Bullet to the Heart

Participant #1:
Alright. This is Draven and I'm Bryan and we are both to the heart. This is the concerts that made us

Participant #1:
welcome to the podcast Conscious that made us interviews and stories. Haters found the bus. We love taking you back when it all went down. The greatest laugh show than the cheering crowd sound. It's Compton. Compton that made us comptoncentmade us.com on this episode. I'm joined by Draven. And Brian. From bullet to the heart. They recently released their single Black Widow and we chat all about us and much, much more. You're going to love this episode. But before we get chatting with the guys, we're going to take a listen to Black Widow. So without further ado, let's get on

Participant #1:
my God I ever rain for you on Get us back and stand every action with concern when we sign for your senses.

Participant #1:
I am a rainbow from Wilderness

Participant #1:
music. Draven and Brian, you're very welcome to concert St matis. Hey, how are you doing man? Good to be here. I'm good. Let's be speaking with you guys. Now today we kicked off the episode with your latest release, Black Widow. Would you like to tell us about us? Hell yeah. So it's the first of some upcoming songs that were coming out with it's a lot more aggressive and stuff that we've made in the past and yeah, it kind of tells the story of taking vendors on people who are kind of creeping on women. So it's kind of like an empowering song and also a brutal song. Yeah. Heavy guitar looks on that one. Yeah, it's the first time we busted out and I know that is kind of a cliche, but it's first time we bust out a seven string guitar with music that we played. Not that you need one to make it heavy or seven strings heavy. Ralph's Gallon made one of the most beautiful songs in an eight string guitar distortion. It was fun to try it out, try something different. Yeah, exactly. My notice now is that it's like a breast of fresh air. It starts off and you're kind of expecting, wanting and then as it moves on, you're like, oh man, this is actually brilliant. It's not like anything you've heard before. It's real. Sort of like I said, a breast of fresh air. Nice. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Go for yeah. It felt like that writing. We just finished Transcendence, which is our last album and we were like stuck in the studio. All of COVID just writing those songs and to come out of that and to start writing seven string heavy aggressive, it was like, oh cool. Like we're still being creative right now. So it was a good way to kind of keep going but not writing the same thing. Also definitely myself, at least I definitely try to not put myself in a box or think of something to make before I go like, oh, I want to make a song that's like this kind of metal in particular, this genre, we really try to stay unique and just kind of not confine ourselves to a particular sound or a genre. Yeah, well, you're doing a great job of that. And how has the reception been from fans? Pretty good so far. A lot of people on the opening day and then the whole weekend has been pretty good. A lot of the comments are positive. They like the artistic nature of the video. People just like a woman killing a bunch of creepy men, apparently. I never would have guessed. Oh, man. And you guys seems kind of well, obviously now, killing a lot of men isn't awful biographical, but you seem like you want to help people through your music, help them through issues that they might be facing. Yeah, a lot of that's, actually, from Audrey specifically. She's had a lot of family members go through a lot of mental illness and a lot of personal drama and stuff that affects their lives. So when we write in the studio, we're kind of writing based on how we feel or what we want to project. And when she comes in, she kind of takes this, like, spin on things. And a lot of it is geared towards, like, I'm writing with a purpose. I'm not just writing to be an egotistical rock star. Yeah, if only more bands were like that. Yeah, and something as well. I have to ask, what's it like having a female lead singer? Normally you don't see it too often, you know, it's great. Now Bush you don't see too often. Normally, it's like four guys. But I think back to the whole breath of fresh air thing. It's cool that you do have a female lead singer. What's it like? I mean, I don't really feel like it's that different for me, at least for me, my perspective of this whole advantage is that these are three of my best friends, and I just enjoy playing music with them. Definitely. I feel like a lot of people try to put us into the box, like, oh, you're female fronted. I'm like, well, female fronted is not a genre. I agree. It's kind of normal. I've been in a female fronted man for quite a while because her and I were in a different project, like, way before this couple of projects ago. So I kind of liked the uniqueness. When I started getting into playing music, like playing out in bars and shows and stuff, nobody else was really doing it unless you were Paramore, you know what I mean? Because Evan Essence wasn't around touring anymore. A lot of the big female bands weren't really active. You had, like, in this moment in Paramour, and that was like, female bands, you know what I mean? So to me, it was kind of like a uniqueness approach. I want to do something different. Like, every guy can scream, every guy can do this. I want to do something different, put some power into it, some passion. But, yeah, it seems it's kind of just normal for us, just kind of vibing. Yeah, I get that. And what was the process then, from coming up with Black Widow to recording us to release? What was the process like? So we got a huge opportunity in what year was it? 21. 