July 22, 2025 • 22 mins
Pipeman and Michael of Signs of the Swarm discuss newest single Scars Upon Scars and new album dropping 8/22 To Rid Myself of Truth.
We also discuss how Pipeman was at their shows at Hellfest, Resurrection Fest, and Inkcarceration. Pipeman even talked about he was at the crazy wall of death at Ink. We pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and share stories since he passed away shortly before the interview.
"I realized I scream things I'm too chickenshit to talk about," admits Signs of the Swarm vocalist David Simonich.
Speaking of, the band is also joined by Phil Bozeman (White Chapel) and Will Ramos (Lorna Shore) on "Iron Sacrament" and "Clouded Retinas," respectively.
The two songs show two sides of the band's lyrical coin. The former is a meaningless (i.e. no subtext) murderous romp, while the latter finds Simonich grappling with his degenerative macular eye disorder, Stargardt disease. The isolating condition causes one's central vision to deteriorate, with peripherals staying relatively untouched, making it hard to read and even recognize faces. It, and macular dystrophy at large, is the reason you'll never see green lights at a Signs of the Swarm show.
It's the kind of revelation that brings past Signs of the Swarm songs into a new level of clarity, such as "The Witch Beckons." Simonich also admits something he's never said aloud in "Scars Upon Scars," in which he reveals he's a recovering addict and fighting hard to rise above it. Again, it gives context to a song like "Malady" or others.
Subscribe to The Adventures of Pipeman at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-adventures-of-pipeman--941822/support
Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes.”
Check out our segment Positively Pipeman dedicated to Business, Motivation, Spiritual, and Health & Wellness.
Check out our segment Pipeman in the Pit dedicated to Music, Artistry and Entertainment.
Would you like to be a sponsor of the show?
Would you like to have your business, products, services, merch, programs, books, music or any other professional or artistic endeavors promoted on the show?
Would you like interviewed as a professional or music guest on The Adventures of Pipeman, Positively Pipeman and/or Pipeman in the Pit?
Would you like to host your own Radio Show, Streaming TV Show, or Podcast?
Contact the Pipeman:
Phone/Text Contact – 561-506-4031
Email Contact – dean@talk4media.com
Follow @pipemanradio on all socials.
Visit Pipeman Radio on the Web at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradio, www.theadventuresofpipeman.com and www.pipemanradio.com. Download The Pipeman Radio APP.
The Adventures of Pipeman Podcast is also available on The Adventures of Pipeman Podcast, Pipeman Radio Podcast, Talk 4 Media, Talk 4 Podcasting, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
We also discuss how Pipeman was at their shows at Hellfest, Resurrection Fest, and Inkcarceration. Pipeman even talked about he was at the crazy wall of death at Ink. We pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and share stories since he passed away shortly before the interview.
"I realized I scream things I'm too chickenshit to talk about," admits Signs of the Swarm vocalist David Simonich.
Speaking of, the band is also joined by Phil Bozeman (White Chapel) and Will Ramos (Lorna Shore) on "Iron Sacrament" and "Clouded Retinas," respectively.
The two songs show two sides of the band's lyrical coin. The former is a meaningless (i.e. no subtext) murderous romp, while the latter finds Simonich grappling with his degenerative macular eye disorder, Stargardt disease. The isolating condition causes one's central vision to deteriorate, with peripherals staying relatively untouched, making it hard to read and even recognize faces. It, and macular dystrophy at large, is the reason you'll never see green lights at a Signs of the Swarm show.
It's the kind of revelation that brings past Signs of the Swarm songs into a new level of clarity, such as "The Witch Beckons." Simonich also admits something he's never said aloud in "Scars Upon Scars," in which he reveals he's a recovering addict and fighting hard to rise above it. Again, it gives context to a song like "Malady" or others.
Subscribe to The Adventures of Pipeman at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-adventures-of-pipeman--941822/support
Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes.”
Check out our segment Positively Pipeman dedicated to Business, Motivation, Spiritual, and Health & Wellness.
Check out our segment Pipeman in the Pit dedicated to Music, Artistry and Entertainment.
Would you like to be a sponsor of the show?
Would you like to have your business, products, services, merch, programs, books, music or any other professional or artistic endeavors promoted on the show?
Would you like interviewed as a professional or music guest on The Adventures of Pipeman, Positively Pipeman and/or Pipeman in the Pit?
Would you like to host your own Radio Show, Streaming TV Show, or Podcast?
Contact the Pipeman:
Phone/Text Contact – 561-506-4031
Email Contact – dean@talk4media.com
Follow @pipemanradio on all socials.
Visit Pipeman Radio on the Web at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradio, www.theadventuresofpipeman.com and www.pipemanradio.com. Download The Pipeman Radio APP.
