October 16, 2025 • 29 mins
Adam DeGraide started a project with Dameon and Gabe from Aranda called ADAM Music Project, a music project where all the songs are based on video games and video game themes. Yes for this nerds need to unite!
We also get an update on the band Aranda as Dameon and Adam join the Rockcast this week.
We also get an update on the band Aranda as Dameon and Adam join the Rockcast this week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Attention please and no it cutters run around rock cast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi Damien Randa, Hey, how's it going. God, it's been
a lot of times I've seen your face.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
You doing good.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm doing excellent, man, Thank you for doing this.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
How do you know a lot of Damien Andrew?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, I mean most people know me. It's just cutter.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And that is how I know Damien because Randa has
played many, many of shows for US. Find folks in Wisconsin,
this show, which is of course national, but you know,
back then, it was all just Wisconsin stuff. And my
band actually opened up for Randa a couple times, if
I do remember correctly, so once in Madison, I think
once in northeast Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So yeah, I remember in Madison for sure.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So yeah, That's that's how I know Damien.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
That's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
How do you know Damien?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I actually met David because back in two thousand and six,
I started a record label called Astonished Entertainment Okay, and
I signed Miranda. It was one of the five acts
that I signed and then worked their first album, their
self titled album. Sure, helped them get partner, helped them
produce a second album from an executive producer perspective, and
(01:19):
then helped them find the partner and wind up at
the time, and.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Then we've been friends ever since, so you know, just don't.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Know, that's awesome. So how does this come together? At
a music project? This is an interesting First of all,
I hadn't seen you know, Damian anything from Miranda in
quite some time, obviously, and then the song caught my ear.
I saw that you guys were a part of it.
The I went down a wormhole of figuring out who
the hell at a music project is and what exactly
(01:48):
that means. And I'm like, oh, it's songs about video games. Okay,
I'm in. So if you can't explain this project kind
of from the start, like where did this idea come from?
And then to launch it and actually get going.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yeah, So you know, for years, I you know, I
spent a lot of time in business and kind of
forsook my own musical career in the sense that I,
you know, put my artist aside aside for many many
years Cutter and then in about twenty twenty I think
it was, uh, maybe it was twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I think it was actually when I saw a Damian again.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
After a long long time, and I said, you know, man,
I've never done my own project. I said, but I've
got this crazy idea. I said, I love video games.
I'm a gamer. I play four or five hours a
day if I can. And I said, I'd love to
do hard rock songs inspired by video game characters, situations,
gaming culture and do my own project. And I said,
(02:45):
but I don't want to do it without talented musicians,
and I don't want to just do it by myself.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And so I said, would you mind, you know, if.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I did something like that, would you help me? And
so for the fraid, Damien basically said, yeah, I would
totally help you. And we started by doing a six
song EP about Apex Legends at the time, which I'm
still playing Apex Legends. I just got off a ranked match,
by the way, came in second. The Son of a
Bitch got one hundred and sixty one rand.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Second second is first last.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Trust me do better. I need it better and uh,
and so you know, we.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Did that, and then I realized that there was a
lot more inside of myself as far as music concerned.
It's almost like I opened up a fond cutter and
it just now at this point, Damian, and I think
you know, from what we've released and what we have
recorded and what we are recording that has already been written,
it's close to one hundred tracks in two and a
(03:43):
half three years.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Seeze, well, I mean there's a lot of music already
out let alone.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I can't imagine what you're sitting on.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Oh yeah, we're sitting on almost almost thirty eight songs
right now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
We're sitting on been released or in the stages of
being recordered.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
We have Lacy Saunders today flying in from Oklahoma City
here at Jacksonville. She'll be working with me today and
slumming at studios.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Is what I call it.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Cutter, And you know, and we're shooting a music video
tonight that will actually be edited and released on Thursday night.
That's how quick we turn stuff around. So I think,
I think in a lot of ways cutter. For me
to answer your question is and I jokingly tell Damien
this is like when we were trying to decide what
I was going to call the band, I said, you know,
(04:31):
why not name it after myself, Adam, but making an
acronym so I can make it all about myself and
not about myself, but really about myself, Damian, let's look
get ourselves at this book.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So you know it's all about me, unless you're asking,
then it's not.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
It was about artists developing astonishing music is really the concept, right, Okay,
we've just had a blast, I mean deep from your perspective, I.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Mean, you remember this. It's been almost three years now.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Now we're a touring act for part on this project,
partners with Randa again on their upcoming releases. It's been
a fun journey and there's nobody I enjoy writing music
more than Damien because we just have so much fun
and we laugh at ourselves the entire time we're doing.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, hey, wait a minute before you even go there, Damian.
This has kind of been a theme the last few
weeks and the last few conversations I've had with artists
on the Cutting in his Countdown and Cutters roadcast, the
fun of making music.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, I mean again, when you're when that's what you
kind of live and breathe most of your life, and
you're doing all that and then we you know, Randa
just kind of started back up, you know, a couple
of years ago again and we've been doing some shows.
We released a record in twenty twenty two, so we're
having We were having fun doing that. But when Adam
(05:48):
came to me with this, with this kind of this project,
I thought it was just going to be a one off.
So I was like, sure, man, let's just let's have
some fun. It's going to be six songs. Nope, problem.
We co wrote most of it together. It was fun,
and then I thought that was going to be it.
But I but while we were doing it, I was like, man,
(06:09):
this is this is something more. I feel it. I
already I already know something is happening here. And it
was just a really Again in music, sometimes there's a
hard time getting involved with things that are kind of unique,
you know, where it's like, oh man, because it feels
like somebody's doing it, or there's a lot of people
(06:30):
doing or whatever. And I just felt like this was
a little bit unique. Maybe a few people were doing it,
but not quite like this, and so I was really
excited to continue. After we did the six song EP,
I just personally didn't know we were going to go
as fast as we were going to go because Adam
is a madman and a half and I, you know,
(06:51):
I would consider myselfself before anything a songwriter.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So I love writing songs.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
And he, you know, he was pumping out a lot
of just even instrumental stuff, and he's like, man, what
do you think about this?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Do something with this?
Speaker 5 (07:07):
And he had just the whole beds of all these music,
all this music, and so I was like, oh man,
this is great. And then we would get together, whether
it would be in Florida or California, and we would
go and we would be like, Okay, in a day
and a half, we want to write.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Seven of these or eight of these or nine of
these or whatever.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
And that's how we just did it. And everything was
really fast, but really really fun. And I think there's
a lot of great tracks that are coming out of that.
