HardLore - Mark Whelan (Fuming Mouth)

Episode Date: December 8, 2022

In the first ever full-length in-person episode with a guest, Colin and Bo are joined in the most emotional episode yet by Fuming Mouth frontman Mark Whelan after their historic comeback show in Cambridge, MA. In his first ever on-camera interview, Mark shares the story of his triumphant battle with leukemia, and how he vanquished every last cancer cell in his body with the help of BeTheMatch.org. You can join the fight against leukemia by signing up to donate bone marrow NOW on BeTheMatch.org. You can ALSO help us contribute to Be The Match directly by purchasing the all new HardLore Ugly XXXMas Sweater, where all proceeds will be donated directly to bethematch.org. Link to purchase: https://knotfest.com/shopify/hardlore-ugly-christmas-xxxweater/ Enjoy this very special episode and follow Fuming Mouth on Twitter and Instagram: @FumingMouth   HardLore: A Knotfest Series, Fueled by Monster Energy Edited by Steven Grise • Title sequence by Nicholas Marzluf Join the HARDLORE PATREON to watch every single weekly episode early and ad-free, alongside exclusive monthly episodes. Join the HARDLORE DISCORD for community discussions and to participate in our future Q&A episodes. FOLLOW HARDLORE: INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, SPOTIFY, APPLE FOLLOW COLIN: INSTAGRAM FOLLOW BO: INSTAGRAM, TWITTER   For sponsorship opportunities, email us! [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, welcome. It's almost hardlore time. How you doing, Bo? I'm doing great. You know who else is doing great? Mark. Mark Whalen from fuming mouth. And do you know why he's doing great? Be thematch.org. Be the match.org. I signed up today. Bo's signing up right now. If you are watching this, if you're listening to this, pause this. Sign up for bethematch.org and potentially save somebody's life. Simple as that. Simple as that. The cure for leukemia is bone marrow transplants. You could be the cure for somebody's leukemia on B-thematch.org.

Enjoy this episode with Mark. We love you so much. Bye. Bye. Hello, welcome. It's Hardlore Time. How you doing, Bowen? I'm doing it all.

I'm doing great. You said it right. You said my name. Paul and looters. More importantly than Bowen looters. I'm just kidding. But this is honestly an unbelievably special guest. Unbelievable special moments.

Tell him. You've been saying it. The reason we're in Boston this weekend. And I didn't tell him that until yesterday, because I wanted to tell him in person, Mark Whalen from Fuming Mouth is back. And we are here specifically to talk to him. And we figured it only appropriate that he gets a full-length episode in person to tell his story and to talk to the boys.

Talk to the people at home. Welcome, Mark. Thanks for being here. What the fuck is up? The king is back. I was full disclosure. Ringing out, people cheering middle fingers up the other night. I was emotional.

Oh, I'm going to tell you. It was a beautiful, wonderful champion of life. I wept. Yeah, I got a little choked up. You know, I had just like, there's just been so much love that's been pouring in and last night was like the absolute like pinnacle of it. It was like the height of it

and everyone being there together. Yeah, you can just feel it in the room. It was awesome. It was special. And, you know, we say this often that like hardcore shows are like special moments that you like remember

and that's what makes the show. It's a moment based genre. There it is. Thank you. Yeah. Last night, that was a fucking moment. It was really cool. It was really cool.

Yeah, yeah. your your battle with cancer uh for the most part took place during the time when the entire world was shut down and fucked yeah so it's like everybody's kind of grieving for the world in their own way their own lives while you are straight up battling every day for yours i'd have to imagine last night was something you thought about the entire time i got to say i think right when i was told I had cancer cells in my body. The first thought in my head was I just want to play one more show. Wow. Wow. And now I want to play a lot more shows if I'm being honest with you.

That's the thing is like obviously we don't want to make this like a sad episode or anything like that. No, of course not. It's a heavy episode. But yeah, in the end. But we should talk about it. And I'm a total open book with this.

So like ask away, you know. So walk us through it. What made you get checked out? How did you find out? What happened? Well, I think it was crazy because, like, on Halloween last year, we had, like, a little party. It was, like, friends from Vane, Fleshwater, like, who else was there? I don't know.

It was a few friends that were over. I wasn't, like, feeling that great. And then, like, in what way were you not feeling well? I thought I was hung over. Okay. I was like, damn. Last night was lit. I see.

I was like, I got to be careful. I don't remember going that. Yeah, I don't remember that, but okay, whatever. And then, like, the next day I was, like, feeling a little worse. And then kind of a little worse, I'm like, oh, my God, here it comes. I got COVID. And I haven't gotten COVID once. So I'm like, this is it.

I'm getting COVID. Okay, everyone's getting it. That's fine. And then, like, a week into it. Well, I got my COVID test. It was negative. So then it was like, oh, so I have the flu. Yeah.

Week into that, it's like, now it's two weeks. It's like, wow. that the flu for two weeks and it just kept getting a little worse like every day and then um eventually you know there's a few people in my life that said it i'm not sure if it was my girlfriend's mom or my uncle but somebody was like you should get a blood test and um found out like uh my white blood cells were like super low and that's generally the indicator yeah yeah it'll be a lot of different indicators but um for me for me it like wasn't even an indicator it was just like oh you're just like not doing well you should like go to the ER and get checked out and I was still feeling like

not that bad I was still like feeling sick you know what I mean and then uh and I went and they're like oh oh no you're staying wow and I was like for what for the like the flu yeah yeah and then that turned into you know weeks of what is going what is going on to me yeah What is happening to me? Wow. And then eventually, yeah, I was told I had cancer. What kind of cancer was it? Leukemia.

