June 12, 2023 • 59 mins
Oooo Yeehaaah!!! This week on Zen Perry Project, melt yer blues away and fuel your fire with Jaymz Lennfield, our hero of the day from BEATALLICA - a delightful band that definitively answers “What would it sound like if Metallica covered the Beatles?”. Revolving through topics like what goes into releasing a song in 14 different languages, why gigs at casinos are hard on vocals, and how all you need to sustain a passion is a bit of love - you’d be unforgiven to miss this one \m/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got it.
I'm in Westlake Ohio.
So, we played tonight in LakeWood.
We're in all the lakes.
You know we're hitting all thelakes in Ohio apparently.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
So how's the how's the weather over there right now
?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's cool, yeah, which is great.
It's not, like you know, 97degrees out and super obnoxious,
you know what I mean.
So this is a lot better.
So I'd rather travel and stufflike this, you know, than
anything else.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
So yeah, 100 degrees in the van.
Yeah, it's a where Michael andI are right now.
It's a very, very smoky.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's like smoky inside my house right now.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
That's, that's what I had heard, all the wild
wildfire stuff and everythinglike that.
I was just with a visiting witha buddy of mine in Winnipeg and
he's just like, yeah, he's beentraveling around this whole
area and stuff.
He's just like, yeah, it's all.
the air quality is totallyterrible And what are you going
(01:02):
to do?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
We're just, we're living the life you know, doing
the best we can.
We're into music, We're intotalking about art and all that
good stuff.
Probably do a properintroduction for everybody
listening right now.
So your name is James andyou're in a band called Beat.
Talica Is that right.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
That is true, that is true.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yes, how long has the beat Talica been playing
together?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Well, we've been touring since 2007.
So I guess that's when I couldsay we really started playing
consistently.
But the the fledgling notionsof what beat Talica is really
started in 2001, way back then.
(01:46):
Now this is just simple ideasrecording MP3s, you know, not
being signed, you know I meanthings like that, you know.
So we've been touring since2007.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Wow, how, how did that?
how did it even start back inthe first days, before you even
started touring?
How did you get the idea to dobeat Talica?
So beat Talica is a mashupbetween Beatles and Metallica.
Would you guess that?
Yeah, happy accident, happyaccident.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, i mean we typically say the band found us.
We did not find the band.
We never intended to find theband.
When myself and our originalguitar player we were kind of
goofing around with some stuffon on an April Fool's Day for an
(02:37):
April Fool's show in Milwaukeeand we're like, okay, well, what
would this band do with thisband, you know, and et cetera,
et cetera, we started recordingsome MP3s just for fun and
handed them out on an AprilFool's Day show.
Now that show is called SpoofFest, which is something that I
book and I do.
(02:58):
The hospitality for Thatfestival is now 30 years old
next year.
So we did this at Spoof Fest,not beat Talica, but we did the
works of Metallica doing anApril Fool's joke That those
MP3s caught fire on the internet, basically.
(03:19):
And about six months later,while I still was not in a band,
our former webmaster found me,got ahold of me through Friends
of Friends of Friends and said,hey, this is who I am.
I started a website and I namedyour band beat Talica.
So we didn't name it, we didnot pursue it.
(03:42):
It was named for us and put onthe internet for us And then
from there it started gettingall these hits and interests and
craziness And he's like youneed to make more music.
This guy his name is Dave Dixon.
He was a physics professor atMarquette University in
(04:05):
Milwaukee And he's like you needto make more music because I'm
getting messages from MikePortnoy and people like Living
Color writing and the pokes Andyou need to do more of this.
So it kind of grew from thereAnd we don't have a second batch
.
(04:25):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Like you don't have a choice.
This is what you're doing now,because it's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I'm just like, yeah, man, i'm not even in a band,
dude.
You know he's like you are nowand it's called beat Talica.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So very rare that somebody tells you to make a
band.
So yeah, pretty rad.
How are these MP3s shared backin the day?
Was it just through the websitesomehow, or was it would be
hilarious if it was on that.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
We well, no, we didn't even have a website at
first.
He made a website fromBitTorrent stuff, so he did that
.
So I think our first websitemay have been a MySpace page,
(05:09):
something like that, and thenpeople started writing in and
then we got a formal website andthen an updated website because
that website got shut down, andso then we got another website,
but it was really, you know,just started with the BitTorrent
stuff, and then file sharing,which we have no control over,
(05:33):
and then MySpace, you know, andthen people make comments which
we have no control over.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Still say nobody does .
What were like Mike Portnoy andLiving Colour and the Pogues?
What were they all saying aboutVitalik at the start?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Well, portnoy has been a huge fan and a huge
proponent of the band.
He's played with us on a coupleof occasions and we've done
stuff with Dream Theater.
One of the other first ones wasthe webmaster from Hank
Williams III back then.
Something like I'm shootingmilk out of my nose in laughter
(06:11):
or something like that onto mykeyboard or something like that.
It's all in our bio.
But I mean, like some otherbands were writing in when we
started getting shut down, youknow, in our defense, you know
just basically saying like, hey,this is, this is good stuff,
(06:33):
these guys aren't trying to doanything, you know, slanderous
or libelous or anything likethat.
So they were kind of coming toour defense.
And then eventually Metallicadid as well And that's kind of
been a more well-known thing now, you know.
So.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, how did I mean, how did that even just start?
How did that?
Wow, where do you even startfrom there?
Like a band just made, made foryou.
but it also just worked out how, let's, let's go back, let's go
.
When did you first?
first start playing music?
like, very first start playingmusic.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I was for.
my first gig was at a Lutheranchurch in a suburb of Milwaukee.
I sang my first song in publicin German, So my first gig
wasn't in my own native language.
So I was for and startedlearning basic piano from there.
(07:31):
My grandma was teaching me youknow, German.
I know a tiny bit of someconversational German.
I basically just by memorylearned the words to Silent
Night was so still a knock,highly genoc.
I'll just slave to Einsteinsome box.
(07:52):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, yeah.
And then the whole stuff fromyour grandma or just the yeah, i
.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Then I took some some German in high school.
But our German teacher was socool.
All he wanted to do is talkabout hockey, which I'm.
I was like that's great.
So so did that.
I ended up taking some Spanishthen, but then I was also a
foreign exchange student toBogota, columbia, when I was in
high school, so I startedlearning conversational and
(08:20):
street Spanish and can getmyself across the city And then
it worked.
After that worked in an innercity of the south side of
Milwaukee as a big Hispaniccommunity and everything, so I
started learning it there.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Awesome, so go see all the.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
All you need is blood EP, which we can talk about
later, which is done indifferent languages and
everything.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So all right, we'll definitely talk about that.
What was, what was like, yourfirst band?
What were you doing after thatpoint?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Like I mean my first, my first band, not including
air bands and dressing up likeace, really, when I was six
years old because of my samegrandma, i'm going to play
frisbee in the park as ace,really, in moon boots.
My first band I was 18.
(09:08):
It was a band called necromancyAnd I was picking my sister up
from high school And these guys,they knock on the window of the
car and they're just like Heyman, you're right, because my
nickname is Tinker.
And he goes, you're Tinker,right.
(09:29):
And it's like yeah, it's likeyou like metal, right.
And it's like, yeah, like youwant to be in a band?
Yeah, so good, because we'regetting rid of our singer.
come down here, learn thesesongs.
I'm like great.
So that's how I joined my firstband, literally by someone
knocking on my car window andsaying Hey man, you want to be
(09:53):
in a band.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
There you go And I just sang.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I just sang in that band.
It was a crossover metal punkband.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
What, uh, what were your first shows?
like, what were you doing?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
My first gig and that was with this band.
You know who Blind Illusion are, but do not Okay.
Blind Illusion San Francisco.
We played at this place calledthe Odd Rock Cafe in Milwaukee.
It's no longer there, but theguy who owned the Odd Rock
started the Milwaukee Metal Fest.
(10:27):
For those of you who know someof the bigger festivals, he
started the Milwaukee Metal Fest.
So we get in there.
And Blind Illusion at that timewas made up of two famous folks.
now That would be Larry Lalondeand Les Claypool.
So my first gig was LarryLalonde and Les Claypool.
(10:48):
And Larry Lalonde was likeskating down the street with
this.
I just remember seeing thiscity bus like 10 feet behind
Larry Lalonde, honking, wailingon his horn.
He's just like looking up atthis bus and it's like totally
just taking over the street.
Les Claypool ended up having alittle bit of a night with
(11:09):
someone who was helping us out.
Comes on the stage wearing aUniversity of Wisconsin
whitewater half shirt, meshshirt, and I was like, see, you
met Betty.
So, and it was there wasthere's singer, chuck Bidemann's
.
It was his birthday.
So that was my first show.
So that was.
(11:31):
That was a pretty goodindoctrination into, into doing
everything you know.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So that's rad.
What, what's?
what's your, what's yourparents, what's your family and
what?
what did anybody think aboutwhen you were first starting to
play music kind of growing up?
Um?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
well, at first they thought it was, you know, not
something that they were reallyinto sonically speaking, because
we probably were very good, youknow.
But we rehearsed in my folksbasement.
I remember the first time,though, i went out on a solo
tour because I do solo acousticstuff to, you know, bokey stuff.
(12:11):
Now it was in my early 20s andI did, i booked a zone tour on
my own from the Midwest orwhatever, and I remember telling
my mom dad I was like look,there might be some things that
aren't on the up and up orwhatever.
You just got to trust me, i'mgoing to be okay and I'm not
going to do anything stupid.
(12:31):
Um, and I came home a couple ofweeks later.
We had a dinner together andlike, okay, so how were things
right?
And I told them about an hourworth of stories that that just
stuff, that just happened.
You know, my mom is just justlooking at it, yeah, and my
(12:52):
dad's like, did you do anythingstupid?
I'm like no man, i'm okay.
He's like okay.
So kind of went on from thereAnd now to the this day.
Uh, my parents, who have a wholecloset full of Metallica swag
they come all to be Talica gigsreligiously under the first ones
(13:15):
there.
My 82 year old dad has aMetallica shirt that says when I
punch you, i feel happy inside.
You know he's.
You know they're great andthey're totally supportive and
they're, they're into it andthey're often at Adam and having
having beers with folks andstuff like that And they're
they're a good time, you know so.
So I got great parents likethat and my whole family is like
(13:37):
that, and uncle's sister.
They all come out to gigs, youknow, and they've always been
super great about that.
So, which is which is prettycool.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And do you remember any of those stories that you
first told them about your firstkind of touring days?
Uh, they kind of like piquedtheir interest or scared the
hell out of them.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, Um, let's see, I was in, I was in, uh,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, stayed atthe promoter's house who lived
in the house, you know the like,the homes that are in the
cemeteries, you know, likebasically the, you know their,
(14:17):
their cemetery caretakers, orwhatever.
Um, then I know there was someillegal substance activity going
on there and one of theirroommates was on it and they had
this parrot, this parrot thatkept me up all night And it's
like I'm trying to go to sleep.