The Adventures of Pipeman Podcast is also available on The Adventures of Pipeman Podcast, Pipeman Radio Podcast, Talk 4 Media, Talk 4 Podcasting, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hy you have done to censure?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Why for you young.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Shop shop Shop, Shop Shop.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
W four c Y Radio, and I'm here with our
next guest, who is badass. And I've been following all
over the world to do this interview. Uh and he
doesn't even know why yet, but they'll find out. But
let's welcome to the show from Signs. So just swarm Michael.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
How are you, dude. I'm doing great. I'm feeling really good.
We just got back from a month of festivals in
Europe and we capped that off with an appearance at
incarceration in Mansfield, Ohio. I'm feeling outstanding, but I'm a little,
you know, a little bit of a bittersweet day. Obviously,
(01:26):
you know I'm feeling good about the finish of the tour.
But I'm sure by now you know Ozzy Osborne passed
away today, So before anything happens, I do want to
shout out the Godfather, the man who paved the way
for everything that we know and love, and just express
my undying gratitude for the foundation upon which I'm standing
(01:47):
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Man like I kind of saw it come in and
it's it's a sad day. What a way that he
went off the way he wanted to with that last farewell.
And and I've seen Auzsie every year pretty much since
nineteen eighty some him with Randy Rhodes, and I have
(02:09):
so many stories, as everybody else says, because he was
one of the most amazing people, did not only come
to metal, but music in general, and just he loved everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, you know, I could not have imagined a more
deserved send off for anybody.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So, oh, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And you know I always said years ago, I'm like,
he loves this so much that you know, the minute
he retires that that'll be the unfortunately where we're at,
you know, but he lasted through so many years, influenced
so many bands, and you know, if it weren't for him,
(02:55):
you and I wouldn't be talking right now, probably.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No, one hundred percent. So it certainly a sad day
for metal. But you know, no one lives forever, which
is a hard factor, lie.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
And bands like you will carry it on and carry
on the legacy. And uh yeah, I was at hell
Fest doing press of that Resurrection Fest, doing press day,
and I just got back from ink doing press. Oh dude,
that's why I said what I did, because you guys
(03:29):
were so busy that we couldn't hook up.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
For an on site interview. And I kept bugging.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I kept bugging Nikki at every festival, but I'm like,
how about this time? Yeah, and but here we are,
and let me tell you something, an incarceration. Your pit
was insane.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That's what we aim for, man, you know, we Signs
of the Storm has always been about just all gas
note breaks. As high energy as we can be. We
try to bring that into our performances and we hope
that that energy sort of you know, transfers into the audience.
And we got what we were asking for for sure
that day. We know that the crowd was dealing with
(04:14):
a lot of inclement weather. You know, there was there
were lightning warnings, there were a lot of rainstorms. So
we're just out just outstandingly grateful that we had the
amount of people that we did, that they were interacting
with one another in the manner that they were. That
wall of death that Dave called for, that was one
of the coolest things I've seen in a while. We
(04:35):
get we get walls of death frequently, but the one
that Ink delivered to us was was just top notch man,
you know, Ohio always delivers.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Well yeah, I mean I was at all three of
those sets that I mentioned, and wild.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I had to come back home for the best set
of all in the best Wall of Death and like
and it was just like the crowd brought it because
you brought.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It well, you know, I mean you obviously you saw
I sit hell Fest and you saw some Resurrection Fest.
Those were outstanding days. Those were great festivals. Were really
grateful for how we were treated there. Our fans in
Europe are wonderful. The staff at those festivals were on
top of everything. But you know, despite all that, no
one does it like.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Home, right, And how wild is it to perform at
Shawshank Prison, dude?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Honestly that was that was the big thing for me
going into the festival. And I was excited to play,
you know obviously, and I'm grateful to get up on
stage every time I do that. You know, but you
get used to the routine. You're like, Okay, set up, changeover,
I know what songs we're playing, I know how I'm
gonna move on stage. You get used to that, right,
there are usually no surprises involved when it comes to that,
(05:55):
being able to visit a historic location like the Ohio
State Reformatory, you know, the sight of one of the
most iconic movies ever made. I was actually watching clips
of the Shawshank Redemption earlier today. I thinking to myself, damn,
I was there, Like I was there, you know. And
(06:16):
it's pieces of history like that that are one of
the most underrated parts of you know, getting to do
what we do, seeing all these things, interacting with you know,
all the history, all the cultures, not knowing how many
people have, you know, all the souls that have passed
through where you're standing right now, to be doing.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It right totally, and you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I can totally relate to what you were saying earlier
because my youngest daughter, before every festival I do, she's like, so, Dad,
you excited to do this festival.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I'm like, well, I really love it. It's a lot
of fun.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I don't know if i'd use the word excited when
you do it every weekend, you know. But then the
first time I did incarceration, I called her up and
I'm like, oh man, I'm standing in the prison yard
of Shawshank.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Now I'm excited. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, And you know I've always said the same thing.
I get home from a tour, and you know, I
have friends asked me, if family asked me all the things,
Oh how was it? What's you know helped? And I
just say it was it was work. You know, this
is my job, this is my career. After you know,
you get used to doing all of this right, and
it doesn't make it any less magical, but you start to,
(07:32):
you know, at a certain point, you start to think, Okay,
another day at the office, what time is set up?
