December 9, 2024 • 43 mins
We have a new co-host! Find out what happened to Metal Mastermind and what you can expect from us in the future. Ken introduces the new co-host and discusses how Metal needs its own dedicated resource for education to empower its artists and fans. A discussion with nostalgia intertwined, the future of Metal Mastermind is bright and its fire is kindled.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:07):
Hi everybody, and welcome to another episode of Metal
Mastermind. I'm your host, Ken Candelas, and
we have here today the lovely wife of Ken Candelas, Elizabeth
Candelas. Hi.
How are you, Ellie? I'm doing good, I'm doing good.
I'm glad to be here. Yeah, things have kind of
(00:29):
switched up here at Metal Mastermind and we're going to
get to that shortly. But Ellie, it's been a while
since you've been on the podcastand you are actually our new Co
host and I want to just invite people to know a little bit more
about who you are. So why don't you just give
everybody a little bit of a backstory of who Ellie is, where'd
(00:49):
you come from, all of that kind of good stuff so that everybody
has an idea of what we're going to be talking about today.
Yeah, sure. So yeah, I've definitely, I've
been on the podcast as a guest acouple times.
Love just hanging out and talking with you and Jason.
But yeah, I am the vocal instructor at Metal Mastermind.
(01:11):
I have been since the very beginning.
I have like my course on there, Metal Vocal Virtuoso and now
working very closely with you, Ken.
I am the operations manager and also instructor and coach and
the full time customer support team.
That's me. Yeah, and you've been killing
(01:31):
it, Ellie. Thank you.
So much for really working hard.Yeah.
Well, it's, it's really important that people get to
know a little bit of who you arebecause I think in the context
of what we're doing here at Metal Mastermind, it's a very
personal relationship as we havetried to increase with our
(01:51):
students and moving forward, everybody who's listening to the
podcast, that's what you're going to get more of with Ellie
on board. She is going to be able to
attend to, you know, a lot of the needs that everybody may
have, especially during this time of transition, which really
has sort of started since the beginning of November.
(02:14):
So let me just preface everything by just saying that
Jason walking away from mental mastermind has happened.
That is official. It was an amicable, you know,
separation. I I want everybody to understand
that Jason and I, we have no badblood.
(02:35):
Jason decided he wanted to do just do his own venture and
that's totally fine. And so that left us, Elizabeth
and I, with the basically the reins to do Metal Mastermind as
we so see fit. And we're trying to elevate the
platform in order to be a betterservice to you.
(02:55):
So you probably, if you've been looking at metalmastermind.com,
you've probably noticed a coupleof changes, and these are all
really important changes that I also want to discuss today with
Ellie here beside me. And I couldn't think of a better
partner than my wife. Thank you.
Yeah, so Ellie, you know, let's let's really kind of talk about
(03:20):
our vision here because Metal Mastermind, the entire slogan
that we've been using for, you know, years now, it's like
create your own sound and or it's really our tag and I'm
really proud of that. And but we're we're trying to do
this new thing which is being the ultimate resource for metal
(03:42):
artists. And let's just kind of start
with a little bit of your background as being a metal
artist. And how do you think, you know,
Metal Mastermind is going to help you as a metal artist?
Because I think if we talk aboutthe story here, I think it'll be
a little bit easier to, you know, relate to other folks who
(04:06):
are listening on the podcast. So let's start with your
beginnings and then we'll sort of talk about the vision that we
have here. Yeah, absolutely.
I'm excited to talk about this. I think it'll just give our
listeners a chance to really understand who we are just as
partners in general. You know, Ken and I, we've been
friends. We've known each other since
(04:26):
high school and in our early 20swe reconnected, became friends
because we both shared this common interest that we had
these big visions for our music.We wanted to build an empire
with their music. We had a a deep, complex concept
and story and we we heard the melody swirl around in our heads
(04:47):
and very passionate about it. And it's something that we
related to, we understood about each other.
And I'm a singer, he's a drummer.
And you know, if you have like aspecific vision and like, like
you hear the whole song play outin your head pretty much, but
you don't play all the instruments.
And you know, it's, it's important to learn what you can
(05:10):
learn, what resources you can tomake that vision happen because
it's our purpose, you know? So he encouraged me to go back
to school to study music production, audio engineering,
which is where I learned how to use Pro Tools and Sibelius and
compose my own music the way that I wanted it to.
Meanwhile, I was watching him compose Homeric and getting
(05:32):
inspired by that. And as a singer, I felt like I
had so much power. I didn't have to rely on
musicians right away during my creative process.
I could just create this, build a, you know, with Sibelius, used
stuttering with Sibelius. I could learn how to create
(05:53):
musical scores and find musicians to play it, play my
music, my compositions. And that was such a big,
powerful moment in my life when I got to that point.
And the Inner circle, we both just knew what it needed to be
because that's who we are as a couple.
That's our our mutual understanding that artists, they
(06:18):
have a vision, they have, they see a whole story, they hear the
music in their head and they want to make it happen.
And the Inner Circle is going toguide them through that because
it's what we wanted when we weredoing it.
And now we want to offer that toyou guys.
So that's what the Inner Circle really came from with me and
Ken's experience together. Absolutely.
(06:40):
And with all that being said, Metal Mastermind as a whole
always was seeking to create a resource for people in the metal
community for them to empower themselves.
You'll notice that whenever we talk about Metal Mastermind,
it's always really about the independent artist, never really
about record labels or things like that.
(07:02):
Mostly because we are independent artists.
This is our Forte, this is what we focus on.
And So what we've learned across, you know, multiple
platforms of like educating ourselves on marketing or going
to universities and trying to learn audio production and all
this kind of stuff, these we found it to be a very disjointed
(07:25):
way of learning how to be a modern musician.
So Metal Mastermind became a focus point, especially, you
know, for me and Jason in the very beginning.
But you know, now it's sort of matured into its own entity.
Metal Mastermind is is sort of simplifying the process of being
(07:47):
the metal artist that you've always wanted to be and having
all of those resources in one place.
Now the inner Circle is a brand new product that we have on
Metal Mastermind. Anybody who's ever bought from
Metal Mastermind before, you'll notice that you have your
courses that you can still purchase.
We we do not want to take away the power of you wanting to
(08:10):
actually just buy a course one time fee upfront.
You totally do that. We still believe in you owning
the product that you want to buy.
But we also have another option,which is just to make it a
little bit more accessible for folks who may not necessarily
know if they just want to buy one product, but they want to
(08:30):
become the total package. And that's the inner circle.
That's what it's really all about.
It's to give you a guide throughout your entire career.
And yeah, you, you know, you become a member that we update
the courses that we have in the inner circle exclusively so that
you're always getting the top notch value that you're, you're
(08:52):
paying for. And so the inner circle, it
became part of this venture as away to help us sort of formulate
in, in many ways, this is what Iwish I was able to have when I
was starting out is to formulatestructure in in in our lives, in
creating something that can holdus accountable.
(09:15):
I know, you know, maybe Elizabeth, you can help share
your own experiences with us. But anytime I've ever bought a
course and it was one time payment, it was very easy for me
to just, you know, sort of forgoor let it, you know, oh it.
Just sat on my dashboard. Yeah.
Yeah, I would just gather dust on my dashboard.
That's something that, you know,we don't want you guys to do as
(09:39):
metal artists. It's so easy and just not even
metal, but I think in anything regarding music, it's so easy to
just put your ideas on the shelfbecause you know, music is not
necessarily something that it requires your immediate
attention, right? It it's something like, oh, I
(10:00):
have to do my chores today or I got to do, you know, groceries I
got to do. I could always put this off.
I could always put this off and then before you know it, you
know, 5-10 years, 1520, your whole life goes before you and
you haven't really worked on thething that you really were most
passionate about. So that's why.
That's something that we like understand.
Well, yeah. Yes, and that and that's why the
(10:21):
inner circle is is designed the way it is.
It's because we want you to holdyourself accountable just as
much as you know we're holding ourselves accountable, right.
So it's. Can I tell you my favorite kind
of, Can I tell you my favorite kind of e-mail to receive from
previous students? I love, I just, I love the
(10:42):
e-mail that is like, hey, how doI become more disciplined with
my learning? Like how do I like the things
that you, you've taught me, the techniques you've taught me?
Like how do I make sure I implement that every single day?
