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Eli and Andrew bring you new music drops and bands that have come back after being away from music for years. We also discuss AI generations and the controversy around Pestilence. We talk with Dominic from Announce The Apocalypse about the band and the great new disc Experience Machine. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are back.
Welcome to the second episodeof Riffs Across Generations.
How's everything going, eli?
Good, good, if you didn't guess, I'm Andrew and this is my
co-host, eli.
We are embarking on a secondepisode which is a little
different than the first episode, right, eli?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, we got some news for y'all.
We have some music reviews,some new music that's dropping,
some bands doing some kind ofodd stuff, and then at the end
we have an interview with NancyApocalypse, which is pretty cool
.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, I know we talked about those guys in the
first episode and we finally gotthe lead singer guitarist on.
That's about a half hour long,so it's a very interesting, very
cool interview with them.
Is there anything happening onyour end of the world, eli?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Weather's good Tiring week yeah.
Yeah just a lot.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
The school blahs, huh , yeah, yeah, I think we get
into this time of year andschool just becomes a grind.
But March, you're off forspring break.
That's cool.
Hey, eli, do you have any shows?
We're going through this week?
Anything cool happening?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, we have FrogMallet and Trashpanda.
That's cool.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Trashpanda is a Florida band, but FrogMallet's
cool, they're from New England,maybe Connecticut, maybe Boston.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Both slam bands.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, it's going to be a great band.
It's going to be a crazy showand there's a couple other bands
playing on that.
I forgot the name, but I'm surewe'll talk about it next week
after the show.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Is it Peeling Flesh?

Speaker 1 (01:30):
No, no, no, they're coming with Sanguisquebug.
Oh yeah, did you see that shirtI sent you of the new merch for
?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
FrogMallet yeah, that's pretty cool.
I'll bet you're God frog With amallet.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, yeah, it's going to be a fun show.
A band that just sings aboutfrogs.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Chased through a cave by a shitting frog.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yep, that's it, that's the band.
So, eli, I was reading thisarticle about AI and
specifically the pushback fromthe art world against AI.
I created images.
It seems to be everywhere onTikTok Magma filter shows you

(02:18):
what you'd look like in aJapanese comic style, or would
show you what if you look likeSuperman flying over an ocean.
You just type in the words andit pretty much tells you
anything.
Well, the implications of AIgeneration are far reaching,
could impact everything fromfilm to graphic novels.
According to an article in theGuardian, children's

(02:39):
illustrators were quick to raiseconcerns about technology and
social media.
Among them is author andillustrator Rob Bidolf, who says
AI generated art quote is theexact opposite of what I believe
art to be.
Fundamentally, I have alwaysfelt that art is about
translating something that youfeel internally into something
that exists externally, whateverform it takes, be it a

(03:01):
sculpture, a piece of music, apiece of writing, a performance
or an image.
True art is about the creationprocess much more than it's
about the final piece, andsimply pressing a button to
generate an image is not acreative process.
You agree with that?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I agree with stuff like that.
Yeah, it's not art.
It's you asked an AI.
That's not allowed, whateverlike just it's not art, it's
generating an image.
You didn't do anything, youtyped in a prompt Like that's.
Yeah, some of that's true, someof it's like just all of its

(03:39):
mumbo jumbo sometimes.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, so I think what that artist said like further
down into the paragraph of thearticle, fundamentally he thinks
art is translating somethingyou feel internally into
something that exists externally.
And that's kind of the point ofmusic, right, like especially
heavy music.
You're really translating thoseinner feelings out into music
and usually comes out asaggressive and in the lyrics

(04:05):
kind of combine with theaggressive music to kind of
paint a picture of what thatartist is feeling.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Okay, so why am I bringing this up and talking to
you?
Let's start this pod talkingabout a little band called
Pestilence.
A little history of the band.
Pestilence is a Dutch deathmetal band founded in 1986.
They've been through variousmembership changes throughout
their existence, with vocalistPatrick Mamel as the sole
constant member.
After disbanding in order topursue other musical directions

(04:34):
in 1994, pestilence reunited in2008 and was put on permanent
hold in July 2014.
However, the band reunited onceagain in 2016.
Fast forward to now 2024, andPestilence is set to release
their 10th studio album onAgonia Records.
The most interesting part ofthis release is not the lineup,

(04:56):
it's not the music, it's not thename of the album, which is
levels of perception.
Most of the talk revolvesaround the artwork and the
artist, or the lack of artist.
So if you've seen the newPestilence album, there's an AI
creation of the four members ofthe band, right?
So I mean it looks okay.

(05:18):
I mean I don't think there'sanything wrong with that.
But Pestilence in the past hasbeen known for all their cool
artwork and all their artists,and there's been a lot of
pushback that they used an AIgenerator for this.
Yeah, the band announced theupcoming album Levels of
Perception.
A re-recording of the GreatestHits, but a reimagining of some
way.
I guess.
The band credits the coverartist as Peter Suki.

(05:41):
Have you ever heard of PeterSuki, eli?
No, no.
Have you ever looked aroundsocial media forum?
Maybe a portfolio?
No, no, you wouldn't find anyPeter Suki.
The named artist doesn't evenexist.
The cover image was made by AIand the band thinks you're
stupid enough not to notice.

(06:01):
Going so far is to make shit up.
So they made up that they usethis artist and the artist
doesn't exist, and what they didwas put all this information
into an AI generator and thenthey got their their AI album
cover On its surface.
It's a slap in the face to DougJohnson, michael Whelan, dan

(06:21):
Siegel, dan Siegre, vincentLocke, don Brodingham, larry
Carroll, ed Repka, wes Bonscott,derek Riggs and all the other
great artists who have createdthe most memorable album covers
ever.
But it's also a slap in theface of every music metal fan,
because metal is supposed to bereal.

(06:42):
Yeah, I mean, I think that'swhat that even that children's
author was coming up with.
It should be all real.
It should be from the heart.
It should be something youcreate, not something you tell
something to create that's justhas no emotional feelings.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
And a post from the band's Facebook page.
They try to explain themselvesout of this mess and they try to
push back on all their fans whoare really upset about this.
There's no AI generator yetwhich could produce pestilence
members just by typing theprompt At the time, as
experimenting with it, it was atechnique where you have to feed
AI with a lot of data.
Blah, blah, blah.

(07:18):
He goes in to try to defendhimself.
Pestilence response goes deeper.
Are we so caught up in the pastthat we do not embrace
technology?
Is recording with tape betterthan digital?
Does I'd say no, right?
Is taking a Polaroid picturebetter than newest tech phone?
It's all about the music andlyrics and that's real.
So what do you think about that, what he just said there, eli?