Change over? You know, just like I was saying earlier, Uh,
the routine. It becomes a thing.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I have to make it to catering before they close.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Oh my god, that's that's so real. That's so real.
That was the first thing on my mind after we
got into it. I was like, Okay, dude, I am
I am starving. I need to get something in meat
right now. He's some coffee, I need some like eggs, bacon,
and I need a cigarette. Like, for the love of God,
just just let me get.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
My breakfast right totally.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
So I do want to ask you too, Okay, So
I asked this of every everybody that ever does a
Danny Wimmer festival, because I've been doing their festivals for
fifteen years, all of them. How they treat artists in
your opinion? Has Danny Wimmer treat artists in your opinion?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Dude? Okay, so we've done Aftershock and we have done
inknow and I can tell you from personal experience, like
pulling no punches, it was awesome. You know what I mean.
I'm not buttering anybody up. I'm not saying this to
you know, get brownie points and nobody. Legitimately it was
an outstanding experience. Three meals a day for starters, you know,
(08:50):
getting fed, and on top of that, the food was good.
It's not just oh hey, you know you're getting fed
like that's nice. It was legitimately good food. We had
a private spot, a green room. You know. You have
something that was common with after Shock and with Ink
you got the artist transport. You know, if you need
to get somewhere, they have people who are there ready
(09:13):
to go wheels up, get you where you need to
go fast. I mean, it's just I don't like to
use the term rock star lately, you know, just because
I still see myself as as just a guy. You know,
it's just a fourteen year old kid from you know, Granberry,
Pennsylvania with a dream. But I felt like I was
being treated like like a rock star and it felt
(09:37):
really nice. I can't lie to you, man, you know
it's nice. You know. You walk in, you have a
place to change, you have a place to sit down.
If you're tired, you just want to take some weight
off your feet. There's a fridge full of cold drinks.
You can hydrate you if you just want to soda
or something.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It's there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It's dude, big thank you to Danny Wimmer, thank you
to Aftershock Bank, thank you to Ink. And I'm sincerely
hoping that we get the opportunity to appear at more
of Danny's festivals.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, we need you add them all.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Oh dude, yeah, no, we're starting to check them off, right.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And I asked that question because in fifteen years of
doing his festivals and god knows how many interviews, I
don't even you know, thousands of interviews, I've never heard
an artist say one negative thing about Danny Wimmer festival.
And it just blows my mind in one sense. In
(10:34):
the other sense, I know because I'm working those festivals
and how it is.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
But you know, it's like that's where it's at. If
you the artists can be treated where it's a stress free,
comfortable experience, you're going to give us the best live
performance ever. That's probably why we had such a great wall.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Of death, honestly, dude, because we were able to, you know,
get up on stage with the fire under our butts,
trying to watch my mouth, you know, but.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You could say whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Oh well, okay, fucking sweet. So we hit the fire
under our ass. We were ready to go. We were
we were there, you know what I mean. We were refreshed,
we were well rested, we were not stressed out at all.
The stage crew was excellent, and we were like, let's
do this, you know, And it was the same experience
of aftershock.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Right because you know, you do a lot of different
shows wherever it is, and sometimes there's issues that come
up that the cloud doesn't know about, nobody knows about.
But oh yeah, that affects you when you're getting in
the zone. Because when you go on stage, you're getting
in the zone. You don't want to think about any
of that crap.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No, yeah, no, it happens. Man, it happens to the
best of us, you know, and the audience isn't always
aware of it, unless unless the band has to come
to a full stop. Most of the time, the crowd
isn't gonna know if something's going wrong on stage, you know,
but we're gonna know, and that does it does affect
the live performance. Sometimes it really gets in your head
(11:58):
and next thing you know, you realize, oh, man, I've
been kind of standing still throughout this whole song. I
haven't been headbanging. I haven't been doing my wind mills
or my kicks. I haven't been yelling at the crowd
because you've been too busy thinking about oh shit, you
know what, my in ears go out again?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
You know?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Is my bass acting weird? Like? Do I should I
change my batteries? Like are these strings dead? Like? You know,
it's stuff like that. A lot of it can be prepped,
you know, uh, you know, prepped for and and mitigated.
But the one of the number one rule of touring
is shit happens, and ship will happen, and you have
to learn to roll with the punches.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Oh, no doubt about it. And you know it's funny too.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
You did get Lucky at Ink too, because why the
band play interviewed that they're h they had all these
uh tech problems during one part of the show, and
we're we think it was a ghost because that vision
is haunted for real.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That was not what I had heard. I we got
Lucky at Ink for something else. Entirely. It was funny
you brought that up. As it turns out, during our
entire set, we were on code yellow because of the weather,
so they were they were they had their hand on
the switch. They were like, if this lightning gets closer,
we got to pull the plug. And we're really lucky
(13:19):
that it didn't happen. But we didn't know that until
after we'd gotten off stage, Like and it would have sucked.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
It's cool though that you're not knowing while you're on stage,
you know.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Oh yeah, it would have been. It's so much better
that we didn't know who we were on stage.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
IGNRDS is bliss at that exact, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
And yeah, we a predominant about of the day we
were on yellow. So the fact that it never went
to red, it's amazing in and of itself. Well, so
maybe that's the goes helping us. But you know why,
I know, it was definitely it Like, It's funny because
during the interview, the only time all weekend, my recorder
(13:58):
had nical issues. So it's like I was like joking,
I'm like, your ghosts came and fucked with the interview too.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Oh my god, dude, I hadn't been hearing a lot
of you mentioned how haunts at the prison was. When
we did a tour, you know, of the facility, and
there were paranormal plaques all over the inside of the building.
