The Downbeat - Will Putney

Episode Date: November 4, 2018

My guest this week is Will Putney. Will is a three-time grammy nominated producer working out of probably my favourite studio in the world, Graphic Nature. He is also the guitarist and main songwriter of Fit For An Autopsy. We talk about what drummers can do to make the studio a better experience for themselves and everyone around them. We also talk about gear a fair bit and near the end we discuss the famous Gralter Challenge, which is absolutely insane.

As I speak to you, I have one hand on my dog because if I take it off, she will freak out. Ooi, oy. That's pretty English, isn't it? Am I the only English drum podcast? I think I am. There we go. I'm a British boy and this is my British podcast. Yeah.

Got Will Putney on this week. Platinum, Will Putney. Two platinum records, I think, maybe more. Thrice. Grammy nominated. This isn't very professional because my dog is flipping out. Luna, calm down. This is a podcast.

This is in people's living rooms in their car and whatnot when they're going to work or they're just making dinner. Good, calm down. Anyway, Will Putney. He's been nominated for Grammys. He's got platinum discs hanging up in the back of his office like trophies to quote Dr. Dre. We talk about getting a good drum performance from a drummer, the do's and don'ts in the studio. We talk about how mental graphic nature his studio is.

When you go there, you lose your mind. There's something called the Groultter Challenge right at the end. Check that out. We talk about what it's like to be friends with iced tea. Got to give a real quick shout out to Lucas at Bison Audio because this was the only time in the podcast that I haven't done a test with the person beforehand. And Will Putney, despite being a platinum Grammy-nominated producer,

had my speakerphone on and there was some sort of hum. You know, that's not a reflection of his work in his studio. I think it's more just me not checking it first. Anyway, it was a disgusting audio track, and Lucas has beefed it up as much as possible and took out some of the noise and stuff. So thanks, Lucas. Bison Audio. Lucas at Bison Audio.

That's Lucas at Bison Audio. That was a good plug. Thanks again, mate. Yeah, so I'm going to not try and make it a habit of slightly poorer quality podcast audio. So this will be the only one. And ironically, it's a producer. Anyway, Will, he is also the guitarist in fit for an autopsy. A lot of people don't know that.

He writes it all, he just doesn't tour it because he's too busy making platinum records. We do a top five which is Gojira, which, you know, Will loves him as much as me. So that's pretty good. I can't really remember, if I'm honest, this a few days ago and I'm writing this. Writing this? Yeah, I'm writing this. Deer Stan. No, I'm talking to you the day before I go on tour.

I'm just rushing this bit out, if I'm perfectly honest with you. Straight from the path, Silent Planet Tour. I'm probably on it right now. This is like talking to myself from the future. So I'm definitely on it right now because this is coming out while I'm on it. I wonder where I am.

Hello me. I'm not going to listen to this, but hello you, but from the future, from the past? I don't know. This is fucking mental. Will Pudney.

How are you? I'm good. Bill. How are you? William. I'm great, mate. How are things over the pond? Is that how they say? Across the pond?

Across the pond, yeah. Yeah, fine, mate. Just fucking chilling. That's cool. I spent my morning looking for your symbol bag, which doesn't exist in my studio. This is the problem. I did speak to next.

Sorry about that. I told him not to bother because it's probably at Drew's. Yeah. But he didn't relay that to me until about 30 minutes in that it's probably at Drew. I was like, oh, okay. Well, I'm going to go back to work, but good time. I mean, I thought it was, it's supposed to be there because that's why we got a palette. Yeah.

I don't know. Anyway, people don't need to know about this. conversation. Basically, I've got too much equipment. Half of my gear is in America and half of it's here. And then it gets lost. And it got lost on the way back from Southeast Asia. So I might not have any symbols. Well, we got some. So you're all right. Yeah, I've got fucking loads, actually. So it's fine. Um, was that your dog going mental a minute ago? That was my dog. He doesn't like, um, phone calls because he thinks someone's at the door or I'm leaving. So he screams. And, uh, since we're going to be on speaker phone.

name Stampy? Yeah, his name's Stampy. What a great name. Yeah. My dog, Luna, she, when certain people are on the phone, she freaks out. When Sam from Architects, in fact, she's just like every other girl, actually. If it's Sam from Architects or Drew, basically if it's a lead singer, she freaks out. And if I'm like talking to someone else, she doesn't give a shit.

I like that. Yeah, when Tom Williams calls, she goes to sleep. Yeah. Oh yeah, she fully doesn't care Makes sense So, Will, you are a very good producer And the fifth member of Australia From the Path, really Oh, thank you

I appreciate such kind words Well, I've only done one album so I don't hate you yet Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got a few Let's get deeper into the catalog And then we'll have this call again Be a little different Yeah, but What are you doing it?

Yeah, I've worked with it. I've worked with Stray for like seven years now. They were one of the first bands that wasn't like a smaller local band or a kind of a sceney band that I actually wound up recording. And I feel like I probably owe a good amount of the progression of my career from Stray because at the time when I had done that record, they were like a lot of bands really like them. They were one of like the cooler bands in the scene.

And it probably led to me. getting a lot of records, honestly. So Stray's very important to me because they sort of helped me along when I was just getting started, too. Hey, do you know what I figured out the other day? It was that I actually met you in 2000 and... When were you recording Anonymous? 20, maybe 13, maybe? Somewhere in there?

Yeah, so I think I met you, I think it was very early 2013 because I came over to play drums for VOD for a couple of shows. That's right. And you had just finished with Stray, I think, and VOD came over to speak to Machine. It was when Machine was still at Machine shop. Yeah, yeah. machine was at graphic nature. And then we met very briefly, and I only remembered that today. Look at that.

I actually remember VOD calling me looking for a drummer, and they said that somebody from, they had some guy from the UK who was going to come and do it. So I was actively looking for a guy here to not get you that gig. So. And you failed. And I failed. And now I've met you.

So there it is. That's so weird. That's like five years ago. Look at that. So for anyone it doesn't know, the producer machine used to have a studio called Machine Shop, and now he doesn't, or it's not in the same place, and now it's graphic nature, and you used to work for machine? Yeah, I started as Machines intern, basically, something like 10, 11 years ago,

and like kind of came up under him, learned basically how to make records from him and kind of did his, did like his tasks and worked on his albums and then started to make my own records. And then we were sharing a studio spot. We had built another studio that was kind of short-lived for other reasons.

And then we wound up both moving over to where graphic nature is now. And it was originally called the Machine Shop because that's what we were doing. And we parted ways like a few years ago, maybe five years ago now or so. He moved to Texas, still has the machine shop in Texas. And now I'm just here in Jersey and I call this place Graphic Nature. And everyone still calls it machine shop, but I really do try and call it graphic nature, Will. Yeah, it's cool.

I understand. I feel everyone who was around, it's kind of hard to make an adjustment. I know it's, you know, it's stuck for a while, so it's cool. I don't mind. And I was, I'm happy with what I did when it was the machine shop. And if it helps get like machine studio name out, it's cool. I'm stoked on it. It's, me and Tom were talking about this.

I think yesterday or before yesterday, it's one of my favorite places to be in the world. Oh, thank you. And it's like when you think of it on paper, it's Belleville, New Jersey. There's nothing around. No, it's basically a garbage can with my record. recording studio just slightly like just hanging off the lid of it yeah no but inside well number one it's the best the best drum room it's incredible but then aside from you know obviously the gear and everything is great and then records sound great but number one the people and never have so i've never

had so much fun as like when we're like when it's 3 a.m everyone's on mars we finish tracking and we're just down a YouTube hole, everyone losing their mind. Yeah, I think if the one, the one thing that we've kind of prided ourselves over is like our team over the years. We've had a lot of interns kind of come and go and like the few guys who are here who have stayed. We all have like a really similar fun kind of mindset that's like helped kind of make all this process fun.

It's funny when we like go. to look for new interns or assistants, like we can all collectively know basically right away if it's going to work or not within like a few days. And, uh... Yeah, they have to be hilarious. Yeah, I guess it's like a part of the job. Maybe I should start putting in like odd jokes and see if people get them as part of an application process.