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Some of it, I get like, yeah, we can't stay caught
up in the past, but there's areason you pay.
Like artists don't usuallydon't get paid, they don't make
a lot of money and that's one ofthe reasons you're supporting
that artist.
And two, there's also the otherside of it, which it's not
asking AI for a prompt.
He had to physically, mostlikely paid for the AI

(08:04):
generating service, because alot of those that you have to
feed images and stuff into youhave to pay, but you're paying.
A big corporation that's, Imean, the company that he used
is unbelievably.
They make a ton of moneybecause other things are using
AI and it's just a whole.
There's no feeling behind theimage, it's just something that

(08:28):
you could.
If you look at it, you can tellit's not drawn by an artist.
It's definitely like some ofthe stuff's all weird, but it's
like just not art.
I mean there's no creativeforce behind it.
There was nothing behind it.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah, no, and I agree 100%, and I think that at least
when I was young buying analbum or a cassette tape, the
artwork was part of the album.
It was part of the wholeexperience, and I think maybe
and hopefully not I know someother genres have gotten away
from it, but so much digitallistening, people don't even
know what the artwork looks like, so it's become an afterthought

(09:09):
and this is one of the reasonsthat this is going to accelerate
it being an afterthought.
Nobody wants to look at AIpictures that are very
uninteresting and just stampedon an album.
So that's unfortunate.
I hope the band has a change ofheart because they have used
some great artists in the pastand created some very good album

(09:29):
cover artwork.
So please, pestilence, changeyour mind for all the artists
out there.
Ai has enough business.
They don't need the art worldgiven a more business, right,
yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Okay, on to the next story.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
You want to take this one, Eli.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, Slayer is back after Boom.
Yeah, after five years.
They're playing a couple ofshows upcoming.
Most people think they mighttour.
Probably not going to tour, butthey're going to play September
22, Riot Fest, Chicago,Illinois.
September 27,.

(10:09):
Louder Than Life in Louisville,Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, and I think the lineup is familiar.
Right, they're sticking withthe same lineup, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Hariah Kerry King, gary Holt and Paul Bastoff.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
The fans seem to have mixed emotions to this and I
really don't understand that.
It's Slayer Before Slayercalled it Quits.
It's not like it's Tom Hariahand a bunch of people who've
never played in Slayer.
The world's a better place whenSlayer's playing shows, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
It's like oh, they had their last tour or whatever.
They ended it and then theycame back.
There's so many other bandshave done the same thing.
I guess it's just becauseSlayer's so big.
It's also like Slayer's goingto play again and you're mad
that Slayer's going to playagain.
What's why?
Why are you mad?

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, that's crazy, especially for all the
generations that didn't get achance to witness Slayer when
they were in their heyday rightLike you.
So I'm happy that they'replaying dates and there might be
a chance in the near futurethat you get to see Slayer.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
How awesome would that be?
Great, yeah.
So the most interesting partthat I find of this whole Slayer
reunion, though, has nothingreally to do with Slayer, but
more to do with Cary King andthe Cary King band.
Where do they go?
from here.
They're set to release theirdebut album from Hell I Rise on
May 24th, and they're a supergroup of sorts, right?
So it's Cary King.
It's Paul Bestoff, so he's inSlayer, and he's in the Cary

(11:36):
King band along with MarkOssigweta, who's one of my
favorite vocalists, vocalist forDeath Angel, and then Phil
Demmel, who's been in violencein Machine Head.
He's on rhythm guitar, and thenKyle Sander, who's the bass
player from Hell.
Yeah, so Cary King has droppeda single Idle Hands.
What do you think of that song?

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Eli, that was a good.
It definitely sounded a lotlike Slayer.
You could definitely tell ithad that Slayer energy to it.
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
And he said that I think in interviews I wrote with
him that it's going to be.
It's a kind of a continuationwith that next Slayer album.
He said it was going to be thenext album.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
It was just he said.
I think what he said was thisalbum that we released would be
it's like it almost if Slayerdidn't quit.
And they created another albumwhich I guess like the, at least
from the song that we got,which was idle hands.
It was definitely you couldtell it was like Kerry King and

(12:37):
it definitely sounded so muchlike Slayer, but it wasn't,
definitely wasn't like all ofSlayer wasn't there.
It wasn't like fully Slayer.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, yeah, especially the vocals, right.
So I think the vocalist kind ofkind of Separated it, that you
knew it wasn't Slayer, becauseMark Ostegueda has a very unique
style and I was thinking theycould call the band something
else, like maybe Slayer Angel.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, it's not, it's it's I, kerry King.
Naming it something like thatis just like I Guess yeah, it's
Kerry King, but there's so manyother big people in there who've
done so much other stuff.
It's like it's like KerryKing's project.
It's not Kerry King's band,it's like his other side project
that he's now doing.
It's like a solo thing, butit's yeah, so I'm.

(13:23):
He may change out like Peoplein his band for the future, but
probably most likely he's not.
But I think those everyone inthere will stay.
But most solo artists if that'swhat he's going for will change
out the artists every so often.
But yeah, yeah, they're.
Yeah, they could go buy amillion names in it.

(13:43):
What's so you could tell it waslike oh, this is Kerry King.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah or half, Slayer Angel.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, and I don't think I mean for the people who
think that Slayer is gonna betouring Not in the near future,
because we know the Kerry Kingband is on tour right now, or
getting ready to go on a tourwith Machine head and Lamma.
God, right yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah they're playing some pretty big venues yeah the
one that we Well we're trying togo to.
They sold out so fast that theyhad to go and Like, go do other
, like they had to move it to abigger place so they could sell
more tickets, because there's somany people who wanted to go
see Kerry King that they soldout with in whatever like five
minutes they sold out.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, it was.
I was supposed to be in asmaller Place, a smaller like a
like a big big club, but yeah,then they moved it to like a
like a fairgrounds type.
Yeah, cool, so that's, that'swhat we got in the news.
You know there's so many otherbands we could talk about in the
news.
Yeah we have to pick and chooseour battles here.
Let's get into some new music.
The first band we want to catchyou up on is gate creeper.

(14:50):
Yeah, they just released a songcalled cotton the treads.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah 끓임.

(15:22):
Cen stood in the developmentline.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
So Gatekeeper Gatecreeper are from Arizona and
if you're a metal fan you'reprobably thinking Arizona's
probably not a hot bed for metalbands.
But I can tell you anythingthat's coming out of Arizona
that catches on are prettyfreaking good.
You got bands like Sacred Rite,atrophy, nuclear Death and
Flotsam and Jetsam all comingfrom that burning state.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
This new single seems like Gatecreeper are returning
to their original death metalsound.
It's complete with EricWagner's constant guitar
noodling on top of grindingdeath metal.
A lot of Gatecreeper fans canbreathe a sigh of relief.
This is not an extension of theprevious split album with Iron
Ragon that was made Gatecreeperdig more into that punk rock

(16:39):
sound.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
When I listen to that EP.
I wasn't the biggestGatecreeper fan, but I've heard
all their old stuff.
And then when I heard that EP,it was definitely a switch to
what they were doing.
They got away from some of thatSwedish sound, the death metal
chugging and it was more punkrock and choppy.
But this new single sounds likeit's a return to the original
form, right.
Yeah definitely the next singlewe saw dropping, with an album