So acute myeloid leukemia. There's like all different like stages of it. Mine was like considered intermediate. So yeah, it was like a good and bad thing. In that sense, we were able to move me to a hospital like right next to Fenway. And yeah, we just started to. You got to look out. out the window and wash the socks kid?

Yes. For real? Not then, but like fast forward to like recovering. I got to stay in, I had to stay in this like apartment right near Fenway.

Dude, unbelievable. Dude. I saw Paul McCartney play back to pack. Two nights. Unbelievable. It was like the best seats you've ever seen. He played live and let die?

The pyro show? Yes. And the amount of fireworks It was amazing. But I was like, damn, imagine if you hate music and like Paul McCartney and you're in this apartment, it was like, it was the loudest, like, loudest, loudest car. Like the line check you could, you heard every. So I was loving it.

Me and my girlfriend are watching this like, oh my God. The park where riot fest is in Chicago is surrounded by hospital apartments and they're going to get kicked out because they've had a house. Riot Fest is going to kick out. Wow. Brutal, dude. It was really cool for me at that time. Well, that's, I mean, I mean, that's incredible.

Like, it probably felt good to see a show. Yeah. As removed from our world as it is. It absolutely was. But one of the coolest things about, like, going through it was, like, being able to see everyone be active. Because the reality is, it's like, we have a fucking plague that just hit us, you know, with COVID. And everyone has to, had to, like, push through it in their own. ways, especially with like the live music we play where it's like, we're hulking cabs upstairs.

We're setting up amps. We're doing all this stuff. And like watching that from the sidelines was really inspiring and watching everyone like do it because I'm like, I'm going to do this. I love that. I love that. Shout out to Paul McCarty for the show. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Shout out Paul. That's beautiful, man. Yeah. What was treatment? Yeah. How's, what was the process like? Like, let's figure out what's wrong with you.

Let's start. How early on did you catch this? So with mine, because it was acute, it was like right away, caught it at like a really, really, really good time. Like I was saying earlier, it was one of those things where it was like my symptoms, I thought it was a flu. Some people are like passing out and stuff, you know? And so we did catch it like pretty early, which was cool. and we developed like the best plan for my cancer that I had. You get a bone marrow transplant and they have a registry called be thematch.com.

Everyone, if you're watching this, go to bethemash.com and register because this is a cure to cancer. There is a literal cure to cancer. And it's bone marrow? Yeah, it's this bone marrow transplant. The thing is it takes like once you get the transplant, it does take years. You have to be in remission. But once you get to a certain year point,

like you will have, like my risk of ever getting leukemia once I get to that point is the same as you guys. Wow. Or it actually might be less. Might be. Wow.

Because I have, like that dope marrow. Yeah, yes, yes. The dopest marrow. Fresh and clean. Yeah, yeah. But,

which is crazy. But leukemia is cancer of blood cancer. Blood cancer. Yeah, yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah, it's horrifying. It's horrifying. Yeah. It's crazy.

Like, God is not real. Like, is there any argument? Like, blood cancer? For me, it was like, dude, when it happened, it was like, oh, I was, like, praying to God and stuff. And, like, I would hit my knees. And then it just got to a point where I was like, oh, I got, I actually have to take this seriously.

And, like, I can't be praying to God all day. Like, I got to, like, listen to my doctors. I got to, like, because that'll, like, pop into your head, like, please, like, you'll pray, even if you don't believe in God, I think, you know? And yeah, there came a point where I was just like, who, I'm on my own in this. It's time to really like take charge, listen to everything I have to do and like do the right things, you know? Ultimately, I think it's important to note that like, you were not on your own in terms of this was one of those times. Like, obviously on a much smaller scale, harm's way getting robbed was a thing where the community stepped up. That's what I'm talking about.

dude it was like everybody everyone has to like everyone is dealing with shit like this when I was saying earlier with plague or like pandemic it's like everyone has to like there just comes a time where you have to really just be like okay I'm doing this

yeah yeah like gotta do this but also every band that you've ever met every person that has ever known you loves you know and and everybody like whatever we could do was going to be done like you look through that list of donors and it's like... When I saw yours, and yours,

and like, in harm's way as a band, but like, yeah, I can't explain it. It was one of those things where it was, it was a moment where I was like, oh, we have to like... Like, the Kirk Cobain fantasy is dead. You know what I mean? Like, I hope no one takes that the wrong way,

meaning, like, you gotta, like, fight to live. Yeah. You know what I mean? And fight to, like, work together. You know what I mean? And everyone's in this to, like, help each other out. It just, like, it doesn't matter whether you're

the singer in a band or whether you're a popular band how many benefits have you heard of how many benefits have you played how many it's endless it's a community and I just don't want to see musicians dying yeah well of course that's like really all I'm saying

there's avoidable deaths and then there's and then there's fucking blood cancer so it's like that honestly wasn't even my point what I'm saying is like after a bad thing happens the ultimate silver lining is like this community is there.

It's like this net that is there that cares no matter how low, no matter how bad you feel. There's a lot of fucking people who give a shit. I can't explain how that day uplifted, not just me, but my whole family. And how

people in my family were like, what's happening? And I'm like, I've been in a hardcore scene for, I don't know, my whole life and we all just like know each other. even like whether it's someone who's like my best friend or someone I'm just in a room with and like have not even really talked to and um yeah is it was just like an absolute um I'll tell you motivating factor to like I have to do this I can't I can do this and I will do

this and I don't know if you know like you as yourself it's it's obviously hard to gauge this but like give me a second here like oh god I can't oh like if I'm playing Boston and there's 30 people there and Mark Wayland's one of them

I'm gonna do fine you know hell yeah so like it was like all right so what can I do for him now you know? Yeah it was the same sentiment

with us where when we did that tour together and I think we played we played some weird show like upstate New York or something. Yes, I know exactly the one. But do you remember you being like throwing a water bottle and being like, you're out a fucking harm's way show?

