The Downbeat - Josean Orta - Fit For An Autopsy

Episode Date: April 22, 2019

My guest this week is Josean Orta, drummer of Fit For An Autopsy. Josean came to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico 8 years ago to find himself a band and it worked. He is an incredibly hard working drummer and a great dude who LOVES drums. We talk about DRUMS obviously but also about jazz, injuries, recording, microdoseing and much more. Bartender Drew from Stray pops in for a minute also.

Hi, it's spring. Is it spring? I think it's spring. It's probably been spring for a while. It's probably summer. I don't know the fucking seasons. It's Easter. It's Easter Monday.

Look at that. Bang on time. I said you get one every other Monday. Here we are. Easter Monday. And there's another podcast. I was going to do every week, but I haven't got enough guests. And you can have too much of a good thing, you know.

Just look at heroin. He do too much heroin, which is apparently good. I don't think it's actually very good, but you will die. So don't do heroin. There's a good start, isn't it? Yeah, thanks to everyone who bought a T-shirt. The Down B.80. I think there's a few left.

There wasn't. It actually sold out, and then we had overstock. So there's a few different size. is left. Go and have a look if you want. If you want a t-shirts, there's blast piece on it. If you don't want that, then I don't know who you are. I don't know who you think you are listening to this. Yeah, just chilling.

I hope you're having a good Easter, eating a lot of chocolate. Been to church if you're that way inclined, you know. If you want to live your life that way, sure. What else is happens at Easter? Chocolate resurrection of Jesus. What happened there? He died on the Friday. Sort of was dead for Saturday.

He came back on Sunday. Can't remember what happened on Monday. Why have we got on Monday? Was Monday when he came back? Or did he come back on Sunday? And then everyone was like, you're here now. Let's talk about it tomorrow.

because it probably happened late at night maybe it happened at like 11, 15pm and everyone was like oh Jesus is back but I'm knackered as code of bed and we'll talk about Jesus tomorrow on Monday

and we'll make that Easter Monday of course it didn't happen so that conversation didn't happen my guest this week is Hosian Orta from Fit for an Autopsy Hocian I caught up with when I was at Will Putney Studio, Graphic Nature.

And Will Putney, if you don't know by now, there's a regular feature on this podcast, whether it not be a... I can't even talk, whether it's as a guest, or he popped into an episode last week with Tom, or I talk about him quite a lot because he's a very good producer. Anyway, he's in fit for an autopsy, and he produces and writes fit for an autopsy,

and Hosian is his drummer. So we talk quite a lot about working with Will. Hocene loves drums, maybe more than Conor Dennis. So I think we talked about drums more than the Conard Dennis episode, which means this is the number one episode for Drum Talk. We also talk about micro-dosing in regards to music, which is very interesting. We talk a lot about jazz, which is funny for a couple of metal drummers. Yeah, it was cool

Lovely guy Check him out Check out his band Hoseon On the Downbeat podcast Hocien Correct How are you

I'm good man How are you I'm very good Thank you Hang on hang on Hang on This is good because That's the sound of a beer

Unless you're my mum listening In which case is Coca-Cola They're already open my name I'm sorry That's perfectly right You had a long day mate You've had a long day

You're only the third person I've ever done this in person with. Really? Everyone else I do on the phone. Hashtack blessed. Oh, it's good already. You've had a long day. What you've been doing? I did a few piercings today.

That's what I do when I'm home. I did like at least 15 piercings today, man. Anything weird? No, just a lot of noses and... No, dicks and pussies? No, not today. No, not today? Just noses, ears.

I did a few years, you know? Like, oh, cute stuff. I do, where I work It's a college town Yeah So they all get cute stuff Yeah How many dicks you pissed

In your life A few man How many roughly Take a fucking rough Rough stab At least 50 You know At least 50

I don't think that's too much Because I try to avoid them You mutilated 50 dicks Yes I mean not mutilated That sounds bad It's whatever people want to get But was it rough putting the first needle into a dick?

Because I reckon I would puke because I'd be thinking, Eh, that's my dick. It is rough, but it's also fucking sick. And you get paid for it, you know? If you know what you're doing, like, okay, man, no problem. It's your job to try to make that thing as safe as you can. That's, that's it. Fuck.

It's always really hard to do. Fuck, yeah. Four minutes in, and we're talking about dick piercings. How do I say your second name? Well, I don't have a second name. My name is Hosein. Orta is my last name. My Martinez is my mom's sign.

Oh, I meant, yeah. So I just try to use my mom's last name everywhere I can, you know. But my name is Hoseon, just like that. Just, just Hosing. Yeah, my mom wanted to be different, I guess. And she put A-N to the end of Jose and just put it together. Oh, so she just made it up. I think so yeah because I've only made like five other people through my life that have a simulant name

yeah wow and you're from Puerto Rico I am I miss it it's very warm and nice yeah today fucking sucks in New Jersey I get it yeah how long you've been in Jersey eight years straight from Puerto Rico to Jersey yes sir I had travel before you know so I got a little taste of the place and I used to come to New York a lot to come see shows and Florida and stuff like that and I did a few tours to the Midwest with my old punk bands from PR and I got a little taste of it you know when it comes to the US before that I did Europe and South America and that made me fall in love with touring so I was like I need to move somewhere and you did that were bands from Puerto

Rico correct like grindy stuff punk bands hardcore bands metal bands anyone that needed a drummer that wanted a tour I was in like fuck yeah but the mayor touring i did with my old punk man you know we did a lot of DIY stuff i did europe in a van playing squads actual punk squads done that before yet uh sleeping on them doing all that so whatever i do now with fit and we get a boss dude that's the easiest thing i've done as hard as that is it's still very easy compared to the first tours i did in those places. So that's why that gave me a little bit of taste of it. And I was like, let's do it. So I moved to Jersey because I was thinking of to moving somewhere in the US

because I didn't have to do any paperwork or anything. I was like, well, I want to be somewhere where there's a lot of music. Can't afford New York. But I knew some people in Jersey, so I went for it. And I slept in a living room for a few months. And then I have a good friend that helped me get it together and then got a lady that helped me too hell yeah and here I am you know I try to

I try to go to every show I could tell everyone do I play drums how do you meet Will because if anyone doesn't know Hocene plays in Fit for an Autopsy which is Platinum producer Will Putney's

band but he doesn't tour he just writes he does everything else But tour. But tour. So how did you meet Will? Well, because I've worked in the tattoo industry for some years.

That was my main job when I moved here, you know. And I needed a ride from Jersey to somewhere in PA to go work at a tattoo convention. One of my bosses lives in Maryland. So he was like, well, I think I know a guy in Jersey that can give you a ride so we can meet in PA. No problem. Let me know. Tell me who it is. Give me the contact. Tell me where I meet him. He gave me Pat's number. Pat from Fit. Yes. He's scary. He likes it. He's a fucking scary guy. I've only met him twice and he was lovely, but also fucking scary. That's his charm. Yeah. Shout out Pat. That's how we met.

So. Anyway, I'm sorry. Yes. No worries. Whatever. I texted this person, this pat, whatever. I met with him in some train stations somewhere in New Jersey. He picked me up. We started talking about bands. He also does tattoos. So he showed me that he liked the gates and my shrug and all that shit.

So I was like, oh, that's sick. I like all these other bands that metal, hardcore, whatever. We realized that we had met in some festivals previous to that. festivals I have traveled by myself with, not by myself, without a lot of friends here in Jersey and New York and all that. So I was like, oh, that's cool, man. Well, I just moved here. So I need a, I need to play. If you ever need a drummer or you hear about someone that needs a drummer, let me know, because I like punk. I like metal. I like hardcore, Latin, like name it, whatever, whoever wants to tour. I wasn't trying to join a deathcore band or a death metal brand or a heavy

band at all. He actually showed me fit on that right and I didn't give it shit. At the time I was like, oh cool, yeah, yeah, yeah. So let me know. If you, if you ever want a drummer, let me know. That's it. We worked the convention. We said goodbye. I went home and I was on my way to work that day back in Jersey. And I got a call for my weird number. I was like, cool. What's up, man? it's Pat. Cool. Pat from earlier on. Yes.

How are you, man? Good. You want to go on tour? Yeah. When? In a month. Cool. No problem.

No problem. That's it. So he didn't bring it up on the drive that they might need a drummer. I don't think he knew back then. You know, I think they still had a drummer. And then later that day? Or was it like... Like a...

No, no, no. Like, maybe a month later. Oh, okay. I thought it was the same day. I was like, what? No, no, no. Maybe a month later. But when I said yes, I didn't...

I wasn't aware of the sound of the band, though. Yeah. I said, yeah. You just wanted to play it. Yes. I was on my way to work hating my life. I'm like, yeah, whatever. Let's play some drums.