But yeah, yeah, yeah. You could make the like second question like really subversibly funny. Yeah. And if they mention it, then they get put through to the next level of. interviews but anyone that doesn't get it is out it's not a bad idea but uh yeah i've i've i love this place and the guys i work with and stuff and it's like for as hectic as record making can be sometimes it's definitely as easy as possible with the team and the guys we have here uh and not to mention the lunch options the food the food delivery options the food are incredible

timeless classics here now that there are bands that have personal relationships that have personal relationships with guys who work at delis and people who run Thai restaurants and things around here where their friends and talk to each other from long distance like for years because of recording here, which is hilarious. So, so fucking funny. Yeah. Mamoia, shout out Mamoia sushi. Quick shout out to Mamoia.

Open all day, every day, six days a week. All day, every day, six days a week. lunch special three rolls for what is it three rolls for three rolls soup salad 1199 God I'm getting hungry just And it's wonderful I know how do you beat it it's great Let's I've got some I've got real I've been looking forward to this podcast We've been trying to get schedules together and we've finally done it

Because I've got lots to ask you But number one You were nominated for a Grammy I was I've actually I've been nominated for three. I didn't know that. Because I think Gojira got two the year before. But that was like, I only had a minor and minor role in that.

This year I got, for a record, I actually produced and helped write and stuff. I actually got nominated. So it was a bit more special. It was real. Yeah, yeah. So there's two things to talk about there. We'll do the Gojira a bit in a minute. But you were nominated for...

Body count. That's right. Yes. With iced tea. What's iced tea like? Ice tea is the best. He's great. We've been working together for a few years now, and I had no idea what to expect, like

walking into a room with him. You know, he's such a A-list kind of celebrity and household name. You never know how people like that are going to be and how they are with their art, especially. But he's the coolest dude in the world. super humble. I think, you know, when people don't come from a lot and then are given success, they're completely different types of people than when it's handed to you.

And like the guys is the nicest doing in the world, stops, talks to everybody, listens to all the bands that come through here. Like, he's great to work with. I mean, have good things to say. That's so cool. Hilarious too. Yeah, I follow him on Twitter and he's really, really funny. The first, the first time I met him, uh,

This is how insane I knew this was going to be. I go to Ice T's apartment. I'm going to meet him to talk about maybe recording the first body count record that we did together. I get there. He lets me in. We talk about music for like two minutes and he checks his phone and he starts to get mad. And he posts, he's like on Twitter and he's like, look at this. And it was like some, he put a picture up.

I think he was with like two chains and they're on the set of Law and Order. and he's holding like they're holding guns they've got like AKs and they're just like taking funny pictures and some like some congresswoman just blasted them and he's just like watch this and he writes can I curse on this? Yes, of course. I don't know. I don't know like you're trying to get numbers and like if there's an uncensored version if I got it like kind of censor for Apple music and you know I'm just making sure man.

I'm looking out for your bottom line. No, you know. It's fine. I say on the first episode, my moment. Mom messaged me on the side and said, please, can you stop saying the C word so much? Yeah, well, I won't go there. I've got 7,000 listeners now, so it hasn't stopped anything. Carry on.

This isn't me cursing. This is iced tea cursing, and I'm just saying what he said. Come on. Who's going to listen to this? Your mom, and she's going to think I'm a piece of, you know, I can't say it. Fuck, fuck, fuck shit, fuck shit. Look at that. I didn't say the C word.

Insane. Right. Next, go. Your mother's weeping. But he writes, uh, fuck you bitch and just blast it. on Twitter. And I'm like, I've never, I've never seen a person who actually gets to respond to, like a politician, respond to a politician, like get a reaction.

So it was one of the first times in my life where I was like, wow, he's powerful. Like he could actually, she saw that and, and like felt the wrath of, of what, of her actions commenting on a post. And this was five minutes into knowing him. So it's been, it's awesome. I love him. And then did you write? talk shit get shot like one second after that talk shit get shot was the first song that uh they had

like started for the record and so they had sat on it forever and he was just he came in with that like that would have been like since body count had their hiatus that came back that was probably the freshest most longest worked out hook in his mind because he's like i got this song it's called talk shit get shot the hook is talk shit get shot i'm just gonna say it a bunch Like, yep, yeah, you are. This is great. Let's go. That album is so sick.

It's fun. It's like, I, uh, there, that's been a long time from when they kind of stopped being a band to when they came back. So to actually see how dialed in, like some of the guys can be, like, worse though, and how relevant it was, I was really stoked on that because, um, like, there's a lot of bands that take time off and come back and put out. sad stuff and and i didn't know if i was walking into that or not but i'm glad that uh it kind of gave it it is kind of like a fresh breath for for such a older more kind of ban from a different era

you know and you know if the drummer ever can't do anything that i need to do it i'll pay to be on it it it would be will's the man and i'll power through it will forever because he's just the sweetest dude will is like um will is one of the newer guys guys he's he's a young he's like our age and the other guys yeah he rips as well the other guys could be our dad basically but he's like a kid he literally works that was working at guitar center and i think he knew vince from the band and just like got the gig um so for him it's like you know it's like a dream come true style gig the dude who works the guitar center wants to be in a band like actually gets to go tour the world play main stage festival it's like and he's just and he got it

because he's the coolest dude in the world. We watched them, speaking of main stage festivals, we watched them with full force, like in the summer when we played, and the crowd was so big, and it was so good. Yeah, they have the,

I mean, the entertainment value is so high with that band, and it still carries, like, a message. It could be fun and silly and stuff, but they still say relevant shit. And to be able to pull both of those things off, It's like, it's like a one and a million thing. It's like a magical combination of elements that make body count sick.

It's so fun. Yeah, and his on stage banter is incredible. Right, let's stop talking about body count though. Anyone who doesn't know body count, go and listen to body count. And, yeah, Will was nominated for a Grammy, but he didn't win because Mastodon won. And that Mastodon album was really good. Yeah, it's good. So you can't be that.

No, no, if anyone was going to win. I mean, they were nominated like five times two, and it was cool. I'm glad the, I'm glad to bad. Who else was in it? Mushuga was in it. I think it was, I think Mushugah had a nomination, and then. That's a rough, rough crowd. Yeah, they are pretty, pretty hard for a bunch of people on a recording academy panel to digest a random Musugia song.

But August Burns Red maybe, too, I want to say. and uh and uh i don't know i don't remember the other one it's been a minute oh coat orange code orange had the nomination too that's a that's a good lineup yeah it was like other than other than august burns red that's a good lineup hey they do they do they i just i just never cared i don't think i i just didn't give them a chance i don't think and now it's too late for me to give them a chance sure the uh yeah i feel like they have a sound and kids like it that for what's the good record with the china everybody remembers the china oh i do actually remember that yeah come on we're on a drum podcast you this is realm well there's like a rumor that it was a wuhan hold on

i'm looking it up i'm actually looking it up august burns red pull it up yeah was it messengers i think it was man i don't know it's been so long i want to say messengers i just remember the chite Even before I was recording, I just remember that Chaito was sick. Yeah, I think it was a Wuhan. Or there's like a rumor that it's a Wuhan, and that's what boosted Wuhan sales in like 2003 or whenever it was. Yeah, I hope he, I hope Wuhan carved him like an eccentric, like chair for his dining room,

like just made out of old symbols. It was like a, thank you. It's like a gong. Yeah. The gong you can sit in. So I'm getting more professional at this. I like have bullet points and stuff. Go for you.

Some people might not know, because people don't know, you might think that they know, but they don't know, that you also are the main songwriter and guitarist for fit for an autopsy. Yes, I am. I don't tour with the band because I'm busy all year, but I do write and record all the stuff and do a lot of the visual and art kind of. of vision and stuff with the band so i'm i'm pretty heavy-handed on on that band um i started the band with with pat who's who's the other guitar player and and we've been through some line-up changes but yeah i've always kind of been the guy who kind of puts it together and stuff over over the years

which was interesting because for me i didn't know that some people don't know it because we live in the age of just putting on Spotify or whatever. But that's not, on paper, with the first fit for an autopsy album, that's not what I'm into. And then I listened to it and I was like, I love this band. And then I found out it was you. Oh, well, thank you. I think after I met you, I found that out. And I was like, oh, that's why it's good.

because I share musical taste with this man. Yeah, it's kind of weird lane. It doesn't really fit in like where the death course stuff is anymore. And it's like a little, a little weirder than some of the traditional metal stuff. And I don't know. It's stuff I just like, it's just a combination of my influences and heavy music.