(17:06):
coming out soon, is RidingChrist, like Father, like Son,
just like us, like father, likeson, right, I play just as their

(17:42):
corn pigs, covered like a pergoblet, playing ole the fav,
trying toadaki it From zero.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
No way to go.
Send them away like Father,like Son.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
This seems like it's album number 1,000 for Rod and
Christ.
It seems like they put outalbums all the time.
Founders Themis and SarkisTolis remain in the band and
Costa's Helotus and I'm killingthese names and I'm sorry,
they're Greek names and I am notGreek and Costa's folk on
guitar fill in for the rest ofthe album.
So there are four pieces, twonew members, but the two

(18:37):
founding members are still inthe band.
This song is very anthemic.
It's marching black metal.
Rod and Christ have tuned downfrom their previous albums so
they were getting into thatflighty, lofty black metal sound
.
But with this one they'vedefinitely tuned down.
It's a deeper tone, the soloingis beautiful and heartfelt and

(18:59):
the vocals are definitelyreturned to a meaty sounding
vocalist.
So he's sounding bigger andmore full and again less of that
black metal kind of airy kindof sound.
But only hearing one song wedon't know what's coming up in
the album Pro Ristoie it's toughto gauge the album's going to

(19:19):
be like.
I know some of the previous Rodand Christ albums have been all
over the place with styles andeverything else.
But I tell you, if the rest ofthe album has found the power
that this one single has in it.
You can consider it in rotationover here at the Riffs Across
Generations board.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Guitarist, vocalist Sokus, said this album was
inspired by the might of theancient pagan wisdom.
It's a tribute to those whoresisted the coming of
Christianity, which destroyedall the values and traditions of
knowledge of the ancient world.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
That's true fashion for all the Rod and Christ
albums, right?
I guess we wouldn't expect himto say anything different than
that?
That's pretty cool.
So next music we have to talkabout is from a band called
Necrot.
They have a new single calledCut the Cord.
This is from the band's fourthupcoming album called Lifeless
Birth.
Music, music, music, music,music, music Music.

(21:20):
In case you've been living in acave or under a rock, necrot is
a three-piece death metal bandfrom the Bay Area since 2012.
So what is that?
Like 12 years this band has hadthe same three members and this
helps to lock in that sound anda feel for the music that stays
consistent from album to album.
Notice that a lot of bands willchange out two or three members

(21:41):
of the album and you'll getlike totally different sound and
music from album to album.
But Necrot has stayed veryconsistent for the past decade
and that sound is very oldschool death metal, early
Swedish, finland type bands.
There's a very hollow and Imean that in a good way feel to
the raspy death metal vocalsthat add another dimension to

(22:01):
the constant barrage of riffsthat the guitarist, sonny
Reinhart spills out.
They release great musicwithout any special effects.
They don't really push out andtry different things.
They pretty much have a formulato how they want to play death
metal music and they do itreally well.
Seems like Necrot is always onthe road now, and right now
they're out with supportingMunicipal Waste and we saw them

(22:23):
not too long ago, right, eli?

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, municipal Waste yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, they have a crazy live show, so Necrot,
looking forward to it.
You are a fan of that oldschool no frills type death
metal and the vocals sound alittle bit like Max Cavallera's
new band with his son, so it'sgot that kind of hollow deep in
the background type vocals.
Next up we want to talk aboutFeared.

(22:47):
You know the band Feared Eli.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
So they're releasing new music after a seven year
absence.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
They've released five LPs, including a double album
called Snyder that has 13 songswith vocals and another same 13
songs with just instrumentals.
So that was kind of weird.
I guess that's what you'dexpect from Middle Folk or Ola
England something like veryinstrumental, very heavy on the
guitar sound.
So they've released their firstdemo way back in 2008.

(24:19):
And it seems like they've beenreleasing LPs there pretty quick
for a long time and then theytook that hiatus for seven years
.
Do you think their new stuffsounds like those albums at all?

Speaker 2 (24:33):
Production-wise, no, maybe Briff-wise, and just like
that whole how they kind ofsound.
Not too much, no Do you thinkthey sound different?
Maybe a little, not much.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, it seems like it's a progression.
Better production?
I think yeah, but it seems likeit's a progression even after
seven years, of where they kindof left off.
And speaking of seven years,darkest Hour had a seven-year
hiatus as well, and we saw thembefore they released this new
album.

(27:05):
I had a new album calledPerpetual Terminal, which
dropped actually the whole albumdropped last week.
A lot of bands are returningfrom long gaps and Darkest Hour
at seven years it's just anotherone of those comeback bands
that sound really good.
They haven't missed a beat.
It's a melodic metal ride withnew lead guitar work from Nico

(27:27):
Santora and he was with Cirrus,soft Tendencies, liliac Fallujah
, and he really knows the wayaround the fretboard.
There's plenty of earworms inhere and headbanging to be had
Again.
They're very new metal soundingwithout being that obnoxious
new metal sounding.
The last new music we're goingto talk about is from a band

(27:50):
that we like over here a lot,band called Exordr.
They are back and right nowthey are touring Europe.

(28:58):
They have two new singles outYear the Goat and Forever and
Beyond.
They've been released fromtheir fourth upcoming LP,
defectum Omnium.
It's kind of a weird name foran album, but don't expect that
trudging Louisiana, dirty,distorted sound of yesteryear
Exordr.
They've tuned higher andthey're way more punchy and

(29:20):
thrashy with some swirlingguitar work that gives a
dimension to the tunes and thereI say there's some punk and
hardcore feel really creeping inthere.
There's a lot of talk aboutExordr were a huge influence on
what Pantera did.
So they were just right beforethe Pantera turned from power
metal to Pantera metal.

(29:40):
Exordr, of course, doesn't takecredit for any of that, but
they were definitely inexistence and in the
conversation when they triedtheir turned their sound around.
Yeah, so they have a newguitarist as well.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
I'm not sure if they're new.
Guitarist ex Kenable Corpse, exmonstrosity, ex Nevermore, pat
O'Brien, has brought his styleto the band.
If so, he's not content withrehearsing death metal music or
death metal riffs, which is arelief.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, I don't think he really brought that Kenable
Corpse sound or the monstrositysound of the band.
He's more just.
If he I don't know how muchwork he did with this new, I'm
assuming he had some say in it.
I know he's not touring withthe band right now, but I know
he had some input on the newmusic and it's definitely a neck
break straight ahead nobullshit type of type of music.
And they got signed by aNuclear Blast records and

(30:28):
they'll be releasing the fullalbum in mid March.
So we have some Pantera news ofsorts as well, right.
So yeah.
Zach Wilde said they might bewriting new Pantera, new Pantera
songs, kind of Eli yeah.
Yeah.
Here's quote is that, while itwas quoted, as I think you would
have to call it something else,you know what I mean.
Pantera is those four guys.