I love that because I naturally want to go above and beyond to
like basically just create that schedule for you, even be like,
(11:05):
hey, I'm available between this time.
So do you have any questions I can answer you right away?
Like you just send me an e-mail.And that's like the important
thing of having that 24/7 customer support is that I'm
right on the other side of the screen.
And you know, if you do need help, you know, setting, setting
that discipline and trying to figure out where things fit in
(11:26):
your schedule to make this course happen, that's totally a
question you could ask me and I can help out.
I can get to know like, hey, what do you got going on during
the day? You know, and hey, I'm also
available during that time. Feel free to e-mail me with any
questions you have. We wanted to make sure that we
offer that with the inner circlebecause I've taken courses in
the past where I had that like support and it made the biggest
(11:48):
difference. So I was like, we need to bring
this into the inner circle because this is helpful.
Absolutely. I mean, having that resource
again, I mean really that's whatthe inner circle's about, right?
It's it's creating a resource where you can always have the
answers that you're looking for,you know, and we're we're we're
all human, of course, right. We're all we're all still doing
(12:09):
our own thing. You know, Ellie and I, we have
our own projects that, you know,we're using here in metal
mastermind to help teach you, right.
This is not like just some Joe Schmo stuff.
We're we're we're really showingyou the stuff that we're doing
as well. We're here in a sense in the
trenches as well with you and that kind of concept of, you
(12:31):
know, learning about how to go and navigate the music industry,
which is always changing, right?There's there's literally
something new that comes around like every two to five years
that we have to be aware about so that we can.
In. Our own you know in our own
games right so we we're here to help you know you navigate that
(12:52):
because we. Did the work and found the
answers. As much as we can, right?
Because I mean here, here I am auniversity professor who's, you
know, taught at four different colleges in New York City about
music production and music performance and all this kind of
stuff where I'm here to try and share the same knowledge.
(13:12):
But really with the community that Ellie and I honestly are,
are most passionate about, and that's, that's metal.
I mean, we make metal music in our own way and we love sharing
and educating people. And that's why, you know, Ellie
and I are here today to, to share this information with you.
And, you know, beyond the, the scope of where metal mastermind
(13:36):
used to be, right? Which I, I have a lot of love
for, for Jason Stallworth. Don't get me wrong, but we were
we were struggling to find path to help you guys further your
development even more. And that's where, you know,
Jason decided he he felt he wanted to do his own venture.
(13:57):
And because we had different visions for what we wanted for
this to be. And so with Metal Mastermind
today, we're really growing it to be as widespread as possible.
You're going to see a lot of things come down the pipeline.
I'm already working on stuff like Dolby Atmos courses.
We have two guitar courses from Alfred Potter coming out this
(14:21):
month. Really excited about that.
We have other. Beautiful courses.
I love that, yeah. And we also have like, exclusive
interviews. Muncie Ritchie from Skateboard
Marketing is a good friend and he had an entire hour to discuss
with me on what are the things that you need to, you know,
think about for radio promo, youknow, and advertising marketing.
(14:43):
I've also had a good friend of ours for both me and Elizabeth,
the Steve Selman videographer, cinematographer, brilliant
creative genius on his end. And he shares.
But I have to just add like brilliant, but also like the
sweetest, most humble, intelligent, empathetic person
(15:04):
I've ever met. You know, like so smart, but not
egotistical, like you, you. He wants to teach you.
And you can really learn a lot from that guy.
And he's a really good friend ofours.
This. 100% And you know, Steve worked on our music video for
Homeric's Godless. So if you haven't seen that,
(15:25):
check it out. It's on homeric.org.
You can find all the informationabout that there.
But Steve is the is the cinematographer, the video
editor. He did the color grading and
everything for that, which I am so proud of.
And we did that in Dolby Vision and we did it in Dolby Atmos.
So we're going to get a lot of. The Woods.
Yeah, we're going to you're, you're going to see like with
(15:47):
with that kind of conversation and that content you're going to
see. How do you actually prepare to
set up for music video? What does the documentation look
like? What does it look like to get
permits? All these sorts of things that,
you know, you may not think about as just an artist on your
own. But I felt, you know, Ellie, and
I think this goes for you too. But as you develop as an artist,
(16:09):
you know, in the very beginnings, it's, it's very,
very simple, very small in termsof the scope of what you're able
to do. But over time, things grow.
It's not just, oh, this is not pertaining to me, you know, now
this could pertain to you in thefuture too.
And this is information that if I had started in the very
beginning, I might have fast tracked a couple of things.
(16:33):
So. Can I tell you how how small it
started for me? Sure.
One of my songs in my album, which is going to be recorded in
a couple months and it's going to be mixed in Dolby Atmos and
has like a beautiful music videofor it.
So much work went into it. It started off with me on my way
(16:54):
to work on the train. I was like a barista at the time
and I was just like, I had this melody in my head.
So I just took out my phone and my voice memos.
I was just like, try not to be stared at like a crazy person
humming into my phone because I was like, I will forget this
melody. I need to just record it right
(17:15):
now. I don't care who stares at me.
And I kept that. And then I put it into Logic,
turn it into MIDI. And that was the start of it.
Very small starts off very small.
I mean, for Homeric, it was, it was literally a dream I had.
And I woke up that morning and Idid a voice memo, too.
(17:35):
Your dreams are so cool, by the way.
I wish I had dreams like that. Your dreams are so adventurous.
Mine are always so like traumatic.
And you're like, I was flying through space and then I don't
know, Zelda, I don't know. It's always like super fun
action filled. It makes sense my.
My, my dreams are very adventurebased.
That is true. Sometimes they, they eek into
(17:56):
the horror realm, but they're usually very exploratory.
So yeah. And but for sure, I mean, as you
grow though, as a, as a musician, I mean, like, so does
your, your scope of, for what you want in the project.
And really a key part of being, you know, in metal mastermind is
(18:16):
that we're giving you a map, we're giving you a Rd. path that
you can follow in order to help do similar things for yourself
too. Because you know, we, we believe
in that your journey doesn't start and end with you wanting
to just make music in, you know,your base, right?
(18:37):
It's it's, it's here that we're trying to help elevate you to
get to the next level, whether it is that right now you need to
just really either, you know, work on your guitar technique or
your bass or your production skills.
It might start there, but then beyond that it's don't, don't.
Knock on the basement though, lot can get done in a basement.
(18:57):
Lot can definitely get done in abasement because we have that
technology we have that technology here today, right.
So it's that's really important to understand.
But as you're, you're growing, you're also, you know, seeking
out how to do this as a real business.
And we want to provide, you know, Rd. maps for that as well,
(19:18):
so that you get the most out of what you're trying to do and,
you know, making something that's sustainable for yourself.
I mean, how awesome would it be,Ellie, you know, to be earning
even an additional $20,000 a year off of whatever your
current job is just because of your music, right?
That would be a really nice, youknow, just bonus whatever you're
(19:38):
already doing. And then?
Building an empire. Over time, yeah, exactly.
Over time, you then can grow that to A to a point where maybe
you can find your own financial freedom through the thing that
you love. Now, nobody here is actually
ever telling you and will never tell you in Metal Mastermind
that this is going to be something that is quick
(19:59):
turnover, get rich, you know, quick steam.
That's not something that we believe in.
That's not something that we breach things that require, you
know, a lot of effort for. You know, your music, the thing
that you believe in the most, itrequires a lot of time too.
And so the expectations that we're trying to give you is to
(20:21):
really think about why you're doing what you're doing, what
you believe in the most out of what you're doing, and then
focusing as much energy that youhave at your disposal to make
your dreams come true. That's what we really want to
do. And for us, we've been working
at our music for, you know, overa decade, probably maybe even 2
(20:46):
at this point. For some of us, you know, it's
just we've been artists for all of our lives and we're still
here trucking away little by little, brick by brick, creating
our own, you know, castles and our own futures.
So I, I, I feel like that's a really important message,
Elizabeth, to really relate herefor, for the inner circle and
(21:08):
why people should might find interest in enjoying our our
program. What I do like about The Inner
Circle is that, you know, there's a lot of bands, right?
So a lot of bands, they have a guitarist, they have a bassist,
they have a drummer, they have avocalist.
And if you know, a whole band decides like, hey, let's check
(21:31):
out The Inner Circle, There's a little bit of something for
everybody and plus more, we can learn extra things.
