The Downbeat - BLAYTHE STEUER | NO CURE, NIHILISM + (K)NIVES…IT’S GOING TO GET DARK

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

My guest on the podcast this week is Blaythe Steuer of phenomenally heavy Alabama hardcore/metal/whatever band NO CURE. We caught up on the band’s first full headline tour to dig deep on the lyrics and meanings behind the insane new record ‘It’s Going To Get Dark’, getting stabbed at a show, straight edge, getting glazed by Fantano…and we glaze Hatebreed.SUPPORT THE POD:the downbeat clothing available at:https://www.thedownbe.atpatreon: http://www.patreon.com/thedownbeatGET SOME PLUGINS:get 30% off all plugins with code THEDOWNBEAT at https://www.neuraldsp.comget MY drum sound at https://www.ggd.coGET MY GEAR:podcast gear i use: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/3kZreAget 10% off Zildjian ALCHEM-E Headphones USE CODE: REYNLORDhttps://zildjian.sjv.io/enJ1vjCHECK OUT THE SOCIALS:twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/reynlord instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynlord/instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedownbeatJOIN THE DISCORD:discord: https://www.discord.gg/thedownbeat

What's up, guys, welcome back to the Downbeat Podcast. My guest on the podcast this week is Blade Stoya of Alabama, hardcore, death core, metalcore, whatever you want to call them, band, No Cure. We caught up on the band's first full headlining US tour to talk about their unreal new album, It Is Going to Get Dark. And guess what? It is going to get dark. Definitely one of my albums of the year. It's up there, maybe top three. It's unrelenting. It is so heavy. From our chat, I learned a lot of the inspiration for the album is stuff that we have a, you know, stuff you wouldn't think, but we have a mutual appreciation of, not going to leak it.

Watch the episode. We dig deep on the lyrics. We talk about getting murked at a show. We talk about getting glazed by Fantano and we glaze hatebreed. Before we get started, I want to let you know, we have a Patreon. Patreon.com 4 slash the downbeat on it. You can get early access to episodes. You can get early access to merch.

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Without further ado, it's Blayed Stoya of No Kure on the Downbeat podcast. I assume that these would never move. You come in here six foot fucking million? I have to move things. I figured that you would just get more tall guests because it's obviously better. Is your headphone level okay? Yeah, I hear there's like no latency. This is incredible.

Why would that be latency? I am often finding latency in my life. On Minecraft? No, not in Minecraft. but when making screaming record. So about Minecraft? I don't have a great setup for my Discord, so I'd be hitting them with the computer microphone

and they hate it. Anyway, Blade. What's your last name? Stoyer. Stoyer. Welcome to the downbeat. Appreciate it, Craig. Thanks for coming.

Craig, Craig. What would you say to say it again? Honestly, if I hadn't seen the Gojira one, I would have said Craig because I'm from America, but you said Craig and you're from the UK. That's what they do there. That's your name. Yeah.

I think the etymology it. I think that's the right word. Not entomology as insects. Which is awesome. That Scottish people went to America because it's a Scottish name. It means rock in Scottish. Craig. It's literally Craig. And then they introduced themselves as Craig. And then it was either we're either getting Craig or Craig. But I don't really care. I'm used to it now. Ten years of tour in here. I've got used to, it's just saying, hi, my name's Craig. Yeah. But I would say Craig. I think that you should insist on Craig. I feel like it comes across arrogant.

It's your name. People should call you the sound that you like. I don't care, to be honest with you, bro. So, Minecraft. Okay. You are desperate to not talk about Minecraft first? We had one funny exchange about Minecraft. Yeah, I do love Minecraft.

Just an incredible game. I have had no time to play on this tour because I've overcommitted my time, as I often do. But yeah, we have like a Minecraft server and some friends play on it. A few of like the Lorna Shore Camp people rip, not to name drop, but like, you know, just like general friends of the band. And some of my family plays it, which is really funny to like, they don't like understand

who the people are. But like, I'm like, this is funny that my dad is playing Minecraft with Will right now. That happened to us recently with rivals. Mike Suggers came into our Marvel rivals Discord to play. He's a real gamer. And everyone was like, that just no one knows. It's just a guy. through the internet. I don't even know how to play Minecraft. You play it? It's a game. You know it's a game.

But I know you like, I thought you build stuff. Yeah, yeah. Play it together. The game is playing, it's building a bit, you know. Well, you can do a lot with it, but I really enjoy like making large scale things. And then the next thing is you want to show someone and go see the stuff they build. And you can also go on adventures as well. You can't win, no, right? You can't win the Minecraft? I mean, you can. But like, that's, like, you can go kill the final boss. It's like not really that compelling. There's a boss. Yeah, there's bosses, but it's like really loose. So you go in your build chair.

What kind of shit do you build? I like playing in survival modes so you can die. And I like building medieval things. Sick. Give me an example. Have you heard of castles? Brother. I'm from the United Kingdom.

Yeah, you've got them. We have them. Still. Yeah, that's pretty awesome. You like to build a castle? I love building castle. Do they look like a medieval castle? I mean, I don't really know.

I try. How do you die then? You said like survival mode, what, like dropping a fucking brick on? There's zombies. See, now this is like where you kind of lose me. Like, no, it's a building game. There's zombies. Yeah, it's a bit like Legos, but you can walk around it.

But then they can eat you and they can blow up to. I'm thinking about it. You were talking about getting a Minecraft server. I feel like I'm too old. How old are you? I'm 30, but my dad plays it religiously. That's fucking awesome. It's like very multigenerational.

Like, you can find fun in it if you're six or if you're 60. I really did believe that. How did your dad get into Minecraft? My sister and I were just playing it. He was like, what's that? It looks fun. Yeah, because he's been a gamer my whole life, got me into Dungeons and Dragons stuff early on,

and anything like CRPG world was his stuff. It's always cool. Do you still play Dungeons and Dragons? I never really got into the pen and paper, but I loved, like, the adaptations of it on the computer. Like, there's a very primitive one, NeverWinter Knights. I played a ton as a kid, which is like,

basically the computer is all the rolling the dice for you and has like a preset adventures. But it's like all the D&D, like the classes, the races, the environments are all like very free put together in like the very, the very like cool way that they do that. And like obviously the whole Baldur's Gate stuff, you know, girls found out about Baldur's Gate 3 and they love that. Yes, my wife loves it.

It's amazing. I didn't know that was to do with Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah, the mechanics of it are completely lifted from like 5E rules of Dungeons and Dragons. I feel I'm on like, what do they call it? I'm like watching from the outside dungeons and dragons, not really a big thing in the UK. I'm 39 to when it was popping off in America. It didn't really pop off in the UK at the same time.

But now I see it and we'll watch a video on it. Yeah, like crafting your own characters' lore and stuff like that. I'm like, this is kind of sick. I could do this. I mean, it's a lovely escapism thing, you know. Be someone else for a bit. We bought it on tour to attempt to do it, but we didn't have a single person that knew how to play it. So we just had this thick book like this big. I can't imagine trying to play it on tour. I never have time to do things like that. But maybe if I had a bunch of staff, then I could buy that time, but I don't really see it in my future.

What are you doing on tours that's making you so busy? You said that twice now. Yeah, I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't. No. I want to know. I overcommitted a little bit, so I work still while touring. I work for a promoter that does shows on the southeast. I have my own shows that I do, mostly in Alabama. That takes up a lot of time, obviously. For the band, I am like the point of contact for most things.

So like, this is our first headliner, which, you know, I've done support TM gigs in the past for other bands. Or like, I did a headline TM gig once, but it was like heavily helped with management. This one, I just like, oh, I'll just do it. It's a little more than I thought it would be. So it's like all like little things stack up, right? So just a lot to handle every day. So I'm not gaming like I thought I'd be gaming. I haven't gamed once.

You haven't even got a little thing. I got a Switch two. I keep charging it and having played it once. That's what it's like. Even when we got to the level of like having a TM and stuff like that, I would repeatedly buy and sell a switch because I was like, right, this tour, I'm going to do it. And then same thing. I've always got something going on.

or I don't know. I feel like the dopamine depletion I get from playing a show is quite similar to the dopamine I get from playing a game. So it's like the downtime. I'm like, I kind of just want to sit here and not. I like that. Rile it all up.

Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. I don't know. Maybe that is what's going on, but it feels like I'm just like the tasks list doesn't really end, you know? And I feel like if I had crew in that capacity, because like we are super self-contained. It's just the band and we have, this is the first time we had a front of house person,

which has been amazing. She's been crushing it. And she helps a bunch of little stuff too. But like, I don't know. I feel like I'd always find things that need to be done. How is the tour going? I can't believe it.

Yeah. Honestly. But we have great support on the tour. Like, you know, bolt cutter. They have their own thing. Bayway has their own thing. Big ass truck has their own thing.

And we have our own thing. So it's like all the bands are like worth going to go see if you're into their things. So the crossover between like the, four very different things is like very, very good. You guys do that a lot. You're either part of a very, like that's a diverse bill for the heavy music listener. Yeah. And you guys are always part of those kind of bills.

I mean, part of it is a lot of the bands that, you know, would be my first pick or like weekend warrior bands that are like, oh, we'll just go play a fest for $15,000. We're not going to go sweat it out in the van. Like, they don't want to do that. Yeah. And the bands that are willing to tour are, you know, a different world than the fest bands. bands do get to a point where they're like, I just want to do fests.

But as you come up higher, I think those bands would start to be like, maybe we could do a tour. Did you send offers and got stuff turned down? Oh, yeah. Honestly, the way it lined up, what we're doing with this is better than what it would have been

if I had gotten what I wanted. If I had gotten like the first thing, the whole band like sits in the group chat. We want this, this and this. And if we had gotten that, these shows would be smaller. So I'm fine with it. I'm thankful.

The vibe, like, everyone hangs out every day. It's, like, not four separate camps. Like, it feels like we're doing, like, friendship summer shit. And, like, I love it. Like, it's amazing. So you have a tour coming up later on in the year, which again. So, like, I've seen you before with, like, stick to your guns. Which is, you know, towards the punkier, metal core side of things.

And then you're going on tour with spite. Yeah. Who else is on it? Vomit forth. Vomit forth. No cure. Stick to your guns. Spike.

Yeah, fuck Stig's on that tour as well Yeah, so that's another incredibly diverse lineup Is there anyone left that you'd like to support That might people might be surprised That you would like to support our band Because spite to me That was a surprise to see you guys on that bill Yeah, and I like that, you know

I like touring with people that people don't expect I've known a few of those people for quite a while The last tour I did going into COVID I was doing guitar for Orthodox and we all got sent home but it was a spite tour and I had a good time and I was like

when offer comes through it was like sounds like a fun thing to do different demographic than what we're doing with a headliner so made sense have you got a bucket list

band that you'd like to support oh I would love to go with terror but that's like not even like that hard to guess it's like no cure likes terror that's obvious that would happen hay breed obviously no cure likes hay breed

dying fetus, obviously no cure likes dying fetus. Like, those are like the three I think of that are like within reason that have not happened. Well, we've just dropped a hate breed in there. Someone's got to talk about hate breed. You have taken a hate breed lyric. Oh, yeah. On this record. 100%.