21 last year? Yeah. I don't even know what timeline runs. We got a huge opportunity in October of 21. So this is before our album came out because our album was set to release for November, so those songs are already done, queued up to be released. We got a huge opportunity to play I'm sorry, to record with Justin from Miss May I. So that kind of geared us to want to prove ourselves, want to push ourselves in a direction because we're going to be in front of this guy who's been all over the place genre wise, production wise, show wise. We were like, let's push ourselves to match that quality. Yeah. He also was a good influence on us because basically he is kind of poking with the cattle prodder. Come on, write songs. You can do it. We wrote, I want to say, like eight or eight, like eight songs. We settled on five. Yeah. So then we took the best five that we all liked, including Justin, and then we went out to Ohio to repay studios. And then he kind of helped us. He tracked us, he recorded us, he did all the production on everything. He changed some stuff, gave some ideas for stuff. So it was a really good collaborative effort. He was a wonderful person to work with. Very kind, very knowledgeable. Learned a lot while we were there. Yeah. A lot of tracking techniques we're doing in our studio now, so it was awesome. Yeah. I was going to ask, you often hear these stories of bands getting paired with, like, this legendary producer, and it seems like it would be incredibly intimidating. I was going to ask, what was it actually like, you know, going there and working with him as a person? I mean, for me, I know this sounds I'll submit this right now if I haven't before. I'm very ignorant when it comes to a lot of music and a lot of bands. I honestly hadn't listened to Miss Maya before I met him, so I didn't really have that. Like, oh, I'm standing next to this titan. I'm like, oh, this is a dude. For me, at least personally. But just as a person, he's really kind, very knowledgeable, and he has his particular way of doing things. And I definitely learned a lot by watching his process and how he does stuff. Yeah, I think it was a little nerve wracking at first just because I was a huge fan of this man. That band got me into Metal Corps when I was younger, I started playing. I started covering their music and stuff like that. So it was a little nervewracking because you're like, oh, I'm going up against this dude who is going to want to push me, who's going to want to metaphorically slap me around and be like, play better once you get past that. Like I said, he's a sweetheart. He's like a goofy dude. Once you met him, I was like, oh, this is chill. Like, now we're having fun. It was like hanging out with him every day. We went out and got food with them. We were hanging around Ohio, which is a state we've never been to before. So it was kind of like a fun way to just be creative, but also, like, get down and work. Yeah, definitely. I suppose it just goes to show, you know, no matter how big or how legendary you are, you're still a person and you still like the same things as everyone else. It's just cool to meet people who don't let their fame or their fortune get them to be egotistical. Yeah, because we've had it the other way around. We're not going to mention any names, but we've had it the other way around, where someone's like, do you know who I am? You know who I am? We're like, no, I don't. Although I will say, people that aren't as high up on the ladders yeah, they don't have that status. It's weird. Like, people are better, like, in that middle ground, tend to have, like, the most ego I've seen, personally. I was just going to say. Yeah, it's always those guys who was like, I think maybe subconsciously they're trying to prove themselves or something or to feel like they should be more recognized. But it's always the guys then at the top that are absolute sweethearts, you know, be interesting to see at what stage that kind of you lose that kind of asshole and become nice. Yeah, I wonder. I mean, I want to say that, like, everyone at the top is the nice, but at least the ones that we've come in contact with have been good so far. At this stage. I usually like to dive into my guest's history to get a sense of how you got to where you are today. Oh, man, you got the longest story again. You always do. Yeah, I saw him when I was seven years old. I played the trumpet. I'll just give you the synopsis. Okay. I've been doing music since I was a small child. Played a plethora of instruments throughout elementary school, all the way through high school, as far as classical instruments go, like trumpet, violin, cello. And when I was 14, I picked up a guitar. My dad, we had a lot of money at the time, so I do all my birthday money to pay for half of the guitar. My dad pays the other half, and that's kind of I started a guitar, learning threads, grace and stuff, and then I played that for a while, and then eventually I met these guys and then started playing music together. Yeah, I believe 2016. Yeah, 2016. He got involved and it was just me, him, and Audrey, and then we got Tom. And you made the band official with the name in 2017, and Tom and I went to school together, although mine is a little more complicated, but less interesting, I guess. I didn't start playing drums, so I was like ten or eleven. I was one of those, like, late bloomers, in my opinion, because you hear all these people. I was playing the pots and pans when I was five, and I'm like, yeah, I didn't start getting interested until ten. I got a drum kit through my grandfather, who wasn't really a part of our life for a lot of my life. And then he was like, hey, your kids play drums. I bought him a drum kit. I want him to practice every day. So I started learning, and at 14, I played my first show. It was my school high school battle bands, but nobody knew I could play drums. And I played with this band that was made up of mostly non people that went to the school, played that went well, started playing local bars and small venues, started opening up for bands, and then got into another band, kind of jumped a couple of bands here and there, a couple of different genres, kind of testing out the waters. And then 2016, Audrey and I ran a band and we lost two of our members on the same day, and we happen to have one more show, so we convinced them to play one more show. And at that show, we announced that we were looking for a bass player and a guitar player, and him and Tom were at that show, and they were like, we're going to play, we're going to do it. Yeah, I was actually opening up for them. Yeah, I made my own backing tracks, and I was playing a show by myself because I had a band when I was, like, a sophomore in high school, but then to say at least didn't end well. So I was on my own looking for people, and then, yeah, they came up to me after my set. They're like, hey, man, I don't know if you guys are good. I guess I'll see what you guys got. I was like, okay. And then like a week later, or like two weeks later, you're like, oh, we have the opportunity to open for Gemini Syndrome. You got to learn all of our songs in like a week. I'm like, okay, I did do that. Oh, Jeez. I loved you. Said they were going on after you, so it wasn't the typical kind of you had to audition for them. It was more like they were