(30:50):
So yeah, you can't replace that.
He also added, if there was abridge, that if there was ever a
bridge we crossed, we'd have towait until we get there.
But right now it's just thefour of us celebrating classic
Pantera.
Wilde clarified his dance,saying he's down to make more
music with the members ofPantera, including Charlie
Bonante, just not as Pantera,unless the stuff was already

(31:10):
written.
So what he's saying there isleaving the door open.
If Dimebag and Vinny Paul andthe rest of Pantera created
music, he's open to redoingthose pieces and recording them.
But as far as new songs, hesays it would have to be, you
know it'd have to be calledsomething else.
So there's a lot of peoplefreaking out about Pantera

(31:32):
touring, which was odd.
You know they made it clearthat it was just a tribute tour,
but there are people freakingout with that.
So I'm imagining Pantera fanswho really die hard.
Pantera fans are freaking outthat Zach Wilde will even bring
up creating new Pantera music.
But that's not what he's saying.
He's saying if it's alreadywritten, we'll do it.
If not, then maybe these fourguys can go on to maybe do a

(31:56):
different band.
What do you think the receptionof the different band would be?
Eli, eli-.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Eli A lot of Pantera fans would come over and listen
to that, I'm sure, and thenthere'd be some new fans, I bet,
and some fans, I'm sure, fromthe death metal scene will come
over or from Black Label Society.
I know a lot of other BlackLabel Society fans have also
come over just to see thecurrent Pantera do covers and
tours and stuff like that.

(32:20):
When now they're touringthey're going over the songs.
New songs will be interestingfor people because they'll not
like it as much because it's notlike, not Pantera, but they'll
probably make it sound likePantera, but it won't be Pantera
and new, just anything likethat, as like new songs is, I

(32:43):
don't know.
Just it'll be a weird thing.
Cb-.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah, I'm sure they can't, Even if they tried not
making it sound like Panterajust with Phil singing.
I don't know how you would notsound like Pantera in some sort.
Yeah, such a distinct vocalstyle and sound that I think
anything they do will obviouslysound like Pantera, kind of like
Kara King playing in Kara Kingband.
No matter what he does, he'sbeen doing the same thing for a

(33:08):
lot of years, like Slayer orsomething he's been doing for
decades.
Okay, so we are closing in onour interview and the interview
is with a local Tampa band,signed to Eric Distribution,
called Announcing Apocalypse.
We pre-recorded that, so werecorded that.
Yesterday we did the interviewwith Dominic.
I think it came out well.

(33:29):
How do you think Eli, eli-.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah, it came out good CB-.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Yeah, this band has a fiery new album out Progressive
Death Thresh.
You know you could throw awhole toolbox of sounds and then
what they sound like.
We're really excited to havethem on there Before we get to
that.
Thanks for listening and I hopeyou share this and are patient
with us as we continue to growthe podcast and especially the

(33:54):
format of the podcast.
So I think next podcast we'regoing to have more of a division
of the news.
Here's some new songs and Ialso wanted to throw in maybe a
mention of a very undergroundband, maybe some band that
people haven't heard of, andwe'll do that every week.
We'll like pull from those demotapes that we're hearing flying

(34:14):
around and stuff, just like oldschool style.
Do you have anything to leaveeveryone with before we get to
the interview?
Eli?
Eli no, cb I don't, eli no,nothing tonight, huh.
Okay, thanks so much forlistening and again, enjoy the
interview and we hope to see younext time.

(34:34):
Oh, next time Maybe we'll givea little preview of who the
interview is next time Eli CB-.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
We have Atrophy right , Eli-.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, Atrophy is going to be on.
Atrophy is one of my childhoodtype bands.
I remember going to them when Iwas a teenager still, so that's
very exciting that they'recoming on the pod.
So that'll be episode three.
This is episode two.
Until next time everyone Cheersand sleigh on Something cool
like that, maybe Take care Bye.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
Bye hey.

(36:56):
So welcome to the interviewpart of Riffs Across Generation.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
We're here with Dominic from the band Announce
the Apocalypse, and so I'mAndrew.
This is Eli, my co-host, so Iguess just to jump into it a
little bit.
According to EncyclopediaMetallum, it said you,
originally from Detroit, movedaround North Carolina some.
How'd you end up in Tampa?

Speaker 4 (37:28):
Yeah, correct, I'm originally from Detroit,
michigan.
That's where the band wasformed in 2007 initially, and
the band, you know, we broke upwhen I was in high school and we
didn't get back together untilabout 2016.
And that's when we startedrecording our debut album, which
was Ruins, and that wasreleased in 2017.

(37:49):
And the first lineup split uparound 2018, something like that
and eventually just work got memoving around.
You know, I moved around toNorth Carolina where I obtained
a certain position, and that'swhen I was recording the second
full length, nefarious means,and ultimately I wanted to go to
Tampa because of the deathmetal scene that originated

(38:10):
there and I just thought thatTampa would be a good spot,
considering the direction I wasmoving in with the new Announce
the Apocalypse sound.
So that's how I ended up inTampa.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yeah, and how has that worked?
How was the scene differentfrom Detroit or North Carolina
moving to Tampa?
Was it a big shift in whatyou've seen in the scene or was
it pretty the same everywhere?

Speaker 4 (38:34):
It was definitely a different shift because when we
were playing in Detroit around2017, 2018, during the Ruins
release, it was hard to find anaudience that really resonated
to what we were doing, becausewe were essentially at that time
playing a very retro,aggressive style of thrash and

(38:54):
in the Detroit area the onlyreally there was no thrash scene
.
I don't even know if there isto this day.
Really it was very much focusedaround metal core, post
hardcore things of that nature,right.
So we were playing to audiencesand we didn't really seem to
fit in.
So it was hard to find our spotin that particular scene and

(39:15):
moving to Tampa.
It's been a complete differentexperience.
All in all, we've been able tofind audiences that resonate
with our sound and we've hadreally good opportunities as
well.
We've opened for monstrosityobituary.
Those have been pretty much thetwo significant shows that

(39:35):
we've done thus far in the Tampaarea and we've had very good
responses for both.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeah, so that's great to hear what was the, I guess,
the evolution of the announcedapocalypse sound from your first
album to this last one,Experience Machine.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
So when we released Ruins in 2017, a lot of that
material was literally justmaterial taken from 2007, when
we were in high school, and justrevamped.
You know it was 10 years later.
We took a lot of those songs,we literally just that and we
kind of reconstructed them.
But there wasn't a lot ofpreparation in making that

(40:18):
particular record.
We literally went in with fourdays to make the whole album, to
track guitars, vocals, bass,drums everything in just four
days.
It was a very gritty processand I mean the record kind of
speaks for itself as far as thatexperience, because when you
listen to it it's a very rawalbum.
There's like missing notes anda lot of the solos.