And so man, I'm just throwed to be a part
of it.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It's Adam the songwriting.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Why is it so quick, like all of a sudden,
to find this sort of part of yourself. Is it
because of the theme, Is it because you're just like
that kind of guy?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Or is just okay, gotta go.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Anybody who's known me for years till was dead.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
The one thing that I think that I've been given
as a gift as a human is that I don't hesitate.
Damien will tell you that, like if I no matter
how cockamany, the idea.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Is, if it comes to my brain, I'm going to
pursue it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And so with a verver in, a vigor that many
people don't have. I don't know where that comes from, Cutter,
other than I could say, it's just a part of
who I am. It's part of my DNA.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
To give you an example, we've already finished this last album.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
I ended up waking up yesterday had an idea for
a song I've written. I wrote the lyrics, wrote the music,
produced the music, arrange the music, and Lacy will be
singing it here in two hours. It'll be mixed and
mastered within three weeks. And Damien has no idea what
the song is yet.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Popping off, Damien, it's called popping off. And you know,
and I could be here last night I had a
game both finding all this out Cutter at.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
The same time. That's all good.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I had a.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Brain game last night where I was popping off and
I'm like, oh, and I felt like I.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Was taunting the other team. So it's kind of like
a taunting song.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
It's hilarious and you know, and at the end of
the day, I think what I realized is that I
you know, and this is one of the things I
would admonish people, is that when you're a musician and
you've been given that gift, don't ignore it, even if
you have to go have a side gig and you've
got to make money and you've got to pay the bills,
whether that be being a barista or running businesses like
(09:25):
I did for years, or whatever mistake I made was
I stopped producing music myself, and.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
So I put myself at other people's music, which.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Was great, but kind of forsook what was in me
and I didn't really get a bit of chance to develop.
So when the last couple of years, I found out
that I'm a real good producer, I'm a pretty good arranger.
Danie will tell you, I'm getting better on guitar every.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Single day of the week.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
And I know I'm kind of irrepressible. I guess is really.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
The you're impressible word I would use.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
That's very hard to put me down and keep me down.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
And I love working fast and I believe that good
things can come quickly.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
You know. I produce all the videos.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I edit all the videos, so it's not just the music,
it's actually the video side of it.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
The worst part.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
About at a music project for me is the fact
that I have to do social media. It sucks the
life out of us. And I'm sure Dami me it
feels the same way. It's like every time you see me,
I feel like I have to act like a twelve
year old in order to get anybody's attention. And but
that's just the way we live in and it's gonna
get done. But you know, if you ever see me streaming, no,
(10:32):
just know that inside I'm dying and.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I can't stand it. But you know, I would say
cutter for me, it's you could tell them on my personality,
like I'm a go getter.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And I'm also not afraid of failure, right d I mean,
I think that's probably part of it as well as.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I'm not afraid to write a bad song. It's okay
to write a bad song.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Well, you have to write a bad song, and otherwise
you're not I'm gonna write any good ones.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah, And I mean, I think the other kind of.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
Endearing, just endearing overall trajectory of this project is it
is it. You know, obviously Adam really is the mastermind
behind all of it. But the cool thing about it,
and he'll probably tell you this first more than anybody would,
but it's such a great team. We just have such
a great team of people that really help contribute to
(11:21):
this thing as far as talent, and.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
That's what makes it go, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
It's like we have amazing leadership, but then we also
have this amazing cast of people that we're able to
draw from. It's like, hey, we really need this kind
of a thing for this kind of song. It's almost
like the we're a and r ing the project at
all times, you know, and it's we have and we
have you know, ten to twelve people to really choose
from to be able to do that, and most of
(11:47):
them are Oklahoma City Base, which is awesome, you know.
And it's just it's really cool because you know, at
the end of the day, yes, we do have that
awesome leadership, but it's a team and you know, man,
you always are able to push so much more together
than you are with just one person.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
So you're finding a lot of the musicians that are
used within the project because if you go through the
list of songs and go through the songs that are
available now, even it's different singers, it's different players. Obviously
there's a nucleus, but you're finding a lot of those
d where you guys live.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, we're finding all most of the guys.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
You know, when Adam first came to me with the project,
he was like, Man, Okay, maybe it's just you and
Gabe kind of singing on most of this stuff, and
we'll just kind of do it like that.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
He'll play, you.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Know, he was playing, he was playing guitar, coming up
with the tracks. I was doing some solos. It was
kind of it really was kind of an Randa Adam
music project amalgamation, and so.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
We were doing it like that.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
But then you know, there was one I think there
was one track on the first thing where it was like, oh,
we need we need a female singer on this. So
then it was like, okay, well we got Lacey Saunders,
who he.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Was just mentioning.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
She's just this amazing singer in Oklahoma City and she
mainly does you know, the local thing here, but man,
she's you know, you know how it is. You'll go
and see people and you'll be like, why is this
person not so just famous, why is she all the
time now? And so she's one of them. So when
you when you hear her sing, you're just like, man,
this is this is next level.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Oh go ahead, go ahead at them.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
More so than hearing her sing now, is that she'd
become like a sister and she's one of our best
friends in the planet. And we now tour it on
the road with her, you know, you know it's call
it eighteen dates, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
We're planning on doing fifty to sixty to eighty.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Hopefully next year, you know, which is when we decided
to take it from an internet thing that was birthed
out of the COVID era to a real act that
can put on a show and make people smile, rock out,
have fun, but perform the music live. And so Lacey
has just become and I would say the integral part
(13:59):
besides Damien and I in the project.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And it's an.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Honor to work with her, Like I'm soot, but she's
just dare right now, like I can't even like she's
when you get somebody with that kind of gift behind
a microphone and your stupid melody that you wrought that
you wrote that you know, sounds ridiculously terrible on the
voice note you gave her. You just know, no matter
how bad it is, she's gonna show up and she's
(14:23):
gonna bring it. She's gonna bring that voice to the
song that even though she might be hitting the melody,
there's something special about what she brings as an artist
to the song. And then you think about I think
about like Eric Gillette who's added his voice on the
guitar Damien, And you think about Jay Gleeson, You think
about Neil de Graad, and then Pete Mitchell from No
More Kings. You think about, uh, you know, Brandon Frazier
(14:45):
out of Tulsa. Do you think about Joel Driscoll, who
can sound like anybody we need him to sound.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Like, whether especially.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Fallout.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
It's about the video game Fallout. It's actually called all Out.