So I have this blanket over myhead but I'm not asleep, you
(14:39):
know, and I can feel thehovering of this chick lady
woman, something just likeliterally hovering over me, Feel
like about this close, eitherto see if I'm alive or conscious
, or willing, or all three ofthose you know, to get into
whatever.
Um, that was one of them.
(15:02):
Uh, do you know who PatMcDonald is?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Pat McDonald.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Timbuck three.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Good question.
No, the future is so bright Igot to wear shades, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Okay.
Okay, So I'm doing this showwith Pat McDonald somewhere in
Michigan or whatever, And, uh,nice enough guy, He couldn't
remember anything.
From like three minutes to thenext three minutes I think he
asked me do I smoke?
can I have a cigarette?
(15:37):
Where are you from?
Like seven times in a half hour, Like literally didn't know,
And my mom's like, well, who areyou hanging out with?
Who is this person?
He was like, why is he askingyou these?
Why does he remember?
It's like I don't know about.
I just I'm just letting youknow.
These are the people that I'mkind of hanging with.
(15:58):
Yeah, I'm going to be okay, Youknow, and there are other
things too.
I mean just other weirderSubstancy, um, hook up things
that happen, you know.
Yeah, you know, they just gotto trust me that I'm okay, you
(16:20):
know, and I mean I'm not goingto do anything dumb, Right As
long as you can outsmart a guythat uh can't remember anything
about you.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
That's the.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
You're probably, probably in general, I can get
yeah, I can get down the stepsfaster than them.
So he's still out there playing, though He does a lot of stuff
for um, there's this festival inWisconsin called the steel
bridge festival that was goingon.
It's helping this place calledsurgeon Bay, North of Green Bay,
um, you know, and it becamethis big music festival And they
had, like, Jackson Brown hasbeen known to show up and folks
(16:50):
like that or whatever.
He was a big part of that.
you know what I mean.
So so good on Pat McDonald.
you know what I mean.
So maybe it was just a roughnight.
We've all been there, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
We've all been there.
You know, nobody's better thananybody else.
That's, uh, you get that thetruth.
Uh, so you're, you're back.
Uh, you're back to touring.
It looks like you played a fewshows in 2021, but your last big
tour is back in 2017.
Is that right?
So, uh, what?
what kind of brought you back?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, um, yeah, we did the bigger one in 2017.
Um, what brought us back wasthat COVID ended.
Yeah, You know, like everybodyelse, COVID ended.
We were supposed to do someother shows last fall.
We actually ended up movingthem to the spring now because
the market was getting soflooded with touring bands you
(17:41):
know um, so we waited, Um, sothat's where we are now.
So tonight is the first night ofus playing, not well, not the
first night.
We've already done Milwaukee,chicago, stuff closer to home,
um, and then we did it Somedates last year, you know, uh,
(18:02):
chicago, akron, uh, we did a fewas COVID was kind starting to
subside, you know what I mean.
Um, so we did some of that, youknow.
So now this is a more formalsort of thing, you know, um,
with other dates getting thoughtabout and planned and et cetera
(18:23):
.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
How does it feel to be back?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Good, i feel healthy.
you know I'm ready to go.
So, um, we have new merch.
Um, you know it'll be good toplay stuff off the Devalver
album because that's the latestrecord you know, which came out
essentially during COVID Um, soit'll be good to do that.
(18:47):
We're also working on where Ihave worked up a song.
uh, that is a mash from the newMetallica album 72 seasons
which is a great album, by theway.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
What do you think about?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
it.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
I think all their, their lastthree efforts have been totally
solid.
You know they all sound good,Yeah, But but that's why we
wanted to use something off therecord.
So now I can't tell you what itis You got to come out to a gig
but I can say that it meansthat this song is not recorded
and wherever we play it live,it'll be the first times that
(19:22):
people are hearing it.
The only people that have heardthe song are us.
So it's a brand, brand new song, Okay, So so we're going to.
We asked, so we'll run througha little bit of it tonight
during sound check and there yougo.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well, we're planning on seeing you at the Brooklyn
Bowl, So oh yeah, okay, june17th.
Oh, my God, i have to ask ifyou had to rate your favorite
Metallica album and your leastfavorite.
Could you do that on the spot?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So I'm going to ask for that.
I think it was like a year anda half ago or whatever, and at
that time because I know thingschange but at that time I said I
was ride the lightning and thereasons were because I have a
(20:13):
great ride the lightning storyfor when Metallica, wasp and
Harvard St hit Milwaukee on thattour.
But just hearing fight firewith fire for the first time,
how that was kind of a gamechanger.
You know, sitting in myfriend's basement hearing that
(20:37):
And I liked the album betterthan Killemall because it was
darker.
It sounded darker to me Andwhen it comes down to metal
music in general at least as faras like the guys in Metallica
go I listened to darker stuff.
(20:59):
You know black metal, deathmetal, folk metal, just darker
types of stuff.
So I think maybe that kind ofdrew me that way.
You know psychedelic metal andthings like that.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, at least favorite album.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Oh, let's see.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Pondering The least favorite.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I'll say either saying anger or reload as least
favorites, but I'm trying tothink which one and why.
that would be because we'vedone compositions from both.
You know, I mean, that's thething about Metallica.
(21:51):
It's like nothing getsforgotten, you know, from either
of our parent bands.
You know what I mean It's like.
So I can't say that any of thealbums by Metallica aren't good
(22:12):
or welcome.
Maybe just we just haven'tharvested as much material from
those albums Yeah, Lots of thosebeing the two that I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And.
I'm sure it's fun to do, like avery B side song from either
band and somebody will recognizeit, or what most people would
consider like a B side of themAnd they'd be like I fucking
love that song.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, well, i mean it's like when Metallica, when
we put out Abby Loade okay.
So already going back to theload thing, part of the Abby
Loade medley used a dirty window.
You know, and I would say ifyou go see a Metallica show
they're probably not playingdirty window.
You know what I mean.
(22:57):
So it's not like we're notusing these songs, you know, or
we're not interested in usingthe songs.
It all depends on what we'relooking to create.
You know, i mean there's one ofmy favorite Metallica songs and
(23:19):
one of my favorite Beatlessongs have never been used in a
Metallica composition, thatbeing disposable heroes and in
my life, Why do you think thatis?
It's just because we may havestarted to work with Elmer.
It's like it's just not working.
You know it's not flowing.
It doesn't sound right to us.
(23:40):
You know it doesn't soundseamless to us.
We're not getting thecombination.
You know we're not cracking thecase.
You know cracking the code,whatever you want to say.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So it's not like I don't love those songs you know
What is your process.
Do you usually come before youget into a jam space or wherever
you're playing with the idea,or do you just get like you just
do, you know, get really highand just figure it out Like,
what do you do, how do you makethis stuff happen?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I would generally say that it's going to start with
me and then I'll bring it to theband in a rehearsal studio and
then we modify it from there.
I'll say here's the structure,here's what I got, where we
going from here?
Because all those guys songwrite not only metal but
(24:35):
different sorts of music whichis great because the Beatles are
not a metal band and they usetons of different influences,
you know.
So it lends itself to doingthis sort of project.
You know, so if I bringsomething in, nothing's off
limits to get changed.
But even off the Devolver album, dr Roberts and Gerard
(25:02):
Hammonson they brought in somematerial that they had written
way back in the day becausethey've known each other
literally since they've beenkids, and like, look, we have
this riff, we want to use thisriff here, you know.
Or Dr Rob said okay, james,we're working on this section
here.
What if we use this riff that Ihave here?
(25:25):
So now the members of Metallicaare inserting their own riffs
into composition.
It's Metallica, beatles,metallica riffs, lyrics and
influences and modifications andall these other things going
into things, you know.
(25:47):
So it's like if you look at thematerial off the Devolver album
, you're going to be like, okay,i hear the styling of this,
like how Cheap Trick or SmashingPumpkins or Kings X uses vocal
(26:11):
stylings, chord progressions,you know, are you playing a
fifth chord?
Are you playing a sixth chord?
How are you going about theselittle runs here, you know, and
making chordal patterns within asong?
That's what we're doing withcomposition, so people might
hear it, but then they're like Idon't hear it.
(26:34):
Wait, i do hear it, but fromwhere?
And they're trying to figure itout, you know, and the wheels
start turning.
That's part of the fun and thepuzzle of the band.
You know, you hear it, but themore you know about both of the
bands, you're going to havegreater success in knowing where
(26:55):
you're hearing it from or howyou're hearing it.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, And then you put a thin little blanket about
adding some special riffs inthere or something like that.
How did man?
it probably wouldn't work aswell to do like two folk bands
or two folk metal bands, Like itseems like that contrast is
exactly what kind of makes theband so special.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I guess you know I mean they're called Reese's
Peanut Butter Cups because theyhad peanut butter in it, not
another type of chocolate, right?
Yeah, Yeah it does need thatcontrast right there.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Speaking of which, what other band mashups do you
kind of think would be aninteresting thing to hear?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I don't know if they.
I don't think they even wouldbe interested.
I didn't think that beatelicawas going to be interesting to
hear, yeah, but we always jokearound as, like, you know, what
would we do, you know, becausepeople will say, hey, you should
mash up Pink Floyd and Slayerand make a band on it.
(28:04):
I'm like, okay, well, whatwould you call it?
I don't know.
You know, like the names got tobe there, right.
So it's like we would come upwith things like Barry Manowar,
barry Manilow and Manowar BarryManowar, you know, and just like
other, you know, huey Lewis andthe Nuge and Huey Lewis and Ted
(28:30):
Nugent That's my latest one,huey Lewis and the Nuge.
So just like stuff like that.
You know, would we ever do it?
Oh, fuck, no, no, we're notdoing this.
I never thought I'd be in this.
No, i'm in three other bands,man.
Now you know what I mean.
And those bands all do roadwork, you know, it's like, it's
(28:50):
like no, this is what it is.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
So there's a lot too, and I think even you know just
a more traditional band, i think, thinking of the branding.
I mean, you don't want to gettoo lost in the weeds and be
like we need to make exactlythis or whatever, and having a
good concept of being like okay,here's the overarching theme of
something It sounds good, itfeels good And it gives like a
clear direction of where we'retrying to go.
Yeah, i feel like there's veryfew genres that kind of don't do
(29:17):
that, where you're like oh, aband sounds like this, and then
they heard the band name is this, but they sound completely
fucking different than that, Ithink that's yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I was just reading an article last night on the
latest of Ben sevenfold album.
Okay, and how they're catchingslack.
At least that's what it said inthis article.
You know they're catching slackbecause, oh, they're starting
to get into this and starting toget into that and starting to
get into that, you know.
But it's like, look man, it'sjust like if you listened to the
(29:48):
Beatles in 1964, you neverwould have thought they'd be
doing what they're doing in 1966, let alone 68, 69 and on.
And then personality wise andstuff.
And you can say that about otherbands that aren't even
associated with Metallica.