auditioning for you. It was kind of, like, both ways. I didn't know I was auditioning for them when I was playing my set. He was a good guitar player. He was alone, like you said, he played guitar with a bunch of backtracks. And I was like, Dude, that guy could shred. But why doesn't he have a band? But it kind of worked out, man, because we kind of just, like, connected, and he's a cool dude, and we instantly connected and writing music. And one of the things that I did force that on you and Tom was, hey, you got to learn these eight songs by next week. Yeah, you guys pulled through. Oh, man, didn't work out. That has to be, like, one of the worst things, one of the most common, but one of the worst things you can do to a musician is, like, you have a week to learn all these songs, you better do it. I will say I just had a lot of experience doing that kind of stuff because I did ten years of trumpet one time. I was seven to 17. But my dad also had me getting private lessons when I was really young. So by the time I got into high school, I kind of got bored of it because it became less of my thing and more of my dad's thing. Like, hey, you need to play your trumpet before you can play Xbox. Got me again, I would just kind of, like, sight read the music in high school, so I kind of got good at learning things quickly, especially with, like, music wise. So, like, that made it a lot easier for me to be able to, like, oh, I must have learned these songs really quick, and I know how to practice. And thankfully for my dad, even though I hate those, let him hate. But he just liked it, even though, like, he pushed me harder than I wanted to go. But I'm definitely still glad for that because, you know, I learned how to practice correctly, and I learned a lot of stuff that's transferable to whatever type of musical instrument I wanted to learn how to play. Yeah, I feel like on a selfish level, too, I'm going to be selfish for a minute. I think that kind of proves, like, dedication. Oh, yeah. The fact that I could be like, hey, we're in this music that you weren't a part of, and I need it next week. And you guys were like, I want to do that so bad. I feel like that kind of gave me all these guys are legit, just, like, arguing. I have been through tons of bands where these people were not motivated through anything. I was like, oh, we have to write a song. And they're like, oh, no, we're good. I'm like, well, we got to make a cover because we got to play 40 minutes. Like, just weird stuff like that. Yeah, I got you and I have to ask, what does your father think your music choices now? My father, he loves it. Yeah. He's just glad that I'm doing like my dad, he did music to make a living for a long time, like in the want to say he was like folk. Yeah, like folk, country music, a little bit of like hard rock, funk, kind of what was going on back then. But then he did what he told me is he eventually went back to school and got a real job so he could get a family and all that stuff. And I don't know, not to put words in his mouth, but I'd say he's proud of what I'm doing. I have a decent day job. We're very similar to my father and I. We both work jobs in it, and we both do our passion on the side. My dad was doing music for a while, and he started doing musicals. He's actually yeah, never mind. He's actually coming out. He wrote a musical on November 22, and he's going to be coming out with that later this year, I believe. So he's gone from musician to playwright to writing and directing and starring in his own musical, so I think he's been to a few of my shows. He likes our music, and I'd say he's proud of what I'm doing. Yeah. Jeez, he sounds like quite the man. Yeah, he's my father. I have his son. He's a sweet dude, though. He's a sweet dude. We used to have our studio at his house back when he was his dad, and it was just always, are you guys working on music today? And I'm like yes, mr. Bench. He's a cool dude. He's dope, yes. I use a lot of his mics before I borrowed. Yes, that's right. He has a lot of equipment. So you had to borrow his equipment before to help us out with stuff. His PA system, his mics. Yeah, that's Sandy. And, you know, at what point in your younger days, what happened that made you guys think, right, I want to pursue music seriously. I'd say just because music helped me get through a lot, and music for a large part of my life has been the most important thing to me because for a long time, music is all that I had, really. It was a couple of albums I could say that got me through a lot. I think I'm pronouncing that wrong. Lost my life. Lincoln park, meteora Matura, something like that. That in three days races. One x. Like, music has helped me get through so much, and growing up, I didn't have, like, throughout school, didn't have the most friends, so I spent a lot of my time neither practicing trumpet or listening to music or learning how to play guitar. It makes me feel things, and if I can express the way that I feel and commit those emotions to other people, and if other people feel the same way that I do. You know, I'd love to be able to help people in the way that others have helped me musically. And any chance that I get to do that, whenever I feel the passion to write a song or convey how I feel, you know, that's probably the most meaningful thing that I have. And I'd like to share that with people. Yeah, I definitely understand that. Anyway, I think a lot of people, especially musicians, kind of have that feeling, or a lot of people kind of entertain theirs, kind of went through that. Something similar, anyway. I feel like it's what drives a lot of musicians. I mean, of course you're going to get some that just want to do it because they think it's cool, that's fine. But there's a lot that are like, they've been battered and broken and destroyed in their lives and like, that's the only thing that makes you feel, you know, and it's like, I feel like we all kind of went through something in our life where we want to do music to feel that and reciprocate that to other people. And then I remember one of the things that I gravitated towards was I saw a sevenfold live when I was like eleven or twelve, and I was like, I was obsessed with guitar at the time. I wanted to play guitar so bad. And when I saw The Rev play, I was like, that's the coolest guy in the room right there. That's the coolest dude. It's the guy sitting back wailing on the drums. And I was like, that's what I want to do now and again. I was just getting started. So, like, I was like, that's what I