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00:00you know when you're doing something creative and putting yourself out there around other people
00:03vibe in the room it means a lot you know to have my guys the band cheering me on and being
00:09super supportive it's just having the confidence to get in there and go gotta figure it out
00:13rock metal frog and everything in between welcome to this episode of talking rock with meltdown
00:21don't forget to follow the audio only talking rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now
00:27it's time for today's conversation here's meltdown so i just got to work i had to drop off my skates
00:34to get sharpened because i lost an edge playing hockey on sunday you know how important that is
00:37oh yeah oh yeah did you watch the final i did i uh caught it on the plane on the way way down to
00:46florida yeah are you in florida right now yeah yeah a couple days rehearsal and then uh we start tour
00:51here we got two dates here in florida okay yeah we'll talk about that so what did you and dylan
00:56i was texting with dylan yesterday and he thought that florida was going to finish it out last night
01:00what'd you think yeah yeah i i i had a feeling they're going to finish it out but hate to see
01:07it go back down to florida i was i was rooting for edmonton how come i don't know man i i florida's
01:16fun and all but uh i don't know i'd rather it the cup be up in the north you know what i'm saying
01:21i got you yeah so uh anyways maybe our wings will be there someday but not anytime soon as far as i
01:28could tell man i've been saying for the last five years oh two years just give us two years and that
01:34two years goes into the next two years but man i i think we got some good young talent that kosa i
01:40believe his name is from uh griffins that goalie and a goalie for him to come up yeah yeah i'm waiting
01:45for him to come up i think we got got good offense and got some good goalies down the pipeline but
01:51yeah it's just that defense you just need some some stronger defense it feels like i think that
01:56some of the problem with edmonton was uh not great goaltending absolutely i mean they had yeah i can't
02:03remember i think they had nearly the same shots on goal what was it was five to one five to two or
02:08something yeah well let's talk about your band uh last time i i was talking i was texting with i think
02:14dylan i'm not sure if you were on there or not but i think a couple weeks ago you guys were in uh
02:18welcome to rockville was that was that one of your first gigs of the year or what have you guys been
02:22doing yeah we had um what's it um sonic temple the week before and then welcome yeah then welcome to
02:30rockville and those were the first first two of uh just getting our feet wet before uh hopping in the
02:36tour yeah how'd it feel hot it was hot we had a pyro and um the band after us had a bunch of
02:46a bunch of stuff on on stage so like our our all our stuff was just a little closer to the edge of
02:51the stage and then uh anticipated so that pyro was yeah you know a couple feet closer you can really
02:58tell but um yeah man it was sick though it was it was awesome the crowd was awesome always a good
03:04time to get back out and playing songs and uh especially when it's you know call them warm-up
03:10shows for the tour but these warm-up shows are to tens of thousands of people it's it's awesome
03:15yeah so the summer loud tour kicks off it's funny you'll be back here in detroit three days after the
03:22day you played here last year almost exactly to the day oh yeah i didn't realize that yeah it was
03:28yeah we're uh july 13th last year july 16th this year yep yep so so excited to be back man i'm so
03:36blessed to be to be able to play pine knob for the third time now it's mind-blowing i was thinking
03:43about that before we started talking the first time was at riff fest a couple years ago and i think i
03:47think that that the picture of you guys on stage i got the whole crowd is like uh it's like the the
03:52background on one of my facebook pages that was uh that was quite a night oh that was incredible man
03:58i kept having to like take a second to like just keep grounding myself and like hey remember where
04:05you're at you're you're up on this stage in front of 10 000 people 12 000 people in in one of the best
04:13venues in the states and i'm yeah i know i'm a little biased but i i kept having to like ground
04:19myself and remember like how crazy is it that you're up here right now playing to this many people
04:26in your home state in a venue that you saw these bands you know growing up it it's and to come back
04:33for now for the third time it's crazy man it's crazy no it's cool you guys have had quite a run
04:39here in the last few years so so talk about the new music and talk about like uh it was the record
04:45what can you tell us about anything wow man really really excited to put this this stuff out you