And since we like the same stuff, I could see why you might like you too. But yeah, it's like it's been a weird ride for the band because we just try not to, I feel like we avoid some of the obvious stuff sometimes that could get us further ahead, but kind of don't care because, one, it isn't like the thing I have to live in a band with for 10 months out of the year. So I kind of just do what I want with it, you know?

And then lately, though, it's been cool. It's like the band's picked up steam, and I think a lot more people are kind of getting it, you know, digging what we're doing now. Oh, I love it. Yeah, we're wrapping up a new record right now, and I think it's the best one we've got. I'm really excited for people to hear it. So, is that what you're working on now?

Because you said you were going to go back to work. Is that what you're doing now? Or can you talk about what you're doing right now? Yeah, this is like the past two months, I've been just making my own records, which is cool. So it's literally, I've been doing some mixing, but I did a fit record and then, and who's the other band that I'm playing in,

is also doing a record. So I'm having a... And there's another band that you're in that you're supposed to mix. Yeah, yeah. The other one, you know. But yeah, it's been cool because I've been working for myself

for two months. Have you mixed the other one? No, it's almost done. Just like I've got a bit of time so I'm just chipping away at it because it's going to be a minute before it surfaces. That's right.

That's fine. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but I look forward to hearing that. Thank you. Um, so is that like being on holiday then when you get to mix your own stuff? Do you bowl to the studio like later because you don't feel like people are going to talk about you? I'm still doing the same hours. I feel like I was working from home a bit doing some of my own tracking.

So that was cool. I didn't have to like go to the studio for a bit. So it was nice to just hang out and track at home. I never really get to do that. I actually, it motivated me to build a little home studio. so I'm a bedroom producer guy now with the rest of the world. So I can, yeah, it's like, you know, any rap dudes or you want beats and stuff. Like, I have a, I have a keyboard and I have, like, some Genlac monitors that are really small,

and they sit on my desk. And I have a small room with. Do you have a PodXT? Yeah, yeah. I, well, no, I can't. I'm saving for one, but I, yeah, you know, just let me know. I do, like, mastering from there and, and, uh, I make beats and stuff out of there.

That's like kind of just my home rig, you know? That nice no treatment mastering. Yeah, it's good. I actually built treatment and then I got lazy and I didn't hang it up. Well, let me refer as that. Steve built a bunch of treatment for me. I'm not going to take the credit. He did a good job.

And then instead of hanging them up in a professional manner where the angles are correct and it looks nice, I just threw them around the room so they just like lean against the wall. So it doesn't sound like an empty room. That works. Right now, in the empty room that I'm in right now with my microphone, I have three pillows behind my head because there's a really crazy reflection if I don't do that. Yeah.

And also I like to lie back on them, which is quite nice. That's nice. You get a, it's like a two-for-one thing. I don't lay on my, because it's fiberglass insulation and that would suck. That's a nice, nice for the lungs. Next. But we're going to talk about drums. Rare.

We're going to talk about, yeah, I love drums. This is a podcast about drums. Although eventually it won't be about drums. Once I'm established as a podcast celebrity, then I'll just have all of my mates on that do interesting things. It's sort of getting to that point now where people are just like, hey, I don't even play the drums, but you talk enough shit for me to be interested.

So keep it up. All right, well, let's talk about drums. I know a few things. You know a few things, and I think it'd be interesting for drummers to know because you are the guy that tracks the drummers, that records the drummers. and it's notoriously difficult to do.

So I'm going to ask you, what is the best thing that a drummer can do in preparation before they come to the studio? The best thing that a drummer can do would... Yeah, don't just say practice, because that's obvious. The best thing a drummer could do would be to truly actually know the songs, like to go through the songs with whoever they wrote them with or the guitar player and look at the transitions, look at the sync of the drums to the parts, if there's in the metal sense,

if there's particular rhythms with the guitars and stuff, just to actually literally know the detail of the drumming. Because the most common thing I'm always kind of getting on drummers for is like they're playing a beat and it's not in sync with what the band's doing, especially in like a technical metal world. Like with a lot of the stuff I do, it's the thing that is like the most common snag. And then they're stuck because they just practice the pattern one way.

And now they have to kind of rework their brain to play something different because they weren't really looking at all the detail in the song. Are you talking to me here or are you talking to the public? No, you're on the better side for sure. You're, yeah, yeah, yeah. We haven't hit that wall. But it's been, you know, if you know you're a drummer that struggles with changes on the fly,

then the best thing that you can do is to really get all the detail down and rehearse ahead of time so that when I say, hey, that kick pattern doesn't match this, you're not, you don't fall apart, you know. I've actually talked about that on the podcast before. It's yours and actually Josh from architect's addiction to kick drums with every guitar hit and never shall there be a kick drum in a gap unless it goes through a ruthless, ruthless vetting process to get a kick drum in between some guitars.

I've been better lately because I'm starting to appreciate other grooves, but yeah, I don't know. It sounds cool to me. My problem with the straight album was the reason I thought you were talking directly to me, And we won't talk about that other thing I tracked because at that time, I didn't actually learn the song. Right, that doesn't count. Yeah. And we had to track six songs in eight hours.

And that didn't go well. Hey, that's jet-lagged. That's still a top secret. I'll have to get into that next year. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. People can know. So, yeah, but the stray stuff was because we hadn't been to you yet and we'd written the songs ourselves, for anyone that doesn't know, the role of the producer, I have to be like this because, you know, my mum's listening.

She doesn't know the real role of a producer. Sure. The role of the producer, correct me if I'm wrong, actual producer man, is not just to press buttons, that would be an engineer, but so Stray would bring songs, rough bare bones of songs to Will, and then Will would make those songs better, be it by cutting the crappy bits out or adding new bits or writing new bits or whatever. That's the producer's role. Correct?

Yes, that's definitely part of it. I think it's just the guy who helps take the vision of the band and make it as good as it can be. And that involves lots of things, some of it being what you just said. So we brought you, yeah, sorry, I just totally dumb it down. I just dumbed your entire career. down the man's nominated for a Grammy. We would bring you some songs in the studio

and then you would make them better. But my problem was, I over-rehearsed those songs before they got the Putney treatment. So when you asked me to change quite normal, small things, I had like 200 hours of muscle memory to undo.

Yeah, when maybe a cool technique or practice thing for, drummers when they go into the studio is to have a few variations of what they're of what they want to record that you know it's it's always awesome when I get a drummer who can do the song and then give me another version with some different fills that he also wrote or like another beat and uh it helps like make a better option because we all get to pick you know what what might be cooler and then it also helps you not get stuck just playing the same thing over and over and over so if we do want to make an adjustment, your brain doesn't break in the middle of recording.

Yeah. I think in my defense, I did actually do that quite a lot with the second recording thing. The problem with the second recording thing was I didn't know the songs enough. Yeah, I mean, but with this. You're a good drummer, Craig. You got it, man. It's okay. Thanks, man.

I can't wait to record again. Yeah. I'm probably shouldn't talk about that either, but obviously we're going with you. Whether or not people will know when we're doing it. knows but I don't really know what you can talk about on a podcast because I just assume this is me and you having a phone call and then I'll like get a message from someone on other podcasts that I've done I'll get a message from someone like ha ha ha I can't believe you said that and I'm like what I was just on the phone to that no it wasn't I was broadcasting that

who's which is funny right so that's your number one number two I guess things for tracking drummers Who's the best drummer you've ever tracked? The best drummer I've ever tracked. Wow. I don't know. I've had a few good ones. I've been spoiled lately. Most precise drummer, one of the most precise guys I've ever tracked, Kyle from

counterparts. Yeah, because he's got that fucking guitar hero brain. He's got the brain. What is he, the rock band, the number one rock band drummer in the world? In the world? Yeah. Blind Zor. Yeah.

Number one in the world. at reading, at reading basically MIDI and then performing it. So it's funny when they first got Kyle after they replaced their old drummer, he was upstairs practicing and all he was doing was staring as computer and he wasn't playing hard. And I kept walking through the room and like hearing him play the drums. And I was actually like a little concerned. I'm like, I don't know. Like it doesn't sound as cool.

He's not hitting a snare. Like it's missing something. Like I was actually nervous talking to Brendan about it. And then we literally, he's all the way up until we start to track. I'm dialing tones. He's not hitting hard. He's like still playing a little weird. And I was nervous literally until we hit record on the first song.

