Photo: Chris Johnston
The Bay Area may be best associated with thrash metal, but it’s always been an active musical community in many other heavy genres. Coming from the hardcore scene while injecting that muscular thrash component, Doomsday has actively been cultivating a sound that really engages the listeners. Energetic and crunchy with the perfect amount of call-to-action gang voices, breakdowns, and two-step transitions, their latest album Never Know Peace showcases a current band taking decades of influences with their own personal experience to meld a sound that many will not resist. We were able to have a conversation with vocalist Charlie D. about the formation of Doomsday, the band’s outlook on their crossover sound, albums that formed the DNA for the new record, differences in the old versus new breed of crossover thrash, concerns for the community in general, and what’s in store for live touring.
Dead Rhetoric: Describe your life growing up in childhood – what are some of your earliest memories surrounding music back then, and when / how did you make the progression into heavier forms of music, and eventually the desire to perform in your own bands?
Charlie D.: I grew up in Puerto Rico. Metal really wasn’t a big thing over there, it was mostly reggaeton and salsa, all the Latin music. My dad is a big metalhead, he loved Metallica and Iron Maiden. Growing up I would listen to what my dad listened to, basically. Once I moved to the states when I was 18, I got into the hardcore scene over here.
I didn’t know anything about music and performing, it was just some of my friends at the time who invited me to a show. There was this band called King Nine, from Long Island, New York. It was the scariest moment of my life, that show. There was a moment where this guy was getting swarmed by eleven dudes because he was just being obnoxious and drunk. Everyone was windmilling everywhere, throwing hands and I thought it was the coolest thing that I’d ever seen in my life. I just had to start a band and keep going to shows, and eventually started a straight-edge band with Joseph, the singer of Sunami, that one big hardcore band. That didn’t last too long, but then I met Ryan, our guitarist, and we just had this mutual love of this band Iron Age from Texas. Without Iron Age, Doomsday would not exist, and I would not be making music at all, the influence starts from there.
Trying to do something different in the hardcore scene, we wanted that metal tinge but still having breakdowns and two steps. Now it’s gotten to the point where we are writing all these crazy solos, these crazy parts. The metal influence is showing way more than the hardcore influence at this point. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but it’s really cool to see the progression of the band with this new record. This is a metal ass album, and I’m super excited for it.
Dead Rhetoric: Never Know Peace is the first album for Doomsday after delivering a series of EPs, singles, and demos over the years. How did the songwriting and recording sessions go for this set of material – and where do you see this record sitting in the catalog for the band?
Charlie D.: I think this is the best (material) that we’ve done, so far. When it came to all the other stuff we’ve done, from the first EP through Depiction of Chaos, a lot of it was writing riffs and songs. They would send me the tracks, and I would pull out a thesaurus, and I’m going to write all these intricate lyrics. It was taking what Ryan had sent me and trying to do the best that I can as a lyricist to be all intellectual. When it came to this album, we wrote it with a lot more purpose. Every song has its own vibe. I can only speak on the lyrics – I’m a horrible musician. In the other band I’m in, I’m not even the best bassist in the band. We wrote every song with a lot of intent. When it came to the lyrics, I wrote stuff that matches with what Ryan is bringing to the table through each song. Trying my hardest not to recycle the same kind of imagery I had been doing before.
When it comes to metal, you can only write about so much stuff. I’m writing about demons, war, and I feel like when it comes to this album, I feel like this is the best material I’ve written. The solos, the breakdowns, everything – I truly believe this is the (greatest) thing that we’ve done so far.
Dead Rhetoric: As you mention, it’s a challenge to develop fresh ideas consistently within the metal realm. Is that why you draw from your own personal experiences and view points to make things more interesting?
Charlie D.: Yeah, 100%. When it came to the single we just dropped “Never Know Peace”, I mentioned in another write-up that I don’t want this band to be afraid to be vulnerable. I want to have moments of going through something real, and something that everyone goes through. The lyrics are about me being in the lowest point of my life, and wanting to… commit (unsafe behavior). I really hope that I could somehow help someone when reading that, that they are not alone. For the next song we are going to release, it’s the other side of the coin for mental health, you are feeling that way, but don’t give up, you got this. I feel like that song is one that if we somehow ever perform in a stadium, I want that song to be one that people sing back to us. I want to continue with those topics in the band in the lyrics we write. I want to be real.
Dead Rhetoric: Ripped to Shreds guitarist Andrew Lee contributed two guest leads on “Holy Justice” and “Remnants of Spite”. Did this come about through Ryan’s status as well with the group, and what do you enjoy most about Andrew’s work that colors those songs in a better way?
