May 23, 2025 • 23 mins
Losing a band member is one thing, but losing a member to a tragic death is an entirely another thing. We Came As Romans lost their singer, Kyle Pavone, in 2018 to what was ruled an accidental overdose. That's a hard task to overcome, but not for this band. We Came as Romans have overcome everything thrown at them, and not only did they survive, but they've strived. Founding member and singer (the band with Kyle had two singers), Dave Stephen,s joins us while waiting for a flight to go play a giant music festival to talk new music and what it's taken to overcome tragedy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Attention please, and no cutters.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Rock cat I do good man.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
When I catch you in the middle of a hike
or something, you got the backpack on ready to go, I.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Should probably take this off. No, we're flying right now.
I'll turn it this way.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
We're flying right now. We checked in like thirty minutes
ago and we bored in thirty so he was like
available one. I was like, yeah, I mean between three
and three thirty.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It was such an exact time. I'm like, all right,
well we'll take up the thirty minutes and kill your
time at the airport.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah. I mean, I'm not doing anything else. I'd just
be sitting in the lounge munching.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Day from we came as Romans joining us this week, dude,
it's good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Good to see you too.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm so happy for you guys.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I really haven't had a chance to sit down and
have a conversation with you or any of the boys,
and really a few years. I feel like at this point,
so a lot has happened, and I just first of
all want to say hats off to you and the
band for continuing to do what it is you guys do.
Given the trials and tribulations that the band has gone through.
I mean, it's hard to keep a band together for
(01:06):
twenty years, regardless of what happens. And you've had some
things that nobody would have had an eyelash if you went,
you know, we're gonna do something else now, and you haven't.
And not only that, the music has been on fire,
and you guys have strived.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Man. It's uh yeah, I mean i'd be lying if
I said, you know, it's it's been an absolute battle.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Oh yeah, every step of the way.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
And you know, every time you think it's gonna get easier, it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Never seems to.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
But some of the obstacles we've had to hurdle and
get through, you know, like Kyle passing and everything else,
It's like the obstacles that we have to deal with
nowadays just seemed so minuscule. So I mean, I think
I think it would take quite a bit to tear
us apart at this time.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
At this point, nobody's sowing a temper tantrum over a
single release getting pushed back a week or something.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
You know, Oh that happens, but but you know, it's
in the grand scheme of things. Things always just seem
to work out, you know, even when things seem like
they're about to explode and be absolutely disastrous. It just
seems like things tend to work out for us. And
I don't know, it's crazy. I don't know if that's
(02:18):
just Kyle looking out for us or what it is,
but there's I'm trying to have to try to think
of it a specific example, but it seems like every
time shit's really about to can I swear I.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Go out, I'll edit it out. I'm sorry for the
radio part of the radio show. I'll edit it out
for the podcast. I could care less, Okay.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah, it just seems like every time you know, things
are really about to hit the fan, either they hit
the fan and we think the world's gonna end and
everything's terrible, and then we look back and realize, wow,
actually that actually worked out, that it didn't work out,
and now we're in a better position. I don't know,
it's it's weird to say, but uh, that's kind of
where we're at right now.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
There's some weird philosophy stuff to that, though. You know,
the old if it wasn't hard, it wasn't worth it.
You know, things like that, but it's truly been. Like
I said, I'm really happy for you guys, I really am.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I mean, it hit us all when Kyle died.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
There's no that The picture of me and him still
pops up on my Facebook memories once a year and
it's like, ah, dude, you know, but again, at the
same token, here you are. Not only are you able
to go play shows like Welcome to Rockville, you're having
radio success, You're cracking through to other genres, to other places.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It really is incredible.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yeah, it's been super exciting. I'm not gonna lie. And
in the first couple of years after Kyle passed, I
questioned whether this band was going to hold on, whether
we're going to keep going, and you know, I knew yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Mean I think anyone would.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And I wasn't sure if I wanted to still do it,
and I think a lot of the guys felt the same.
There was just so much like hardship and heartbreaks rounding it,
and we knew that we had to at least do
an album to follow up, you know, his passing, and
respond to it in a way and kind.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Of work through all the trauma.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And Dark Bloom was that, and it put us on
this crazy new path and we kind of changed our
sound and found what worked without Kyle, and the fans
just really latched onto it, and it's totally opened this
new chapter for the band and fueled the stuff that
you know, we've been working on for the last year
(04:32):
and a half. And it's kind of weird to think
that we were about to let it go and now
it's you know, grown into this thing that's bigger than
we ever thought it would be. So yeah, I mean,
I'm definitely thankful for it. But I didn't think we'd
I didn't think we'd still be going, let alone be
doing the things that we're doing at this point.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Well, that album Dark Bloom, I mean, first of all,
to release it, I mean, once that hit the market,
once that hit the PubL like space, I imagine that
had to feel like a weight off your chest.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Yeah, I mean, God, writing and recording that record was
just heartbreaking, heart wrenching, really hard, but then there was
moments that were really beautiful and nice, and us being
together and working through a lot of that trauma together.