04:51know we we had the first single which is uh quite heavy and uh heavy all right yeah kind of shake
04:59up the fan base and and uh kind of throw everyone you know we love to you know if you look back at a
05:06track record the first singles i've always been like either like what we thought was like just a big
05:12home run or something that was just a little off of center and and uh that this one felt like the
05:20perfect perfect one to like jar the fan base and shake up you know the the metal community that
05:26i don't think was prepared to hear something like that from us and then following up with into hell
05:32which is you know a complete left turn off of what we just released but i think that's just what our
05:39band's always done his has had this uh dichotomy or had this like eclectic sound you know we you know
05:49we're all fans of heavy stuff to pop stuff to to you know there's some country songs that slip into my
05:56playlist just because they're they're undeniably well written you know so just loving all types of
06:02music and it's awesome to be able to filter that into our sound and to put out records that have
06:08you know one minute you're whatever emotion you're you're looking for we probably got it you know if you
06:14want something to bang your head through the wall we have that do you need something just to sing
06:19along to and feel good you know we have a couple of those and everything in between now uh of course
06:25obviously you look at the song into hell and you're like okay you know i mean violent nature was heavy
06:30you're like into hell this is going to be heavy as well but like you said it's a complete left turn
06:35it's uh i i was texting with dylan i'm like there's some pop sensibilities to this song
06:40yeah yeah absolutely um it's it song means a lot to me and uh i had a lot of fun writing with the
06:51guys and and we you know when we were picking the singles off the record um we had a couple in mind
06:58and uh our sorry about that you still there yeah i'm going yep go ahead you're good um yeah we had a
07:07couple in mind and uh yeah sending it over to the radio team and uh the the label was funny they
07:13they all picked this one and you know not to say that we weren't stoked uh for that one we just
07:19didn't think that we were like oh man that really you guys think that's a single single worthy and uh
07:26we're like all right we'll we'll trust you you know it's not that it's a song that we didn't
07:30disliked or anything it's just we didn't think that was uh we weren't sure if anyone else was
07:35going to see the vision like we did and uh yeah just really really excited and and stoked that our
07:41team is it backed it as much as we felt it and yeah stoked to finally have this out man yeah that's
07:49great and so and so talk about your singing on this song because it's it's a little bit not what
07:55we're used to yeah yeah um i'm singing all over this record now and uh and uh it i've you know
08:05sang a little bit in the on the past records like arts here and there and um harmonies and stuff but
08:11for this time around to go into this and going all right well we're not going to change our sound
08:17dramatically you know with this is still live prevail we're going to have the heavy stuff but we're
08:21also going to have the the hooks that we love to write the big courses trying to aim for those
08:26to write those big courses so going into this the the studio and writing in our little unit we got uh
08:34it was um i don't want to say challenging it was it was uh it was a big learning curve but also
08:41it was awesome to you know when you're doing something creative and putting yourself out there
08:46and around other people you know vibe in the room can means the whole it means it means a lot you
08:53know if you got someone in there you're a little uncomfortable with and i don't i don't know i
08:57don't want to belt this note and sound bad in front of these people but to have my guys the band
09:03you know just cheering me on and and being super supportive and feeling okay all right let's try this
09:10this melody and sing it and oh man that didn't sound good not getting like you know feeling dumb or
09:16feeling bad but like oh no try to get try tweaking this or like ah you're a little sharp on that like
09:20you're good just get back in there you got it like that was that was detrimental of getting where we're
09:27at now um with these songs it was just having the confidence to get in there and go all right no one
09:33else is gonna do it i'm gonna do it gotta figure it out it almost sounds like uh something that the
09:39florida panthers would have said in the locker room last night yeah i hear that they're quite a
09:45team uh as far as uh built around that and in prop and other guys up too and and that's what you said
09:50with your band yep yes sir yes sir you know i got a little bone to pick with the panthers i'd bob
09:56broski on my my fantasy team last two years and two years ago he he was a star on my team and