(40:40):
It just has that old schoolvibe and a lot of people.
There's definitely an audiencefor that Some people appreciate
it.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
Yeah, that's me.
I think that first album ofyours is pretty solid still not
compared to what you're doingnow, but it's still pretty solid
music.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
Sure, yeah, no, and I definitely see that there's an
audience for that.
For me, though, I definitelywanted to create, once the first
lineup split, I wanted tocreate something a little more
that was indicative of mypotential as a songwriter and as
a musician, because I startedplaying, you know, during that
10-year gap between 2007 and2017, I really didn't play a lot

(41:18):
of guitar, so once I picked itback up and really consistently
played, I wanted to kind of Iwanted to make an album that
showcased my consistency withhow I've been playing throughout
those from between 2017 to 2020, right, that consistency.
So I guess I started listeningto a lot of different music too,
because I was focused.
I was really into 80s thrashmetal growing up, you know, just

(41:42):
like the big four anddefinitely the new wave of
American heavy metal as wellinfluenced me drastically, like
Lama, god, trivium, those kindof bands, kill, switch, engage,
they still do, and so a lot ofmy influences earlier came from
that.
But as I you know, when I wasin my late 20s, early 30s, I was
definitely listening to moredeath metal.

(42:02):
Like, definitely death is oneof my biggest inspirations, and
Swedish melodic death metal aswell.
I listened to a lot of them.
So you know, just listening tothose different artists and
whatnot definitely inspired me.
You know, I don't know if itinspired my sound per se, but it
just as an artist like it kindof gave me a new perspective on

(42:24):
music and the extreme element inwhat you can do with it, right.
So I was trying to incorporatethat plus my own experiences,
and try to create a form of newsound with ATA moving forward.
And plus I also hired duringthe pandemic I hired Adrian
Hurlinson from at the Gates tobe my session drummer for
nefarious means, so.

(42:45):
So having him involved in themaking of that album also
attributed to a different soundfor the second LP.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
Right, nice, nice.
And so the experience machinehas all new band members except
for yourself, correct?
So how did you go about lookingfor musicians to join you?
It's a complicated album.
It's definitely a progressivethrash death.
You throw a lot of different.
I guess, from your backgroundlistening, there's a lot of
different styles going on atonce.

(43:15):
There's nothing simple, I guess, about it.
I mean there's a couple ofsimple parts that are more
melodic, but it's definitely ariffage type album.
So how did you find musiciansaround the area that could keep
up with what you were doing orwanting to do?
I?

Speaker 4 (43:30):
found Kelly, so Kelly Burns is a second guitarist.
He was the first guy that Ifound when I was looking for a
full lineup moving to the Tampaarea.
I found him on Craigslist atall places and I got lucky.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Nice yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
He's definitely an amazing guitar player.
So he was the first guy I foundand that was really it was just
me and him.
You know, when I moved to TampaI met up with him and I had a
basis in mind that I also foundthrough Craigslist, but he ended
up it just didn't work out.
And then I ended up going to adeath tribute show at the brass
mug one night in Tampa wherethey pretty much were honoring

(44:05):
the life of Chuck Scholdner.
So I met my current basis,who's Sean Loretto, and he was
there and you know we exchangedphone numbers and eventually I
called him up to see if hewanted to jam because I needed a
basis, and he came over with meand Kelly and that ended up
working out.
And it was just really us three.
For a while we were.
We were just writing.

(44:26):
You know, we had this newmaterial.
I had this whole conceptalready planned out.
For what experience wasexperience machine was going to
be?
Because I it's going to.
It's a full length, linear story.
You know it's a concept album.
So I had this concept laid outand the three of us were
starting to arrange these songsand and we were playing shows

(44:48):
here and there and we had acouple of like odd shows where
we played to samples, where itwas just either me and Sean or
me, sean and Kelly playingsample tracks with no drummer,
right from the nefarious meansalbum.
So we did a couple of thoseshows but it was really hard
finding a drummer.
For a long time, I mean, wealmost came to the point where
we were going to give up becauseit was just we couldn't find

(45:10):
somebody to keep up with thatmaterial.
Everyone was either taken oryou just couldn't find the guy.
And eventually Kelly he was in aside project and the drummer in
the side project he heardannounced the apocalypse and he
really was interested, right,and that turned out to be Adrian
Baptist.
So Adrian Baptist came in thepicture and we, you know, we

(45:31):
jammed with him a couple oftimes and the chemistry was
there.
He's a great guy, he's a, he'sdefinitely a veteran in the area
, he's played in a lot of bandsand he just automatic.
It was just fluid, right, therewasn't.
It was just a fluid processoverall.
And once we found, once I found, those three guys, we went
straight in and started writingthe material and pretty much

(45:55):
that's how it happened.
I mean, it was a, it was aquick process.
Once we found Adrian, once wegot the drummer, and, yeah, the
writing process was pretty easyfrom there on.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Nice.
Was it the lyrics first or wasit the music first?

Speaker 4 (46:10):
Yeah, for me it's always the music first, for sure
.
Yeah.
Sometimes I find I think there'sbeen a trend when I'm writing
music where I'll have maybe ahook like a, like a sentence of
words and that attributes aparticular melody and I'll keep
that and that'll either be thetitle of the song or just maybe

(46:33):
the core or something like that,and I'll always keep that and
it will just stick with me.
But I won't write the entiretyof the lyrics until later.
I just I just need the conceptof the song and what it's about
and almost like where the melodyis going, and then I'll start
writing the lyrics.
They always typically comesecondary in the writing process
.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Let's dig a little bit deeper into the experience
machine.
It's distributed through Eric,but is it on the label Eric or
just distribution agreement withthem to help you get what more
widespread?

Speaker 4 (47:04):
Correct.
Yeah, so it was just.
Essentially, they offer thisdigital platform where you can
go on their distro label andthey'll distribute your music.
Yeah, there's, we have nobinding terms with them, nothing
like that.
We're not on here, right?
It's just we.
We can.
We paid for their services,right?

(47:25):
So they helped us out with that.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Has that?
Has that helped a lot, youthink with with distribution and
getting ears onto your music?

Speaker 4 (47:33):
Yeah, I think this album has definitely surpassed
the predecessors as far as anykind of recognition.
When I release ruins andnefarious means, they kind of
went under the rug.
You know, definitely someoutlets reviewed it.
They put it on a few best ofthe year lists for underground
music.
But this album by far hasreceived much more recognition

(47:57):
and that also kind of coincideswith us as a band definitely
putting in a lot of effort intothe campaigning and the music
videos.
All just a bunch of differentresources how we you know, for
us to be able to showcase thenew album as an independent
artist.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
How like has been using physical copies versus
digital copies.
Like did you like?
What was the difference?
Like, would you rather do?
Like physical copies, wouldthat like be something you'd
rather do than digital, ordigital would be preferred, or
like what's the thing with that?

Speaker 4 (48:31):
So, considering we are a relatively unknown band in
the scheme of all things,definitely digitally, this has
been an advantage for us becausewe've been able to reach
audiences internationally.
You know, through thesecampaigns and everything, a lot
of our audiences have come fromplaces such as Brazil, mexico.
We've noticed that a lot of thethe, the streets have come from

(48:55):
those kind of areas.
So, yeah, I think physicalcopies will definitely they can
be an advantage if we play, ifwe have better opportunities to
play for audiences that willreally resonate with our music
live, because I've noticed thatonce when we do play in front of
audiences that really get whatwe're trying to do, then we sell
some copies.
You know what I mean Once theyhear our music live.