It was it was something we had to do and
it was a really necessary part of the whole grieving process.
(05:26):
For us. And then you know, from tragedy like that,
a lot of times some great art comes out. And
I think that's what that album is, and you know,
and Kyle looking out for us, I think somehow sending
us some power to make that record. We definitely created
something special. It's hands down my favorite record we've ever done.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I mean, that's big words with a new one on
the way you're saying that, Come on, oh kind of
rock band, are you?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Man?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
The new one's pretty sick in a different way, you know,
it's Oh man, I'm so excited about the.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
New one though too so well.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Let me before before we jump in new music talk,
I do want to ask about black Hole. And the
only reason I want to bring this up is because
that song went through and got played on radio and
satellite and video streams and all the playlists and all
that stuff, and it was everywhere for a while. To
(06:25):
have not only are you guys able to sort of
get through all that darkness and obviously there was more
than just the Kyle passing, but I digress. Not only
were we able to kind of get through that but
release an album, but then also have a song that
ends up being I mean up until this point, really
the biggest of your career.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
That song is so insane to me because the record
was wrapped, it was done, and we had a writing
session booked to do one more with a couple guys,
Zach and kjre awesome. They're great musicians, and they were, yoh,
let's write a song together. And you know, we were
in LA and we were like, you know, why not,
(07:05):
who cares, record's done, nothing to lose, Like, let's just
see what happens. We go in and we all start
writing together and this thing starts coming together and it
turned into black Hole and it's wild to think that
we almost didn't do it. You know, we were like, yeah,
the record's done. Cool and we wrote that song and
we were like, whoa, all right, the record's definitely done.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
That's my favorite thing about that song. It almost didn't
even exist, and it was a It was a cool
thing to learn in that process because we took that
with us for the new record. You know that we
kept writing until the very last day because you never
know what you're gonna come up with. And yeah, I'm
super glad we did. That song wound up being massive.
I think it passed one hundred million plays.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I mean, I actually just saw that right before we
had this conversation. I was cranking up, so we came
as Romans Tunes obviously new and bad Luck, and I
looked at on spot at stream count and I saw
that when whoa, I didn't even realize that, which is
why I wanted to bring it up.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah, I mean, and that sounds so fun to play,
which is cool. I mean it never it never gets
sick of playing that song live. Just a high energy
that the crowd sing along moments.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I mean, it's it's a blast. I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
The fun part. Yeah, those are fun part.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So I mean, you kind of have answered it, but
I'm gonna ask anyway, what did you then take away
from that experience of doing in the Dark Blue and
obviously that song and even the songwriting into a process
for a new album, and especially the song bad Luck,
which we'll talk about in a second.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
I think you know something we've learned over the last
few records, and you know, carried through through Dark Bloom
and into this one, is writing great songs just takes time.
And you know, for this new record, we actually wrote
a ton of songs, like forty something songs and and
(09:00):
you know, we went back to the drawing board and
started over so many times, and it's frustrating as an artist,
it's terrible. But that's something that we learned through the albums,
is like, it's better to take an extra year and
make the album and make it something great, then release
something that you're not ecstatic about, because like, if we're
not ecstatic about it and we created it, the fans
(09:21):
are going to see right through it, and the fans
aren't going to be ecstatic about it. It's like it's
like our baby, and if we're not ecstatic, how's anyone
else going to be? So, I mean that's something that
we've definitely learned over the years. Just take our time,
make it right, start over if you need to, who cares,
and then just get it done.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
When when it's done, well.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
It's done.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I mean, it's it's close.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Yeah, it's h There was I'm gonna lie, and there
was some there was some moments that I wasn't sure
if we were going to ever finish it, but yeah
we did.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, yeah, I mean there was a few months that
were pretty we.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Actually had to step back for a bit because it
was almost like we couldn't see the forest through the trees.
We had all these songs, and we were so deep
into the process that we we, uh, we couldn't tell
what was good anymore, you know, and so we had
to step back and reevaluate and reset, and we wound
up revisiting some early songs and then writing a couple
of new ones and scrapping some that we were excited
(10:22):
about that we weren't excited about anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And you know, the.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Process, how do you get how do you get through that?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Like, do you have somebody you know, like a producer obviously,
but you know somebody around you know that can kind
of help you refocus that.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Yeah, I mean there's a few things we do. We
have some friends that are almost like brutally critical of us,
and you know, we show a couple of them songs
and they'll be honest, they're like, this song's boring, you know,
and it's it's, yeah, the end of.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
The day, you know, it's our decision.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
But we we do throw it around a few friends
that we trust, you know, our our wives, some of
them have some great opinions and honestly are our managers.