With the same drumbeat underneath it. Thank you for noticing. No one else has noticed. Was it on purpose? 100%. Yeah. Yeah. What is it?

Is it perseverance? Yeah, it's perseverance. And it's the same. Yes. Okay. Thank fucking God. It's on purpose. Yeah, 100%.

That's the only time in our entire. entire discography, where we've done like the old man, diga, diga, diga, diga, diga, diga, steady on. Huh? Steady on, old man. I mean, it's an old man beat, you know? It's like my favorite beat.

Yeah, but it is the old man beat for, if you're going to go fast. Is that what it's cool? Is that what the kids are calling it now? I'm not the kids. I don't know, but I'm calling it that. You're calling the old man beat. I mean, it's pretty old man beat. And I thought using that beat in that section,

but when I was listening over it, I was like, okay. And the song was already like perseverance, but evil, like flipped on its head. It was like, perfect. Yeah, I was like, I'm going to pull this and just use it and do a little nod. What is the song again? I can't remember. Convulsing in the dark.

It was the first single. Yeah, yeah. It's got the stupid breakdown in it. No one's noticed it yet. No one said anything to me that I've seen. Poses. Maybe this can't understand me. Poses.

First thing I heard, I was like, is that on purpose? I use the same pattern and everything. I couldn't have made it more obvious. Yeah, it was fucking awesome. The revealing sad thing here is that maybe we have less crossover with people that like hate breed than I had ever expected. Yeah, but in a way, it's also a good thing. because you're getting new kids and then they'll get into that. They'll see this.

Maybe it will be a clip and they'll go, oh, I like that song. Let me check out Persever- Imagine Hearing Perseverance for the first time. Oh, my God. I wish I could. Hit me in the head with a brick. I remember where I think... I think I saw Perseverance live for the first time. I think I'd never seen Haybreed.

And I did like the reverse where I knew Terror. And I didn't know Hate Breed. And someone was like, back in those days, someone was like, if you like Terror, you're going to like Hate Breed. Yeah. Went to a Hate Breed show. I would say I found them around the same time. But a lot of those kinds of tourists didn't come where I lived.

So I was just like, well, this looks really cool on YouTube. Yeah. And then I would go to the Christian Metalcore show because what we had. Christian Metalcore. Is that your... I mean, it's not something that I hold beloved in my heart. But my point in mentioning it is like, you know, when you're from Alabama and it's, you know, 2010, whatever, those are the shows that are happening. And I just wanted to go see shows. Was it really like that?

Oh, yeah. I mean, we would have some things come through, but like, as far as, like, accessible places where, like, parents will drop their kids off. The church show wins. And I would go to the church show because that's what I knew about. And that's what I could find. And that's what I could get to. Who would play in Panning Dome? Stuff like that.

In the midst of lions, I remember seeing when I was 14 and being like, my first show was actually my children and my bride. And I'm from the same little part of Alabama as that band. So it was like a homecoming show for them. And it was like obviously insane. And I was 12. You're not supposed to see a show that crazy when you're 12. It like changes your whole life trajectory.

It's kind of sick. Yeah. And then you had them feature. on a song. Oh yeah. I can do anything I want. You really can though. Yeah. Like Bayway, my children, my bride, that's two opposite ends of the heavy music spectrum. That's what I like about it. And you can just slam it on there. Yeah, I'm not worried about all the little silos that people expect you to inhibit or inhabit, sorry. I don't know. I like the crossover. And I will be doing more of that. And also they can do different things than I can do. I don't need to sing

every word. If you did a Bayway, I would be kind of like, that's weird. We are all in the band dreading when we are not on Torwood J-way. Yeah, what are you going to do? We'll see, brother. You have to put it on track.

No. We don't even have tracks. You don't strike me as a track guy. We don't even have a click or anything. No click. Our drummer's good. Why would we use click? For his benefit.

Oh, well, that's... So he has a nicer time. That's lower on my list of desires. Okay. What about features then? Because you've had, I think, for a band that's... know, relatively new.

I feel like you maybe have more features than anyone I've ever seen. I have more friends than people expect, I think. Who's on the bucket? It's for features. I mean, we've got to go back to the tour. John Gallagher from Fetus, come on. That would be crazy. Do it?

I don't know. I've met him once, but I don't like, know them like that. I like to do people like I know and, like, have a rapport with and, like, honestly, we're friends. Like, I want it to be that way. I'm not going to be like, hey, man, here's $1,500 to go, for me. I'm not doing that. He would do that though.

You might, I don't know. That would be so sick. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. From the pig's mouth? The pigs? I was going to say from the horse's mouth, but it really is more about Yeah, I don't know how he does it. I'm not very technically gifted in that regard, so I'm just like, sounds dope. You can't do a, you can.

Come on, give me a pig. I don't got it, bro. I really don't got it. I used to do it a lot as a teenager, and I think I broke it. Really? Like, I remember I was like, I would inhale and like shriek really high, like to like, like hang out with friends. Like, it was really. That's what I do.

Okay. Yeah. But like, then I remember one day I couldn't do it anymore. Wait, how old are you? I'm 30. No, sorry, how old were you? Like 15. I haven't allowed to do it.

I don't know. Maybe it was pre voice break. You're like, and then. Dude, you've got it. You don't. I could do a slam back. You got to get out of here. I could do a slam back.

This is holding you back. I can do the inwards. I can't do outward at all. Yeah. Well, I don't know what the fuck they called it. I can't. I don't know. Screaming.

Thank you. Yeah, but when it's like his fry, fry, whatever the fucking thing is, I can only do. Yeah. It's kind of fun though.

It is badass. I'm glad that inhales are back because they were cool when I first found bands and everyone was like, they're lame. And I don't know, they're just different.

There really was a time when they became lame. Super lame. I think it coincided with how to pig squeal videos on YouTube, but that kind of put the nail in the fringe. Put the nail in the coffin. And all the girls like those guys, so all the other guys were like, fuck that. They did.

And then it flipped, of course. And it'll flip again. We are in like a Myspace Revival era. Yeah, I came in to this stuff like when Myspace was like already dead and I was just late to it. Like one of the first things I heard was annotations of an autopsy. UK represent. Yeah. Yeah, so I heard that.

Wait, did you like it? Well, I thought it was very interesting. I wasn't sure yet. It grew on me. I didn't understand the lyric, like, content they had. Even when I was 12, I was like, I don't know if you can be saying that white baby. It's a bit much. Yeah, it's pretty vile.

But they're cool, though. I can't really remember the lyrics other than the extreme gore. You know what I'm talking about. The gang chant part. I don't even want to say it. Yeah, it's bad. Yeah, it's rough. But then again, so is cannibal corpse.

Yeah. But that's badass. Where's the line? Inhales. You're right. You're actually fucking right. Maybe so. And time, you know.

But if you were to like, if you had like a crime lineup and, you know, heaven forbid something horrible that happened. And you lined up the members of Cannibal Corpse next to the kids from annotations of an autopsy. And you had to pick who you thought did the crime in question. You kind of pick Cannibal Corpse. Well, I liked when he had all the skulls in his house. I thought that was awesome. Kind of fucking sick. Yeah, I was like, why are they mad at him?

There must be things I didn't know about that. I'm probably being pretty insensitive right now, but... I think from what I remember, I mean, he's not in the band anymore. I think he was smoking meth. Can't a man smoke a little meth? Not according to you. Well, that's me. Not according to you.

And I think he, I believe he broke into a neighbor's house while high on meth and then was arrested for it. And they want to kill Summer. I know, right? Can't do anything in this. You're very satirical. I like it. It's not often for an American to have a sense of humor. My dad is very much raised by a German person. Really? That's where that comes from.

So my band is like autistic and I think it's just raised by German culture, but we'll see. I'm not going to say it did flicker in my head a couple of times. I was like, what we're working with here? But no, but German just, that's it. Yeah, I think it, I don't know. and maybe it's both. It's fine if it's both. It's a superpower.

German, maybe not so much. In fact, I'd rather it the other way. No offense to Germans. We did Germany, and everyone was so nice to me. Yeah. Oh, you understand. They're like, oh, you look like village boy. It sounds fucking Russian, but I like it.

I'm doing my best. If you are looking for one festival to hit in 2026, make it louder than life. I went last year, and I've got. got to say it's probably one of, if not the best rock and metal festival I've ever been to. It's taking place this year as ever in Kentucky at the Highland Festival Grounds in Louisville and it's going to have over 160 bands over six stages. It's four days. Whether you're into iconic headliners like Toll and Limp Biscuit or you just want to watch the best band in the world Gojira, Louder Than Life has got the lineup of the year. I'm going to be there with

the podcast. So go check out the lineup. Let me know who you want to see, who you want me to talk to, but let me know very quickly because I have to plan these things. I will see you there. Get your tickets at louder than live festival.com. Back to the show. What was the Euro tour? It was Stick to Your Guns. That's the only time we've done anything with them prior to this. It was a stick to your guns, body snatcher, a band called Elwood Stray and then us. So we were opening it. This is late 2024. Beginning 25. Yeah, yeah, I remember. It was amazing.

It was before I came here. Oh, yeah, I didn't. I mean, I knew Six-tier Guns was big in Europe. Oh, my God. It's insane. There would be over 2,000 people. Yep. And they're being like Amber.

I'm like, wow. They really do like Amber, don't they? It's an incredible. You put it together song, to be honest. It is. They hate playing it, though. Maybe they don't hate playing it now. They used to.

I mean, I can see Josh James as being like, you know, it's just an old song. That's why you asked me who were my favorite episodes were. I should have sent you the Josh James one. I love him. He's one of the world's most unique human beings. He's an evil psycho. Yeah, but in like a nice positive way.

Yeah. He just think of a fuck. Oh, he's amazing. He has like this like high school bully vibe to him that like I find enchanting. Yeah. I said that the first tour we ever did with him. I was like, you're like Stifler from an American pie. And he got very annoyed.

And it was sort of maybe half the tour where we didn't really speak to each other. And then we became best friends. He was mad at you for half a tour over that. He clocked him. Yeah. I clocked him. Anna was right. Yeah.

But then, because he then, you know, he showed his stiffer colors. And then we became, at the end of the movie, we became great friends. He's the best. And there was spin-off movies. He actually shouted you guys out last time he was here. What a sweetheart. So you've just returned the favor there. I have to say something so insane about him.

And then you're going to have to decide if it makes this or not. I'm not sure. So last year, we've been doing like covers. for Edge Day. Because for a lot of reasons. For one, I like doing covers. It's fun. Show respect to things

that informed the band. But also, like, I recognize we have a lot of a younger audience that doesn't know what a lot of those bands are. So, like, we did until the end last year. And it was actually Josh James that suggested the song.

And he was also going to sing on it. Yeah. If you've heard it, he did not sing on it. The reason why is he blew his back out so bad. choice of all words, but carry on. In the gym, because he... Oh, I remember this.