Thank God, it's just a game.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
And and these things on that and dude, it's like
the best actual Rosy personation ever. And so you know,
we're not afraid to lean into that cutter too, right.
You can tell by the music, like if it's meant
to be shunting like eighties, we're gonna make a.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Sound like eighties.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
We want to have a blend of old and new
and current together. Like punch Out it's a great example
of that. It's got a retro vibe, it's got you've
heard it before, and yet it's also fresh and curry.
That's kind of we're not afraid to have multi genres
within the hard rock world. You'll hear a song like
I Bring Death and it's classic metal. You hear a
song like Blackheart and it's my attempt at new metal,
(15:41):
and so you know, it's kind of fun to be
able to explore not only different other people's different gifts,
but even different shades of rock that exist within the
hard rock realm and not be afraid because there's no rules.
Nobody's telling me and Damian you can't do that. Now
we have been recently, I would say Danian more mindful
(16:01):
and more on purpose because we are now a top forty.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Rock act. That actually just happened with punch Out.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
We made it to thirty three and then thirty eight
on Media Base respectively.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I was very proud of that.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
You should be.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Very confident that we've got at least a top twenty
possible teen track in the rears so yeah, so we've
got several follow up songs coming out. We're pretty excited
about it, and so we have to have commercial viability
as a band as well. But when we approached, because
we do so much writing, we let the song be
what it can be. So I remember when we went
(16:37):
to Damian and I said, dude, I got this idea
for our Final Fantasy VII song, and I want it
to sound like a nineteen eighties heavy metal hair band
song that could have been number one back then. And
we wrote a song called help Me, and Joel Driscoll,
our wonderful eighties voice extraordinaire, sang on the song, and
(16:58):
then I think we did a d I mean, it's
it's not our one of our most popular tracks, but
if you want to hear something that's like intentionally supposed
to remind you of Guns N' Roses and White Snake, Okay.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So I'm curious though, as as a as a sometimes
gamer myself not as hardcore as you, for sure, but
because I have don't have the amount of time otherwise maybe,
but uh, Final Final Fantasy seven is my all time
favorite game ever, right, And I think that's the same
for a lot of people. Like I bought a PlayStation
in nineteen ninety seven got Final Fantasy seven.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
But why eighties for a song based on a.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Video game that's sort of this weird neo future that
came out in the late nineties.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Because for me, it was more about what reminded me
of how I felt when I played it. Okay, I
think you know when you're when when you're an artist
and you're looking at approaching a character, it's not necessarily
we're trying to match the music to sound or remind
you of that character. In some cases, it's the way
we feel like it should have been, could have been,
and might have been. So we approach it from different angles,
(18:04):
I guess, cutter. There's some things we try to do
head on and other times we try to look from
a different angle, a different camera view, so to speak. Yeah,
myself playing the game and how I felt at the time,
and that's kind of the way we modeled out the
music for it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And you know, tipped our hat.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Even to the opening segments, segments of music written by
that amazing Japanese composer.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I can't remember his name, it's it's you.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Know what I'm talking about, who I didn't do a massive,
you know, orchestral production.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Now.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
The Final Fantasy's gameplay in general, I think changed the
way I felt about video games as much as Destiny did.
I don't know if you ever played Destiny.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
A little bit, but I didn't get into it.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Game Destiny came out, which was after Halo made from
the same people, Bungee. I remember playing that game, and
I was talking to my brother, who was a big
gamer at the time too, and we played for like
eight hours. I mean, this is like after work. This
is after I put it in a freaking twelve hour day, dude.
And then you know, I felt like I was sleeping
four and a half five hours a night, but it
didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I was having fun.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
That game kind of changed changed my life in the
sense that I never looked at video games the same way.
Much like after I went to my first circ Doucile show,
I felt like that changed my life because at the time,
when if you remember the first time you ever saw
a Cirk show, it changed what you thought perspectively of
(19:28):
a live performance, and so games in a lot of ways,
to me have those kind of memories and those thoughts,
and so we try to put different ideas in different
thinking behind what we do.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And anyway, I'll stop talking. Ask Damian a question, all.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Right, Damien, for you, as the professional musician to take
not that you're not Adam, but but to take those
kind of Okay, I've got all these ideas about all
these different subjects in ours to the world of gaming.
And now, Adam, your job or Damien, your job is
to make that a viable rock and roll song for
(20:07):
people to listen to. Like what and maybe it's not,
but like, as far as you in the history that
you have being in this world, how do you take
that and go, all right, I can do that.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Here's here's this, let's let's fix this, let's go.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Well it's fun because I mean it's like it's like anything,
it's a it's a challenge in some ways. And then
I think as we've kind of continued the project, I
remember the early iteration of this whole thing. I feel
like we were just subject matter and everything was so
right on the nose that maybe I don't know, Adam,
if you agree with this, it might have pigeonholed some
(20:42):
pigeon held some of the songs to just be those
little narrow lanes of being able to one just get
opportunity for it to be heard. As we've kind of continued,
we have stuck with the subject matter but made some
of the things just a little bit more ambiguous, sure,
so that you know that it can maybe have a
broader appeal and you can as the listener maybe if
(21:03):
you need a song about you know, freedom, or you
need a song about you know, hope, or you need
a song about that some of these which some of
these characters obviously stand for, you can listen to that
song not even knowing the character and it relate to
you somehow. So we've kind of broadened I think the
audience appeal by that approach, and it's been pretty fun
(21:24):
trying to do that. So to answer your question, just overall,
it's still it's still just writing songs, you know what
I mean? You just you you have some straints of
the characters maybe, but that's the fun part. I think honestly,
you can even be more creative sometimes when you have
those constraints because you have a target to hit.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
What about okay, the song punch out? Because I'll be honest,
I didn't know about the video game thing. I didn't
know about any of that, right, I'd already heard the
song a dozen times because, as you said, Adam, you know,
made it to radio and it was on my radar
doing a countdown radio show.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You know, is this gonna make it?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Do?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I need to download this and have it for future
and all that, But.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
The song I wouldn't have known that until I realized it.
