…es, beats, or music in my mind. Dead Rhetoric: Now that you are in your mid-50s, is there anything you would change about your approach and attitude when it comes to your career during your twenties and thirties – either personally or professionally? Bay: That must be the wrong information as I’m twenty-one! (laughs). Every one of us who looks back in life, you can find some periods or some decisions you never would repeat or do again. You have to…
…e this big stadium band. It doesn’t work that way anymore. People are more online based, so you have to create most of your content online. You have to be putting out music videos, you have to be putting out constant posts, pictures, music, little clips so that you can reach a bigger audience. It doesn’t just happen organically by going to shows anymore. Unfortunately, as I wish it still did. I feel like that would be a lot easier in some ways bec…
…Dead Rhetoric: Do you believe it’s harder for people to engage in more face-to-face communication, versus the use technology to communicate? Melissourgos: I’m an old school person. I prefer talking to someone straight in their face. I will give you a small example. I didn’t used to have my own Facebook account until a year ago. I just use it for the promotional stuff of the band, and maybe talking with friends or people that are not living that cl…
…out Time, as your newest album? Scissorhands: Definitely the change in line-up, it stands out a lot. Even though Alice joined us while we were already recording the album, she didn’t have any part of the composition of it, she did record five songs when she joined. But the feeling in the band, everything that was happening at the time, it brings me back. Also, I feel like I like to look at this album as it’s own little recap of everything we have…
…am hearing a crappy streaming MP3 or something like that. As far as the hi-fi playback goes, it’s more or less the same. To the first part of your question, I think it’s great. Musicians want to be heard, right? My attitude has been, and always has been, it should be accessible and on as many formats as possible. Whatever format a particular listener prefers, why would you not want to provide that? From a limited cassette to the Spotify version….
…it’s been very surprising indeed, because the band formed just one year-and-a-half ago! We got a bunch of songs, we recorded them, and that’s it! We choose the more catchy and straight in your face; it’s a demo, so you don’t need to be so bothered after all! I didn’t expect such a thing! Consider that we’ll have our first album out soon, and we re-recorded “Krushing All Altars,” “Sepulchrist,” and the title track with something new! Also, the cove…
…ich was a song we released as another project. Those songs were more fringe-y as far as the use of orchestra or being more new age-y, in Frank’s case. “Crater” was my contribution, which ended up being more like a catchy rock/metal song with just like weird time signatures, for me as a Tool fan, I guess that just kind of came out [laughs]. There was that diversity that carried over to this record. But with that being the case, what I think it all…
…sed in the Netherlands, and they are all based in Brazil. It’s a twelve-and-a-half-hour flight to get there. The culture difference is huge. We had different visions of how business should be dealt with. That’s normal, and that’s okay when you have different backgrounds. You have different ways of dealing with the business. I also felt it wasn’t my calling to be full-time in a death metal band. I really enjoyed my time in Crypta, they are very har…
…ming out in their rehearsal space with these songs. They asked Tommi the ex-drummer and Markus the ex-singer to play. From there Markus helped us record the first demo at his studio. Dead Rhetoric: Do you remember Miika when you joined the group, what was exciting about being in this band? Kokko: (laughs). Well, I didn’t have any expectations. I was looking for a new band as my previous band had broken up a couple of years before that. I could thi…
…ecruited the musicians who are now with you? Hurd: Yes. It started as a one-man project. I didn’t want it as a one-man project, but it probably kicked things off for the best. I didn’t have any other musicians to play with out in Dripping Springs, Texas, it’s a country small town. There weren’t guys itching to play melodic death, doom metal. (laughs). It’s not a whole lot of people to choose from. When I moved to Austin, which is twenty miles over…
…ke the mysterious thing that I grew up with. Recently I spoke to my brother-in-law, who owns a social media company that used to work with musicians and now they do more stuff with brands. He said if you want to be mysterious, you can’t be on social media so that no one knows anything about you, or you just have to play the game and do the social media thing to keep people engaged. I’m more focused on staying on top of my social media. I do like t…
…my bread and butter. I was very happy to learn that Ice Giant was a concept-based band in sci-fi. And as we’ve been working on the following, you know, we’re still very much in the early stage just talking about that, but definitely in terms of concept and lyrics and things like that, me being a massive fantasy nerd is absolutely going to have an influence on that. Gallop: I’m so fucking excited because, just, yeah, I’m so fucking excited. Hell ye…
…like “eh, you made us upset,” causing Castillo to return to her earlier emo-voice and declare, “You stabbed me in the back, and it hurted!” Not to be outdone, Duarte instantly fires back in her own emo-imitation to up the stakes, “Yeah, it hurted, and and we are all mad at you so fuck off,” which again causes laughter to fill the room. After we all compose ourselves, she continues, “But with this one, I feel like we are like, ‘actually our feeling…
…n. I never really understood about the founding of America. A sort of cross-cultural, historical understanding way. We use words like privilege all the time. The privilege of a working-class person in 1850 or 1900 was pretty grim, it was nonexistent. If you were to go back to the medieval period before the industrial revolution, that was a society of structural, inherited elitism. A poor person in 1800 was a poor person pretty much the world over,…
…re the technology has rapidly evolved and everything is available for free online. We can finally get information that we couldn’t have unless we went to a library or paid for a subscription. Right now, we can google anything you want and be more informed on things that were more difficult to get information on before. That’s what’s happening. Dead Rhetoric: What’s next for Death Dealer Union, as well as yourself with Infected Rain? Cataraga: Deat…