And after a while it started to get really spooky,
you know, like just like it was eerie, you know
(14:29):
what I mean, just thinking, like Jesus Christ, imagine having
to live here.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I mean right, Well, Whalen Reba and Revus of a
Killer's Confession also Mushroom d He filmed the video there, okay,
in one of the torture rooms, and he told me
about years ago. He told me about he walked out
(14:53):
and he had scratches all over his body.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Oh dude, ah trip right, Yeah, no, man, that would
have I'd have been I've been sleeping with an eye
open for like a week, I know, right, Yeah, I
don't even know how I would have reacted to that
like that, shit's just creepy, man, when something happens that
you just can't explain.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Dude, Yeah, totally, so yeah, I mean, so that's why
it's a fun prison because there's all kinds of stories
like that. But you know what a place to play show.
You have a prison next door inmates, like you're giant Cash.
We're probably out in the yard while you're playing, right,
And then now you got this fucking insanely great new
(15:35):
album coming out, uh dudek second, right, that's.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Correct, August twenty second, the sixth signs of the Swarm album.
It's called to Rid Myself a Truth. We have a
couple of songs from that album out right now, and
you know it's just it's what's the date today? It's
the twenty second today, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I think so? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It is July twenty second. Yeah, so a month from today,
a month right now. That new is going to be
live worldwide and we're really proud of it. We're really
excited with some of the features we picked up on it.
I think we really capture what we were going for, dude.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, And like the most recent song that dropped scars
upon Scars. I mean that that's a fucking badass song.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you, thank you. Yeah that that song got renamed
like four times in the studio. I don't even remember
like all of the prototype titles, but we ended up
settling on Scars upon Scars just because, you know, just
because it sounded hard. But that one, you know, when
we were hearing it back, it started to occur to me,
(16:40):
I was like, we're definitely trying to take influence from
like what early Death Corps was doing, where it was
a mixture of hardcore and death metal, you know, as
opposed to being like, okay, what are other deathcore bands
doing right right? And make no mistake, that's not a
slight on other deathcore bands. Other deathcore bands are killing
it right now. You got Distant, you got Lorna Shore,
(17:02):
you got Whitechapel Fit for an Autopsy. They're all doing
their own thing, and they're all doing it fucking beautifully.
But kind of like how much Sugar wants every album
to have taken a little bit of a left turn
than the previous one, we kind of did the same thing.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
See, and I love it what you said too, because
I find that nowadays there's a lot of bands that
like follow this formula whatever genre they're in, whereas the
original of that genre never had a formula.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
It's like you even take like black metal Venom, Let's
considered the original black metal. Would they be considered black
melt today? Probably not, No, I mean by by because
the standards change.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And uh, you know, I've noticed it too. You mentioned
a formula. I would call it a trend. Trends do
come and go, you know, I mean you you know
a lot of people uh take you know, they look,
they take inspiration from what some of the biggest bands
are doing. It happens. You know, there's a lot of
bands now that I'm hearing. I just got shown some
(18:08):
bands from our who's going to be our sound guy
on our upcoming headliner tour. What was it called Mongrel?
I think was one of the bands, and you know,
it was reminded me of really early Cannibal Corpse. I mean,
like you could have told me it was a b
side off of the bleeding and I would have believed that,
and I you know, I believe and I mean that
(18:30):
as a compliment because Cannibal Corpse is fucking sick.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Well, yeah, that's a pretty sick compliment. Man.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Oh yeah, no, I was like I was. I was like,
oh my god, this is fucking cool. And what I'm
noticing is is instead of following trans out, you know,
a lot of bands are trying to like take it
back to the roots. It's funny that, you know, uh,
going back to what we started talking about Ozzy Osbourne's
last show, he called it back to the beginning. You know,
(18:57):
it's kind of what I'm noticing a lot of bands do, like, hey,
let's let's let's spin it back, Let's let's figure out
where did this all come from. Let's do that.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I think that's how you rediscovery your creativity. You know,
I agree with that, strip it all down back to
the basics, and then you remember why you started this journey.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I completely agree. And that's what it felt like when
we were making the album. You know, even even as
far as my approach to the base tone, you know,
on Amongst the Loan Empty, if you were to listen
to my raw based tracks on Amongst the Loan Empty,
you would notice that my base tone was super distorted hella, hella, overdrive.
