The Downbeat - Andy Williams - Every Time I Die

Episode Date: April 10, 2020

My guest this week is Andy Williams, guitarist of Every Time I Die and LITERAL pro wrestler. We talk about COVID-19's effect on his two jobs which obviously involve close contact, how he got started with wrestling in the first place, how he is staying healthy and working out but still maintaining his competition weight whilst self isolating, and much more. He's a great dude, I had a great time talking with him. Stay safe!

What up my little ronies? My little Rona's. Is that insensitive? Rona's a name, isn't it? Scottish name. Very strong Scottish name. I could just be referring to everyone called Rona, listening to the podcast. If you are listening to the podcast and your name is Rona, how are you faring up?

Maybe you're a child called Rona and you are, oh, you're not even at school. You're not even at school to get bullied, so you're probably actually just counting your blessings at this point. Like, thank fuck I'm not at school because my name is a vicious virus rampaging the globe. Um, what's good? What's everyone doing? I'm doing exactly the same shit that I've been doing for the last three weeks. I'm in quarantine. There's a lockdown. I'm making some podcasts. I'm playing some PS4. I'm doing some home workouts.

I'm working on new merchandise that you can pick up at WW. the downb-e-e-e-dot-the-down-beat holy shit that was such a good segue my printers are still printing they're a little bit delayed i believe there's a new i mean i say i believe i know there's a new long sleeve and a short sleeve with a sort of death metal rip of a band a parody it's a parody before anyone says anything and it's sick and it's limited to 50 and it helps me get some sort of stability, that's the word, some sort of stability in these unstable times. Also, if you're not a fan of clothes, if you are either a naturist, is that someone that's naked all the time, or a dog, or Tarzan, although he does have some sort of a loincloth, isn't it, but that's not branded.

If you don't like clothes, but you feel like, I really wish Craig or Craig, depending on where you're from, could eat this month because I really feel for him and the situation, the global situation affecting all artists, there is a downbeat donate button. I ain't going to beg, I've just done the begging. You could just, you know, send us a quid or whatever. Some people have been doing that.

Shout out to everyone that's been doing it. Might do some sort of competition for the people that have been doing it. Or that might be a lie to get you to do it. Who knows, the only way to know is to donate. Fuck me. genius. I'm doing this on a Tom Mike. It's a, you know, I'm sorry if the quality is not that good, but all I've got with me is a Tom Mike, but it is a nice Senheiser 421 Tom Mike. So I do have a better podcasting mic, but it's at home, my real home, not my quarantine home. But maybe you work

for some sort of microphone company and you want to give me a sick microphone, send one out and I'll plug it. Wouldn't that be nice? Speaking of that, not. that this is that but Yamaha were very kind enough to send me one of those EAD 10 things. If you don't know what that is, it's like a little thing that you put on your kick drum, which has a microphone that picks up all of your drums and a trigger for your kick, and you can plug it straight into your phone to make drum videos that sound like they've been, well they have been, like, miced up. I can't believe how good it is.

it is. Obviously, lockdown happened shortly afterwards, so I can't post a video. But Eddie Froeer uses one. That Jay Scott drummer, if you don't know that guy, he's a ripper. I can't wait to really get stuck into it. But big up Yamaha. I mean, when this is all over, I can make some sweet, sweet content. That's enough plug-in. That sounds like fucking Roe Jogan.

My guest this week is Andy Williams, guitarist of Every Time I Die. and professional wrestler, real-life, big dick professional wrestler. I don't know if he's got a big dick, but I imagine he's got a monstrous piece. We talked about obviously the Rona, various people called Rona, and the coronavirus and how it is affecting him. Obviously, wrestling being a contact sport, he threw up some hypotheticals which scared me. And we talk about working out because he's such a big fucking jacked legend. And we talk about what he's doing in quarantine for working out, staying in shape. He's got to keep his weight up for wrestling.

We talk a little bit about music, of course. What else do we talk about? Cool shit. We've got some stories about bands. I can't even remember even though it was yesterday. Everything's a blur. Everything's a blur, but it was really good. I like,

I like semi know Andy. I feel like now we've had a two-hour chat. I really do know him, but it would only ever be if like Stray and E-Tib were playing together, one of us would be like, you obviously go to the gym. Would you like to go to the gym? And then we'd have a little hangout,

and it was always, it was always cool. And I always thought, what a cool fucking guy. I wish I was friends with this guy in real life. And now I guess I'm friends with this guy in real life. It's about it. It was a great, great talk.

He's got his own. podcast called kicking ass with Jesse and Andy or Andy and Jesse I can't remember which way around

it goes and you should check that out and hopefully I have them on again because we can go a little bit, we had to sort of cover as

much as possible in two hours and what we'd probably do is just go a little bit deeper next time get into the real meat meat and potatoes of this

lovely individual it's Andy Williams on the Downbeat podcast. How are you? I'm good yeah just, you know

In the midst of everything that's happening on the earth right now. Yeah, I mean, doing pretty good. This is an interesting one because we like kind of know each other. Yeah. But we're not super buddies. No. And I was just like, I'm at a point during all this shit where I'm like, just finding cool people is getting hard.

I've no offense to everyone I haven't interviewed, but I'm like just, I don't care about anyone. And then I saw you posted something over there and I was like, that's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny because I keep just talking about like thinking outside the box. So like everything that we need to do right now is like thinking outside the box because like life in general is just upside down.

It's fucking crazy. But this is the type of shit I'm thinking of though. Like it's always just like, oh yeah. like I had a pretty cool conversation with that one dude before. Like, I bet you that would be a cool interview or, you know what I mean? Like, yeah. Yeah. It's like, I'm also, yeah, trying to just get people who have different perspectives on what's happening as well.

Because you're obviously, you've got the band perspective the same as me, but then you've got the whole wrestling thing. And, you know, we'll get into that. Yeah, yeah. But it's nice to know you're surviving. Yeah. I mean, it's like. It's not, it's not really. hard. Like, you just have to do nothing. But the problem is that, like, the two of us are not used to doing

nothing. Yeah. You know? Were you off? Do you do have time off anyway? And then this happened, or did you have stuff canceled? Oh, so, like, that's the crazy. We were in Chicago, the band was in Chicago. I flew overnight because I had to wrestle the night before in Salt Lake. And that night was when they found out like the Salt Lake player who had like coronavirus. So I was at that arena wrestling. Oh, fuck. That night. And then, and then I had to fly to Chicago.

And then the band had a show in Chicago like that night. And, uh, dude, it's crazy, man. Like in the, like, so kids are lined up. And then the governor says there's only 11, or only 1,000 people in a venue at a time. so like we were like oh shit we were playing i can't remember where we're playing but the metro and they were just you know they're just like we'll make it happen we'll get there because it happened right as they let doors it like doors open so then like we were supposed to play detroit we were supposed to play pittsburg and then like by the time the show was done like both those shows had been

canceled like so we were like in the middle of that weekend man it was crazy Oh shit. And then you just finished recording. Is that allowed to be said? Yeah, yeah. Totally. Totally. Totally.

And then I imagine you would have had some sort of time off and then planning for shit like summer and onwards. And then that's just out the window. At least it is for me. We had like we had three weeks, three months off. And we were supposed to start tour like two days ago. And obviously now that's gone. It's like being faced with another three months off. I don't think I've had six months off in my life.

Never. That's a, dude, I'm, like, the last three months of my life have been the busiest months of my life, like, ever. And, because I was doing both wrestling and, I mean, full time, you know what I mean? So, you know, the rest of my, like, life, I'm going to be a contracted, but hopefully I'm going to be a contracted wrestler and a musician at the same time. So I'm just going to try to do this as long as I can. Um, yeah, we just had, do we just had, we were supposed to tour with Parkway Drive in June and it got, um, I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but it's, uh, I got an email. I totally forgot. I probably shouldn't say that. But yeah, it hasn't been announced yet, but, um, yeah, there, but it won't have to be announced now. Yeah. But yeah, it's just like, but that's, it was supposed to be in June. And like, there's, you can't do anything. I mean, you can't even. I mean, you can't even.

promote a show right now because the chances of it being cancelled you know what i mean yeah no one knows like the last i heard our tour was getting moved to july and then that's gone quiet so but how i mean how do you even plan that though you know what i mean like that's the the fucking crazy thing is that there's like a massive amount of tours that have to be postponed and then rescheduled so like what you know as a musician or like a booking agent do you like strike while the iron's hot and you know that there's not going to be any shows you know what i mean like let's book a tour just in case or you know like are you going to be uh like a booking agent that like goes oh fuck maybe um

we can do this july you know what i mean but like everyone's going to be moving their tours it's crazy man like the next as soon as we're out of this it's going to be bedless Like, I mean, there's going to be shows seven days a week for like five months straight. Let's say it all gets sorted and it's just like you've already got everyone's fall and winter tours, which are already pretty much booked but just not announced. And then you're going to have everyone's rescheduled summer tours at exactly the same time. Yep. Winter's already fucking nuts for touring.

