid eye movement. So your eyes will be going left, left, left, left. And it's kind of like they don't know how to stay in one place. And you can't stop it. And you can't stop it.

Starting point is 02:07:58 And it kind of like almost, I don't know what a seizure feels like, but I feel like that's what it feels like. It's happened on stage before where it's triggered and I just have to play it off. Holy shit. Do you just close your eyes? No, close your eyes makes it worse. Really?

Starting point is 02:08:10 I sound like, yeah, I'd kind of tumbled to the left a little bit when it happened. Spin around. Yeah, you can do that. This is good for vertigo. Oh, my God. The spinny chairs freak me out.

Starting point is 02:08:22 Oh, okay, my bad. Dude, a spinny ride or a spinny ride at like an amusement park or a carnival or something? You're done? You're out? Oh, dude. You won't catch me on one. No way.

Starting point is 02:08:32 I know. The 3D ones are the ones I can't do. No. I can't do any of them. Like Star Torch. We got to get, I got a VR headset out there. I got to get you in there.

Starting point is 02:08:41 See what happens. I will not be leaving you in Lana's place if I. You might just start floating. Yeah. We'll be like, all right, I live on your couch now. I can't move. Welcome home. How do we wrap this up, Beau?

Starting point is 02:08:55 Should we ask about culinary delights? I believe we should because I don't know. I feel like, you know what would be fun? Let's see if we can pick individual members of Fleshwaters where they would want to eat. Okay. Let's see if we can do that.

Starting point is 02:09:15 Because I feel like we know them. Yeah. John's McDonald's. John's McDonald's guy. We got John. McDonald's Cracker Barrow. That's been established. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:09:25 Jeremy. Oh, Jeremy. Jeremy, I think, frustratingly, but in like the best way, I think he would literally eat anywhere. No, he would, but he also is like a healthy guy. He's very slender.

Starting point is 02:09:39 He's very slender. He loves anything with a green in it. Tripoli. Yeah, he'll eat that, I'm sure. He will go out of his way to eat something healthy. Okay. So Anthony. What an asshole.

Starting point is 02:09:49 Yeah. What a dick. Anthony. Anthony's also like, he'll eat whatever. He loves Taco Bo. Taco Bell. Yeah. He loves it all.

Starting point is 02:10:01 He loves the. McDonald's. He's pretty easy going when it comes to food. Okay. Which is fun because I get to cook for him. And he'll actually eat it. You know what? He promised me a jar of his mother's sauce.

Starting point is 02:10:13 Probably six years ago. I still haven't gotten it. Is it good? Will it's so good. Anthony, quit fucking around. Get me my damn sauce. It is so good.

Starting point is 02:10:24 So let's know. Let's hit Marissa with the golden arches. The golden arches question. Yeah. Flashwater is flying down the freeway. going gig to gig. You're starving. Yes.

Starting point is 02:10:36 You see the magical sign with all the things on it. What's making you stop being like, guys, this is it, pull off. And it could be anything. Anything anywhere. It doesn't matter where you are, nothing matters.

Starting point is 02:10:47 It just needs to be like not a one-off place. Honestly, I think I would just go with in and out. Expert answer by an expert answerer. Your first in-and-out burger was today? No, no, no. No, no. I had in and out burgers growing up.

Starting point is 02:11:04 And then for the past however many years, I haven't eaten red meat, I would always just get like a grilled cheese, grilled onions, add everything. And then a couple months ago, we were hanging out. Months ago. She was like, I think I want meat. And I was like, I'll pick you up. And now I'm into the protein style. I was telling it's so good.

Starting point is 02:11:22 It's crazy. We're living good over here. Now I want it after this. Say no more. Yeah, I'm pretty. I had it last night. I'll have it two nights. Say no more.

Starting point is 02:11:32 I'm going to eat it as much as I can on I'm out here. Yeah, I get it in. Yeah. I get it every time I'm there for sure. Well, Marissa, this has been a blast. Yeah. Just so easy. I had the best time.

Starting point is 02:11:44 I'm so glad you had fun. I'm so glad, you know, you're welcome here anytime. You have an open invite. Flashwater, just on top of the world. Can't wait to see. Yeah, just you wait. Yeah. Do you have any kind of closing remarks or a message you'd like to leave the people?

Starting point is 02:12:02 Tell your friends you love them Oh Beautiful Yes We love you so much The Hard Lord listener And we appreciate you Thank you Marissa for being here

Starting point is 02:12:19 Thank you for having This was just wonderful Listen to Fleshwater Yeah Listen to Cosmic Joke Hardlow Records, bye I love Cosmic Joke Woo

Starting point is 02:12:28 See you next week See ya

HardLore - Marisa Shirar (Fleshwater)

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