One of our managers is incredibly creative, and we send
him a lot of stuff and his input's always cool
(11:24):
to get from an outside perspective. But yeah, it's always
kind of a battle because there's songs that make me
feel a certain way and songs that might make Josh
feel another way, and it's it's always a process and
there's a little give and take in there.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
I tend to enjoy the more heavy, like really aggressive
songs like Josh, for example, likes more melody and guitar driven.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
More like rock kind of songs.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
And you know Andy, Andy just wants to play new metal,
and so I mean there's definitely some give and take there,
but we figure it out.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
For an interesting mix, though, and everybody has it's like,
y'all love the same thing, but it's it's a little
bit I like it more over here, and you like
it more over here, and you know what I mean,
and you can kind of find that middle ground.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
There's something special.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Sometimes, yeah, you know, And that's those kind of things that, yes,
it makes it difficult, But if we all like the
same exact songs all the time, I don't we'd sound
totally different. I think the diversity and what we all
listen to is what makes our sound and makes this
band you know special.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Absolutely the with bad Luck And I saw that you
had said that how much of this song meant to
you guys to put out because it sort of encompasses
the feelings or the story or whatever of sort of
the entire weekend. It's Roman's history. What do you mean
by that, because that's song man.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, the song says quite a bit and it's one
of the longest songs we've wrote in a long time,
but there was just so much we wanted to say
in it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
It's it seems like when you started, Yeah, I mean,
that's that's long for us. I feel like usually our
songs are like two forty five, three, three fifteen. It's
pretty long, and uh, it's uh, it just seems like
when we started the band, we were like, hey, you know,
we got to tough it out now, and.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
As we get bigger, things will get easier. And so
it's not the case.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
There's there's a lot of things we've been through that
we've had to fight through, and as tough as a
lot of them are, I really wouldn't trade them because
those scars and those difficult times we've been through have
helped make us who we are and kept us around,
like you know, like you said, it's like we've been
through so many difficult things together. I don't think there's
(13:45):
anything that could really tear us apart at this time.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So you know, I wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
I wouldn't trade a lot of our experiences for anything.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I know.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I get accused on this show of liking everything, but
I do generally find the good and pretty much everything
I hear.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
But this song is fantastic. Man, It's a really good song.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Thanks man.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
It's funny because there's songs that you got a battle
to finish and they're just tricky.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You get stuck here and there. You know, you don't
know how to end it.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
You don't you don't know where it should go or
if you're you know, getting off track on the topic
at some point, you know. But this song just came
together so easily. There was a there's a few renditions
of it, for sure, but that's normal.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
But it came together.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Nicely and easily, and we were all stoked on it
and pretty much send it off to print.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Let's talk about the thing we all love, and that's
live music. Obviously giant festivals like like Rockville Incarcerations coming up.
We were specifically that we were Young Festival and also
the return of Warp Tour or the anniversary of Warp
Tour to play those shows, because, like I mean, Warp
(14:58):
Tour was.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Do we all?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I mean, like I'm a kid, I'm a punk rock
kid of the nineties, Like Warp Tour is what we did,
you know?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, And then in through my twenties and seeing you
know what ended up becoming like seeing Avenge Sevenfold at
one o'clock in the afternoon with three hundred kids on
a side stage.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
They're all We're in black and black makeup. It's like,
who is this band?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And now they're one of my favorites to the point
where I have the bat on my arm tattooed.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
But that was the beauty of Warp Tour. What does
it mean for you guys to come back and play Yeah,
you know, I mean just like.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
The twenty fifth anniversary, right, yeah, of crazy of this
amazing tour that goes down the lone.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, I mean that many places.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
You could just show up somewhere at eleven am and
start a circle pit, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
What.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I mean, what an insane place.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Looking back on it, I mean, it just seems crazier
and crazier to me as I get older and think
about the memories I had going with my friends in
high school and you know, I was front row for
Story of the Year, just getting pummeled by crowdsurfers and
getting in mosh pits and just getting beat up.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I mean, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I remember that year, that specific year that I found
Avenge Sevenfold. It's like, here's this heavy ass, you know
at the time, real goth, you know sounding band. And
then I went and watched Less than Jake and you know,
Bad Religion was one of the headliners. Yeah there, you know,
I think Good Charlotte played like it was just this
wild you know, yeah, eclectic mix. That's what I loved
(16:34):
about it.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
What I mean, as I got you know, once I
started my band and we did Warp Tour, I thought
one of the coolest things about it is from a
musician standpoint, we got to tour with a lot of
bands we wouldn't normally tour with and make friends that
we wouldn't have probably made had Warped Tour not existed.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I mean, do you remember the band every avenue vaguely?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I can see the name, but I don't. I can't
pitch them.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
They were like, they were doing pretty well. They were
like a pop punk band. They still they still do
some stuff and h yeah, those guys. I mean they
wound up being like a brother band with n warp
Tour the one year and that's not a tour that
would have ever happened, you know, us and them together,
you know, if it had an that band for Warped Tour.