…hree albums, Exmortus issued the Legions of the Undead EP in 2019 through M-Theory Audio before signing to Nuclear Blast for this latest full-length Necrophony. How does it feel to be on such a legendary label at this point in the career of Exmortus – and do you believe their professionalism, staff, and promotional knowledge will keep the band going on the best trajectory forward? Jadran ‘Conan’ Gonzalez: Yeah, I would like to think so. So far so…
…ay because you’ll make good art. Having this podcast, opening myself to one-on-one feedback, has just been incredible. I’m fortunate to be able to make music that resonates with people – that’s the whole point. It’s a game changer for me. People from the outside will think – oh they played Download, they played Hellfest. A lot of that stuff, it’s just gradual steps and seems like another day. Being able to talk to fans one on one and hear how this…
…d pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving the people to rot. I know it’s a never-ending war, but I still think it’s an important one to fight. People’s well-being is being sacrificed there. Dead Rhetoric: Speaking of war, what are your thoughts on the Ukraine – Russia war that has a lot of effects on the European continent these days? Radtleff: I have a lot of friends in Russia and the Ukraine, which all are against the war. Of course, I’m against the…
…s completely clueless. Talking like the sizing of the panels, this is a two-panel page, this is a six-panel page. I had been looking at comics my whole life, I just didn’t process the effort that it takes to do that. Dead Rhetoric: And how was it working with Ken Mary for his engineering of the drums – I know you must trust his abilities as a fellow drummer? Briody: Ken has a big drum room, and it was great. We had done a couple of albums in a sma…
…nalist. Going into the studio for reports, receiving a lot of album promos -the label would invite us to do studio reports for Hammerfall in Denmark or Sweden, or to specific festivals. Now you get promos digitally, and it’s mostly interviews you do online, not in person face to face. It was something I enjoyed. It gave me the ability to understand more of my music, and of understanding music in general. To be critical or easier on some things. It…
…or where my voice is going to be. We really have to trust each other. Solo-wise, melody-wise, I had to trust them, so they had to trust me that it was going to work out for the vocals. That’s a completely different thing than we did to any other album. Usually with mixing we are together with Andy Classen, going through the mix and talking about it. Now it was Erwin doing it on his own, sending us the link, and everybody listening to it on their…
…d’s songwriting process, how they’re feeling about the new album, the multi-studio approach to recording their latest, future plans, what’s been inspiring them, and even the possibility for themed baked goods! Dead Rhetoric: Air Not Meant for Us just released on April 28th, and early indications show the reception to be overwhelmingly positive. How do you feel about the album and how people have been reacting thus far? Jordan Rippe (drums): The su…
…ore on the opera stuff heavily; it was surprising to see people’s reaction online. People were talking, messaging me on Facebook. Adam on bass, he had a lot to do with the really cool songwriting. Even though he didn’t record on the album, we were writing out weird-ass rhythms, clapping 9/8 into 7/8, coming up with what we liked to fit the mood. We were thinking about what would fit and what would be cool, if the song was aggressive. “Slice of Tim…
…like that because they’ve transitioned everything to being on a computer, online. Now we have a whole generation that will end up paying $300-$400 an hour for a plumber because there is no one to take his place. Anything that teaches you about how the government is screwing you, taxes. They don’t teach you about finances until you are blindsided by it in life. Dead Rhetoric: Battlecross recently announced that you would be going on an indefinite…
…e possible in the past for every gig, because the money wasn’t there budget-wise. Now we are just not taking those gigs, we will have our own sound guy, our own crew- and this will help us have better quality for the audience. I think it’s also better for the band to show the quality that we have. It’s one of those choices that maybe fans… the fans, we are asking for more money with fuel prices going up, it’s not the easiest year for us to decide…
…he pounding, the really aggressive nature to their music, but not in a high-speed tempo. They can get so much brutality in a mid-tempo format, it’s amazing. Perhaps old school Machine Head would be my third pick. When I heard Burn My Eyes, it’s pounding, wicked vocals, great riffs. I saw Muse, and I was really impressed by the show, even if it’s not metal. Rammstein as well, one of their early shows back in the early 2000’s. It was a small show, b…
…he one who suggested a couple of people. I got in touch, found some people online, it was surprisingly easy to record this and collaborate with people online. I found people who had recording setups at home, tracking the guitars and vocals here in my house – I sent the material to Scott Elliot at Chernobyl Studios who mixed and mastered it. Dead Rhetoric: The World After is the debut EP for Dreams of Gray. What can you tell us about the songwritin…
…t would be all new. Dead Rhetoric: Do people ever seek you out at shows or online for advice regarding the music business – and if so, what words of wisdom or thoughts/ideas do you try to give them that maybe you wish others had given you in your early years? Heubaum: Sometimes it happens – but not all the time. There are occasions when people ask about things. Not that much at concerts, but they will write me and ask some questions. Sometimes the…
…al. To combine those two elements, the orchestral/classical music with fast-paced epic power metal, that was mind-blowing to me. My legs were shaking. That was a turning point for me. It took many years for me to start making that kind of music myself, but it was always in the back of my head. That had a big impact on me, I would say – so thank you Luca Turilli. Dead Rhetoric: How do you see the next year or so shaping up for Twilight Force to sup…
…breast cancer and recovery? Has this made you stronger as a unit chemistry-wise, and also think about your own personal well-being/health as a result? Van Mieghem: It’s been a tough year, especially with Evy and Domingo had to support his wife. She still isn’t 100%, we have to really take into account what she feels and what she is and isn’t capable of. It made us a lot closer as a band. It wasn’t easy, you get to know each other on a different l…