And then he turned into a completely different drummer to the point where I had to stop and redial all of the mic preys and settings because he was just blowing everything out. It was like, dude, could you could I have seen this like all once in the past two weeks? It would have... He's like an actual robot. So I've learned that what he would have been doing there is learning the songs as if it was rock band. So when he sees, like, he reads the drum map and he hits at the same time as seeing the thing on the map. Yeah, it's borderline inhuman.

He could read the MIDI at the speed of their songs on any given part and play it precisely without even hearing, probably without even a click. Probably just seeing it scroll on the screen, the timing of... And that is because of his rock band career, and it was a career, he got paid for that. Yeah, I bet you I could not give him a click or guitars or anything and let the screen scroll, and he would probably play a take that was close to being perfectly in time with the band, hearing nothing. You should do one song like that, like the easiest one, just because it will be so hilarious to tell everyone. Yeah, it's insane. He's a computer. It's awesome. But he's a great drummer.

His drumming's cool, and he definitely, like, helped elevate counterparts with how sick he is. So he's up there on precision, for sure. Most creative guy, probably Aric. Yeah. Night versus. I wondered if you were going to say him. Doing that Night versus record. He's a psycho.

Some of the stuff he plays, there's just nobody else who plays things like him. And he's great. give you different versions of stuff he's like hit super hard when it has like a really really good feel for a dynamic so when there's when there's parts where normal drummers would be playing them and they would just feel a little weird he's just in the pocket right like he has awesome hat control awesome like groove stuff that's creative that doesn't sound really like anybody else he's he's like he's a beast he's definitely like a one-of-a-kind really cool creative drummer there's stuff on the Night versus

record that is like one take basically unedited performances yeah I think you sent me some yeah I was I was sneak peeking you on like little drum solo things and and stuff that he had done where I'm like this is the record it's done you know it was like I feel like he needs like

he needs the nine inch nails gig he's gonna play drums forever something like that he'll be a drummer in and something cool as long as he wants because he's just he's just the coolest dude he's like god i just want him to get something huge though yeah i'd love to see him on stage like shredding a marsvalta gig or or a nine-inch nail show or something there's no way in 10 years that he's not doing something sick yeah a hundred percent um yeah i i fully thought you were going to say him because he's one of my favorites and i think

he is and the thing I like about him on his like social media and stuff is he doesn't ever have anything that isn't just camera audio and although most people would be like oh I wanted to sound nice it's like you know that that is a true representation of how fucking sick he is yeah and like that compressed GoPro sound if that sounds sick you know he's not sat at home editing stuff yeah and the the record we did there are basically no drum samples other than for effects and things like that but it's like when a guy plays and the drums sound that good you just don't need to do much it's it's a blast to make then nice who you got coming up then who can you talk about that you're recording soon uh i don't know who i'm allowed to talk about um oh let's

fucking get off that then i can't want to get you in trouble let's talk about how kyle brownie doesn't have a symbol endorsement that's funny how is that talk to your mind of people i have I talked to them this week and I think it's going to get sorted out. Do they hate Canadians? Like what's the, yeah, get, tell them. I think, I don't know what, what counterparts. I think he's got no one like fighting his corner trying to get him something and then he doesn't really know how. Obviously, if you're that good at drums and rock band, you've got not a lot left in the brain to talk business.

No offense, Kyle. I know you're going to listen to this. I love you. I just think he's got no one fight in his corner. Interesting. For symbol endorsements in terms of like sorting stuff out. Yeah. And that band, they're just renting symbols and he's just breaking them

because they've been used by a hundred other drummers before. Sure, yeah. Too much karaoke. I think that's the problem. They probably just see all the karaoke videos and just go, I don't think they're playing their own songs. I just think they're a karaoke band now. I'm trying to get him on my.

Minal just because I know for a fact he's going to go. He'll get something soon because they tour so much. And I just, I would rather as minor, obviously. All right. Well, if they drop the ball, let me know. And I'll put him with Zildjian. Oh, yeah. And they'll be playing fucking dog shit.

Tell me who's the worst drummer that you've ever tracked. The worst drummer I've ever tracked. Oh, man. That's tough. Is there anyone that you hate so much that you can actually just tell me flat. I'm going to give examples of... You don't have to answer this.

All right. He's not the... I got two guys. They're not the worst drummers I've ever tracked. I'll say this. They might be the craziest, which makes it difficult to track, but they're actually both very sick drummers.

So the process of recording the drums was really difficult, but they're great, great drummers. So it's not... I'm not bagging on these two dudes because they're awesome. But, um, Jake from Gideon is a crazy person. Sweetheart, Southern Bell. I love him to death.

Great drummer as well. Super, super good drummer. Ghost note king, like cool groove stuff. If you like Seven Dusty style like groove shit, he's one of the best at it. You know, hits like a monster, very creative. But very, he gets very in his head when it comes to recording. And sometimes it can be difficult. things that if he was in a relaxed state, he'd be able to smash through,

but he gets very worked up and he kind of gets stuck. So we've had some really, really tough sessions trying to get through him just from that. And I'm sorry if Jake is listening and I'm airing it out, but I love you very much and you're very good at drums. But he's one. He's a crazy person. B-Town from impending Doom is also a very crazy person, who's also very good at drums.

and also very difficult to record. We did an impeding doom record a few years ago, and he was very, very concerned about if he was doing a good job the whole time. I think he would have asked me if he sucked at drums more times than I recorded takes of drums through the process. He's just very, he gets very worried that what he's playing isn't like up to par, or he's not doing a good job, or he's not making me happy, which is sweet.

He's a very sweet guy. but it made for a really... No one's got time for that. Yeah, I just want to get it in and cool, and I don't want to have to reassure the drummer that he's doing a good job, but I had to... There's a little handholding there,

and it's not really my style. He's good, so I just had to keep saying yes, and we got through it, but yeah, sometimes the mental side of it can turn really, really good drummers into, like, really, really difficult drummers to record. That guy, like, deleted his social media and stuff.

I remember that happening. Yeah, I, you know, he's, he's just, yeah, he just goes through phases and he's, he's a really sweet dude, but he's definitely, you know, he's just got his stuff, he's got his own stuff that he likes to work out on his own. I'll just put it to that, put it like that. I don't want to talk shit because he, I love him. No, you're not talking shit. I do the shit talking. You're really nice. Um,

in Penning Doom was supposed to tour with Viatrophy, my first death metal band back in the day. Um, and it was a tour with annotations of an autopsy as well. And I think they pulled out because of some of the annotations of an autopsy's lyrics. Hmm. Interesting. Because I think they're God squad, aren't they?

Uh, they were. I don't know where they are in life now. I know some of them are, for sure. Brooke is, Brooke is a sweet Christian boy, and the rest of them, I don't actually know. I know. America's mad on Christianity. Oh, they-

American loves it. We fucking love it here. It's just everywhere. It's just huge. It's just fucking huge. Yep, it is everywhere. Love, love it. Love it.

I've got no time for it. I'm sorry. I've got an absolutely zero time for it. And I've got zero time for America being like, oh, you can't say that. because God like come on I am not a religious person

so I'm with you on that I have some Christian friends that I try to convert over to the dark side all the time but I the dark side of sane and literal thinking yeah yeah and nothing nothing's worse than American Christians that's what I'm saying

because I know quite a lot of Christians in this country and they're just like yeah I just believe in God and I'm like sick but in America it's like yeah they're just like kind of normal Nice people. Yeah, yeah. Well, you guys did start the... Europe's got the whole kind of crusady, murder everybody, history bullshit, too.

So, I mean, they're nice now, but they were rough back then. I think you've got to have a rough period, haven't you, to sort of scale back your operation a little bit. So is that what we need? We need, like a... You're having it right now. Oh, it's the start. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're getting into it. Yeah. 150 years' time we'll be talking about the math. the Maga Crusades and then we'll be, whoa, we don't want to be talking about that, but you know what I mean? You're having your bad moment and then you're going to be chilling 150 years when the planet's completely fucked anyway. Yeah, I kind of, I like when the car hits the wall, you know, I kind of like watching shit fall apart for some reason.

Maybe I'm dark, maybe I don't know why, but I get excited when I think about like what's going to break like when's it going to break down it's got to be coming soon and i i don't know is that nihilism is that make is that what that makes me that is exactly what that is i look forward to the everything falling apart or what the event's going to be maybe not because it's super dark but maybe because i know then there'll be some kind of reset after it you know uh so i kind of just want to get it over with and like hopefully in our lifetime so that like it can pass and we can rebuild and I can have like a nice life when I'm older because if it just keeps getting worse and I'm just going to die equally as frustrated and annoyed by the world that I'm living in.