So he told me, can you listen tomorrow? I'm like, yeah. I had no drum set. I had no drum space or anywhere to practice. At the time, I was working in a shop. in Queens. So from where I live in Jersey, it took me two hours in a train to get to that spot, work the whole day, and then two hours back. From that spot to where I had to audition, it was three hours total. So I had five hours on the trains from New York in the subway

to erdrum and learn as much shit as I could. Erdraming like a crazy person in the fucking subway train. Trying to learn as much stuff I could, like at least. the breakdowns or the parts that I thought were the parts that could impress anyone in an audition. Like all the crazy double kicks or the blast pizza or whatever are the things that people get impressed easily, I guess. I started. Yeah, I learned everything like in five hour total, two hours on my way to work. I listened to the whole thing at work. And then three hours to go to their studio or whatever it was.

they were practicing with their drummer I think they had to play one more show with him I was like oh cool I get I get to see this guy let me see who was he what album was this in the process of human extermination I think is cool

and everything before that I believe so what was your first one my first one was hillbound the first good one so I'm sorry well I'm sorry well So you watched him

I watched him I saw what he was doing so I was like oh let me I got a little I got I got

I got lucky because I was able to compare myself to someone right there and I was like well I'm going to do all the things that he didn't do that's all I got like I just wanted to get the gig

I was like I don't know the music so let me just do the things that he didn't do And he, you know, I was, I just tried my best. I started hitting very hard, like I was stoked. And I got the game. And it was that easy, but it was very stressful. And I couldn't play the things at the time.

Like, I wasn't physically trained yet to play those parts. You know, I just said, yeah, yeah, I can do it. And I faked it, you know. I did that with my death metal band, Viatrophy. When I joined them, there was like an EP out. And I was like some Myspace songs that weren't a real drum. where it was programmed and then were all my friends and they were like do you want to be in the band I was like yeah and then we're like can you play it I was like yeah I fucking

couldn't that will call me and be like can you play this are you sure I'm like fuck yeah dude I've done that I wasn't yeah physically trained I could understand that in my brain but I was like dude I need to work my whole base you know say yes now and then it means you have to practice yeah and it just forced me so I had to find a place to practice and then I met Will in those practices so and then we started being friends and he was like, we'll come to my studio, as long as you don't bother anyone else, we'll figure it out.

I'm like, I'm sorry, I just need a spot, you know. And it's his band too, so I always try to make it work around him. So there's a lot of times that I come to the studio, and it's like 11 at night, 2 a.m., because he's, after he's done doing work with his own bands, you know, so I'm like, everything I do, drumming-wise, you know this, will be loud forever. You will bother everyone everywhere.

Yeah, it's insane. It doesn't matter why you do. So if that's what I have to do, to get ready for a tour, to get ready for, I come at weird times. And it's hard physically, but it also,

it's a very hard training, because if I can play my stuff at 2 a.m. after working the whole day. Yeah, fuck that. Absolutely, fuck that. It's very hard, but that means that if I play at 6 p.m., it'll be good.

Yeah, it's the same on tour. Yeah. When we headline, I'm so much worse. Now, as soon as the guys tell me, we have a headline, I'm like, fuck, man, I need to play late. And it's longer sets. Yeah, play for 60 to 70 minutes at fucking 10 p.m. And think about the amount of hours that we're awake during the day,

and then the van, and then the load in, and then this and this. By the time I go on stage, I don't, I get happy if I have the energy. I get stoked. That's how I have a good night. If I feel like I have the energy, I had a great night. Because I know the music. I just need the energy to be able to perform that thing well. I'm exactly the same.

And I naturally wake up early. So it's not just like, oh, we're playing. Yeah, I love coffee, so I wake up super early. Exactly. And it's not like I'm not super, if I'm going to go to, if we're going to play late, all the other guys in the band, they just go to bed late and then they wake up late and their body clock just changes. Yeah, I have a different clock.

I still wake up at fucking 9 a.m. And I'll play it 11. For me, every meal, it matters because I have a show. So as soon as I wake up, I try to have a meal. I'm not super healthy or anything. I just have to try my best every day to feel as good as I can so I can perform how I think it should be done. Yeah.

That means... Sorry, what's your cutoff for time before playing that you eat? Because everyone's got a different... I try to do two hours. Obviously, there's days where I haven't eaten anything. And I get a half hour before I set. it's when the food gets there or the only chance I get and I'm dizzy. So I need some type of fuel, you know.

How are your feet after those days? Terrible. Yeah, mine is so shit. If I eat and then play straight away, it's fucking science. All the blood in your body is in your stomach, digesting the food. Then you can't get the blood to your ankles because you're digesting the fucking food. So I have a different clock than all the guys.

You know, I have to try to rest as much as I can because tomorrow I have to do the same shit. And when you play the type of music we play, I believe that that's our responsibility as drummers, man. Like, it's very demanding, you know, we try to make it like that. We love that challenge. I love it at least, but it's also my responsibility to have that energy for the performance, you know. I also love to have fun, so I have to keep a balance. Because I've struggled to tours, man. Some of the biggest tours I've done, and I just want to party every night with everyone, because I'm stoked that we're with it.

Simple tour, man. Are you kidding me? What? Halfway through the tour, I can't play. Can't play. So I need to always reset myself and, okay, that's it. And the bigger tours we get, the more responsibility I feel. So I need to plan my whole day as much as I can.

So when the guys get hungry before you set, I'm like, it's too late for me to eat, man. Yeah. So I get angry because I haven't eaten. Yeah, me too. That's my biggest weakness is how fucking angry I get. I haven't eaten. But like,

I used to party so much on tour, like crazy. And then I stopped because I was like, I'm not playing well or whatever. Like I would have, like you just said, there would be a point in the tour where I would start playing badly.

And I thought it was because of the partying. So now I like, don't party at all on tour. I still have those nights. Yeah. They're going to happen no matter what. So imagine if you put all that punishment, you know?

Yeah. I do try to have a balance because I think, that I can't forget that I join a band to have fun. So I try to have that balance. What we do is hard work. So we need a little night off. I think I forget that.

It's important to reward yourself when it comes to this, because I can go crazy. I've had tours where I'm just super militant about it, and it's not fun. That's me. And that's why I play drums. I play drums to have fun. There's no other reason for me to go on tour and suffer through the things we do

and be a drummer and carry all this shit. it and practice a lot. I need to have fun at least. And that's why I'm doing it, because it's fun. Playing drums is great. I love it. But I need a balance. But without the music or the performance suffering, you know.

So that's the hard part, just to have that balance. Yeah, I think I need more. I tried to have more balance on the tour we just did. I think I partied. I'm also very shy. I don't talk too much. So if I want to meet the headliners or whatever, I need a few beers, man.

I need to do something I need to smoke something Does the Eloy party? Sepultura? No, I didn't hang out with him too much Was he just He seems like a very focused person Yes

I saw him working on every day So fucking good Yeah I wish I was that discipline He's unbelievable But then I watch videos of like him When he's 14 And he was already sick

That video of him doing like An Afro Cuban solo At Modern Drama When he's like literally 14 And then I think I'll never be as good as him. I think he just had access to a lot of those things. He just became a monster, man, I don't know.

He probably had a good teacher as well. I saw him. I didn't have a good teacher. I saw him every night on that tour. Maybe I missed two shows because I went to see some other bands or whatever. Did he ever play bad? I saw him frustrated, but it was the sickest thing I've ever seen. So I could see him as a drummer.

I assumed that he felt frustrated because he was. having a bad night. But I'm nowhere close to him to be able to judge him that well. His bad is still way better than us. I wish I was that good. You know, your worst nights, you know. And that tour, for example, it was a long tour for me because we did Australia, Japan, or Japan, Australia, and then Europe.

Oh, fuck me. And I was in Japan having a great time, you know, with the Dyer guys. And then we did Australia and then I party every day because the shows were great and we were flying every day and it was the first time I experienced that thing. I was like, I'm tired, but this is sick. Yeah, it's party, you know? Dude, when I got to Europe, my feet were shit. Complete bullshit.

I had also lost my favorite pedals on the way there. The luggage got stolen. So I had to do some rental shit on the first show in the first few weeks. I was like this is my test that's why I get I've been waiting to tour with a band like this forever

and I lost my pedals okay no problem and I had to make it work and it was very hard I made it work but it was hard you know and then halfway through that tour I had to get it together again

because yeah I was it was it was Oz Goldhor Obsc Obscura Sepultura a great tour great package I was having fun

the shows were really cool cool. The Goldhor guys are awesome. We were partying, having great time, you know, like listening to heavy metal and boss every day, super loud. It was sick. I was like, this is sick, man. I've always liked these bands and we're hanging out. Yeah. I couldn't perform properly, you know, because I will get so tired. So I had to get it together. Who was playing drums for Obscura? Sebastian, I think is his name? Sebastian Lanza. He's fucking crazy, He's crazy. He's super good, like, super meticulous about everything, every no matter.

And he's like, holy shit. That's a complete, different approach to... He's one of those guys. I saw a YouTube video of him a while ago. It actually inspired me to write a song that I put on my YouTube where he's just doing this. He had a band called Panser Ballet, and it's like Frank Zappa shit. I love Frank. And it's fucking, it's Sebastian Lanzer playing this Zappa-esque stuff.

but with like drums, modern drums. Imagine like old Zappa, but the production, with modern production drums with a guy as good as some of the old Zappa drummers, it's fucking cool. Cool Panzer Ballet. And it's got like a saxophone and shit.

I saw, now that you're talking about Zappa, it has nothing to do what we're talking about. I can talk about Zappa, let's go. The first time I went to NAM, I was a little starstruck, I saw Vinicola, Utah signing one of the drums said, he used back then, he was like a yellow gratch or something back in the 70s, I think. Yeah.