(49:17):
Yes, totally, the physicalcopies are a huge advantage that
they need to be there for sure,because some people prefer that
.
But definitely in this moderndigital age right now,
independent artists candefinitely strive through using
those various digital platformsand that's definitely been an
advantage for us with this album.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
Yeah, I think we like both.
We of course got the copy fromyou in the t-shirt when you
first launched the album, sowe're grateful that you're still
putting it out on CD.
But it's also nice to have itdigitally where you can just
take it on your phone and plugit into your car and you don't
have to worry about bringing CDsand changing stuff out.
So I think we over here seethat, yeah, that positive in
both, and it's definitelypositive for podcasts that

(49:59):
everything's digital.
Now you can reach an audienceolder than you.
So I remember I was in a bandearly 90s and it was all just
trying to get your demo outthere and sending cassette tapes
to everyone and trying to sellit at a show and it was hard to
get out of your region.
So I think you know, Iappreciate that you can reach
that audience and I think it'sgood for bands like you that

(50:20):
have a different sound and havea more progressive sound to
reach that audience outside ofjust the Tampa death metal area
as well.
Yeah for sure.
So Experience Machine is aconcept album.
You touched on that a littlebit.
Whenever I hear a concept album, I think of Operation Mind,
crime, of course, the key byNocturnus Seven Sun of a Seven
Sun, abigail, by King Diamond.

(50:41):
Is the concept album inspiredby any of them, or how did the
whole concept come about?

Speaker 4 (50:48):
It's something I've always wanted to do.
Growing up.
I've been inspired by a lot ofthese very notable records,
especially Pink Floyd's the Wall.
That definitely inspired me alot in my teenage years.
And you mentioned OperationMind Crime.
Definitely their particularstyle for their album inspired

(51:09):
this one, Because I've noticedthe way Experience Machine is
laid out.
It's different from a lot ofconcept albums, but it's very
much inspired by Operation MindCrime in that they use a lot of
dialogue throughout the wholealbum to tell the story.
It wasn't just music, right.
Dialogue definitely was a verykey element to that album and so

(51:31):
, especially with ExperienceMachine, we use a lot of
dialogue and that also helpstell the story.
So I always tell anybody ifthey want to listen to this
album you should probably startfrom the beginning and listen to
it all the way through, becauseyou'll understand what we were
trying to achieve and just theelement of the story.

(51:52):
Otherwise, if you start thealbum randomly, you might get
lost or just not really get agood understanding of what the
album is trying to say yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
So Eli and I have went through the album quite a
few times and we were trying topiece everything that was
happening with every song andfirst we appreciate that at
least what we came away with wasthe emotion of the music, fit
what you were saying in thatpart of the storyline.
That was really good.
But let me go down and see ifwe got it correct, the whole
storyline, and you can piecewhere we're missing.

(52:25):
So there's a main character andhe's angry and goes to protests
about gun violence, has issuesof some sort with his girlfriend
.
She kills herself.
Then he goes to the funeral.
He meets a character called DrDraven who says he can relate to
him because he lost his son aswell and invites him to come for

(52:46):
an experiment.
The experiment is called theexperience machine, which is
basically hooking him up to anAI world where he's famous and
always happy and doesn't feelbad emotions.
He comes back again and is sadright off the bat because of
another mass shooting.
Then the doctor gets killed andthen the main character goes
back into the machine forever.

(53:06):
How do we do?

Speaker 4 (53:09):
pretty good sir.
Yeah, pretty spot-on, yeah,yeah, no, there was just one,
one element.
So there's the songs foreverthe pariah that's about, I think
it's track.
Yeah.
Album.
So for that moment when he doesgo back, you know when the when
the mass shooting happens,after he's unplugged, he returns

(53:30):
home it's Suggestive in thealbum that he returns home and
encounters his mother and shekind of blames him for what
happened to his girlfriend.
Oh yeah, we missed that part andthat, yeah, it's very, it's a
very subtle song.
But and then he at the end ofthe track here him plugging back
into the machine, so so, yeah,I was sick, I don't know.

(53:51):
I mean, that's really up to the, to the listener, what they
want to interpret based on thatparticular part of the story.
But that's kind of the idea hemakes an encounter on one on one
, a last time encounter with hismother and he kind of just
Tells her I mean, it is what itis, you know, you're gonna hate
me forever, and and he wants togo back in the machine because
he was happy there.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Yeah, that's good and bad.
I guess it's the whole matrixthing.
If you, if you're hooked up andhaving a good life, do you want
to get out of it or not?
Absolutely so.
How would you describe themusic, would you?

Speaker 4 (54:21):
yeah, music as far as like how would you describe the
muse?
I would yeah, it's.
It's different, right, themusic, I think we're definitely
there.
One reviewer, I think he,nailed this particular album.
He called it extremeprogressive metal, and I think
that's what it is, honestly,because there's definitely

(54:43):
thrash metal components, deathmetal components as well, but in
the scheme of all things, thealbum definitely deviates from
those two genres heavily.
Right, there's a lot ofdifferent things going on and
but, but there's always thatcomponent of Aggression like
visceral aggression throughoutthe whole album that I think is

(55:05):
missing heavily in modern today,or modern metal today is just
that visceral energy of Anger.
Right, there was a lot of thatin earlier metal and I feel like
that's missing into this metaldrastically.
Everything is just so saturatedand you know, when people review
this album or even hear us,they always they mention how

(55:26):
angry we sound, and I thinkthat's kind of ironic, because
isn't that?
What metal was.
You know, isn't that what metalsupposed to be?
It's about rebellion, and and Ifeel like metal has become
almost so deluded now and soConformatory I don't know that I
always I'm gonna keep thatelement in our music going like
it's always gonna be raw, andand so that's the one factor I

(55:50):
think that distinguishes us isyeah.
The extreme element and just theprecision too.
I definitely wanted us tocapture a certain precision
Encompassed through thataggressive nature.
So I don't know, it's reallyhard to explain our music as a
whole, but that's, yeah, thedirection we're going right.

(56:10):
We're not trying to copyanybody.
We're now trying to like mimica particular genre or say we get
compared to like death oftenwhen we play.
But I don't think really, youknow, I don't even want to touch
the legacy of Chuck Schollner.
What he did, that's just,that's totally that's their
thing.
You know well, we're trying.
We're trying to do somethingdifferent, we're finding our

(56:31):
sound and that's, I think we'redefinitely getting there with
this particular release as well.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
Nice, we do as well.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
One of the things that we really thought was cool
about the mix is it you couldalmost hear every instrument
like the bass wasn't like Justlike sounded like the guitar.
You could all hear itindividually, but it all mixed
very well together and allsounded very well.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Yeah, no I was gonna say it was, it was mixed at more
sound.