You can learn production skills,you know, your drummer bait,
maybe using Garage Band or Logicand maybe wants to learn how to
use Pro Tools or use Sibelius. And you know, like everyone has
a little extra something going on.
And what I like about it is, youknow, if you're already
(21:51):
splitting the bill for your rehearsal space, you know, $10 a
month for each band member, probably less depending on how
many band band members you have.You can get that education and
basically learn how to manage your own band within the inner
circle. Yeah, that's a really, that's a
really good point that I didn't mention, which is that the Inner
(22:14):
Circle was not just designed for, you know, one person to
take this. It's designed for all of your
resources. It's you know, if you if you're
running a metal band and you're not just a metal solo artist,
Inner Circle's great. I mean, like you're, you're we
we always see on like YouTube, you know, the bass is getting
(22:35):
chucked on in in metal bands. But really, I mean, like if you
if you really want to play into it, I mean, we have metal
bassmaster and your your bases can learn how to play their
lines finally. But in all of in all do fun, you
know, do respect really, it's that this is a more than just
for one person. This is for your entire
(22:56):
business, your entire band. Everybody can benefit from this
even off of just one subscription.
And that's so cool. I I don't know of any other
place that's really doing what Ithink we're trying to do here.
And I think for metal artists, because metal is such an
underground type of genre, I mean, it's hard for metal to
(23:19):
break into the mainstream. We finally did something with
that with Gojira and the Olympics.
I mean like that's as mainstreamI think as you can that.
Was a moment. Right.
So you know, I mean the only biggiant artist that you can
consider really are mainstream are like like the metallicas,
(23:41):
the you know, the Megadeths and stuff like that.
But I mean, even when you start talking about bigger bands like
Slayer, like Slayer still kind of falls a little off the
mainstream, you know, So it's it's very hard for metal to get
the same. Resource A lot of the times it
is the first band that people learn about.
(24:02):
Like the first like rock band ingeneral that I heard about was
Nirvana. And like I saw Slayer
everywhere, you know, it's like the first like metal band that
people hear about and they dip their toes into it and they're
like, oh, I like this, you know,So they're mainstream in that
sense. They're out there, you know, and
they've established their, theirstyle and they've established
their, their look and, you know,they draw people that way.
(24:26):
Kelly, let me ask you a questionfor the audience.
You know, what was some of the first metal that you experienced
in your life? Between the Buried and Me, I
answer that fast because I'm just a super fan.
I do like the technical progressive metal, maybe because
I have ADHD and I like somethingthat's constantly changing and
(24:48):
simulating, and the music that Icompose is very much like that
too. But also I really love anything
that Mike Patton does. Mr. Bungle was the first CD that
I bought when I got my first carwhen I was like 17.
And anything that Devin Townsenddoes, especially his new stuff,
(25:09):
I really like his solo stuff coming out.
I see the passion behind it. It's really exciting.
So yeah, just like that was thatwas my realm of metal in the
beginning and it and it carries me to this day and it is like a
little bit of everything really.Yeah, and.
How about you? Metal for me in the beginning
(25:30):
was probably a little bit of Metallica, but also disturbed
Godsmack saliva. Disturbed, yes, because I
watched. I watched wrestling with my
brother growing up. We watched WWF back in the day
with WWF, and the entrance songswere usually like Disturbed or
(25:51):
like Jimi Hendrix or something like that.
So that's how I learned a lot. I remember that metal too.
Drowning Pool was another one. Evanescence.
Oh, man, like 90s and early 2000s metal bands were, were
really huge for my library. Yeah.
I think I was like on forums around the Internet and I would
(26:14):
just always constantly listen tothat stuff while typing out
thoughts on, I don't know, Lego When I was a kid.
I was like such a nerdy kid. I even like took my, my father.
No, my brother's Windows 98 PC and I remember logging on to
(26:34):
like AOL for the first time, Netscape, all these like what
was your. Screen name.
Stuff. Oh my God.
My, my screen name I think was called Flames of Agony.
Yeah, just. I know, right?
It was just like you. Good.
I'm such a, I'm such a metal head, you know, I, I just oh,
(26:55):
man, it's so, so typical of a kid.
Do something like that. Yeah, like come on, bro.
We didn't know what we had. Honestly, the millennials were
the last generation to just growup without social media doom
scrolling. I mean, we had a little bit, we
hadn't Zynga, Myspace, but it was cutesy in the beginning.
(27:16):
It wasn't like everything, but we had like a real childhood
where we could just like discuss, you know, go into FYE
and find a new CD and discover things that way and.
You had a good FYE. Oh my gosh.
Name drop. Tower, yeah.
Times Square. Oh yeah, Tower Records.
Yeah, that was an amazing. Say it wrong, Tower Records.
(27:38):
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, No, it was amazing place
to go and find new music and FYEwas definitely one of those
places as well. I mean, I guess.
Put on those dirty headphones and be like, oh, I like this.
Ditto. I'll I'll buy this one.
Cool. Yep, exactly.
Yeah. They used to have those stations
(27:58):
right at the corner of every single aisle.
You'd get to scan your barcode, you'd get to listen to the
track. It felt like sort of in a sense,
like the early version or the inperson version of what would
have been like Apple Music or iTunes back in the day when it
was called iTunes. Yeah.
All these sorts of like ways of experiencing music that we don't
(28:20):
do anymore. That was the normal thing to do
at the time. I mean, CDs who?
Who who listens to CDs much anymore?
In the car I do, you know. Right.
And I feel like that's probably if anything, you know it's being
phased out too, don't you think?Right, because everybody.
(28:41):
Sometimes I can't figure out theBluetooth.
I don't know. I get finicky in the car so I'm
like all right, I'm putting a CDand calling it a day.
Yeah. And I, I love that about, you
know, some of the older cars because you, you would have the
CD players just kind of inside them.
I mean, like you get like a, if you get a newer card nowadays.
I mean they don't even come withCD jacks.
(29:02):
Any really. I don't even know that Yeah, I
mean, laptops have still had Cd-roms like the little.
Yeah, they they got rid of thosetoo, and now you have to buy a a
specific peripheral in order to use them.
Ken, I'm sad. Now let's change the subject.
It's so nostalgic over here. So nostalgic for us, but that's
(29:26):
OK. I mean like as we are, you know,
really talking about all of this.
I mean, I think the whole reasonwhy we talk about where we come
from in all of our musical journey is because that when
we're on metal mastermind, I mean, we're, we're just so
passionate about music in general.
I mean, growing up as a kid, yes, we're millennials, sure.
(29:46):
But growing up and finding our own voice through music was a
big part of our lives is what we're really getting at here.
And metal was at the center of most of our experiences growing
up. And we're here to just like, I
think, you know, Ellie, it's really just I love music
(30:08):
tremendously from, you know, thebottom of my heart.
It's something of a sacred duty to always make music,
especially, you know, my project.
Of course, to American your project Deosa, it's evident that
our passion for what we do is present in those projects.
Yeah, that's why I felt really good about the inner circle and,
(30:29):
and just, you know, the next phase of Metal Mastermind,
because I know you and I can like how, I mean, our
relationship was, you know, driven from our passion for
music. And we just know what people
want. And, you know, we've we teach
it, we learned it ourselves where we are like a, a hybrid of
(30:50):
all the music that we listen to growing up and the music that we
create now. So yeah, that passion is very
apparent. And we we made sure to implement
that in every step of creating the inner circle.
Yeah. So, yeah, yeah, your, your
involvement in the Inner Circle as our general manager is to
(31:13):
essentially attend to everyone in their customer support needs.
So anybody, whoever needs any help, you, you know, anyone
who's listening on the podcast, if you're interested in, in
joining the Inner Circle, you could always reach out to
support@metalmastermind.com. And that'll send a message
directly to Elizabeth and she, she can help you navigate your,
(31:35):
your, your experience. We also are providing again,
like a new update pretty much every month.
That's our goal. We want to create constant
movement in the inner circle to give you guys value as you are
moving forward in your development.
We're already lining up several interviews with people that we
(31:55):
know that are going to give you things like, you know, business,
marketing tactics, publicity, more advertising.
We talked a little bit about Radio Chrome.
We talked about music video creation.
You're going to get more updatesin, you know, Dolby Atmos and
what is immersive audio and why does, where does metal fit into
(32:16):
all of that? We're constantly just thinking
of ideas like it's basically allkind.