Now I can hear it. But so is that sort
of what you're talking about, Damien, as far as a
little bit more ambiguous, even though the video is kind
of a mock up of that right.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Right on, I'll throw that over to Adam because he's
this is this one's his brain child.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
So punch Out is one of the songs few songs
that were written by myself and Damien actually didn't co
write that song. I brought it to him and said,
do you think this is any good? And should we
make any changes? And he basically said no, that song
is spot on its killer right think all right? And
so you know, when I was writing it, I said,
(22:46):
you know, I want to make it all things boxing
because I do.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I do enjoy boxing, but.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I wanted to do it about this tineteen eighty four
Slash eighty seven video game, and I said, idea, And
so we wrote the song. We were the song, and
then I said, I'm gonna do a video. No, I
never told Damien or Gabe or anybody what the idea
was I had for the video. So two days before
we shot punch Out the music video cutter, I called Damien.
I said, Damian, now I'm gonna put Gabe in a
(23:14):
boxing outfit and dress him a little back from a
punch out. And He's like what, And so I called Gabe.
We called Gabe and Gabe starts freaking out. He's like Adam,
He's like, I haven't worked out in six months.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I haven't. I said I didn't. It was longer than that.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
But okay, the song was in the can. Okay, the
song was in the can for almost a year, Damien.
Before we shot the music video, the song was done, mixed, mastered,
And so when we went to bring it in two
days before, three days whatever, it was a week before,
it doesn't matter. He was freaking out because he had
I said, dude, it's gonna be way more funny because
because of this, and I said, we're gonna have a
(23:55):
blast doing it. And then I said to Damien, I said, Damien,
I got this crazy idea that I played Dicky.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
You know from Rocky, and.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
You walk around like Paulie and punch Out and so Gabe,
thank God his favorite video game ever Cutter and people
don't realize this is punch Out.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
He beats the game.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
He beat the game at the cat in Oklahoma City
when they had it there for us. When we came
in to play it acoustically live.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
He literally beat the game. And so I go.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
But you never get a pass, king hippo.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
And so it was awesome, and I remember the Damien.
I said, now, Damien, here we're gonna dress you up
like Paulie and here's his baseball bat. And I said,
you're not allowed to take that baseball bat off your
shoulder the entire day. So after we did the performance video,
Damian and I changing our outfits. I'm dressed as Mickey,
walking around in character, literally talking to everybody like that
the whole day.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
He's walking around with a bat on it.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
And then one week later we produced a video shipped
it out through a company to help us get it
out to people. MTV Metal Thrashing Madness picked it up,
played it for eighteen straight weeks on the show, nice
confidence to say, maybe we have something here. We'll go
try to work a little bit of radio and knock
on wood. We got to thirty three and thirty eight respectively,
(25:11):
and then just ran out of gas because there's so
many great songs out there from me. It's a good
pronem to have. But yeah, and so you know, that's
kind of the story behind punch Out. Punch Out was just,
you know, an idea I had and when I write it.
When I wrote it, I was only thinking of one
person to sing it, and that was Gabe, And so
you know, it's the perfect song for him.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
He looks ridiculous in the outfit.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Now, Catter, We just got to get Gabe to dress
up like little Mac at our shows coming up on
November fourteenth and fifteenth, which he's already agreed to in private,
Damien to do with me and I dress up as
a character called Fat Nukemb.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So I look like Duke Nukemb's cousin.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
I wear a blonde wig, I come out a red
wife beater. I got the bullets are on my thing.
And I tell people, this is what happens when you
play too many video games kids, you look like me, I.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Should keep them off of it.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Uh, listen, guys, So you guys are taking us out
on the road, What what does it?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
What does a tour look like like?
Speaker 3 (26:12):
What's the you know, give us the kind of quick
loadown of that before we have to wrap things up.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Speak to that more because he's really been trying to
spearhead and help me get this thing going in the
right direction.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
But indeed, yeah, I mean for us, you know, I mean,
touring is one of those things that it's necessary.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
We want to play live, we want.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
To meet people, we want to meet our fans, we
want to do all those things. But we have to
be smart about it, obviously, and we have to it
on some of the right things. So, you know, at
this point right now, we're working with.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
An agency agency. You probably heard of satellite touring. They're
doing they're doing their.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Thing, and you know, we're we're really you know, trying
to spearhead a spring tour, summer tour, and a fall tour.
Those are kind of if we can do three of
those next year, that's kind of what we're trying to
do and those and that would be just you know,
ten to fourteen days a piece on those and nothing crazy,
just nothing, nothing too crazy. We have an opportunity, but enough,
(27:11):
and we want to you know, and obviously I always say,
if you're going out on the road, especially at this
point in our lives, you want it to be meaningful.
So you want to make sure that you have meaningful shows,
so they're set up well and hopefully well attended, all
the all those good things that you think about just
when you go out because the reality is it's really
expensive to tour these days, and so you just yeah,
(27:33):
and so you have to just go out there, and
we want to We want to make sure that all
of this coincides with either a radio single or an
album release or all those things.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
We just want to make sure that we're promoting not
only the band, but also to the newest thing that
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Well, I I when you guys get out on the road,
let's let's let's sit down and hang out and talk again.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Man, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Would love to.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
What about a random do you guys? Because I know
you said you released an album a couple of years ago.
What is going on with A Randa while I have
you here?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
We I got excited for that's that's that's all.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
We released a record called Recollections of a Painted Year
in twenty twenty two. We did some touring on that,
which was really really fun and really kind of let
us know that there's still people out there that want to.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Listen to us. So I was like, because you just
don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
When you leave for a little while, you're just like, man,
it's you know, there's just so many great bands out there,
and it's like, oh, do we still have a place here?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And I just for me and Gabe, we both still have.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
So much to say and I think so much to
connect with people through our story, through our songs and
all that. So we have a new album that's coming out.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I don't know what's the exact release date.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
It'll be February March or something like that next year,
and it's called Art Not Entertained, and it's like good
and it's going to be, uh, it's really it's going
to be. I think it's some of our strongest work yet.
And we the first single was coming out in late November,
so be looking.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Out for that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Okay, Well, then open invite to you and Gabe too. Obviously.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
When that when that gets announced and an album's coming out,
let's do an album release and let's have some fun
on the on the show. Adam, it's a pleasure to
meet you.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Damian.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
It's so good to see you again, Adam. Music project
is the is the project. All these songs are out digitally.
There's so many music videos like you can. I was surprised.
I thought I was gonna get five or six songs,
and I went to go, Okay, they're a brand new project.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
You know, we'll see what's out.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
And I'm like, I listened to you guys for like
three hours, so I just kept it on. I just
like there was a little something for everybody, you.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Know, that's the whole point. Carter, thank you for having
us on with a Porter coming back Carter's Rock Cast.