And this time around, I stripped it back and I
(19:40):
was like who were who were some of my earliest
influences as far as like what a base should sound like?
And I immediately thought of Jason Newstead. If you've ever
heard of his rod tracks from and Justice Garral, he
has one of the most fucked up bas tones of
all time. It holds up by today's standards. And and
you know we're talking you know, some almost forty years ago,
(20:03):
I would say, So you got to think by forty
years ago, that must have been like the pinnacle of
heavy metal base tone. And I was like, this, that
is what I want to go for. And our producer
Josh Strader absolutely captured lighting in a bottle with that.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Any final things you want to let our listeners know
that we haven't covered already and let them know also
how I connect you guys on socials by your merge?
All that could say, because your merch is fucking badass.
That's the only way you get to other shows, so
they can they can't listen to my show unless they
buy your merch.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
But it's cool merch.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yes, you know, that is something I touched on. Actually
it's not as much for fans, but this is for
other bands. Who are starting out. I always say this,
think of yourself as a clothing brand, because that's where
most of the money comes from, is buying merch. And
if you're not selling merch, you can't make it to
the next show. You're you have to put up a
(20:59):
good advertisement, which is your show. You have to make
good music, so, you know, but you got to think
of yourself, how are we gonna sell, how we're gonna
sell merch? Well, how do we make people care about
what we're doing? Our image? All of that, But other
stuff that you know, we haven't covered for the fans. Man, Dude,
I don't know. There's a lot to cover, and there's
(21:20):
some stuff that I'm not at liberty to share. All
I can say is keep an eye out. The shows
for our headliner are coming up very quickly and they
are selling out fast. Orlando, Florida has sold out. Other
shows are going to do that. So if you're watching
this and you're interested in coming to see us with
Mental Cruelty Carcosa, you know ten, five six the rest
(21:42):
of that package, act quick. Because we're not upgrading venues,
we're not putting out more tickets.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
You got to hurry up nice and make can't miss
your live show good enough. It is is definitely everything
you would want and more.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I'm somebody that experienced it straight from the pit and.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Wall of death.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So dude, I'd love to hear the first.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Of course, right.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Dude, absolutely, and tell you what sometime I after that
tour ends, you know, we'll spend this back reach out.
I'd be happy to do this again.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Sounds good and thanks for being on the Adventures pipe Man.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Now, dude, thanks for having me. Thank you for listening
to the Adventures of Pipe Man.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I'm w for c u I Radio.
Hy you have done to censure?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Why for you young.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Shop shop Shop, Shop Shop.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
W four c Y Radio, and I'm here with our
next guest, who is badass. And I've been following all
over the world to do this interview. Uh and he
doesn't even know why yet, but they'll find out. But
let's welcome to the show from Signs. So just swarm Michael.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
How are you, dude. I'm doing great. I'm feeling really good.
We just got back from a month of festivals in
Europe and we capped that off with an appearance at
incarceration in Mansfield, Ohio. I'm feeling outstanding, but I'm a little,
you know, a little bit of a bittersweet day. Obviously,
(01:26):
you know I'm feeling good about the finish of the tour.
But I'm sure by now you know Ozzy Osborne passed
away today, So before anything happens, I do want to
shout out the Godfather, the man who paved the way
for everything that we know and love, and just express
my undying gratitude for the foundation upon which I'm standing
(01:47):
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Man like I kind of saw it come in and
it's it's a sad day. What a way that he
went off the way he wanted to with that last farewell.
And and I've seen Auzsie every year pretty much since
nineteen eighty some him with Randy Rhodes, and I have
(02:09):
so many stories, as everybody else says, because he was
one of the most amazing people, did not only come
to metal, but music in general, and just he loved everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, you know, I could not have imagined a more
deserved send off for anybody.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So, oh, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And you know I always said years ago, I'm like,
he loves this so much that you know, the minute
he retires that that'll be the unfortunately where we're at,
you know, but he lasted through so many years, influenced
so many bands, and you know, if it weren't for him,
(02:55):
you and I wouldn't be talking right now, probably.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No, one hundred percent. So it certainly a sad day
for metal. But you know, no one lives forever, which
is a hard factor, lie.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
And bands like you will carry it on and carry
on the legacy. And uh yeah, I was at hell
Fest doing press of that Resurrection Fest, doing press day,
and I just got back from ink doing press. Oh dude,
that's why I said what I did, because you guys
(03:29):
were so busy that we couldn't hook up.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
For an on site interview. And I kept bugging.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I kept bugging Nikki at every festival, but I'm like,
how about this time? Yeah, and but here we are,
and let me tell you something, an incarceration. Your pit
was insane.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That's what we aim for, man, you know, we Signs
of the Storm has always been about just all gas
note breaks. As high energy as we can be. We
try to bring that into our performances and we hope
that that energy sort of you know, transfers into the audience.