want to do. Like, that's the dude, the back Pete. The back Pete, the heartbeat of the band. That's what I want to do. And I just kind of, like, use that as a driving force to get better in practice and try new things and do that. Because I agree with Brian. I really want to like what music done for me is it's so much I can't put in a word. I would love to be that light for somebody else. Kind of just like the gift that keeps giving, keep it going. There's so much pain and evil in this world, and I feel like music is a good part and everybody speaks that language in music. Yeah, definitely the universal language. I really like that, though. Me personally, and I know a lot of the listeners will that will definitely resonate with them. But I had a question lined up next and you kind of jumped ahead to it. I was thinking, has he got the questions in front of him? I don't really like a ramble, but I normally ask, since the podcast is called Concerts That Made US, what concerts as a Concert gore what concerts have made you? For myself, I want to say, probably we're at the same concert, actually. Systems. Systems. We didn't know each other at the time, but we happened to be there at the same time. We found that out years later. Yeah, that was the first big counselor I went to, apart from my dad playing shows and coffee shops and bars and stuff like that. And this is going to sound weird, but a concert I went to recently that I thought was really cool was an Oliver Tree show at the rave. He's kind of like a goofy Internet person that makes music, but aside from him playing the character that he plays there's a few times where he got real and set some real stuff, and that was a good concert. So I'd say those two are like the ones that come up to my memory, at least currently. Yeah, I'd say definitely the avenged. Like I said, like, that made me look at drummers differently because I wanted to play guitar so bad. And seeing Avenged, I was like, yeah, like that's dope. So that kind of changed my mentality to, like, pursue that. But also my first concert was Corn and Power Man 5000 and Filter. That kind of opened my eyes up of how powerful music is. They played Soldier Field in Chicago, which, if you're not familiar, it's like a huge, like, football stadium. And it was so packed. And every single person is singing. Every single person had their arms open. I was like, wow, this dude is this big on stage. And everybody's, like, interacting and having fun. I was like, Holy crap, that's the coolest job in the world. Oh, man. I'm jealous of some of them, especially the system ones. They've been on my list for years, ever since I was a teenager. And I think in like 15 or 20 years, they've only come to Ireland once. And I couldn't go, unfortunately. So hopefully I'll get the same at some stage in the future. But you made me think of something. They're talking about the Internet guy. Is there a gig that you guys have been to that your fans would be surprised? Urs, probably that one. And I got a lot of friends that are into, like, EDM music, so I occasionally go to the dubstep rhythm show. More dubstep and rhythm. Right. Mine is kind of embarrassing. I went to a Machine Gun Kelly concert. Right. Yeah. He gets a lot of hate from a lot of people in our industry, but it was fun. Like, he puts on a helicopter show. Yeah, imagine he does. Did you go willing? Was it something you actually wanted to go to or were you dragged along? I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I was into a couple of songs at the time and I was like, let's just do it. My sister was a huge fan. She's, like, obsessed. So I was like, I'll go for you. Because he wasn't coming to chicago, which were in Illinois. He was in the next state over, so it's about a four hour drive. And I didn't want her to go alone because she's 18 years old at the time. So I was like, let's just go. Like, I'll take you. I'll go see it. I don't care. And it was a blast. Openers were fantastic. It was like that pop punky, but kind of like lo fi rap vibe. It was, like, interchanging in the genre. So it's kind of cool. I always find it's definitely cool to go see people outside your genre. Even people you wouldn't even be that into, really, because I think it helps with your musicianmanship. Really. Like you were saying earlier, it's good to not be in a box, you know, look at other genres and stuff. But let's get into your gigs. I'm sure people are dying to hear about them. Now, can you remember your very first gig as the band you are now? Yes, it was the dear deadly album show at Subte. Yeah, that was the first time. The time was there, yes. So subterranean. I don't know how to really describe it. Chicago is a big city, and instead of it being like a theater that's interconnected, it's kind of like a hole in the wall. But when you go inside, it's like a big, like, kind of like, lounge kind of show. So it's kind of like a little smaller than a theater, but bigger than a bar that makes any sense, so but it's literally a hole in the wall. Like, you'll miss it kind of little marquee. And you walk into the door and you can go upstairs or you can go downstairs. And the downstairs is the smaller stage. Upstairs the bigger stage. We played the Basement for a band that we were friends with at the time called Dear Deadly. They were doing their album release show, and they allowed us to open the show as our first show in this lineup. First time playing live as a four piece. Little fun, little fact here. It was later that year. It was later that year. We ended up selling out the top floor. Oh, man. So just gigging playing music. We then did our album release on the top floor and sold it out. And I'm super proud of that. Oh, man. And that was only like, a couple of months later. Yeah, it was like nine or ten on the dot, I think, because we had our first show, and it was February 4, 2017, and it was like September or October something is when the album came out, and we just did a lot of radio promo, a lot of press. People were really just digging the music at the time. I mean, it was like it was something fresh on the scene that really helped. But yeah, those are first shows, a group. It was a lot of fun. Definitely a learning experience, but a. Lot of fun. I'd say so. I'd say so. And as a band, what concerts do you think have made you guys? Oh, that's a tough one. I would say definitely probably the tour, the first tour. That's what I was thinking. That was a huge learning experience that was going through the ringer. Definitely. So I have a more positive one.