Don't forget to tune in exactly
Attention please and no it cutters run around rock cast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi Damien Randa, Hey, how's it going. God, it's been
a lot of times I've seen your face.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
You doing good.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm doing excellent, man, Thank you for doing this.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
How do you know a lot of Damien Andrew?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, I mean most people know me. It's just cutter.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
And that is how I know Damien because Randa has
played many, many of shows for US. Find folks in Wisconsin,
this show, which is of course national, but you know,
back then, it was all just Wisconsin stuff. And my
band actually opened up for Randa a couple times, if
I do remember correctly, so once in Madison, I think
once in northeast Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So yeah, I remember in Madison for sure.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So yeah, That's that's how I know Damien.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
That's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
How do you know Damien?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I actually met David because back in two thousand and six,
I started a record label called Astonished Entertainment Okay, and
I signed Miranda. It was one of the five acts
that I signed and then worked their first album, their
self titled album. Sure, helped them get partner, helped them
produce a second album from an executive producer perspective, and
(01:19):
then helped them find the partner and wind up at
the time, and.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Then we've been friends ever since, so you know, just don't.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Know, that's awesome. So how does this come together? At
a music project? This is an interesting First of all,
I hadn't seen you know, Damian anything from Miranda in
quite some time, obviously, and then the song caught my ear.
I saw that you guys were a part of it.
The I went down a wormhole of figuring out who
the hell at a music project is and what exactly
(01:48):
that means. And I'm like, oh, it's songs about video games. Okay,
I'm in. So if you can't explain this project kind
of from the start, like where did this idea come from?
And then to launch it and actually get going.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yeah, So you know, for years, I you know, I
spent a lot of time in business and kind of
forsook my own musical career in the sense that I,
you know, put my artist aside aside for many many
years Cutter and then in about twenty twenty I think
it was, uh, maybe it was twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I think it was actually when I saw a Damian again.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
After a long long time, and I said, you know, man,
I've never done my own project. I said, but I've
got this crazy idea. I said, I love video games.
I'm a gamer. I play four or five hours a
day if I can. And I said, I'd love to
do hard rock songs inspired by video game characters, situations,
gaming culture and do my own project. And I said,
(02:45):
but I don't want to do it without talented musicians,
and I don't want to just do it by myself.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And so I said, would you mind, you know, if.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I did something like that, would you help me? And
so for the fraid, Damien basically said, yeah, I would
totally help you. And we started by doing a six
song EP about Apex Legends at the time, which I'm
still playing Apex Legends. I just got off a ranked match,
by the way, came in second. The Son of a
Bitch got one hundred and sixty one rand.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Second second is first last.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Trust me do better. I need it better and uh,
and so you know, we.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Did that, and then I realized that there was a
lot more inside of myself as far as music concerned.
It's almost like I opened up a fond cutter and
it just now at this point, Damian, and I think
you know, from what we've released and what we have
recorded and what we are recording that has already been written,
it's close to one hundred tracks in two and a
(03:43):
half three years.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Seeze, well, I mean there's a lot of music already
out let alone.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I can't imagine what you're sitting on.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Oh yeah, we're sitting on almost almost thirty eight songs
right now.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
We're sitting on been released or in the stages of
being recordered.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
We have Lacy Saunders today flying in from Oklahoma City
here at Jacksonville. She'll be working with me today and
slumming at studios.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Is what I call it.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Cutter, And you know, and we're shooting a music video
tonight that will actually be edited and released on Thursday night.
That's how quick we turn stuff around. So I think,
I think in a lot of ways cutter. For me
to answer your question is and I jokingly tell Damien
this is like when we were trying to decide what
I was going to call the band, I said, you know,
(04:31):
why not name it after myself, Adam, but making an
acronym so I can make it all about myself and
not about myself, but really about myself, Damian, let's look
get ourselves at this book.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So you know it's all about me, unless you're asking,
then it's not.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
It was about artists developing astonishing music is really the concept, right, Okay,
we've just had a blast, I mean deep from your perspective, I.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Mean, you remember this. It's been almost three years now.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Now we're a touring act for part on this project,
partners with Randa again on their upcoming releases. It's been
a fun journey and there's nobody I enjoy writing music
more than Damien because we just have so much fun
and we laugh at ourselves the entire time we're doing.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, hey, wait a minute before you even go there, Damian.
This has kind of been a theme the last few
weeks and the last few conversations I've had with artists
on the Cutting in his Countdown and Cutters roadcast, the
fun of making music.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, I mean again, when you're when that's what you
kind of live and breathe most of your life, and
you're doing all that and then we you know, Randa
just kind of started back up, you know, a couple
of years ago again and we've been doing some shows.
We released a record in twenty twenty two, so we're
having We were having fun doing that. But when Adam
(05:48):
came to me with this, with this kind of this project,
I thought it was just going to be a one off.
So I was like, sure, man, let's just let's have
some fun. It's going to be six songs. Nope, problem.
We co wrote most of it together. It was fun,
and then I thought that was going to be it.
But I but while we were doing it, I was like, man,
(06:09):
this is this is something more. I feel it. I
already I already know something is happening here. And it
was just a really Again in music, sometimes there's a
hard time getting involved with things that are kind of unique,
you know, where it's like, oh man, because it feels
like somebody's doing it, or there's a lot of people
(06:30):
doing or whatever. And I just felt like this was
a little bit unique. Maybe a few people were doing it,
but not quite like this, and so I was really
excited to continue. After we did the six song EP,
I just personally didn't know we were going to go
as fast as we were going to go because Adam
is a madman and a half and I, you know,
(06:51):
I would consider myselfself before anything a songwriter.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So I love writing songs.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
And he, you know, he was pumping out a lot
of just even instrumental stuff, and he's like, man, what
do you think about this?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Do something with this?
Speaker 5 (07:07):
And he had just the whole beds of all these music,
all this music, and so I was like, oh man,
this is great. And then we would get together, whether
it would be in Florida or California, and we would
go and we would be like, Okay, in a day
and a half, we want to write.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Seven of these or eight of these or nine of
these or whatever.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
And that's how we just did it. And everything was
really fast, but really really fun. And I think there's
a lot of great tracks that are coming out of that.