10:02this last year he didn't have it couldn't start him all the time so you know getting to see them
10:09win the cup i'm like a little you know good for them i'm a little salty still but i'm sure
10:14broski's probably passed out somewhere but uh so oh yeah sure right so so talk about with with
10:21brian leaving the band and then you've got to take over to did that put you in a challenging position
10:26not only in the studio writing songs on stage or was this something that you kind of just slipped
10:31into naturally um you know in in the past um he's had to miss a few tours with with health things
10:39and dylan and i having to like you know find out barely last minute and just going well we can't
10:45cancel the tour we got to go out there we'll figure it out and um dylan's great he's a great vocalist
10:51and he's been helping coach me a little bit on things i'm still learning and figuring out dude i
10:56went from not warming up for a show just getting out there and ripping it to now i'm like ah
11:01i should warm up a little bit so he's been he's been a huge part of getting me to where i'm at
11:08um and uh yeah um going into the studio it was we went eight hours a day at and five to six days a
11:18week and going for like three four weeks at a time just like getting in there taking the reps singing
11:24singing singing singing and uh at first it was like uh all right we're gonna figure it out we're
11:31gonna figure it out and then after the first demo or two of singing these you know big melodic
11:36choruses that we were writing started feeling like oh okay okay i i think i think i can handle this
11:43all right so it's um a bit of a learning curve at first but man i love performing i love being out
11:50on that stage i love singing songs and seeing people sing it back so i'm so just looking forward
11:55to that so excited for the summer tour yeah and what was it like the first couple shows you played
12:02because now you're kind of like thrust into the front as before was kind of like 50 50 or maybe even
12:0660 40 yeah the first the first two shows before we had anything announced or it was a little um
12:13all right well we're gonna go out there we're playing the songs people know you know there's
12:18gonna be you know trying not to for me if the more people that are out there the easier easier it is
12:24if there's you know a couple hundred people i'm seeing faces i'm focusing i'm like having
12:29autobiography experience thinking like that person's a person they have their own identity they're sitting
12:35there watching me right now i wonder what they're thinking you know i that i i just get in my head
12:40but you know there's a couple thousand people out there i'm just looking at the general vibe okay
12:45there's pits going there's crowd surfing i see people all smiling just like groups of people smiling
12:50we're good uh so that first those first two shows was was a lot of that like don't make
12:57personal eye contact with one individual look at the whole show just perform the songs and and most
13:04importantly have a good time doing it because when when we're up there having a good time
13:09we always walk off the show going that was that was good and you can tell like when you're watching
13:15a band and you're like oh man they're they're having an off night not because they sound bad but
13:19you just tell like the vibe is like they're up there they're playing the songs and they're
13:23they're done and and that kind of you know i feel like a lot of fans can pick up on that you know
13:28so i think that was the big thing going into those first two shows and these first couple shows is
13:34back in the saddle people are here to see these songs let's just go rip it and have a great time
13:40yeah bigger crowds are uh in my opinion faceless yeah oh yeah yeah it's tough when you get up there
13:49in front of just a just a few like i said a couple hundred people as yeah you start to
13:53to zone in and you have bigger crowds you can't hear like maybe a heckle or or a laugh that yeah
13:58supposed to be there or whatever the case is i was the best man in dylan's wedding and you know
14:04a couple hundred people i blacked out i don't remember i i went on autopilot i had my my uh what
14:12do you call it my speech in my phone so i was like talking talking look down talking talking i'm looking
14:17at the wall i'm looking at the server over there i'm looking at that plate of food i'm just don't look at
14:22people but then i get out in front of you know we played download in the uk and there's 50 60 000
14:27people i'm like what's up yeah like it's different it's so different yeah it's almost like the
14:34adrenaline takes over and it's like the train has left the building and it's like you're just on it
14:38now you just go with it absolutely absolutely yeah sometimes i've gotten out there on stage and i
14:45can't remember exactly what i said but i knew once i started talking it was on and you just you just
14:48roll with it yep it just your brain goes on autopilot and you you hope your muscle memory