He laughed so hard when someone showed that one guy's neck get blown out. I know a podcaster stick together, but... Hey, I get tired with that brush wrongly. I'm sure he... If he didn't tell me that story on here, someone else... Madison's shaking her head. Someone else told us that story on here.

It's amazing. He thought it was so funny that he blew his back out. Yeah, like rupture the disc or something. I guess blowing his back out means something. Yeah, but that's why I was like insane choice of words. I mean, what else? But that guy just be blowing his back out. Yeah.

It's just what he does. He told him, we did a live podcast, and he was so insane on it that it never got released to the public. I believe that. I mean, on that tour, Zach Bain was the TM. Another great dude. Unbelievable. But him and Josh James telling stories and a buzzer. all night.

Unbelievable. Also, that's the first, the only time I've ever been on a bus, and there was nowhere I could stand up on it, but it was amazing. We made no money, but it was really cool. Yeah, the,

I prefer a bandwagon over a bus, and I'm kind of in the minority to think that. I believe that's the case. But I think those people are just spoiled by buses and don't hang out with their band enough, because when you're on a bandwagon,

it's just like camping. You're chilling. You are all together. It's fun. When you're on a bus, it's kind of a little bit more separate. Yeah, I guess so. But, you know, we were staying up until 3 a.m. hearing stories about Egypt with Zach and Josh. So we chilled pretty hard. Josh also does that stuff in, this is the Josh James podcast. Josh does that thing where he tries to stay on American time. Was he still doing that? I don't think he did that with us. Oh, yeah. I've been on tours with him where it's like 7 a.m. time to go to sleep because it's 8. It's 11 p.m. back home. and he doesn't want to be too jet lag when he goes home.

I actually took that from him now. I started doing it. Is it good? It's awesome. For two reasons. One, no jet lag when you get home. You are still fucking shot because normally what happens is your flight is at 7 a.m. And that's bedtime in that world when you're in Europe and you're going to bed at 7 a.m.

The flight's there, so you're still tired. But it's also awesome because you go to bed at 7 a.m. You wake up at like 3. so, or it's three, maybe four, if you miss loading. And then by the time you play the show, it's like body clock lunchtime. Yeah. So you're full of beans. Yeah, I got to get the beans.

You lose beans? Beans lost? No, I think beans are good. No, I mean, just in general, because I do, if I get up at 9 a.m. and then you want me to play a show at 11, you ain't getting the best show. I'm trying, but I'm just fucking shot. That's awesome. It's a good technique.

You couldn't do it here. You'd have to do it in Europe. Maybe I'll try it. We're going back there in November and December. Is that out? Can that be on this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a throne, like, throne.

Counterparts, us. Right, that toy's going to be so huge. Yeah, it's dumb. I don't know why they asked us. I can't wait. Your band is fucking awesome. Well, yeah, but like, we don't sound like, like, those three bands are like cohesive,

and then we're just there doing like evil guy shit. Throne and counterparts are not. cohesive. Sonically, but culturally, I think they are. I do. Respectfully disagree. That's fine. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm wrong all the time. No, I mean, have you seen how well thrown do in Europe right now? I've seen video. It's fucking mental. Yeah. I'm like, that's Marcus. That's what I think. They won't come on the podcast. They're mad at you. I think they are mad at me. Is this deserved? I mean, they quite obviously sold some of their royalties to get played after every metalcore album ever on Spotify. And they deny it. And I think

I publicly said that they did it, but they say they don't. And I think they don't want this conversation we're having right now to happen on the podcast. They'd probably hate it. I don't know. I never asked them about that. I will though, if you want me to. I know. I asked them straight up when they said no. I do know how Spotify works. And I do know that a lot of bands do that. I just don't know they do it, but it wouldn't surprise me. It's either someone did it. I mean, they seemed quite sincere in telling me they didn't do it. And I wasn't annoyed. I was like, if I got, if Straga got off at that, I'd fucking do it. Because it's like, it's not even, I think the Spotify deal is, it's not even 100% of the royalties for

that. It's like 80. It's, I think, I think it varies based on who your connection is to. But like one song, it's worth doing. Kind of sucks for the, for, just in general. Yeah. It is gross. It's like, hey, we'll pay ourselves some of your money.

to make the algorithm nice to you. Yeah. Like, that does suck. Oh, 100% it sucked. However, it worked. It did work. But I think the band had organic buzz regardless. I think...

They had Buster. I think here's the thing, and it had Buster. Buster's amazing. I think here's why it worked. He's brilliant. Because it was good, because it would happen to me, and it would be after I'd listen to a record, and then this song comes on,

what the fuck is this? And then I'd look him and be like, oh, Throne, that's kind of sick. And then it happened like 200 more times. And you're like, I get it. But I was still like, I want to hate this because it's been thrown at me, but it is sick. Their music is like ultra optimized to be like catchy and heavy. Yeah.

It's like unbelievable. It's like made in a lab to like get your ass. It's great. What do you listen to on the daily? I listen to, you know, the three from earlier a lot. I am a pretty big fan of Avenge Sevenfold, to be honest. Like they were one of the first bands I found and I really respect guitar players and drummers and all that.

Like, I typically play guitar in bands. This is the first band I've sang for. So I still, like, mentally think of myself as a guitar player. So you got a guy named Sinister Gates. Give me a break. Come on. It's got some fucking drip on him as well. Zachary Vengeance.

Are you kidding? How are you feeling about that new thing? I like it. Do you like it? Isn't that sickening? No, it is the thing. He is the thing. I heard it and I didn't like it.

Yeah. But you know what he did like? The fact that he just fucking did that. Because, yeah. No one put that out. Like, I know from listening to that, that they think it's fucking awesome. And it's not for me.

Yeah. But, like, just the fact, I don't know. The fact is so different. I was like, good for you. Do what, make whatever you fucking want. It's terrifying how much they hate their fans. Really? I mean, dude, they know what their fans want.

Their fans want afterlife, too. They want, you know, Hail the King, too. They want City of Evil. to. They're not getting that. They're getting whatever that is. The fans don't want waking the fallen. I fans want waking the fallen. That's my favorite one. Yeah, that's the one that I really like. And when that came out, I saw someone getting shit the other day. Someone, I'm not going to say who it is, someone that always get shit. Right. And sometimes they deserve shit and sometimes they don't. I have a man pictured in my head. Okay. It was like, it was on Instagram, I think,

and it was like, not enough people really understand the, impact waking the fallen had when it came out. And this guy got shot on for saying that. And I was like, no, I was there. That record when that came out made metalcore fucking ginormous. And then they said, we're not doing that anymore. We're doing psycho thrash speed MTV music.

Is it psychotic? They hate their fans. It's terrifying. But you like all of it. There's something I like about every release. Like, I would be in the top percent of enjoyers of that band probably. That's cool. I mean, I found them early, and, like, I first started learning, like,

how to play guitar with, like, some of their stuff. So, like, it's very imprinted into me. But, like, now, like, the way I view music and with how much I like to write music, I find there's so many, like, nuances and little flourishes they throw in there. They don't have to do. The way they, like, structure their melodies and harmonies. It's just, like, all right, you guys are being psycho. I like it.

Yeah. That's what I mean. I, like, I respect it. Even if I don't like it. I feel like I'd put myself in I like a venge sevenfold, but I'm only putting on Waking the Fallen. But I respect all of it. I mean, Waking the Fallen is my favorite, for sure. The song desecrate through reference is unbelievable.

Bangers, a drum fills in that song particularly. Yeah, RIP. The mix? The mix is like real. Yeah, sounds like a band. Sounds like a band. Kind of didn't after that, but awesome. I was thinking about something about mixes today.

Yeah. I mean, your new record, which we will get onto, which is fucking phenomenal, by the way. Like, I know genuinely mean that. It's amazing. But like mixes, what I've realized, I do a lot of observing these days, I've realized people think they want a natural sounding mix.

No, they don't. They say they do, and then they get it, and they hate it. Yeah. And then what they get instead is, very quantized and triggered record, which I got no problem with it. I'm a fucking death metal guy,

with a ringy snare. And then they say, yeah, these drums sound natural. I love it. And it's just, all it is is the snare is ringing. Yeah. I was thinking about that earlier because your snare is so fucking ringy on this record. Yeah.

It's unbelievable. Yeah, sounds cool. Where did you record? Basically, we went out to a cabin. That's like not a recording studio. So we got a spot out in the woods in Alabama. And then we hired our engineer, Kevin Langley, to bring all of his stuff into this untreated space and just try.

We spent time in there. And that's where we made the record. No way. It's like not pro. But he's really good. But he's like, he doesn't do like a lot of like real bands. I don't know why because like obviously he's amazing.

We mean real bands. Like he does like a lot of local bands and a lot of rappers and like stuff like that. He's like never really like tried to be like, hey, band come give me your century media money for a month. Like he's never really done that to my knowledge. So I don't know. He's so good. It like pisses me off. And I feel like, you know, our record is getting a little bit of buzz.

Maybe there will be more of that for him in the future. And I would personally love it because he's been recording my band since I was a child. Like we kind of came up together. It sounds so clean for something that's not quote unquote not pro. Well, I don't know. Who mixed it? Him. He mixed it as well. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, he's going to get so much work. He's amazing. It's one of the first... What genre would you call yourselves? I get nothing out of doing that. I avoid the question, to be honest with you. Because people want to lump it one way or the other, but you have to look at the sound,

but also, I think, the culture of a band to, like, really find a place for it. So, I don't know. People say a lot of things. They do. I saw someone say, not even someone, I think Spotify bio says Deathcore. I would never write that.

And I mean, you might want to change that. Go into your Spotify for artists and change that because that's ridiculous. Yeah, I don't think, I mean, maybe it is. No, it's absolutely not. I don't think it is. It's Death Corps in the same way that fucking animosity was Death Corps, as in I don't think of animosity as Death Corps. That shit's awesome.

Fucking the best. But they were like lumped into Death Corps. But anyway, it's one of the first, whatever, metal core, hardcore, crossover. If I didn't want to create another genre that would destroy everyone, thrash core. Yeah, I'm going to shoot myself. Mixes that I've heard in fucking forever.

I appreciate that. It is amps in a room. It is drums in a room. And, you know, it's vocals. And I just held a microphone. Like, there's nothing special about it. But we were very intentional with the gear we used and dialed it in. I think something that is really good about it,

not to self-fedulate or whatever, but like... That's what you're here for. Well, I'm not... That's not my nature. The drums are much more loose than a lot of our contemporary bands. Like, we didn't quantize stuff heavy. You know, the clicks are like based off of him playing the songs and then built the clicks to that, which is free game.

I hope that someone does that because it makes it better. That's what Strary did. It helps so much. And I would suggest this. I then used those clicks live. So we could still have all these ups and downs and stuff like that. And it just made my fucking life really easy. I love that.

But yeah, there's never like a point where it's like 120. It's like 120. It'd be like 120.2 for like three measures and then change. It's all over the place. Like they look like this. Yeah. It feels good because of that, I think. Yeah.