So can we just have the event already? Can the Christian freak out or can a country run out of water and then everybody takes global warming seriously or like where do we like what's the thing that happens? I just want to nominate the country. You're getting pretty fucking specific here. I don't know. Will Putney, this is the headline, Will Putney nominate X country to dehydrate. I think it's a country in Brazil that's going to go first.

I do my dark web homer. Oh, okay. Yeah, there is a city in Brazil that's probably going to be the first to run out of water. And I think there's like 20 million people that one day are just not going to have water. And the whole world's going to have to watch that and go, oh, that's what happens. Okay, we should probably figure that out of it. out now. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's coming, man. Can we get like, we should, dude, you should get more extreme on your podcast. We need some info wars shit on this thing. I mean, George got pretty

extreme. I don't know if you listen to that one. George's one was like a communist manifesto, just trying to conscript people to the cause. Yeah, we should have a whole like reptilian overlord kind of kind of section of this and stuff, but I don't know, we could talk about drums. We get it all this bullshit later. Nobody cares. I really could talk about the reptiles. That's the one thing that I'm tired of, too.

Anyway, we've got a whole society of people who just have their agendas and opinions and stuff. And I'm just kind of over talking about it for the time being until there's some cooler heads that can try to actually reach rational conclusions with opposing parties. I didn't know there's quite so many racists around. Yeah.

Until we made that song. I was pretty surprised when you made that song how far got with the racist folk. I didn't know all you got to do is be a mid-level hardcore band and you can get like the overlord of the Nazi party like actually getting fired up about it. It's kind of, it was kind of surprising. Kind of cool, though. It's kind of a, it's a good moment to tell your kids one day, you know? Yeah. I mean, to be honest, the death threats and the doxing and stuff like that didn't really get me.

The thing that got me was having to just realize that all these people existed, even if people were just making, like, right. remarks for a joke on the internet. Like, when you read quite so many disgusting, hateful words, it affects your serotonin levels. Sure. And I was surprised how we've got this internet now where we all have this voice and stuff. And maybe, like, I haven't, I don't, like, go too deep and paying attention to, like, the racist

community online because they're all just a bunch of morons to me. and I don't really try to give a time, but I actually couldn't believe how many people just showed up to talk about it and to, like, defend idiot, Nazi culture and shit. And I'm just sitting here, like, all these people exist in my country. They're here, like, they actually believe this,

and they live here, and there are so many of them. And it's just insane. Yeah. Yeah, really surprising. America just blows my mind every day. I'm not even a... Me too. Yeah, it's interesting that like we're still in that, we're still in a time where people

actually think that because your skin color is a little different that you're not a person and you don't deserve rights or it blows my mind. It's like, dude, people are tan because they live closer to the sun. Like, that's it. Like, leave it alone, you know? I was going through, I was making a new Australia intro yesterday and obviously I was going through some horrible shit to get there and I came across some Fox News broadcast

where this woman is like adamantly trying to tell this other woman that Jesus was white and the other woman was like he was from the Middle East in this time like even if he's real let's assume he's real there were no white people in the Middle East at that time there was no there was no way and the the woman the fox news broadcasters having none of it well you're also trying to reason with people who don't think dinosaurs are real and think that

the earth's 5,000 years old or flat that's the thing you just you just believe something and you just shut shut everything else out so it's just you can't talk sense into people who are just committed to not trying to open their mind it's like a pointless conversation is why I was saying I just don't waste time on it anymore. Let's talk about more drums, because I love drums, Will, and you secretly love drums. Sounds good. Let's talk about drums. What's your favorite? Oh, it's so boring, but I love it.

I got a real fucking lob on for this conversation. What's your favorite snare drum? My favorite snare drum is your favorite snare drum. Yeah, I knew it. It was a trick question. Tamabelle Bell Brass. It's the end-off. snare drum.

It's just the best. It's the best and it's so much better. I don't know why it's so much better than everything. It's my favorite drum. I've used it on a huge chunk of my records and then even when I hear a record and I'm like, that snare is sick and I go and do the homework and find out it's that drum. So it's everything I like all the time. Yeah.

It's like I just keep. hearing of like classic albums and then I hear that it's the bell brass like the black album regina against machine never mind like it's all that drum yeah we actually uh machine was obsessed with that drum too and they have the uh drum doctor is a drum rental company in la that has the one they call the terminator that's like apparently the magical one yeah um i mean that's what my one looks like now. Have you seen mine one now? So he's flown in...

It's got the bell brass hoops and it's got... He's had that drum flown to New York for sessions from L.A. Because he's also obsessed with it. To the point where I'm not sure if drum doctors even... I feel like they have 10 of them and they just tell everyone it's the special one. Because like why would he put it in the mail? You know? But it's still...

Yeah, it's the best drum. Craig, you there? I lost you again. I don't know what. I'm in another room now. I have full bars, so. I'm on my Wi-Fi, and the route is right next to me. How close?

Are you using your phone just literally next to your head or are you using headphones? It's just on speakerphone. Interesting. I don't know. It seems to be okay now. If it happens again, then I'll try and move. And if I move and it's still happening, we're going to have to just, bear with it.

Okay. I'll, and this will be the first time I've had to edit the podcast as well. Did you finish talking about the bell brass then? I was talking about the original one, because I have a cool story. I have a cool story about the original, what I think is that actual Terminator Bellbrass. So Ross, who's this guy who runs drum doctors,

or drum rental company in L.A., has what he claims. to be the Terminator, the original one that's on a lot of these classic records. And Machine is also obsessed with this drum. And that's the first time I've heard the drum because he actually flew it from L.A. to New York for a recording session. And now I feel like Ross has like 10 of them and just tells everyone it's sick. But at the time, I was like starstruck by a drum.

Like it's never happened in my life. And it was awesome then too. But yeah, it's like, like I was saying, if I hear it, If I hear a snare and I'm like, oh, that's so sick, I'll go find it. And it's, I'll find out what drum was used on the record and it's that drum. It's insane. I've done my hardest now to make mine like that Terminator. So I've got the bell brass hoops from VK, which are insane.

And they do sound like the other bellbrose hoops when you can just hang them and then hit them and they sound like zeal bells. It's so sick. I haven't heard the bellbrass hoops in person. I've only heard like the shootouts online. but I'm real curious to hear what they sound like versus the regular ones. Next time we record, I will for sure bring it. There you go. There's a good one for the internet.

We could have a shootout with hoops between the two drums, the nerdyest shit. I'm not flying. Oh, no. Have you seen Nolly's got a YouTube channel now and he does shit like that? Oh, there you go. It's actually sick. I watched one like two nights ago and he shoots out a black beauty. with single flange hoops, triple flange hoops,

die cast, wood, and then at all tunings as well. And you would think it was boring, but I loved it. And then it made me dig my Black Beauty out. That's awesome. I put a new strainer on it and die cast hoops. And now I'm going to actually take that to America next week because the bell brass with the hoops now is like 45 pounds. Yeah, it's going to get tricky to fly,

but we'll have to get it over for the record, because I do want to hear it. Oh, for sure. Because I'm not, not like, lugging that shit around an airport. If I just,

if I'm coming to record, I'll just, like, check it in a flight case. There you go. Or just fly the hoops. I'm sick of, like,

ruining it. Oh, that's a way easy idea. I like how we're figuring out record logistics on your podcast, like kids. That's a great idea.

We'll just fly the hoops. Yeah, all right, fair enough. I might actually, leave my black beauty at your place. Okay. I will occasionally use it and then go back to my bell-bress, but thank you. Yeah, no, just because I'm going to take it to America and I just want to not fly with that again.

Okay, what's your favorite drums to record? I like, I've got this DW collector's kit that I've had for a while. It's like a 90s one, and I love it. I don't know why I like it so much. I'm a big Tom Tamagai and I like their Tom's. I've got another kit from them. It's like a Birch set with a 24 inch kit kick and I go for that too sometimes, but there's something about my DW that I really like. It's my favorite kit to record.