14:54is going to take control it's all it's focused it's got every every song's got a purpose every song
15:01has has some heart or meaning or or connection to it it's uh it's no fluff and uh it's some of
15:11you know every every new record a band puts out oh this is the best stuff we've ever written
15:17favorite stuff i you know it's it's tough not to say that but man i feel like um we went back
15:25through the motions of like what did we do with lifelines and trauma that that really
15:32set us apart from the records past and i think we we really focused on what that meant for us
15:39and uh tried to hone in on that with this this record true power was so much fun to write it was
15:47uh in a weird situation we were in the middle of uh touring trauma right in the middle of the you
15:52know first couple first year let's say we had another year and a half of plans and then covid so
15:57we went home and we're like all right this whole flatten the curve thing four weeks or whatever it was
16:02it's not happening so what do we do all right well let's write a record well we got no time
16:06restrictions we got no time constraints we got nothing in the pipeline right let's just write
16:10fun stuff let's write be experimental and stuff like that so we learned a lot from that and uh
16:17learned what what worked what didn't what was uh fun and what was what was um what stood the test of
16:25time i guess you could say and taking the you know from what we did in the past and what we had fun
16:30with on the last record trying to find that sweet spot for this one and i i truly think we we got
16:36very close if not right on the money with it and now with with brian being gone do you feel like you're
16:42a little bit more invested is this a little bit more personally or is there is there kind of the
16:46same as as the last few records um the last the last few records definitely you know i wrote a lot
16:53lyrics and and a lot of a lot of stuff for those songs so they everything felt it's all felt personal
16:59with this you know when the last songs you you have people that look at like oh he's singing the chorus
17:05this is this song for him or whatever when when all of our music in the past has all been you know
17:11collaborative collaboratively written like all the lyrics all come from each of us you know
17:18from a from a a real place uh with this record it's the same thing you know just there's a lot
17:25a lot that i wrote that i'm just as connected with um but yeah i'd be lying if i said there wasn't a
17:34little bit more just because there's now you just have one one voice and you know going into
17:39writing lyrics and writing melodic stuff and uh there's there's um how do i put this uh
17:47you don't have to have the thinking of this like faceless identity of a song where it's like oh is
17:54the two people singing it are they singing about the same thing are they singing about his version
18:00of the event and his version of the event it just feels very cohesive is i think the best way to put
18:06it yeah that's interesting i never thought about that there was a movie last year called in a violent
18:10nature i don't know if you if you know anything about did you happen to see that
18:14no i didn't i didn't see i heard about it and it's funny that i think that movie was like
18:21i think it was the trailer was coming out while we were working on the song so it was like
18:26i i remember steve coming up with like he's like oh i had this thing written like violent nature
18:31that's pretty cool and we kind of like took that and made the identity around the song we're like
18:37like all right here's here's this tag i like that tag oh it goes really well over that instrumental
18:41let's write around that and then i we saw that trailer like oh man that's that's fun i'm not
18:49gonna watch it right now because i don't want that to be like influenced and feel like we wrote
18:52around that so i i haven't seen it yet but it looked good it looked awesome i've had friends
18:58said it was like all my horror thriller you know stop them up movie fan friends all highly
19:07recommended it so i gotta go check it out it was my uh sleeper horror movie of the year and there
19:11were some very interesting deaths in that movie oh really that's what i've that's what i've heard
19:17well listen dude uh good luck on this summer tour we'll see you here in detroit and also i know we've
19:22talked about this several times in the past but we got to get to a red wings next year i know man well
19:27hey we got um i think this fall we have some time you know we have some fly out dates for festivals but
19:33what better time than the first month of the season let's get in there yeah let's do that well
19:38thanks man i i appreciate all the time and uh and good luck with everything moving forward
19:42thank you thank you very much always good to see you man you too brother thanks
19:46thank you
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