Participant #1:
Definitely. We headlined house of loose. House of Blues in Chicago is a big deal. And that was our second album release. We got to headline. A couple of hundred people were there for us, so it was like a huge win win goal. We've played also Blues before. I've played it tons of times in other bands headline. It was such an honor. I brought up the double bass kit, went on full out, got the banner set up. But that show kind of made us turn to each other and be like, oh, we could do this, we can just keep going. But definitely the biggest thing that made our band kind of better was going on tour in 2019. We made a lot of mistakes and we saw a lot of stuff that kind of made us regroup and want to do better. So I would say that whole tour we played Out West, which if you don't know, out west in the States, it's all like long drives, it's hills and deserts and it was a lot of suffering there. But it helped us get through a lot as a unit and kind of come back and be like, hey, if you want to do this, we got to try a little harder. Yeah, sounds like amazing way to put that. Yeah, a lot of drama. Won't talk about that now. I don't want you to think I'm digging into that experience. You can use a different experience if you want, but I always ask as a follow up question, we've heard the good. Now we'll get slightly more negative. What's the worst experience you guys have had as a band and how did you overcome it? I think we could say what, but not say who. Yeah, I will say what. Yeah, I would say so on that tour. I'm just going to say being in a band, doing this for how long we've been doing it, playing the tours. You've been on a couple of different tours. You don't always like the band you're on tour with, right? Yes. Sometimes you get paired up, sometimes you get an opportunity and it's great from a business perspective because we fit the genre or we fit the image, but some people are just not good people and they will throw your stuff off stage. Literally. Literally throw your stuff off stage. So I feel like that was one of the learning curves in a negative experience, because you're not at home, you're not going home to sleep. You're out on your own in the middle of nowhere. You're playing the show and someone's rushing you off stage, they can set up their props and they throw one of your bass guitars. And that's one of the things where it's like, you want to jump at somebody and you got to be like, hey, we got to keep our cool, we got to try to be professional. But also you got to wait on the law and mention that that's not how you want to be treated. Yeah. Jeez. Yes. It's probably one of the harder things we've had to go through, like, professionally, because you don't want to burn a bridge, but you also want to be like, hey, don't do that. And also, I feel like since we've gone through that, I feel like you can't get much worse than that. Yeah, we kind of got, like, a bad experience right off the bat. So I feel like everything since then has been better. Yeah, definitely. I don't know if you might have encountered this, but I've heard stories from other bands that when you're a support actor, you're on tour with someone that they'll try sabotage your set by, say, you know, messing with your amps or hiding some gear or anything. Have you guys ever encountered anything like that? So I've never had gear stuff. The only thing I've ever had and we've had is sometimes we purposely won't get a sound check or a light show. Yeah. Because the other band wants it. They're like, oh, we need to sound bigger, we need to sound better, we need to do, you know, give them no lights and we'll just have the one stage light on, which kind of sucks because the lights kind of get people excited. But I've had that. I've never had, like, equipment hiding or yeah, I've never had someone go up and just like, I'm going to just fuck with all of that. The funniest one I've ever heard, though, was this newish band we're playing with, a bigger established band or very well known or torn around Ireland and England at the time, and the bigger band wouldn't let them have a bass drum. Like, refuse to allow them to have a bass drum. Is it a second bass drum or not a bass drum at all? No, it was just the bass drum. The guy just had symbols and I sneered in on stage. See, that's kind of BS. I'd walk out. Yeah. I don't know how they actually managed to get through, but then, as well, their music is not very bass heavy, so they could probably get away with it, but still, it's kind of shitty. Yeah. I feel like as a drummer, though, you need at least your kick and your snare. Yeah. About anything else, like kick and snare in one symbol. You don't need the toms, you don't need the other symbols, but kick drums, that goes hand in hand with the bass guitar. Maybe if you really, like, loosen your floor tom and put on the floor. I don't like that. Oh, God. And, you know, is there anything you could tell, you know, people looking to get into bands as a career? What, in your opinion, makes a successful or a tight band? What factors go into it? Definitely right off the bat, open up your mind, be open minded. You're not going to always get your way, so you gotta bend a little and then give a little. But yeah, just be prepared. Like, it sucks, but it's also the most rewarding thing in the world, I'd say also, do you think this would be kind of self explanatory or like you'd think that it'd be a given, but just play well. Yeah. Practice on your own time. Because we've seen a lot of bands that will be opening up or playing a show and I'm like, yeah, they're not playing in time together, or stuff like that. Stuff like that, that'll make people notice that aren't musicians. They'll be like, oh, that doesn't quite sound right. Yeah, definitely kind of going off of what you said. Learn the basics. I feel like some people, they jump right into the heavy metal category. It's like, learn to play chords first. Just bare minimum. Like play in time, know your tone. It sounds generic and it probably sounds like really menial, but that's the stuff that matters in the long run. I mean, there are huge bands, huge bands that have been famous off of four chords, and that's every song. And it's like, you can do it. You want to play deathbattle, learn the four chords first. You guys