And I talk about nowadays and weget excited about it like, oh,
what if we do this? What if we do that?
And then we, we make sure that we break it down, organize it
because I want to make sure whatever we want to make sure
that whatever we put on there ispolished and, you know, just
(32:36):
good quality and what you guys deserve to be honest.
But yeah, this is a, a, a project, a, a product that's
filled on passion and love. And I just want to also thank
you guys. I got a lot of emails and
feedback supporting the inner circle.
They really like what they're seeing.
And you know, I am on the other side of that screen.
(32:58):
So if you do reach out via e-mail, let me know what you
want like like what do you want to see in the inner circle?
And like we're going to take into consideration.
We do love to hear from you guys.
Just be, you know, just be nice.But I'll always.
Listen to you just. Be nice.
Yes, let me know, you know, I mean, it's actually that's
(33:18):
actually a really important topic to, to kind of come in on
too, right, Because a lot of thetime I noticed even with my own
students outside of middle mastermind, like just in, in the
colleges and universities, a, a huge part of your growth as a,
as a creator of music and art isyour relationships with people.
(33:39):
I mean, that's what is going to help you propel forward in many
ways that you couldn't do on your own.
So by you being a part of inner circle, that's your way of
establishing a relationship withus.
That's true. We want to platform your music.
We want, we want people to see what you're creating.
And yeah. I mean, in the in the future,
(34:03):
and I'm just going to, I'm just going to talk about this Ellie,
because I think. Go for it.
For people to understand where, where we're trying to go with
this. I mean, I want to, I want to
turn metal mastermind into a force to be reckoned with.
Where, you know, in back when I was a, a, a, a student, I would
go to metal festivals all the time.
I'd hear about Mayhem or Oz Festand all these kinds of things.
(34:27):
Or Vodkan. Millennials.
I want to go. I want to go, you know?
Yeah, those are those are our festivities, right?
But I want to bring that to Metal Mastermind.
Imagine being able to go to a metal show.
But then there's also like workshops where you could learn
about, you know, how this particular artist who's playing
on stage today and the little interview live in front of an
(34:50):
audience on talking about how dothey go about rehearsing or
practicing or, you know, what istheir production style like?
Imagine having that experience of not only just paying for a
ticket to see a show, but you are basically going there for an
entire event that you can learn from and benefit from as well,
while supporting independent music, as well as maybe having
(35:11):
some guest artists who are more famous than, you know, the local
indie band. I think that would be such an
amazing front to have. And not only that, but imagine
all the resources and connections that we already have
and growing that into something where Metal Mastermind can, you
know, reach people in a larger scope in different ways all
(35:35):
together. We'll fund our own, you know,
record label, so to speak, making sure that we're putting
out the best music that we can possibly find out there in the
world. I mean, these are all things
that Metal Mastermind, that's its trajectory, right?
You know, and I'm talking about,you know, in independent music
(35:55):
and you're saying, oh, well, youknow, record labels would Metal
Mastermind has a record label. Well, here's the difference,
right? Think about Metal Mastermind.
What does it do? Right?
It's it's an educational resources.
So we don't necessarily need as an institution to focus all of
our money making efforts throughthe artists making music, which
(36:17):
means that we could really fervor and grow, nurture the
music for the artists by the artists the way the artists
intended and not have to really be dependent on the product
itself. That they remain independent.
They get everything, you know. So this is a new type of
(36:40):
approach and it's going to. Take like it.
But it's this is the long term goal of Metal Mastermind is to
be that beacon for people to follow and for it to be as noble
as it can throughout its process.
And it starts with you guys learning the ropes, learning how
to get to the next level for yourself, wherever it is that
(37:01):
you are, and committing to yourself that this is where you
need to be. Because we want to make it to be
your own hub, the place where you're like, I don't need to go
into, you know, 10 different other resources to find the
answers. I can just go to Metal
Mastermind and that's where I'llfind my answer.
(37:24):
I'm going to have the community.We have Discord, you know, our
Discord is what is it like 600 members right now, you know, but
it's 600 very passionate membersin the mental community.
So you'll find answers and we'vegot, I'll shout out to our
moderators, Emily and Bryden. You guys are fantastic
moderators. Thank you so much.
Now they're awesome you. Guys are helping the community
(37:47):
grow and you know, everybody is so engaged in.
And helping to maneuver through the this change too.
Like I see you guys. You guys are just really out
there. Yeah. 100%.
And we, I was just going to add something there.
You know, we got some people into the inner circle already
with this Cyber Monday, but it'smore of like a cyber month.
(38:11):
So the month of December, it's basically going to be cheaper
than it's ever going to be for this month.
And people that sign up now, they get that price for a full
year. So, and you know, we really
appreciate those people at the very beginning there because
they're, they believe in the product and they're giving it a
(38:31):
chance and they're exploring allthe, the courses.
They have full access to all thecourses right now.
And I, I see you guys like, you know, like going through the
courses and like just kind of discovering what the inner
circle has to offer so far. And you know, you guys are the
Ogs and we appreciate that so much and just know that every
day we're building new stuff to upload there and to put on
(38:52):
there. And it's just going to continue
to grow and grow. But starting off having access
to all those courses that took years and many instructors to
put together, there's already somuch on there that you that you
can stay busy with. Absolutely.
And that's just the beginning, right.
So if you are even just curious about what the industry has to
(39:16):
offer, there's actually free three day trial to join the
inner circle and see what we have.
And at the third day, that's when you get charged.
You don't get charged upfront so.
If you just look around. What that looks like, Yeah,
yeah, it's on metalmastermind.com/the Dash
Inner Dash Circle. You'll find your all your
(39:38):
information on that page and what the inner circle has to
offer you. I implore you to just discover
it for yourself. See what we have here at Metal
Mastermind and what our vision is moving forward.
I also want to just give one bigshout out to Jason Stallworth.
Thank you for everything that you've done for Metal
Mastermind. It doesn't go unnoticed.
(40:00):
It doesn't go also ungratefully noticed.
It's we are so grateful for Jason.
Jason, you really helped to bring Metal Mastermind up on its
feet in the beginnings and moving forward.
We'll make you proud, brother. So thank you for all the effort
and the love and the care and the dedication that you've shown
(40:22):
Metal Mastermind before. And we wish you the best of luck
in your new venture as to Jason Stallworth Guitar Academy.
So thank you guys. And Ellie, before we actually
wrap up our session today, typically we like to talk about
maybe a a metal song of the week.
(40:45):
And this is something that we like to just sort of share with
our folks. And is there something maybe
that you've been listening to lately that you'd like to share?
I got you one second. That's cool.
Take a look you go first, you gofirst because like my good
friend just recommended this oneto me so I want I want to look
(41:07):
it up I. I will share that I've been
listening to the latest album ofOpeth quite a bit, the last Will
and Testament, the first track, which is I think a Del Segno
symbol, and then a track number one.
They literally just put numbers on their tracks, which is pretty
cool. Really, really great opening
track. And I believe it was track #5
(41:31):
that had a really interesting like Latin beat going on with
the Mozambique. I was kind of like geeking out a
little bit about it as a drum. And I was like, Oh my God,
they're actually like using Latin rhythms in metal here.
And I was like, that's amazing. So Opeth, great job.
Your, your music is astounding. Phenomenal work on the mixed and
(41:52):
the production value and the songs are.
Great. So and the keep it up, the the
theater presentation was beautiful.
We we saw them, yeah, just in Kings Plaza a couple months ago.
And you just stare. You're just like, wow, like it's
beautiful music and the artwork,the digital art was so curated
(42:13):
with the music. It's, it's such a moment and
such an experience to see them live.
Flip it. But yeah, I found I found that
album. It's a new one for me, so
forgive me for not having it memorized to the top of my head,
but I've really been digging it.The name of the band is Wild Run
so WILDERUN. And the album I've been
listening to is Sleep at the Edge of the Earth and it's
(42:36):
beautiful. It's it's Froggy has like these
like really heavy metal moments,but then just beautiful, like
orchestration. I've been really digging it
while I was working so. Yes, you, you shared that with
me the other day and I'm listening to a little bit of
that too. And very, very cool.
I like the music and they're a little bit on the folky side of
(42:56):
things, which is cool. I like folky stuff.