We had the same sort of thing. Certain choruses. There'd be one bar where like halfway through the bar. there's a three BPM drop because we like played it. And it feels good that way. Track the tempos in the same thing and just did the whole fucking thing. Yeah. How long did it take you to record it?

We did a little. So we toured so much in the fall and we're doing that again. Basically did some like the pre-pro stuff. So basically what had to happen is Duncan had to spend time at home, ripping the songs and sitting the iPhone videos and dialing that in so then we could build, you know, the clicks to that. And that was a arduous process for him. And I feel very guilty. And I mentioned earlier, I don't want his life to be good. But actually, I actually love him very, very much. But sometimes he does have to suffer a little bit. The drama curse, you have

to. Yeah. He wouldn't have picked it. Yeah. Unless he was ready for a bit of it. And he's allowed to complain. And I respect it. You know, it's the give and take. That took him a while. But I don't know exactly how long. I would just get it. And then we'd be like, this feels weird, blah, blah, blah, and dial it in. I also had every song completely like MIDI tabbed out, which is not normal. Guitar Pro? Tux Guitar. Is that the same thing?

It's free. I've been using it for my entire life because it was free. Tabed out. That's not normal in your genre. No. It's like a necrophagious thing. Yeah, I like the little penguin though. He's cute.

I've never seen it. Yeah. He's a little penguin guy. It's a little symbol for Tux guitar. So I had all that. and then I would demo guitar onto the drums and then we'd be like

all right and then figure out some vocals and then we eventually got into the studio with Kevin we had a very good idea of what we're going to do like there was almost no refinement done there besides like maybe changing a couple drum fills around just from Duncan just ripping it in the moment because we did drums last but yeah

so we probably spent a couple weeks between Acacia strain in August and 200 stab wounds after that like we had a couple weeks where we did like some guitars and some vocals and then spent longer after the 200 stab wounds tour just like finishing it probably about a month a little over a month altogether and could have used more time I made a critical error with this that hit me I think makes it sound cool but it was a huge mistake so obviously you know quad track there's two guitars on each

side the entire time makes it sound thick then you can have two different tube amps that you've like made sound really cool together that part I get really into and so does our guitar guitar player Kyle. He's super into that. But ASOP, she has these very specific guitars that she likes. And one of them is like a prototype. It's like not a real instrument. It's like someone milled her a shape. And then she like put a neck on it. So it's like harder to use. I think I've seen it. What is the shape? She's invented it. This woman is brilliant. It's called the Iron Thrawl. I think, yeah, I've seen it. We'll have it. It will be here. People can see it right now. I think she's going to do something more serious with it too. That would be really cool that I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about or not.

So we'll verify. The issue is that on that record, there's four different guitars. We used an 80s custom shop Jackson because my dad got it from a guy in the 80s and I just have access to it. Super Sick guitar. We used this hard tale that Kyle brought in. That's like a tracking, he wanted like a super comfortable tracking guitar. And then Aesop used one of her iron birds and then the iron thrall. across that there are three different bridges and different string gauges for whatever reason so getting everything to be in tune

was with each other at the same time versus for chugs versus chords like was a huge nightmare like probably tripled the amount of time it took to track the guitar but now you're saying this I'm like that's integral to the sound that you ended up getting

yeah because I was like why is this so different and good That is a part of it. And you have to do it again. Dude, I recorded so much guitar. Like, my day, like, once it was... Are you engineering, sorry to cut in there. I played a lot of it.

Usually the guitar was under the watch of Kevin. Okay. Because he has better ears than me. Like, I have decent ear, but, like, he'll hear, you know, a couple sense of, like, one power chord out of tune with the layer. And, like, at a point, like, I can't pick up on that. He's really dialed in. He heard all the whistle frequencies and like, I'm doing my best. You know, I don't got it like that.

So the day would be, you know, wake up at like 10 track until he couldn't bear it anymore, like probably like 11 p.m. Like we pulled very long days making this record. And then he would go to bed and I would do vocals until I couldn't stand it anymore, usually like 2 or 3 a.m. And then just do it again and again and again and again. Yeah. The easy thing was bass.

I played all the bass. That was super quick and easy. I love recording bass. He just hit it really hard. It sounds cool. Idiots. Though he did have to be like, hey, you're hitting too hard.

Really? Yeah, because if you hit it, so like, not only can you knock it sharp, but if you hit it too hard, you'll actually kill the low end. Yeah. I think the drums work that way too a little bit. I'm not exactly sure.

Yeah, if you stay on the head too long from hitting it too hard, you just cut, cut the sound out, particularly kick drums. You mentioned the guitar pro thing, whatever, it, tucks guitar. Shout out, Tucks guitar, and the little penguin.

So, what's the guitar? the writing process go like? We do a couple different things. So there will sometimes be the occasions of ASOP having, you know, a couple riffs. So come over to my place, we'll, like, bloom the song together and we'll usually finish it, or if we don't finish it, then I'll just come back later and, like, try to finish it. There will be songs that I just bring to the table, and I'll have the tabbed out MIDI drums. Pretty coherent to, like, show the ideas.

I love doing songs with ASOP. It's super fun. And sometimes I've got an idea. So I just like tab it out and make it happen. And then Duncan will come in and like revise drum parts and spice it up. And we argue about if the kick should go right here or right here. He wins sometimes. I win sometimes.

He wins. That's news to me. You guitarists love every single truck has to have a kick on it. We don't do it. that. But every kick that I want, I really want. It is like specific guitarist kick drum like insanity. It's very important. It like ruins it for you. Yeah. And sometimes live, he'll throw an extra four on the floor stuff. And I know it's cool, but it's not what I was envisioning. There it is. The German. And I just don't say anything. Because I know it's cool. You choose your battles. He's an

incredible drummer. I want him to do his thing. And it being different live is part of why you go see a show. So, I like that. I don't want to be in my own way. But I do hear it. And it does take some psychic damage. Oh, I am a receptacle psychic damage. Just everyone.

Is there like a limit the amount of changes you could have on stage before you say something? I've never crashed out in my life. About anything. It's not really what I do. I will self-isolate and kind of get quiet. That's a crash out. But I've never, like, thrown something. Do you need to throw to crash out?

I feel like you can internally crash out. Maybe that is a crash out. Maybe I do crash out. Maybe I've just rephrased this in a way that makes myself more acceptable of my behavior of shutting down a little bit. Maybe that is a crash out. Crash out expert over there. That's crazy.

To crash out is to lose control, erupt in sudden anger, or react recklessly and self-destructively when overwhelmed. So I do think... Not a crash out. Not a crash out. If you erupt. inward, though, that's still a crash-out. Yeah, but I'm not self-disructive.

I'm 30. I got shit to do. Nice. Not verdict. No crash-out. I mean, I don't know. I'm not going to get weird about it, though. Does anyone crash out in the band? You're too nice to tell me. I can tell. We can sense it. Well, my definition of crash-out has been thrown on his head. Really? Now I'm thinking, I've never crashed out. If I have to throw shit, and I think I'm pretty good at crashing out.

Or be rude or self-destructive behavior? Self-destructive. Self-destructive, I got that. You were just checking if that was a monster or a beer. Was that a straight-edge glare? It was. It fucking was. I saw it. I was like, what's he drinking? I saw that straight-edge glare.

Self-destructive behavior, and you went. It was a glimpse, not a glare. Yeah, it was still a glimpse. A glimpse. I apologize. The glimpse that fucking... I don't want to seem judgmental. Sunk a thousand chips.

But you are, though. I was crazy. But you are, though. I mean, I've got a whole thing, but I still want to talk about this album. Okay. You want to go deep on some of these songs? Yeah. There's some shit I want to know.

There's some shit you might want to tell me. You might want other people to know. Sure. And correct me of any of this is wrong. All of this is an opinion from me. I can't correct an opinion. Could be wrong. No, but you say that.

I really liked it. I did it with F.E. And I was like, this song speaks to me in this way. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And he was like, not about that at all. And but it was awesome to hear, you know, how I interpreted it. Well, my general perspective of these songs is like, now they're out and like what I was thinking, what I was feeling

isn't the most relevant interpretation of them anymore. It's, this is so hokey, bro. I know where you're going. But like, it's like not my now. That's good though. It's what people take from it and like if they get something from it, then maybe I didn't realize I was writing about that. Maybe I was.

I started gaslighting myself. You get into magic territory. I do love the concept of magic. Same. Yeah. Big time. And that was a conversation me and George had because there was a song, Lunar.

It was just so relevant to my, life like every single line it's beautiful that we were talking about it and he was like yeah maybe i did write for you and i didn't know it's not why i was writing it but that's a crazy fucking story and it was like down to the fact that in that period of my life my dog was called lunar it was the weirdest fucking thing but anyway that sort of thing i think you're right i think it i don't think it's hokey do you know uh jesse cash from era i don't so eras from birmingham and uh i've been around guys a fair bit and like talked about these sorts of things with him and like he was like one of the first person people I've heard like kind of talk about his songwriting in that regard and I guess

it just resonated with me because like I've done like some merch gigs and for them filling in and stuff and I really look up to them like they've we sound nothing alike culturally nothing is very similar with era and no cure but like they're from where I'm from and they got out so I'm I've always been like interested in how they did it and like I think they're really cool and smart so him and Connor I'm like hey what do you think about this I was going to to say, are they cool, but you've just answered my question. They're a really hotly requested guest. They are so kind. I just don't know enough about them to, I mean, I'll do it, but I need to, I need to do a deep dive on it. I would speak highly of everyone involved in that band. Is there a guy

called JT in that band? Singer. Okay, so he has a bit. I've met him a couple of times. In fact, I do know enough about him. I've watched them a couple of times. He has a bit, which unbeknownst to me, he introduces himself as Craig Reynolds to people. Now, I, and he told me this to my face, and he was like, I've got to let you know about this bit that I have. And he told me it. And I was like, in my head, I was like, is he clowning on me? I don't get that at all.

And I mean, it's fucking funny. Yeah. But then after, at the time, I was like, that's so funny, blah, blah. And then I was just like, is he clowning on me? Maybe a little. You can't clown on me. You're an error. That's, yeah.

Anyway, Simon, leave it in. Slowly turning blue. Sure. And when the spasms cease to end? Yes, sir. Are they both correct? Oh, well, just check that. I'm correct.

The song was called When the Spasms Cease. Cease. Yeah. I knew it was wrong. I'm not great with S's. So that song meets my S. I'm not great of fucking sentences, as we can see and hear. Seems to be about an overdose.

They are connected. Spasms. is using, you know, that more as a metaphor than like a direct, you know, chemical event. Slowly turning blue is more of, like, chemical events and, like, you know, being young and not understanding, essentially, you know. But I don't want to go too into that because it's going to start getting embarrassing for people that I still love. So it is a personal...