Yep. Oh, God. We'll either have like, like, because everyone's. so desperate to go to a show, they'll be like going to show seven days a week or we're going to have like half populated shows for fucking six months. So that's, that's the other thing, man, is like, that's the way you have to look at. I said this on a podcast the other day. I was like, and it, like, it didn't hit me until I said it. You know what I mean? Like, it was like my brain thought it. I said it. I was like, holy shit. I didn't even think of that. Like, there's going to be like

a crazy, crazy, like, bigotry almost after this. Like, not, like, like, an unannounced bigotry, where we're not going to be, like, I'm not going to want to go in a crowd full of people just in case. Like, you know what I mean? Like, like, you don't want to be, you don't want to be the guy that brings a pandemic back. You know what I mean? On the bus. And you bring it on the bus.

Anywhere. There's bus, bus lurgy, and then there's bringing like death, like, the actual plague onto a bus. and then bringing it back home. Bringing into a crowd of people. Like, if straight-feather path was the one responsible for getting a crowd sick, you know what I mean?

Like, you have, like, you know, and the way our bands are, that's anywhere from like 300 people to like 1,200 people. You know what I mean? Like, that's the scary thing is like that. And it's going to be, you're going to get those people where it's like,

I mean, I would love to find out what the first, what the first tour after this that sells out completely because you know there's going to be worrying people I mean like

I don't think a pandemic just goes away and then just like the next day you're like up it's clear everyone's tested no more corona like it's going to be a while

man I've read like a few different versions of how they can deal with it so if they get a vaccine then

approximately, I think it's 14 months from the vaccine being made and doing human tests, then the herd immunity would kick in when enough people are vaccinated that eventually it just dies out. So that you're talking like two years. But then there was another theory, which is if they can't develop a vaccine or in the interim when a vaccines are being developed, that they could develop an antibody test, which would, this is like some police state shit, an antibody test that would determine whether or not you'd had the virus and were immune to it,

and then you would be issued a certificate which would let you go into public places and let you go to gigs and stuff like that. Jesus. Which is an insane thing. Imagine having to carry around a little certificate being like, yep, I've had it, so I can come to the Eatid show. that's like on the door someone checking that shit yeah yeah i dude i hope it's not 14 months i mean

that's like the that 14 month thing is insane i mean either way like that's a long process like both of those situations aren't great situations for us like for people i mean like for people who do like entertainment like you know that half the plate of crowds like this is literally where we have to like think outside of the box you know yeah But the thing, the 14-month thing is like, apparently that's the shortest possible time for a vaccine to go through human trials and then start being, like, given to the public. Crazy. Because otherwise, they were like rush it and you'll get some fucking birth defects or something. Yes, yes, yes.

Like some crazy knock-on effect. Gross. Yeah, absolutely. But what you said about, I didn't even think, yeah, like, say, fucking Drew or Keith was like a carrier and they didn't know it, jump in the crowd, give 300 people coronavirus and then like two of those die. That is like Randy Blythe 9-11. Like Randy Blythe times a thousand.

Yes. That's it. I mean, that literally is like it's, that's a worst case scenario. And like it was funny because like, you know, that show in Chicago that we did actually played. Like, I think a lot of people are saying that's the last show. Like, there weren't concerts. That was like the last one. Which is really funny. That's actually kind of cool as well. Because I saw, I saw a tweet that was like, someone tweeted, just think at some point, a couple of months ago, someone said, this is your last chance to dance. And it really was. Yeah. How insane.

And it, fuck. Yeah, man. Man. I'm actually getting depressed talking about. this. So let's, let's, um, I'm going to delve into stuff that I want to know because I don't know anything about wrestling. Tom obviously does. Tom, of course. Yeah. But you're like an actual professional wrestler now. Yes. Dude, it's, it's, it's the wildest thing ever. Because when I was, I've been obsessed with it my entire life. And I actually trained when I was like 18. Like I actually trained to become a professional wrestler. Ended up tearing my ACL. And then that basically was the catalyst for me playing guitar more and then I started every time I die. So like pretty crazy. And then like when I was like 36 years old, I kind of got like down on

myself. Like I was probably like 35. I had like a just got down on myself. I just kind of gave up and I was like, okay, I guess I'm just like a fat guitar player in a band. Like cool. I just kept getting like really and you know how it is obviously like you get like little training injuries and like it might put you down for a couple months and then like you work you know you you work through it and then you go I was just like getting to a point where like I had like hurt my shoulder I had like hurt my elbow my wrists were fucked up and then it was like starting to like kind of play into my guitar playing and I had to kind of take a I just had to be like okay like is weightlifting really that important um over what I do for a living so like fuck it I'll just be a fat guitar player with a beard who cares. You know what I mean?

Yeah. So that was like a couple years. There was like a couple years of that. And then I just got to a point where I was like, man, my body started feeling pretty good. And I was like, this fucking sucks. I'm going to fucking just go hard. So I ended up, you know, I started with like power lifting at first and which was cool

and stuff like that. And then I started kind of seeing like the same kind of patterns happening with like injuries and stuff. So then I had to like change my change my work. work my workouts out pretty big time. And then a school, a wrestling school opened in Buffalo, New York. So I was like, well, fuck, man. I'm, I don't have any aspirations to ever wrestling in a ring, but it would be really cool, like wrestling at a show. But it would be cool to like go just kind of like, this is a new form of working out. You know, I've been there. I've done it. I kind of

know what, um, what they're going to look for like when I, I start my training and blah, blah, blah. So it's just basically like, basically like aerobics class. You know what I mean? I was like, oh, go in there and I'll just, I'll bump around with the dudes and,

you know, maybe I can help some guys become wrestlers. You know what I mean? And then, um, I just kept getting like better and better. And then I kept getting offers like, hey,

you should do this on this show and you should do this on this show. And I was like, all right, well, you know, fuck it. And then the guy that I team with now, um,

his name is the blade. but he's like one of my best friends Jesse and he basically was like dude like no one's ever going to take you seriously if you don't look like a wrestler too because I would like go out and like wrestle shows exactly the way I look on stage to kind of like I wanted to bring Eid fans in

and like I started realizing pretty quick that like wrestling is kind of a hard thing to like throw on people like right away it's like a lot of people associate it with stuff they do when they're kids so like when they're adults they don't like, you know what I mean? Like they don't see it the same way. And it takes a little harder for people to get in.

And I just kind of noticed it was like I would get a couple people here and there at shows. But like I wasn't like getting what I thought because like every time I die has a very, very loyal fan base. And I was expecting them to come to the shows. And like I said, you'd see like five to 10 people that would be there like maybe in an Etid shirt or like a violent gentleman shirt or something like that. And then it just, it never grew past that. No matter what city I was in, if I wrestled in New York City or Chicago or whatever like that. Like, I wasn't really, I wasn't drawing the E-Tid fans that I wanted to that I was expecting.

And it was kind of like bumming me out. And then Jesse was like, yo, look like a wrestler. So like I got like the trunks. I got the boots. I got, you know what I mean? Like through a character like on myself. Wait, wait, wait. You were wrestling in jeans prior to this.

I was wrestling in a pair of barbell chinos. Right, okay. Because I thought you were going to say, you know, you were wrestling in like fucking, you still had the trunks, but then maybe like a fucking, a plate shirt and then. Nothing. No. I would wear like a...

But now you got like a fucking monocle. Everything. I got like a whole character and stuff like that. The monocle is so sick. Yeah. But it, I mean, it's, make sense. Like, I'm sure you have a million friends who are like 10 times talent, more talented than you are in music. But like, none of them will, well, none of them will ever get in a van and go.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And like, yeah, yeah, yeah. They look like a musician, but like, they're not a touring musician. They're not a professional musician. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, like, that, and I understood it, it was like, okay, if I'm just wearing, like, wrestling boots, like normal wrestling boots that you could go to any sports place and buy, Chino's, and just a cut off shirt, and I look like a dude, like a badass. Like, it's never really going to catch on because you're just a guy that you, that people see on the streets. You know what I mean?

And if you're not, if you're not already getting, if it's not like the Andy Williams from Eated show, like, then why not just go all in on the fucking theatrics? Exactly. Like, the two people that might go, that's not what he dresses like on stage. They're not even fucking there. And they're not wrestling fans. They're there to see, you know,

a dude from their favorite band wrestle. You know what I mean? And like, I started getting to the point where I was like, man, this sucks because, like, no one's really like paying attention to me right now. And I'm not getting like, the show offers kind of kept going. Like I was getting them, but like, they weren't great.

you know what I mean? And then the minute I changed the character, like things started like happening. And, um, yeah, it was just, I don't know. It's a really cool thing because like it's, it really is like wrestling is a lot like writing a song. Um, because you have to call a match with your, with your, you know, your, um, your opponent.