Do you remember that? No, I actually don't. Well, you did it. And it's something that we talked about because it's just like, you're a dude and you care and you're into the music. Any band you ask is like, oh, Mark's here. We're going to be good. Yeah.

We're going to have a great show. And it, you know, it's, it's, uh, thank you. Yeah, I'm so. Yeah. is hard. I'm really happy. With your guys' bands, I feel like you really carried the flag for everyone, like before Fuming Mouth, before my band.

So it was kind of like I was watching. I didn't think with Fuming Mouth any of this was possible. It was like an art project to me that I really like, I was like, I'm going to just put out a really good demo because I haven't put out like, I've never been able to put out like good music.

I always put out shitty music. And then seeing seeing what you guys did with your bands, whether it was like pre-disharmony, watching you guys play those festivals in Europe, things like that. Harmsway,

I think even just the release of like isolation and just watching that like, that like level up. The goat. Yeah, it was just one of those things where I looked at it. I'm like, oh, this can be so much more than just like a tiny little art project. I can like really turn this into like a real band.

fans and like you know you know we all um we're all aware of people who are like oh this is going to be my career and ethically you might think something or whatever by that it's not my point yeah yeah what what this music can be is an opportunity to travel the world with your friends and do shit that you never thought you could yeah look at look at us like what we've been able even to do with this and we're talking to people and getting to learn their stories and all this like that's the coolest shit in the world and even Before that, you can make songs and listen back and go, I fucking made that? Yeah, yeah.

This is awesome. And then, like, just, like, not even do that and just show it to your friends, especially nowadays with, like, if you have a laptop, like, you can just do that. Dude, I'm writing rest of TV songs on just a laptop. It's fucking awesome. Yeah. So when did you find out you were clear? So, okay.

So there is one thing we were missing before this that happened. Yeah, yeah. that was super rough. So things were going well. At the end of December 2021, I went to remission. So I went into remission really fast. Everything was like, I would say beyond smooth sailing as far as cancer treatment goes, because we also found a donor for my transplant really, really fast.

is that a blood type thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or is it a marrow type thing? What blood type are you? Type O negative. Are you really? Yeah. Universal donor.

So does that work both ways? No, universal donor. Oh. He can give it to us, no problem. Wow. I'm B positive for anyone out there. A positive if you need me. Yeah.

What was it going to say? Everything was smooth sailing. Everything was going smooth sailing and we're like, we're going to do this transplant. in January. So this is like... So Halloween, January. Yeah, yeah, like really, really... And I'm talking like...

I forget when in January. Either way, relatively fast. That's when Omicron hit. Oh. And my donor could not donate to me, and we had to cancel the transplant. Not reschedule it. We had to cancel it

because there was no foreseeable, like, when is this going to stop? Because Omicron was like super widespread. So then from that point for the next few months, it was limbo. Like, oh, man, what are we going to do? You're thinking about eventualities at that point. Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure.

That's when it started to, that's when it got dark. Because it was like, because the one silver lining was just gone. And then, you know, long story short. we finally, finally got the donation, and then we got it done in like March, April. And then that's when recovery started. And that was the treatment that you mentioned, which was bone marrow transplant. And what's that website? That's a be the match.org.

I think I said be the match.com. Be themash.org. Or if you Google be the match. Google be the match because you're going to get, they have like tremendous social media, great website. a ton of ways to like reach out and see like a ton of things and logging in uh to the registry is really really important i'm going to do that yeah absolutely when i go home when like not to get morbid obviously but like let's get morbid obviously on the doctor's playing a death metal yeah exactly like there's there's a flip side there's an ironic flip side to this true on the

the doctor's side was there expressed concern to you at any point like hey this just so you know Oh yeah, immediately. We need to handle this right away or you're going to die. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So right away, it was like this needs to be taken super, super serious. And then it was and then. Yeah, and then I'm cancer free. And well, I mean, and then it was and then it wasn't.

Exactly. Well, it never came back. I got to stay in remission luckily. I had to like in that period that like that canceled. when my donation was canceled I had to go back into the hospital and get another bridge chemotherapy during that time period

was a benefit show for me that Hey 5-6 recorded and it was like the best timing I don't think anyone has ever been on chemotherapy and just been like yeah it's true oh the high command is so good they really are

they blew my fucking mind last sign. They understand, not to divert, but like, crossover songs need to go somewhere. And High Command understands that the songs need to go somewhere. Yes. There's an ending that you have to get to. Yes. Shout out High Command. Shout out High Command for sure.

Very good. Wow. I don't think anyone probably ever, ever in the history of Earth has ever been in that situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like quite literally. Wow. Unbelievable.

Wow. So if your mouth is, on a positive note, almost. been a band for a decade now? Yes. Is that true? Like in a few months, it'll be a decade. Yeah,

2012, yeah, what was the start? That's great, because we all lost two years. You, I say we all, and I'm learning.

No, no, but this is what I mean. It's quite a privilege to say how we lost it compared to some. It's not like that. Everyone's in this together and everyone needs to like

realize that like health is a super serious concern. And I look at like cancer as disease. I don't look at it like, like addiction is disease. Yeah, like I really, I really, do like see it like that. So like,

it's not a death sentence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a thing. It's a thing you have to handle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. That's like really how I look at it. Yeah, I think that's, you know, there's a lot of woo when it comes to like your spirit and like how you're doing when you're dealing with something. Yeah. You know, and how your spirits are doing and your support and your love and like all this. But like, and I'm, you know me, I'm a skeptic, but that shit matters. Yes. It matters. And I hope. as you said that when you saw the GoFundMe stuff, when you saw the 8-5-6 thing, that like that is like, all right.