have surely heard of that four chord song that's on YouTube. Oh, yeah. You can become one of the most famous people, like you were saying, most famous musicians ever. All you need is the four cards. Oh, yeah. Especially I mean, during before grunge, that's what it was. It was just catchy cords, catchy riffs, a little bit of solo in there, but it was just catchy stuff right off the bat. But I would say definitely, if you're trying to do it, learn that stuff first. Don't be afraid to try something different. But also put your spin on it. It's also, like you said, it's a tough road. Yeah, definitely tough. It's not sunshine and daisies, really. Not everyone is going to care about what you're doing just because you're doing it. So just kind of be prepared that it's. Kind of an uphill battle. Yeah, you definitely need to take skin. Yes. That's the thing. A lot of people are like, we've had people that were, like, upset that there wasn't a crowd for them or that the other people didn't care. And it's like nobody owes you anything. I love that. You know what I mean? Nobody owes you anything. I mean, you got to prove yourself and you got to consistently prove yourself. Why does your music matter? Because everybody's fighting for the same thing and not necessarily, like, in a competition Way. But the fans, like, some people might not like this or that or the other. You got to you got to stick out. You got to find your niche. At what point or what would need to happen for you guys to, you Know, look around and Say, Holy Crap, we've made it. We're assessed this has really paid off. That would be when, honestly, I'm not even trying to shoot for the big Prize. If I could just live off of just doing music, I'd be fine with that. Yeah, I Am fine playing hundred person venues. If I'm the one selling it up. I don't need the arena to be happy. I don't need the theater to be happy. It'd be nice, but I would be fine just being like, I don't have to work a day job. Yeah, I think that's about where I'd be as well. I just do music all the time. Then I could just focus on making other concepts. That's the thing. If we had the Opportunity where we were making enough money to pay your rent, pay for everything you need, I would Just be happy With that. I would have so much more free time to focus on content, focus on more stuff. Yeah. I really like the answer now because I feel like music it's one of them things that it feeds your soul. When you have a love for music, it really feeds your soul. And when you have to work a day job to support that, you don't end up being a very happy person. Yeah. And there's been times I'm going to feed off of that for a minute. There's been times where we go on tour and I'm being told every night I'm amazing. I'm the best. They love us. You're kind of getting that ego fuel where you're like, oh, my God. Like, this matters. And then you go to work and you're just a regular assent dude. Just another regular piece of garbage in the work pile. Judgmental. Yeah. And that's how it feels. Like, people are like, oh, I don't care that you were on tour. Get back to work. And you're like, oh, reality check. You know what I mean? But it keeps you humble in a good and a bad way. But yeah, definitely just kind of Want to just focus on Music. If I could just content create all day, every day, be really happy. Yeah. You stole the question again. The next one was. Seriously, man, like, get out of my head. But the next one was going to be how do you handle that? You know, being on stage after a sellout gig, going home the next morning, getting up and you're back to your normal life, it must kind of mess with your head a little bit. It definitely does. I know it hits Tom a lot, our bass player, and it hits me a lot, too, because I'm still on this, like, adrenaline high of like, I'm repaying that night, I'm going over, and then it's like the person over there doesn't care. But you kind of just got to focus on the good at that point and let it fuel you for that to be your life. Every night I get upset. I'm a human. I get emotional, but it's like at the end of it, I'm like, hey, that's what I want to do. I just got to keep going. It's got to keep going through. I don't know. For me, it's kind of different because I kind of like my job. I enjoyed computers, and a big part of it is just customer service, honestly. And most of the time, people are nice because you're there to solve their problems for them. And the only thing about my job I don't like is that the thing is a lot of time it's chill. A lot of times I'm able to work from home or it's very flexible or there's not a lot to do. But the flip side of that, I'm on call a lot, so I have to be available at the flip of a dime, or it's like, oh, this thing is broken. You need to go drive 200 miles to go fix this. So that's like the flip side of that. Like, days like that, we're at the drive a bunch to flip a switch. Those days suck. But other days I like my job and I like getting paid so we can put that money into the band. Yeah, exactly. What are you going to do to when you're on world tours and you're number one on the Billboard charts? Are you still going to work in it? Honestly, this is my dream. Oh, my God. My dream is to become rich and then work as a barista somewhere part time. Right. I like talking with I was like a barista ice cream guy at Haagendots when I was younger, and he loved it, apparently. I loved it. It was great. I'd love to just make coffee for people and talk to people. We need to do we just need to make our own coffee shop. Yeah. So that you do that, and then we just go on tour. Yeah. I like to be rich and have no one know that I'm rich and just kind of like, interact with people and be a regular person. Yeah. Kind of like that Undercover Boss sort of thing. Kind of like that. In my free time, I just make music, make videos about stuff, video essays that I'm interested in. I need to do more of that. It's not a bad plan, really. Got you rich first. That's the hard part. And again, not to guess negative or anything, but the pandemic is affected music worldwide. How did you guys get through it? A lot of stress and a lot of writing. That's where we so in 2020, we just released Heartbreaker, which is a new single at the time. We just got off of a tour and we released this