(30:08):
It's like you listen to Rush,listen to the first Rush album,
and then listen to Powerwindows.
It's not the same thing.
You got to give bands room toexpand, no matter what type of
band they are.
It's just not fair to the band.
(30:30):
If you want your band, yourfavorite band, to be around for
30, 40 years.
It's very rare that a band isgoing to have different sorts of
stylings.
Even a band like ZZ Top peoplethink they know like ZZ Top has
been the same band.
They're not.
It's just like once they hitEliminator and everything using
(30:54):
synth and all that stuff, ironMaiden said they would never use
synth.
Then you listen to Somewhere inTime and it's just like in 7th
Son and all that stuff like that.
Bands have to be allowed toexpand and do whatever it is
they're going to do.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Kiss same thing.
No one ever thought they woulddo it When they're writing Love
Gun?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
are they thinking about doing The Elder?
No, No, Is Paul Stanleythinking about doing which?
I have this on CD.
When Paul Stanley, he playedthe role of the Phantom in
Phantom of the Opera.
So it's like when they'rewriting Firehouse, is he
thinking about, okay, when I'mPhantom in Phantom of the Opera,
(31:40):
I'm going to do you know, It'sjust like, but people have to be
allowed to expand theirartistic feelings.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah, i know you didn't even expect your beat to
Alcatraz to go anywhere.
You weren't expecting to makeit a band, you weren't expecting
a lot of this stuff.
But once things started gettinggoing, did you expect the kind
of longevity that it has now,like where you guys get to go
tour and get to record.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
No, No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
What would you say caused it.
What would you say caused it,what would you say is kind of
the secret behind why you guysare still doing what you're
doing.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Tenacity, hard work and a lot of help.
Yeah, a lot of help from yourfriends, yeah, right, a little
help from our friends, that'sright.
That's right, yeah, and theyknow who they are, that's for
sure.
It's just like, obviously, youknow the Metallica guys in Peter
Paterno and we have a goodbuddy named Michael Harrington.
(32:47):
He helped us with some of thatstuff and case study thing back
in the day.
We met him through his work atBelmont University in Nashville
and stuff and he was at Harvardand everything like that.
So he's great, you know, goodfriend of ours.
So yeah, so that.
(33:08):
But I mean, look, man, it'sjust like I'm not the greatest
guitar player and I'm not thegreatest singer or whatever, but
I will outwork you.
Yeah, i can guarantee you thatI am the Pete Rose of Heavy
Metal.
You know he wasn't the fastest,he wasn't the best fielder, but
he will out hustle you.
(33:28):
You know, that's me There yougo.
And if that means that it givesme some length of doing
something, then great.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You have a lot of very collegiate friends It
sounds like you mentioned acouple at least Like Harvard,
and the other one was a personthat originally put your music
on whatever website they put iton.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Yeah, he's at Cal Poly now.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Interesting.
He's on the West Coast.
He got smart and he moved outthe same piece of this phone.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Stages like people all the way.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
What's it like?
Yeah, What's it like runninginto your fans in general Like
what, what do they kind of sayabout you?
They're all super stoked.
What is it Always just like?
oh, just a super fun time.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, i mean, you know, i mean you're going to get
and this go I guess this goesfor every band, you know it's
like you're going to get peoplewho who just want to meet you
and party and have a beer Youknow, sometimes that's great, i
can totally do that, you knowand then you're going to get
(34:29):
folks that really want to talkabout it, just like band stuff,
and you know that are a littlemore chill.
You know what I mean And that'sgreat.
And then you're going to getother friends of yours that you
see time and time again andstuff like that And it's like
Hey, man, you know how's, how'syour, your significant other,
(34:49):
how's the dog, how's your mind,dad, and everything you know and
everything like that.
And it's like you know talkingsmack and stuff online talking
about sports and everything likethat, blah, blah, blah and all
that stuff.
You know what I mean.
Like that, that's, that's thecoolest part.
Yeah, you know, it's like weird.
When we were traveling hereyesterday I got a message from a
(35:09):
friend of ours from Denmark.
You know, like Europe, denmark,not Denmark, wisconsin but
somehow he's a big Green BayPacker fan.
He grew up a Green Bay Packerfan And then he became a
Metallica fan and he found outwe were from Wisconsin.
So when we played in Denmark inKnox golf Denmark, he's from
(35:32):
Knox golf And so he came to thegig and he was so stoked, you
know, and so now it's likewhenever we get together it's
like he's been over here to thestage just to hang and stuff
like that, and it's like blah,blah, blah, shoot and shit and
everything like that.
Yeah, we don't really talkabout Metallica, we talk about
other stuff.
You know that he's a teacher,you know, and yeah, it's, it's,
it's all, it's all cool stuff.
You know, like how Skinner saidyou know, if you want to talk
(35:55):
fishing, i guess that'll be okay.
You know what I mean.
So hell, yeah, i'm all goodwith that.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
I mean, you're kind of you're probably seen as the
ambassador of both Metallica andthe Beatles.
You've ever been like kind ofshown a piece of knowledge from
one of those bands, from somefan of your guys.
is that you're like I had noidea about that?
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Oh yeah, yeah, sure.
And it's like, yeah, i mean ourbandmates will, will do that
with each other.
Sure, yeah, oh yeah, you know.
It's like, oh, yeah, and blah,blah, blah.
When this happens it's like, ohreally, i never knew that.
So it's like, okay, yeah, cool.
It's like this guy said yeah,this is how, maybe in regard to
like um Gerg Hamitson and Dr RobSuhio, that on guitar and bass
(36:40):
they're they're like the gearheads of this band, you know,
and Gerg is an audio engineer.
He works at Five Third Forum inMilwaukee.
He works for the MilwaukeeBucks, you know, and that does
live audio and everything likethat.
He's those.
those two are going to be theguys to say, yeah, well, when
they use this piece of equipmenton this and they're in this
studio and they recorded it likethis And it's just like yeah no
(37:02):
idea.
Great, that's, that's awesome,you know.
so those, that's where thoseguys come from, That's their
world.
You know, um, where it's like Imight know weird goofy, you
know shit and stuff like thatAnd and I'm more of the lyricist
of of, i am the lyricist ofbeatality, you know.
I mean so when it comes out tolyrical content and word scheme,
(37:24):
you know, and like littlethings, you know things like
that.
Then I might know more aboutthat than they do, you know so.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, definitely How.
I mean.
So how do you sing?
How'd you learn to sing likethese guys?
How'd you learn to sing likeJames Hepfield?
Like how, what is thereanything to it?
Like what any little tricks youcan give somebody if they want
to.
Like give it a shot.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Yeah, i mean, um, the most important thing, the well,
the two most important thingsthat people have to remember is
that as you age, your voicechanges, right, you know.
So I wouldn't have been able tosing like this when I was 14,
(38:06):
you know, or 13, when I firstsaw Metallica.
But then, when we startedmaking those MP3s for that April
Fool's show, i was saying, youknow, we're just, we're just
going to go in and do this.
I'm like, okay, i'm just goingto try stuff.
Yeah, you know, and we tried itand it worked somehow.
(38:29):
But then as Metallicaprogressed, the voice progressed
, you know, and using, you know.
Now I have to figure out, okay,how am I going to get to using
the James Hepfield clean voice,like the nothing else matters
voice, yeah, that type of thing.
(38:50):
But then I get older, you know.
So how do I deal with mychanging voice to get to where I
need to be, you know?
and how does your breathingchange, your pauses?
you know?
And I live with my girlfriendand she's a classically trained
(39:11):
singer and she's big onbreathing, you know.
And last week, before I left,she said, and she came to our
Chicago gig recently and shesaid, she said, man, i got to
tell you one of my favoritelines to those two favorite
lines of yours that I hear youdo and you did them at your last
gig Like, consider doing themlike this.
(39:34):
Because I heard you do thisline in a certain way, said try
this and attack it this way.
You know, because when Irecorded those lines originally,
that may have been 12, 13 yearsago now She's like try it like
(39:57):
this.
So she's listening toeverything that I sing and
everything that I do.
You know what I mean And she'llgive me advice on it, you know.
And she said you do what youwant, but I love this line, do
it like this.
You know I'm like okay, great,yeah, i will, you know.
(40:20):
Thanks for the thought on that.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
It's really interesting that you're kind of
like shaping your voice overtime.
I mean, if it makes sense onpaper, you don't really just
hear about it being said thatway, because like, yeah, if
you've been singing the samething the same way the whole
time, it doesn't always go well.
You can see, like, whenmusicians who have been around
forever come back and do theirfirst tour after like 20 years
(40:42):
or whatever and they're like oofOr they change everything and
they sound better than they everdid, somehow, some way It's
such a while.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah, i remember when the smoking stuff became, you
know, got instituted in clubs,you know, in casinos and stuff
like that, i'm allergic to smoke, cigarette smoke.
So I don't smoke, obviously,you know I don't smoke pot, you
know, or anything like that.
I don't want to, but I, becauseI'm a singer, but I can't, i
(41:10):
literally physically cannot, itwould be bad for me, you know.
So it's like when all thisstuff was lifted in clubs I
thought like man, this is great,how the hell did we ever do
this when we were kids Andsinging and stuff when I was in
my 20s and stuff like that.
God, this was awful, you know.
You know, and some of my worstshows ever have been at casinos
(41:34):
before the smoking thing wasinstituted.
So my two worst shows ever wereat those gigs and I'm just like
God, fuck, man, i'm happy thisisn't a thing yet, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah, and I mean I mean it's just great that that's
not the case.
I think I'm like one of thelast generations that actually
got to see that.
you know, and I, when I wasgrowing up in California,
smoking was already illegalindoors.
but I went over to visit myfamily in Michigan.
I would go into like a Denny'sor whatever, and everybody's
smoking in there.
You have to smoke.
Yeah, this is wild.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
It's just like an eating establishment or
especially venues or whatever.
Just like the amount of smokethere was.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Yeah, yeah.
So those would be the twothings you know like dealing
with your voice as it ages,thinking about breathing staying
hydrated Does she?
Speaker 2 (42:36):
have any good breathing techniques.
It just like, maybe not evenfor shows or for singing or
anything like that, is thereanything cool that your
girlfriend does or she tells youto do?
that are just kind ofinteresting things we can do,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Well, she's big into like meditation and yoga and
stretch, and this is an actualfact here.
now, people that people who areguys, who are in bands, guys
and girls who are in bands we doother things.
Okay.
So when I don't play music, i'man occupational therapist.
Okay, so I do a lot of likeupper body stuff, lung expansion
(43:15):
stuff, you know, breathing andjust trying to work on even
though my you know, sometimes myposture sucks.
but working on posture, youknow stuff like that.
But you got to be doing thatstuff, not like the hour before
(43:36):
your gig or just the day of yourgig, like you got to kind of do
it, you know, fairlyconsistently.
you know, at the very least youknow, so you can feel the
effects of it.
And stretching, you knowstretching is a good, healthy
one.