I saw him sing it and I was like, holy shit. Like, let's seal it, man. Let's rob it. Let's do it. Did you rob it? No, no, no. Did you meet Vinny? I was too afraid to go to him.

Apparently he's the sickest. I've seen him hugging. I think I saw him. It was the guy from Tool, Danny Carey. Fuck, yeah. Nico, Nick of my brain and Vinicola, Utah all hugging each other. because they were meeting somewhere at them and I was like

all my legends hanging out all of them I want to hang out with them I just want to have a coffee with them I've seen videos of like Danny Carey Stuart Copeland from the police dude if I ever met him there's like a video

there's a YouTube video it's Danny Kerry Stuart Copeland I think one of the guys from Mastodon and someone else and they're just having like a barbecue at Les Claypool's house that's sick it's fucking insane and they have like this jam and it's crazy.

That's why I like European tours because, you know, a band our size, we're still not with the big boys, really, like we're supporting.

Yeah. But when you go to the catering area, you're hanging out with legends. Oh, yeah, from Slaher are right there. Eating the same food as you. And then I'm a fan of music.

So there's many, many different bands that I like. And I'm like, I'm just hanging out with them. And a lot of bands and they're cool enough so you get to know them and hang out

and they appreciate the difference in the music. So I'm like, oh, so cool. Yeah, everyone's always so nice at festival catering because everyone's in a good mood because the show is guaranteed going to be awesome because there's

a billion people there. The food's always fucking sick. And most bands are always in a good vibe because they're going to meet with their friends. Yeah. Like, sometimes at that time and the year, everyone is busy. So that's that day where you get to hang out with your friends. We had fucking, where were we?

I can't remember what festival it was. Maybe grass pop. And our our dinner table was like stray and then fucking hodore from Game of Thrones was there

he was just hanging out he wasn't at dinner but he was hanging out me and Drew went up to him and said hello whatever and Adrian Erlanson have you said he was at his he was at our table just eating with his wife can I tell you how I made that guy yeah go

I think we were playing some festival in Belgium in Belgium. Iperfest or something stuff. Oh, crusty. Krusty. Yes, I love it. The modier, the better.

We were playing one of the small stations, whatever, but a cool time with the guys from Revocation and everything, we're hanging out. And when I'm unpacking my stuff, or maybe when I was warming up before my set, I'm sorry. I see Adrian and Thomas from at the gates, I think that's his name, the singer. And a lot of all the guys that I knew,

that I was aware that that wasn't seen at the gates you know I was like I know every one's face in that band you know so I'm like but that's Adrian and that's the guy from at the gates Thomas I tell my bass player blue because he's also a metal nerd like me yeah I think I'm mad that guy one and we're always like dude you know who they're there and he's like oh my god like yeah are they playing what was the name of their band and we started looking through the list and we're like it's got to be this one so I on Adrian for a little bit and I see that he's trying to look at the festivals kit and it was you know a festival kid

an EPA festival kit that is pretty fucking rough okay thank you yeah I was like holy shit I have a rental it was a Tama an old Star Classic but better than that and he was playing after me so it was like I can't let my legend use the piece of shit I need to help him and I had like a smaller kid I used only a rack time and It's floor time. I know he needed more. But I went to him. I was like, hey, man. Adrian, right? I'm well aware of who you are.

Nice to meet you, man. I love your work. Everything you've done on your brother. I love your brother too, which is the guy from Archibank, yeah. Daniel. Yes. Sicker guy. Well, they're both super sick. Like, he's one of the craziest drummer after with. So I go to Adrian, I'm like, I'm sorry to punish you, but I play a little bit before you on this tour. on this festival, I'm sorry.

Which drum set are you using? And he's like, I'm not sure yet. Like, I'm looking around. I'm like, I think you have to use that one. Do you have anything on your trailer? He's like, no, we just, you know, show it up or whatever. I'm like, okay, come here. This is what I got.

It's a rental. It's a tamas. It's not the sickest tamas you've used. But it's better than that. I know you need another rack. But I can help you figure it out. You have a few stands. And you're like, yeah, wait, I'll figure it out.

And that's how I made the dude. He watched my set and everything and I was losing my shit. And then he was like, oh, cool, man. And then I helped him. He gave me the CD, which is randomly this one. Randomly, yeah, I was thinking that while you were saying. I was like, is that? It's called the Lucan fear.

Looking Fear, I'm sorry. And he gave me that CD. He gave me a few fucking bellcros for my pedals and everything, which I still have because my legend, my my hero gave me that you know like we exchanged our music and he left nice and then he came back and he was like

do you play fits for an autopsy I was like yeah that's the name of my band man he's like you're going to tour with my brother very soon sick and it was before that arch enemy tour I was like holy shit yeah I love your brother just tell him I want to meet him and I think he sent him a picture of us or something.

So by the time I got to the Arch Enemy tour, his brother saw me at the catering the first day. He was like, Hey, what's up? I was like, holy shit, I see. That's so sick. They were. Dramas, man. We're a different breed.

We're nice to each other. They were very cool. He will show me parts while playing, dude. Like the Archimmy guy. Yeah, he's a fucking trailer. Like, I will make him questions, how do you play this very part during the day? He'll like, I'll tell you later. And then he'll see me the side of the stage and he'll be like, he'll do this stage.

He'll do this thing, like, with his eyebrows, yeah. Pay attention. And then he would show me. I was, like, losing my shit. I'm like, holy shit. So sick. Yeah. That's how I learned.

I just go on tour and watch guys. Steal of other people. That's what I do. Just watch them, you know, watch what works. They're being doing it for a reason, man. And they're headlining for a reason. Even if I don't like their music, that has nothing to do with the quality of their performance.

I've learned a lot from bands that I don't like. Either the way they handle themselves or how they do things or, how they play you know that's a way for me to try to feel inspired on tour because i get i get bored every very easily it's tough if you if you do a tour where you're not into the other bands it's tough to get inspiration to play for me anyway yeah i love it when there's a band especially a band on before us where the drummer fucking rips because then i'm just watching them and i'm like i got to follow that and it like pipes me up yeah yeah yeah i guess cared i go away and then

then I hang out, I'm like, I hang out, and then we learn shit. It's scary, man. There's so many good people. And in the metal world, I play, holy shit, younger guys than me. Killing it. How old are you? I'm about to be 34 in May. I'm 33 right now.

I'm not the oldest, but I've been playing drums for 20 years now and all in heavy bands. Playing double bass and blast beats and all that stuff. So now I just get a lot of it. Yeah. You know, so I'm like, oh, my best. back starting to hurt and my legs are starting to act different you know so and I'm also very hard on myself so I try to give my best every day it's not hard enough I need to play harder you know I'm like I'm the same and then like we've obviously just finished up and everyone's stoked

and everything and I'm stoked and all the drum parts are fucking sick or whatever but when you hear the rough unedited ones all I do is hear mistakes I don't know I'm supposed to talk about our new record or anything but I won't talk about I know what you are allowed to talk about you're allowed to talk about everything except the title okay or the release I don't think I know the title there isn't one yet okay I know there is I bet you're not I'm the drummer but you're not to say anything I know the music I asked well yeah okay I was super hard on myself on that last record I was in the room downstairs for nights like hours and hours and hours of beating myself

I'm not good enough, like, this part sucks! And just trying to keep up to it, because I was very proud of the record with it before the great collapse. And I think that was the first time that I heard something I've done, I was like, holy shit, did I do that? That was very cool, you know? The first time that I felt like I had an idea on what I was doing, you know? I still don't know exactly, but I had an idea at that time. So for the last one, when I started listening to the music, music that Will was sending me.

I was like, dude, I like this. I get it. I understood everything from the beginning. Every riff, every drum punter. My brain could. I needed to train my body to perform that. You know, that's a different story. But I would be at home, like, listening to it every day.

I'm like, I understand everything. I just need to train my feet. I just need to train this and that and learn those groups. And there was a lot of weird groups, you know, So, Will's very good at programming drums. So he sends me sick stuff, like sick groups where I'm like, I don't need to change anything. If I play that part properly, every day, that's it.

That works. That's very good. And then I have a lot of other parts where he just leaves open and I do whatever works. But it's very hard to impress Will. So that puts me to... So hard to impress it. But I love that. I love that.

I work with a guy that it's not impressed about anything because he works with very good people. And I'm like... Literally the best. You know, so he's like, I'm the one that has to figure it out. He's doing okay. So that makes me put a lot of stress on myself

and try to work very hard, which I love, but I don't always know how to manage that pressure. So I beat myself to the ground. On the last record, after I was done playing as hard as I could, giving him 10 different versions of this, of fills,

because I was like, I don't know what to do. do I can do this I can do this I can do this you choose whatever you want you know and then but I will be playing very hard just because I wanted to give a good performance and everything I heard myself I couldn't go on tour after that my life in the studio after when I went home after I was done and I felt very proud and everything I was like yeah I like it I like it I did a good job a week later couldn't move my right leg my back was shot and it was all for my work working and thinking that I'm like invincible, you know,

which is technically what we're supposed to do. You need to work hard and you need to make it happen and what we do is very physical. So it is what it is. I just didn't know how to have a balance, you know? Part of the problem is how loud Will wants you to kick the kick drum. And I want to give it to him. And it's the same with me.