(17:19):
Things like that I thought were really cool. And you
have so much time to spend with these people. By
the end of the summer, you know, you really get
to know other bands and crew guys and random workers
of the tour that were there, you know, the tax
and stuff and the guys building the rigs. And by
the end of the tour it was like it was
literally everyonelway says that it's like summer camp.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
The end of the last day, it's kind of sad.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Everyone's everyone's same by and big hugs, and I mean
it was. It was a really cool thing to be
a part of. And it's totally different now, but still
glad to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Oh yeah, it is different, but it's still you know,
to be able to be there and kind of celebrate
the history and legacy of that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Name exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
It still feels really cool and I'm glad they're they're
bringing it back, and you know it's I knew when
they were going to come back, and I'm like, it's
never going to be the same, but still very cool.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
No, no, it can't be.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
When we were young fest. And the reason I brought
that up is because that too seems like another there's
a hundred bands on this thing. Yeah, it's wild, like
to play something like that.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I remember when they first announced it, I was like,
there's no way this is real.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
And I really thought the same thing, like I'm getting pressed, Oh.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Like there's no way.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
And I reached out that you know, some people on
our team and other people I know, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Is this is this legit?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
They were like yeah, And my wife and I were like, well,
let's get tickets. So we bought tickets and flew out
and that we were there the first year. It was.
It was super fun, you know, minus all the issues
they had to weather and everything else, but still, uh,
it was a blast.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
And now to be actually playing it, I'm really excited.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh I imagine I think I thought I thought fire
Fest when I first saw it. I really did, dude,
because two, there's no way. And then they pulled it off.
I mean obviously again you said the weather, but they
pulled it off. And now we're on what year three?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Yeah, I mean I give that festival props too. I
didn't go last year, but the year I went, it
was like it was like the most bougie rock festival
I've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I mean, it was cool.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
They had like turf down and you know, all the
beer tents were really nice, and it was it was
a hell of an experience.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I was pretty blown away by how cool it was.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Talking about the tour in between and you guys are
out doing some headline dates with friends.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yes, yes, I'm so excited about this tour.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
It's been in the making for a long time and
we had to postpone it because we were still finishing
the record, and like I said, you know, we were
just like, let's take our time. Who cares, and yeah,
we want to postpone, and finally we get to do it,
and very ecstatic about it. We're playing some big boy
(20:07):
rooms on it, which is cool. Some rooms we've never played,
and definitely, uh, you know, a little more nervous about
it than a normal tour.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
There's there's a lot of pressure, but I'm ants.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, to graduate sort of to the you know, a
few thousand seat places the headlines.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Yeah, I know, especially in Detroit, we always in the
place St. Andrew's Hall or the Crowfoot, And now to
be playing the film more, I'm like, dang, we we
like graduated.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Where we're doing.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
We're doing a few big boy rooms and yeah, I'm
stoked and it's cool. I mean just bigger stages, more production.
We're bringing out more crew and it's it's gonna be uh,
you know. The bigger rooms allow us to have an
elevated production too.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
What was the what was the kind of legendary place
in Detroit? Harpo's That's what I'm thinking of.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, the shelters pretty legendary too.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I just remember, like playing again, you know in punk
bands in the late nineties early two thousand, sort of
had that short list in my head of these places.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Got the raven Milwaukee check did that? You know?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
There are certain places and it's like the warehouse and
the cross.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Okay, did that? You know? Like, but yeah, I I
never ended up making it to Detroit. I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
I'm actually going to Detroit. My my father in law
lives there, so I'm We're going to Detroit July first birthday,
so I'm still it'd be the first time actually nice.
I've been like in the airport and I've been south
of it on a highway. But that's it.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Okay, Yeah, I love I love where we live.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
It's it's a great city. People are like, people like
Detroit's terrible. It's really sketchy, you like murdered.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I'm like, yeah, yeah, don't don't go there, please.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
But it's like this well kept Seekert right now, and
we love it. It's the cost of living is low,
and there's some amazing restaurants and bars and really artistic
things going on.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's an awesome place to live. I never people talk
bad about it. I'm like, oh, yeah, stay away.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
What's the I mean, what's the band scene like, because
obviously you guys and I prevail all the tea you
can think of the top of your top of your heads, uh,
from the metalcore world. But what is the scene like
it's got to be pretty.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It seems like, yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
We practice at this spot and there's like thirty different
rooms there and they're always all full of people practicing, jamming, playing.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You know, it's the music.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
You know, Motown there's there's always people playing music and
getting artistic, whether it's with food or music or visual art.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's oh yeah, it's a it's an inspiring place.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Okay, all the festivals the tour did, good Luck and
all that stuff. Bad Luck is out now. We don't
have a release date or name for the album n yet.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
You probably do, but we don't. Up in my head,
I look forward to hearing more man truly. Thank you, man,
I thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Cars Rock Cast, don't forget to tune in exactly
Attention please, and no cutters.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Rock cat I do good man.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
When I catch you in the middle of a hike
or something, you got the backpack on ready to go, I.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Should probably take this off. No, we're flying right now.