And, you know, like everyone thinks it's choreographed. It's not choreographed. Like there's just a bunch of ways to base on. things and there's it's it's literally just technique all over again you know what i mean like yeah i have no idea how it works so please explain how you write or don't write a match so how does it happen this is how i always explain it right so say you and i know we're going to wrestle each other we go in there's a sheet of paper boom it says that we're wrestling that night okay okay yeah cool um when we start doing when we start calling when we start talking when we start talking to we start talking

about it's like hey what ideas do you have what ideas do i have you know what i mean and then you kind of throw it together there's a couple sections to a match so like there's you have to you have to establish who the good guy who the bad guy is or you just have to establish uh you basically have to establish that someone's up on someone else meaning like someone um is out wrestling another person that person needs to basically like do something to get the advantage over that person, whether it be a maneuver or a cheat or something like that. You run it into a thing. It's just like it's exactly like writing a song.

You need an intro. You need a chorus. You need to bridges. Like it's a lot like this. Like if I need to get you in the corner so that you can do this sick like reverse flip thing to me, I have to somehow reverse something to get you in that. corner and then you have to reverse something to get me the distance so that you can go up and do the flip dive you know what I mean like you've got to do the bridge so I can do the breakdown

exactly that's 100% oh yeah and it just happens and that but there's like a section there's an introduction then after the introduction there's uh this thing called the heat that you put on so if I'm the villain I'm going to beat the piss out of you and have the crowd like go, oh man, this guy's never going to come back. And then there's hope spots. So you throw hopes in where it's like, oh my God, he's coming back. He's coming back. And then I shut the guy down, you know?

And that's basically like those little like, you know when you tease a breakdown, but then go into something else. It's basically like that. Like the crowd sees it coming. They know it's coming. But you're just not giving it to him right away. It's poetry. You're an artist.

You're two artists. You're in two different fields now. And I love, and like, I love tag team wrestling because it's just more moving parts. And, uh, it's, it's literally like putting art together. If you see a really good tag team match, it's, it literally is poetry, man. Like, it's crazy. And there's dudes. And it's just like music where like, there's totally different styles.

So like, there's ground guys. If you're super into like ground wrestling, there's ground wrestling. there's ground wrestling there's aerial dudes there's the showmans there's like it dude it's insane like villains and there's like different kinds of villains and there's different kinds of heroes it's literally like if you're into comic books it's like watching real life comic books happen in a ring so you're a villain is that what you would consider right now yeah right now the but the butcher yeah oh yeah shit Of course, because like Mick Foley was like three different fucking people. Yeah.

So I used to like it when it was like WWF when I was a kid. Everyone fucking loved it, didn't they? So I do know that side of it. But I forget that the same person like reinvents themselves as different characters. Yeah. And that's, I mean, when someone's really like Chris Jericho, I'm like fortunate enough to work with Chris Jericho. So like I see that guy every single week.

And he's 49 years old right now. And he's reinvented himself. so many times and he's never not been on top of wrestling. It's he, that guy is a pure genius man. Like pure genius. He's 49. He's 49 years old.

He's so, he's so jacked. Yeah. And I mean, I wrestle with him. I wrestle with Gold Dust who's been around for, he's 50 years old. Oh my God.

Even I know that. I, I, I dressed up like a woman the other day in isolation because I was bored. Yeah. Because I've got bleat, bleach blonde hair, I looked like gold dust.

I love it running around like I was gold dust. It was sick. He's the greatest. And he's like one of the... You wrestle with gold dust? I've wrestled them a few times actually. Yeah. It's so sick.

Yeah. DDP. I wrestled DDP this year. So hang on. So what is the... What's the name of like... It's a Fed. I work for a Fed call.

Yeah. Federation. Yeah, that's the word I was looking for. All elite wrestling. Nice. Yeah. And that's got gold dust. And,

you. Yeah. There's like dusty. It's Dustin Rhodes, but that's gold dust. His brother, Cody, is in there. You have Chris Jericho. DDP wrestles every once in a while. That's so legit.

Yeah. Then there's like other dudes like Dean Malenko is there. There's like Arne Anderson. Jake the snake is there right now, but he doesn't wrestle. No fucking way. Yeah. He doesn't wrestle. So he manages a guy.

Arne Anderson is there. He manages a guy. So Jake the snake's just fucking bowling around backstage. Yeah. Yeah. The man. That's so fucking crazy. Right.

Okay. So it's apologies if I'm just like going back. No, no. It's okay. I've got loads of shit I want to talk about. Yeah. So has it, how many times a week do you have to wrestle to keep your contract or whatever? And has it affected?

like shows yet. Absolutely. Oh, like with the band. Yeah. I've only missed, I mean, in 21 years of playing the, with the band, I've only missed one show. And it was to wrestle DDP this year. Yeah, and you're going to do that anyway. I'm sure everyone fucking was okay with that.

The best part about it, too, is like the band is so being so cool. Like, so, um, they understand like the, the situation. They understand that like I'm a contracted wrestler. Our booking agent Nick Storch like totally gets it. He's like, I'll give you every Wednesday off. So yeah, and it's at the point in time. I guess like there's a point in time at every band's career where you have more power than you usually do. Like, and we're at that point now where it's like, well, fuck it. We don't have to play a show on a Wednesday. We don't have to play a show on a Thursday. We don't have to play a show. I mean, this makes me sound like an egomaniac. but like, we've been a band for 21 years. So it's like, you could call some of your shots now and, like, tell your people like, I'm sorry, we're not going to play shows on Wednesdays.

You know what I mean? And I think out of all seven days of the week, Wednesday's the one day that you could probably lose. It's perfect. Wednesday is the shittest day. Yeah. For everything. And you're never in like a cool city on a Wednesday. No, because the cool.

cities, no offense, but the cool cities are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Yes. No offense to anyone who's not from the cool cities. Yeah. So you played a wrestling show in Salt Lake on a Wednesday and then that's, there was no show. Sorry, that's a Salt Lake joke, which I shouldn't make because I'll be attacked. Right. So you've only missed one show.

And it was Paris, France. I missed Paris, France. Yeah. Oh, what shame. Yeah. What a shame. there is out of 42,000 monthly listeners, I believe there is 12th from France.

So there's, you can say what you like about Paris. Although, if it's, what's the fucking, the only one that isn't a drop and go? Oh, I know exactly when you're talking about.

We played, I can't remember the name of it. This one was like, you know, there's one that's out like down towards like Moulon Rouge. There's like a venue out that way. That's a drop and go. for anyone listening, that doesn't know a drop-a-go.

Drop-a-go means you have to get all your shit off the bus for the day, and then the bus comes and pick you up later that night. And that's why everyone hates Paris-France. And it's nothing to do with anything other than that. Yeah. Maybe some rain. Oh, you're talking about the little venue with the graffiti? No, I'm talking about the one that's like almost in a park.

Oh, fuck yeah. I know that one. It's got a weird stage. The stage is shaped. Kind of weird on that one. Yeah. I love it. Give me one of those every day the week.

Yeah. But the drop and go ones can fuck right off. Yeah, yeah. Right. I'm still on, I had a point that I wanted to say that I don't want you to. Missing shows. You're talking about missing shows. No, no, I can remember it.

I'm just trying to phrase it so you don't feel like you have to answer it. Oh. But the thing, here's what I would have done. You know when you were saying like, oh, I was getting all these training injuries? Yeah. Like, it hasn't, it hasn't got to that point with me yet, but the minute that happens and I'm over, you know, I'm 33 now, the minute that happens when I'm like 35 plus, yeah.

I'm just going to fucking, I'm just going to juice. See, what I'm going to immediately to juicing. This is what I was going to say. So, like, you're, you're still young enough to realize that, like, like, when I was a kid, there was only meat and potatoes lifting. So, like, you did, you did bodybuilding lifting. and you did, um, you did like all your accessories would be like bodybuilding and then all of your major lifts would be powerlifting. There was like no hybrid like cross training kind of started

when I was like almost 20 years old. Like I mean like to the public like obviously like NFL teams and stuff like that had already been doing that for years like you're still fortunate enough to come up in a career like in your life like with your with working out where like you, you probably do things for mobility. You know what I mean? So like when I was a kid, I'm not even kidding, when I was a kid, it was long muscle, weak muscle, short muscle,

strong muscle. Like that's what you had to remember. So like, like stretching was okay, but you didn't over stretch. Like you didn't like, you weren't working on mobility. You know what I mean? You were literally just like waving your arms around a little bit before you like hit the bench. You know what I mean? and like that's what I mean

it's like my body had just broken down over years because it was just I was doing stupidity and I wasn't dealing with like mobility which is like you know that's that that's key man and like I think that like if you're a person that can it does something at a high level on a weekly basis meaning like seven days a week

you're playing drums you're playing guitar you're pro wrestling something like that you know high impact I would say playing is high impact. For you, it's high impact, for sure. But, yeah, like, I feel like you have to train, man. You have to, like, I don't, I can't, I can't figure out people who, like, do the whole, like, sit on the bus all day, play the show, sit back on the bus. I physically can't do it.