I stretch before every show,head to toe.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
I stretch, you know, not not just my fingers, not
just my arms, not just my neck,but your legs.
You know your legs are yourpower.
Don't forget that people youknow my dad, who is my baseball
coach your legs are your power.
Pitchers will tell you that,quarterbacks will tell you that.
Anyone who moves will tell youthat your legs are your power.
(44:18):
So if you're going to go on, doa tour, it's not just what are
you using for your guitar, it'syour lower, lower extremities
too.
Man, you know so.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Oh yeah, That just makes me think of a what the
guitarist from Macedon, whateverhis name is, but how he just
always gets in that power stancewith his legs all spread apart
all wide.
Yeah For your ribs solo, That'sgreat Macedon's great Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Those guys are yeah, those guys are super cool man.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
They're super rad.
I'm so glad that they arearound and still doing amazing
stuff.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
We did this.
We did a gig with with a coupleof those guys in New York.
It was for a magazine releaseand we played at the Bowrie
Ballroom and it was awesome.
And those two guys, they didtheir their side project called
Fiend Without a Face and stuff,and so we were in New York and
(45:21):
giving the interviews and thestuff like that.
So I walk into, i walk into the, into the room and stuff like
that, and Brad looks at me andhe goes, hey dude.
It's like, how are you doingman?
He's like, oh, i can love youguys, man.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Those guys are.
I love watching videos and theyhave.
They have some of the funniestlike videos on YouTube and just
being goofballs, just totalfucking goofballs.
I love those guys.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Yeah, but but they're another example of a you know
cause, you know, with with tiesto Atlanta.
Some of them have ties toAtlanta, you know, and
everything like that.
This is when the AtlantaThrasher's were still a hockey
team.
Okay, you know, and this ispart of the thing how you're
talking about before.
He's just like, yeah, we cantalk about tunes all day if you
want, but What's going on withyour hockey team man, you know,
(46:12):
it's like I'm just talking aboutother things, you know, that
make you to get you outside ofthat world.
You know which is what makesconversation cool, you know
relationships cool andeverything like that, you know.
So that's totally awesome, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Absolutely.
I think that's really important, especially in music, because,
especially if you're hanging outwith people all day, every day,
in a band van, or just whenyou're about to play a show with
some people, you got to findsome other stuff to talk about.
Because, yeah, i'll talk aboutYeah and over and over and over
again.
Need that, the truth First.
We want to talk about all youneed is blood.
You're first album release in2008, and it has a bunch of
(46:50):
different languages, 14different versions of the song
Yeah, which is how did this comeabout?
How did you get the fanssubmissions to actually like
give you the ideas for it, andhow was it recording it?
Speaker 1 (47:06):
So there's another piece of the story that goes
along with it.
I'll try and keep it short.
The Vitalica website was takendown by our ISP, and that's when
we were going through somestuff And then we got the word
that it was going to getreinstituted, and it was in
February of you know whateveryear that was, you know And we
(47:29):
said, hey, you know, as a as aValentine's Day we love you guys
sort of thing, we're going todo this song instead of all you
need is love.
We're going to do all you needis blood and people who, if you
want to be a part of it, we areinviting the Talibaners
worldwide to send intranslations of the lyrics to
(47:54):
the song.
I will send them to you inEnglish.
You translate them, you sendthem back to me.
Now I said you can take someliberties.
If you want to insert a certainname or a certain type of thing
here or there, you can do that,but you have to tell me How to
(48:16):
phonetically pronounce yourphrases and your language,
because if you don't, i'm goingto take my liberties now,
because I don't speak Estonian,you know, or whatever language
it was going to be.
So some people sent them in andsome people did it.
So they're just like we justwant to hear you just go after
(48:39):
this.
So we did.
But then to make every songkind of its own thing not
lyrically speaking or justlyrically speaking we did a
different intro.
So we did each country'snational anthem before the song.
We did a different solo sectionin the middle And then we did a
(49:02):
different very long fade outending.
It's all different withdifferent sorts of weirdness
that goes on within it.
Yeah, so we ended up doing thatin 14 different languages.
So some I had a little morehelp on than others, you know,
and then me.
(49:22):
But yeah, so that was all good,great fun.
You know, I don't know of anyband that has attempted to do
something like that Matter ofWar.
So just saying, there you go.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Wow, i mean that's cool And it's a great way to get
fans involved with your stuff,feeling like it's just not like
a cut and drive, this is whatwe're doing as a band, but it's
like, no, we're having fun.
That was the whole point ofthis project And that was from
the start, and that's justanother way to just keep it
going rather than being like OK,here we go Beatles, metallica,
(50:02):
over and over again.
It's like you're right, youhave the horizons of like what
you can actually do.
That's super rad.
Speaker 1 (50:09):
Yeah, and I've done that on this.
Another band from Germany thatwe've done work with called JBO.
They're from Nuremberg, germany, and I've appeared on their
albums As James Lenfield singingtheir material and we've done
stuff and we toured over therein Germany with them.
One time I would come up and doa song with them, completely in
(50:32):
German live, and had to learnthe song.
We did that night after nightafter night after night, and so
every now and then I'd jacksomething up And I can see these
guys just cracking up laughing,because I'm sure I was probably
saying something in German, butit wasn't what it was supposed
to be, and every night I wouldscrew up something a little bit
(50:54):
differently, and so just to seethese guys as a loser was super
funny man, it was super great.
So, yeah.
So if you look up JBO, theyhave a song called Ina Gutsa,
talksum Staderman It's a GoodDay to Die.
And then they have another onecalled Long Live Metallica.
You can look those songs up andI'm the vocalist on it.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
So that's rad, yeah, those guys are great I think
it's the best way to learnlanguage too, is just be able to
like laugh about it, like whenI run in this different
situation.
You have to be able to laughabout it Or else you're not
going to learn.
People are going to be feelingtoo uptight to actually give you
like real feedback, yeah Well,yeah, i'm really appreciate your
time.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
I'll have a couple more questions if that's cool
with you.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
Yeah, yeah, i got a couple minutes here, man, all
right.
How, what, okay, what actuallygives you the most doubt in your
work and what you're doing withMetallica?
or just in general, like,what's out and how do you
overcome it?
Speaker 1 (52:00):
Hi, I'm just going to say that I'm going to be able
to talk about time, Becausewe're all in different stuff.
You know that we all want topursue, So I'd say time would be
one.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
Yeah, that's true.
It can only be so much.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
Yeah, i think that might be the biggest one.
You know I don't have anydoubts about that.
the guys in the band can play,that's that's not the issue.
Yeah, you know and that I don'thave any doubts that we all
want to play live.
You know that's not the issue.
But we all play and do stuffthat is successful besides
(52:51):
Metallica.
So Metallica isn't our onlylife.
You know, that's myself included, you know.
So I think it's just time youknow, if, if, if this planet had
, you know, a 24 month yearlycalendar and 12 days a week and
(53:16):
42 hours a day Great, but wedon't, so you know.
So there's yeah, so I think I'mgoing to go with that.
I'm going to go with that.
Speaker 2 (53:28):
I like that.
Yeah, i was curious to see whatyou thought about this because
it's a it's such a fun project.
I know you do another stuff aswell, but it's like time is
really the kicker.
It's everybody's up againstthat And you know, might as well
just get at it while you can,if you can, yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:47):
How do you have to?
And that's why, that's why it'slike you know, to encourage
people to come out to gigs.
You know, is the thing you know.
And and because another reasonif you come out to a Metallica
gig, you're going to hear songsthat aren't on album, yeah, you
know, and that will never be onalbum because they they're not
going to get cleared.
(54:07):
The licensors won't permit them, you know.
So do yourself a favor and comeout to a gig so you can, you
can hear some of this stuff,because you're not going to hear
it anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
That's rad.
That's rad And also, you know,hopefully.
Well, like I said, you can'treally record them, even for a
live thing.
Nevermind, yeah, yeah, we'regoing to be out for your show.
Very last question.
We ask everybody this how doyou define success for yourself
or just general population?
What do you, what do you see assuccess?
Speaker 1 (54:36):
Oh, let's see, Maintaining my mental health,
maintaining my physical health,um, i, i always want to feel
(54:58):
like I've given the most to to agig or an effort.
You know I want to do that.
Um, maintaining therelationships with bandmates is
a big one, you know.
(55:22):
Um, you know, when you're in aband that's that's been around
as long as we have, and then youknow it's like sometimes it's
relationships dissipate anddisappear.
You know what I mean.
So, so, maintainingrelationships not only with your
bandmates but with, but withpeople and then venues, you know
.
Speaker 2 (55:42):
Who are your coworkers?
Speaker 1 (55:43):
essentially, Yeah, right, exactly, you know, yeah,
absolutely, whether it be.
You know whether it be LarsUlrich or the local promoter, or
the merch guy or whatever, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
Yeah, all right.
So, yeah, mental health andthat, and you said something in
the middle there It was all good.
I really like that.
Speaker 1 (56:07):
Right on, yeah, if you have any.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
you're on tour right now, um, and you're well, we're
going to see you at where the?
oh, there it is.
Uh, we're going to play Bowlright Bowl of June 17th and
you're on tour And anything youwant to shout out to your fans
or anything else you want topromote while we're here.
Speaker 1 (56:27):
Yeah, i mean, if people want to check out the
website, it's betalecaorg Um.
we're also on Facebook,instagram, twitter, youtube
pages Betaleca official.
If you don't know, um a wholelot about the band and some of
the back history.
there's a great documentarythat's out called the story of
(56:48):
Betaleca Um, so you can lookthat up online.
It's done by this guy namedMike King, uh, ruling note music
out of Sacramento.
Uh, so he did like a like ahalf hour documentary on the
band and it turned out reallywell.
So that that's super cool.
Um, the Betaleca official sitewill have not only little
(57:11):
snippets of stuff, daily lifestuff but other formal video
stuff, as done by our friendMike Weber.
Uh, he's from the Chicago areaand he's been with us forever
and he's he's a number one.
So, um, let's see.
the devolver album is now out.
You can go to our website tolook up merch stuff.
(57:35):
Um, we're touring with tragedynow until the end of June, so
we're doing the Midwest and theEast coast and we have other
stuff that's being tossed aroundand everything you know.
so, debbie, great to see youfolks out.
you know, and we always want tomake believers out of
(57:57):
nonbeliefs, so all right that'spart of that's part of the fun,
for sure.
Speaker 2 (58:02):
Very excited to see you.
Yeah, james, it's been apleasure and we have Michael on
the call here.
If you want to say anythinghere, michael, there you are.
As you can see, i'm obviously,you know, calling from the moon,
so that's why I'm getting mycamera It looks like all orange.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
It's like you got like some giant, like coal
furnace or something burningbehind you or whatever you know
that's the sky right now.
It's very, it's very likeapocalypse now.
Speaker 2 (58:30):
Good Lord, blade Runner.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
Blade Runner.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Yeah, a lot of Blade Runner.
And then my computer, just overthe top was like, let's make it
as grainy as possible.