Speaker 4 (57:02):
No, so that was we recorded.
Nefarious means the second, thesophomore LP at more sound.
The majority that album wasrecorded more sound.
This album was mixed by mixed amaster, by Jamie King in North
Carolina.
He did the mixing on thisrecord.
He's he's most famous forworking with between the buried

(57:22):
in me.
That's that's his Most notableact that he works with.
So he's an amazing, amazing guy.
Definitely, definitely didn'treally well on this album.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Yeah, as you I said, I think we're Listening to it a
lot and we could notice, likethe other, though you didn't
hide the bass guitar in thebackground and nothing is like
kind of smudged together.
You didn't compress anything.
Everything is is is highlighted, I guess, as the music goes
along.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, you could definitely.
You can hear, I think out ofall three albums it's definitely
the bass is the most you get,it's most prominent on this
record.
Like you said, nothing washidden and I think the drums
Also play a huge part on thisalbum.
When those kicks come in oncertain parts they definitely
they take over.

(58:08):
Yeah they stand out.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
And it was.
It was really refreshing tohear such an aggressive band not
just have double bass and blastbeats throughout the whole
thing.
There's some some complexdrumming going on in the
background that helps build thesong overall.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
Exactly.
Yeah, for sure I think, and Ithink also the vocals are
different.
What we were trying to do, Ithink, and I think that goes
back to how people say we soundangry because the vocal approach
isn't just like those deep,guttural for a lot of death
metal and stuff like I actuallywant.
I don't know, I don't reallyhave a technique when I'm doing

(58:44):
vocals, I just go in there and Ireally just pour it out.
You know, like I just Passionand what the song entails.
And yeah, I think it's.
It does sound pretty angry andextreme, but I Don't know, I
think it fits our sound.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
Complicated enough, like, but the guitar was being
so complicated.
How do you work your singinginto that Like it's?
You're going through all thosecomplicated guitar riffs and you
could sing at the same timecrazy.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Yeah, thank you.
Definitely.
Some some songs take practicewe it's funny because State of
nihilism in the wake, those arethe first couple tracks on the
record.
When I first started rehearsingthose songs, I Immediately
could do it right.
I could just pick it up andplay guitar Simultaneously and
do the the vocals.

(59:29):
But then other songs, likeforever, the pariah or something
, if they take some rehearsingto be able to balance all that
out.
So yeah, I think it justdepends on the song, because I
don't.
Sometimes I'll write a lyric ora particular vocal melody to to
match the guitar part, so thatmaybe it's more easy for me to
do live, and other times it'snot really a thought, I don't

(59:53):
really think about it, I justwant to write a great song.
So eventually I'll just have toprepare myself at home and
practice so that I can do bothat the same time and Eventually
it works out and the album coverof the album.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Wait, is that the experience machine?
Okay, and who designed thatalbum cover?

Speaker 4 (01:00:14):
Yes, so that was that was made by an artist named
Gregoth, and he did that.
I like to have my album coversdone prior to the whole process
of writing and Recording thealbum.
I always like to have a visualof what the out the, because

(01:00:34):
that's essentially like theblueprint for me.
When I see the cover like thisis what this, what the songs are
going to be like, this is, Ineed to get that visual element
in order to sonically create.
So he made the cover back in2021 and we didn't start
recording until 2023.
Yeah, I just pretty much.
I gave him the concept of thestory, I told him what it's

(01:00:55):
about and then he came up withthat.
He did an amazing job nice.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
One song on the album For us kind of stuck out as
being different than all theothers, like this one doesn't
fit, kind of thing.
It not in a bad way, but in agood way.
It's a dr Draven.
That's actually one of ourfavorite songs and the music you
know we were talking about, youknow what we hear and it's kind
of like and this may be a Idon't know whatever, but
Halloween meets death is kind ofhow we.

(01:01:23):
It's kind of happy, but it'salso raw and aggressive.
I don't know what to say.

(01:02:01):
But I don't know what to say.
My name is Dr Trevon.
I rule out.
What is the meaning of your life?
I'm being exiled, smashed anddenied, destroyed and died.
I risk it.
So let this fucking hell putyou down Like the son of a

(01:02:22):
perspective, after a prettyancient time, you'll be in my
head.
Respect me, I'm a wimp, just aleader.
I am prepared to be supremeWithout your worry.

(01:02:45):
Come your peace of mind.
Reluct in your sin?
So let this fucking hell putyou down.
I'm being exiled, smashed anddenied.
Reluct in your sin?
So let this fucking hell putyou down Like the son of a

(01:03:09):
perspective After a prettyancient time.
Respect me, just me.
I'll show you life.

(01:03:31):
So can you talk a little bitabout how that song came along,
and does that in your head likestick out from the rest of the
music that you guys made for thealbum?

Speaker 4 (01:03:50):
It's ironic that that song has become like the
popular song on the album.
Every single interview we dothat song gets brought up.
It's funny.
I was not expecting thatwriting Dr Trevon.
Dr Trevon is just.
It's one of those songs thathas to be there because you got
to introduce the character andwhen I was writing the song I

(01:04:14):
wanted, like you said, I wantedit to feel uplifting.
You know, like, almost likeit's because that's the purpose,
right, the vocals are higher.
Sure.
It's not as low as the rest ofthe album because it's a
character and he's it's almostlike a mad scientist.
That's what I was envisioning.
He's trying to help this man,he's trying to help this machine

(01:04:37):
.
He's excited for this Becausehe gets to fight.
He thinks this is the perfectsubject for this machine that
he's created and so he's excitedfor him.
I mean it's so.
I wanted to exude that elementof that.
Something good is about tohappen, and that's essentially
the last song on, because ifthis album was a vinyl, if we

(01:05:01):
were to distribute vinyls, youknow side eight and then you
turn over to the vinyl andthat's nice yeah.
You know what I mean.
So it's like a duck right.
He introduces himself.
You know this character isgoing into this world and I'll
flip it over, right.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
So Love it Awesome.
Um, yeah, let's talk a littlebit about um announce the
apocalypse live.
The last time we saw you was atthat hot as hell obituary show
at the mug, where we were justmelting in the audience.
Um, how hot was it on stage?
And do you have a favoriteplace you guys like to play that
maybe isn't so hot all the time.

Speaker 4 (01:05:36):
You were there.
Huh, that's funny yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
Yeah, we were there yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:05:42):
That show was notorious, notoriously hot, I
mean insane.
I remember there was a pointwhere they had to take the yeah,
we saw some.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
We saw some people.
We saw some people dropping offin the crowd having to be
carried out and stuff.
It was pretty nuts.

Speaker 4 (01:05:58):
Oh my God, that's funny.
Yeah, oh yeah it.
You know it was it was.
It was an amazing experiencebeing there.
There were definitely timeswhere it was hard to play our
music because I was sweating somuch that, literally, sweat was
almost causing a lot of my dickRight.
It was just insane.