And we got what we were asking for for sure
that day. We know that the crowd was dealing with
(04:14):
a lot of inclement weather. You know, there was there
were lightning warnings, there were a lot of rainstorms. So
we're just out just outstandingly grateful that we had the
amount of people that we did, that they were interacting
with one another in the manner that they were. That
wall of death that Dave called for, that was one
of the coolest things I've seen in a while. We
(04:35):
get we get walls of death frequently, but the one
that Ink delivered to us was was just top notch man,
you know, Ohio always delivers.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Well yeah, I mean I was at all three of
those sets that I mentioned, and wild.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I had to come back home for the best set
of all in the best Wall of Death and like
and it was just like the crowd brought it because
you brought.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It well, you know, I mean you obviously you saw
I sit hell Fest and you saw some Resurrection Fest.
Those were outstanding days. Those were great festivals. Were really
grateful for how we were treated there. Our fans in
Europe are wonderful. The staff at those festivals were on
top of everything. But you know, despite all that, no
one does it like.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Home, right, And how wild is it to perform at
Shawshank Prison, dude?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Honestly that was that was the big thing for me
going into the festival. And I was excited to play,
you know obviously, and I'm grateful to get up on
stage every time I do that. You know, but you
get used to the routine. You're like, Okay, set up, changeover,
I know what songs we're playing, I know how I'm
gonna move on stage. You get used to that, right,
there are usually no surprises involved when it comes to that,
(05:55):
being able to visit a historic location like the Ohio
State Reformatory, you know, the sight of one of the
most iconic movies ever made. I was actually watching clips
of the Shawshank Redemption earlier today. I thinking to myself, damn,
I was there, Like I was there, you know. And
(06:16):
it's pieces of history like that that are one of
the most underrated parts of you know, getting to do
what we do, seeing all these things, interacting with you know,
all the history, all the cultures, not knowing how many
people have, you know, all the souls that have passed
through where you're standing right now, to be doing.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It right totally, and you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I can totally relate to what you were saying earlier
because my youngest daughter, before every festival I do, she's like, so, Dad,
you excited to do this festival.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I'm like, well, I really love it. It's a lot
of fun.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I don't know if i'd use the word excited when
you do it every weekend, you know. But then the
first time I did incarceration, I called her up and
I'm like, oh man, I'm standing in the prison yard
of Shawshank.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Now I'm excited. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, And you know I've always said the same thing.
I get home from a tour, and you know, I
have friends asked me, if family asked me all the things,
Oh how was it? What's you know helped? And I
just say it was it was work. You know, this
is my job, this is my career. After you know,
you get used to doing all of this right, and
it doesn't make it any less magical, but you start to,
(07:32):
you know, at a certain point, you start to think, Okay,
another day at the office, what time is set up?
Change over? You know, just like I was saying earlier, Uh,
the routine. It becomes a thing.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I have to make it to catering before they close.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Oh my god, that's that's so real. That's so real.
That was the first thing on my mind after we
got into it. I was like, Okay, dude, I am
I am starving. I need to get something in meat
right now. He's some coffee, I need some like eggs, bacon,
and I need a cigarette. Like, for the love of God,
just just let me get.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
My breakfast right totally.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
So I do want to ask you too, Okay, So
I asked this of every everybody that ever does a
Danny Wimmer festival, because I've been doing their festivals for
fifteen years, all of them. How they treat artists in
your opinion? Has Danny Wimmer treat artists in your opinion?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Dude? Okay, so we've done Aftershock and we have done
inknow and I can tell you from personal experience, like
pulling no punches, it was awesome. You know what I mean.
I'm not buttering anybody up. I'm not saying this to
you know, get brownie points and nobody. Legitimately it was
an outstanding experience. Three meals a day for starters, you know,
(08:50):
getting fed, and on top of that, the food was good.
It's not just oh hey, you know you're getting fed
like that's nice. It was legitimately good food. We had
a private spot, a green room. You know. You have
something that was common with after Shock and with Ink
you got the artist transport. You know, if you need
to get somewhere, they have people who are there ready
(09:13):
to go wheels up, get you where you need to
go fast. I mean, it's just I don't like to
use the term rock star lately, you know, just because
I still see myself as as just a guy. You know,
it's just a fourteen year old kid from you know, Granberry,
Pennsylvania with a dream. But I felt like I was
being treated like like a rock star and it felt
(09:37):
really nice. I can't lie to you, man, you know
it's nice. You know. You walk in, you have a
place to change, you have a place to sit down.
If you're tired, you just want to take some weight
off your feet. There's a fridge full of cold drinks.
You can hydrate you if you just want to soda
or something.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It's there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It's dude, big thank you to Danny Wimmer, thank you
to Aftershock Bank, thank you to Ink. And I'm sincerely
hoping that we get the opportunity to appear at more
of Danny's festivals.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, we need you add them all.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Oh dude, yeah, no, we're starting to check them off, right.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And I asked that question because in fifteen years of
doing his festivals and god knows how many interviews, I
don't even you know, thousands of interviews, I've never heard
an artist say one negative thing about Danny Wimmer festival.