It's been super fun talking toyou And, yeah, we'll keep in
touch.
All right, we'll wrap this up.
Thank you so much, guys, andI'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
All right man.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
Sounds good.
Cheers dudes, take care Yeah.
Got it.
I'm in Westlake Ohio.
So, we played tonight in LakeWood.
We're in all the lakes.
You know we're hitting all thelakes in Ohio apparently.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
So how's the how's the weather over there right now
?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's cool, yeah, which is great.
It's not, like you know, 97degrees out and super obnoxious,
you know what I mean.
So this is a lot better.
So I'd rather travel and stufflike this, you know, than
anything else.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
So yeah, 100 degrees in the van.
Yeah, it's a where Michael andI are right now.
It's a very, very smoky.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's like smoky inside my house right now.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
That's, that's what I had heard, all the wild
wildfire stuff and everythinglike that.
I was just with a visiting witha buddy of mine in Winnipeg and
he's just like, yeah, he's beentraveling around this whole
area and stuff.
He's just like, yeah, it's all.
the air quality is totallyterrible And what are you going
(01:02):
to do?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
We're just, we're living the life you know, doing
the best we can.
We're into music, We're intotalking about art and all that
good stuff.
Probably do a properintroduction for everybody
listening right now.
So your name is James andyou're in a band called Beat.
Talica Is that right.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
That is true, that is true.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yes, how long has the beat Talica been playing
together?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Well, we've been touring since 2007.
So I guess that's when I couldsay we really started playing
consistently.
But the the fledgling notionsof what beat Talica is really
started in 2001, way back then.
(01:46):
Now this is just simple ideasrecording MP3s, you know, not
being signed, you know I meanthings like that, you know.
So we've been touring since2007.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Wow, how, how did that?
how did it even start back inthe first days, before you even
started touring?
How did you get the idea to dobeat Talica?
So beat Talica is a mashupbetween Beatles and Metallica.
Would you guess that?
Yeah, happy accident, happyaccident.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, i mean we typically say the band found us.
We did not find the band.
We never intended to find theband.
When myself and our originalguitar player we were kind of
goofing around with some stuffon on an April Fool's Day for an
(02:37):
April Fool's show in Milwaukeeand we're like, okay, well, what
would this band do with thisband, you know, and et cetera,
et cetera, we started recordingsome MP3s just for fun and
handed them out on an AprilFool's Day show.
Now that show is called SpoofFest, which is something that I
book and I do.
(02:58):
The hospitality for Thatfestival is now 30 years old
next year.
So we did this at Spoof Fest,not beat Talica, but we did the
works of Metallica doing anApril Fool's joke That those
MP3s caught fire on the internet, basically.
(03:19):
And about six months later,while I still was not in a band,
our former webmaster found me,got ahold of me through Friends
of Friends of Friends and said,hey, this is who I am.
I started a website and I namedyour band beat Talica.
So we didn't name it, we didnot pursue it.
(03:42):
It was named for us and put onthe internet for us And then
from there it started gettingall these hits and interests and
craziness And he's like youneed to make more music.
This guy his name is Dave Dixon.
He was a physics professor atMarquette University in
(04:05):
Milwaukee And he's like you needto make more music because I'm
getting messages from MikePortnoy and people like Living
Color writing and the pokes Andyou need to do more of this.
So it kind of grew from thereAnd we don't have a second batch
.
(04:25):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Like you don't have a choice.
This is what you're doing now,because it's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I'm just like, yeah, man, i'm not even in a band,
dude.
You know he's like you are nowand it's called beat Talica.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So very rare that somebody tells you to make a
band.
So yeah, pretty rad.
How are these MP3s shared backin the day?
Was it just through the websitesomehow, or was it would be
hilarious if it was on that.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
We well, no, we didn't even have a website at
first.
He made a website fromBitTorrent stuff, so he did that
.
So I think our first websitemay have been a MySpace page,
(05:09):
something like that, and thenpeople started writing in and
then we got a formal website andthen an updated website because
that website got shut down, andso then we got another website,
but it was really, you know,just started with the BitTorrent
stuff, and then file sharing,which we have no control over,
(05:33):
and then MySpace, you know, andthen people make comments which
we have no control over.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Still say nobody does .
What were like Mike Portnoy andLiving Colour and the Pogues?
What were they all saying aboutVitalik at the start?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Well, portnoy has been a huge fan and a huge
proponent of the band.
He's played with us on a coupleof occasions and we've done
stuff with Dream Theater.
One of the other first ones wasthe webmaster from Hank
Williams III back then.
Something like I'm shootingmilk out of my nose in laughter
(06:11):
or something like that onto mykeyboard or something like that.
It's all in our bio.
But I mean, like some otherbands were writing in when we
started getting shut down, youknow, in our defense, you know
just basically saying like, hey,this is, this is good stuff,
(06:33):
these guys aren't trying to doanything, you know, slanderous
or libelous or anything likethat.
So they were kind of coming toour defense.
And then eventually Metallicadid as well And that's kind of
been a more well-known thing now, you know.
So.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, how did I mean, how did that even just start?
How did that?
Wow, where do you even startfrom there?
Like a band just made, made foryou.
but it also just worked out how, let's, let's go back, let's go
.
When did you first?
first start playing music?
like, very first start playingmusic.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I was for.
my first gig was at a Lutheranchurch in a suburb of Milwaukee.
I sang my first song in publicin German, So my first gig
wasn't in my own native language.
So I was for and startedlearning basic piano from there.
(07:31):
My grandma was teaching me youknow, German.
I know a tiny bit of someconversational German.
I basically just by memorylearned the words to Silent
Night was so still a knock,highly genoc.
I'll just slave to Einsteinsome box.
(07:52):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, yeah.
And then the whole stuff fromyour grandma or just the yeah, i
.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Then I took some some German in high school.
But our German teacher was socool.
All he wanted to do is talkabout hockey, which I'm.
I was like that's great.
So so did that.
I ended up taking some Spanishthen, but then I was also a
foreign exchange student toBogota, columbia, when I was in
high school, so I startedlearning conversational and
(08:20):
street Spanish and can getmyself across the city And then
it worked.
After that worked in an innercity of the south side of
Milwaukee as a big Hispaniccommunity and everything, so I
started learning it there.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Awesome, so go see all the.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
All you need is blood EP, which we can talk about
later, which is done indifferent languages and
everything.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So all right, we'll definitely talk about that.
What was, what was like, yourfirst band?
What were you doing after thatpoint?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Like I mean my first, my first band, not including
air bands and dressing up likeace, really, when I was six
years old because of my samegrandma, i'm going to play
frisbee in the park as ace,really, in moon boots.
My first band I was 18.
(09:08):
It was a band called necromancyAnd I was picking my sister up
from high school And these guys,they knock on the window of the
car and they're just like Heyman, you're right, because my
nickname is Tinker.
And he goes, you're Tinker,right.
(09:29):
And it's like yeah, it's likeyou like metal, right.
And it's like, yeah, like youwant to be in a band?
Yeah, so good, because we'regetting rid of our singer.
come down here, learn thesesongs.
I'm like great.
So that's how I joined my firstband, literally by someone
knocking on my car window andsaying Hey man, you want to be
(09:53):
in a band.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
There you go And I just sang.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I just sang in that band.
It was a crossover metal punkband.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
What, uh, what were your first shows?
like, what were you doing?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
My first gig and that was with this band.
You know who Blind Illusion are, but do not Okay.
Blind Illusion San Francisco.
We played at this place calledthe Odd Rock Cafe in Milwaukee.
It's no longer there, but theguy who owned the Odd Rock
started the Milwaukee Metal Fest.
(10:27):
For those of you who know someof the bigger festivals, he
started the Milwaukee Metal Fest.
So we get in there.
And Blind Illusion at that timewas made up of two famous folks.
now That would be Larry Lalondeand Les Claypool.
So my first gig was LarryLalonde and Les Claypool.
(10:48):
And Larry Lalonde was likeskating down the street with
this.
I just remember seeing thiscity bus like 10 feet behind
Larry Lalonde, honking, wailingon his horn.
He's just like looking up atthis bus and it's like totally
just taking over the street.
Les Claypool ended up having alittle bit of a night with
(11:09):
someone who was helping us out.
Comes on the stage wearing aUniversity of Wisconsin
whitewater half shirt, meshshirt, and I was like, see, you
met Betty.
So, and it was there wasthere's singer, chuck Bidemann's
.
It was his birthday.
So that was my first show.
So that was.
(11:31):
That was a pretty goodindoctrination into, into doing
everything you know.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So that's rad.
What, what's?
what's your, what's yourparents, what's your family and
what?
what did anybody think aboutwhen you were first starting to
play music kind of growing up?
Um?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
well, at first they thought it was, you know, not
something that they were reallyinto sonically speaking, because
we probably were very good, youknow.
But we rehearsed in my folksbasement.
I remember the first time,though, i went out on a solo
tour because I do solo acousticstuff to, you know, bokey stuff.
(12:11):
Now it was in my early 20s andI did, i booked a zone tour on
my own from the Midwest orwhatever, and I remember telling
my mom dad I was like look,there might be some things that
aren't on the up and up orwhatever.
You just got to trust me, i'mgoing to be okay and I'm not
going to do anything stupid.
(12:31):
Um, and I came home a couple ofweeks later.
We had a dinner together andlike, okay, so how were things
right?
And I told them about an hourworth of stories that that just
stuff, that just happened.
You know, my mom is just justlooking at it, yeah, and my
(12:52):
dad's like, did you do anythingstupid?
I'm like no man, i'm okay.
He's like okay.
So kind of went on from thereAnd now to the this day.
Uh, my parents, who have a wholecloset full of Metallica swag
they come all to be Talica gigsreligiously under the first ones
(13:15):
there.
My 82 year old dad has aMetallica shirt that says when I
punch you, i feel happy inside.
You know he's.
You know they're great andthey're totally supportive and
they're, they're into it andthey're often at Adam and having
having beers with folks andstuff like that And they're
they're a good time, you know so.
So I got great parents likethat and my whole family is like
(13:37):
that, and uncle's sister.
They all come out to gigs, youknow, and they've always been
super great about that.
So, which is which is prettycool.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And do you remember any of those stories that you
first told them about your firstkind of touring days?
Uh, they kind of like piquedtheir interest or scared the
hell out of them.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, Um, let's see, I was in, I was in, uh,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, stayed atthe promoter's house who lived
in the house, you know the like,the homes that are in the
cemeteries, you know, likebasically the, you know their,
(14:17):
their cemetery caretakers, orwhatever.
Um, then I know there was someillegal substance activity going
on there and one of theirroommates was on it and they had
this parrot, this parrot thatkept me up all night And it's
like I'm trying to go to sleep.
So I have this blanket over myhead but I'm not asleep, you
(14:39):
know, and I can feel thehovering of this chick lady
woman, something just likeliterally hovering over me, Feel
like about this close, eitherto see if I'm alive or conscious
, or willing, or all three ofthose you know, to get into
whatever.