It kills me. I did a thing where, like, my hip was kind of fucked up. Yeah. And for about a year, I was, anyone that listened to the podcast is bored of this shit. because I talk about it all the time, but I'll sum it up for you real quick. For like a year, my hip was giving me shit, and everyone in the world was like, oh, it's squatting, oh, it's deadlifting, all this shit. So I tried everything.

I took six months off squatting and deadlifting, and it got worse. And I basically just figured out it's just drumming and how much I drum. And I need to do more mobility and stretching before and after drumming. but I've never played so badly as I did in those six months when I wasn't like squatting or deadlifting before the show. The minute I went back to doing it, I was like, it's just, you just get that, not only mentally on tour, you get that fucking hour the day where you just like zone out, don't think about anything, but getting the blood move in.

And then you get on stage and you just feel fucking that you've warmed up for two hours. Oh, it's the best, man. I honestly like I don't know what I would do I mean for the past like it's been about six years now where you know we get to the venue and like I just go straight to the you know if it's a sound check if it's a day we get a sound check like obviously I do a sound check and then I go straight to the gym um man I like at this point in time I can't imagine touring without that without like for one the brain like mentally just getting away from like people you're around constantly. And like, I'm like, I just, I hate waiting in lines and stuff. So, like, I'm not like a catering guy.

I'm like, I'll just go get my food, man. Like, it's fine. I'll go get food and, and just go to the gym. You know what I mean? Like, it's just boom. And then you come back to the venue. You're not around dudes, like, warming their guitars up for four hours. And you know what I mean?

Like, it's just, it's just nice. You know, you just get away, come back. And then you're just, in, I don't know, you're just in good shape, you know, for anything that happens. Like, the show feels great. And also, you can, you can feel a little bit better about that post-show pizza, like, 100%. Going in on, like, a bit of ice cream as well. Yeah. You know, I always find that if I've worked out that day, I don't feel bad about fucking how big my pizza is at the end of the night.

But if you get one of those, one of those three, like, if you're in a city, in, like, three cities in a row with no gym, I just start feeling like a piece of shit in every possible way. To go back to COVID, it literally is, this is our time to think outside the box, man. And like, my workouts, the past three weeks have been better than any workout I've had in a gym in the last couple of years. This was my next question. Yeah. And it's, dude, it's, it's, you got to think outside the box. So, like, when you go to pro wrestling training, like, when you first start, the trainers just want to beat your ass.

They just literally want you to quit. It's not to quit. They're basically just seeing how much heart you have. So, like, generally, you grab it. There's a thing called the Bible. It's a deck of cards. And for every, like, suit, it's a body movement. So, like, you can do squats, pushups.

uh, burpee sit up, right? And then every time, every time you flip a card, whatever the suit is with the number, that's how many you do. And you have to do a full card to just enter a ring. So like, until you get a full deck down, which is something wild, dude, it's like, fuck. It's, it's, it's like 267 movements or some shit like that's crazy. I think I tried this on tour with Josh James once and I was like very nearly sick. Yeah, yeah. It definitely didn't get through. It'll fuck you up, man. I've thrown up numerous times doing this. Like, you know, I'm doing stuff like that.

I'm doing all like pliometrics and, um, and just body weight stuff. And it's nice, man. I got a rogue, I got a rogue sandbag. Um, I got a 60 pound kettlebell, a 45 pound kettlebell, a 25 pound kettlebell, a 25 pound kettlebell. And then a 10. And then I have like some shitty old like 15 dumbbells. And that's it. and like my workouts are fucking awesome and like I'm sore constantly in a good way not like sore

like in an old man way um it just feel great man and like the big thing too is like I don't want to go back to TV so when this is like all over and I go back to like wrestling on TV I don't want to be like 220 you know what I mean like I have to kind of remain 250 like so a lot of it is like I mean like, I mean, dude, I live with a, I live with like a Russian super soldier too. So like my girlfriend, Hana is like, this is what I was getting to. You have the benefit. If anyone doesn't know, Andy and Hana are like a fucking jacked brandelina power couple. I followed her on Instagram before like I even knew YouTube working or anything because

she's a fucking badass pro bikini model. Yeah. There's a, there's a phrase that. I use, please don't be offended, even with you. There's a phrase that I use for a couple like you two, and the phrase is, I would click that thumbnail. Yeah. Okay.

I like that. I like that. You know what I mean? I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. So carry on. Explain to me how she's helping these workouts. So, you know, I mean, she has an extreme amount of knowledge on just fitness and nutrition.

So, like, at any time. I mean, obviously, like, I eat like shit. You know what I mean? Like, I don't, I wouldn't say I eat like shit. I eat very clean. But like, I'm not the guy that's going to go like, oh, man, I shouldn't have that ice cream. Like, I'm 100% always going to eat the ice cream. And I love Burger King Whoppers more than anything in the world.

And like, I'm down to one. I eat one wopper a week just for my mental, you know, just to like have one wopper a week. and then Taco Bell every once in a while. So it's like living with an encyclopedia of like fitness and nutrition. So like it's like, oh shit, Hannah, I need to stay 250. Okay. And then like, you know, she'll make sure I eat meals that like keep my fat percentage up and stuff like that. And then on top of it, like I know I can't do sets of like 25s when I do these things.

Like when I do my squats, like if I do air squats, like just air squats, I usually do 50. So it's just, that's my conditioning. So like for me to like, so I'm not blown up in the ring, you know, I can keep that up. You know what I mean? But then all my other lifts, like I'm doing like short burst. You know what I mean? Like basically sprints. If I'm doing like a kettlebell, like a kettlebell swing or something like that, I'm going to do.

The 60 pound kettle bell, I'm going to do it 20 times, and I'm going to get through it as fast as I can, and then like maybe 30 seconds rest, boom, let's go down. But that's the problem that I'm having right now is I'm like, I have to eat so much to keep that 250 because all I'm doing is like cardio basically. And it's getting, I need to get like some bigger lifts in. And that sandbag was like the best thing I ever bought. How heavy is the sandbag? I think I have it up to about 150 pounds right now.

But the good thing is I got like the extra large bag so I can always add more. And there's a Home Depot like right next to my house. So I just, I literally have shitty old. This is like as ghetto as possible. I get like shitty old like pillowcases fill them with sand, weigh them and then I have more. Nice. That's, that is pretty. if I can go.

So I've got like, I think kettlebell is where is the next thing I need to do because I've been doing just a full body, body weight workout every other day since this shit started. And the same shit as you,

I'm doing like, I did, like, I would do just like a circuit. I'd do as many pull-ups as possible. Then like 50 push-ups. Then I've got some resistance bands, things.

to do like shoulders, rear delts, air squats with a band, and then air squats like adding a person. And then I would do like the whole round, 30 seconds rest, and then boom, do it again. But now it's getting to the point where I need to do six rounds to have had a workout. I'm losing so much fat. So I'm getting like pretty ripped,

but I can feel that if I don't start bringing in some form of weight, then I'm just going to get like skinny. on your air squats i'll give you a couple have you ever seen do you know what a hindoo squat is no okay it's like a hindoo squad is like it's a breathing technique um i'll send you a video of it like when we're off or whatever but um when you're going down you're basically on your toes and you're like you're breathing out and on the way up you breathe in you breathe out and it's like it's almost like a weird like rowing technique but it also like helps all your support muscles, like up your leg.

And it's explosive. Dude, like, if you do like a set of 20 of these and a set of 20 of these, like, Han and I have been doing the other day, we did 300 Hindu squats. We did 300 Hindu squats, 200 hindoo squats, 200 pushups. This is like while we were cooking dinner. Like, just try to like get it down. And like, you know, what a couple. It's wild.

couple. Yeah. And it was just crazy. We were doing, I think there were swings in there. Um, one thing I, I, dude, the best, one of the best chest exercises I've ever done is just like standard, just normal pushups. I would do, uh, 20 pushups and then go right into like, I by back with my 60 pound kettlebell, just close grip and then pushing up like while like flexing. Dude, it's, it's crazy, man. And like we did, I think we did 150 of those. Like it like it's every day is like a new different workout especially with her like she'll kick my ass man I need to get a kettlebell the thing that I've been doing for the for to make pushups hard because it got to the point where I'm doing like fucking two 300 pushups a day and then I don't feel it the next day wrapping a band round me for a bit of resistance and then when that got boring putting my feet up on the couch so it like mimics an incline

And I did that today with the band And that fucked me up Try doing this Like if you can get a staircase Do Just do eight Do eight push-ups At the bottom

Like the ground Then go up one step Do eight Up one step do eight Up one step do eight So you're hitting an incline The whole way To

See I So this is when When we first met We went and trained Yeah Me you and Tom Went and trained In fucking

Where were we It's like Nuremberg, I think it was. Yeah, it was Nuremberg, yeah. And we went to that gym, and you had some psycho, two psychos. It's a psychilateral-raised, like, pyramid thing with dumbbells, and a psycho, like, 300 reps with just the bar on bench press. And now you've given me this sweet gift of the staircase push-up thing. I wouldn't have thought of that.