The kick drum is always like super punchy and it's just everything I want in the drum is always there. And I've had other guys. I mean, that blew me away. Actually, the first time I tracked it yours. was how good that DW kick drum sounds. I don't know why it's better, but something about that one is sick, and I bought it from a dude on Craigslist,

and I met him in a parking lot at a mall, and he gave it to me, and it's the best kick drum I've ever heard, and I'm lucky. And I've had other guys with the same model of DW come in with their kick drum, and this one's always better. I don't understand why. I think with the 90s ones,

it's very much like the SJC, thing where they were such a small company then that the quality control isn't the same. So some of them sound insane and some of them are like, yeah, okay. Yeah. I'm fortunate that I have a good one because it's definitely made it to a lot of records and I'm super happy with it. I had a great one. I had a 24 by 14, which I actually have on my new Tamer kit.

Oh, short guy. 24 by 14 DW and it was incredible. and 90s one as well. That's pretty sick. And that's what made me get this new Tama kit with a 2414 because I just love the way it sounds. I think I want a 26 inch kick drum. I haven't found, like I don't know enough about 26es

to know what I should get, but I'm going to do some homework because I always use a smaller, most of the time I'm in 22 land and then there's always the weird song or something where I want to kick them to drum to be drastically different. and you know my 24 is a little different but now I want something more drastic so I'm in the market for 26 so if uh if any of your viewers want to send me some suggestions that would be awesome i mean off the top of my head there's not many but the ludwig yeah that's the bottom

that seems to be the one uh that everyone gravitates to too but uh i haven't heard it in the I haven't heard it in person yet. So I, I, do you remember the videos? I don't even think they're on YouTube anymore of that Jeff, do you know who Jeff Ocletree is? I don't think so. Sorry.

He's the guy that made Danny Carey, that drum kit that was made out of old piesty symbols. Oh, okay. But he's like a drum tuning guru and there used to be a video on the internet of him tuning. He like tuned John Bonham's drums, I think. And they used to be a video of him, tuning this 26 Ludwig kit green sparkle like 26 13 16 18 in this studio and it sounded incredible that's awesome i'm going to have to look that up maybe it's still on that and then it's like the

only video like pro shot video of danny carey's shooting uh tool song on that kit that was definitely on youtube it's probably still there it's probably when they you know when they render it down to eight bit quality and it's dog shit right yeah yeah when it's been on youtube for too long and they're like, nah, no one's watching this anymore. I'll have to find it. You think we're getting a tool record next year? I mean, I think one of them confirmed it, but they've been confirming it for years, haven't they?

Yeah, I think they confirm it every year that it's coming out, and then you don't hear anything, and then there's like one news blip, and then another and another, and then somebody at the end of the year goes, no, no, it's not happening. And then it starts over the next year. They did post that thing where they had a bunch of like all-stars in the studio who got to listen to the record. instrumentally. I think it was like the Melvin's dude. And there was there was like three or four guys that got like a private invite to hear it and they're all blown away. And then, you know, nothing happens.

I wonder why. Sorry, Karen. No, I just wonder why they can't just give us music. Probably because it's not as good as it needs to be. And they know that. Is that the thing? Is that how you cover up having a stinky record as you just create, create mystique and hype for years? until you finally figure it out. Ah, okay. Because real talk, 10,000 days is the worst tool record. Ooh, all right. It's an opinion.

Well, give me one that's worse. If you say undertow, this is over. It's different. It's different. They're all different. I don't want to get in. I won't fight you on it. Yeah, because you want to produce the one after this one.

Yeah, I think they're brilliant. If they're listening, hey, what's up? I can help. Imagine if they were listening. Apparently, Danny Carey has barbecues around his house, right, all the time. And it's like, Danny Carey, Les Caiple, Stuart Copeland, like, they're all just hang out and have a barbecue and have a jam. Yeah, they're like rich, successful musicians who know each other.

What else are they going to do? They don't have jobs, so they just hang out with each other. It's sick. What would you do if you had millions of dollars, you'd hang out, your millions of dollar having drummer nerd friends and talk about this shit. Yeah, I move next door to Danny Carey and have barbecues. Yeah, exactly. That's what you do.

The line is going shitty. So I'm going to start wrapping this up because I have a few things left to say to you. All good. If you're still there. I'm here. I can hear you. What's your favorite production on a record ever? Ever.

Ooh. Oh, hang on. let me change it. Favorite drum sound, I don't give a shit about guitars or anything else. What's your favorite drum sound on a record? Love, uh, Queens of Son Age,

songs for death. Love the, love the Eric Valentine's super dry, separate the shells, all the tricks and nerd stuff on that. Dave Grohl killed it. The best, the best drum intro of all time is on that album.

Yeah, there's just, there's so many. I remember, I heard no one knows first, like on MTV or something. People used to actually watch MTV for music and stuff

and I remember that video. I was there. And even just like through my shitty TV I just remember like the drums or the first thing that grabbed me. I was like what the hell is that? And it was like before I knew about recording I just knew something was sick and different on that one. So one of my favorite drum sounds for sure

on that one. The song for the death, that song, the intro, the drum intro is incredible. Yeah. I'm going to listen to it when I make dinner after this. Right, give me another one. metal productions you want? Yeah, I want metal. I mean, it doesn't have to be metal.

It can be post metal. I know you like a post metal. I do. I like the weird stuff. I like the balls on the Oceanics production for the snare off. Snare off. Incredible. Yeah, yeah.

I think, remember hearing that and going, that's different, you know? I think stuff like that's pretty cool. There's this old murder-by-death record called Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of them? Just kind of like weird. dark indie man. I think Jay Robbins did the record, but it's like really roomy and it's kind of messy, but it's cool as

hell. And like, for getting a vibe right for a band, it was one of my favorites. It's not the most pro-sounding record, like in sonically perfection, but it does this thing that's really cool. I really, I really, really like that production.

Yeah, and I don't know. What else? Metal stuff, I really like the Way of All Flesh is one of my favorite drum production. in modern metal sound because the symbols are great. The kit feels super real. I know there's some sampling stuff going on, but they pull it off really good.

And it's just like, yeah, it's like all you would want in a drum production. So for metalman. I think that's my favorite metal production of all time. Yeah, it's a classic one. And it definitely, you know, even their records after it, it's like, it's hard to like chase that one.

You know, Like, I feel like they got it right there. I feel like part of why I fell in love the band so much too is because the production on that record was so cool. It just made me, it just sounded bigger than everything. This is Gojira, by the way, for people that don't know what we're talking about. Oh, sorry, yeah. And can we briefly talk about it?

You produced the vocals, was it, on Magma? Yeah, I got brought in to kind of, they self-produced the record, So I'm not going to take tons of credit for this or anything. But I got brought in to just, like, go over a bunch of vocal stuff with Joe and track some vocals. And I spent, like, a month just going to their studio every day. They're very, like, meticulous and work very slow and detailed and stuff. But we went through pretty much, we went through all the material and I recorded a bunch of the stuff, like reworked some lyrical things, kind of unfrenched. some of the phrasing and made things like, um,

unfraged. Yeah, I don't know how it's to say it. You know, English is a second language. There was just some, some just quality control. Like, well,

we would, we would say it like this. And, you know, if they, they, oh, their lyrics are in English,

so they just want to make sure they translate correctly, you know, um, but, uh, yeah, it was cool. Just like an extra ear on some of the vocal stuff that he was,

that they were doing. And it was, it was awesome to be a part of. Do you know what? I didn't like that album until I listened to the lyrics. The lyrics are really good on that record. Yeah, they make it. There's a lot of personal stuff,

and they were going through a really rough time with a death in the family while making the record. And it was, like, for sure, their most, like, personal record. And it's definitely, you know, that record is a turn for the band. it doesn't you know the materials is more different and kind of veered off the metal path it's not as extreme as any of the other stuff they've done that they've done you know and it's not even

necessarily my favorite style of gojira because i like the heavier crushing stuff that they do too and there's these lighter more rock and prague moments all over this record so uh you know for what it is though it's like it's brilliant they're just one of the best bands in the world yeah originally i like because like you were saying the production thing i'm used to gojira having the world's best incredible like clean shiny production not that this production is bad but then so i i heard a couple of tracks on it and then i just went oh and then i just didn't listen to it and then someone convinced me to listen to it and read the lyrics and if you've lost someone or you know someone close to you and then you read those lyrics it is very difficult not to

really connect with that album. Sure. It's great. Yeah. It takes a lot of... I mean, it's dark as fuck, but it's great. Yeah, it takes a lot of balls to, like, put it all in, out there like that, too, so it's definitely...