Yeah, of course. But, um, spasms is a lot of, like, outward commentary on, like, you know, I was really, I worked, like, normal jobs for a long time. Now I'm doing, I just do shows and like that's really it. Like I work for promoter and like that's how I make it work. I do the job on tour. But spasms is like what it's like for a lot of people like what I recall my experience being because I worked in a stroke research study at UAB for seven and a half years like end of high school like through college. I did go to school. And that was just so mind-numly. terrible. And I was, you can extrapolate that to like the average experience that a lot of people

are having right now. And there's a lot of a general decline here in America, you know, and probably the rest of the world too, but I see it in America, tour a lot. So like I see places and I see it's like worse now. Yeah. And that's pretty big bummer. So yeah, spasms like about like an economic version of like those sorts of things. Interesting. So I read it literally. I like that though. because it can be applied that way and I'm sure someone can resonate with that and like I mentioned earlier my intention with it is not

like the number one thing that matters most about that song. Is the record thematically more about society? It sounds so corny to say we live in a society but it is more of an outwardly facing record I mean there's obviously introspective moments about it and like I feel like just writing about

outward without talking about like how it's affected you internally is like half the story. So it's both, I guess. It's quite nihilistic. I've been in a better spot. Are you in a better spot now? Are you currently in? In fact, everything about it is nihilistic. I'm so good at coping. The title, the songs, it is going to get dark. I'm very confident in that. Is that society? Is that what you're talking about? Is there, is there an overarching theme of the record? It is going to get dark is like what I think is going to happen because it feels like we're culturally into a new dark age. So I did a parallel, you know, thing with like medieval times. And that's

why there's a Renaissance style painting for the cover. And like, there's a lot of like allegory with like that kind of sort of thing. And very Renaissance, dark ages, medieval, which is stuff I'm really interested in anyway. Like that's kind of like where we're at. I think you're not wrong. I hate being right about it. But it's just so obvious. The older I get, the more nihilistic I was always quite an eyeless and I would say I still am an eyelist but it just gets worse I mean it's awesome for music

I feel like you and there's a lot of the songs where I did sort of you know comprehend you're talking about society and stuff like that where I was like yeah this guy probably thinks quite similarly to me I don't want to say that everyone thinks the same but yeah but also like it's being like world bad is just like

come on you got to be able to draw something from it and you got to like at least bring something to the table. Yeah, but with Stray, we did World Bad for a bit and then we did World Could Be Better and then we realized, well, not getting better.

And we did two records. It was like, World Bad, there was two records of just World Bad. And, you know, it kind of sucks to just be like World Bad, like you're saying. then we went to Africa with Hardcore Help Foundation saw all the amazing shit they were doing

and we all came back super positive and we were like, let's write a record right now and we went straight into the studio and it was all just like, everything's going to get better. Which record was that? Internal Atomics. I can't remember even my own records today.

And that whole record was like just pure, it was still phrased heavily, but it was pure positivity. Then COVID happened. And then it was just two records of fucking hell everything is just

terrible and getting worse. Yeah. So I get it. Have you got any positives? You got any positive outlook on what could change? I could definitely tell you I will never write a record

where it goes like, get to, to get to get to, I'm not hitting him with that drumbeat. So I was never going to get that positive. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I know exactly.

Yeah. It's not happening. I guess that's an old man drum beat too now. Yeah, 100%. I would call that one more old man than I don't know, dude.

No, that is so even me saying it. It's so sick, though. I mean, sometimes old men are sick. I'm kind of sick. Yeah. Do you have any positivity about the state of the world? I mean, maybe a way to look at that is like, you know, there's a couple straight-edge songs. Because, like, on the last record, didn't do straight-edge songs because we were so focused

on a southeastern thing with the last record, which I feel like a lot of people, like, didn't really get, which is fine. The record did well, and got a bunch of cool tours and people still like those songs, but, like, The South Eastern thing being, telling people that it's not a shitty place, essentially. Well, it wasn't that straightforward. I wanted to talk about the good and the bad, the things I liked about it that people don't talk about, you know, and then like the stuff that's like obvious, that sucks. Like, yeah, that part does suck.

You know, I'm not trying to, like, whitewash it. There was nuance to that record that I felt like not, didn't really land with people. But southeastern people, I think, got it. And that was what I made it for. So it was cool. Like, some people were like, why do they have all these features? I don't know. I'm like, because these are people from Alabama.

And you weren't supposed to know some of them. That's kind of the point. Like people on the coasts are not like, oh, I wonder what new hardcore bands coming from Birmingham, Alabama. They're not thinking that. So, true. I was like, well, this is what I can do right now. So when you're picking, have you picked the guests on this record for those specific songs on purpose? I mean, they're all intentional and they're all friends.

You're talking about it is going to get dark. Yeah, now I'm just, now you've said that. I'm like, okay, well, there was a meaning for those guests on those songs. Other than the way it sounds, is there a meaning for any of these guests on certain songs? Vincent Bennett, absolutely. Like, Acacia Strain has been the band that has lowered the ladder for us. Like, they took us out early. They introduced us to everybody.

They speak highly of us. They've been, like, actual personal friends. And, like, beyond, like, what I would ever expect of a band. Like, they have gone so far for us. And I never really understood why I still don't, but I'm very thankful for it. But why him on Purity? Purity Spiral. Puree.

Thank you. Because the riff would be awesome with Vincent Bennett on it. That's what I'm saying. Other than just the way they sound, is there anyone on the record who is like thematically. Thematically tied to that song. When I was doing purity spiral, it felt like something that they, that could be in their realm, I guess.

But like it wasn't like to the point of like doing Alabama people on the Alabama record. It wasn't like that. Talk to me about purity spiral then. Song is very fast. It's the only song on the record really that's like, you know, ABC, D, EFG. Like, we try to do a lot of like song structure, callbacks. Like the arrangements we're really intentional with,

which I think is, you know, a lot of bands, I'm not going to shit on any of my peers, are like really just focused on like the one big mosh moment. And like they're going to go fast maybe to get to it. But they're not really like utilizing that space and the song that intentionally. It's like, oh, yeah, we got to have a riff. we can get to the breakdown.

But like, I feel like we just try to take it a step further and just, like, have the riff come back. So the riff has to really rock. But purity spiral is, like, a song that's like a train car song,

like A through F, whatever, like, it just keeps going. I mean, there's parts that, like, reference,

musically, like, parts before it. Like, the whole, diga, diga, diga, diga,

diga, it's like a motif. And then there's a few other, like, you know, some chord phrasing things that we do in that, that, that, like,

carry through. But yeah, that song is just such an ass-beater. What about lyrically? So a purity spiral is like a Googleable thing. It's like basically like you'll have a culture that's very insular and it's like self-checking and self-checking and self-checking in a group until it's like lost actual meeting and is no longer productive. I mean, that's what I thought it was about. It's named well. I don't want to make people do arithmetic to figure it out.

The perfection you preach is the glory you lack. Every word from your mouth is a knife in your own fucking back. Vincent lyrics. You let him write his thing. Oh yeah. I, with all spots, I'm like, hey, here's where we start. Here's where it's done. Here's my lyrics. Let me know when you got it done. That rhymed. Didn't mean for it too. Pop that in there. Yeah, but I have no interest in like telling them what to do. Like I want them to do their thing because it's someone I respect and think highly of as a musician in some capacity. So like I don't want to influence what it would be. Otherwise it's like I should just scream.

it if I knew what I wanted to be. I resonated with that song in particular because the internet just fucking pisses me off so much. They're unkind. Yeah, but since certain people recently died, I'm like learning

I thought no one ever really wanted blood from when things pop off and it's a purity spiral and then I sort of saw that, oh actually I think everyone did it. Do it does want blood. No, they want someone to be socially exiled and then kill themselves. Yeah. And I thought they didn't really want that.

No, they do. And as a result, I do a lot of watching at the moment. I just observe. I don't really get involved in anything. I observed. There was something that happened yesterday or the day before yesterday. I'm not going to go into what it was, but you probably know from the context what it was. And I saw a lot of people using crazy men's gymnastics to, you know, essentially changed what they've spent so long being their opinion on how you should think and how you should feel. I have now figured out what you're talking about. So that they either don't have to say anything about it or, you know, they can justify

it because they've previously used that sort of thing against other people. But the difference is they like this band this time. Yeah. It's sick. I've watched it fucking happened yesterday. And honestly, I had the same reaction. I was like, this is low-key awesome because I'm watching people just struggle with how they've been

and how they're now being. And it really might open my eyes to being like, none of you fuckers really care. It's a lot of posturing. And don't get me wrong, there are people that need to be removed from the community. There are active threats and people that want to hurt people and people whose rhetoric is inherently dangerous

because it enables other people to fall down the slope. Like, I'm not like an anti-cancel culture guy. I'm not going to be a chud about these things. But I do think there is some nuance that is lost sometimes because it becomes like group think. And it's like if you're not a part of the tribe, you're then suspicious. And I mean, we've seen it go way far.

And it was compelling enough for me to write a song about it. You know, I don't have like an exact solution for this because sometimes someone's got to go. And sometimes it's just like that. You know, people used to get beat up a lot more at shows. Maybe that would be cool. I'd have no problem if it was, yeah, genuine beatings. Public floggings. But kids just can't believe filming a fight and putting it on YouTube.

They can't or TikTok, whatever. They can't believe doing that, which is just then the venue's gone. and then, all right, now you've really actually harmed the, you know, the structure of, like, having shows come to your city. Yeah, there's no answer. I've been banging my head at a wall for ages about that, but I don't understand it. And I also think, like, for the most part, everyone's entitled to their opinion with certain things of what level someone deserves to be canceled and what level they don't deserve to be canceled. All I ask is you stay consistent. They're not going to be doing that.

That's the one that gets me where I'm like, well, you're not saying anything because you like that band. Yeah. But you said it when you didn't like the band. So you're telling me you don't actually care about the thing. You just want other people to not like that. Well, they really like to be hardcore accredited still. They want the checkmark of approval from peers.

I actually enjoy watching it from a father. That's fair. Annihist in me enjoys it. I think the song in particular that I was like, this is very nice. main list was Oblivion Crusade. Oh yeah. So that one is... Not a fun one.

Not a fun one and also seems like nothing is going to change. We actually got a comment and I spent a lot of time on our... like posting on Instagram and stuff because that's the curse of doing a band. I mean, some bands don't have to do it, but we are a band that be posting. If bands that don't post, there's bands that post. But you guys are funny. Well, yeah. So it's fine.

We get a little silly with it. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, someone was like, are you advocating? for the world to get worse so everyone dies. And I was like, a bit, yeah. And they're like, that's a bad thing. Like, yeah. Okay.

They're like, wait, so it's just like breaking my brain. I would love to know what other music that person listens to. Yeah, there's some things that will harm them. There's like, have they gone from Bluey to No Cure? Like, what? You know, there's some people that would say that No Cure is your first band after Blue. and that's why we should be killed.

That's it. That's it. Oh, my God. I missed a collab post. Uh-oh. Story of my fucking life. Missing a collab post, it's got to be up there with dying. It makes me feel stupid.