I'll turn it this way.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
We're flying right now. We checked in like thirty minutes
ago and we bored in thirty so he was like
available one. I was like, yeah, I mean between three
and three thirty.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It was such an exact time. I'm like, all right,
well we'll take up the thirty minutes and kill your
time at the airport.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah. I mean, I'm not doing anything else. I'd just
be sitting in the lounge munching.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Day from we came as Romans joining us this week, dude,
it's good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Good to see you too.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm so happy for you guys.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I really haven't had a chance to sit down and
have a conversation with you or any of the boys,
and really a few years. I feel like at this point,
so a lot has happened, and I just first of
all want to say hats off to you and the
band for continuing to do what it is you guys do.
Given the trials and tribulations that the band has gone through.
I mean, it's hard to keep a band together for
(01:06):
twenty years, regardless of what happens. And you've had some
things that nobody would have had an eyelash if you went,
you know, we're gonna do something else now, and you haven't.
And not only that, the music has been on fire,
and you guys have strived.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Man. It's uh yeah, I mean i'd be lying if
I said, you know, it's it's been an absolute battle.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Oh yeah, every step of the way.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
And you know, every time you think it's gonna get easier, it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Never seems to.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
But some of the obstacles we've had to hurdle and
get through, you know, like Kyle passing and everything else,
It's like the obstacles that we have to deal with
nowadays just seemed so minuscule. So I mean, I think
I think it would take quite a bit to tear
us apart at this time.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
At this point, nobody's sowing a temper tantrum over a
single release getting pushed back a week or something.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
You know, Oh that happens, but but you know, it's
in the grand scheme of things. Things always just seem
to work out, you know, even when things seem like
they're about to explode and be absolutely disastrous. It just
seems like things tend to work out for us. And
I don't know, it's crazy. I don't know if that's
(02:18):
just Kyle looking out for us or what it is,
but there's I'm trying to have to try to think
of it a specific example, but it seems like every
time shit's really about to can I swear I.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Go out, I'll edit it out. I'm sorry for the
radio part of the radio show. I'll edit it out
for the podcast. I could care less, Okay.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah, it just seems like every time you know, things
are really about to hit the fan, either they hit
the fan and we think the world's gonna end and
everything's terrible, and then we look back and realize, wow,
actually that actually worked out, that it didn't work out,
and now we're in a better position. I don't know,
it's it's weird to say, but uh, that's kind of
where we're at right now.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
There's some weird philosophy stuff to that, though. You know,
the old if it wasn't hard, it wasn't worth it.
You know, things like that, but it's truly been. Like
I said, I'm really happy for you guys, I really am.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I mean, it hit us all when Kyle died.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
There's no that The picture of me and him still
pops up on my Facebook memories once a year and
it's like, ah, dude, you know, but again, at the
same token, here you are. Not only are you able
to go play shows like Welcome to Rockville, you're having
radio success, You're cracking through to other genres, to other places.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It really is incredible.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yeah, it's been super exciting. I'm not gonna lie. And
in the first couple of years after Kyle passed, I
questioned whether this band was going to hold on, whether
we're going to keep going, and you know, I knew yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Mean I think anyone would.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And I wasn't sure if I wanted to still do it,
and I think a lot of the guys felt the same.
There was just so much like hardship and heartbreaks rounding it,
and we knew that we had to at least do
an album to follow up, you know, his passing, and
respond to it in a way and kind.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Of work through all the trauma.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And Dark Bloom was that, and it put us on
this crazy new path and we kind of changed our
sound and found what worked without Kyle, and the fans
just really latched onto it, and it's totally opened this
new chapter for the band and fueled the stuff that
you know, we've been working on for the last year
(04:32):
and a half. And it's kind of weird to think
that we were about to let it go and now
it's you know, grown into this thing that's bigger than
we ever thought it would be. So yeah, I mean,
I'm definitely thankful for it. But I didn't think we'd
I didn't think we'd still be going, let alone be
doing the things that we're doing at this point.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Well, that album Dark Bloom, I mean, first of all,
to release it, I mean, once that hit the market,
once that hit the PubL like space, I imagine that
had to feel like a weight off your chest.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Yeah, I mean, God, writing and recording that record was
just heartbreaking, heart wrenching, really hard, but then there was
moments that were really beautiful and nice, and us being
together and working through a lot of that trauma together.
It was it was something we had to do and
it was a really necessary part of the whole grieving process.