Um, that was one of them.
(15:02):
Uh, do you know who PatMcDonald is?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Pat McDonald.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Timbuck three.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Good question.
No, the future is so bright Igot to wear shades, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Okay.
Okay, So I'm doing this showwith Pat McDonald somewhere in
Michigan or whatever, And, uh,nice enough guy, He couldn't
remember anything.
From like three minutes to thenext three minutes I think he
asked me do I smoke?
can I have a cigarette?
(15:37):
Where are you from?
Like seven times in a half hour, Like literally didn't know,
And my mom's like, well, who areyou hanging out with?
Who is this person?
He was like, why is he askingyou these?
Why does he remember?
It's like I don't know about.
I just I'm just letting youknow.
These are the people that I'mkind of hanging with.
(15:58):
Yeah, I'm going to be okay, Youknow, and there are other
things too.
I mean just other weirderSubstancy, um, hook up things
that happen, you know.
Yeah, you know, they just gotto trust me that I'm okay, you
(16:20):
know, and I mean I'm not goingto do anything dumb, Right As
long as you can outsmart a guythat uh can't remember anything
about you.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
That's the.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
You're probably, probably in general, I can get
yeah, I can get down the stepsfaster than them.
So he's still out there playing, though He does a lot of stuff
for um, there's this festival inWisconsin called the steel
bridge festival that was goingon.
It's helping this place calledsurgeon Bay, North of Green Bay,
um, you know, and it becamethis big music festival And they
had, like, Jackson Brown hasbeen known to show up and folks
(16:50):
like that or whatever.
He was a big part of that.
you know what I mean.
So so good on Pat McDonald.
you know what I mean.
So maybe it was just a roughnight.
We've all been there, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
We've all been there.
You know, nobody's better thananybody else.
That's, uh, you get that thetruth.
Uh, so you're, you're back.
Uh, you're back to touring.
It looks like you played a fewshows in 2021, but your last big
tour is back in 2017.
Is that right?
So, uh, what?
what kind of brought you back?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, um, yeah, we did the bigger one in 2017.
Um, what brought us back wasthat COVID ended.
Yeah, You know, like everybodyelse, COVID ended.
We were supposed to do someother shows last fall.
We actually ended up movingthem to the spring now because
the market was getting soflooded with touring bands you
(17:41):
know um, so we waited, Um, sothat's where we are now.
So tonight is the first night ofus playing, not well, not the
first night.
We've already done Milwaukee,chicago, stuff closer to home,
um, and then we did it Somedates last year, you know, uh,
(18:02):
chicago, akron, uh, we did a fewas COVID was kind starting to
subside, you know what I mean.
Um, so we did some of that, youknow.
So now this is a more formalsort of thing, you know, um,
with other dates getting thoughtabout and planned and et cetera
(18:23):
.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
How does it feel to be back?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Good, i feel healthy.
you know I'm ready to go.
So, um, we have new merch.
Um, you know it'll be good toplay stuff off the Devalver
album because that's the latestrecord you know, which came out
essentially during COVID Um, soit'll be good to do that.
(18:47):
We're also working on where Ihave worked up a song.
uh, that is a mash from the newMetallica album 72 seasons
which is a great album, by theway.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
What do you think about?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
it.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
I think all their, their lastthree efforts have been totally
solid.
You know they all sound good,Yeah, But but that's why we
wanted to use something off therecord.
So now I can't tell you what itis You got to come out to a gig
but I can say that it meansthat this song is not recorded
and wherever we play it live,it'll be the first times that
(19:22):
people are hearing it.
The only people that have heardthe song are us.
So it's a brand, brand new song, Okay, So so we're going to.
We asked, so we'll run througha little bit of it tonight
during sound check and there yougo.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well, we're planning on seeing you at the Brooklyn
Bowl, So oh yeah, okay, june17th.
Oh, my God, i have to ask ifyou had to rate your favorite
Metallica album and your leastfavorite.
Could you do that on the spot?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So I'm going to ask for that.
I think it was like a year anda half ago or whatever, and at
that time because I know thingschange but at that time I said I
was ride the lightning and thereasons were because I have a
(20:13):
great ride the lightning storyfor when Metallica, wasp and
Harvard St hit Milwaukee on thattour.
But just hearing fight firewith fire for the first time,
how that was kind of a gamechanger.
You know, sitting in myfriend's basement hearing that
(20:37):
And I liked the album betterthan Killemall because it was
darker.
It sounded darker to me Andwhen it comes down to metal
music in general at least as faras like the guys in Metallica
go I listened to darker stuff.
(20:59):
You know black metal, deathmetal, folk metal, just darker
types of stuff.
So I think maybe that kind ofdrew me that way.
You know psychedelic metal andthings like that.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, at least favorite album.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Oh, let's see.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Pondering The least favorite.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I'll say either saying anger or reload as least
favorites, but I'm trying tothink which one and why.
that would be because we'vedone compositions from both.
You know, I mean, that's thething about Metallica.
(21:51):
It's like nothing getsforgotten, you know, from either
of our parent bands.
You know what I mean It's like.
So I can't say that any of thealbums by Metallica aren't good
(22:12):
or welcome.
Maybe just we just haven'tharvested as much material from
those albums Yeah, Lots of thosebeing the two that I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And.
I'm sure it's fun to do, like avery B side song from either
band and somebody will recognizeit, or what most people would
consider like a B side of themAnd they'd be like I fucking
love that song.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, well, i mean it's like when Metallica, when
we put out Abby Loade okay.
So already going back to theload thing, part of the Abby
Loade medley used a dirty window.
You know, and I would say ifyou go see a Metallica show
they're probably not playingdirty window.
You know what I mean.
(22:57):
So it's not like we're notusing these songs, you know, or
we're not interested in usingthe songs.
It all depends on what we'relooking to create.
You know, i mean there's one ofmy favorite Metallica songs and
(23:19):
one of my favorite Beatlessongs have never been used in a
Metallica composition, thatbeing disposable heroes and in
my life, Why do you think thatis?
It's just because we may havestarted to work with Elmer.
It's like it's just not working.
You know it's not flowing.
It doesn't sound right to us.
(23:40):
You know it doesn't soundseamless to us.
We're not getting thecombination.
You know we're not cracking thecase.
You know cracking the code,whatever you want to say.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So it's not like I don't love those songs you know
What is your process.
Do you usually come before youget into a jam space or wherever
you're playing with the idea,or do you just get like you just
do, you know, get really highand just figure it out Like,
what do you do, how do you makethis stuff happen?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I would generally say that it's going to start with
me and then I'll bring it to theband in a rehearsal studio and
then we modify it from there.
I'll say here's the structure,here's what I got, where we
going from here?
Because all those guys songwrite not only metal but
(24:35):
different sorts of music whichis great because the Beatles are
not a metal band and they usetons of different influences,
you know.
So it lends itself to doingthis sort of project.
You know, so if I bringsomething in, nothing's off
limits to get changed.
But even off the Devolver album, dr Roberts and Gerard
(25:02):
Hammonson they brought in somematerial that they had written
way back in the day becausethey've known each other
literally since they've beenkids, and like, look, we have
this riff, we want to use thisriff here, you know.
Or Dr Rob said okay, james,we're working on this section
here.
What if we use this riff that Ihave here?
(25:25):
So now the members of Metallicaare inserting their own riffs
into composition.
It's Metallica, beatles,metallica riffs, lyrics and
influences and modifications andall these other things going
into things, you know.
(25:47):
So it's like if you look at thematerial off the Devolver album
, you're going to be like, okay,i hear the styling of this,
like how Cheap Trick or SmashingPumpkins or Kings X uses vocal
(26:11):
stylings, chord progressions,you know, are you playing a
fifth chord?
Are you playing a sixth chord?
How are you going about theselittle runs here, you know, and
making chordal patterns within asong?
That's what we're doing withcomposition, so people might
hear it, but then they're like Idon't hear it.
(26:34):
Wait, i do hear it, but fromwhere?
And they're trying to figure itout, you know, and the wheels
start turning.
That's part of the fun and thepuzzle of the band.
You know, you hear it, but themore you know about both of the
bands, you're going to havegreater success in knowing where
(26:55):
you're hearing it from or howyou're hearing it.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, And then you put a thin little blanket about
adding some special riffs inthere or something like that.
How did man?
it probably wouldn't work aswell to do like two folk bands
or two folk metal bands, Like itseems like that contrast is
exactly what kind of makes theband so special.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I guess you know I mean they're called Reese's
Peanut Butter Cups because theyhad peanut butter in it, not
another type of chocolate, right?
Yeah, Yeah it does need thatcontrast right there.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Speaking of which, what other band mashups do you
kind of think would be aninteresting thing to hear?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I don't know if they.
I don't think they even wouldbe interested.
I didn't think that beatelicawas going to be interesting to
hear, yeah, but we always jokearound as, like, you know, what
would we do, you know, becausepeople will say, hey, you should
mash up Pink Floyd and Slayerand make a band on it.
(28:04):
I'm like, okay, well, whatwould you call it?
I don't know.
You know, like the names got tobe there, right.
So it's like we would come upwith things like Barry Manowar,
barry Manilow and Manowar BarryManowar, you know, and just like
other, you know, huey Lewis andthe Nuge and Huey Lewis and Ted
(28:30):
Nugent That's my latest one,huey Lewis and the Nuge.
So just like stuff like that.
You know, would we ever do it?
Oh, fuck, no, no, we're notdoing this.
I never thought I'd be in this.
No, i'm in three other bands,man.
Now you know what I mean.
And those bands all do roadwork, you know, it's like, it's
(28:50):
like no, this is what it is.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
So there's a lot too, and I think even you know just
a more traditional band, i think, thinking of the branding.
I mean, you don't want to gettoo lost in the weeds and be
like we need to make exactlythis or whatever, and having a
good concept of being like okay,here's the overarching theme of
something It sounds good, itfeels good And it gives like a
clear direction of where we'retrying to go.
Yeah, i feel like there's veryfew genres that kind of don't do
(29:17):
that, where you're like oh, aband sounds like this, and then
they heard the band name is this, but they sound completely
fucking different than that, Ithink that's yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I was just reading an article last night on the
latest of Ben sevenfold album.
Okay, and how they're catchingslack.
At least that's what it said inthis article.
You know they're catching slackbecause, oh, they're starting
to get into this and starting toget into that and starting to
get into that, you know.
But it's like, look man, it'sjust like if you listened to the
(29:48):
Beatles in 1964, you neverwould have thought they'd be
doing what they're doing in 1966, let alone 68, 69 and on.
And then personality wise andstuff.
And you can say that about otherbands that aren't even
associated with Metallica.
(30:08):
It's like you listen to Rush,listen to the first Rush album,
and then listen to Powerwindows.
It's not the same thing.
You got to give bands room toexpand, no matter what type of
band they are.
It's just not fair to the band.
