The Downbeat - Thank you Bo. Thank you Hardlore. RIP

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

No episode this week. The vibe does not match the collective grief of the heavy music community. Back next week.

What's up guys? I just wanted to hop on here to say there's no podcast episode this week. I record them really far in advance and the vibe does not fit the collective grief of the music community this week. Struggled with actually even just making a video on this or doing anything, but I have to. So if you don't like this, I don't care. I don't want any sympathy I don't want people knew this person

more than me but I just want to take a minute to honour Beau Luters from the Hardlaw podcast from Harm's Way who unfortunately passed away this week Hardlaw and the Downbeat go way back

we did a live podcast in 24 in Buffalo that was just so much fun But before that we were separately growing the ideas of what we wanted music journalism to be into our respective podcasts. In the current state of social media, there's not really any real ones. There's not many real ones at least. There's TMZ style headline reporting. There's people saying stuff for clicks.

There's people doing podcasts asking the questions that they know who's going to get them the most views on TikTok. It's a thin line to tread, being entertaining while at the same time getting the facts out there about the whole reason we're watching in the first place, which is the music. And Bo and Colin and Hardlaw are experts of that. If you don't know, they make documentary style podcasts. with heavy music people. I assume you know who they are, but they do it so good and they do it so well because they love music. I would always say to Bo and Colin how jealous I am, just like I'm half, one percent joking that I was just jealous of their dynamic, having a co-host, having one of your besties. It's just, you've got that second person to bounce ideas off. You got a cool

dynamic. If you don't get a guest that week, you guys, and those guys would just talk and it was just so funny and just awesome. And I was jealous. I was jealous. It's not like a secret jealousy. I would tell them I was jealous. And this week, I'm not jealous and I wish I was. With my relationship with Beau and Colin, we've had a little group chat. where we would just talk shop about podcasting. There was no rivalry short of a friendly rivalry. I really appreciated having another set of ears to bounce ideas off. If you've got a sponsorship, like, I'm going to puke even talking about this,

but like if you've got a sponsorship and you see that they've already had them, like, how much money did you get? Like, real transparent stuff, no gatekeeping. It's just like the just honest, great guys. We're just both in two separate lanes with the same goal, which is trying to make this kind of multimedia for music the better and really, really appreciated the insight and the laughs that we've had in that group chat. More than work stuff though, I'd often talk to Burbaud, obviously, about Metallica.

about stupid niche fragrances and if I was making a... If I posted on my story an incredibly niche Greek mythology metalcore joke or a World War I joke about a band that was incredibly cryptic. There'd be one person that got it and it would be both every single time. he was so clever um i've recently heard that clever is not a not a word americans use in that sense so smart he was smart um so clever so friendly so funny um just so knowledgeable and we had we shared so many interests and uh over the last few weeks i talked about a lot more and uh I was really looking forward to being even better friends with him.

I went to Chicago this week to honour him. I've said honour a million times. The man deserves honour. I went to Chicago this week to remember Bo. And just in a room with people who loved him, there was so many old friends that we, We both didn't expect both of us to be there. There was new friends that upon meeting them,

it was like immediately, oh, okay, you're going to be my friend for life. It just, if you are the company you keep, Bo kept the best company and just amazing people because he was an amazing person. I knew Bo and, but, you know, there was people that knew him, more than me. I can't imagine what his friends,

his family, his partner, Taylor, Colin is like, just his bandmates. Like, I can't imagine what they're going through.

Yeah. And it hits really close to home because because of the podcast, which is fucking stupid. But there's not many people doing what we do.

And there's about three people doing it that I respect. And now one of them is not there. I don't want to go on a big talk to your friends thing. Speak to someone type thing. even though you know that's that is good that's good advice um in many countries suicide is the leading cause of death for men i believe under 50 and um as someone who has struggled with it in the part i don't know how deep you go on my stuff but we all know i've struggled with it pretty badly in the past um it just hits really hard it makes me angry it makes me sad it makes me confused um

I don't have any answers, I don't happen for anything. But I do know we need to start changing how we interact with each other, how we react to each other, just being fucking nicer to each other. So you should check on your friends and you should talk to people, but you should also be nicer to each other. So there's no episode this week. Watch the hard law Bo and Colin interviewing each other

is a rough watch that is truly beautiful and really shows the kind of guy he was as funny obviously but for Bo for Hardlaw no episode this week

I'll be back next week but I just wanted to say to both of them thank you for doing what you do because without your podcast this one saying podcast in such a fucking serious thing

is mental this would kill a Victorian child I do want to say thank you because this what I do would not be what it what it is without them Colin has to continue I'm afraid non-negotiable and I know that's good

I can't imagine how hard that is obviously not non-negotiable fucking just realize how hard it is. I would love Colin to continue and hard Lord to continue. The king is dead. Long live the king. Thank you guys.

Hug your friends. Tell them you love them. Stick up for them. Take some bloody photos. I'll see you next week.