You know my style. All right, well everybody, thank
you so much for tuning into another episode of Metal
Mastermind. Be sure to check out our
website, metalmastermind.com forall your resources for metal
artists. We are the ultimate resource for
(43:17):
metal artists moving forward. And of course, don't ever forget
that we are here to help you create your own.
Hi everybody, and welcome to another episode of Metal
Mastermind. I'm your host, Ken Candelas, and
we have here today the lovely wife of Ken Candelas, Elizabeth
Candelas. Hi.
How are you, Ellie? I'm doing good, I'm doing good.
I'm glad to be here. Yeah, things have kind of
(00:29):
switched up here at Metal Mastermind and we're going to
get to that shortly. But Ellie, it's been a while
since you've been on the podcastand you are actually our new Co
host and I want to just invite people to know a little bit more
about who you are. So why don't you just give
everybody a little bit of a backstory of who Ellie is, where'd
(00:49):
you come from, all of that kind of good stuff so that everybody
has an idea of what we're going to be talking about today.
Yeah, sure. So yeah, I've definitely, I've
been on the podcast as a guest acouple times.
Love just hanging out and talking with you and Jason.
But yeah, I am the vocal instructor at Metal Mastermind.
(01:11):
I have been since the very beginning.
I have like my course on there, Metal Vocal Virtuoso and now
working very closely with you, Ken.
I am the operations manager and also instructor and coach and
the full time customer support team.
That's me. Yeah, and you've been killing
(01:31):
it, Ellie. Thank you.
So much for really working hard.Yeah.
Well, it's, it's really important that people get to
know a little bit of who you arebecause I think in the context
of what we're doing here at Metal Mastermind, it's a very
personal relationship as we havetried to increase with our
(01:51):
students and moving forward, everybody who's listening to the
podcast, that's what you're going to get more of with Ellie
on board. She is going to be able to
attend to, you know, a lot of the needs that everybody may
have, especially during this time of transition, which really
has sort of started since the beginning of November.
(02:14):
So let me just preface everything by just saying that
Jason walking away from mental mastermind has happened.
That is official. It was an amicable, you know,
separation. I I want everybody to understand
that Jason and I, we have no badblood.
(02:35):
Jason decided he wanted to do just do his own venture and
that's totally fine. And so that left us, Elizabeth
and I, with the basically the reins to do Metal Mastermind as
we so see fit. And we're trying to elevate the
platform in order to be a betterservice to you.
(02:55):
So you probably, if you've been looking at metalmastermind.com,
you've probably noticed a coupleof changes, and these are all
really important changes that I also want to discuss today with
Ellie here beside me. And I couldn't think of a better
partner than my wife. Thank you.
Yeah, so Ellie, you know, let's let's really kind of talk about
(03:20):
our vision here because Metal Mastermind, the entire slogan
that we've been using for, you know, years now, it's like
create your own sound and or it's really our tag and I'm
really proud of that. And but we're we're trying to do
this new thing which is being the ultimate resource for metal
(03:42):
artists. And let's just kind of start
with a little bit of your background as being a metal
artist. And how do you think, you know,
Metal Mastermind is going to help you as a metal artist?
Because I think if we talk aboutthe story here, I think it'll be
a little bit easier to, you know, relate to other folks who
(04:06):
are listening on the podcast. So let's start with your
beginnings and then we'll sort of talk about the vision that we
have here. Yeah, absolutely.
I'm excited to talk about this. I think it'll just give our
listeners a chance to really understand who we are just as
partners in general. You know, Ken and I, we've been
friends. We've known each other since
(04:26):
high school and in our early 20swe reconnected, became friends
because we both shared this common interest that we had
these big visions for our music.We wanted to build an empire
with their music. We had a a deep, complex concept
and story and we we heard the melody swirl around in our heads
(04:47):
and very passionate about it. And it's something that we
related to, we understood about each other.
And I'm a singer, he's a drummer.
And you know, if you have like aspecific vision and like, like
you hear the whole song play outin your head pretty much, but
you don't play all the instruments.
And you know, it's, it's important to learn what you can
(05:10):
learn, what resources you can tomake that vision happen because
it's our purpose, you know? So he encouraged me to go back
to school to study music production, audio engineering,
which is where I learned how to use Pro Tools and Sibelius and
compose my own music the way that I wanted it to.
Meanwhile, I was watching him compose Homeric and getting
(05:32):
inspired by that. And as a singer, I felt like I
had so much power. I didn't have to rely on
musicians right away during my creative process.
I could just create this, build a, you know, with Sibelius, used
stuttering with Sibelius. I could learn how to create
(05:53):
musical scores and find musicians to play it, play my
music, my compositions. And that was such a big,
powerful moment in my life when I got to that point.
And the Inner circle, we both just knew what it needed to be
because that's who we are as a couple.
That's our our mutual understanding that artists, they
(06:18):
have a vision, they have, they see a whole story, they hear the
music in their head and they want to make it happen.
And the Inner Circle is going toguide them through that because
it's what we wanted when we weredoing it.
And now we want to offer that toyou guys.
So that's what the Inner Circle really came from with me and
Ken's experience together. Absolutely.
(06:40):
And with all that being said, Metal Mastermind as a whole
always was seeking to create a resource for people in the metal
community for them to empower themselves.
You'll notice that whenever we talk about Metal Mastermind,
it's always really about the independent artist, never really
about record labels or things like that.
(07:02):
Mostly because we are independent artists.
This is our Forte, this is what we focus on.
And So what we've learned across, you know, multiple
platforms of like educating ourselves on marketing or going
to universities and trying to learn audio production and all
this kind of stuff, these we found it to be a very disjointed
(07:25):
way of learning how to be a modern musician.
So Metal Mastermind became a focus point, especially, you
know, for me and Jason in the very beginning.
But you know, now it's sort of matured into its own entity.
Metal Mastermind is is sort of simplifying the process of being
(07:47):
the metal artist that you've always wanted to be and having
all of those resources in one place.
Now the inner Circle is a brand new product that we have on
Metal Mastermind. Anybody who's ever bought from
Metal Mastermind before, you'll notice that you have your
courses that you can still purchase.
We we do not want to take away the power of you wanting to
(08:10):
actually just buy a course one time fee upfront.
You totally do that. We still believe in you owning
the product that you want to buy.
But we also have another option,which is just to make it a
little bit more accessible for folks who may not necessarily
know if they just want to buy one product, but they want to
(08:30):
become the total package. And that's the inner circle.
That's what it's really all about.
It's to give you a guide throughout your entire career.
And yeah, you, you know, you become a member that we update
the courses that we have in the inner circle exclusively so that
you're always getting the top notch value that you're, you're
(08:52):
paying for. And so the inner circle, it
became part of this venture as away to help us sort of formulate
in, in many ways, this is what Iwish I was able to have when I
was starting out is to formulatestructure in in in our lives, in
creating something that can holdus accountable.
(09:15):
I know, you know, maybe Elizabeth, you can help share
your own experiences with us. But anytime I've ever bought a
course and it was one time payment, it was very easy for me
to just, you know, sort of forgoor let it, you know, oh it.
Just sat on my dashboard. Yeah.
Yeah, I would just gather dust on my dashboard.
That's something that, you know,we don't want you guys to do as
(09:39):
metal artists. It's so easy and just not even
metal, but I think in anything regarding music, it's so easy to
just put your ideas on the shelfbecause you know, music is not
necessarily something that it requires your immediate
attention, right? It it's something like, oh, I
(10:00):
have to do my chores today or I got to do, you know, groceries I
got to do. I could always put this off.
I could always put this off and then before you know it, you
know, 5-10 years, 1520, your whole life goes before you and
you haven't really worked on thething that you really were most
passionate about. So that's why.
That's something that we like understand.
Well, yeah. Yes, and that and that's why the
(10:21):
inner circle is is designed the way it is.
It's because we want you to holdyourself accountable just as
much as you know we're holding ourselves accountable, right.
So it's. Can I tell you my favorite kind
of, Can I tell you my favorite kind of e-mail to receive from
previous students? I love, I just, I love the
(10:42):
e-mail that is like, hey, how doI become more disciplined with
my learning? Like how do I like the things
that you, you've taught me, the techniques you've taught me?
Like how do I make sure I implement that every single day?
I love that because I naturally want to go above and beyond to
like basically just create that schedule for you, even be like,
(11:05):
hey, I'm available between this time.
So do you have any questions I can answer you right away?