new song going in a slightly heavier direction than where we were previous and we were set up to do a couple of tours. We were set to do a bunch of shows. New music. New gimmick. New whatever. And then the whole world shut down and we were like. Oh. All of this is wasted. There's now no promotion. A lot of radio stations in the States were not taking new bands. So we kind of like we kind of gave up for a little bit. We didn't know what to do. We were unsure, unclear, didn't know where the path was. And then we got together, realized that being together and making music kind of is the healing process. And we started just writing our asses off and we wrote for all of the Rest of 2020 and the early part of 2021 and that became our album in November, later that year, transcendence. So just honestly, like him and I, we were meeting like two or three times a week, just writing reps, writing drums, recording, pitching ideas to the other members and it was that probably for the whole time. Yeah, suppose the flip side of it really is actually as much as a decimated the music industry, it kind of gave bands a lot of time to really Honda craft and work us after music. Yeah, it helped us in a writing way because you're sitting there. Like I said, we were meeting him and I, our instruments and a computer and we're just recording riff ideas, going over this, going over that, kind of figuring stuff out. It really kind of just hurt on the financial side because you're not playing shows and people they weren't working and people were having issues. So everyone's consuming the content, they're watching music videos, they're watching their lives, streaming your albums, but nobody's buying merchandise, nobody is coming to see you, so you're not making that income. But yeah, I agree. It definitely kind of pushed us in a direction where we're like, we got to figure this out in a better way, but take the good and take the bad. Kind of have to overcome what you're given, unfortunately. Yeah, definitely. Before we move on to the last couple of questions, is there anything set in stone? What can you tell us about the rest of the year for you guys? Nothing really set in stone. We are upgrading our tour vehicle at the moment so we can go out longer. So I don't know if that's going to happen this year or next year. We're going to get something bigger. But we are in talks with a couple of companies to get on bigger tours, like bigger national bands that we're going to kind of hop on with. But yeah, we just have two local shows and then I think because during November it's peak season at my job so we usually kind of go on like a two month old break for November and December. But we got new music coming out that's probably set in stone, I would say. We got another single coming out soon, probably around Halloween. May or may not have a video, depending on how Black Widow does. But yeah, that's it for now. It's kind of chilling for the year. Kind of gearing up for next year already. Brilliant. Brilliant. We'll get to the last couple of questions. So I always ask these so you can't get off the podcast to the answer, I'm afraid. First one an easy one to ease our way into it. What do you guys do when you're not playing music? What do you do to relax? I play RuneScape. I play RuneScape, I jog, I bike. And then sometimes I make videos about random things. Last thing I made was a video essay about Halo Espouse, like Twelve views on YouTube.

Participant #1:
I don't know, I like a lot of business stuff, so kind of like a lot of entrepreneur opportunities. I'm always trying to invest in myself, either with or without the band, to try to just make money. It's not even about making the money. Sometimes, like, the grind is just really fun. But yeah, video games are really cool. It's a good destructor, like just objectives and having fun with that kind of stuff. Yeah, I don't know. I'm cooking. Tom. And I like cooking. The bass player and I, we like cooking a lot. So we have a little cooking show on our patreon, if you subscribe to our patreon. So it's called skillet to the heart. That's also I do I do photo and videography. Another passions of mine. More passions of mine. Additional Passions of Mine. Here we go. I get English. Yeah. Oh, cool. I'm shocked, though. Skill it to the heart. That just sounds perfect because I'm often sitting home and I'm like, I'm sick of what I've had for dinner for the last week. I need to think of new things. I think I'll have to try to see some of them videos to get some ideas. Yeah, there's some cool stuff from there. We did like, pub burgers the one time. There's like, Louisiana, like chicken strips, like buffalo sauce. He made, like, a stir fry. We had a katsudon. Have you ever heard of Katsuudon? No, actually. So I made Katsu dan from scratch. I was, like, super proud of myself. It's a Japanese dish and it's a fried pork cutlet and you fry an egg around it and then you serve it on rice. We do a lot of, like, some generic stuff, some creative stuff. Just kind of have fun. And I like trying new things food wise, so that's definitely a little hobby. I started cooking way more this year and last year, so I feel like I'm pretty good at it. Nice. I'm sure lots of listeners will be dying to check that out as well. We'll get into the music questions now. So if there was any band or performer from history you could see in concert for one night only, who would it be? Oh, man, I know Audrey's answer. She would say the Beatles. Really? Yeah, she's a huge Beatles fan. I'd say nirvana. I was only at Nirvana when I was growing up and that would be kind of cool. I just seen a lot of those live videos where those shows are just crazy. Like wearing a dress, he's like, smashing guitars, smoking cigarettes, looks like a fun time. Has a guy just up there dancing for no reason. So I have kind of a weird answer because I know they're still around, but they're old. I would, like, have to see them in their prime. I would love to see a 1980s Motley Crue show. Yeah, actually. Yeah, I could have helped you with that already because they're definitely not what they were back then. No, I'm going to be honest, I'm not paid $300 to go see the vet. Dorina singers are very talented. Yeah, I would love to see them like it's like the Whiskey, like something prime crazy. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. Yes, I would love to witness that at least once. Yeah, exactly like Metallica back in the day. That'd be cool. Yeah. Interesting fact about you saying Nirvana. First of all, that doesn't actually come up as an answer half as much as you think it would because I love Nirvana myself and I'm always like, really? It's only come up like three times. But they were actually supposed to play Ireland for the first time ever on the night that he was found dead. Like, even though there's people in Ireland with the tickets that were going to see that gig. Oh, my God. Yeah. That was crazy, dude. The Vanilla is the first vinyl I ever purchased. I was in Memphis, Tennessee, on like a school trip and I overpaid for a vinyl. I think I spent like $40 in utero, but it was my favorite. Nirvana. The last one they'd made. Yeah. That's a pretty good one. All right. It would be a cool one. I don't know if anyone's brought it up. It'd be cool to see Dio. Yeah, I've heard that a couple of times. All right. Yeah. He pops up more than Irvana, surprisingly, but yeah, that would be really good. That'd be a dope one. Yeah. And the next one. If you could spend 24 hours locked inside a room with any artist or performer from history, who would it be? I want to learn from them. I want to have a full blown conversation. I'd say probably the revs. Yeah. I would love to know the way he just thinks we can just share a bottle, alcohol together, just go back and forth, pick his brain, just kind of like, learn from it because his mind is so creative. That'd be really interesting with my Debit townsmen. Yeah, I saw that coming. Yeah. He's a wild guy. Extremely talented, very creative. He's done everything from super brutal to super chill. I think he'd be a good conversationalist. Oh, yeah, definitely. He was on to just talk for 24 hours. Yeah. If you were locked in a room. Yeah, he would be, actually. Good, because I feel like, you know, if you went in with the mindset of, I'm going to learn everything from him, 24 hours definitely wouldn't be enough. Like trees wouldn't be enough. Yeah. Living with them, a lot of workshops. One of my favorite posts on this video is like, chill up, man, smell the roses. And if they smell like music get it? Oh, that's brilliant. That's brilliant. And the final question. So if there was a song that could appear on the soundtrack to your life, what would it be? That's a hard one. Yeah. I go through a lot of emotions every day. I don't know if it should be angry or it's not depressing, but I could definitely point to some songs as far as my childhood goes, but I don't know about songs for now. And do the childhood one then. Somewhere. I belong by Lincoln Park. I listen to that song a lot when I was a kid. That is a sad one. Very sad. That is a sad one. Yeah. I don't know about now, though. That certainly wouldn't be like my entire life, so yeah, I don't know. A tough one. Okay. It's a good choice, though. Good son, better cigar? Oh, just not bad. I was going to give, like a big nothing burger answer much to think of right now. No, better vicinity of vicinity. Oh, my God. I like to slow it down quite a lot. I would have never guessed. No, actually, at that concert where the same concert together. I used to live right next to the Allstate Arena where the show was. So I snuck by where the tour buses were in the VIP area, and I got to meet drummer John. Are you serious? I also got a picture with Stephen Carpenter from the Deaf Tones, but I didn't know the Deaf Tones were I just walking by, he's like, hey, man. I was like, hi, do you want a picture? I was like, sure. I was like, hey, weren't you the guy playing up there? The guitar? Yeah. You're pretty good, man. That would have been even funnier if it turned out like he wasn't that guy and he was just some random arrescan. If you wanted a photo. Yeah, it just looks like Stephen Carpenter. Did you find a song yet? Yeah, I don't know, man. That's hard.

Participant #1:
I can't think of any titles all of a sudden. It happens. It happens. It's a tough question, especially to just spring on you my band by default. No, there's one, so I'd probably say my head is just like spring one probably like The Victim by Memphis mayfire. Right. That one. Since the song about kind of, like, dealing with a lot of people that are purposely trying to, like, ask you over, and you're constantly in this, like, not only is it, like, a personal battle with yourself to kind of figure out who's on your side both in a good and a bad way, but also, like, overcoming that, like, mentality. Yeah. So I've had a lot of people try to try to just, like, take from me and steal either, like, ideas or, like, physically, like, something. And it's like, you kind of have to, like, life is, like, a big fight, you know what I mean? And it's way better when you have friends on your side, and sometimes it doesn't work that way. Yeah, very true, actually. Very true. Sounds like the perfect song, right, guys? Well, it was an absolute blast. I really enjoyed chatting with you for the last hour now, and I can't wait to see what you do in the future. Yeah, thanks for having us, man. This is great. Really appreciate it. You've been a pleasure to talk to as well.

Participant #1:
I get that feeling breathless on the light crawling on my

Participant #1:
I think I'm giving it I can't feel my tail I think I'm falling away washed in my head

Participant #1:
video hey, what's up, everyone? My name is CJ JC, and I'm one of the DJs over at Superpool Radio. I host a onehour metal show called the Brutal Block. We have new episodes every Tuesday, dropping at noon. So if heavy metal music is something that you're into, then make your way over to The Brutal Block. Throw up the horns and let's get rockin.

Participant #1:
Hey, guys. I really hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please rate and review us on itunes and Spotify. And if you're interested in signing up the Band Builder Academy, use the link in the show notes below and enter the code. Concerts and you'll receive 10% off. So until next time, keep rockin.

Participant #1:
Hey. Hey. What? Are you guys still down here? The show is over. It's over. You can go home. Go on. We'll see you next time. Please be here.

Participant #1:
Bye.