They're great, man. And you can do them, like, once you get back in a gym, you can do them on the Smith machine. So just do them on the ground, then just go up, up, up. on the Smith machine. It's the same thing. Like it'll get to a point, I promise you, it'll get to a point

where like, if you're doing a push-up just on a wall, so if you do like, say you do like, uh, ground one, two,

three, four, five steps and then go to the, just the wall, it's going to feel like you have 300 pounds of your back. It's insane.

Wow. Yeah. That's fucking sick. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Um, when you probably need to talk about music,

even though I don't fucking want to. Yeah, I'll talk about anything, man. I'm just talking about, I want to talk about working out, but we need to talk about music or else people will be like, you didn't talk about music. Of course. You just finished recording with Will. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, I mean, you've obviously recorded with him, like, what a treat.

Yeah. Just a treat. What a fucking guy. He literally is, like, it's so weird because, like, in, I'm in wrestling, and in wrestling, there's, like, masters and, like, a lot of guys get. accolades for being like legends and stuff like that. In music, you hear people say like legends, but you never hear anyone say like a master.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Will is a fucking master. Unbelievable producer and general human. Yeah. And it's... So, sorry, carry on. Oh, no, I was to say he just never stops with ideas.

And it's crazy because you'd think that he would lose all of his ideas from working with so many bands, but, like, he just adapts. And, like, I don't know how it is with you, but, like, he's become, like, a sixth member of every time I die. He's not, like, a producer. Like, when you, you know, you bring them in,

like, he's a six member. Oh, he's absolutely the fifth member of Strape in the Path. And he's been mentioned a million times. Yeah. We just write so quickly with him. Yeah. Well, like, we'll, we'll hit a brick wall and he'll go, ah, what about this? And then it's like, okay, that's exactly what it needs.

Perfect. Again, Will. Well done. Hey, masterclass. It's just, it's literally masterful. And it's funny because, like, if you went and you did something with another band, like, even if it was just like, hey, we're kind of like, we hit a writer's block, can you come, like, listen to some shit and like, blah, blah, blah.

Like, you're going to use your go-toes because you probably have a pocket full of go-toes. You know what I mean? Like, there's always just like ways into riffs and ways out of riffs. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like Will is like that dude that like here's, he just hears, like he has the longest Rolodex for those things where it's like shit you've never heard of and like would never go, like would never go to.

But it's a go to him and you're like, how the fuck did that work? And then it ends up being like one of the best parts on the record because it's something that you would come like you and your band would never think of yeah i think he does it so well because although he's almost he's not even pigeonhole but you know he just does metal bands for the most part metal metal core but when you ask him i think i i ask everyone their top five bands all the time i'm going to ask you in a minute but yeah i like when i asked him the answers were all bands that i love but not like that i wouldn't expect him do it was like fucking ISIS, nine-ish nails.

Like, a bunch of shit I've never heard him produce something like, but obviously all that shit rubs off. And he just brings ideas outside the box to coin your shit, outside the box ideas, and just brings them in. Yeah, that's, it's like, it's funny because, like, to go back to outside the box thing,

like, I think I only like to deal with outside of the box people. like anyone that like goes and like take something and just totally thinks of it out there and like you and I even if you're you don't think you're an outside of the box guy or I don't think I'm outside the box guy like we are because we decided to just get in a van and fucking like ruin our lives you know what I mean so like yeah for the better or for worse for the for always for the better but like like people need to realize that like when you step foot into that van like you're opening up up an enormous can of worms, regardless of what you think it is. You're going into a life that is

not like the life you used to live. And that is a true statement that no one ever admits. Oh, 100%. You will lose friends, family, fucking, you will gain friends and family that you never thought that you would be friends with. They will lose jobs. Yeah. It will be insane. But there is no way I would ever do anything else. Exactly. That's exactly it. man, I wouldn't take anything I've ever done back in the last 21 years. It's the greatest thing in the world. And that's why this home time is like, it's just kind of making me a civilian for a bit. And I'm like low-key freaking out.

Not talking people who aren't in bands like civilians, but I mean like as in they, they don't get the life. Yeah. And a taste of this is boring me to that. But then there's like people that the exact passion that these guys like everyone listening to this right now, the passion that you hear in our voice is about music and about what we do and what we love. I have friends who are like, I was born to be a father and I'm so happy that I have kids. And like that is, it's to me like it's the coolest thing in the world because I'm not a kid person. I'll be the first to admit it.

I like, I like children when they're around. I don't ever want one. I'm not a kid. I'm just not a kid person. Yeah. But like, you know what I'm saying? Like, there's, I have friends who are like, I have the best job in the world. I have the greatest family.

I love being a father. And it's like, fuck yeah, man. Like, that's rad. I think that's just as cool as being a guitar player, a drummer in a band. Because he's put. So you believe that. You believe that. wholeheartedly. There's no element of you that thinks maybe they're just saying this because...

No, no, no. I honest, I'm talking about my genuine friends that I know. You know what I mean? Like, I know, like, yeah, I have a friend named Tiny who, like, he was born to be a dad. Like, that was like, that's what he's wanted to do his entire life. He married his high school sweetheart, still with her to this day. They still love each other just as much as they did the first time. I mean, it's like, when I see people like... like that and I'm like, fuck man, that is like, that's the same passion I have for wrestling and music. Like, that's a total life. That's totally cool. You know what I mean? And now I'm fortunate enough, I have a girlfriend who like has a passion outside of what she does for work. And like, it's,

you know what I mean? Like her bodybuilding is like, you see her light up and she coaches these girls and like she can she's so concerned with these girls lives and like it's really really inspiring for me to be home yeah that's kind of sorry to cut you up but before i forget that's kind of as well anyone listening who's in a band who is single that is the kind of girl that you need to get because none of the other ones will deal with you being away for six months yeah unless they have a fucking passion of their own, there is no way that they are letting you get away with being on tour for six months out of year. And it's like we have a complete trust on each other and like it's, I don't know,

it's just, it's awesome. And like, it's, I've never had the opportunity in any other relationship I've been in to like go with someone to do something that they do, that they love to do. And I finally got to go to like her shows with her when she competes. and it's like, I remember like walking out of this one show and I was like, you and I couldn't have picked two of the weirdest lives. Like, bodybuilding is insane. Wrestling is insane. Like, it's just like, and it's just so cool to like have Hana and like, you know, when she's there, she can like laugh at it, even though she's there being a part of it. And then like vice versa when I'm doing my wrestling thing

and she laughs at something, I'm there laughing right next to her because I'm like, this is absurd. Like, it's absolutely absurd. And, like, even with, like, music, like, you know, you probably have, like, I always call it, like, local friends. Like, friends that you've had your entire life who don't have music passion, blah, blah,

but then they come to your show and see your show and you're like, they're just like, holy fuck, what the, what is this? You know what I mean? And, like, it's so cool to live vicariously. you know and I always try to take with my closest friends who don't do music and stuff. I just, I don't know. I always try to like take respect to the things that they like because sometimes it could

probably be pretty pretty, I'm trying to think of the word, redundant for someone to come back and be like, oh my God, when I was in Elliott, a dude from Metallica was at the show. oh my god when i was in chicago i have this like insane thing and then they're just like oh cool like yeah i'm i'm going to school right now to become a doctor you know what i mean so like i try i try to be as like thoughtful of that because when i was 19 years old i decided to get in a van do you know what i mean and like not everyone made that i feel like subconsciously i cut all of those people out of my life yeah Yeah. I'm sure.

Not to like, not to cool guy them, but for that reason, because I would go away and then come back and they just wouldn't get it. And then it would be like, we slowly had nothing in common and then gone. Yeah. Exactly. It's just, yeah. And that the thing is, too, is like, remember that like, your schedule is fucked and their schedule is fucked. So like when you're sitting home all day doing nothing, they're at home like working. And then you're like, oh, fuck, man, you get out at like four o'clock. Let's go do this thing. blah, blah. And they're just like, well, no, I got to like go home.

I want to go home. Yeah. And it's like, all right. And that, that, I know that happened a lot. Like when I first started touring, there was a bunch of friends that I had. And then they just kind of like went away because the opportunity of us hanging out just wasn't there anymore because we were both. Yeah.