(05:26):
For us. And then you know, from tragedy like that,
a lot of times some great art comes out. And
I think that's what that album is, and you know,
and Kyle looking out for us, I think somehow sending
us some power to make that record. We definitely created
something special. It's hands down my favorite record we've ever done.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I mean, that's big words with a new one on
the way you're saying that, Come on, oh kind of
rock band, are you?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Man?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
The new one's pretty sick in a different way, you know,
it's Oh man, I'm so excited about the.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
New one though too so well.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Let me before before we jump in new music talk,
I do want to ask about black Hole. And the
only reason I want to bring this up is because
that song went through and got played on radio and
satellite and video streams and all the playlists and all
that stuff, and it was everywhere for a while. To
(06:25):
have not only are you guys able to sort of
get through all that darkness and obviously there was more
than just the Kyle passing, but I digress. Not only
were we able to kind of get through that but
release an album, but then also have a song that
ends up being I mean up until this point, really
the biggest of your career.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
That song is so insane to me because the record
was wrapped, it was done, and we had a writing
session booked to do one more with a couple guys,
Zach and kjre awesome. They're great musicians, and they were, yoh,
let's write a song together. And you know, we were
in LA and we were like, you know, why not,
(07:05):
who cares, record's done, nothing to lose, Like, let's just
see what happens. We go in and we all start
writing together and this thing starts coming together and it
turned into black Hole and it's wild to think that
we almost didn't do it. You know, we were like, yeah,
the record's done. Cool and we wrote that song and
we were like, whoa, all right, the record's definitely done.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
That's my favorite thing about that song. It almost didn't
even exist, and it was a It was a cool
thing to learn in that process because we took that
with us for the new record. You know that we
kept writing until the very last day because you never
know what you're gonna come up with. And yeah, I'm
super glad we did. That song wound up being massive.
I think it passed one hundred million plays.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I mean, I actually just saw that right before we
had this conversation. I was cranking up, so we came
as Romans Tunes obviously new and bad Luck, and I
looked at on spot at stream count and I saw
that when whoa, I didn't even realize that, which is
why I wanted to bring it up.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah, I mean, and that sounds so fun to play,
which is cool. I mean it never it never gets
sick of playing that song live. Just a high energy
that the crowd sing along moments.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I mean, it's it's a blast. I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
The fun part. Yeah, those are fun part.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So I mean, you kind of have answered it, but
I'm gonna ask anyway, what did you then take away
from that experience of doing in the Dark Blue and
obviously that song and even the songwriting into a process
for a new album, and especially the song bad Luck,
which we'll talk about in a second.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
I think you know something we've learned over the last
few records, and you know, carried through through Dark Bloom
and into this one, is writing great songs just takes time.
And you know, for this new record, we actually wrote
a ton of songs, like forty something songs and and
(09:00):
you know, we went back to the drawing board and
started over so many times, and it's frustrating as an artist,
it's terrible. But that's something that we learned through the albums,
is like, it's better to take an extra year and
make the album and make it something great, then release
something that you're not ecstatic about, because like, if we're
not ecstatic about it and we created it, the fans
(09:21):
are going to see right through it, and the fans
aren't going to be ecstatic about it. It's like it's
like our baby, and if we're not ecstatic, how's anyone
else going to be? So, I mean that's something that
we've definitely learned over the years. Just take our time,
make it right, start over if you need to, who cares,
and then just get it done.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
When when it's done, well.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
It's done.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I mean, it's it's close.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Yeah, it's h There was I'm gonna lie, and there
was some there was some moments that I wasn't sure
if we were going to ever finish it, but yeah
we did.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, yeah, I mean there was a few months that
were pretty we.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Actually had to step back for a bit because it
was almost like we couldn't see the forest through the trees.
We had all these songs, and we were so deep
into the process that we we, uh, we couldn't tell
what was good anymore, you know, and so we had
to step back and reevaluate and reset, and we wound
up revisiting some early songs and then writing a couple
of new ones and scrapping some that we were excited
(10:22):
about that we weren't excited about anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And you know, the.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Process, how do you get how do you get through that?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Like, do you have somebody you know, like a producer obviously,
but you know somebody around you know that can kind
of help you refocus that.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Yeah, I mean there's a few things we do. We
have some friends that are almost like brutally critical of us,
and you know, we show a couple of them songs
and they'll be honest, they're like, this song's boring, you know,
and it's it's, yeah, the end of.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
The day, you know, it's our decision.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
But we we do throw it around a few friends
that we trust, you know, our our wives, some of
them have some great opinions and honestly are our managers.