And it just blows my mind in one sense. In
(10:34):
the other sense, I know because I'm working those festivals
and how it is.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
But you know, it's like that's where it's at. If
you the artists can be treated where it's a stress free,
comfortable experience, you're going to give us the best live
performance ever. That's probably why we had such a great wall.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Of death, honestly, dude, because we were able to, you know,
get up on stage with the fire under our butts,
trying to watch my mouth, you know, but.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You could say whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Oh well, okay, fucking sweet. So we hit the fire
under our ass. We were ready to go. We were
we were there, you know what I mean. We were refreshed,
we were well rested, we were not stressed out at all.
The stage crew was excellent, and we were like, let's
do this, you know, And it was the same experience
of aftershock.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Right because you know, you do a lot of different
shows wherever it is, and sometimes there's issues that come
up that the cloud doesn't know about, nobody knows about.
But oh yeah, that affects you when you're getting in
the zone. Because when you go on stage, you're getting
in the zone. You don't want to think about any
of that crap.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No, yeah, no, it happens. Man, it happens to the
best of us, you know, and the audience isn't always
aware of it, unless unless the band has to come
to a full stop. Most of the time, the crowd
isn't gonna know if something's going wrong on stage, you know,
but we're gonna know, and that does it does affect
the live performance. Sometimes it really gets in your head
(11:58):
and next thing you know, you realize, oh, man, I've
been kind of standing still throughout this whole song. I
haven't been headbanging. I haven't been doing my wind mills
or my kicks. I haven't been yelling at the crowd
because you've been too busy thinking about oh shit, you
know what, my in ears go out again?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
You know?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Is my bass acting weird? Like? Do I should I
change my batteries? Like are these strings dead? Like? You know,
it's stuff like that. A lot of it can be prepped,
you know, uh, you know, prepped for and and mitigated.
But the one of the number one rule of touring
is shit happens, and ship will happen, and you have
to learn to roll with the punches.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Oh, no doubt about it. And you know it's funny too.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
You did get Lucky at Ink too, because why the
band play interviewed that they're h they had all these
uh tech problems during one part of the show, and
we're we think it was a ghost because that vision
is haunted for real.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
That was not what I had heard. I we got
Lucky at Ink for something else. Entirely. It was funny
you brought that up. As it turns out, during our
entire set, we were on code yellow because of the weather,
so they were they were they had their hand on
the switch. They were like, if this lightning gets closer,
we got to pull the plug. And we're really lucky
(13:19):
that it didn't happen. But we didn't know that until
after we'd gotten off stage, Like and it would have sucked.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
It's cool though that you're not knowing while you're on stage,
you know.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Oh yeah, it would have been. It's so much better
that we didn't know who we were on stage.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
IGNRDS is bliss at that exact, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
And yeah, we a predominant about of the day we
were on yellow. So the fact that it never went
to red, it's amazing in and of itself. Well, so
maybe that's the goes helping us. But you know why,
I know, it was definitely it Like, It's funny because
during the interview, the only time all weekend, my recorder
(13:58):
had nical issues. So it's like I was like joking,
I'm like, your ghosts came and fucked with the interview too.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Oh my god, dude, I hadn't been hearing a lot
of you mentioned how haunts at the prison was. When
we did a tour, you know, of the facility, and
there were paranormal plaques all over the inside of the building.
And after a while it started to get really spooky,
you know, like just like it was eerie, you know
(14:29):
what I mean, just thinking, like Jesus Christ, imagine having
to live here.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I mean right, Well, Whalen Reba and Revus of a
Killer's Confession also Mushroom d He filmed the video there, okay,
in one of the torture rooms, and he told me
about years ago. He told me about he walked out
(14:53):
and he had scratches all over his body.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Oh dude, ah trip right, Yeah, no, man, that would
have I'd have been I've been sleeping with an eye
open for like a week, I know, right, Yeah, I
don't even know how I would have reacted to that
like that, shit's just creepy, man, when something happens that
you just can't explain.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Dude, Yeah, totally, so yeah, I mean, so that's why
it's a fun prison because there's all kinds of stories
like that. But you know what a place to play show.
You have a prison next door inmates, like you're giant Cash.
We're probably out in the yard while you're playing, right,
And then now you got this fucking insanely great new
(15:35):
album coming out, uh dudek second, right, that's.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Correct, August twenty second, the sixth signs of the Swarm album.
It's called to Rid Myself a Truth. We have a
couple of songs from that album out right now, and
you know it's just it's what's the date today? It's
the twenty second today, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I think so? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It is July twenty second. Yeah, so a month from today,
a month right now. That new is going to be
live worldwide and we're really proud of it. We're really
excited with some of the features we picked up on it.