Mental. You know, yeah. Treatment. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like, absolutely. Yeah. It's hard to even like put into words how like amazing all of that was.

For me, it was like, like my mom did not understand it. She was like, what's happening? Why are all these people helping you? Like, what's going on? Was she here last night? No, I don't think she was. I think she was a home cooking or something. I hope she sees some...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you don't mind me, I'm genuinely curious. As someone, like, do you have insurance? Did you have insurance? I do have insurance. Let's go. Yeah, yeah. So it's super helpful.

The only thing is it's like insurance companies and doctors are like, what's like? a compare they're just like enemies for for life yeah yeah and uh even i just had like a treatment the other day that was not covered by insurance and it's like uh it's shit like that that's like very annoying where the go fund me is like absolutely going to help because it's even the co-pay oh yeah it's gonna be life altering for for most people yeah so that's like insurance or not the go fund me is is 100% necessary and and yes and i know what i know what i We've never talked about this, but I know that if you ever got to a point where we're like, okay, I'm 100% good.

Yeah. And I still have money left over. Oh, yeah. I know you're donating that to be thematch.org. Oh, I want to do something way bigger than that. Yeah, yeah, of course. Like, whatever surplus, it's the same thing with us with like the trailer shit is like we made a little too much. And we gave it away because it doesn't feel right to profit off of some tragedy.

You know what I mean? it's it's a it's a really good it's it centers you i think and it like reminds you of like oh here's what's important here's what's not important yeah here's what i need to focus on but there's a long road still technically right oh there's oh yeah absolutely um i i also have uh to battle this other disease called graft versus host disease where basically the transplant fights right my body because my body's like that's not your body part right that's not your bone marrow and my bone marrow is like this isn't my body does everybody get that or is that like a it's like a roll of the dice and luckily we caught it like super early so we're like treating it with uh something called

prednisone if anyone out there is on prednisone just keep doing it you're you're killing it um but uh yeah so there's still like a lot more to go with it um no but his plans is as far as as donating, I want to do something way more proactive than that down the road. And one of those things is, if we can get, this is like the biggest one. There are countries that do for Be the Match and for transplants for blood cancers, they do like an opt-in, opt-out kind of thing. So you get swabbed in your mouth, say for instance, like I think Poland is one of them, definitely Germany.

And if you, by having that, they have a huge registry of people that can be donors. And that's like really good for like, for like white people, but for people of color, it's super hard to find donors.

And I know people that like, you know, there are people of color, that black people, Native Americans, that one's super hard to find, like, a donor. So something needs to be done about that. Why is... Do you need to be...

Because, like, for example, in, uh, there's just like a, like, there's a huge white population in Germany. There's a huge white population in Poland. So donations... Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. So it's easy for, because I'm white, it's like easy for me to find a donor. owner. But if you're a person of colors, like, it's just harder to like trace back and find it

because everything's done through the internet through this now. So it's all like very, very new to the past like 10 to 20 years how it's handled. I don't know how I would single, single handedly change that yet. I mean, but like, starting the conversation. I am starting the conversation right now and I do want to put it out there because it's like I have some friends who are black who are just like they just have to keep getting chemo now they like can't get a transplant because they can't find the right like donor so so is there so is it because of is it a numbers thing is there a biological reason why a white person can't donate to a person of color I'm not sure exactly why but it definitely it's not as simple as just like blood type I wish

it was it is more of like a numbers thing there's like a certain grading system right And it like, it actually, I believe it's like based on ancestry. Wow. That's why. That's fucking insane. Yeah, it's really. I've literally never heard of that. I've never heard of that before.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like, it's one of those things where all of this is so new when it comes to like blood cancers. So I don't know how to approach that. I would love to just donate. But now after what I've been through, I'm like, oh, man, I've really. There's a lot of definitely awareness. but like active change that can happen that can like literally benefit

the whole population. And there truly isn't, this isn't really even something we talk about that often, but I don't think there's a better place to start activism in that way than punk and hardcore metal. And like this scene where it's like grassroots, yeah, we give a shit.

Yeah, yeah. You know, and I think that that's very interesting. How about this? Yeah. We have that stupid Christmas sweater thing coming up. We do. If you buy one of those, we'll donate to wherever Mark wants us to donate to. Yeah, we have a hard laura, ugly Christmas sweater.

That's really cool, by the way. It is cool. It's stupid because it's like an ugly thing. He made it cool. But let's do that. We'll donate wherever you want us to. Awesome. Okay? So if you buy that, that's what we're doing.

We'll have a, yeah, perfect. That's perfect. Start with that. Yes. Yeah, beautiful. We'll start there. Let's go back in time a little bit. Because you mentioned earlier

You wanted to take pride And Fium Mouth You wanted to write these songs That you take this seriously And I know firsthand With the grand dissent Like Triple B put it out Yeah

But you paid for a lot of You did This was like a DIY thing We're like you were like I'm gonna fucking do this the right way Oh yeah And you made this incredible record You toured with my man here

Mm-hmm How was putting that together And how did that help kind of transition into what you're going to do with this next thing? With this next album? Yeah. We never said, we never, hey man, if that's what you want to call it. Recorded by Kirpilu at God City this past October?