And so man, I'm just throwed to be a part
of it.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It's Adam the songwriting.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Why is it so quick, like all of a sudden,
to find this sort of part of yourself. Is it
because of the theme, Is it because you're just like
that kind of guy?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Or is just okay, gotta go.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Anybody who's known me for years till was dead.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
The one thing that I think that I've been given
as a gift as a human is that I don't hesitate.
Damien will tell you that, like if I no matter
how cockamany, the idea.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Is, if it comes to my brain, I'm going to
pursue it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And so with a verver in, a vigor that many
people don't have. I don't know where that comes from, Cutter,
other than I could say, it's just a part of
who I am. It's part of my DNA.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
To give you an example, we've already finished this last album.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
I ended up waking up yesterday had an idea for
a song I've written. I wrote the lyrics, wrote the music,
produced the music, arrange the music, and Lacy will be
singing it here in two hours. It'll be mixed and
mastered within three weeks. And Damien has no idea what
the song is yet.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Popping off, Damien, it's called popping off. And you know,
and I could be here last night I had a
game both finding all this out Cutter at.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
The same time. That's all good.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I had a.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Brain game last night where I was popping off and
I'm like, oh, and I felt like I.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Was taunting the other team. So it's kind of like
a taunting song.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
It's hilarious and you know, and at the end of
the day, I think what I realized is that I
you know, and this is one of the things I
would admonish people, is that when you're a musician and
you've been given that gift, don't ignore it, even if
you have to go have a side gig and you've
got to make money and you've got to pay the bills,
whether that be being a barista or running businesses like
(09:25):
I did for years, or whatever mistake I made was
I stopped producing music myself, and.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
So I put myself at other people's music, which.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Was great, but kind of forsook what was in me
and I didn't really get a bit of chance to develop.
So when the last couple of years, I found out
that I'm a real good producer, I'm a pretty good arranger.
Danie will tell you, I'm getting better on guitar every.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Single day of the week.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
And I know I'm kind of irrepressible. I guess is really.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
The you're impressible word I would use.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
That's very hard to put me down and keep me down.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
And I love working fast and I believe that good
things can come quickly.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
You know. I produce all the videos.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I edit all the videos, so it's not just the music,
it's actually the video side of it.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
The worst part.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
About at a music project for me is the fact
that I have to do social media. It sucks the
life out of us. And I'm sure Dami me it
feels the same way. It's like every time you see me,
I feel like I have to act like a twelve
year old in order to get anybody's attention. And but
that's just the way we live in and it's gonna
get done. But you know, if you ever see me streaming, no,
(10:32):
just know that inside I'm dying and.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I can't stand it. But you know, I would say
cutter for me, it's you could tell them on my personality,
like I'm a go getter.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And I'm also not afraid of failure, right d I mean,
I think that's probably part of it as well as.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I'm not afraid to write a bad song. It's okay
to write a bad song.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Well, you have to write a bad song, and otherwise
you're not I'm gonna write any good ones.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah, And I mean, I think the other kind of.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
Endearing, just endearing overall trajectory of this project is it
is it. You know, obviously Adam really is the mastermind
behind all of it. But the cool thing about it,
and he'll probably tell you this first more than anybody would,
but it's such a great team. We just have such
a great team of people that really help contribute to
(11:21):
this thing as far as talent, and.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
That's what makes it go, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
It's like we have amazing leadership, but then we also
have this amazing cast of people that we're able to
draw from. It's like, hey, we really need this kind
of a thing for this kind of song. It's almost
like the we're a and r ing the project at
all times, you know, and it's we have and we
have you know, ten to twelve people to really choose
from to be able to do that, and most of
(11:47):
them are Oklahoma City Base, which is awesome, you know.
And it's just it's really cool because you know, at
the end of the day, yes, we do have that
awesome leadership, but it's a team and you know, man,
you always are able to push so much more together
than you are with just one person.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
So you're finding a lot of the musicians that are
used within the project because if you go through the
list of songs and go through the songs that are
available now, even it's different singers, it's different players. Obviously
there's a nucleus, but you're finding a lot of those
d where you guys live.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, we're finding all most of the guys.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
You know, when Adam first came to me with the project,
he was like, Man, Okay, maybe it's just you and
Gabe kind of singing on most of this stuff, and
we'll just kind of do it like that.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
He'll play, you.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Know, he was playing, he was playing guitar, coming up
with the tracks. I was doing some solos. It was
kind of it really was kind of an Randa Adam
music project amalgamation, and so.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
We were doing it like that.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
But then you know, there was one I think there
was one track on the first thing where it was like, oh,
we need we need a female singer on this. So
then it was like, okay, well we got Lacey Saunders,
who he.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Was just mentioning.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
She's just this amazing singer in Oklahoma City and she
mainly does you know, the local thing here, but man,
she's you know, you know how it is. You'll go
and see people and you'll be like, why is this
person not so just famous, why is she all the
time now? And so she's one of them. So when
you when you hear her sing, you're just like, man,
this is this is next level.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Oh go ahead, go ahead at them.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
More so than hearing her sing now, is that she'd
become like a sister and she's one of our best
friends in the planet. And we now tour it on
the road with her, you know, you know it's call
it eighteen dates, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
We're planning on doing fifty to sixty to eighty.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Hopefully next year, you know, which is when we decided
to take it from an internet thing that was birthed
out of the COVID era to a real act that
can put on a show and make people smile, rock out,
have fun, but perform the music live. And so Lacey
has just become and I would say the integral part
(13:59):
besides Damien and I in the project.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And it's an.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Honor to work with her, Like I'm soot, but she's
just dare right now, like I can't even like she's
when you get somebody with that kind of gift behind
a microphone and your stupid melody that you wrought that
you wrote that you know, sounds ridiculously terrible on the
voice note you gave her. You just know, no matter
how bad it is, she's gonna show up and she's
(14:23):
gonna bring it. She's gonna bring that voice to the
song that even though she might be hitting the melody,
there's something special about what she brings as an artist
to the song. And then you think about I think
about like Eric Gillette who's added his voice on the
guitar Damien, And you think about Jay Gleeson, You think
about Neil de Graad, and then Pete Mitchell from No
More Kings. You think about, uh, you know, Brandon Frazier
(14:45):
out of Tulsa. Do you think about Joel Driscoll, who
can sound like anybody we need him to sound.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Like, whether especially.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Fallout.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
It's about the video game Fallout. It's actually called all Out.