I think it's as much them as it is us. Yeah. It's like they can't deal with it either. Yeah. And yeah, that's, yeah, it's a crazy thing. While we're still on the subject of your lovely girlfriend, I listen to your, let's do a quick plug. You have a podcast. Yes.

And there is a very, kicking ass. Is it kicking ass with Jesse and Andy? Yeah. And there is an episode where you interview your girlfriend. where you're just having a chat. Yeah. And it's a great listen for anyone who's listening to this because it's a very open conversation between two people.

And I think it's a real good indicator of how relationships should be. Yeah. Like the way you, how open you are with each other. Yeah. She's very, that's the thing. Like she is, she's very truthful. And she does it, she does it. have like that that hold back she'll talk about anything and like it's so funny because you know

that podcast that i do with jesse jessie and laura who was the bunny and the blade from my like tag team like they're married and like they don't have that like type of relationship or like they can talk about sex and stuff like that with other people and like it kind of baffles people when it's like oh sorry guys we were late because we were like boning sorry you know what i mean and then like people are like, oh my God, what? And it's just like, Hanna's like, yeah, yeah, we, sorry, like, things happened and that's why we're late. Like, it's not like. Well, it's, it's lucky I know that that's what you're like, because I had to send you a message at three minutes past six saying I'll be five minutes. Yeah, yeah. For similar reasons. Yes, but that's, you know,

that's what I'm saying. Like, that's, it should be totally fine. Like, this is the woman I'm going to marry. You know what I mean? So, like, get used to. You. to it because in 30 years, I'm going to say the same fucking thing. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Is that official? It's not official, not official. It's an exclusive scoop. I know she's the one. You know what I mean? I know she's the one. I don't have to worry about it, you know? That's so cute. Yeah. Just be careful. Just be careful because seven, seven years down the line, you might find out she's not the one. Okay. Take it from me. Yeah. Well, that was the, okay, so Hana like, tipped me in on that. And I had no idea that, like, when we were supposed to hang out,

when we were over there, I had no idea. So, like, she told me, and I was like, wait, what? And I was like, oh, my God. Like, I'm so glad I didn't, like, I didn't want to talk about it. It's like, I'm not going to bring anything up. But, yeah, you and I were supposed to hang with Hana in Manchester, right? And it was around exactly the same time. Yeah.

So, yeah. That's a different story. And I'm still in the, I'm in the process of divorce. So I can't really, really talk about it. Of course. I'm very sorry. Yeah. I did.

Hang out next time. I did end up wrestling that day too. So you would have gotten a wrestling. I literally like, I had to sound check. So I had to go to the venue, call the match, which one of the guys didn't show up until three minutes until I had to get back to sound check. So I didn't get to call a match. I ran back, sound checked, ran back in my gear, wrestled, and then ran back and played the show.

Like I had like, I had like an hour and a half to make this all happen. And I made it happen. What a, what a fucking guy. Insane. What a fucking guy. Let's fucking, I'm seamlessly on the hour mark, I will now go for top five bands, man. Okay. This is a tough one, but it's, uh, I think in times like this, I'm not like really seeking out new music.

Like, I'm totally forgetting that music is even, like a thing. Why are you doing that? Because I'm doing that as well, but I'm doing it for a really specific reason. Oh, there's no specific reason. It's just the fact that, like, one, I'm trying to, like,

I'm trying to do the whole phone thing way less. So, like, if I take the dog for a walk or something like that, usually I'm with Hana, so, like, I don't really need my phone. So I just leave my phone here. And then, uh, yeah, just trying not to do phone that much. You know what I mean?

Like, I'm trying to have to be on my phone. So, like, I, I don't really like know what is new that's coming out or anything like that. So if I do listen to music, I'm listening to like my go-toes. So I'll give you my go-toes. Give me a go-to. As long as they include some like all-time favorites and we might go off on segways if any of them we agree on.

Of course. These are all-to-discuits. All favorites. So Black Sabbath is one of my all-time favorite bands. It's probably, there's probably some in there that you probably don't expect either. Are you, are you Aussie or D-O or both? I'm Ozzy. Yeah, good.

I want the riff. I want the riff. I'm looking for the riff. Yeah. What's your favorite Black Sabbath riff? Let's see if you've got the same one. Mine is probably juggernaut or a super not on volume four. Yeah.

That's a relatively deep cut. Oh yeah. It's a great riff, though. Hole in the sky is awesome too. That's another deep cut. Yeah. Yeah, fuck. I thought you were going to hit me with a Into the Void.

Into the Void is one of the greatest songs of all time. I believe Into the Void might be my favorite riff of all time. Oh, it's unreal. And there's so many to choose from in that song. There's like three really good riffs in that song. Big. But I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

I'll go with Black Sabbath. I love Yes. And yes. Hang on. Well, well, well, well,

now we're seeing it. We're going on a segue here. Yeah. That's it. Favorite Rush album. Sorry, yes album. Closer to the edge.

Nice. See, I only really fuck with close to the edge and Frank. agile, but I love them both so fucking much. Dude, closer to the... It's straight up is... Close to the edge is a Mars Vorta record.

Like, if you listen to that record, it's straight up just the Mars Vulta. It's unreal. I got taught drums by Bill Bruford for two years. Really? A little fact, yeah. Oh, then... Huge argument about my sugar.

and I hate to say he was an absolute fucking prick he didn't like the shugger yeah well it was it was around I think 2005 and he was like it was like a small classroom thing

at my music college where like 20 of us got these lessons with Bill Bruford and he fucking was such a pompous prick like knew who he was yeah knew he was really fucking like a godfather of Prague

and he was going to around the class and he was going like I want you to tell me about the new the new album that the last album that you bought and what about it made it special and what about the drums and it was when catch 33 just came out okay and I was like yo uh this is spanned my sugar they deliberately programmed the drums to sound mechanical and he just goes no I don't want to hear it that's not real music and I was like yeah if you'll just hear me out like they're doing it on purpose like progressively to make it sound like a robot yeah so it was all cold and he was like no I'm not having it that's programmed drum that's not real music

and we had this big fucking argument in front of everyone, and then he was just a cunt to me for the rest of the fucking year. Oh. I kind of ruined it for me. I hate that. I mean, to be honest, though, all the good stuff is written with Alan White anyway, so it doesn't matter. Okay.

But it will say my favorite band of all time will get into. I'll just give you the runners up now. Yes. Okay. Absolutely is like, is just one of my all-time favorites. Wow, I'm trying to think of like heavier stuff, Pantera for sure. How do you feel listening to Pantera now? I do.

I love them. I really do. Still fine? Yeah, still fine. If you're listening to the riffs, if you're listening to the riffs, great band. I mean great band. Yeah. The other day I literally, I literally just pit with my dog.

I just played all the best Pantera breakdowns and just pit with my dog. And just record that for me. I would rather listen to that now. You record those risks. I mean, Phil Anselmo shot. I get it. I get it.

But that band, like the stuff that Dymebaked Daryl does, the stuff that Vinnie Paul does is like wild. I mean, just those two, I mean, they came out of the same fucking house. That's insane. It is crazy. It is fucking crazy.

Let's see here. Wow. I'll just tip my number one is King Crimson. That's my favorite band of all time. And that's another... So Prague. Another Bill Bruford. Yeah.

Prague is like... Yeah. But again, like all the like... There was a few drummers at that time. Bill Bruford played on all the great stuff though. But yeah. He played on, did he play on in the court of the Crimson King? Is that him?

No, that's an original drummer. Yeah, I can't remember that dude's his name. He didn't hang, he only hung around for like the first two records, three records? I can't believe how modern. Obviously, Kanye fucking sampled it, but I still can't believe how modern that fucking song is, whatever that song is. You're talking about 21st century schizoid band. It's literally, even before fucking Kanye sampled it, it sounds like it was recorded in

like the 90s. Yeah, it's insane. Like the production of it is fucking insane. And it's like 60 fucking nine or something crazy. So Han and I, this is like, Han and I love King Crimson. And I like, I saw it in the 90s. I saw him like 96, 97, somewhere out of there. Bill Bruford was playing with him at the time.

Prick. Sorry, carry on. No, no, no. So we, I was like, oh, fuck man. Like, we should see if King Crimson's like on two. or we should go see him or whatever. And it was so funny. Like, I looked that day.

They were in Toronto the next night, which Toronto is like, it's, Toronto is like 70 miles from us. And they were there the night before. But then like in two weeks, they were playing Radio City music hall in New York City. So it's like,

well, fuck it. Let's go. So like brought plane tickets, bought tickets and stuff. We went and saw them. It to this day is the best show I've ever seen. And they don't move at all. And like,

talk about. masterclass. No amps on stage. There's no like real amps on stage. They put the horn, like Mel Collins, they put the horn player behind glass or like that Plexiglass. So they can't be heard. Like church shit. Yep. And then the drums, they have three drum sets. So it's like Pat Massilato. I can't think of the other two dudes names, but like Pat Maselado's played with them for a long, long time. And I'm probably butchering his last name. I've never had to say that out loud. But like all the drums are miced like a room, like there's room mics and stuff like that. So that all like the drums are, it sounds like a recording, dude.