Like you just send me an e-mail.And that's like the important
thing of having that 24/7 customer support is that I'm
right on the other side of the screen.
And you know, if you do need help, you know, setting, setting
that discipline and trying to figure out where things fit in
(11:26):
your schedule to make this course happen, that's totally a
question you could ask me and I can help out.
I can get to know like, hey, what do you got going on during
the day? You know, and hey, I'm also
available during that time. Feel free to e-mail me with any
questions you have. We wanted to make sure that we
offer that with the inner circlebecause I've taken courses in
the past where I had that like support and it made the biggest
(11:48):
difference. So I was like, we need to bring
this into the inner circle because this is helpful.
Absolutely. I mean, having that resource
again, I mean really that's whatthe inner circle's about, right?
It's it's creating a resource where you can always have the
answers that you're looking for,you know, and we're we're we're
all human, of course, right. We're all we're all still doing
(12:09):
our own thing. You know, Ellie and I, we have
our own projects that, you know,we're using here in metal
mastermind to help teach you, right.
This is not like just some Joe Schmo stuff.
We're we're we're really showingyou the stuff that we're doing
as well. We're here in a sense in the
trenches as well with you and that kind of concept of, you
(12:31):
know, learning about how to go and navigate the music industry,
which is always changing, right?There's there's literally
something new that comes around like every two to five years
that we have to be aware about so that we can.
In. Our own you know in our own
games right so we we're here to help you know you navigate that
(12:52):
because we. Did the work and found the
answers. As much as we can, right?
Because I mean here, here I am auniversity professor who's, you
know, taught at four different colleges in New York City about
music production and music performance and all this kind of
stuff where I'm here to try and share the same knowledge.
(13:12):
But really with the community that Ellie and I honestly are,
are most passionate about, and that's, that's metal.
I mean, we make metal music in our own way and we love sharing
and educating people. And that's why, you know, Ellie
and I are here today to, to share this information with you.
And, you know, beyond the, the scope of where metal mastermind
(13:36):
used to be, right? Which I, I have a lot of love
for, for Jason Stallworth. Don't get me wrong, but we were
we were struggling to find path to help you guys further your
development even more. And that's where, you know,
Jason decided he he felt he wanted to do his own venture.
(13:57):
And because we had different visions for what we wanted for
this to be. And so with Metal Mastermind
today, we're really growing it to be as widespread as possible.
You're going to see a lot of things come down the pipeline.
I'm already working on stuff like Dolby Atmos courses.
We have two guitar courses from Alfred Potter coming out this
(14:21):
month. Really excited about that.
We have other. Beautiful courses.
I love that, yeah. And we also have like, exclusive
interviews. Muncie Ritchie from Skateboard
Marketing is a good friend and he had an entire hour to discuss
with me on what are the things that you need to, you know,
think about for radio promo, youknow, and advertising marketing.
(14:43):
I've also had a good friend of ours for both me and Elizabeth,
the Steve Selman videographer, cinematographer, brilliant
creative genius on his end. And he shares.
But I have to just add like brilliant, but also like the
sweetest, most humble, intelligent, empathetic person
(15:04):
I've ever met. You know, like so smart, but not
egotistical, like you, you. He wants to teach you.
And you can really learn a lot from that guy.
And he's a really good friend ofours.
This. 100% And you know, Steve worked on our music video for
Homeric's Godless. So if you haven't seen that,
(15:25):
check it out. It's on homeric.org.
You can find all the informationabout that there.
But Steve is the is the cinematographer, the video
editor. He did the color grading and
everything for that, which I am so proud of.
And we did that in Dolby Vision and we did it in Dolby Atmos.
So we're going to get a lot of. The Woods.
Yeah, we're going to you're, you're going to see like with
(15:47):
with that kind of conversation and that content you're going to
see. How do you actually prepare to
set up for music video? What does the documentation look
like? What does it look like to get
permits? All these sorts of things that,
you know, you may not think about as just an artist on your
own. But I felt, you know, Ellie, and
I think this goes for you too. But as you develop as an artist,
(16:09):
you know, in the very beginnings, it's, it's very,
very simple, very small in termsof the scope of what you're able
to do. But over time, things grow.
It's not just, oh, this is not pertaining to me, you know, now
this could pertain to you in thefuture too.
And this is information that if I had started in the very
beginning, I might have fast tracked a couple of things.
(16:33):
So. Can I tell you how how small it
started for me? Sure.
One of my songs in my album, which is going to be recorded in
a couple months and it's going to be mixed in Dolby Atmos and
has like a beautiful music videofor it.
So much work went into it. It started off with me on my way
(16:54):
to work on the train. I was like a barista at the time
and I was just like, I had this melody in my head.
So I just took out my phone and my voice memos.
I was just like, try not to be stared at like a crazy person
humming into my phone because I was like, I will forget this
melody. I need to just record it right
(17:15):
now. I don't care who stares at me.
And I kept that. And then I put it into Logic,
turn it into MIDI. And that was the start of it.
Very small starts off very small.
I mean, for Homeric, it was, it was literally a dream I had.
And I woke up that morning and Idid a voice memo, too.
(17:35):
Your dreams are so cool, by the way.
I wish I had dreams like that. Your dreams are so adventurous.
Mine are always so like traumatic.
And you're like, I was flying through space and then I don't
know, Zelda, I don't know. It's always like super fun
action filled. It makes sense my.
My, my dreams are very adventurebased.
That is true. Sometimes they, they eek into
(17:56):
the horror realm, but they're usually very exploratory.
So yeah. And but for sure, I mean, as you
grow though, as a, as a musician, I mean, like, so does
your, your scope of, for what you want in the project.
And really a key part of being, you know, in metal mastermind is
(18:16):
that we're giving you a map, we're giving you a Rd. path that
you can follow in order to help do similar things for yourself
too. Because you know, we, we believe
in that your journey doesn't start and end with you wanting
to just make music in, you know,your base, right?
(18:37):
It's it's, it's here that we're trying to help elevate you to
get to the next level, whether it is that right now you need to
just really either, you know, work on your guitar technique or
your bass or your production skills.
It might start there, but then beyond that it's don't, don't.
Knock on the basement though, lot can get done in a basement.
(18:57):
Lot can definitely get done in abasement because we have that
technology we have that technology here today, right.
So it's that's really important to understand.
But as you're, you're growing, you're also, you know, seeking
out how to do this as a real business.
And we want to provide, you know, Rd. maps for that as well,
(19:18):
so that you get the most out of what you're trying to do and,
you know, making something that's sustainable for yourself.
I mean, how awesome would it be,Ellie, you know, to be earning
even an additional $20,000 a year off of whatever your
current job is just because of your music, right?
That would be a really nice, youknow, just bonus whatever you're
(19:38):
already doing. And then?
Building an empire. Over time, yeah, exactly.
Over time, you then can grow that to A to a point where maybe
you can find your own financial freedom through the thing that
you love. Now, nobody here is actually
ever telling you and will never tell you in Metal Mastermind
that this is going to be something that is quick
(19:59):
turnover, get rich, you know, quick steam.
That's not something that we believe in.
That's not something that we breach things that require, you
know, a lot of effort for. You know, your music, the thing
that you believe in the most, itrequires a lot of time too.
And so the expectations that we're trying to give you is to
(20:21):
really think about why you're doing what you're doing, what
you believe in the most out of what you're doing, and then
focusing as much energy that youhave at your disposal to make
your dreams come true. That's what we really want to
do. And for us, we've been working
at our music for, you know, overa decade, probably maybe even 2
(20:46):
at this point. For some of us, you know, it's
just we've been artists for all of our lives and we're still
here trucking away little by little, brick by brick, creating
our own, you know, castles and our own futures.
So I, I, I feel like that's a really important message,
Elizabeth, to really relate herefor, for the inner circle and
(21:08):
why people should might find interest in enjoying our our
program. What I do like about The Inner
Circle is that, you know, there's a lot of bands, right?
So a lot of bands, they have a guitarist, they have a bassist,
they have a drummer, they have avocalist.
And if you know, a whole band decides like, hey, let's check
(21:31):
out The Inner Circle, There's a little bit of something for
everybody and plus more, we can learn extra things.
You can learn production skills,you know, your drummer bait,
maybe using Garage Band or Logicand maybe wants to learn how to
use Pro Tools or use Sibelius. And you know, like everyone has
a little extra something going on.