Thank God, it's just a game.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
And and these things on that and dude, it's like
the best actual Rosy personation ever. And so you know,
we're not afraid to lean into that cutter too, right.
You can tell by the music, like if it's meant
to be shunting like eighties, we're gonna make a.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Sound like eighties.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
We want to have a blend of old and new
and current together. Like punch Out it's a great example
of that. It's got a retro vibe, it's got you've
heard it before, and yet it's also fresh and curry.
That's kind of we're not afraid to have multi genres
within the hard rock world. You'll hear a song like
I Bring Death and it's classic metal. You hear a
song like Blackheart and it's my attempt at new metal,
(15:41):
and so you know, it's kind of fun to be
able to explore not only different other people's different gifts,
but even different shades of rock that exist within the
hard rock realm and not be afraid because there's no rules.
Nobody's telling me and Damian you can't do that. Now
we have been recently, I would say Danian more mindful
(16:01):
and more on purpose because we are now a top forty.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Rock act. That actually just happened with punch Out.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
We made it to thirty three and then thirty eight
on Media Base respectively.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I was very proud of that.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
You should be.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Very confident that we've got at least a top twenty
possible teen track in the rears so yeah, so we've
got several follow up songs coming out. We're pretty excited
about it, and so we have to have commercial viability
as a band as well. But when we approached, because
we do so much writing, we let the song be
what it can be. So I remember when we went
(16:37):
to Damian and I said, dude, I got this idea
for our Final Fantasy VII song, and I want it
to sound like a nineteen eighties heavy metal hair band
song that could have been number one back then. And
we wrote a song called help Me, and Joel Driscoll,
our wonderful eighties voice extraordinaire, sang on the song, and
(16:58):
then I think we did a d I mean, it's
it's not our one of our most popular tracks, but
if you want to hear something that's like intentionally supposed
to remind you of Guns N' Roses and White Snake, Okay.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So I'm curious though, as as a as a sometimes
gamer myself not as hardcore as you, for sure, but
because I have don't have the amount of time otherwise maybe,
but uh, Final Final Fantasy seven is my all time
favorite game ever, right, And I think that's the same
for a lot of people. Like I bought a PlayStation
in nineteen ninety seven got Final Fantasy seven.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
But why eighties for a song based on a.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Video game that's sort of this weird neo future that
came out in the late nineties.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Because for me, it was more about what reminded me
of how I felt when I played it. Okay, I
think you know when you're when when you're an artist
and you're looking at approaching a character, it's not necessarily
we're trying to match the music to sound or remind
you of that character. In some cases, it's the way
we feel like it should have been, could have been,
and might have been. So we approach it from different angles,
(18:04):
I guess, cutter. There's some things we try to do
head on and other times we try to look from
a different angle, a different camera view, so to speak. Yeah,
myself playing the game and how I felt at the time,
and that's kind of the way we modeled out the
music for it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And you know, tipped our hat.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Even to the opening segments, segments of music written by
that amazing Japanese composer.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I can't remember his name, it's it's you.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Know what I'm talking about, who I didn't do a massive,
you know, orchestral production.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Now.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
The Final Fantasy's gameplay in general, I think changed the
way I felt about video games as much as Destiny did.
I don't know if you ever played Destiny.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
A little bit, but I didn't get into it.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Game Destiny came out, which was after Halo made from
the same people, Bungee. I remember playing that game, and
I was talking to my brother, who was a big
gamer at the time too, and we played for like
eight hours. I mean, this is like after work. This
is after I put it in a freaking twelve hour day, dude.
And then you know, I felt like I was sleeping
four and a half five hours a night, but it
didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I was having fun.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
That game kind of changed changed my life in the
sense that I never looked at video games the same way.
Much like after I went to my first circ Doucile show,
I felt like that changed my life because at the time,
when if you remember the first time you ever saw
a Cirk show, it changed what you thought perspectively of
(19:28):
a live performance, and so games in a lot of ways,
to me have those kind of memories and those thoughts,
and so we try to put different ideas in different
thinking behind what we do.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And anyway, I'll stop talking. Ask Damian a question, all.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Right, Damien, for you, as the professional musician to take
not that you're not Adam, but but to take those
kind of Okay, I've got all these ideas about all
these different subjects in ours to the world of gaming.
And now, Adam, your job or Damien, your job is
to make that a viable rock and roll song for
(20:07):
people to listen to. Like what and maybe it's not,
but like, as far as you in the history that
you have being in this world, how do you take
that and go, all right, I can do that.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Here's here's this, let's let's fix this, let's go.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Well it's fun because I mean it's like it's like anything,
it's a it's a challenge in some ways. And then
I think as we've kind of continued the project, I
remember the early iteration of this whole thing. I feel
like we were just subject matter and everything was so
right on the nose that maybe I don't know, Adam,
if you agree with this, it might have pigeonholed some
(20:42):
pigeon held some of the songs to just be those
little narrow lanes of being able to one just get
opportunity for it to be heard. As we've kind of continued,
we have stuck with the subject matter but made some
of the things just a little bit more ambiguous, sure,
so that you know that it can maybe have a
broader appeal and you can as the listener maybe if
(21:03):
you need a song about you know, freedom, or you
need a song about you know, hope, or you need
a song about that some of these which some of
these characters obviously stand for, you can listen to that
song not even knowing the character and it relate to
you somehow. So we've kind of broadened I think the
audience appeal by that approach, and it's been pretty fun
(21:24):
trying to do that. So to answer your question, just overall,
it's still it's still just writing songs, you know what
I mean? You just you you have some straints of
the characters maybe, but that's the fun part. I think honestly,
you can even be more creative sometimes when you have
those constraints because you have a target to hit.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
What about okay, the song punch out? Because I'll be honest,
I didn't know about the video game thing. I didn't
know about any of that, right, I'd already heard the
song a dozen times because, as you said, Adam, you know,
made it to radio and it was on my radar
doing a countdown radio show.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You know, is this gonna make it?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Do?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I need to download this and have it for future
and all that, But.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
The song I wouldn't have known that until I realized it.