(01:06:20):
I I was not expecting it to bethat bad and cause I never
played in Florida in in July,you know, I mean just like the
peak of summer and and just allthose people encompassed in that
little building I mean it was.
It was so crazy.
And on top of it we were theywere kind of rushing everything
because I guess there was a Idon't know the schedule was

(01:06:41):
behind.
So we were on stage and we werejust trying to do our thing, you
know, pump out our five, sixsongs, and it was.
I mean, honestly, it was one ofthe best experiences,
regardless of how intense it was.
I mean it was totally anuncomfortable environment, but
that's kind of that's a goodthing in a way, especially with
the music we're doing.

(01:07:01):
You know, like we want to, wewant to have that uncomfortable
vibe because it is an aggressivemusic overall.
That's the point.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
Yeah, it was definitely an aggressive show.
We could.
We could feel it from the bandson stage and then also with the
crowd.
It was, you know, shoulder toshoulder there's not much room.
You know, the pit in that smallarea was going crazy.
So, yeah, it was there.
So what's your favorite placeto play, if, if not, the brass
mug?

Speaker 4 (01:07:26):
I'll tell you this the brass mug definitely has the
best sound.
Shout out to Rick, great soundguy, Amazing.
So I definitely like playingthere because of that particular
component.
But we recently played cagebrewing in St Pete.
I thought that was a reallycool venue, the way, the way it
was set up and almost felt likea mini amphitheater, just the

(01:07:49):
whole vibe of that.
That was pretty cool.
So overall I'll just say thebrass mug, because for me sound
is very important.
We've definitely played venueswhere just the sound messed up
what we were trying to do, thewhole atmosphere, everything I
mean.
So having that sound guy thatis competent and delivers makes

(01:08:13):
a huge difference.
So, yeah, probably brass mug.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
Yeah, and it seems like the mug is is the brass mug
is really supportive to thescene as well.
They have a lot of local showsand a lot of local bands opening
up for the National Act.
So, yeah, we like supportingthem.

Speaker 4 (01:08:28):
Yeah, to be on obituary.
That was.
That was crazy.
I remember Adrian, our drummer,saying that he he's been
wanting to do that for years toopen for obituary Right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
The fact that they gave us that opportunity.

Speaker 4 (01:08:39):
It was so amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
What was some of the gear that was used on the album,
like guitar amps, guitars,stuff like that?

Speaker 4 (01:08:48):
So I used my ESP.
Actually that's behind me inthe corner, I don't know if you
can see it, but I use that and Ialways use my PV 6505 plus,
that's.
That's really my go-to head andI can't really speak for the
guys what they use.
But yeah, that's.

(01:09:10):
I've typically always go withmy PV for my, my sound.
I don't use a lot of effects.
I've been.
I've been experimenting with alittle bit of delay recently,
but for that particular albumcycle it was kind of just plug
in and go from there and we'llthrow some effects in post and
whatnot.
But moving forward I think I'mdefinitely.
I've been experimenting morepractically from home, you know,

(01:09:32):
with different kinds of pedals,cool.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
Is there one piece of gear you guys maybe you
personally can't do without.
So if you're playing out orgoing to the studio, you have to
have.
Is it the guitar or is it thehead, or is it one piece you
have to have?

Speaker 4 (01:09:45):
Yeah, the head is definitely my thing.
I love the PV.
It's, it's aggressive, it's Imean, I think it's a kind of I'm
not sure something.
I think it's a.
I think the model was based onsomething that Eddie Van Halen
created.
I couldn't like, don't quote meon this, but I just, I just
love this particular head and asfar as guitar.

(01:10:06):
I'm still looking for the guitarI want.
I just ordered, actually a newJackson like a Jackson USA, so
I'm going to see how that worksout, because the ESP I don't
know, it's just for me, it's notworking out right now.
I'm kind of over it for thetime being Definitely has its
mental value for me, but I wantto find a new guitar because
it's kind of I think it'sinspiring me moving forward in

(01:10:27):
the writing process andeverything.

Speaker 1 (01:10:28):
Okay, what's next for the band shows, tours, anything
big coming up.
You want to plug?

Speaker 4 (01:10:34):
Sure.
So yeah, we do have a showcoming up locally in St Pete.
That's if I brood, or yeah, ifI brood the world.
I don't even know what the hellthe freaking venue is called.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
Yeah, it's in St Pete though.

Speaker 4 (01:10:48):
I'm my apologies.

Speaker 1 (01:10:50):
Yeah, we'll put a link in.
Yeah, we saw it come up onsocial.
I put a link in for you.

Speaker 4 (01:10:54):
Yeah, yeah, but that's the name of the venue in
St Pete and that's in May, andwe do have some festivals as
well that are currently pending.
So that's really the goal rightnow we're trying to get on a
couple of festivals to, to youknow, reach out a little bit and
get in different areas maybelarger audiences and whatnot,
and and we're still definitely,you know, doing our thing with

(01:11:16):
this particular album.
We got campaigns runningvirtually as well so we can
increase streams, and thewriting process is slowly
happening for the follow upalbum.
But we're not.
We had a meeting and we're notrushing anything for the time
being.
We're definitely going to takeour time with this new album and
, yeah, see, see where it goes.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
Nice.
So what else can we or fanslike you to help support you
guys and find you?
Or you are on all all I'massuming you're on all platforms
Spotify, apple Music, amazon,those things.
Do you have a band camp wherepeople can buy merch?

Speaker 4 (01:11:53):
Yes.
So yes, we are.
We're on every single andpretty much major streaming
platform.
Whatever you want Spotify,apple, we're on all of them, and
but, yeah, preferably.
Yeah, we do have a band campfor this album too, so you can
buy if you want.
We'll have copies, you know,physical copies of experience
machine.
We still have t-shirts as well.

(01:12:14):
So, yeah, if you want, you candefinitely reach out on the band
camp and that supports usdirectly.
But whatever you likeultimately I mean hey, there's
so many different resources now,whatever fits your needs.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
Awesome.
So anything else you want toleave our audience with how to
remember you guys by or besidesgoing and checking you out?

Speaker 4 (01:12:36):
All I can say is, if you do, anyone that's first
hearing this album, listen tothe whole thing.
If you, if you definitely wantto invest your time into
listening to what we created,then listen to the whole album,
linear, from beginning to end,because that that will really
give you the full experience andthat's really all I have to say

(01:12:58):
.

Speaker 1 (01:12:59):
Well, we appreciate your time.
This show will probably drop onMonday.
We were going to do every otherweek with this, but we've had a
lot of good luck here lately,so we're going weekly.
So, yeah, this will probablycome out Monday and I'll let you
know.
And you'll see us on socialmedia as well.
I think social media isactually harder at this point
than getting actual listeners.
We've had a struggle on yeah,we've had a struggle on social

(01:13:22):
media compared to how manydownloads we've had on the
podcast.
So it's weird that it's kind offlip flopped what I thought it
would be.
Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
It's nice meeting you.
I'm sure we'll see you at ashow in the upcoming future.

Speaker 4 (01:13:33):
Thank you guys for the support too.
I really appreciate.
It means a lot.
Where have you been?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.