There were so many, we were recording a breakdown the other day and he was like into the microphone, into the talk back. He's like, ah. When you play double kick, you lean to the, you lean forward and you look like you're going to leave your body or whatever. And I was like, yes, because I'm trying to do it as loud as you want it. And to do that, it means I'm running on the fucking spot. And he puts a lot of pressure on me. Because he's my friend, like we have a, we can talk to each other however we need to.

And it's the best thing that has happened to me because he's. has only held my drumming because I like that challenge. I love that challenge. There's been nights where I've gone home and be like, I don't know why he wants me to play this super hard part, dude. I don't get it, I don't get it, I don't get it. It's all my fault because I'm the one that doesn't know it.

There's a lot of other guys that can't play it, so I need to put the work in. And what we do doesn't work any other way. You know that there's no shortcuts when it comes to drumming, I believe. He's very honest, which is obviously what you need to be as a producer, but then when you become friends with him,

I'd like to think that we're friends now. It's not often your friends are that honest with you about your playing, but because he's still a producer. So last time, two years ago, I learned that when I crash a ride, I crash it too hard. I mean, amongst other things I learned that. I'm always fucking early for Phil's,

but I also learned when I crash a ride, I crash it too hard so you can hear too much of like the belling out of the thing. So over the last two years, I've worked on not doing that. And we didn't have that come up at all at all in this session. So I learned something from that one.

But then in this session, he was like, yeah, you hit the China too hard. And it chokes the China. And I was like, every time he's like, every time I was like, well, that would be probably where I broke five on the last tour. And now I'm going to try and hit the China less hard. I've recorded with a few people.

You don't know a lot or anything, but a few people I respect. But what Will does is different. He works for very good bands and major labels and everything. So I have a lot of respect for that type of work. I don't know anything about computers. I don't know how to make records. I also don't know how to write music in general.

Like everything, lyrics, music, guitars, bass, everything, an idea. Like, I know how to support a band as a drummer. I try my best to support the music. That's all I try to do. What's the music? What's the riff? Yeah. I don't care about styles.

I just playing a heavy band and the part is a double kicks. I'm like, okay, let me go listen to the best ones doing that. And then, okay, cool. I understand it. And then Blasby here, okay, let me go listen to the best ones that do that. And that's how I study. I obviously like a lot of metal stuff, but I listen to a lot of music. And the more metal I listen to, the less metal I listen to.

I'm sorry, the more metal I play, the less metal I listen to. because I get saturated with. You get your fix when you're playing. Yes, that's it. That's what I need. And then if I, that's not enough, I go on tour with heavy bands most of the time. So there's a lot of very heavy bands out there.

Younger bands too. So I'm like, that's sick, dude. You know, everyone's got their taste and their thing, you know. I'm honestly looking forward to, we had a tour that started at the end of the, January and then we came straight to the studio. So before January, it was obviously Christmas. Before that, we had a different tour.

So when I came home, we had a five-week tour. I came home, I started learning the songs for this studio session in December because I knew we were going to be on tour before this. So I came home off of a tour that started in October.

Rehearsed these heavy songs for all of December. It was all I fucking listening. to. Then went on tour, played heavy songs. Then I had six days off to do these songs again. Did that. Then came here, then track this, and now we've got time off. I can't wait to not listen to heavy music for a bit. Yeah, sure. It's very healthy anyways, you know? Like, it's not like you're a traitor or you don't like heavy music. No. I think music is music. To me, I get my fix from drumming from a lot of different styles of drumming. And if I want to listen to a lot of drums,

I listen to some Latin stuff. Because it's full. of it. Yeah. It's everything like super saturated. Like there's congas and bongos and drummer and timbales, everything. That's where I steal a lot of my patterns, you know, like when I don't know what to do in a song, I'm like, well, I'm not going to listen to the same style that I'm playing yeah to find inspiration. I cannot do that. My brain doesn't work that way. What do I listen to? And then I'll go to the back room and listen to, I don't know. I don't know, Tito Puente or something. I don't know that name in fucking ages You know, like

Those are still my heroes Those were my heroes when I was growing up They were on TV You know, in Puerto Rico They were on TV A guy like him And a conga player called Ray Barreto And all those guys were like

It's the most primitive thing I had seen at the time Like a guy just hitting drums Like massively with his hands And people moving to it Those are the same patterns we do in heavy music If we just forget about it Yeah

It's the same thing Change the drum It all comes from drums you know like drew drew you want to do me a favor can I be on the podcast you can be in the podcast if you do me a favor what's up you got to come right to this microphone right now sorry this is very professional I'm not gonna edit this out this is drew Andrew Dejoreo from straight from the path what's up I finally made it really gonna be on the you'll be on the podcast me too the first time I used

something like this drew could you give me a favor and go to the fridge and get two beers out of it of course I can Would you like to know where the pen is in exchange for that? Oh, I already hit it. Oh, do you know where it was? Yeah. Just been rooting around my bag. That's exactly what I did.

Oh. Oh. Thanks. So for the last record, for example, there's a lot of fields. Look how professional you are, straight back in! I love it. I just want to use the time to get weird with it. Sorry. I got to talk drums. No one cares. Carry on, carry on. Go.

And I'll go to the back room and be like, listen to Tito Puente or Miles Levis records. I like every drummer on those records, you know, or listen to that guy that plays the congas, Ray Barrett or something. And I will hear a pattern. And I'm like, dude, if I do that from the rack tom to a floor tongue, slower, that's super heavy. Check it out. And then I do it. And will, it's like, oh, that's cool. Like, ha ha.

I got it. Yeah. But that's normally where I get my inspiration. Come in. Two hop-ons coming right up. Oh, that's. for the boys. You can have one if you want.

I got some Vino, so I'm all good. Nice. Vino sounds good. Cheers, boys. Cheers, mate. Goodbye, listeners. He'll be on at some point. Now I can...

Now you can do this, ready? You first. Ladies first. Ah, come on. Nice, I saw the... I saw it clip on the thing there. Look good. It looked good.

That would sound good. Look at that. Just looking at the wave of... Ocean's beer. That was your beer opener. That's sick. I never seen anything like. That's like a snare drum transient, that is. Can we talk about you microdosing mushrooms? What?

Are we allowed to talk about that? We can allow, I can talk about it, whatever you want me to talk. So, no shame. So you told me that you microdosed. Oh, yes. Well, let's go. I've been waiting to get a platform to talk about this. Yeah, to talk about this.

What's the deal? Before I was, when I was doing the great collapse, when I was supposed to be doing the great collapse. Fit for an autopsy album, for anyone it doesn't know. Thank you. I was experimenting with psychedelics, you know, a little bit, you know, having fun with myself. So I wonder, well, I'm too afraid to try mushrooms live.

Too afraid to play this super complex music on mushrooms. I don't trust myself. But I want to check if I can practice drums on mushrooms and write parts on mushrooms. Because I wanted to mess with time perception to find different holes in the clicks and times and everything. In terms of like you wanted to see if you could make the space between two clicks seem bigger for you. Bigger or smaller or whatever. I would love to know if that worked so I can do it every diamond. the drums. I study a lot of crazy drummers and I listen to a lot of interviews and I, the

weirder they are, the more information I want to know how they did that thing or artists in general. So I'm always like, well, I want to do some experiments too because before doing the great collapse, I did absolute hope, absolute hell, and then I did before that I did uh hellbound and in between absolute and great collapse we did an EP called the great depression yeah Depression sessions? Depressing sheds, man. Come on, I don't know more than you. Yes.

Sorry, man. Great EP, though. I'm a type of guy that just goes forward. With the fucking 9-inch nails cover? Yes. That was very fun to do. So sick. So I was a little bored.

I didn't know what to do. Yeah, I want to play heavy. I know the music. But I don't know how to put some flavor to this or anything. I had no idea. You know, I was... I always try my best to feel like I'm doing something different. Even if I do the same feel over and over in a different riff,

the idea of me feeling like, yeah, that was different. It feels different, so I'm cool with it. I don't want to do the same record ever, ever again. So I'm like trying myself to get better, more sharp, better player, you know. And I was like, I need to do something. So I started messing with mushrooms and the practice room downstairs in the studio by myself without anyone knowing. I didn't want anyone who judge me

I didn't want anyone to be like Oh he's tripping then How did you get here on mushrooms though That would terrify me Or did you take them here And then wait until they kicked in a very controlled environment By myself, a little dose of it And play drums until I felt like

Yeah I can go home But it didn't tell anyone And then I was like I can do this well tracking Because it's a very controlled environment And if I don't feel correct I can just stop But I didn't tell well

I didn't want anyone to be disappointed Does he know at all? I think he I've told him yeah okay you think I think so I just didn't want anyone to be like dude you're fucking up you know you're tripping

I was like no man I got it I felt great it was just I don't know I was trying to experiment a little bit artist I hate that word artistically but you know I don't know what other words you use

how much we talking micro dose wise enough to not remember a lot of things I did when Will send me a tracks I was like I did that That's sick But you know what that means to me?