I hate it. I have so many, like, theories about how things work, and I feel like if you don't accept them... That's 100% true. If you don't accept it immediately, the reach is fucked. But my label, media person is like,

no, doesn't work that way. They're wrong. They're either lying to me or they're wrong. I've done extensive. Now we're getting the social media part of the podcast. If the other person doesn't accept that straight away, reach is completely fucked. Like, what is the purpose of that? The reach is also capped at the maximum average reach, or just the average reach, of the lowest performing account. And you're sure of this? Because this explains, this explains things to me.

That makes sense. Like, I do a lot of collab posts, like, booking shows. And it's like, I try to include all the, like, the little local bands so they can be, grow their pages and, like, get a seat at the table. And, like, as you should. Sometimes it's like, wait, this post fucking sucks. Yeah. That's like, that makes sense. It's like, oh, it's because the new band has 20 followers.

Yeah. And I've found personally, and you'll probably feel exactly the same way, you just got to eat shit on it. Oh, yeah. In order for them, because it's for the common good. And I won't stop. Yeah, same. But I'll be like, 100% and that's what that is.

But getting them to accept it straight away is a huge fucking. They hate doing it because they're like, oh, fuck, I got a fucking play. on my Game Boy. You know what's funny? Doing this sort of thing I have to do the cloud posts all the fucking time. And I thought about writing, I had a couple of things lately with edits and stuff like that.

I thought about writing a short waiver that people had to sign before they come on. And I was like, I don't really want to be that guy. But there's stuff like someone gives me an edit after it's gone live and stuff like that one. Come on, you were there. You had the chance to fucking edit it.

But there was another thing that I was thinking of doing it, which was you will accept the collab post. at this fucking time. Mm-hmm. Because this shit happens all the fucking time. It matters. But I realize

I just don't want to be that fucking guy. I think that you have the charm to pull off being that guy a little bit. Thanks, I'm gonna fucking take you. I'm definitely not six foot fucking... What are you six foot?

Five-eight. Is that a bit that you say five-eight? Because that's great for me. If people go around thinking you're five-eight and I'm like, I'm five-nine and people go, fuck, and I'm taller than him.

Jesus fucking crossed. I had another bit of social media. India collab post game to spill. You're giving me free knowledge, which I do need. I've got a guy at Meta. Oh, a friend. I have. He recently left Matter.

Oh. Apparently not a nice company. Who would think? Who fucking knew? But he, yeah, he gave me a bunch of game. That was one of them never editing a post. Do you know that one? I had a theory about it.

So if you edit a post, I know the actual, what happens. If you edit a post, the reach goes back to zero. I bet it's so you can't edit in something insane. Which is, you actually probably, you know, should happen.

Yeah. Like you get a post that gets to a million likes and then you change it for something fucking. It's like, all hail the death of a whole community. Yeah, yeah. And then it's got 10 million likes of people

that did that sort of thing. And then there used to be, don't put text. You probably notice this doing shows. there used to be a thing where if there was text in a photo it would get capped. Yeah, that feels like it's changed a little bit though.

Because of memes. That makes sense. Because memes was such a big part of the social economy that they had to change when texting it. So the algorithm thinks that when I'm posting an out-of-pocket flyer, that it's a meme. It's a meme.

Number one thing you can do for that, though, because they are fucking smart, is don't put a website on it. try and not put a dollar sign. Yeah, I try not to even put ticket price on there because I thought I had the theory of that. Yeah. Basically anything that could be construed

as taking them away from the meta platform. Yeah. Is fucking... Wait till meta buys a ticketing service and then it's just all crazy. Pretty rough at the moment. All that shit yesterday, Brooklyn Vegan. Can't believe it.

I mean, I guess I can, but like, it's just disgusting. It is disgusting. Again, though, as my observer, I hate putting this stuff on here. I wish this was just a conversation in a coffee shop. Someone sold those companies to that company a while ago. Someone from those companies sold that, probably knowing this sort of thing was going to happen.

I'm assuming. I don't know. I don't know, but like, you don't get that offer and go, this is going to go, well, let me pocket all this fucking money and leave it up to someone else. Yeah. I've never sold a company. I can't imagine ever being in that position.

But, you know, imagine if you were able to sell straight. Like, you would take the drums with you. Here's the thing. And I thought about this, because I had a conversation about this yesterday, where I was like, we were just spitballing how much money to let fucking someone buy this. And the figures, it's a friend that also does something like this. You can fucking figure that out.

And we were like, we were just talking about how bad it is for music, culture in general that now the conglomerates own everything including the tickets. But then we were just having a conversation about how much to sell. And both of us came to the conclusion. It was like, I would only sell on the way out. Like you're done doing music stuff? If it was like the downbeat and it was like, I don't want to do this anymore. And then I got an offer. That's the only time I take it. Even then, because it's like, if it was like five mill or something like that, which is life changing, crazy money but currently the amount of this is going to sound really like go me the amount of good it does for the community for music arguably um and the fact there's no ceiling yeah it's like

five mil is that's not enough five mil however if i was going to fucking stop doing it anyway give me that fucking money yeah i mean you can't buy this without including you in it because it's the personality. So like, then you'd be an employee or if they're buying it just to kill it? It doesn't work. Yeah. I'd love to know the ins and outs of that deal. I'll never fucking know. So now you can figure out the conversation we were having earlier based on the day that happened. You can figure everything out, basically. Fantano gave you an eight. Strong eight with the yellow flannel on. Strong eight yellow flannel. Yeah. That's fucking big. Yeah. I thought he might do a review because he included slowly turning blue in like a segment of songs that had come out. And I was like, oh, then I started getting scared.

Dear Anthony is not known to be a fan of a lot of the stuff in our world. Anything with the coal tag. Right. And NoCure is a band that can feel kind of like rat poison if you are a certain kind of oldhead. And, you know, the really like music people, they're like, we love Democor and certain kind of AirMax also find us to be a bit like rat poison. So I thought there was a good chance that Fantano could hear the record and be like, these guys actually should kill themselves. But he was very kind. his analysis of it was just like, whoa. This guy really is insightful. He knows what he's talking about, and I would say,

I would say maybe seven out of ten times. I agree with him. He was so mean to that newest Avenge sevenfold record, or the one 23. Yeah, he didn't. Giving me the strong eight does not make up for that. I mean, I've had a few interactions with him in the pandemic. We did, because he plays bass.

He's amazing at bass. You know that. I don't know very much got him. It's on my fucking Instagram from a, ago, collab post, finally enough, me and Fantano. I bet he accepted it on time. He fucking did. He was on that shit.

In fact, maybe it was before collab post, actually, but definitely tagged. Maybe it went up on his page and it tagged me. But he was in the pandemic board playing bass and he was like someone put drums to this. And I start playing, putting drums through it. We send each other stuff back and forward. And I was like, oh shit, he doesn't talk about it. He's a very good musician. I believe that, honestly.

So he definitely knows ball when it comes to like a range. Yeah, stuff he was talking about. I was like, I just didn't think anyone was going to notice this, much less a guy that, like, makes YouTube videos. Like, not to, like, disparage it. I just didn't think he would go to that depth. I think he needs to, I'm not telling him what to do because he's having a fucking great time. But, like, I think he needs to put more of his musical ball knowledge, like earned his stripes being good at a musician on the internet in order for people to take his, people who are maybe on the fence about him to take his opinions more seriously. I'm not sure. He definitely attracts a lot of people shitting on him, which I respect. I don't know the guy. He seems cool. I like that he's straight edge, I guess. That's badass. Hard to not make someone cooler when they're straight edge.

So, yeah. Glantz at my fucking drinks. Zins, does that count? Zins count. Let's talk about straight edge. I'm so sorry. No, no, let's go. Let's go.

Does this count? Could I be edge and use a nicotine pouch? Not the arbiter of straight edge, but personally, I would not do that. personally I would not do that when did you become straight edge I claimed edge at 14 which is very young and I remember like a lot of the old heads

like in the Alabama scene at the time were like you'll break never happened ain't happening but you know there's people that claim edge to like have a community and like have an identity and there's people that like claim edge because it like just makes sense for them I guess it makes sense and it made sense for me

like I already wanted to like live a lifestyle like that you know based on like what I had already observed in my life and like patterns I didn't want to replicate or like, you know, I was, I was conscious of like how those actions affect people around me from a young age. And I was like, I don't want to do that. So when I found out that there's like a word for that and there's like a community and like a whole like scene of music, I was like, oh, obviously. That fit on like a glove. It's never been like anything. I never questioned or thought anything else. I don't think about it very much at all. It's just very like what I am, you know.

Your merch and social media presence, it seems quite militant, straight edge. Sometimes it's funny. Yeah, is it a bit? That's what I want to know. Is it a bit? I mean, the extreme militants, you know, like, it's fun to pretend. It's fun to play around. You know, I'm not...

We are very intentional to, like, not do, like, shitting on addicts and stuff like that. Because I don't think that's productive. I don't think that's kind. I want to be kind to people. I think that comes across in your lyrics. I hope so. You know, the straight-edge stuff really is for, me internally. And it's nice when I meet someone that I can relate to in that way. But like, I don't

try to project it on others. I'm not trying to convince people to be straight edge, really, because, like, I don't think that works. You know, you get a bunch of people that claim, like, if I went on stage, it was like, it's time for you to fucking claim edge or die. It's like, that would probably work on some kids. But then they would get older and they'd be like, hey, let me hit that. You know, they wouldn't like understand, like, the culture and the purpose of it. So, like, I want to bring visibility to it so people know it's an option, but I'm not going to try to convince them beyond just observational convincing that I can do from how I live my life and what I'm doing. Like, I'm not, does that make sense? Am I?

No, yeah, 100%. I mean, I've had periods of my life, quite large periods. I think the longest one was, I mean, not fucking 16 years, but I think I went over a year, no substances. Sure. I've previously dabbled in most substances, and now I just quit vaping. I'm nicotine. Sometimes I have a drink. But like arguably, as a click, straight edge is fucking cool.

Oh, so badass. It's really fucking cool. Yeah, it's got a whole thing. Yeah, it's got a whole thing. It's got a whole brand behind it. I would say out of my friends, I would say more of them are straight edge than not straight edge. So it's definitely fucking out there. Not for me.

But I back it and when I see it, I'm like, that's fucking awesome. Good for you. However, hyperesthetic question. Okay. Whole band is straight edge, correct? Someone breaks edge. Straight edge band. They're out.

I hope we don't want to go there. I don't think we will, though. Where's the limit? I mean, for me, it's completely binary. Cigarette. One cigarette out. It's just now you're not straight edge. The band is a straightish band.

It's fucking awesome. That's so sick. I mean, I don't want to, like, seem like, super, like, hard line elitist, but like, it's just the band is a straight edge band. we all came together to do a straight edge band as like a fun side project no one thought this would be like what we're going to be doing for the next chunk of our life you know

but you can't like throw that away that's like what it is would you still be friends with them probably I don't know I like I don't know I have I'm not trying to put you on the spot it's just a fun hypothetical I appreciate the it's like actual questions I have to think about and I can't just like spouts them like

yeah in this song I appreciate the intentionality you're giving me here I would say that most of my friends aren't straight edge one of my closest friends claimed edge because a bunch of us did when we were kids. And then he got older and he didn't have the same reasons to be straight edge that I did. And then he's like, maybe I'm not straight edge. And like, that's my dog. It's fine.