Yeah, some of the sentences are, like, really literal. Yeah, and I remember literally, like, one of the first times I met him, I went to the studio, and he was kind of telling me what was going on with his family and then showing me some of this material. And this is, like, they're one of my favorite. bands ever and I'm in a room with this guy who's telling me about his his life and then showing me his music and I'm just like fully emotionally overwhelmed like it was one of the more intense moments I've ever had as a as a record producer I'm like oh this is the most serious thing

I feel like I was a part of at the time you know yeah um but it's awesome it takes such balls to like put it out there like that and and uh that was like a real healing record for them and I'm happy that they have all the success they have from it too. I'm happy that I love it as well because now there's no album I dislike from that band. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it's different. So it takes a minute and it's not for everybody right away, but they're undeniably talented songwriters. So eventually like, you know, and it's probably their most successful record now too.

So they're not doing anything wrong. I'm generally, generally really just like actually bad at judging music and TV shows and films like immediately. And I need to be better at that. I blame our culture. Our single serving society will, you know. Yeah, I feel like there's so much material. There's so much entertainment out there that you kind of have to make a quick pass at something and decide if you're going to like it. it or not because you just you don't get to spend time with as many things when you have all the options

you know so you see that's why you see a lot of bands come and go faster and that's why you know people are quick to judge on all kinds of art nowadays if if it was the 60s and there were only so many records it wouldn't really be a conversation you would just this is what this is what's out there so you'd get into it you know maybe it's a good thing then maybe it's evolution it like levels the playing field, you have to be sick to stand out. You have to be sick or else you are out. I mean, production is like that now, isn't it? You can't have, like,

you can't, you couldn't have like, um, emperor's success in the 90s or like the early OPEC albums. Sure. Or someone, you just wouldn't happen now like, as a like a breakthrough genre, like black metal and people would just go, this sounds like shit.

Yeah. There's like a threshold where, and I'm guilty of it too. I try to look past production if I'm hearing a band, but if it sounds like garbage, it's hard to, sometimes it's harder to get into or fully digest what's going on, you know. Unless it is like eco-warrier black metal. While we're still on the Gojira subject,

top five Gojira songs. Top five Gojira songs. Okay. Yes. And the album that they're from. Any album. Okay. from Mars, I'd probably go with

Heaviest Matter and Flying Whales are definitely two of the top five. Heaviest Matter is the first Gojera song I think I ever heard. Same. The Morbent Angel subtle influence on that one hooked me on that. Flying Wales is just the sickest song. The end of that is still awesome. One of my favorite parts of metal bands ever done. It's funny you say the morbid angel thing on heaviest matter because I'd never thought of it,

but it's got like a blessed other sick vibe to it. Yeah, there's like shameless morbid angel worship in Goetra. I'd never even put the two and two together, but you're absolutely right. Yeah, yeah, and I'm sure they'll admit it too because it's stuff they came up listening to. But yeah, I mean, I hear it in a lot of their music. And they just do it on a different, with a different approach. but they've definitely like borrowed elements from that band that and then they kind of just like took the good parts for lack of the better work. Yeah, there's a lot of shit. They took the fucking first

three and a half albums. Anyway, let's not talk shit on morbid angel because they'll probably put a spell on me. Yeah, all the scrape, all the scrapy stuff too that Go Jerodera does. It's like, yeah, those are, that was in Morbid Angel riffs. They just like made it their thing, you know, which is cool. But. And now everyone else has it. Yeah, but at least, at least they know where it came from. Yeah. Sick. Go on,

give me more. Like, let's go to Way of All Flash. Probably go, I'm going to chuck toxic garbage island in the top

because it's probably the song I've listened to the most because it's a mixed reference song for me for the intro, the intro drum section where I get to hear

the whole kit and all the symbols and stuff is it great like, hey, how do you make a crazy guy with a lot of shit sound good? And I've probably,

that song's been on like a shuffle on an iTunes playlist that's probably been played 10 to 20,000 times. So yeah, I'm going to put that one up there just because I'm brainwashed to listen to that song. What's track two on LaFont? It is the title track.

LaFant Savage, am I saying that right? French listeners. Yeah, yeah. That one's up there. So there's four songs. The production on that one is fucking insane as well. It's not quite as good as, like, unique as the album before it, but... I love it.

I think it's great. It's less, uh, it's a bit less push, like less smash and it's a little darker and, like, a little cleaner, but it's, it's still really good. Everything on. That's, uh, Josh Weber. He's also very sick. And, uh... Hang on.

Is track two Longfant-Savage or is it explosion? No, expulsion is the opener. Uh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I know the song you mean. I just don't. with the little ride bit and the lead and stuff it's awesome Joe sounds good on that great on that song and that was like I think it was the single off that record but that's when

I was that I was waiting for that for a while because I loved Way of All Flesh and that's I think the first song I heard off that record I was way stoked on that and then off the new one I'll probably take Silvara as one of my top ones big fan big fan of that song that's like one of the heavier ones on the on the new record and That's actually a vegan song. Do you know that? Is it? Yeah, sneaky, sneaky vegan song on that one.

I mean, they've got quite a lot of eco, you know, Eco Warrior, don't shave your armpits sections. Don't get me wrong. But what makes that a vegan song? Some of the lyrical stuff, that's where like Joe took it because Joe's vegan and was used to kind of, like, steered a little away from more of the socially shoes on the new record and wanted to like stick one uh where where he was able to address some of

that stuff so that's like where that one came from there's like a real hard vegan line call i think it's no other blood in me but mine it's just like wow yeah like earth crisis could have said it and it would have worked it's sick but yeah yeah that's the points for the sneaky vegan song on the on the new record nice um is that five you done five i think that's five when we do them in more Yeah, Flying Whales, Heaviest Matter, LaFont, Toxic Garbage Island, Silvera. All right, I'm giving you mine. What do you got? Backbone.

Ooh, good one. On from Mars. That's a Mars song, yeah. Just love it. And also just that album was the first one I listened to. Although Heaviest Matter was the first song I heard. And then my friend told me to check them out at, Download Festival 2003.

And I checked that song out. And I was like, okay, this band's sick. And then I walked into the tent and they played the breakdown of Remembrance. Oh. Which is by far the best technical breakdown of all time. That's the fun math one. Yeah, that's a good one. The rest of the song is like whatever.

But that breakdown is incredible. That's the one where they just play the breakdown live now, right? They don't even play this out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're just like. I love that. the only thing anyone wants to hear from that. Yeah, sometimes it works out.

Hey, VOD used to play just the end of that By the River song. The song would Phil and Samo. They used to just skip the song and play the breakdown. I like that. If you got a good breakdown, just play the good part. No one needs the rest of the bullshit. Just play the breakdown. Yeah, yeah.

So I'm putting remembrance in there just for that breakdown. That's cool. vacuity. Ooh, good one. That would have been top ten for me for sure. Because that is just so beefy. The, the, the, the, the, ballsy move of having one and three is a choke for your verse. Just forever, too.

Just like a choked symbol. Yeah. Boom. Ba! I stole that as in a heart machine song. I stole that, too. It's on a fit song. Shameless.

always still the good shit um what am i on three oh i've got a i've got one which is definitely in the top top yeah it's in top five the song this emptiness oh it almost made mine special it's the sneak it's the bonus song yeah yeah with the triplet riff and the crazy drums for the drums alone yeah did it don't dillin dillin dillin dillin dillin Dylan. It's awesome. That, I don't know why it's only on the bonus special edition of Longfant-Savage. I'd pick it over nine songs on that record.

It's so sick. Yeah. And the other one of those bonus songs, I think it's my last creation, also insanely heavy. The only thing I can think of is maybe they didn't want the album to be as heavy as that. Yeah, to balance it. They kind of kept them off maybe. But this emptiness is awesome. Even the verse in that song is super sick, too, like the melody in the verse.

and it's a it's a banger song it could have been a single and people would have loved it yeah love it love that song um my dog's just coming

she's just barged into the room uh what am I on four I think we fix the technical issues just right near the end yeah I think we're good um tough tough

I got I thought you were gonna there's one I thought you were gonna pick that you didn't I'll let you go and then I'll tell you what I thought you would have liked. Tell me what album it's on and then I'm, that's my dog. Tell me what album it's on and I'll tell you if it is a song that I'm thinking of.