And what I like about it is, youknow, if you're already
(21:51):
splitting the bill for your rehearsal space, you know, $10 a
month for each band member, probably less depending on how
many band band members you have.You can get that education and
basically learn how to manage your own band within the inner
circle. Yeah, that's a really, that's a
really good point that I didn't mention, which is that the Inner
(22:14):
Circle was not just designed for, you know, one person to
take this. It's designed for all of your
resources. It's you know, if you if you're
running a metal band and you're not just a metal solo artist,
Inner Circle's great. I mean, like you're, you're we
we always see on like YouTube, you know, the bass is getting
(22:35):
chucked on in in metal bands. But really, I mean, like if you
if you really want to play into it, I mean, we have metal
bassmaster and your your bases can learn how to play their
lines finally. But in all of in all do fun, you
know, do respect really, it's that this is a more than just
for one person. This is for your entire
(22:56):
business, your entire band. Everybody can benefit from this
even off of just one subscription.
And that's so cool. I I don't know of any other
place that's really doing what Ithink we're trying to do here.
And I think for metal artists, because metal is such an
underground type of genre, I mean, it's hard for metal to
(23:19):
break into the mainstream. We finally did something with
that with Gojira and the Olympics.
I mean like that's as mainstreamI think as you can that.
Was a moment. Right.
So you know, I mean the only biggiant artist that you can
consider really are mainstream are like like the metallicas,
(23:41):
the you know, the Megadeths and stuff like that.
But I mean, even when you start talking about bigger bands like
Slayer, like Slayer still kind of falls a little off the
mainstream, you know, So it's it's very hard for metal to get
the same. Resource A lot of the times it
is the first band that people learn about.
(24:02):
Like the first like rock band ingeneral that I heard about was
Nirvana. And like I saw Slayer
everywhere, you know, it's like the first like metal band that
people hear about and they dip their toes into it and they're
like, oh, I like this, you know,So they're mainstream in that
sense. They're out there, you know, and
they've established their, theirstyle and they've established
their, their look and, you know,they draw people that way.
(24:26):
Kelly, let me ask you a questionfor the audience.
You know, what was some of the first metal that you experienced
in your life? Between the Buried and Me, I
answer that fast because I'm just a super fan.
I do like the technical progressive metal, maybe because
I have ADHD and I like somethingthat's constantly changing and
(24:48):
simulating, and the music that Icompose is very much like that
too. But also I really love anything
that Mike Patton does. Mr. Bungle was the first CD that
I bought when I got my first carwhen I was like 17.
And anything that Devin Townsenddoes, especially his new stuff,
(25:09):
I really like his solo stuff coming out.
I see the passion behind it. It's really exciting.
So yeah, just like that was thatwas my realm of metal in the
beginning and it and it carries me to this day and it is like a
little bit of everything really.Yeah, and.
How about you? Metal for me in the beginning
(25:30):
was probably a little bit of Metallica, but also disturbed
Godsmack saliva. Disturbed, yes, because I
watched. I watched wrestling with my
brother growing up. We watched WWF back in the day
with WWF, and the entrance songswere usually like Disturbed or
(25:51):
like Jimi Hendrix or something like that.
So that's how I learned a lot. I remember that metal too.
Drowning Pool was another one. Evanescence.
Oh, man, like 90s and early 2000s metal bands were, were
really huge for my library. Yeah.
I think I was like on forums around the Internet and I would
(26:14):
just always constantly listen tothat stuff while typing out
thoughts on, I don't know, Lego When I was a kid.
I was like such a nerdy kid. I even like took my, my father.
No, my brother's Windows 98 PC and I remember logging on to
(26:34):
like AOL for the first time, Netscape, all these like what
was your. Screen name.
Stuff. Oh my God.
My, my screen name I think was called Flames of Agony.
Yeah, just. I know, right?
It was just like you. Good.
I'm such a, I'm such a metal head, you know, I, I just oh,
(26:55):
man, it's so, so typical of a kid.
Do something like that. Yeah, like come on, bro.
We didn't know what we had. Honestly, the millennials were
the last generation to just growup without social media doom
scrolling. I mean, we had a little bit, we
hadn't Zynga, Myspace, but it was cutesy in the beginning.
(27:16):
It wasn't like everything, but we had like a real childhood
where we could just like discuss, you know, go into FYE
and find a new CD and discover things that way and.
You had a good FYE. Oh my gosh.
Name drop. Tower, yeah.
Times Square. Oh yeah, Tower Records.
Yeah, that was an amazing. Say it wrong, Tower Records.
(27:38):
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, No, it was amazing place
to go and find new music and FYEwas definitely one of those
places as well. I mean, I guess.
Put on those dirty headphones and be like, oh, I like this.
Ditto. I'll I'll buy this one.
Cool. Yep, exactly.
Yeah. They used to have those stations
(27:58):
right at the corner of every single aisle.
You'd get to scan your barcode, you'd get to listen to the
track. It felt like sort of in a sense,
like the early version or the inperson version of what would
have been like Apple Music or iTunes back in the day when it
was called iTunes. Yeah.
All these sorts of like ways of experiencing music that we don't
(28:20):
do anymore. That was the normal thing to do
at the time. I mean, CDs who?
Who who listens to CDs much anymore?
In the car I do, you know. Right.
And I feel like that's probably if anything, you know it's being
phased out too, don't you think?Right, because everybody.
(28:41):
Sometimes I can't figure out theBluetooth.
I don't know. I get finicky in the car so I'm
like all right, I'm putting a CDand calling it a day.
Yeah. And I, I love that about, you
know, some of the older cars because you, you would have the
CD players just kind of inside them.
I mean, like you get like a, if you get a newer card nowadays.
I mean they don't even come withCD jacks.
(29:02):
Any really. I don't even know that Yeah, I
mean, laptops have still had Cd-roms like the little.
Yeah, they they got rid of thosetoo, and now you have to buy a a
specific peripheral in order to use them.
Ken, I'm sad. Now let's change the subject.
It's so nostalgic over here. So nostalgic for us, but that's
(29:26):
OK. I mean like as we are, you know,
really talking about all of this.
I mean, I think the whole reasonwhy we talk about where we come
from in all of our musical journey is because that when
we're on metal mastermind, I mean, we're, we're just so
passionate about music in general.
I mean, growing up as a kid, yes, we're millennials, sure.
(29:46):
But growing up and finding our own voice through music was a
big part of our lives is what we're really getting at here.
And metal was at the center of most of our experiences growing
up. And we're here to just like, I
think, you know, Ellie, it's really just I love music
(30:08):
tremendously from, you know, thebottom of my heart.
It's something of a sacred duty to always make music,
especially, you know, my project.
Of course, to American your project Deosa, it's evident that
our passion for what we do is present in those projects.
Yeah, that's why I felt really good about the inner circle and,
(30:29):
and just, you know, the next phase of Metal Mastermind,
because I know you and I can like how, I mean, our
relationship was, you know, driven from our passion for
music. And we just know what people
want. And, you know, we've we teach
it, we learned it ourselves where we are like a, a hybrid of
(30:50):
all the music that we listen to growing up and the music that we
create now. So yeah, that passion is very
apparent. And we we made sure to implement
that in every step of creating the inner circle.
Yeah. So, yeah, yeah, your, your
involvement in the Inner Circle as our general manager is to
(31:13):
essentially attend to everyone in their customer support needs.
So anybody, whoever needs any help, you, you know, anyone
who's listening on the podcast, if you're interested in, in
joining the Inner Circle, you could always reach out to
support@metalmastermind.com. And that'll send a message
directly to Elizabeth and she, she can help you navigate your,
(31:35):
your, your experience. We also are providing again,
like a new update pretty much every month.
That's our goal. We want to create constant
movement in the inner circle to give you guys value as you are
moving forward in your development.
We're already lining up several interviews with people that we
(31:55):
know that are going to give you things like, you know, business,
marketing tactics, publicity, more advertising.
We talked a little bit about Radio Chrome.
We talked about music video creation.
You're going to get more updatesin, you know, Dolby Atmos and
what is immersive audio and why does, where does metal fit into
(32:16):
all of that? We're constantly just thinking
of ideas like it's basically allkind.
And I talk about nowadays and weget excited about it like, oh,
what if we do this? What if we do that?