Why straight edge though? I mean, she would have to be really. A lot of people date people that aren't straight edge. I personally don't think I could do it. It's like I have like a trauma response to like if it's someone that I'm extremely close to. and like they're fucked up and it's like their eyes are different. I really struggle with that for some reason.

It's like terrifying for me. I think that's the same even for people that like do substances. Yeah. It's like them not being them right now. It's like always been hard for me. Yeah. I think I personally wouldn't care. I don't think I'd want to see it though.

Yeah, I mean it's like a casual friend or like I'm saying like my closest people. Like that's when it gets hard for me. Yeah. Particular drugs as well. Like I don't want to see it. you. I don't want to see you on Molly. Do it by all means, but I don't want to see it. Molly's funny. Molly's fucking awesome. It puts holes in your brain. That's badass. Let me tell you it's awesome. But like, yeah, it's not great. I always think about, I used

to think about it when I was a kid. And I would, and if I, it's a weird thing, I don't think I've ever talked about it out loud. But when I would have moments of like, you know, a chance to try something like that, like obviously I've tried things. a chance to try some things, my brain would automatically go to, would I like to see my mom on this drug? And if the answer is no, I just wouldn't do it. That's badass. Like, imagine your mum or Molly. You want to talk about stabbing? Sure, that's funny. You got stabbed outside, Madison doesn't know this. You got stabbed outside cobra. Yeah. On Gallatin Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee. Funnyest thing that ever happened to me. It was a fight and a guy stabbed.

two of you? Yeah. Where were you stabbed? I don't know if this can be seen, but it was like in my knee region. It was pretty, pretty cool because it like came in like kind of like I have like I should have worn shorts because I have like a pretty big scar here now. But like came in sideways. It's like a flap of my leg that would open up, which is pretty funny. I mean, you're tall, but you're not tall enough to stab.

It must have been a downward step. I didn't know it was stabbed at first. Really? Yeah, it was pretty chaotic. But yeah, essentially... Like John Wick over here. Oh, shit. Yeah.

I guess I am the John Wick of... Oh, God, that was gross. Essentially, just trying to break up a fight. I didn't understand. See, the funniest thing about this is, like, you're in an altercation. And no one is going to be like, hey, man, we're doing knives now. Yeah. They don't tell you.

In the UK, they definitely don't tell you. Oh, I've heard lots of knifeings over there. It's not as bad as everyone says it is. Of course not. Just like everything. Like guns here. Yeah, it's like no one's ever shot me yet. Now, that would be funny.

I've actually had a guest on the podcast that's been shot and snapped, and I was like, which one hurt most? And I think they said stabbed. Well, I don't know. It didn't, I don't know. The thing that sucked is, and I'm pretty fortunate, to be honest with you, like the EMS response was quick. I didn't.

People love to be like, oh, no cure called 911. No, obviously someone else called the paramedics when there's some people that are stabbed. Like, we have that sticker. It was like, No cure didn't dial 9-1-1. And people were like, so No cure fucking did dial 911. Get owned. And it's like, okay, someone called the EMS because I'm bleeding out.

Also, yeah, you're not phoning for police. You're fine and asking for ambulance. Right. So they got there, like, fast. And they had a double tourniquet my leg because a branch of my femoral, it goes around your knee, right? Like, one of them was like, it was near. The worst one.

Yeah, yeah. It wasn't, I wouldn't have died immediately. but like it I was bleat I was spurting a little bit you know nah it's not that deep I mean it was deep but it's pretty bad yeah it's pretty funny though yeah it's just like so dramatic like why are we doing knives like yeah no gun like grow up you'd expect gun it's like fight a little bit it's fine it's not big a deal were you on tour at this time yeah so uh we were doing shows

routing back home from new England metal and hardcore fest and uh we had that national show and we had like a couple Florida shows, I think. And then we had the Furness Fest pre-show that year. Because we had played Furnace Fest the year before. But like, you know, there's not a lot of bands from Alabama. They're like touring a lot.

So, like, they tried to include us. And I appreciate it. You know, there's tons of controversy to say about Frenness Fest. And it is what it is, you know. It's like being pissed at the rain. I can't stop it from happening. But yeah. So... What's the controversy? Just the line-ups, though.

Mostly just line-up stuff. and like the way it's put together and like the way the community is or isn't include like in Alabama it's very panned. Like there's people that love it but then you know it's mostly not people from Alabama that go to it because a lot of people in Alabama are pretty poor.

This year is actually remarkably cheaper which is and the lineup is bigger and you know some people are curious about how that's possible but you know I don't know we ended up playing it that year which wasn't planned because incendiary dropped and then the guy that was booking it at the time was like, hey,

you want to hop on this? And I was like, okay. And then everyone was mad at me because I'm not incendiary. And I'm like, I'd rather see incendiary too. Who wouldn't,

really? Yeah. My question about, were you on tour? Did you finish the tour? Or was that? That's like the only, like,

those two Florida shows, or maybe one Florida show. I don't remember now we're like the only thing like we've like ever dropped. But you still did Furnace? Oh yeah. We played the pre show like a week later.

Wow. And then Furnace Fest. So I had like this big like immobilizer on. I had to wear shorts on stage, which I would never do otherwise. I'm on the shorts. Shorts on stage always. Different rules for drummers. True.

I'm a shorts on the podcast, though, because I sweat my ass off and I hate it because all these people can see my big fucking legs. And they ride up. Right now, it looks like I'm wearing little hot pants. I know, Madison's a nod. They can see your legs. Yeah, they're fucking all over the shop here. Look at that.

I see those big white things wobbling around. The last fucking track is incredible. Thank you. And it's definitely the last track. It had to be. love a closer that sounds like a fucking closer, but it sounds like an old slayer song. That song is called Everything I Love is Dead or Dying.

That was the title I originally had for the LP, because I knew we were going to do some demos and some EPs. I didn't want to do NoCure LP1 until I thought people would actually listen to the record. I didn't want to open up my stats and see, you know, this kind of shape. I didn't want that. And luckily it's been like, you know, like people are finding the ones they like the most, but it's not like a declining curve average, which is really cool. Like every stray album ever.

Hey, I don't have access to your Spotify for artists. It does that. I believe you. But we also front-load them for that reason. Right. And it sucks. Yeah, I didn't want to do that. And I don't think we did.

Because we really wanted NoCure LP1. If we're going to make it a thing, like to be like a thing, like be very conscious of how the songs flow into each other. And like they all have purpose. Like we wrote 24 songs, recorded 15. piece together the best 12 and made them all work together. Like, purity spiral is such a strong song.

It could have been track one and people would have been stoked, but like, I think it's cool at track 10. What I was trying to say about everything allowed to the dead or dying is like, that was the title I had for LP1.

And then when I was getting all the concepts and all the stuff together for the album, it made more sense for that to be a song and then call the record, it is going to get dark. That song is like the answer to like the question or like situation posed essentially by the record. And I don't know, it does vibe different. And I'm glad that

it does. It's great. Appreciate it. So there was a dog. And it was seemed to be abandoned near Aesop's house in Birmingham at the time. And it was hit by a car. It was limping. Its back leg was messed up. And she called me. It was like, hey, I have cats. Do you know what we could do with this dog? and my wife and I I knew my wife saw it. It was like, all right, we're going to take this dog with us. We went and we looked at the dog. We called it puppy.

And, you know, it's cute to call a dog puppy. It was young. It was like this Pyrenees mix of some sort. It's beautiful creatures. It's got beautiful, bright blue eyes. Super cool dog. And it was like really sweet and like not scared of us.

It had obviously been dropped off. And it's like, this is like the most evil thing a person can do, I think is like abandoning a pet. So we picked the dog up. We took it to the emergency vet, spent all the money I had at the time. I probably spent like two grand on this dog because they had all this shit wrong with it.

Its legs messed up. It needed like an ACL repair or something like that. So we got some of the stuff that we could handle at the time like sort it out for it. And then we eventually were able to get the dog rehomed

with some of my wife's family. So I still see the dog every once in a while which is amazing. It's got its own name now. I still call him puppy though. What's the name? I can't wait. I'm blanking on this so bad right now.

I blanked on my favorite death having a album out of me. That's beautiful. really. Yeah, I call him puppy. New Bermuda. Asop was calling the dog Bumper, which is really funny. Bumper. Yeah, she's funny because it's hit by a car. Oh, I didn't even get it. I'm dumb. She's funny. I'm dumb. She is funny. You are not dumb. We got the dog rehomed and we were at her parents' house after and took a shower. And I remember the intro melody of that song just like, it just like came to me like in the shower, which is like not super common event. Like I know some people like they walk outside and they have the inspiration to write the

next Michael Jackson record. Sometimes I got to be playing on the guitar. But I just had the whole melody, like, hit me in the face. I had to get the shower. And I, like, I didn't have a guitar with me. So, like, I just, like, notated it out in Tuck's guitar. Tuck's guitar, shout out. My little penguin.

I notated it out. And I saved the file as puppy because that was, like, the working title until I finally figured out that that would be everything I love is dead or dying. Because, like, those concepts didn't come. I didn't know at first. So, like, that was, like, what that song would be. So I still think of that song as puppy sometimes because I worked on it for so long. being known puppy and i like seeing puppy oh his name's duke duke yeah that's the name they came up

and the deaf have my album is new be mu new bermuda amazing wait so the song isn't actually about the dog nothing at all okay the melody like you tell me the dog's still alive the dog's great he's doing great he's like what's what's the complaint here yeah what's what's the thing so i don't know thematically that's the end of the album and right the consensus is it's not going to get light no No, no, no. I just felt like the melody was like a cosmic reward for benefiting a creature. If that makes any sense. I don't believe in a lot. I don't believe in like the carmatic energy, anything like that. But like, it just felt like a gift. And it worked. It's giving Seasons in the Abyss Slayer.

That's very nice of you. Big, slow. I've got to say one last thing on the record is not usually a fan of like incredibly gated guitars. because I think they've completely ruined modern music. But yours, there's somewhere like, it's so gated, it's its own effect where I'm like, is the song ended? And then it just goes ching, ching again. And I'm just like, that's just fucking safe. I didn't even think of that. Yeah, I do like a noise gate dialed in.

There's pure silence in between some chugs on this record, but in a really good way. It's not like a riff that is consisting of chugs and the silence in between those. It's like when the guitar ends and it's going to come in later on, you can't even hear like an analog hiss. It's just... I mean, that was probably an intentional thing that Kevin did

to make it dramatic. And it works as fucking awesome. I don't even know that was a noise gate effect because I remember, like, when we were reamping, we didn't have any noise gates on at all. And it was like, shh. It would use a ton of game or something. It probably was.

was. It's fucking cool, though. He thought of it. He's smarter than me. What's his name again? Give him another little shout out because I want to hear more shit mixed by him. Kevin Langley. He did the Wheel to Steel record.