Now I can hear it. But so is that sort
of what you're talking about, Damien, as far as a
little bit more ambiguous, even though the video is kind
of a mock up of that right.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Right on, I'll throw that over to Adam because he's
this is this one's his brain child.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
So punch Out is one of the songs few songs
that were written by myself and Damien actually didn't co
write that song. I brought it to him and said,
do you think this is any good? And should we
make any changes? And he basically said no, that song
is spot on its killer right think all right? And
so you know, when I was writing it, I said,
(22:46):
you know, I want to make it all things boxing
because I do.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I do enjoy boxing, but.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I wanted to do it about this tineteen eighty four
Slash eighty seven video game, and I said, idea, And
so we wrote the song. We were the song, and
then I said, I'm gonna do a video. No, I
never told Damien or Gabe or anybody what the idea
was I had for the video. So two days before
we shot punch Out the music video cutter, I called Damien.
I said, Damian, now I'm gonna put Gabe in a
(23:14):
boxing outfit and dress him a little back from a
punch out. And He's like what, And so I called Gabe.
We called Gabe and Gabe starts freaking out. He's like Adam,
He's like, I haven't worked out in six months.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I haven't. I said I didn't. It was longer than that.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
But okay, the song was in the can. Okay, the
song was in the can for almost a year, Damien.
Before we shot the music video, the song was done, mixed, mastered,
And so when we went to bring it in two
days before, three days whatever, it was a week before,
it doesn't matter. He was freaking out because he had
I said, dude, it's gonna be way more funny because
because of this, and I said, we're gonna have a
(23:55):
blast doing it. And then I said to Damien, I said, Damien,
I got this crazy idea that I played Dicky.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
You know from Rocky, and.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
You walk around like Paulie and punch Out and so Gabe,
thank God his favorite video game ever Cutter and people
don't realize this is punch Out.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
He beats the game.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
He beat the game at the cat in Oklahoma City
when they had it there for us. When we came
in to play it acoustically live.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
He literally beat the game. And so I go.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
But you never get a pass, king hippo.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
And so it was awesome, and I remember the Damien.
I said, now, Damien, here we're gonna dress you up
like Paulie and here's his baseball bat. And I said,
you're not allowed to take that baseball bat off your
shoulder the entire day. So after we did the performance video,
Damian and I changing our outfits. I'm dressed as Mickey,
walking around in character, literally talking to everybody like that
the whole day.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
He's walking around with a bat on it.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
And then one week later we produced a video shipped
it out through a company to help us get it
out to people. MTV Metal Thrashing Madness picked it up,
played it for eighteen straight weeks on the show, nice
confidence to say, maybe we have something here. We'll go
try to work a little bit of radio and knock
on wood. We got to thirty three and thirty eight respectively,
(25:11):
and then just ran out of gas because there's so
many great songs out there from me. It's a good
pronem to have. But yeah, and so you know, that's
kind of the story behind punch Out. Punch Out was just,
you know, an idea I had and when I write it.
When I wrote it, I was only thinking of one
person to sing it, and that was Gabe, And so
you know, it's the perfect song for him.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
He looks ridiculous in the outfit.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Now, Catter, We just got to get Gabe to dress
up like little Mac at our shows coming up on
November fourteenth and fifteenth, which he's already agreed to in private,
Damien to do with me and I dress up as
a character called Fat Nukemb.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So I look like Duke Nukemb's cousin.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
I wear a blonde wig, I come out a red
wife beater. I got the bullets are on my thing.
And I tell people, this is what happens when you
play too many video games kids, you look like me, I.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Should keep them off of it.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Uh, listen, guys, So you guys are taking us out
on the road, What what does it?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
What does a tour look like like?
Speaker 3 (26:12):
What's the you know, give us the kind of quick
loadown of that before we have to wrap things up.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Speak to that more because he's really been trying to
spearhead and help me get this thing going in the
right direction.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
But indeed, yeah, I mean for us, you know, I mean,
touring is one of those things that it's necessary.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
We want to play live, we want.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
To meet people, we want to meet our fans, we
want to do all those things. But we have to
be smart about it, obviously, and we have to it
on some of the right things. So, you know, at
this point right now, we're working with.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
An agency agency. You probably heard of satellite touring. They're
doing they're doing their.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Thing, and you know, we're we're really you know, trying
to spearhead a spring tour, summer tour, and a fall tour.
Those are kind of if we can do three of
those next year, that's kind of what we're trying to
do and those and that would be just you know,
ten to fourteen days a piece on those and nothing crazy,
just nothing, nothing too crazy. We have an opportunity, but enough,
(27:11):
and we want to you know, and obviously I always say,
if you're going out on the road, especially at this
point in our lives, you want it to be meaningful.
So you want to make sure that you have meaningful shows,
so they're set up well and hopefully well attended, all
the all those good things that you think about just
when you go out because the reality is it's really
expensive to tour these days, and so you just yeah,
(27:33):
and so you have to just go out there, and
we want to We want to make sure that all
of this coincides with either a radio single or an
album release or all those things.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
We just want to make sure that we're promoting not
only the band, but also to the newest thing that
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Well, I I when you guys get out on the road,
let's let's let's sit down and hang out and talk again.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Man, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Would love to.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
What about a random do you guys? Because I know
you said you released an album a couple of years ago.
What is going on with A Randa while I have
you here?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
We I got excited for that's that's that's all.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
We released a record called Recollections of a Painted Year
in twenty twenty two. We did some touring on that,
which was really really fun and really kind of let
us know that there's still people out there that want to.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Listen to us. So I was like, because you just
don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
When you leave for a little while, you're just like, man,
it's you know, there's just so many great bands out there,
and it's like, oh, do we still have a place here?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And I just for me and Gabe, we both still have.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
So much to say and I think so much to
connect with people through our story, through our songs and
all that. So we have a new album that's coming out.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I don't know what's the exact release date.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
It'll be February March or something like that next year,
and it's called Art Not Entertained, and it's like good
and it's going to be, uh, it's really it's going
to be. I think it's some of our strongest work yet.
And we the first single was coming out in late November,
so be looking.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Out for that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Okay, Well, then open invite to you and Gabe too. Obviously.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
When that when that gets announced and an album's coming out,
let's do an album release and let's have some fun
on the on the show. Adam, it's a pleasure to
meet you.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Damian.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
It's so good to see you again, Adam. Music project
is the is the project. All these songs are out digitally.
There's so many music videos like you can. I was surprised.
I thought I was gonna get five or six songs,
and I went to go, Okay, they're a brand new project.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
You know, we'll see what's out.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
And I'm like, I listened to you guys for like
three hours, so I just kept it on. I just
like there was a little something for everybody, you.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Know, that's the whole point. Carter, thank you for having
us on with a Porter coming back Carter's Rock Cast.
Don't forget to tune in exactly
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