It's from way of all flesh. Is it the art of dying? Yes, it is the art of dying. Yeah, that is actually what I was there. I was just, I was just like, I'm on Wikipedia just going through the songs, just making sure there isn't one that I like more than that. But no, yeah, they are dying. You can't play drums and not pick that song.

It's like drum Olympics in the beginning of that. That's actually when I do a mix for something for like one of my drum videos. I always go to that to try and get the tombs to sound like it. And I never can do it. Yeah, that's a good one. That one's that. I heard they don't want to do, they don't play a lot of these songs because they're just too hard now. Yeah, I heard that as well.

And that would probably be one of the ones that make that pile of hard. I think it's because how hard he hits. It's like if you hit as hard as him, you're not going to be able to do that forever. So you're going to have to start phasing out these songs at some point. Sure. Yeah. My drummer's feeling that now and he's like eight years in. And it's like imagine being 25 years in and having to play that hard and that fast for that long.

I don't give drummers lots of credit for. playing two hours of extreme metal. I've actually figured, I went to a chiropractor and I've got, I had an insane problem with my hip, which was making my right foot just incredibly hard to control.

And I've fixed that now. So I'm actually having like a new drum puberty where I can play loads of hard kick patterns for once. So I'm going to shoot myself in the foot by starting very difficult patterns. at age 31. Yep, you're going to start with the hard stuff now. Yeah, yeah.

In five years. The thing is, though, if I can't do them, I will just take steroids will. I'll just be like, you know what? You know how I can do this? I'm going to fucking juice up. There you go. And then I'll just juice my stuff. Not that I juice right now, and I don't intend on,

but if I can ever not play my drum parts because of muscles, there's an app for that. Right. And it's called injecting it directly into your ass. Just right in it. Put them right in the calves for the, for that double bit. Stick them. stick me stem cells.

That's top five Gojira. And the only last thing that I want to talk about is my dog is like looking like she's going to piss, which I don't want her to do. You know, yeah, sit nice. Right, I won't edit that out because it's cute. It's cute. The last thing I want to talk about is the Groulter Challenge.

Okay. If possible, I've cleared this with the copyright owners of the Grotter Challenge. If possible, I would like you send me the track and we'll see out the podcast with the track. That's insane. But yeah, I'd love to do that. Okay.

So everyone. We can talk about the challenge. Everyone's approved that because it is a questionable life choice that we've all made. But yeah, okay. So I don't even remember where Graltor came from. It's like a mispronunciation of Walter probably. Yep. And we did a strayer.

record. Tom from Stray in typical fashion loses his mind, doesn't go outside for three weeks, doesn't even go to the door to get delivery, he makes somebody else so he doesn't see daylight. Studio Tom is my favorite Tom. Yeah, he's a psycho print. But we come up with at some point, we make this song, it doesn't make, it's not a song, it's just things on top of each other. It's chaos. It doesn't make sense. It's hilarious, but it's just noise. and we love it because we're shot. And, um, well,

hang on, talk more about the noise is the death riff, which is what Tom plays. The noise is a combination of Tom's death riff played like chromatically a half step off each other in multiple places. And then, uh, the,

for whom the bell tolls, the melody, the lead melody played on a base. And then that's also played in half step increments away from each other. And then, uh, Drew and Tom and, and,

and, but he's just yelling Gralter. My real name is Walter. My name is Gralter. My real name is Walter. Over and over again. And we created something like a 20 minute loop of these things where nothing repeats the same and there's weird breaks in it and stuff. And it's literally, it's like torture music.

It's what you would play to like a prison camp detainee to get them the break and stuff. So that's kind of where it started. And then we at some point came up with an idea of a physical challenge. where myself and Randy, my engineer and Drew and Tom would be stripped to our underwear and have our hands and feet bound with tape. And we would sit in my guitar boxes, which are like these little coffins that hold guitar cabs for when I'm tracking. Isolation booths, basically.

But they're just big enough to fit a guitar cab. And now after this, I know also a person and a guitar cab in them. They're airtight and super dark and scary and very isolated from the outside world. So what we did was we took the Graltar song. We ran it through a couple amps, dual wrecks, I believe. Shout out to Mesa Bogie. And we would all sit in the cabs. The Graltar song would be playing.

And it was just a contest of how long each person could stay in the box. The kicker was we didn't know when somebody had quit or given up or tried to get out of the box because we all had microphone cables that extended to another room. And when it was time, when you had enough and you wanted to leave, you would just pull on your cable. And somebody would quietly let you out of the box, but because they're so isolated from each other and there's loud torture music playing, you don't know when someone else has quit.

So it's just really a mental test of the mind of how long you could stay in there. And we just knocked it out. And I think I won. I think I won $100, too. Yeah. But let's talk about the real issue here is how long everyone lasted, because how long you lasted is like there's something wrong with you. How long did you last? I stayed in three hours and 13 minutes.

I stayed in the box. Fucking insane. I think I beat everyone by 40 minutes. So I had an extra 40 minutes in there where I could have left. But I didn't know, but I stayed. The difference was I fell asleep. I took a nap, which is fucking insane, that I could, that I nap. I guess I was just tired from recording in late nights, but I woke up from my nap and knew

that no one else was as psycho that was going to fall asleep. So I figured I would have bought myself enough time to win. But yeah, sometimes you just got to push yourself, you know. You just need to see, see what you're capable of. That's what life's about. That's the sort of antics that go on while you make a record. at graphic nature. My favorite part is Tom's first taste of daylight

was being in the box for hours and then opening the door running outside and seeing the outside world for the first time. And I would have killed for that photo of what he would have looked like at that moment. It would be hanging on the wall in my house. How long had he not been outside? It was over three weeks.

About 19 days, I think we did the record in. He deliberately tried to not go outside. No, he did. He didn't try, he didn't go outside. So he was not in the outside. He was only in the confines of the studio, did not see the outside world or smell fresh air or have the sun touch his face.

I love him. He's absolutely insane. And this was like in February or March. It was probably freezing out. So he ran out in his underwear, in the freezing cold, and that's his first taste of the outside world in weeks. And that's how you make professional records, you know? And that's how you get Grammy nominations.

Yeah, I mean, you got it. Platinum records. You've got a couple of Platinum Records. You've got to... That's what you're saved in my phone as. You just got to push yourself, you know? Every day is a new challenge and you just do your best. I think that's a great place to leave it unless you've got anything you want to plug.

You got any sample packs? Oh, my plug-in. I got a Kemper pack. It's on sale all the time. People that listen to this podcast do not care about your Kemper pack. Okay. But plug away. I'll plug.

If you play guitar or if you're good, tell your guitar players that I have a Kemper pack and then explain to them that, uh, what a Kemper is if you feel like it or don't. Um, but you can buy my guitar sounds for money. And they are very good. We track with your Kemper guitar sounds and they're fucking sick. There you go. And, uh, I am doing a drum library, but I can't announce the details yet. But I will bother you to promote it as soon as it's out there. Nice. I will take a free copy as a means of promotion.

I love it. You can have it. Awesome. It's been a pleasure. Can you please send me the Groultter song and we will play it out? Not for the entire four hours that you were in there, but people can get a real gist of it. Okay, you could put it on. I could give you the three hour loop if you want to just ban your podcast. Bandwidth. All right. I'll give you a 19 minutes because that's the full. intention of the piece and then, you know, cut it how you wish. The full intention of the piece makes it sound like it's like between the buried and me song.

Yeah, a composition. Oh, there's several movements and, you know. Dream Theater. Gralter movement too. Yeah. You know, if you want the picture, you got it. It's not. It's fine.

Right. I love you, buddy. It's been a pleasure. I need to go and eat food and let my dog out. All right. I'm going to do the same. I will talk to you soon, my man. Thanks, man.

Bye. right there we are right i'm gonna i'm here at the end again so that's weird that's different but here is i've decided to do it here is the groulter challenge music all four movements all 19 minutes of it in full in case you want to try your own groulter challenge at home kids enjoy all right i'm sorry to interrupt this but how mental is that really take a minute to listen for the baseline that's playing for whom bell tolls, you've got the riff over the top and then you've got all four of them saying Groulter. It's absolutely insane. Three hours and 40 minutes will put me. Listen to this in an isolation booth.

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