Yeah. Different vibe, but it's good. It's really fucking good. I hope he does more. He's very, he's like the smartest guy I've ever talked to. And he's like so patient, but like he's also constructive in a way that I, at least I work with very well. Because he'll just be very direct like, hey, you have to do this again and here's why.

And then I'm good at adapting that and like giving the different performance in what regard that it's needed. Yeah, he's, I can't, I can talk about him all day. Like, we go to swimming holes together sometimes and jump off the big rock into the creek, you know, that's my dog. It's Barry, Alabama. Oh, yeah, I'm jumping off the big rock if I have access to it. I love it. It's, maybe it's up there with, uh, the last Orthodox records in terms of like new modern mixes that I just love.

I love Orthodoxos, my buddies. Same. Lots for a lot of time with those assholes. Great fucking band. Okay, just to end it. And it's going to take way longer than I think. think it is because I didn't tell you. Because this is the thing I used to do on the podcast. But with your diverse knowledge and musical taste, I want to know. Top five records. Oh, man. Yeah,

I feel like I've talked about like a lot of like really entry level bands tonight. Like I talked about a Vinci Sevenfold. And I'm not going to, I'm not like shit on terror, Hey, Bree dying fees. Like those are like archetypical bands. Like you think of them. And I feel like a lot of like the sauce from Nocure is like Aesop and me to lesser extent have like are like into like a lot like war metal shit. This band, revenge, conqueror, like that realm of stuff, I think is the sauce that people don't understand

is in the Nokia stuff when it's like something's happened they don't get. I feel like that's like the answer for them. And then they would probably expect based on the other influence for the vocals to be one thing, but there's something else. You know, I feel like that is like the dichotomy that makes it interesting. But yeah, as far as records go, five records off the rip. You can give me four, but it's like gimmick infringement on hard law.

Oh, I do not consume a lot of podcasts, so I am unaware of what you're referencing. They do, they do like a, I mean, I used to do top five, and it would be records or bands, or if we both fucked with a band, it would be top five from that. Okay. And I stopped doing it because someone ripped it off, not hard law, but someone made a whole podcast called Top Fives, and it was just talking to people in metal about their top five. I was like, wait, that's the end of my podcast. You fucking motherfucker.

I came up with the concept of Top Fives. Well, it's like the guys that invented breakdowns. and then people made bands that are only breakdowns. Just give me some shit that you'd like. It doesn't even have to be five. All right. First thing that came to mind is the Carcass record, Heartwork. I talk about that record all the fucking day.

Unbelievable. Do you know the story with that record? I'm not sure. What are you referencing? I think I've told this on the podcast before, and I'm sorry to anyone else. And I don't even know if I'm supposed to know this, but I know. So before Heartwork came out, I believe, yeah,

Sony were like death metal is going to be the next big thing carcass his one million pounds make us a death metal album and that's what heartwork is they made heartwork for like fucking probably 200 grand sony goes hey death metal is not going to be big anymore we're not going to we don't want this record anymore but you can keep it and keep the money because this is fucking 993. This is infinite money world. So then Carcass then licensed the record to Erake for 300 grand. Therefore they are netting one million pounds and the record comes out on Erich. And then they put that million into investments in 1993 and they still live off it. I don't know if I'm supposed to know that. This makes sense why Jeff Walker spends time

doing things like Bruehedia and all the other things. It's like he's always on side quests. He's just doing it. It could be a lie. I could have been told a lie. The band is smart. I mean, Michael Amut. Emmett?

Yeah. Guitar. Oh my God. And I like a lot of like his Arch Enemy records early on too, honestly. Yeah, he's unbelievable. Did you fuck with surgical steel? I did. I remember when it came out.

I went and bought that shit from FYE. I love that record. I like the early carcass. That's gross and evil, too. But like, I do prefer the mellow death carcass, to be honest. Same. I think the songs are overall better, but the evil shit, like, they invented, like, all that gore grind stuff and then, like, moved on. Yeah. And that's pretty gangster. Yeah. 100%. I like that band a lot. Okay. Heartwork carcasses is in there. This is great already. Give me more records you fuck with the people might not know.

For it is going to get dark. I was listening to a lot of death. Like, I know it's like the generic. We should have started with this, bro. Well, you know, I was like, I mean, it's time of all. But like, I do like other things too, you know. But like, symbolic is the one for me. I know it's, they have so. That's like an old school high five. Symbolic is number one for me. It's amazing. And on my world in flames, I did like some Chuck shit, like with the harmonizing things. This is why I like your record so much. This is, we've just fucking figured it out.

Well, you know, we're a band that's done like a lot of like more accessible metalcore tours. Like we did a Gideon tour. We did Throne. We're doing Throne again. Like, I think it's fun to do those with ball knowledge. Yeah. And be like, hello, kid. who's excited for syncopated breakdown.

Check this out. Check out this. Chuck riff. You know what? I'll leak this in hopes that it will definitely happen. I've got Gene Hogan coming on the podcast. That dude. Okay, I spend a lot of time programming drums.

He's the goat. I don't know how long it's going to be because I have his entire career. Oh, so prolific. Go through. I met him briefly. After COVID, I did some TMA and merch gigs, just like trying to figure out something to do.

And I did some sang with Sligabog. tours and he came to one of the dates and I was just like that's him and it was very smaller these days you know he he used to be life has seasons he used to be the biggest in the room yeah he's just I saw a thing the other day he's like he's like 58 I believe that and he's still like ripping I mean I know crystal mountain is a song that's like the biggest song of that record and it's like the easiest to talk about but like the shit he is doing in that song. Two rides.

He invented it. Two rides. Before almost easy. Two fucking rides. He invented that shit. His hi-hat work is unbelievable. All right. Give me some more.

I mean, we talked about Waking the Fallen earlier. Yeah. Is that up there? You can put it up there for me. Maybe, you know, that, the sauce of Waking the Fallen is like, you know, song structure. And, like, how some of the, like, some of the harmonies are, like, interesting. They're not always just straight linear, you know, thirds or whatever. You don't do the 357 thing, though.

I'm not sure we're speaking. Is it 357? is that 3-5-7? I don't know. They're in drop-tip. We're in standard tuning, so we wouldn't ever do it like that anyway. I just mean in general,

the revival core thing. Oh, I mean, that stuff was washed when I first started getting into music. Thank you. So I liked it a lot because I was from the southeast,

so I was like three years late on everything. And it's just how it was, you know, information was slower back then. And, I mean, I like some stuff from that era. Like, I killed the prom queen,

beloved artist of mine. I found it early and it resonated and I just think those guys are really cool. And I actually found Earth Crisis because of I killed the Prong Queen, which is a hilarious sentence. Was it Jonah? I don't remember who. There's like a YouTube thumbnail because I found a lot of music from YouTube. It's just them and one of them had like an Earth Crisis shirt on. They were Jonah.

Vegan straight edge. It's 100% of that Jonah. I think he's still edge. Is that correct? Yeah. It's still vegan, still straight edge. My goat is not washed. He's been in here.

He's been in that very chair. We had a nice chair. Yeah. I have a lot of questions for him. I'd like to understand a lot about those eras because music for the recently deceased, honestly, I guess it's a record that I love. I've listened to it front to back so much.

And the vocalist on that record is not like the longstanding record of that band, but the way he screamed was really cool to me, I thought at the time. Who was the vocalist on that one? Ed Butcher. I know Ed Butcher. I was about to say,

is this Ed or was that Hunt for Ride A Wave? But that was also Ed. Yeah, it was well. Eternal Lord and all that stuff. Yeah, I used to play with the time. Lord. You played? As in we were tore together in like 2006 and then he joined Prom Queen.

Yeah. No one really sounds like him though. Eternal Lord's back with Sam Ricketts who used to sing before Ed and also tattooed this whole arm. I mean, I was looking at it earlier when you're speaking. It is very well done. That is an Eternal Lord special. There you go. 50 quid, that cost.

I don't know what that means. That means like $70. I love having something. $70. None of my tattoos were $70. Brooklyn, 300 bucks. This is UK. This is US.

Yeah. Okay, right, so Wagon and the Fallen. Got to be in there. Heartwork. Symbolic. Yeah. Do we do one more?

We could do one more. I'm struggling. And they're all great, though. These are not what I'd expect. I gotta say a terror record, honestly. They're like so the blue, I could say a Nails record. I could say, you know, the carry-on record. Like, all those things are like critical of the Snapcase.

records like that stuff I love that stuff but the terror record is just like they wrote songs on like keepers of the faith that are just like so well put together like there's they don't waste a single second of any of those songs and I think a lot of hardcore bands they waste some seconds in their songs but Vogel's not wasting the seconds. Vogel's just goaded from her unbelievable and he's nice to me like I've met him a few times now I have a funny Vogel story do we have a moment for it of course we You're on the time. I'm the moment ever. Yeah, you're right.

I do have a show tonight. One of the tours I did with Sangu Sogabog was the Terror Kubikon, Sangu Sogbog tour, which is at the time was a very smart, funny lineup, and it was a great tour. First day of that tour was at HQ in Denver. Sanguble Sogbaugh, I flew to meet them in, I think, Indianapolis, and they picked me up, and then we drove the rest of the way there, which at the time felt like a really long drive, but now I've just done so many long drives. It's just like nothing matters.

But yeah, Scott walks in and I'm like setting up merch stuff and he's like, hey, I'm Scott. Could you do sound for us? And I said, what? And honestly, like, you know, like life presents you moments where you can say one thing that changes everything. I probably could have said yes and figured it out. And like right now I'd be doing sound for bands instead of being in a band. But like I said no. I was like, because I was doing like lights and I was doing TME and like merch.

That was like the gig with Bog at the time. I was like, I don't really know how to do sound, which is true. And yeah, I probably could have figured it out, and they wouldn't have known him. That's fucking hilarious. I've met Scott, I want to say 10 times. And because he met Stray with the old guy in 2013, every time I met him, it was like the first time I've ever met him. It's the same awkward conversation. He's a lovely guy.

He's a great front man, but it's the same just little awkward pleasantry, hello, blah, blah, blah. That's it. I feel like it's going much better for me. You should have done the sound, bro. Yeah, well, I don't know, we played that crazy show with them in Chicago last year, the Lords of Chaos with 3-6 Mafia and Terror and No-Cure. And no black metal bands, that sounds... Yeah.

Sorry, gods of chaos. Oh, right, I was going to say. Apologies to the brand. That's right. I sang stick tight with terror at the 36 Mafia show, which is a sentence that shouldn't exist. Great. A sentence that would kill a Victorian child. Oh, yeah, just obliterated. That's fucking awesome.

Anyway, speaking of singing, you got a show to go, do. Appreciate you. much. Everyone go check out no cure if you haven't and you know, if you don't know what straight edge is that means abstaining from alcohol. If you don't know the bands we mentioned, go check them out but you got

this far. You know what you're talking about. Bye.