(30:30):
If you want your band, yourfavorite band, to be around for
30, 40 years.
It's very rare that a band isgoing to have different sorts of
stylings.
Even a band like ZZ Top peoplethink they know like ZZ Top has
been the same band.
They're not.
It's just like once they hitEliminator and everything using
(30:54):
synth and all that stuff, ironMaiden said they would never use
synth.
Then you listen to Somewhere inTime and it's just like in 7th
Son and all that stuff like that.
Bands have to be allowed toexpand and do whatever it is
they're going to do.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Kiss same thing.
No one ever thought they woulddo it When they're writing Love
Gun?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
are they thinking about doing The Elder?
No, No, Is Paul Stanleythinking about doing which?
I have this on CD.
When Paul Stanley, he playedthe role of the Phantom in
Phantom of the Opera.
So it's like when they'rewriting Firehouse, is he
thinking about, okay, when I'mPhantom in Phantom of the Opera,
(31:40):
I'm going to do you know, It'sjust like, but people have to be
allowed to expand theirartistic feelings.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah, i know you didn't even expect your beat to
Alcatraz to go anywhere.
You weren't expecting to makeit a band, you weren't expecting
a lot of this stuff.
But once things started gettinggoing, did you expect the kind
of longevity that it has now,like where you guys get to go
tour and get to record.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
No, No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
What would you say caused it.
What would you say caused it,what would you say is kind of
the secret behind why you guysare still doing what you're
doing.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Tenacity, hard work and a lot of help.
Yeah, a lot of help from yourfriends, yeah, right, a little
help from our friends, that'sright.
That's right, yeah, and theyknow who they are, that's for
sure.
It's just like, obviously, youknow the Metallica guys in Peter
Paterno and we have a goodbuddy named Michael Harrington.
(32:47):
He helped us with some of thatstuff and case study thing back
in the day.
We met him through his work atBelmont University in Nashville
and stuff and he was at Harvardand everything like that.
So he's great, you know, goodfriend of ours.
So yeah, so that.
(33:08):
But I mean, look, man, it'sjust like I'm not the greatest
guitar player and I'm not thegreatest singer or whatever, but
I will outwork you.
Yeah, i can guarantee you thatI am the Pete Rose of Heavy
Metal.
You know he wasn't the fastest,he wasn't the best fielder, but
he will out hustle you.
(33:28):
You know, that's me There yougo.
And if that means that it givesme some length of doing
something, then great.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You have a lot of very collegiate friends It
sounds like you mentioned acouple at least Like Harvard,
and the other one was a personthat originally put your music
on whatever website they put iton.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Yeah, he's at Cal Poly now.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Interesting.
He's on the West Coast.
He got smart and he moved outthe same piece of this phone.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Stages like people all the way.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
What's it like?
Yeah, What's it like runninginto your fans in general Like
what, what do they kind of sayabout you?
They're all super stoked.
What is it Always just like?
oh, just a super fun time.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, i mean, you know, i mean you're going to get
and this go I guess this goesfor every band, you know it's
like you're going to get peoplewho who just want to meet you
and party and have a beer Youknow, sometimes that's great, i
can totally do that, you knowand then you're going to get
(34:29):
folks that really want to talkabout it, just like band stuff,
and you know that are a littlemore chill.
You know what I mean And that'sgreat.
And then you're going to getother friends of yours that you
see time and time again andstuff like that And it's like
Hey, man, you know how's, how'syour, your significant other,
(34:49):
how's the dog, how's your mind,dad, and everything you know and
everything like that.
And it's like you know talkingsmack and stuff online talking
about sports and everything likethat, blah, blah, blah and all
that stuff.
You know what I mean.
Like that, that's, that's thecoolest part.
Yeah, you know, it's like weird.
When we were traveling hereyesterday I got a message from a
(35:09):
friend of ours from Denmark.
You know, like Europe, denmark,not Denmark, wisconsin but
somehow he's a big Green BayPacker fan.
He grew up a Green Bay Packerfan And then he became a
Metallica fan and he found outwe were from Wisconsin.
So when we played in Denmark inKnox golf Denmark, he's from
(35:32):
Knox golf And so he came to thegig and he was so stoked, you
know, and so now it's likewhenever we get together it's
like he's been over here to thestage just to hang and stuff
like that, and it's like blah,blah, blah, shoot and shit and
everything like that.
Yeah, we don't really talkabout Metallica, we talk about
other stuff.
You know that he's a teacher,you know, and yeah, it's, it's,
it's all, it's all cool stuff.
You know, like how Skinner saidyou know, if you want to talk
(35:55):
fishing, i guess that'll be okay.
You know what I mean.
So hell, yeah, i'm all goodwith that.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
I mean, you're kind of you're probably seen as the
ambassador of both Metallica andthe Beatles.
You've ever been like kind ofshown a piece of knowledge from
one of those bands, from somefan of your guys.
is that you're like I had noidea about that?
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Oh yeah, yeah, sure.
And it's like, yeah, i mean ourbandmates will, will do that
with each other.
Sure, yeah, oh yeah, you know.
It's like, oh, yeah, and blah,blah, blah.
When this happens it's like, ohreally, i never knew that.
So it's like, okay, yeah, cool.
It's like this guy said yeah,this is how, maybe in regard to
like um Gerg Hamitson and Dr RobSuhio, that on guitar and bass
(36:40):
they're they're like the gearheads of this band, you know,
and Gerg is an audio engineer.
He works at Five Third Forum inMilwaukee.
He works for the MilwaukeeBucks, you know, and that does
live audio and everything likethat.
He's those.
those two are going to be theguys to say, yeah, well, when
they use this piece of equipmenton this and they're in this
studio and they recorded it likethis And it's just like yeah no
(37:02):
idea.
Great, that's, that's awesome,you know.
so those, that's where thoseguys come from, That's their
world.
You know, um, where it's like Imight know weird goofy, you
know shit and stuff like thatAnd and I'm more of the lyricist
of of, i am the lyricist ofbeatality, you know.
I mean so when it comes out tolyrical content and word scheme,
(37:24):
you know, and like littlethings, you know things like
that.
Then I might know more aboutthat than they do, you know so.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, definitely How.
I mean.
So how do you sing?
How'd you learn to sing likethese guys?
How'd you learn to sing likeJames Hepfield?
Like how, what is thereanything to it?
Like what any little tricks youcan give somebody if they want
to.
Like give it a shot.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Yeah, i mean, um, the most important thing, the well,
the two most important thingsthat people have to remember is
that as you age, your voicechanges, right, you know.
So I wouldn't have been able tosing like this when I was 14,
(38:06):
you know, or 13, when I firstsaw Metallica.
But then, when we startedmaking those MP3s for that April
Fool's show, i was saying, youknow, we're just, we're just
going to go in and do this.
I'm like, okay, i'm just goingto try stuff.
Yeah, you know, and we tried itand it worked somehow.
(38:29):
But then as Metallicaprogressed, the voice progressed
, you know, and using, you know.
Now I have to figure out, okay,how am I going to get to using
the James Hepfield clean voice,like the nothing else matters
voice, yeah, that type of thing.
(38:50):
But then I get older, you know.
So how do I deal with mychanging voice to get to where I
need to be, you know?
and how does your breathingchange, your pauses?
you know?
And I live with my girlfriendand she's a classically trained
(39:11):
singer and she's big onbreathing, you know.
And last week, before I left,she said, and she came to our
Chicago gig recently and shesaid, she said, man, i got to
tell you one of my favoritelines to those two favorite
lines of yours that I hear youdo and you did them at your last
gig Like, consider doing themlike this.
(39:34):
Because I heard you do thisline in a certain way, said try
this and attack it this way.
You know, because when Irecorded those lines originally,
that may have been 12, 13 yearsago now She's like try it like
(39:57):
this.
So she's listening toeverything that I sing and
everything that I do.
You know what I mean And she'llgive me advice on it, you know.
And she said you do what youwant, but I love this line, do
it like this.
You know I'm like okay, great,yeah, i will, you know.
(40:20):
Thanks for the thought on that.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
It's really interesting that you're kind of
like shaping your voice overtime.
I mean, if it makes sense onpaper, you don't really just
hear about it being said thatway, because like, yeah, if
you've been singing the samething the same way the whole
time, it doesn't always go well.
You can see, like, whenmusicians who have been around
forever come back and do theirfirst tour after like 20 years
(40:42):
or whatever and they're like oofOr they change everything and
they sound better than they everdid, somehow, some way It's
such a while.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah, i remember when the smoking stuff became, you
know, got instituted in clubs,you know, in casinos and stuff
like that, i'm allergic to smoke, cigarette smoke.
So I don't smoke, obviously,you know I don't smoke pot, you
know, or anything like that.
I don't want to, but I, becauseI'm a singer, but I can't, i
(41:10):
literally physically cannot, itwould be bad for me, you know.
So it's like when all thisstuff was lifted in clubs I
thought like man, this is great,how the hell did we ever do
this when we were kids Andsinging and stuff when I was in
my 20s and stuff like that.
God, this was awful, you know.
You know, and some of my worstshows ever have been at casinos
(41:34):
before the smoking thing wasinstituted.
So my two worst shows ever wereat those gigs and I'm just like
God, fuck, man, i'm happy thisisn't a thing yet, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah, and I mean I mean it's just great that that's
not the case.
I think I'm like one of thelast generations that actually
got to see that.
you know, and I, when I wasgrowing up in California,
smoking was already illegalindoors.
but I went over to visit myfamily in Michigan.
I would go into like a Denny'sor whatever, and everybody's
smoking in there.
You have to smoke.
Yeah, this is wild.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
It's just like an eating establishment or
especially venues or whatever.
Just like the amount of smokethere was.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Yeah, yeah.
So those would be the twothings you know like dealing
with your voice as it ages,thinking about breathing staying
hydrated Does she?
Speaker 2 (42:36):
have any good breathing techniques.
It just like, maybe not evenfor shows or for singing or
anything like that, is thereanything cool that your
girlfriend does or she tells youto do?
that are just kind ofinteresting things we can do,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Well, she's big into like meditation and yoga and
stretch, and this is an actualfact here.
now, people that people who areguys, who are in bands, guys
and girls who are in bands we doother things.
Okay.
So when I don't play music, i'man occupational therapist.
Okay, so I do a lot of likeupper body stuff, lung expansion
(43:15):
stuff, you know, breathing andjust trying to work on even
though my you know, sometimes myposture sucks.
but working on posture, youknow stuff like that.
But you got to be doing thatstuff, not like the hour before
(43:36):
your gig or just the day of yourgig, like you got to kind of do
it, you know, fairlyconsistently.
you know, at the very least youknow, so you can feel the
effects of it.
And stretching, you knowstretching is a good, healthy
one.
I stretch before every show,head to toe.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
I stretch, you know, not not just my fingers, not
just my arms, not just my neck,but your legs.
You know your legs are yourpower.
Don't forget that people youknow my dad, who is my baseball
coach your legs are your power.