Full disclosure, we were at God City or we were at God City studios the other day. We did not hear it. Okay. I swear on my friend. He said, I can't show it to you because Mark would be mad. I swear on our friendship. We did not hear it. I don't think I would have been mad

But we thought about fucking with you We thought about saying we heard the whole record Shit's dope I'm like I'm out of here I just leave that's it It's fucking hatchet shop Yeah so the grand descent How was putting that together

I know that was like You're this is your baby Obviously there's a lot more to it Yeah But how have you grown since 2013 when the band started To the first LP at least Well I guess like

There was never an idea to even like, I really mean it from 2013. I was like, I'm going to put out a really good demo. That's like what I really want to do. And then the full length, like, the idea didn't even like really come to fruition until I'd say like 2015. And then, and then from there, it was just like one song after another, after another. And around like 2017, 2018, that's when I got in touch.

touch with Kurt Baloo, God City Studios in Salem Mass, and then, yeah, the ball got put into motion, I guess. That's like the simple version of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How was recording? And I mean, was that your first time working with Kurt? It was the first time working with Kurt. But growing up here, yeah. He's the guy.

He's the guy. I mean, growing up in Chicago, he was the guy. You know what I'm saying? Like, he mixed Russ and for us that was like, oh, yeah. Fuck, yeah. You know, it's so funny to think about. What? Kale recording.

at God City. It was like, I've never seen Cale Sane, love you. I've known Cale for so long. I've never pictured him as like a California boy until I saw him playing drums in God's City. Because God City is just like the most

Massachusetts, Salem Mass, like cold, ice cold studio. The door is the door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're getting lobster shanty. after this next take. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And seeing K.L. Rip it up in there was like, oh, man, you are a surfer boy.

He's not a surfer boy. He's not a boy. He's a California. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, it doesn't matter, but such a smaller building than I expected. I know, right? Based on videos and pictures and stuff, I thought it was going to be huge. It was nice to lay on that couch. It was a good thing.

I'd never been there before. Yeah, me, it was my first time. I've been hearing about it and reading about it for 10 years. fucking ears when my brother did shit. But you got to live the mass drain kid. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're doing it again now, but let's go, let's

lean on the first one a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Was it kind of like, were you, were you HC first and then kind of figured out that death metal was, was your, was your bag, or what? Oh, no way. You were metal first. No way. I had in flames, uh, Clayman.

Clayman. And needle 24-7 by, uh, Children of Bodom on my iPod. Only those two songs. Not Gyroscope 2000 by In Flames, brother. No. Only those two songs just on repeat, just on the school bus. Just sitting there. We got to...

Over and over and over again. I had no concept of hardcore. We did a mini hard lore within flames. At Furnace Fest. It hasn't come out yet. And Bo asked them like, hey, are you playing gyroscope tonight? Yeah. And they were straight up like, that's basically like asking them free bird.

Yeah, it's like... Really? Yeah, I had no idea. And when he said that, what was the response? No. Damn. So that was cool. But they are like, like I told them on the thing, like I did a rhythmic gymnastics

routine to, uh, what's the song? Fucking cloud connected in sixth grade. That is so sick. So I go way back with In Flames too. They were day one OGs with me. So I could, I'm hearing what you're saying. Our drummer James, that's his favorite In Flame song. By the way.

A hard-ass riff. Yeah, yeah. We'll get back to the... James is the new drummer? Yeah, James Davis. Oh, he rits. Hits hard as fuck. That's my twin.

He's amazing. He's amazing. Hits hard as fuck. He's clean as fuck. He's from Boston. And it's just like, yeah, I don't know. It's just like the perfect fit. Where was he before?

Yeah. I know, right? Where's he been? Where have you been all my life? Dude, he hits so fucking hard. There's like a small group of like a... like people in their 20s who are really like do it like playing drums playing a lot of hardcore

music playing uh there's a band called blood type from out here there's a band called a mourned from out here and they all are just like working working working together and um he was like in that friend group but not really playing in any of those bands he's just like kind of chilling got you how do you waste a drummer like that yeah he has he has um a band called no arbiter that he works on and like And it reminds me With Fuming Mouth

Where he's like you know Like toiling away with it like picking at it Kind of like behind the scenes While everyone was like doing his shit Doing their shit You guys had a you have a part where it's It's straight kind of straight forward on the hands But the feet are going

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do Which is like I don't know this because I'm not a drummer But I've heard that the slower the double bass Kind of the harder Yeah you would think that's so that's generally something Like the triple one foot Yeah

Yeah yeah but yeah he was and he didn't miss a one I was like I was like oh he's doing the thing and I like know to like kind of yeah he didn't miss a one yeah he killed it so back to In Flames Hey one more thing about him I think he's a better guitarist than me

Oh doesn't that's he's one of those Chris Mills is kind of a better guitar player than me Dude he's very good He's just like naturally good it pisses me off So like me and James were like Working on this one song this past summer Like once I got out of that apartment I was like talking about. So basically I had just to go back to the cancer like that, well, the transplant.

Once I got out of that apartment I was talking about, I was able to go home and just like he'll regularly walk every day. Like get to like walking a mile. That was like a big thing. And after like like a month or so of that, me and him had been like talking like just over the phone. phone or whatever. And then we started like working together, working on songs. And yeah, I walked, we were working on, he was programming drums because I was still like kind of weak and like couldn't. I type out like a lot of the drums myself for Fuming Mouth. And he was like helping with that. And I remember like walking in the kitchen with my girlfriend and just hearing my guitar and

him playing the guitar riff I was just playing, but just just better than me. And like we, my girlfriend like looked up at each other like, what the fuck? Who is this fucking alien? Yeah, what? What just happened? What an ass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you started in flames, children of Bodom.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are like the two starting points. But I also like no effects and shit. The first show was no effects. Oh, yeah. Amazing. The decline was the other one on there. Are you guys fucking crazy?