One of our managers is incredibly creative, and we send
him a lot of stuff and his input's always cool
(11:24):
to get from an outside perspective. But yeah, it's always
kind of a battle because there's songs that make me
feel a certain way and songs that might make Josh
feel another way, and it's it's always a process and
there's a little give and take in there.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
I tend to enjoy the more heavy, like really aggressive
songs like Josh, for example, likes more melody and guitar driven.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
More like rock kind of songs.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
And you know Andy, Andy just wants to play new metal,
and so I mean there's definitely some give and take there,
but we figure it out.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
For an interesting mix, though, and everybody has it's like,
y'all love the same thing, but it's it's a little
bit I like it more over here, and you like
it more over here, and you know what I mean,
and you can kind of find that middle ground.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
There's something special.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Sometimes, yeah, you know, And that's those kind of things that, yes,
it makes it difficult, But if we all like the
same exact songs all the time, I don't we'd sound
totally different. I think the diversity and what we all
listen to is what makes our sound and makes this
band you know special.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Absolutely the with bad Luck And I saw that you
had said that how much of this song meant to
you guys to put out because it sort of encompasses
the feelings or the story or whatever of sort of
the entire weekend. It's Roman's history. What do you mean
by that, because that's song man.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, the song says quite a bit and it's one
of the longest songs we've wrote in a long time,
but there was just so much we wanted to say
in it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
It's it seems like when you started, Yeah, I mean,
that's that's long for us. I feel like usually our
songs are like two forty five, three, three fifteen. It's
pretty long, and uh, it's uh, it just seems like
when we started the band, we were like, hey, you know,
we got to tough it out now, and.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
As we get bigger, things will get easier. And so
it's not the case.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
There's there's a lot of things we've been through that
we've had to fight through, and as tough as a
lot of them are, I really wouldn't trade them because
those scars and those difficult times we've been through have
helped make us who we are and kept us around,
like you know, like you said, it's like we've been
through so many difficult things together. I don't think there's
(13:45):
anything that could really tear us apart at this time.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So you know, I wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
I wouldn't trade a lot of our experiences for anything.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I know.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I get accused on this show of liking everything, but
I do generally find the good and pretty much everything
I hear.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
But this song is fantastic. Man, It's a really good song.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Thanks man.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
It's funny because there's songs that you got a battle
to finish and they're just tricky.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You get stuck here and there. You know, you don't
know how to end it.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
You don't you don't know where it should go or
if you're you know, getting off track on the topic
at some point, you know. But this song just came
together so easily. There was a there's a few renditions
of it, for sure, but that's normal.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
But it came together.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Nicely and easily, and we were all stoked on it
and pretty much send it off to print.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Let's talk about the thing we all love, and that's
live music. Obviously giant festivals like like Rockville Incarcerations coming up.
We were specifically that we were Young Festival and also
the return of Warp Tour or the anniversary of Warp
Tour to play those shows, because, like I mean, Warp
(14:58):
Tour was.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Do we all?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I mean, like I'm a kid, I'm a punk rock
kid of the nineties, Like Warp Tour is what we did,
you know?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, And then in through my twenties and seeing you
know what ended up becoming like seeing Avenge Sevenfold at
one o'clock in the afternoon with three hundred kids on
a side stage.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
They're all We're in black and black makeup. It's like,
who is this band?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And now they're one of my favorites to the point
where I have the bat on my arm tattooed.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
But that was the beauty of Warp Tour. What does
it mean for you guys to come back and play Yeah,
you know, I mean just like.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
The twenty fifth anniversary, right, yeah, of crazy of this
amazing tour that goes down the lone.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, I mean that many places.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
You could just show up somewhere at eleven am and
start a circle pit, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
What.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I mean, what an insane place.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Looking back on it, I mean, it just seems crazier
and crazier to me as I get older and think
about the memories I had going with my friends in
high school and you know, I was front row for
Story of the Year, just getting pummeled by crowdsurfers and
getting in mosh pits and just getting beat up.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I mean, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I remember that year, that specific year that I found
Avenge Sevenfold. It's like, here's this heavy ass, you know
at the time, real goth, you know sounding band. And
then I went and watched Less than Jake and you know,
Bad Religion was one of the headliners. Yeah there, you know,
I think Good Charlotte played like it was just this
wild you know, yeah, eclectic mix. That's what I loved
(16:34):
about it.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
What I mean, as I got you know, once I
started my band and we did Warp Tour, I thought
one of the coolest things about it is from a
musician standpoint, we got to tour with a lot of
bands we wouldn't normally tour with and make friends that
we wouldn't have probably made had Warped Tour not existed.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I mean, do you remember the band every avenue vaguely?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I can see the name, but I don't. I can't
pitch them.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
They were like, they were doing pretty well. They were
like a pop punk band. They still they still do
some stuff and h yeah, those guys. I mean they
wound up being like a brother band with n warp
Tour the one year and that's not a tour that
would have ever happened, you know, us and them together,
you know, if it had an that band for Warped Tour.