Pitchers will tell you that,quarterbacks will tell you that.
Anyone who moves will tell youthat your legs are your power.
(44:18):
So if you're going to go on, doa tour, it's not just what are
you using for your guitar, it'syour lower, lower extremities
too.
Man, you know so.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Oh yeah, That just makes me think of a what the
guitarist from Macedon, whateverhis name is, but how he just
always gets in that power stancewith his legs all spread apart
all wide.
Yeah For your ribs solo, That'sgreat Macedon's great Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Those guys are yeah, those guys are super cool man.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
They're super rad.
I'm so glad that they arearound and still doing amazing
stuff.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
We did this.
We did a gig with with a coupleof those guys in New York.
It was for a magazine releaseand we played at the Bowrie
Ballroom and it was awesome.
And those two guys, they didtheir their side project called
Fiend Without a Face and stuff,and so we were in New York and
(45:21):
giving the interviews and thestuff like that.
So I walk into, i walk into the, into the room and stuff like
that, and Brad looks at me andhe goes, hey dude.
It's like, how are you doingman?
He's like, oh, i can love youguys, man.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Those guys are.
I love watching videos and theyhave.
They have some of the funniestlike videos on YouTube and just
being goofballs, just totalfucking goofballs.
I love those guys.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Yeah, but but they're another example of a you know
cause, you know, with with tiesto Atlanta.
Some of them have ties toAtlanta, you know, and
everything like that.
This is when the AtlantaThrasher's were still a hockey
team.
Okay, you know, and this ispart of the thing how you're
talking about before.
He's just like, yeah, we cantalk about tunes all day if you
want, but What's going on withyour hockey team man, you know,
(46:12):
it's like I'm just talking aboutother things, you know, that
make you to get you outside ofthat world.
You know which is what makesconversation cool, you know
relationships cool andeverything like that, you know.
So that's totally awesome, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Absolutely.
I think that's really important, especially in music, because,
especially if you're hanging outwith people all day, every day,
in a band van, or just whenyou're about to play a show with
some people, you got to findsome other stuff to talk about.
Because, yeah, i'll talk aboutYeah and over and over and over
again.
Need that, the truth First.
We want to talk about all youneed is blood.
You're first album release in2008, and it has a bunch of
(46:50):
different languages, 14different versions of the song
Yeah, which is how did this comeabout?
How did you get the fanssubmissions to actually like
give you the ideas for it, andhow was it recording it?
Speaker 1 (47:06):
So there's another piece of the story that goes
along with it.
I'll try and keep it short.
The Vitalica website was takendown by our ISP, and that's when
we were going through somestuff And then we got the word
that it was going to getreinstituted, and it was in
February of you know whateveryear that was, you know And we
(47:29):
said, hey, you know, as a as aValentine's Day we love you guys
sort of thing, we're going todo this song instead of all you
need is love.
We're going to do all you needis blood and people who, if you
want to be a part of it, we areinviting the Talibaners
worldwide to send intranslations of the lyrics to
(47:54):
the song.
I will send them to you inEnglish.
You translate them, you sendthem back to me.
Now I said you can take someliberties.
If you want to insert a certainname or a certain type of thing
here or there, you can do that,but you have to tell me How to
(48:16):
phonetically pronounce yourphrases and your language,
because if you don't, i'm goingto take my liberties now,
because I don't speak Estonian,you know, or whatever language
it was going to be.
So some people sent them in andsome people did it.
So they're just like we justwant to hear you just go after
(48:39):
this.
So we did.
But then to make every songkind of its own thing not
lyrically speaking or justlyrically speaking we did a
different intro.
So we did each country'snational anthem before the song.
We did a different solo sectionin the middle And then we did a
(49:02):
different very long fade outending.
It's all different withdifferent sorts of weirdness
that goes on within it.
Yeah, so we ended up doing thatin 14 different languages.
So some I had a little morehelp on than others, you know,
and then me.
(49:22):
But yeah, so that was all good,great fun.
You know, I don't know of anyband that has attempted to do
something like that Matter ofWar.
So just saying, there you go.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Wow, i mean that's cool And it's a great way to get
fans involved with your stuff,feeling like it's just not like
a cut and drive, this is whatwe're doing as a band, but it's
like, no, we're having fun.
That was the whole point ofthis project And that was from
the start, and that's justanother way to just keep it
going rather than being like OK,here we go Beatles, metallica,
(50:02):
over and over again.
It's like you're right, youhave the horizons of like what
you can actually do.
That's super rad.
Speaker 1 (50:09):
Yeah, and I've done that on this.
Another band from Germany thatwe've done work with called JBO.
They're from Nuremberg, germany, and I've appeared on their
albums As James Lenfield singingtheir material and we've done
stuff and we toured over therein Germany with them.
One time I would come up and doa song with them, completely in
(50:32):
German live, and had to learnthe song.
We did that night after nightafter night after night, and so
every now and then I'd jacksomething up And I can see these
guys just cracking up laughing,because I'm sure I was probably
saying something in German, butit wasn't what it was supposed
to be, and every night I wouldscrew up something a little bit
(50:54):
differently, and so just to seethese guys as a loser was super
funny man, it was super great.
So, yeah.
So if you look up JBO, theyhave a song called Ina Gutsa,
talksum Staderman It's a GoodDay to Die.
And then they have another onecalled Long Live Metallica.
You can look those songs up andI'm the vocalist on it.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
So that's rad, yeah, those guys are great I think
it's the best way to learnlanguage too, is just be able to
like laugh about it, like whenI run in this different
situation.
You have to be able to laughabout it Or else you're not
going to learn.
People are going to be feelingtoo uptight to actually give you
like real feedback, yeah Well,yeah, i'm really appreciate your
time.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
I'll have a couple more questions if that's cool
with you.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
Yeah, yeah, i got a couple minutes here, man, all
right.
How, what, okay, what actuallygives you the most doubt in your
work and what you're doing withMetallica?
or just in general, like,what's out and how do you
overcome it?
Speaker 1 (52:00):
Hi, I'm just going to say that I'm going to be able
to talk about time, Becausewe're all in different stuff.
You know that we all want topursue, So I'd say time would be
one.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
Yeah, that's true.
It can only be so much.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
Yeah, i think that might be the biggest one.
You know I don't have anydoubts about that.
the guys in the band can play,that's that's not the issue.
Yeah, you know and that I don'thave any doubts that we all
want to play live.
You know that's not the issue.
But we all play and do stuffthat is successful besides
(52:51):
Metallica.
So Metallica isn't our onlylife.
You know, that's myself included, you know.
So I think it's just time youknow, if, if, if this planet had
, you know, a 24 month yearlycalendar and 12 days a week and
(53:16):
42 hours a day Great, but wedon't, so you know.
So there's yeah, so I think I'mgoing to go with that.
I'm going to go with that.
Speaker 2 (53:28):
I like that.
Yeah, i was curious to see whatyou thought about this because
it's a it's such a fun project.
I know you do another stuff aswell, but it's like time is
really the kicker.
It's everybody's up againstthat And you know, might as well
just get at it while you can,if you can, yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:47):
How do you have to?
And that's why, that's why it'slike you know, to encourage
people to come out to gigs.
You know, is the thing you know.
And and because another reasonif you come out to a Metallica
gig, you're going to hear songsthat aren't on album, yeah, you
know, and that will never be onalbum because they they're not
going to get cleared.
(54:07):
The licensors won't permit them, you know.
So do yourself a favor and comeout to a gig so you can, you
can hear some of this stuff,because you're not going to hear
it anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
That's rad.
That's rad And also, you know,hopefully.
Well, like I said, you can'treally record them, even for a
live thing.
Nevermind, yeah, yeah, we'regoing to be out for your show.
Very last question.
We ask everybody this how doyou define success for yourself
or just general population?
What do you, what do you see assuccess?
Speaker 1 (54:36):
Oh, let's see, Maintaining my mental health,
maintaining my physical health,um, i, i always want to feel
(54:58):
like I've given the most to to agig or an effort.
You know I want to do that.
Um, maintaining therelationships with bandmates is
a big one, you know.
(55:22):
Um, you know, when you're in aband that's that's been around
as long as we have, and then youknow it's like sometimes it's
relationships dissipate anddisappear.
You know what I mean.
So, so, maintainingrelationships not only with your
bandmates but with, but withpeople and then venues, you know
.
Speaker 2 (55:42):
Who are your coworkers?
Speaker 1 (55:43):
essentially, Yeah, right, exactly, you know, yeah,
absolutely, whether it be.
You know whether it be LarsUlrich or the local promoter, or
the merch guy or whatever, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
Yeah, all right.
So, yeah, mental health andthat, and you said something in
the middle there It was all good.
I really like that.
Speaker 1 (56:07):
Right on, yeah, if you have any.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
you're on tour right now, um, and you're well, we're
going to see you at where the?
oh, there it is.
Uh, we're going to play Bowlright Bowl of June 17th and
you're on tour And anything youwant to shout out to your fans
or anything else you want topromote while we're here.
Speaker 1 (56:27):
Yeah, i mean, if people want to check out the
website, it's betalecaorg Um.
we're also on Facebook,instagram, twitter, youtube
pages Betaleca official.
If you don't know, um a wholelot about the band and some of
the back history.
there's a great documentarythat's out called the story of
(56:48):
Betaleca Um, so you can lookthat up online.
It's done by this guy namedMike King, uh, ruling note music
out of Sacramento.
Uh, so he did like a like ahalf hour documentary on the
band and it turned out reallywell.
So that that's super cool.
Um, the Betaleca official sitewill have not only little
(57:11):
snippets of stuff, daily lifestuff but other formal video
stuff, as done by our friendMike Weber.
Uh, he's from the Chicago areaand he's been with us forever
and he's he's a number one.
So, um, let's see.
the devolver album is now out.
You can go to our website tolook up merch stuff.
(57:35):
Um, we're touring with tragedynow until the end of June, so
we're doing the Midwest and theEast coast and we have other
stuff that's being tossed aroundand everything you know.
so, debbie, great to see youfolks out.
you know, and we always want tomake believers out of
(57:57):
nonbeliefs, so all right that'spart of that's part of the fun,
for sure.
Speaker 2 (58:02):
Very excited to see you.
Yeah, james, it's been apleasure and we have Michael on
the call here.
If you want to say anythinghere, michael, there you are.
As you can see, i'm obviously,you know, calling from the moon,
so that's why I'm getting mycamera It looks like all orange.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
It's like you got like some giant, like coal
furnace or something burningbehind you or whatever you know
that's the sky right now.
It's very, it's very likeapocalypse now.
Speaker 2 (58:30):
Good Lord, blade Runner.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
Blade Runner.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Yeah, a lot of Blade Runner.
And then my computer, just overthe top was like, let's make it
as grainy as possible.
It's been super fun talking toyou And, yeah, we'll keep in
touch.
All right, we'll wrap this up.
Thank you so much, guys, andI'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
All right man.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
Sounds good.
Cheers dudes, take care Yeah.
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