That's what my body did That's what my brain just did I didn't process too much I didn't ever think anything All I had to worry is about being able to perform The parts physically when it comes to The demanding parts You know like the double kicks

Or the blast beats and all that What's double kick like on mushrooms? I don't remember I think very hard because your body is more relaxed Man I fucking I used to love mushrooms and I had one horrible time and now I can never do them ever again. I haven't done it in years.

I think that was the last time I did it because I got what I needed from it and then I was like, oh, let's go do it. But I did it as an experiment. Just as a creative experiment sounds better than artistically. And when I heard the drums, they sound different to me than the previous. Oh, I accomplished and the producer liked it. And I just played for the music. I didn't overthink Phil's, I don't sit around and

practice specific fills. I'm like, what works for the riff? And there's a lot of times that I'm like, convinced that it's the sick riff that I'm like convinced that it's the sickest thing. I'm going to kill it and everyone's going to be so proud. And then I come to record with Will. It doesn't fit the part that well. Yeah. And I'm like, but I didn't hear that last guitar part. I'm sorry. I was too stuck about the feel. Yeah, no, that happens to me. That's my fucking, one of my big weaknesses is I'll like I'll either practice the really hard parts and then fuck the easy

parts up. Yeah? Or I'll be like yeah I've got this bit down and then I'll come here and it'll be like oh there's an extra kick drum listen to the guitar and I'm like oh fuck and then because I've practiced for hours. You need to train yourself at the spot. On the fucking spot

I need to change that one kick drum and then that fucks my left arm up for some reason. Everything. I hate it. I hate the drum. That's so good. I quit on air right now. It's very hard. I hate it when I'm doing it.

I'm very pissed. Like, I go to the bathroom and I take a shower. I'm very upset. Like, I suck. You cry in the shower? I've sounded like, yeah. I've been close. I've been close a couple of times.

I've cried because, you know, I've had terrible nights at shows where I've gone to the back and I've cried out of anger, for sure. Yeah, I've had that at shows. I'm just too sweaty for people who know it. Yeah, just looks like one. I'm big tear. And I have long hair now, so I get to these guys. But Pat knows.

If he sees me, he knows. Tom calls me DC when I'm having one of those days. Depressed Craig. That's what he says. It's only ever because I've played bad. And the only time I'm ever in a bad mood on tour is either if I'm hungry, which doesn't happen that often because I've got a bag full of protein bars, or if I've played bad. I try myself, I'm the type of guy that I don't care the size of the room.

To me, the smaller the better. I love the idea of playing the floor. I love playing bars. The dearer, the better. I know their bathroom sucks. But you know what? The people that show up to those places are there for the music only. Bigger places are also sick.

We experience a different thing. But I will play as hard in every show. Do you play worse in big venues? Of course. It's more stress. I play so bad. It's more stress, more people. Sometimes it sounds.

so different to yeah a high ceiling fucks me up and I'm the drummer back then I riser very far away from the band I feel nothing yeah that sucks I'm like it's hard it's hard to

for me to connect with the people because I don't see them there's too many of them or there's too many lights in front of my face which it's a great idea I've always dreamed about being big stages but it's a different experience yeah you know I enjoy it for what it is

and I enjoy an intimate bar for what it is I've seen some of the Best players and some of my heroes, the best drummers in the world, in rooms are definitely smaller than some of the rooms that have been playing in the last two years. Yeah. And here in New York City, so close to it, dude, legends in very tiny little rooms. That's it. That's all they need to perform their best.

I wish I could just do that. It is the sickest thing about New York City. Just give me that. Give me a fucking, oh, I've got three nights in one little tiny bar this weekend. Give me a thousand hours. I love big stages because I love the responsibility that comes with it. I love that I have to be ready for it. That challenge is the best thing that can happen to someone that wants to do it.

If you know how to pay attention to that and learn from it. Because I know, I'm aware, you know, if I'm opening a tour, I'm aware that not everyone in that room likes my band. They're there for some other bands, maybe. Yeah. I don't expect everyone to know. you go impress them. But there's a lot of people watching me.

I need to play good because they'll see me. You know, so I put myself in a lot of pressure. So I do try to play my best. But I try to do the same in a small room because everyone will hear that's their drum. Yeah. I'm like, oh shit. You know, and the guys are very close to you.

So they see you dropping the stick and you're like, ah, I saw it. Do you, the whole sets to a click? Yes, everything. Jealous. It's very hard, but it's also the best thing that I've done with my playing because he has fixed all the little things.

things that I was doing before that. And no one can be annoyed at you for starting a song too fast, because it's just the speed. You know what? Some of the guys in my band, or at least Joe, for example, the singer, he's very locked in with me. We have to. So he's the one that notices, like, you're speeding up here. And he will tell me weird things, and I'm like, how do you know? How can you speed up, though, if there's a click?

It's my nature. I'm tired, trying to overcompany. I guess. Oh, oh like in certain little places I do that all fucking time actually. I don't know. I'm nervous or I'm like going crazy or maybe faster than the click. I don't know like too much coffee that day because I can drink coffee the whole day and the blacker the better. What do you have as your mix in your ears? I play to the click. I have scratch guitars. Yeah. So not the live guitars that I have. No, I just get whatever I get from the front. That's enough for me to have a little ambient. But scratch guitars. Scratch guitars and my kick. That's it. And the noises I get from the samples, you know,

all the different noises that we have in our songs and all that, like all the samples. No snare, no tombs. Just natural. If I get lucky. But I don't get it from my mix.

If I have a good monitor that day and I have the time. So you take a on the ground monitor as well as this? I try to not use it. Oh, okay. But you don't take a line

into your mixer from... Mm-mm. I have everything coming out from my Roland. Interesting. But remember, I'm still supporting Victor. So if I'm lucky and I can have a monitor for myself and I have this pace and everything feels great, cool.

I just hit everything hard enough and there's nights where I don't hear my old snare drum. But fuck it, man. The sound guy and everyone's headbanging, so I just hit it as hard as I can. And I get super tired. But how am I going to bottle that? I'm opening the tour. I don't get sometimes to get a sound check or whatever. Yeah, you don't control those things.

So in those scenarios It could have sounded better It can sound better I give up to it And I just try to play with garbage You know I like That's it

I play better If I can't hear anything Other than like maybe my kick I don't get I don't like to hear the guys If I'm far away from them The better The quieter I'm on stage for me

The better I can focus on every sound I need to make properly If I get blasted by the bass And the guitar and the singer is too much. I play in a very heavy band, and they play loud, and they are always going louder,

and I play hard to keep up with it, so the louder they get it, harder I play, because I don't want to sound. And then you speed up because you're fucking hitting too hard. Exactly, so there's nights where I do different variables, different scenarios, I give up to it. I'm like, I know the music.

I'm going to hit as good as I can, and trust the sound guy that thing, because it is. what it is what it is or I'm in between I'm the second band in the package so the first band takes too long and I get set up I can't worry about a mon in order to get my perfect snare mix I only remembered but Benny Greb told me when I was freaking out about a drum show that I did I talked about this on the podcast before but I'll keep it quick because I don't think I'll talk to you about it but I was playing a drum show and I did the sound check the night before and I played

the show the next day and I did the sound check and it was shit and I was fucking terrible I could hear myself rushing and all this stuff and then I went out to dinner with mine all and it was like benny greb, Mike Johnson, Richard Spavin and then we were talking and I was like guys guys who were better than me at the drums why am I so fucking shit and they were like what do you mean shit and it was like well I did had the sound check I was rushing all this stuff and then they go what are you having your monitor and I was like oh you know I had you know, the guy was killing it. I had the Tom sounding all nice.

I had all my overheads. They were like, nope. Get all of that out. Maybe because you play metal, keep the kicks in. But all of them said they played a nothing but backing track. Because when they're in their jam room, are you in a fully nice...

Yeah, exactly. And then I played the drum show the next day, and I think it was okay. And I only remembered that bit of fucking advice on the last song that we were doing here. I was like, hang on. play better with my drums turned down and then I did it and I played better and I was like fuck dude should have done that nine songs ago I've done tours with bands you know where I

I become friends with the headliner drummer I try to always get along with drummers and they let me sound check or whatever or try their kid and I get to listen to what they hear I'm like this is why you listen every day it sounds great of course you play so great obviously as a support band or as a second band in the package we don't always get that luxury not always you need to deliver and as a drummer that's my job no matter what I can listen to

obviously there's a few things I need to listen to our show or the clicks and all that and I need to be able to hear my kicks and I need to be able to hear a few things to make it happen other than that I practice with the less stuff I can I just play

worse if I can hear myself it's almost like I get excited Ooh, these tombs sound good. I'll hit them. It's like my brain wants to hit them earlier to hear the nice noise quicker. That's another reason. One of the reasons why I use such as small drums,

other than the idea of the fact that that's all I could afford for years and at the time, that's how I learned. And I just feel very safe. So I've gotten more pieces and I take it on tour and add tombs to look super metal or whatever. I'm like, I hate it. I don't feel comfortable.

This is, with this, this is just, normal. So I set up my kit. You play rack and floor. Yeah, that's all I need. Sometimes, I thought... Two crashes, ride China hats. Classic. I love that look. I love those classic simple kits. That rock and roll look and that jazz look.