Like when you see them live. So sick. It's so. And I like realized like the reason why every time I die is probably just we're so loud. And like we push the front of stage. We hit the front of stage so hard with our amps. And I was like, there's no way we sound like. and I got like super self-conscious and then I started getting I started understanding like

why people would use like effect or axe effects and like like stuff like that where like you don't have to have a cabinet you just play with any your monitors and then it was just wild dude they were so good um yeah so what is that for that's fucking sick wait that's four but you've given me your best of all time so yeah this is either the main runner up or just an afterthought Oh, this is... David Bowie, probably probably main runner up,

very close to King Crimson. And there's like a... Interesting answers from such a riff guy. Yeah. Oh, you got Sabbath and you have Pantera in there, like...

Yeah, I guess that's enough riffs to just fucking... I'm gonna switch Pantera. Also from like a straight edge. Yeah, get them out of there. They're done for me. I'm switching Pantera. I'm, I'm supposed to...

I'm putting Metallica in there. Oh, thank fuck for that. And now we can do, please give me the correct, and there is two possible answers. You're the correct top five Metallica albums. Okay. So do you want me to put them in order? Because I can do that.

I want them in order. And there's only two correct answers. Kill Ball is my all-time favorite Metallica record. Wow. Yeah. Yep. So it's legit, though. I'll give you that.

So legit. Kill them all. I would go, kill them all. Let me guess yours. Let me guess yours. I wanted to guess it. Was it going to be and justice for all?

Yeah. And then ride the lightning. Yes. Black album. Switch the last two. I think like Master Puppets I like completely beat the shit of when I was a kid. I probably listened to it too much. It's just kind of boring to be now.

I'm the same. So yours actually is the same as mine. Yeah. Except you just bump everything forward and you stick kill them all on the end. How? Just because I, like, I don't know. There's some tracks on it that I just don't fuck with. I know that you're younger.

But what was... Yeah, but you're not that old. No, no, no, no, no. But this is a very specific question that, like, everyone that is a Metallica fan should be asked. what was the record you first listened to Metallica? Like what was your first Metallica, like, thought? Like, when you first heard them and went, this band is the band I am going to, like, follow the rest of my life.

For whom the bell tells, it was Ride the Lightning. Okay. Do you remember when you heard it? Yes. I was at my friend Mike Carter's house, and we were planning a song in first, grade of high school. Mm-hmm.

And we were planning to do songs for, like, a school concert. And we already had one figured out, which was fucking the Guns and Roses song. What's the fucking sweet child of mine? Okay. That was one of them. I already knew that one. And then he said, what about this song? And he put it on from a burnt CDR.

Yes. And... Dun, dun, dan, dan. and I was just like, oh my fucking God. Like who is this? Yeah. That's like, so for me, it was the one video, obviously like when I was a kid, MTV was huge. So like the one video came out wild, mind blowing.

Because I was probably like, oh my God, I was probably like 14 when that came out, 15 years old, somewhere around there. And then obviously when you're 14 and 15 years old, you don't have a job. so you don't have money. The only money you have is what your parents give you. And, you know, whatever that time was. At that point in time, I just wasn't, I wasn't working at 14. But they had a 598 tape and it was a garage days, 598. So it was like the original garage days.

And it was five, you know, for $6, I could get a Metallica record. So like I bought it. That's the record that like still to this day, like my favorite sound is like, like it's because it's in between um master puppets and and justice for all and it's it's almost like an justice for all recording with bass it's cool so i it rips there's like i read an interview with larz recently like metallic is my favorite round of all time yeah yeah i love it so i read an interview with larz recently and they were asking like will you ever a remix saint anger and b or some other shit

and he was like, nah, it's like decisions we made in Metallica history that will stay forever. Like, yes, we should have had louder base and yes, we shouldn't have used that snare and St. Anger, but we'll never change it. And I was like, that's fucking sick. Yeah.

Like, you've fucked up and you're just owning it. Yeah. Absolutely. It's fucking perfect. But I'll tell you this. I had a weird segue into like, I'm mega into black metal. Yeah.

Except for like, now. it's now it's really difficult to like navigate the yeah the political correctness of black metal bands but i like i got into black metal super fucking early because um i had s an m metallica because it was literally i just listened to i listened to metallica and hip-pop and that was about it yeah and then i i had s and then i like i think i was searching on fucking ask jeeves or something like bands that sound like S and M Metallica and then Emperor came up

Yes And I was like Was it the put it on And I was like Wait No it was like Back then I think it was fucking When they had a hiatus

So yeah Because Prometheus I think was 2006 So the one that I first put on Was Anthems So that whole big intro With like the fuck With the fucking owl and everything

And then it just kicks in And then there's simps and then I believe that might have been my first blast beat that I heard and I went, wait a minute, what the fuck? This is like saying, this is like S and M but 300 BPM. And that was it, I was just fucking hooked. When I was a kid, I went like MP3.com blast beats and then it comes up with, I come blood, cannibal corpse,

and then I was just done. It was like, okay, this is me now. When I, it was, it's funny you say that because it was like, when I was a kid, I remember like, it was like Pantera, Battalica, slayer. Like that was like, that was it. That was like the three heaviest bands. There was no ever heavy bands. They didn't know what was, even though I was from Buffalo and that's where cannibal corpse was. It still didn't matter. And then like, I met a group of dudes and it was like in that group of dudes was like, I got like posy hardcore. I got black flag. I'm talking about like all different

people. Like so it was a group of like skaters. Like we skated when I was a kid. And like one guy was into like youth crew hardcore at the time one guy was into black flag one guy was into like extreme like grind core and like death metal and like i had i was so just opened up and i remember being like wow like pantera really isn't the heaviest band slayer isn't the heaviest band and like all my i mean i loved them but like now then it was like okay then i started this like brutal truth and i just you know grindcore bands like that and I always loved the NEPOM death when I was a kid, like right after that. And then I remember like hearing like black metal for the first time. And I was, I was probably closer to 20 years old at that time.

And it was like, holy fuck. And then finding out about like the lineage in that, you know, you would read about it in like Metal Maniacs magazine or something like that and be like, holy shit. And then you realize like there's black metal bands from the U.S. and like I can go see absu play if they're on tour or like you know what I mean like that black battle is so fucking wild again it's pro wrestling all over again that fucking and also it's like I was mega reint like despite being a fucking white kid from England I was mega into like gangster rap because of all the fucking beef and then

also when you get into black metal you're like wait he stabbed him to death yeah All of that shit was just super interesting. There's a bunch of different other stories. You know what I mean? Like that's, you know, you just hear the ones that are sensationalized. And then like, do you have to realize that there's bands like shining and like where you're like, wait a second, this dude's like cutting himself and trying to cut people on the crowd.

And you're like, oh, that's kind of insane. And then you find out like, oh, wait a second. This dude's white power. That's kind of gross. All right. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? That's why it's like a fucking political hot potato.

I got a great story. I have a great story for you. Are you a fan of Gorgoroth? I've also got a Gorgorov story. Okay. This is insane. You give me yours and then I'll give you mine. Okay, mine's kind of long.

It's insane. So we were on tour, we were overdoing like festivals in Europe and it happened that we we were on a whole bunch of tour of shows with Godseed. And we would either play like people. before them or after them. It was always like every single day. Like God's seed would play. So I was around Gaul nonstop.

And like anyone who says Gaul isn't the most like badass motherfucker on the earth. He's the most punk rock dude there is because the people he plays with hate who he is because he's a homosexual. He's married to a dude. He's, you know what I mean? Like he's. Yeah. He's sick. He's a fucking badass.

Yes. When dudes talk about punk rock, like they don't even know that this motherfucker exists. Like, he shuns everybody. You know what I mean? Like,

he's exactly what every one of those dudes hates. And then he's there doing exactly what they're doing. And like throwing the same. Right in front of them. Yes. And no one fucks with him, man. You know what I mean?

So we did these shows and like, I saw him chill Phil Anselmo out. Like, Phil and Selma walked into the room and tried doing like the whole like thumbs up like lip out like thing and then saw a gall sitting there and then turned into a little boy like he was just like okay hi and then walk through and it was crazy so there's this there's it was with full force vest which I'm sure you're probably played before and that's the one that's on the fucking airship or whatever isn't it like the fucking boat one it's a really weird one there's like uh

there's like a tent stage, then there's a main stage. And like the tent stage goes until like 3pm, then the main stage goes until 11. And then all the really extreme fucked up bands go from like midnight to like 5 a.m. And this particular one, Marduk was playing at like 5.30 in the morning or five o'clock in the morning or something like that. And Napalm death. Big question mark over Marduk in terms of all the debatable shit.