Yeah, yeah. I don't know why. So punk and death metal or death metal adjacent things at the same time. where in between that is hardcore. So it's kind of like, that was your destiny to begin with. Well, I had this got this got a girl friend when I was like 16.

She got me in an emo shit. So that was like, that was like definitely there too. Somewhere along that line that happened too. And then like, I don't know where hardcore sneaks its way in, but for sure did. Probably like a show thing.

It had to be. It's accessible. Yeah. You can go and anyone can play, really. Yeah. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is like that's part of the beauty of it.

As you often say, the best moshers. Make the best bands. Make the best bands. I hear you say that and I agree. Like, prove me wrong. Please. I'm back in. Yeah, good shit, man.

Yeah. So we're jumping all over, but it doesn't matter. We could. We got time. Yeah. How are you feeling? I'm feeling really good. It's crazy because at first it was like,

how does my friend put it? It's not gradual. It's not gradual. Or it doesn't happen gradually. It happens eventually. It's healing better.

I was like, okay, okay. But then once it eventually happened, every day I've been feeling better. So I've been feeling really, I feel really good. It's amazing. You got any like boys you made in the cancer block?

Yes. Definitely. I have like too many to shout out. Peter from Remembering Never, that's my guy. No shit. Yes, 100%.

Like, he put out like a song about cancer and I was like, I'm like, what? I'm like, some guy just like using cancer as like a metaphor. Like, this is my symbolism in meaning to my music. I felt like such a jackass. I'm like, oh my God, he just fought cancer too. Now through the looking glass. Yeah, yeah, right? And like I took his song.

It's called Psalm of Cancer like way, way different. And then I was like, I got to reach out to this guy. And we like text all the time. Wow. So he's been great. Yeah, yeah. A few other people,

but I don't want to bring up their names. Yeah, of course, if you feel comfortable about her or not. But definitely him. And do you have, I don't know, I'm just,

I'm genuinely curious. Yeah, no, ask away. I'm an open book. Like, I am, we can keep revisiting it. You know what I mean?

And jump back to. Do you have any side effects? Any changes? Any things that you have to do differently now? Oh, yeah. I take like a fucking 20 pills a day. Fuck yeah.

But like, that should hopefully stop soon. I don't know when, but stuff like that is like really annoying. Just like as far as like a normal routine. How do you remember which ones you fucking are? Right, right, right?

God, man. I'm like a 90-year-old like grandma. Hey, but now you will be 90-year-old. That's the goal. 80. Yeah, yeah, that's what me and my doctor is shooting for. Great goal.

It's great. Love it. That's like, yeah. I beat out Lemmy's age. Are you kidding me? When I was in high school, I'll try. I was like, dedicated, I was like, I'm going to live to be 100. I just want to be a centennial.

I want to do it. Fuck, no. No fucking way. I'd like to, I'm, I think medical science is improving every day. You're living proof of that. Yeah. Whatever they can do for dogs to live longer. Yeah.

I'd like to help. That is. I got a couple that now that I'm like a dog man, Yeah. I don't know what I'm going to do when they leave. It's truly one of the craziest things that I think we do as humans is we take in these animals that we love sometimes more than anything. Anything. I would do anything.

And we know that they're going to be gone. That's a guaranteed eventuality. Me and my girlfriend's fish, Goji, died at the beginning pandemic. I had the ground crying. I was dead. That was a fish. That was a fish. Shout out Koji. I just see you so much.

Dude, and it's funny. And your dog, like, oh, my God. You know? I got my two, I got metallic cat and my giant squid, my two boys. I've been sitting here, we've been here for three days. Giant squid, that's brutal. I'm already to the point where I'm just looking at pictures. Looking at pictures.

I have a camera. I'm watching my cats at home. My mom went and visited them though yesterday. See, that's nice. Spent time. I know that was fun. Love mom. Shout out, mom.

I know, I'm sure you had a lot of downtime. in your recovery. What did you do? Yeah, what did you get into? I would like get fried and play Eldon Ring. You can get for, oh, because that's fucking medicinal, brother. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I needed to. And then, uh, was it, was it, did you get medical marijuana? No. Okay. You had the good shit. Yeah. Well, isn't medical marijuana the good shit? He's got a better guy.

The problem was I couldn't actually, um, do any, anything with medical marijuana, because with my cancer I had, like if I smoked weed or did anything like that, and still right now, it might cause infection. I was like a neutropinic. So like as far as like diet goes, I could not eat raw vegetables.

I could not eat. You know what I could eat? McDonald's. Dude. Rand of the success. Beautiful. But yeah, yeah,

yeah. Like, what was it? Raw. Everything just had to be cooked. That's like really what it came down to you. So no salads. Oh no. For me, for me it was like that kind of but oh my god do I appreciate a salad now though. Oh I bet I bet. It's like different.

Once you're told you can't have it it's like what do you mean? Yeah it's like well I want an apple. Yeah yeah yeah those tomatoes look kind of good. Yeah yeah that would be tough for me. Did you get real into gaming? What's that? Gaming? Is that like something that you there was like yeah two or three months I did gaming but then I would play it. shit on a ton of guitar. There was a point around the transplant. I lost the ability to play guitar, 100%. Just dexterity.