And I've seen some shredders and the best players using less than that. Yeah, fucking Chris Penny from Dillinger. Yes, and they make so many... They make so many great sounds with two tombs and you're like, how we'll learn how to play that tom. Also, the way that we

fucking tune metal drums anyway. You do a big fill between two tombs. You can go back up and down the film, up and down the tombs and say for a feel that needs four tombs, you can just go tom one, tom two, Tom one, Tom two. I do it. No one fucking

I fake it all the time. You just hit harder enough and it sounds sick, yeah. Exactly. Or you just split your hands up and you go like if I'm tired, you know, like if my left hand is higher, I can't make it all the way down to my floor tum, equally with my right. Yeah, I just leave it on my rag. and you just blah blah blah it's fine people just clap like oh sick have you got a 12 and a 16 yes for

now yeah but uh I wish I had bigger tons I think I'm gonna invest in that 13 if you played on that one in there I played you'll be playing on that drum kit a lot I think I think so I hope so but the other day that you guys left to go wheat I was like there's no one in this too did you jam on it a little bit yes that's fucking sick isn't it it's a nice kit are you going to use that tomorrow in your video I Hopefully I'll have mine. But we'll see what happens. My band is very unpredictable.

That's why I like. I need to improvise. So that's why I keep it so simple. This is a type of setup that I can figure out anywhere. Let's say we still support a lot of tours and we play a lot of festivals and we fly in or whatever. That's something I can figure out easily. I just need two times. Yeah.

And I need two crashes and I write in China. I don't need to worry about more. That's already enough stress for me. Like if I can find those things, I can play anywhere. In a corner. You just put a rug in a corner. And what drum kit doesn't have a... Fuck.

Broke this chair probably. This brand new chair. What drum kit doesn't have a 12 in a fucking 16 inch? That's something universal. I can play in the moon and someone will be like, yeah, yeah. Some alien will be like, yeah, I've got a fucking... I've got an old Premier kit.

They sell them everywhere, you know. 22, 12, 13, 16. Now the bigger tours we're getting and the... If I get a little bit more money, I've been investing in better gear little by little, but a lot of times I've learned how to make relatively cheap stuff sound very good. Now that I play in this band, it has helped to get actual good gear. Now I have a Star Classic, not time.

I now have Siljian symbols, which I absolutely love. This is the best I've ever sounded, you know, just the fact that I get to experiment with those sounds, and I take them on tour and I practice everything. I'm a nerd. I'm crazy. I don't look like it. But I will play a different part of the right every night. If I play it down here, let me try tomorrow.

And then the next day I'm like, I play it in the middle. Oh, that sucked. Let me go back down. No, that sucked too. Let me go higher in the next day. So I'm always experimenting. By the last of, if I tell you that, I don't like that same. Well, I tried it.

Yeah, you fucking tried it. And that's the thing with me. I'm not a gear nerd, but I know what feels good for me. and that's something I really work on is my own thing. I don't think it's my own thing like that, and everything is from somewhere. But I focus more on, well, I like how this feels, and everyone in the band agrees, it doesn't sound like shit.

It doesn't take away from the music. That's my main goal. I think it adds to the music. Or I like how it sounds and how it feels, so it makes me happy to play. It feels great. It feels sick. Like if I get a good rebound from the ride,

the way I like it, that makes me want to play it better, you know? So that inspires me to be like, I want to write more parts with that right, because that feels very good. But then when you fucking don't have it in your monitor, it just, you can't hear it anyway. Because I think it's, because we're good.

I'm at least talking from my experience. I'm not trained for it. I haven't been in that position where I have the luxury of listening to everything perfectly. Because I sat in the Alex Benz kit from Trivian. him. And his mix, I could hear everything in a way that I would like, this is why you play so good.

Yeah, but I would play bad with that. Maybe, but you need to train. Yeah, maybe. I don't know what to. Maybe I need to set mics up at home and play like that. I don't know, I don't know. Some people don't do it, though. Like, I've seen a lot of very good drummers, like, they don't need it.

The minute Benny Grebs said he doesn't have anything in his monitors whatsoever, I was like, okay. Yeah, it all depends on the music. It depends on how you feel as a player. I've seen people that don't have monitors and some people that just their kicks or whatever. I think that's the most important thing is to do the research and see what works for you. Have you ever had it when you've got too much kick? Of course, and that throws me off.

It throws me off so much because I hear every little boom. Like when I haven't buried the beta or I've buried it too hard and I just hear another boom-bum at the end and then it fucks it. I use triggers. So if I hit it. you do that. Dude, like, I just, you see me very compliment the set because I can freak out, right?

There's people watching, but I'm losing my mind. Internally. I just want to go home right now. I suck. That's it. I quit. I just want to go home.

I want to play. I want to work in a grocery store now. I just want to go home. It's something that I say to myself on stage when I fuck up. I'm literally just yearning to be on my fucking couch.

Like, I don't deserve to be here. I want to go home. I need a burger. Yeah, I don't deserve to be here. I'm a fucking loser. I'm a piece of shit. And then I go to sit in my bunk. That's my fault for drinking that beer

last night. And then that's my fault because I didn't eat good. But this is the thing. Because I eliminated the drinking thing. But that's so I couldn't blame that. And then I still fuck up. And then I've got nothing to blame. And then it's just, at least you can blame the drinking.

I just blame it on. And then it's just like, oh, I'm just bad. Oh, that's it. I'm just bad. I just try to see like, why am I playing so bad? Why? Well, it's because I slept like, Well, that's why. I need to...

I'm always trying to find how to fix it because I go crazy. Sleep is a fucking big one, though. I'm always trying to find how to fix it. That's my thing and that's... I do believe in that. I do have that discipline. I'm like, if I fuck up tonight and I fucked up that part because it's very hard or whatever,

I need to figure out why. Because tomorrow, that can happen. And I am a little bit of a military guy when it comes to that, you know? At the same time in the last few years, I also believe in just playing drums, dude. That's it. If I miss that note, fix it. Play the next one good enough or whatever.

I've seen my heroes miss a note, but their set was the sickest thing I've seen. So it's not about the amount of notes. It's the amount of the performance, obviously. You know, and as drummers, I like to be challenged. So for me to be entertained every day playing something that I, actually enjoy. I need to have some type of challenge in the music. And normally that means playing or making parts hard for myself.

So they're going to be hard forever. And I hate it sometimes, but that's the only thing that keeps me sharp. Because it will never be easy. Everything else, I can play. I can play that breakdown. I can play that blast beat. Oh, but this part, that groove, man. I need to be ready for it.

It needs to feel correct. And blah, blah, blah, blah. That idea. So that keeps me sharp. And it's a good thing. But with the last album, I felt very confident. Like I said, I don't care about styles. A few albums ago, I was trying to be the heaviest I could and just be like, I want to be brutal.

Now I'm like, I want to groove, man. I want to make it feel awesome. You know, I want to make it feel great. There's a lot of players that can do faster things than me. More notes. Crazy feels. Now I go on YouTube and get depressed because there's so many good players. I'm not aware of and then

holy shit This kid is 20 years old Yeah damn I wasn't that good when he was when I was that age And I'll go to Nam and see a kid doing Playing a swing in the ride And I'm like I've been working how to figure out

How to swing in the ride for years And I don't think I'll figure it out Because I'm too heavy of a player But and then I see a kid That's like 12 years old He's like holy shit You know like that's a different thing for me So

I don't try to come compete with anyone anymore. I try to get inspired. And I used to compete because it was, I had the right, the wrong mindset at the time. I was like, oh, that guy is good. I need to be as good as him. And that helped me as a young kid, but now I'm like, no man, like I just want to play good music. And my band plays a certain way and this is the gig I got. And I enjoy it. So I need to play to the riffs and to the music. So while I, my job in the band is to see what that riff needs. Luckily I have will. But other than that, it's still my job as a drummer to figure that out. And then life, I get to play with it a little bit, you know, and try to figure out what's my idea of making that part better or whatever, which is a...