(17:19):
Things like that I thought were really cool. And you
have so much time to spend with these people. By
the end of the summer, you know, you really get
to know other bands and crew guys and random workers
of the tour that were there, you know, the tax
and stuff and the guys building the rigs. And by
the end of the tour it was like it was
literally everyonelway says that it's like summer camp.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
The end of the last day, it's kind of sad.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Everyone's everyone's same by and big hugs, and I mean
it was. It was a really cool thing to be
a part of. And it's totally different now, but still
glad to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Oh yeah, it is different, but it's still you know,
to be able to be there and kind of celebrate
the history and legacy of that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Name exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
It still feels really cool and I'm glad they're they're
bringing it back, and you know it's I knew when
they were going to come back, and I'm like, it's
never going to be the same, but still very cool.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
No, no, it can't be.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
When we were young fest. And the reason I brought
that up is because that too seems like another there's
a hundred bands on this thing. Yeah, it's wild, like
to play something like that.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I remember when they first announced it, I was like,
there's no way this is real.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
And I really thought the same thing, like I'm getting pressed, Oh.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Like there's no way.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
And I reached out that you know, some people on
our team and other people I know, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Is this is this legit?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
They were like yeah, And my wife and I were like, well,
let's get tickets. So we bought tickets and flew out
and that we were there the first year. It was.
It was super fun, you know, minus all the issues
they had to weather and everything else, but still, uh,
it was a blast.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
And now to be actually playing it, I'm really excited.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh I imagine I think I thought I thought fire
Fest when I first saw it. I really did, dude,
because two, there's no way. And then they pulled it off.
I mean obviously again you said the weather, but they
pulled it off. And now we're on what year three?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Yeah, I mean I give that festival props too. I
didn't go last year, but the year I went, it
was like it was like the most bougie rock festival
I've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I mean, it was cool.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
They had like turf down and you know, all the
beer tents were really nice, and it was it was
a hell of an experience.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I was pretty blown away by how cool it was.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Talking about the tour in between and you guys are
out doing some headline dates with friends.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yes, yes, I'm so excited about this tour.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
It's been in the making for a long time and
we had to postpone it because we were still finishing
the record, and like I said, you know, we were
just like, let's take our time. Who cares, and yeah,
we want to postpone, and finally we get to do it,
and very ecstatic about it. We're playing some big boy
(20:07):
rooms on it, which is cool. Some rooms we've never played,
and definitely, uh, you know, a little more nervous about
it than a normal tour.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
There's there's a lot of pressure, but I'm ants.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, to graduate sort of to the you know, a
few thousand seat places the headlines.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Yeah, I know, especially in Detroit, we always in the
place St. Andrew's Hall or the Crowfoot, And now to
be playing the film more, I'm like, dang, we we
like graduated.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Where we're doing.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
We're doing a few big boy rooms and yeah, I'm
stoked and it's cool. I mean just bigger stages, more production.
We're bringing out more crew and it's it's gonna be uh,
you know. The bigger rooms allow us to have an
elevated production too.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
What was the what was the kind of legendary place
in Detroit? Harpo's That's what I'm thinking of.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, the shelters pretty legendary too.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I just remember, like playing again, you know in punk
bands in the late nineties early two thousand, sort of
had that short list in my head of these places.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Got the raven Milwaukee check did that? You know?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
There are certain places and it's like the warehouse and
the cross.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Okay, did that? You know? Like, but yeah, I I
never ended up making it to Detroit. I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
I'm actually going to Detroit. My my father in law
lives there, so I'm We're going to Detroit July first birthday,
so I'm still it'd be the first time actually nice.
I've been like in the airport and I've been south
of it on a highway. But that's it.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Okay, Yeah, I love I love where we live.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
It's it's a great city. People are like, people like
Detroit's terrible. It's really sketchy, you like murdered.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I'm like, yeah, yeah, don't don't go there, please.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
But it's like this well kept Seekert right now, and
we love it. It's the cost of living is low,
and there's some amazing restaurants and bars and really artistic
things going on.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's an awesome place to live. I never people talk
bad about it. I'm like, oh, yeah, stay away.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
What's the I mean, what's the band scene like, because
obviously you guys and I prevail all the tea you
can think of the top of your top of your heads, uh,
from the metalcore world. But what is the scene like
it's got to be pretty.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It seems like, yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
We practice at this spot and there's like thirty different
rooms there and they're always all full of people practicing, jamming, playing.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You know, it's the music.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
You know, Motown there's there's always people playing music and
getting artistic, whether it's with food or music or visual art.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's oh yeah, it's a it's an inspiring place.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Okay, all the festivals the tour did, good Luck and
all that stuff. Bad Luck is out now. We don't
have a release date or name for the album n yet.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
You probably do, but we don't. Up in my head,
I look forward to hearing more man truly. Thank you, man,
I thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Cars Rock Cast, don't forget to tune in exactly
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