Left hand could not press down on the fretboard. And it was like, oh no, what am I going to do? Yeah. Like this really just happened. It really did. Did it take that to kind of really kick in like the mental gravity of it all? was losing guitar kind of the last straw

where you were like all right I'm fucking I'm doing I'm figuring I'm not I'm not gonna lie it was like fight or flight and it was pure fight like the moment

I woke up that day and realized like oh it's gone I like picked it up and played for an hour like I got a riff I'm gonna rip forced my fingers down

onto the fretboard it was so rough but I did that to be honest it was only like two or three weeks of that and then I was super fucking bad. Which was awesome because then it was like I was back on the scale.

You know what I mean? It was like of good and bad. I'm like, okay, if I'm bad, that means I can get good again. And then like every day I'll like get back to it. Are you back? Oh, I'm back. Yeah. Beautiful.

Yeah, yeah. I assume the show was last night because you were like, okay. I'm ready now. Let's go. Yeah. Were you ready? Yeah. You looked and sounded ready.

Were you nervous? Yeah, I was ready. Okay. Were you nervous? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I was a little nervous. You sounded great. Thank you.

Thank you. You guys sounded great? You sounded great. Thank you. I feel like me and Andrew were like, I was explaining this earlier. Because we haven't played a show in so long. I feel like we've been driving our like in different lanes. And then finally last night, we just like met up at the same light and we're like, oh shit, what's up, dude?

Like we're like just like right there together again. It was awesome. I was I mean, everybody in the room was emotional just watching you. Yeah. Did you have to turn your back at any point? Just out of raw feeling? No, I'll be real.

I turn my emotions off. I was like, I'm going to kill this set. Yeah. Like I really, I went into it like that just because like, um, I felt like I had to,

you know? You have to imagine cancer, survivors are going to want to see that. This is so much bigger than music. It's so much bigger than hardcore. This is like a fucking, you survived a thing

that many have not. But not just like survived. Kick an ass on stage. You know what I mean? Like, hey, I'm back. You have to like take it at your own pace, I think. If you're going through any kind of health thing, I'm not talking about just like cancer.

or any kind of disease. You got to take it at your own pace. But for me, personally, I started to notice, like, uh, like, just a theme of like people kind of like hiding or like not wanting to like really get back out there, which I totally felt myself. And, um, I just really took this approach where I was like, I'm going to, I want a cannonball in. You know, that's like really how I looked at it. Um, yeah, going at your own pace.

Going at your own pace. people won't hiding? Well, not hiding, but people just feeling uncomfortable with whatever health thing they got going on. And for me, I'm like, if I really want to be happy in the future, I know that I need to cannonball into this. I don't want to say cannonball, but I need to just start living right now, like regardless of any side effects, any symptoms. And the quicker I get into that motion, I think the better things are going to be.

You know, and I hope anyone else out there that's like fighting anything like that, I hope you can, you know, have at least some of that mentality. We're like, you know what, I'm going to go do this thing, even though I don't feel comfortable doing it. Because a lot of times after you do it, you feel really good. Yeah, I had to imagine last night it felt really fucking good. It did. Did it feel good? Once I was in bed, like lying down looking at the ceiling, I was like, no fucking way.

I really said that. I really did. It was like, that's when it like really sunk in. To be honest, it was like, because you were asking if it was like emotional and stuff, it was really, it was like surreal. Yeah. You know, I think that's like probably the right word.

Because you thought about, you thought about that every day, I'm sure it's like, I'm gonna do it again. Or, yeah, yeah. Or maybe. Or what if I'm not? Yeah, yeah, like definitely possible too. So like, yeah.

Surreal. It's awesome. It's so, so. good. We're very proud of you. Thank you. Thank you. We're honored to have just witnessed that. It was a very special moment. And to be here. And we're here. We're here for you.

And we're not contributing. We're not doing anything. We're just talking to you. I'm here for hard lord. Yeah, we talked about it last night. I'm glad that we could bring you any kind of joy in your life at all. Yeah, yeah. Sit them with a couple questions.

A couple of the basic. A couple of old standards. I want to start with the COA one. It's a good one. Because now, like, Fium Mouth is, you're going to explode after this next record. The music is rallying to come together behind you. And as they fucking damn well shit. C-O-A asked us both who we did when we were performing on stage. Who do you do?

Like, what combination of people, like, I'm Pete Steele and Jonah Jenkins. He's Hetfield and Pursale. Porcel. Who is Mark Whalen doing when Fuming Mouth performs? Like, what two or three guys that do you know? Did you see watching, you were like, I need to be this guy. I need to be this guy. I need to be this guy.

Me and me. That's, is that fucked up? I don't know. I'm like, I can't be anybody else but me. I don't know. Like, that's how I look at it. I don't know. I do love Kirk Cobain.

Nirvana is one of my favorite bands. There you go. Probably just because when I tried to sing and play guitar, I was like, how do you do that? And I already recorded the demo when I was like, uh-oh. Yeah. This is fucked up. Yeah, this is tough. That's how Hetfield did it.

Recording first. Well, they would do music first and then figure out lyrics. I can say after doing that, it's fucked. Yeah, yeah. Black album, not that way because of Bob Rock. Oh, whoa. I'm like, smart. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The dead body stuff was all. I was just about to say dead body was like. Taylor was smart because he wrote it with his hands. but the like stuff that I wrote was just like this is what sounds sick yeah and it's stupid there's one song where I'm like I don't know how the fuck this is going to work my friend uh Jake Murphy he sings for final gasp um he used to play he's played in a few bands where he would play a guitar and uh

and sing like um this band vsec this band gatlin and he was the one to kind of put it in my head where it's like you should think about like what you're playing with your hands and singing you know what I mean and I was like oh yeah Yeah, like I might be biting off more than I can chew here, you know? And going back to that. So if it's like two people, I definitely think about Kirk Cobain. Kurt is a great answer. That's a good answer.