And just an idea, you know, like... But then I can get feedback from the guys and they're like, I don't like how you do that thing. Like, you change that or whatever. I'm like, okay, I'm sorry. That's Will. That's Will. Let's be honest, that's Will. No, sometimes... That's a Will voice to it. voice to it. Blue, dude. Blue is super

meticulous about the way we play, so I love it because he listens to me and he's like, you had a rough night tonight, huh? And I'm like, ah, yeah. He'll say that to you. That's fuck. I mean, Tom would say that to me as well, I guess. But I love it because that makes me me like, yes, you

know this. Fuck, he noticed. Yeah, but he's a bassist. But that's... No one no one can hear when you make a mistake. I know. That's a running joke that we have in stray. Because bassists actually are the fucking backbone of the meettiness, but

everyone thinks... As a drummer and that's a fan of heavy music and heavy groove, drums and bass baby. Everything needs to be looked in, you know? You listen to the heaviest bands in the world. They all have great bass players. You listen to all that fusion era

that I love and all that jazz and do that every drummer that was sick was playing to a very good bass player, you know, and that's why it sounds heavier than everyone. I think I need to jam more with actual musicians I think that's a hole in my playing I don't get to do it a lot

I think I've just been playing on tour shows and then in my practice room I think I need to just fucking sit down because I don't get to do it a lot I go to a lot of shows to see them and get inspired I'm like that's how you do it let me try to have that same mindset on stage with my voice you know and it's just a way for me to keep inspired

you know because on tour you can get boring you play the same songs for many how many how many times yeah and it's never easy but i know the songs you know so i'm like okay how do i make this feel feel better i'm gonna play like i saw the winkle doing this thing like with let me see if that oh blew it yeah why don't do that tomorrow you know uh but whatever that's how i get to experiment and get better and sometimes come up with things and i'm like that sounds better dude that's why he was doing it or i think i don't know why he was doing but that sounds good for me you you know and then i i feel very confident with it and then i can bring it to the next music you know to the next record or something i learned this thing on tour by improvising in my own songs

you know yeah and that's how i gave myself a little task i don't get to practice as much as i can i i don't have a practice room i have never have a practice how often you practice a week every day i have my drum six on me like i air drum every day how often you practice on a kit a week It could go weeks and weeks and sometimes months Really? Yes If you have a tour coming up How often? Depending on the size of the tour

So this one you got hay breed coming up In like a week But you can't talk about that I'll get to jam with the band tomorrow And then I'll go on the tour When is the tour? Thursday and the fourth Tomorrow is the first

And when was the last time you played in the kit. There wasn't that kit in there. Two weeks ago. So I jammed here. I'm going to practice with the band. I'm going to be super militant about it. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing something else. I feel like that's good though. I think I play too much when I'm at home and I get fucking burnt out

with it and then I go on tour and I just carry that burn outness sometimes. I know this song's very well. I'm very confident about how I know them. I know every note. I swear. I wish I could prove it. I don't. You don't know. What I need to do now? What I need to do now? is be able to perform it on practice that's that's what I do and then I'll go on tour

I've been playing these songs for a while you know I did practice a lot like a month ago because I got hurt and I took some time off so I've been trying to take it easy because if I follow what I want to do I want to be practicing every day on a drum set and that's how I heard myself so I do at home and I get fucking that now. So I do try to have a healthy balance. On this Heybri tour, I think if I practice a week before it, you know, which I've been here and there, you know, I can do it. I have my sticks every day, so I sit in my bed and just play this. And that's how I've gotten this far, you know. Obviously before tours, there's times where I practice at least two weeks before, you know, not every day,

but a few hours here and there, two hours here and there. I don't kill my stuff. myself anymore. I can't do more than two hours or else I'm just fucking my brain stops unless I have a task to do or a project I'm like I need to learn this music then I put myself like tasks if I need to work on something that I just want to work with because it will make me better for some reason I'm like okay I need to work on double kicks I need to work on that endurance so I just sit there and do the double kick thing for a minute or two or whatever it is 10 minutes or 15 minutes do that type of exercise but to me the music dictates if I need to do that or no

Like, I don't need to figure out how to play blast beats at 300 BPMs. I don't need to. I don't, that doesn't give me anything, you know. If the band that I am needs that and the, shit, I like the band and I want to be in it, so I need to figure it out, you know. But I don't do that thing anymore. I did it years ago. I spent so many years doing that, then now I've been trying to relearn how to approach the drums. And my relationship with them has changed and I feel very inspired now.

After the last record, I felt like, I felt like I knew what I was doing finally, after all these years in this band. And I feel very confident. Like, I will come to the back room and listen to the take. I'm like, I like it, man. Like, I wasn't doubting myself.

I was very sober doing it too. Because I did the mushroom thing before that, so I was like, I want to do a sober one now. So, boy, yeah. Ahead of the beat. Well, I'd say sober, but I was smoking with, so. I guess sober doesn't apply. It's still sober.

It doesn't count. It's a fucking plant. It's not a drug. I was going to say something about that. I just get now, now we've finished, I just get stressed. Like, I've made everything too hard. That's the thing. Now I've got a fucking practice.

Now I need to learn what I did. Yeah, I need to remember. We're listening back to the demo stuff and I'm like, not even a demo, unmixed stuff and I'm like, fuck, we put that fill in there? Will's idea, definitely. I'll do a crazy feel and then I'm like I can't do that

and he goes you'll get it and then we do five or six takes and I eventually get it but it's then I now need to make that sixth take

my worst possible one life that needs to be my fucking first take dude and then you the new stuff that I did there's parts

and things that I played and ended up playing or came out with or will suggest me

or made me play. Like, I had no idea I could do. And things that I can't do yet. It was just that one take that I got it. And he was like, I got it. I still can't do it. I need now to learn it. I did it.

It's on record. And that's the best performance I've gotten for myself. That's the best demo. I need to do it. We got exactly that. And we've just discussed it's going to be a fucking single as well.

But it was the one part that I was the most worried about about the whole thing. It's like this 190 Dillinger style blast so hands and then foot like Bapum Bap Bamb Bamb B B Bamb B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B C and I was like

And I was like this is going to say to will in the control room This is going to take me a hundred takes We're going to be here all fucking day And then I've got it on the fourth fucking take Which is sick But now I need to fucking Now it's going to be a single I need to fucking I need to be great at it

There's one thing I try to be, man. It's as honest as I can when it comes to my playing and the music. I respect the project. I respect the music always. If I choose to join a band, because I want to be team. I want to be in the team. I want to be with the boys or whatever that is, you know. It doesn't matter.

If it's a very complex band that I enjoy and I just want to play that crazy stuff, let's do it. And if it's a simpler band, then let's do it anyways. You know, like I agreed and we have an agreement. And I like hanging out with them. you know uh yeah i just try to give my best to this band for now while my body allows it you know like

and i don't know i like the challenge i get i love the fact that i get to play in a very heavy band where i can do a lot of drums you know like everything i like i'm like what if i do this crazy feel here like sounds brutal let's do it sick oh you know that idea is like i still feel like a kid when i get to do that because that was the first, that was the reason I got into drums because I listened to some heavy shit. I was like,

those double kicks sounding human, dude. I want to do that, you know? Now I see music different and drumming different, but there's parts where I get to do that, you know, in this band where I'm like, what if we put a crazy blast beat in this section? And Will's like, yeah, I was thinking about it. I'm like, I can do this one or that one.

He's like, oh, that one sounds sick. Okay, let me see if I can play it, man. Like, give me, yeah. You want to go get coffee while practice? Yeah, let's do that. And then he comes back. I'm like, dude, I was doing it in the right, but now I'm doing it in the China. It sounds even meaner.

Check it out. Yeah, that's even, dude, that's so ignorant. Let's do it. And that's how I come up with parts. That's so ignorant. It's such a will-party line. Yeah, that's how I come up with parts and how we, you know, but I just try to respect the music.

I'm not trying to show off. I'm not trying, I don't care. I like good bands with good drummers. So I try myself to try to be that for my guys, you know. and try my best every day and I'm very honest about my playing and if I sucked I sucked and I can't play that I'm sorry I know if I work two months really I can't but not now you know like I don't lie to myself like I don't need to there's no reason it's just I play music and whatever music you listen that I've done my drumming and the drumming in this band

in particular it's what just come out like I just let it do its thing and with wills you direction he's got a direction so I just follow his direction but yeah and he's his direction is right sometimes the way I track with him is I go crazy do a lot of things like I can do and then he's like that's all sick but let's break it down yeah clean this clean that clean that clean that because I'm like a very anxious person and I'm obsessed with drums and I'm very angry so I like I'm very passive aggressive so when I get to play drums I like I fucking let it right yeah and good thing that works for our type of music and life there's so many nights that I go on

stage and I'm actually mad and actually frustrated and I hate everything which is a terrible thing to do with music but when you think about the idea that we play the heaviest music ever created you know in theory that works I'm just going to play harder yeah I have the energy I want to beat up my drum set and those nights if I know how to channel that correctly I have great nights I'm like that snare sound is sick you ever push it over the edge though and you put too much emotion into it and then play that back exactly yeah you need to learn how to channel it correctly you know like you could be before the set it could be you get a call from anyone and it's the worst news you've ever got to that point I'm sorry I have to play a set by I'll call you back

you need to play no one in that crowd cares your guys don't know about that yet we need to make the money we're stuck in some town we need to work figure it after you know figure it out fucking put the rage into it and it's very hard to connect and to have a good night that night but if you can do that man like holy shit respect you know I just love music man I listen to music every day whenever I feel bored about I feel I'm tired of metal I'm tired of drums that's my fault it's my fault because music is fucking awesome so I listen to a lot of other things that make me feel inspired or try to and I've been in the last two years I've been listening to crazy drummers and crazy music that I had no idea

I was going to get into you know like I've been going I'm I'm obsessed with drum history where the instrument came from and who were the guys that did this and who was the first guy that did a I don't know like a triple in the kick of water I'm like oh my god like I was sick you know like I was sick you know like that i love that idea you know i respect my instrument and i try to understand where it comes from like thank you for that because i get to do some cool stuff with it you know i don't know everything i don't know music theory i don't know anything i just play by heart you know uh but i listen to a lot of music and i listen to a lot of music that i enjoy but i don't understand it okay so now that leads me on to the last thing that we always do on the podcast you got to give me

top five either artists or albums. Holy shit, that's the hardest thing you can do. Yeah, I should have prepped you for it, yeah. It all depends on how I measure it. If I measure it as a kid or if I measure it now, I guess I'll measure it. Usually what I do, there's like two that were from when I was a kid

because you never done like that stuff. And then the other three are usually like stuff that I'm into now. Just give me some shit. Do you want to do artists or do you do albums? Do artists, it's easier. Then we can just talk about the albums. Okay, because it's a different thing. Yeah, that's good.