And then we, we make sure that we break it down, organize it
because I want to make sure whatever we want to make sure
that whatever we put on there ispolished and, you know, just
(32:36):
good quality and what you guys deserve to be honest.
But yeah, this is a, a, a project, a, a product that's
filled on passion and love. And I just want to also thank
you guys. I got a lot of emails and
feedback supporting the inner circle.
They really like what they're seeing.
And you know, I am on the other side of that screen.
(32:58):
So if you do reach out via e-mail, let me know what you
want like like what do you want to see in the inner circle?
And like we're going to take into consideration.
We do love to hear from you guys.
Just be, you know, just be nice.But I'll always.
Listen to you just. Be nice.
Yes, let me know, you know, I mean, it's actually that's
(33:18):
actually a really important topic to, to kind of come in on
too, right, Because a lot of thetime I noticed even with my own
students outside of middle mastermind, like just in, in the
colleges and universities, a, a huge part of your growth as a,
as a creator of music and art isyour relationships with people.
(33:39):
I mean, that's what is going to help you propel forward in many
ways that you couldn't do on your own.
So by you being a part of inner circle, that's your way of
establishing a relationship withus.
That's true. We want to platform your music.
We want, we want people to see what you're creating.
And yeah. I mean, in the in the future,
(34:03):
and I'm just going to, I'm just going to talk about this Ellie,
because I think. Go for it.
For people to understand where, where we're trying to go with
this. I mean, I want to, I want to
turn metal mastermind into a force to be reckoned with.
Where, you know, in back when I was a, a, a, a student, I would
go to metal festivals all the time.
I'd hear about Mayhem or Oz Festand all these kinds of things.
(34:27):
Or Vodkan. Millennials.
I want to go. I want to go, you know?
Yeah, those are those are our festivities, right?
But I want to bring that to Metal Mastermind.
Imagine being able to go to a metal show.
But then there's also like workshops where you could learn
about, you know, how this particular artist who's playing
on stage today and the little interview live in front of an
(34:50):
audience on talking about how dothey go about rehearsing or
practicing or, you know, what istheir production style like?
Imagine having that experience of not only just paying for a
ticket to see a show, but you are basically going there for an
entire event that you can learn from and benefit from as well,
while supporting independent music, as well as maybe having
(35:11):
some guest artists who are more famous than, you know, the local
indie band. I think that would be such an
amazing front to have. And not only that, but imagine
all the resources and connections that we already have
and growing that into something where Metal Mastermind can, you
know, reach people in a larger scope in different ways all
(35:35):
together. We'll fund our own, you know,
record label, so to speak, making sure that we're putting
out the best music that we can possibly find out there in the
world. I mean, these are all things
that Metal Mastermind, that's its trajectory, right?
You know, and I'm talking about,you know, in independent music
(35:55):
and you're saying, oh, well, youknow, record labels would Metal
Mastermind has a record label. Well, here's the difference,
right? Think about Metal Mastermind.
What does it do? Right?
It's it's an educational resources.
So we don't necessarily need as an institution to focus all of
our money making efforts throughthe artists making music, which
(36:17):
means that we could really fervor and grow, nurture the
music for the artists by the artists the way the artists
intended and not have to really be dependent on the product
itself. That they remain independent.
They get everything, you know. So this is a new type of
(36:40):
approach and it's going to. Take like it.
But it's this is the long term goal of Metal Mastermind is to
be that beacon for people to follow and for it to be as noble
as it can throughout its process.
And it starts with you guys learning the ropes, learning how
to get to the next level for yourself, wherever it is that
(37:01):
you are, and committing to yourself that this is where you
need to be. Because we want to make it to be
your own hub, the place where you're like, I don't need to go
into, you know, 10 different other resources to find the
answers. I can just go to Metal
Mastermind and that's where I'llfind my answer.
(37:24):
I'm going to have the community.We have Discord, you know, our
Discord is what is it like 600 members right now, you know, but
it's 600 very passionate membersin the mental community.
So you'll find answers and we'vegot, I'll shout out to our
moderators, Emily and Bryden. You guys are fantastic
moderators. Thank you so much.
Now they're awesome you. Guys are helping the community
(37:47):
grow and you know, everybody is so engaged in.
And helping to maneuver through the this change too.
Like I see you guys. You guys are just really out
there. Yeah. 100%.
And we, I was just going to add something there.
You know, we got some people into the inner circle already
with this Cyber Monday, but it'smore of like a cyber month.
(38:11):
So the month of December, it's basically going to be cheaper
than it's ever going to be for this month.
And people that sign up now, they get that price for a full
year. So, and you know, we really
appreciate those people at the very beginning there because
they're, they believe in the product and they're giving it a
(38:31):
chance and they're exploring allthe, the courses.
They have full access to all thecourses right now.
And I, I see you guys like, you know, like going through the
courses and like just kind of discovering what the inner
circle has to offer so far. And you know, you guys are the
Ogs and we appreciate that so much and just know that every
day we're building new stuff to upload there and to put on
(38:52):
there. And it's just going to continue
to grow and grow. But starting off having access
to all those courses that took years and many instructors to
put together, there's already somuch on there that you that you
can stay busy with. Absolutely.
And that's just the beginning, right.
So if you are even just curious about what the industry has to
(39:16):
offer, there's actually free three day trial to join the
inner circle and see what we have.
And at the third day, that's when you get charged.
You don't get charged upfront so.
If you just look around. What that looks like, Yeah,
yeah, it's on metalmastermind.com/the Dash
Inner Dash Circle. You'll find your all your
(39:38):
information on that page and what the inner circle has to
offer you. I implore you to just discover
it for yourself. See what we have here at Metal
Mastermind and what our vision is moving forward.
I also want to just give one bigshout out to Jason Stallworth.
Thank you for everything that you've done for Metal
Mastermind. It doesn't go unnoticed.
(40:00):
It doesn't go also ungratefully noticed.
It's we are so grateful for Jason.
Jason, you really helped to bring Metal Mastermind up on its
feet in the beginnings and moving forward.
We'll make you proud, brother. So thank you for all the effort
and the love and the care and the dedication that you've shown
(40:22):
Metal Mastermind before. And we wish you the best of luck
in your new venture as to Jason Stallworth Guitar Academy.
So thank you guys. And Ellie, before we actually
wrap up our session today, typically we like to talk about
maybe a a metal song of the week.
(40:45):
And this is something that we like to just sort of share with
our folks. And is there something maybe
that you've been listening to lately that you'd like to share?
I got you one second. That's cool.
Take a look you go first, you gofirst because like my good
friend just recommended this oneto me so I want I want to look
(41:07):
it up I. I will share that I've been
listening to the latest album ofOpeth quite a bit, the last Will
and Testament, the first track, which is I think a Del Segno
symbol, and then a track number one.
They literally just put numbers on their tracks, which is pretty
cool. Really, really great opening
track. And I believe it was track #5
(41:31):
that had a really interesting like Latin beat going on with
the Mozambique. I was kind of like geeking out a
little bit about it as a drum. And I was like, Oh my God,
they're actually like using Latin rhythms in metal here.
And I was like, that's amazing. So Opeth, great job.
Your, your music is astounding. Phenomenal work on the mixed and
(41:52):
the production value and the songs are.
Great. So and the keep it up, the the
theater presentation was beautiful.
We we saw them, yeah, just in Kings Plaza a couple months ago.
And you just stare. You're just like, wow, like it's
beautiful music and the artwork,the digital art was so curated
(42:13):
with the music. It's, it's such a moment and
such an experience to see them live.
Flip it. But yeah, I found I found that
album. It's a new one for me, so
forgive me for not having it memorized to the top of my head,
but I've really been digging it.The name of the band is Wild Run
so WILDERUN. And the album I've been
listening to is Sleep at the Edge of the Earth and it's
(42:36):
beautiful. It's it's Froggy has like these
like really heavy metal moments,but then just beautiful, like
orchestration. I've been really digging it
while I was working so. Yes, you, you shared that with
me the other day and I'm listening to a little bit of
that too. And very, very cool.
I like the music and they're a little bit on the folky side of
(42:56):
things, which is cool. I like folky stuff.
You know my style. All right, well everybody, thank
you so much for tuning into another episode of Metal
Mastermind. Be sure to check out our
website, metalmastermind.com forall your resources for metal
artists. We are the ultimate resource for
(43:17):
metal artists moving forward. And of course, don't ever forget
that we are here to help you create your own.
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