Because he was like, he really like figured that out, I think, too. And from the ground up. And I like it. That's not obvious for a fuming mouth at all. Some people can just do it. They just pick up a guitar and start singing at the same time. I can't do that. Like for me, I like have to like piece it out.

I'm like, okay, I sing this here. And then I try and I can. And then like I have to keep doing it. I can do it left hand wise. Yeah. No problem. It's the right hand. It's the rhythm.

Of course. Of course. I mean, Kurt Cobain in the like death metal hardcore setting is that's enough of an answer. Yeah. That's incredible. And then I'll throw a. And he'll Diener maybe or something like that. Who's that?

Maybe not him. I don't know. Oh, Lemmy. Even though it's like bass. But yeah. No, dude. I mean, but that. does matter. I was just thinking

Tom from Slayer, if you watch, he just plays open a lot. Yeah. And while he sings, because he can't play and sing the fucking shit at the same time because it's so crazy. I'm gonna try that. I mean, if you're just playing root notes. I'll give that whirl. But Lemmy's a great answer because

Lemmy, he's the only you know, like he has to play and sing at the same time. Yes, exactly. So yeah, I'm gonna go Lemmy Kurt. Beautiful. I mean, their vibes are very much fuck you. Yes. And your vibe last night was fuck you on that. Yes.

Yes. Yes. 100%. And everybody loved that. I'm glad. I'm glad. Yeah. It's beautiful. Another question that we have that we call the Golden Arch's question. And this is great since because we know you're a friend of the Don. I fuck with the Don. If you're

driving. Yeah. And you're in the middle of you're in Oklahoma. But there happens to be a rest stop mysteriously with every chain restaurant from either coast. It's a mystical, magical place. what's the one place that you read they're like oh they have that you're pulling over you're eating doesn't matter if you're late to the show alternatively okay let's say you're fighting cancer in a fucking hospital bed okay you ever done that and you're craving something worse than you've ever

craved anything worse in your life what's the one thing that in that moment you were like I would fucking give anything to eat this right now a special addendum golden oceans two in a row Caniac. Raising. Canes. I had canes. Yeah. I was like, I finally got it.

I threw up in the toilet immediately. It sucks so bad. I just like, I was craving it so bad. I was like, I'm doing it. Was chemo brutal? Yeah. And it was like around that time period. I shouldn't have done it.

Yeah. But it was like, it was what you're just saying. It was like, what am I craving? I want Keynes. There's one canes in Boston. And it's right next to be you. Oh. And like, so it's close to the hospital I was at.

Yeah. I just sent it and I absolutely shouldn't know. And everyone, like everyone that was helping me was like, Mark, did you eat all this canes? Okay. Did you crush the whole cany? Yeah, yeah. Went hard.

My brother. So how about? So there was like five minutes of pure joy. So how about now post that? Say you're leaving for a tour tomorrow and you're in this mystical place. Is there a, there doesn't have to be. Get this. Zaxby's.

Really? We've not had that yet. You're the first Zaxby's answer. Yeah, Zaxby's. Being Budwey are going to Zaxby's. Everyone's coming with us. That's a... Everyone in advance coming with us.

Because it's like, Cainz... If they're like, I'm not feeling Zaxby's, it's like, oh, no, you're going to love it. You better. You better feel it. That's what you're going to taste. It's a great tea.

Southern Floridian region. Yeah. Big time. Like down there. Midwest, too, I think. I don't have any. Well, you're not Midwest. Thank you.

Illinois's not Midwest. Thank you so much. I got you. So I guess we'll wrap this up because Bollywood is Yeah, We're going to do part two Yeah, yeah, we'll get you. We're going to do a part two?

Oh, absolutely. We'll do it on Zoom, but I've, before that. Oh. In a couple weeks. Oh, yeah, you'll be in a couple weeks. We'll do part two. Part two, it is. I guess maybe then we wait to talk about your new record.

Yes. Yeah, good. Because I bet that's exciting. It's so exciting. It was like, so we just, recorded our second album um you know it's recorded

less than a month ago it's recorded it's done yeah well we still got it we still got to mix it I don't worry about some vocals but it's done can you say who's putting it out nuclear blast records congratulations

that's huge and yeah it was awesome because it was just like it was so much fun and it was such a great distraction for everything I've gone through in the past, like, year. Fuck, yeah. And it's like, and it's, it's not just been me.

It's been, like, my friends, my loved ones who have been going through it, too. So it was like, it was an awesome distraction for, like, the whole band, you know, where just, like, everything felt so normal. Like a really good, it was really fun. Like a litmus test, like an indicator to your friends and family like, hey, I'm okay. Yeah, that actually, too. I'm moving. It's good.

It happened so recently that I haven't even, like, I don't think any of us have, like, thought about that, but it's like it. When it's out, that'll be different. Yeah. That's going to be the true test. And everybody's going to fucking step up. It's, this motherfucker's going to pre-order like you never heard of before. Sold out.

First five pressings are going to be sold out. Nuclear blast. Prepare your servers because they're about to fucking crash from this record comes out. Mark, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for having me. Thank you for coming to Boston. Fuck, yeah, dude. Hey, thank you for fighting.

Yes. Thank you for being so open with us. And before that, thank you for all that you've given our bands. You've given your body to our bands. And now we will give everything to you. Hey, the whole world will give everything to Mark. No, we're going to give everything to each other. And we're all going to work together.

And everyone's going to keep fighting. Yeah. Thank you so much. It's hard Lord time. Mark Whalen, the God. The King is back. Thanks for watching. Bye.