That's good that you mentioned that because that's very different. Well, artists or drummers or whatever. I'll say drummers or whatever. You can go drummers, yeah. Maybe artists or whatever. Bands like Kiss, that was the first band I ever saw live. Live. At the time, I was a kid, so I couldn't do what he was doing.

So I thought it was the sickest. anyway. Is this in Puerto Rico? Yes. I was a kid. I lied. I was maybe 13 years old. My mom wasn't going to allow me to go to a kiss concert by myself. There was no way. So I think I lied and figured out how they dropped me off at the movie theater, which it was across the street from the stadium. Someone got me a ticket, some friend that was older. There was some religious people processing in the front. I was like, yeah, I want to go in now, man. This is sick. I'm always in pictures of these guys. I was 13, I didn't know. And I went and I saw fireworks and a sick drum solo and a badass rock show where everyone was singing and I was like, I love rock and roll.

This is it. Like I've been watching these videos my whole life, you know, on VH1 or MTV or whatever. I had access to in Puerto Rico at the time. I was like watching Molley crew videos and Kiss videos and watching the most flamboyant-boion thing. I love Davey Bowie and I love Iggy Pop and this super extreme flamboyant people and I'm like they always play very heavy aggressive music and they had a reaction from everyone I was like but the drummers that were supporting them were sick very underrated no one knows about them they were sick because that music sounds good because they're back there you know so I saw kiss I was like I like this I like that I love cats and the drummer is like a cat oh I got and then he was throwing fucking fireworks from the drum set

I was like, that's it. I'm going to play in a band. Then my second concert was like maybe Mottley crew or some shit. So I saw Tommy Lee. And I was like, that's it. I'm going to play the band. At the time I didn't know, I was listening to music. I was listening to Dave Weckle, Dream Theater,

and Kiss and Metallica and Guns and Roses and everything at the same time. I just understood that it was all good music. I didn't know anything else. So I would say Kiss as the first band. Then I discovered Rush. And I understood very quickly that you could be better. I was like, holy. Than the drums, yeah.

Because at the time, I was listening to Rolling Stones and all that, you know, I was like, I like these bands. I still love them. They're my favorite bands. But rushed. Fuck me. You know, I heard Perch's groove, feel to it and approach and everything. I was like, it's all I like, because he has a lot of drums,

but it's got simple parts, but it's tasty, but he doesn't try to overplay. But he can't overplay if he wants to. Like, it's the sickest when he does. Like, that's sick. And he lets the whole band do its thing. Like, there's parts for the bass player and there's part for the guitar player. I love it. That's it.

Everyone, it's sick. So, Neil Paird from Rush and Rush as a bind. And then I need to give credit to a non-drumer. So Ray Barreto, that conga player that I still preach, he played in a lot of salsa bands and a lot of legendary salsa albums and jazz albums created in Jersey and New York area he was just holding it down back there with the skunk guys making a heavy rhythm section I feel very inspired by that I felt as a kid so he's still one of my top heroes to look up information when I

don't know what to do and then Nicholas Barker and then yeah and then I discovered him when I was in high school like oh I need to get heavy I got tattooed next to him once dude he's from the UK too yeah so I was getting tattooed I was getting I think this arm done and I was getting tattooed and there was a guy I couldn't see oh maybe I was getting my fucking I was getting my stomach tattooed and because I couldn't see because I couldn't turn around and there was a guy talking about fucking I think he was talking about I can't really talk about what he was talking about he was talking about something insane and then he started bringing up a load of names that I knew and then I looked around and it was like and the guy was bald and a bit

you know, a bit chubby. And I was like, are you Nick Barker? I couldn't see him. And he was like, yeah. And I was like, oh, fucking sick. Yeah, I saw him in that sepultura tour we did. We played somewhere in the UK. I think he lives somewhere around that venue we played.

And he was hanging out with the Gohorre guys, and I grabbed Zach, the drummer from Gohoor. I was like, is that Nick Barker? He's like, yeah, I know him. You want to meet him? Not yet. I'm not ready yet. So what did you get into?

Dimmie Borgia or... Yeah, Dima. Like, I was in high school when that first album hit it with him came out. And then I... Is that puritanical in the first one?

Yes, I just can't pronounce on that. Too much mumbling in my accent. That album is incredible. I heard that. And at the time I was looking for the most brutal thing when it comes to heavy playing because I was already listening to Weckle and all these weird guys and jazz guys.

So I was like, but that's different. And I like how tasty it is. Like, he does all these things, but it sounds very musical. I want to check him out. And then I started everything he did before that, like in cradle and everything. Like, awesome.

So that guy changed my life when it comes to his plane too. And then... That's four. I just need one more. There's a lot of metal guys that I've listened to, but it's from the UK, man. Keith Moon changed my life. Everyone, I always battle because I also love John Bonham. I praise him.

He's my hero. But Keith Moon did some. thing for me, the way he just plays his just thums. If you listen to those albums now and check the way he was playing his thoms. It's like so heavy, out of control. If I can play the thoms like that in my band, I wish. It was very musical and very heavy and the way he was approaching everything. And he was crazy, a crazy person. So he was just playing drums like a maniac. So listening to that three years, I'm like, that's heavy. If I grab that pattern and play heavier, How old was he when he died?

I think, maybe 32 or something. I think last year I celebrated that I was still alive because my heroes were all dead. I was having this thought earlier today. I was like, because I was watching football this morning. And I was like, it was like a footballer that I thought was pretty old. And he was younger than me. And I was like, fuck, I'm actually pretty old. But then if I start getting old and Keith Moon when he died,

now that's actually old I listen to you know now as I'm listening to a lot of different players 32 you're right fuck I'm Keith Moon's age I got to die quick I made it man I'm 33

so I'll like off there you go I beat John Bonham only in age because not in drumming you know How old was Bonham when he died I think he was the same age 32 maybe 32's the age for it I'm afraid does not much longer for me If they died by then

all those records they did they were incredible when they were that young you know and obviously through the years now i listen to one of my favorite drummers in the world is sonny williams you know i tennis chambers all those guys no question is that steve gad i all the guys that play yellow drum kits i love them uh i listen to all those drummers probably every day they have changed my life but when it comes to i was into rock and roll from very early so like watching videos of Kid Moon destroying his drum set on live television and putting dynamite in the kick. I was like, ha, I wish I could ever do that. Like, and just watching the performances, he has nothing to do with how well he played or how perfectly the notes were. It was just the aggression.

It was like, I want to play in a band where I can do that. And that meant heavy music, you know? Now, as I get older, I'm like, I love Miles Davis. Everything he's done. So I listen to every old of these drummers. I've been trying to swing. to swing, body rich, all those guys. I try myself to learn, I go online and try to see which ones I like and then which

ones are the ones that people consider the best. And there's names that I'm never aware of, you know, so I'm like, there's always names that I'm not aware of. I'm sorry. So I'm like, well, I've seen that name a few times. Let me go check out that. And then he says sick, dude, that I didn't know. Oh my God, the way he plays that, right?

For example, the last few months I've been listening to a guy. It's a jazz legend. Listen to it. Billy Higgins, the way he plays his ride symbol, if I could ever develop a technique like that to play blast beats, it's just crazy. Like, that's my approach to it. I'm like, oh my God, like, how do you play like that?

Like, why? Obviously, he doesn't play as loud as we need to. Yeah. And with little ditty sticks as well. Yeah, but there's got to be a way to make it work, man. Like guys like Mangamani doesn't. Yeah, true. Big sticks and now he's using everything up there.

I'm like, okay, you just got to figure out the right way to do it for you. But the information is right there. I've been studying the guys that do it that I think are the best. And if I don't think they're the best, there's a thousand people that think they're the best. I'm like, let me study the guy anyways, because I'm probably the one that does. doesn't get it. That happens to me when

with Converge, Dillinger and Mesuga, three bands are fucking awesome. The first time I listened to it, I was like, I don't get it. And then I saw everyone love them. I was like, I'm the one that doesn't get it. You get it now? Yeah, I love them. Yeah. Meshugga's incredible, Lillinger is incredible, and Converts is incredible.

Yeah, 100%. Like, that's all it is. But at the time, I didn't get it. Yeah, no one gets it the first time. You just got to learn to get it. Right. That's us. We're done. Unless you got anything to say. What are you doing? You're going on a tour on Thursday? Hey, breed, obituary. Who else?

It's a hay breed obituary. Terror. Fuck me. What a sick tour? Shit for an autopsy. I've just burnt into the microphone. That's good. This might be out before that finishes, probably.

Probably put it out next week. That's sick, man. Thank you for having me. Thanks for coming, mate. Yeah, that's it. Give me some shit. I always love to talk about music and drums. So any excuse for it.

We'll do it again. I enjoyed this. Any time? See ya.