Extremely, yes. But Napalm death was. the first band to play when that stage kicked back on. So like, and down played last on the main stage, or no, Parkway Drive played last on the main stage, downplayed before them. So, so we're, I'm on stage watching Napalm death play, which is insane to me. And, uh, I think it was like Pepper Keenan. Um, it was him and Jimmy came walking up on stage and they kind of grabbed me and said, here, come over here with us and watch us. And I was like, oh, this is fucking crazy because I'm here with like Pepper Keenan and fucking, I hate God's like one of my favorite bands.

So like I'm, I'm freaking out because like Jimmy Bowers there. You know what I mean? And then like Phil comes and stands next to us and we're like watching Napalm death. His wife goes to walk on stage. Stage manager grabs her and like he's aggressive with her. So Phil like runs over there. I just see talking blah, blah, blah. She comes over. Everything's fine. Napalm death finishes their set. We're walking off stage. The stage manager comes over. Everyone's kind of ahead.

I'm kind of behind. And the stage manager grabs her again and starts screaming at her. And I just grabbed them and I was like, hey, man, you shouldn't talk to her like that. Like, just don't, you don't touch her and like chill the fuck out, right? And then the whole down crew ended up getting like wind of it. They come over. Now there's like weird, like, German and like redneck beef.

And I'm kind of like in the middle of it. And like his wife, Phil's wife comes up and she goes, you're big. Can you just protect Phil? Make sure he doesn't do it. It's like, yeah, sure. So like I'm kind of like on the ground now. And I'm standing in between like these redneck dudes. And then like this stage manager grabs like a whole bunch of German

Hell's Angels. And they're on the other side. There's a dude that's about six, eight, and probably like 400 pounds ripped to the gills, like just shredded. And I'm like, I'm fucked. Like that's, it was basically like the mountain, like, there. And I'm like, I'm the big guy over here and he's the big guy over here. I'm fucked. Like, that guy's going to kill him, like literally murder me.

And then I look next to me and fucking terrorist buses right there. and like they're on tour with Alpha and Omega and I'm like, okay, I'm good, I'm good. Like I got numbers now. Like my real friends are over here. They, whatever. Anyways, they're fucking arguing. And Phil is doing this thing. He's doing like the high school thing.

Like you probably had like a friend that was going to get in a fight with a guy. And like, he'd come over and be like, all right, guys, on the count three, I'm going to go over there and I'm going to throw the first punch that you guys throw. And like, then, you know, and he's doing this. He's like coming over and he's like, all right, guys. one, I'm going to go over there, I'm going to hit this guy, you guys come running over. And we're just like, okay. And like, this goes on for like one hour. Like, he's just walking back and forth.

The entire time this is happening, Gall is like standing up on this like landing, warming up. He's got full face pain on it. And he's watching this whole thing happen with like such disgust. Like, what are these fucking idiots doing? Like, and he's like warming up to play because Godseed is playing like after Napalm death. and he's like watching this whole thing. It was the most stoically weird, scary thing because he was just looking over us

with his face paint on, just like... It looks terrifying anyway. Shaking his head. Yeah. So anyways, the fight never fucking happens, obviously. His tour manager comes out of the bus and goes,

Phil, stop fucking around, get on the bus, we got to go. So they just all go on the bus, they leave. I go over the Hales Angels, dude.

So it's like, you guys knew who that was, right? And they were like, yeah, I was feeling somewhere. We weren't going to do anything. And I was like, thank God.

And I looked at the big guy and I was like, you were going to fucking murder me. And he was like, yeah, I would have. I was like, okay, cool. All right, I'll see you. So we continue to do these shows with Godseed and like the band itself are like really cool. They're just like rocker dudes. And then there's gall. So the very last show, I don't know where the fuck it was, what festival it was.

But Iron Maiden was the headlining band. And it's one of those like back. stages where there's just drop, you know, the, it's just, uh, just walls. There's no ceiling. You know what I mean? You know what I'm talking about. Like they just throw them in like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, I tell the guys, it's like, yo, let me just shower real quick. And then we'll go watch Iron Maiden. And they're like, dude, they go on like really soon. And I was like, fuck. And I think we were flying the next day. So I wanted to get a shower. It's like, boom, I go take a shower. No one's there. I get out of our room to run and go see Iron Maiden. And right when I get out of the door, Gall is standing

there and we like bump into each other like face to face and he's smiling ear to ear like happier like a like a like a you know just super happy like he had just found something out and I never I mean dude he was frowning the entire time until this moment and I was like holy shit I was so caught off guard I had him by the shoulders and I'm like what are you so happy about he goes I unmaid in his plague and then he just froliced away like a little girl and it was like what did he say? He goes, Iron Maiden is playing? And then just like skipped away. Like super excited. And he went and watched Iron Maiden play. And it was like, no one is ever going to live that moment. Except for me. I have like, I have a more on brand girl story. Okay. Yes. Yes. It's a nice,

short one. Good. So I used to work at, I used to work at a music distributor which did Candlelight. and did so like all the black metal stuff all the like Gorgoroff emperor all the fucking big ones and they did merch licensing as well for the same bands anyway one day there's a phone call and my friend in the warehouse

answers it and a guy goes is this I won't say the merch company because I don't want to throw anyone under the bus is this blah blah blah merch and then the guy's like My friend is like yeah And he's like

I'm going to kill you Whoa And my friends My friend's like What the fuck And he's like You printed red Gorgoroth merch

Gorgoth merch Gorgoth merch is white On black only And uh fucking My mate's just like I think I better get my fucking manager And then

goes and gets the manager Which is this little middle age woman She picks up the phone Gets a fucking ear for as well and it basically transpires that until that point I guess all gorgoroff merch had to be printed white on black and they had pre they'd like taken a bit of artistic liberty liberty and done one on red on black or it's vice versa I can't remember he basically just threatened to kill everyone Jesus Christ I think it was more of like that's just his way of dealing with things

yeah yeah that's awesome that's very cool I heard like So awesome. I heard like a similar story about, um, um, Wattain and that band Young and in My Way, like they, like, Young and in My Way had kind of like, apeed a few of their like designs or something like that, you know, like, there was that point in time where like bands would take other bands merch and just put their name on it. And I think there was something along those lines and an email was sent from Eric from Watane and it was like if you don't stop making

this birch we will be in the United States at this time we will kill you or something like that along that land or beat their ass or something like that like it's like no joke they're the best it's like I want I want those stories in Watain as well yeah and I believe the man that was debatable is now not in the band yeah I don't know it's hard to keep up yeah but there was some there was some debatable shit anyway my AirPods are going to run out of and I don't want to end this without saying goodbye.

I was just to say this. That's it. Listen to Oro Noir. If we're going to talk about black metal, everyone should listen to O'R Noir. They're the best. Do you know what? I know the logo and I've never checked them.

Dude, please listen to them. Amazing. I'll send you some stuff to listen to on that. They're great. This has been sick. Yeah. It's been awesome. I'll do this.

Oh shit. What I was going to say on the yes thing, I saw yesterday, there's a band. I've never even heard of them, but apparently their technical death metal called Allagion or something. They did a cover of Roundabout

yesterday, apparently. Oh, I'll listen to that. Like a technical death metal cover of Roundabout. I guess if you just search for metal cover of Roundabout. I haven't listened to it yet, but it was on my list of To-Doo today,

and I forgot until you said it. Yeah. Oh, I'll listen right after this. Sick. Yeah. Mate, this has been a pleasure. Yeah. Send me your file and just send me a text or whatever.

I will for sure. A debrief. Yeah. But it's been sick. Thank you so much. been awesome. And you got anything to plug? I guess you don't. You're a wrestler. I got to say right here. Hannah told me to ask you about Grussell, a Grussel shirt. She's the, she's the biggest fan of Grussell. I might have to just custom print one just by her. She loves, she loves

because I don't want to do it because I know I'll sell so many. And it will be the character of the person that scams people to make money that we all know, the permit sellers. If I actually sold t-shirts, I would be too close. The grustful t-shirts would be too close to the character. Just make a few. Someone actually asked me to do a fucking, the company that does Amazon's

social media asked me to host a podcast for them in character but make it actually have facts about marketing but then I would do it like in character so it seemed like a joke and I was like, I don't think

you guys get the joke. Yeah. The joke is exactly the sort of person that would do that for money. So no, goodbye. Yeah. But that was a thing. Yeah, which is amazing. Yes. I'll make a custom shirt for her. Okay, good, good, good. She really loves it. Fuck yeah. Yeah. Awesome, man. A beautiful. Send me a text. I will. I will. I will. I appreciate you. I appreciate you. Take care, buddy. Later bad. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.