I think we really capture what we were going for, dude.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, And like the most recent song that dropped scars
upon Scars. I mean that that's a fucking badass song.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you, thank you. Yeah that that song got renamed
like four times in the studio. I don't even remember
like all of the prototype titles, but we ended up
settling on Scars upon Scars just because, you know, just
because it sounded hard. But that one, you know, when
we were hearing it back, it started to occur to me,
(16:40):
I was like, we're definitely trying to take influence from
like what early Death Corps was doing, where it was
a mixture of hardcore and death metal, you know, as
opposed to being like, okay, what are other deathcore bands
doing right right? And make no mistake, that's not a
slight on other deathcore bands. Other deathcore bands are killing
it right now. You got Distant, you got Lorna Shore,
(17:02):
you got Whitechapel Fit for an Autopsy. They're all doing
their own thing, and they're all doing it fucking beautifully.
But kind of like how much Sugar wants every album
to have taken a little bit of a left turn
than the previous one, we kind of did the same thing.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
See, and I love it what you said too, because
I find that nowadays there's a lot of bands that
like follow this formula whatever genre they're in, whereas the
original of that genre never had a formula.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
It's like you even take like black metal Venom, Let's
considered the original black metal. Would they be considered black
melt today? Probably not, No, I mean by by because
the standards change.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And uh, you know, I've noticed it too. You mentioned
a formula. I would call it a trend. Trends do
come and go, you know, I mean you you know
a lot of people uh take you know, they look,
they take inspiration from what some of the biggest bands
are doing. It happens. You know, there's a lot of
bands now that I'm hearing. I just got shown some
(18:08):
bands from our who's going to be our sound guy
on our upcoming headliner tour. What was it called Mongrel?
I think was one of the bands, and you know,
it was reminded me of really early Cannibal Corpse. I mean,
like you could have told me it was a b
side off of the bleeding and I would have believed that,
and I you know, I believe and I mean that
(18:30):
as a compliment because Cannibal Corpse is fucking sick.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Well, yeah, that's a pretty sick compliment. Man.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Oh yeah, no, I was like I was. I was like,
oh my god, this is fucking cool. And what I'm
noticing is is instead of following trans out, you know,
a lot of bands are trying to like take it
back to the roots. It's funny that, you know, uh,
going back to what we started talking about Ozzy Osbourne's
last show, he called it back to the beginning. You know,
(18:57):
it's kind of what I'm noticing a lot of bands do, like, hey,
let's let's let's spin it back, Let's let's figure out
where did this all come from. Let's do that.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I think that's how you rediscovery your creativity. You know,
I agree with that, strip it all down back to
the basics, and then you remember why you started this journey.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I completely agree. And that's what it felt like when
we were making the album. You know, even even as
far as my approach to the base tone, you know,
on Amongst the Loan Empty, if you were to listen
to my raw based tracks on Amongst the Loan Empty,
you would notice that my base tone was super distorted hella, hella, overdrive.
And this time around, I stripped it back and I
(19:40):
was like who were who were some of my earliest
influences as far as like what a base should sound like?
And I immediately thought of Jason Newstead. If you've ever
heard of his rod tracks from and Justice Garral, he
has one of the most fucked up bas tones of
all time. It holds up by today's standards. And and
you know we're talking you know, some almost forty years ago,
(20:03):
I would say, So you got to think by forty
years ago, that must have been like the pinnacle of
heavy metal base tone. And I was like, this, that
is what I want to go for. And our producer
Josh Strader absolutely captured lighting in a bottle with that.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Any final things you want to let our listeners know
that we haven't covered already and let them know also
how I connect you guys on socials by your merge?
All that could say, because your merch is fucking badass.
That's the only way you get to other shows, so
they can they can't listen to my show unless they
buy your merch.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
But it's cool merch.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yes, you know, that is something I touched on. Actually
it's not as much for fans, but this is for
other bands. Who are starting out. I always say this,
think of yourself as a clothing brand, because that's where
most of the money comes from, is buying merch. And
if you're not selling merch, you can't make it to
the next show. You're you have to put up a
(20:59):
good advertisement, which is your show. You have to make
good music, so, you know, but you got to think
of yourself, how are we gonna sell, how we're gonna
sell merch? Well, how do we make people care about
what we're doing? Our image? All of that, But other
stuff that you know, we haven't covered for the fans. Man, Dude,
I don't know. There's a lot to cover, and there's
(21:20):
some stuff that I'm not at liberty to share. All
I can say is keep an eye out. The shows
for our headliner are coming up very quickly and they
are selling out fast. Orlando, Florida has sold out. Other
shows are going to do that. So if you're watching
this and you're interested in coming to see us with
Mental Cruelty Carcosa, you know ten, five six the rest
(21:42):
of that package, act quick. Because we're not upgrading venues,
we're not putting out more tickets.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
You got to hurry up nice and make can't miss
your live show good enough. It is is definitely everything
you would want and more.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I'm somebody that experienced it straight from the pit and.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Wall of death.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So dude, I'd love to hear the first.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Of course, right.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Dude, absolutely, and tell you what sometime I after that
tour ends, you know, we'll spend this back reach out.
I'd be happy to do this again.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Sounds good and thanks for being on the Adventures pipe Man.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Now, dude, thanks for having me. Thank you for listening
to the Adventures of Pipe Man.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I'm w for c u I Radio.
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