Charlie D.: Andrew is insane. We recorded a bunch of stuff at Andrew’s place, his little recording spot. Ryan asked him to do a guest spot. Anytime I watch that guy shred, be it through Heavy Metal Shrapnel, Houkago Grind Time, all this stuff, he’s a literal savant. I don’t know how he does that stuff. To me it doesn’t matter what he ends up doing, I know it’s going to be good. I’m super appreciative of him taking the time to do that. It was just as cool as him having me shout in his basement.
Dead Rhetoric: Where did you want to come across with the cover art for this record?
Charlie D.: Originally, I had this whole vision of the artwork to be striking, iconic. I look at the South of Heaven album cover, and you can take away the album name, you can take away the Slayer logo, and you know what album that is. I wanted things to be more abstract like that, single-minded. When I contacted Spencer Davie, an Oakland artist, I was trying to find an artist and he had the exact type of color palate and paint strokes that I liked. I gave him some ideas, and he sent a sketch of things that wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but was way better than what I was thinking. I wanted to be like our own thing, and I feel this captures the album name. This necromancer, he’s raising the hordes of the dead. They don’t know anything, they just know about war. He’s an amazing artist, and I hope he gets way more people hitting him up.
Dead Rhetoric: You mention in the background information to this record that it’s a love letter to every record we grew up listening to, while still being us at the core. What are some of those albums that form the essential DNA to Doomsday, and for a follow-up – what would you consider some of the essential elements that have to make up a composition for the band?
Charlie D.: We were listening to a lot of South of Heaven, Chaos A.D., a lot of Iron Age, a lot of Metallica, and wanting a lot of what we heard in those albums. I wanted it to be dope, but I didn’t want it to be a cookie cutter version of those albums. One of the songs that we are releasing, I stole something from Live Undead. I am more than fine with taking that and making it my own way. We listened to the rest of the song, and we understand why borrowing that part makes sense, it’s not like we are just ripping stuff off. Imitation is the best form of flattery, they say.
When it comes to trying to write for the record, we want to be like a hardcore band in the end; at the same time, I feel like there’s no way we can’t not put a two-step part, a most part, that’s our roots. We want to have those elements there, because we are going to keep playing hardcore shows at the end of the day. We want to have those ass beater parts – but we want to have some dual leads, dual solos. We still want to keep the same ethos of the band like when we first started. This is going to be a different thing, we will have these crazy parts, lyrics that not a lot of people do. We are trying to do stuff that we like at the end of the day.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you describe Doomsday when it comes to your live performances versus what people hear and experience on the record? What do you want people to take away after seeing you live – and what have been some of the more memorable or standout performances for the group to date?
Charlie D.: At least for me, I like going all out. I want to be really active, really intense. I want the people seeing us to feel how I feel. I’m super pumped; I want this to be an energetic time. I’m not going to have other people feel that if I am just standing still. With the record, we wanted that feeling to be on the record. A more intense, energetic sound because it wasn’t matching up all the way to how we were performing live. We were more amped; we could be doing way more on the record.
As far as shows, we just did a couple of shows with the Warriors at Cornerstone, and one was at the Great American Music Hall. One of my dream venues, and those were a lot of fun. We played this one show in Lubbock, Texas. I had never heard of that town in my life, and it was in a small tattoo shop. This was a run we did with Denial of Life, another dope band. It was a small, packed-out room of people just going apeshit. That’s one of my favorite things to experience, going to a new city that I have no preconceived notion about, and it being the greatest time ever. We did a three-day run with Fugitive, that was great. There are a lot of shows. Every show I’ve played in Oakland, dope times.
Dead Rhetoric: Being a part of the Creator-Destructor Records roster since the 2022 Depictions of Chaos EP, what are your thoughts on the staff, their outlook on the genre, and what they’ve been able to give Doomsday in terms of a bigger profile and footprint in the scene?
Charlie D.: Shout out to Ben who runs the label. We hit him up, we emailed him telling him we really liked his label, let’s do something. He got back in touch the same day, saying this was sick, let’s do this. He has turned out into our biggest supporter; he’s an amazing friend. He has a great ear for music, every single band he’s put out, he knows what sounds good. He knows exactly what to put out. He’s put out Gulch, Sunami stuff, Iron Front, and those kids go to make the scene better in the Bay Area. He is releasing music that he believes in. He is one of the biggest reasons the live hardcore and metal scene in the Bay Area is in my opinion the best in the United States – maybe even the whole world. His efforts, ear for music, and being a down-to-earth dude.
Dead Rhetoric: Did you have any trepidation going into recording the Metallica song “Trapped Under Ice” on your self-titled EP from 2023?
Charlie D.: I’m still waiting for that email. That’s my favorite Metallica song. It has the greatest two step part towards the middle of the song. I may record another Metallica cover. I am nervous that one of these days we are going to get an email from Sony Music, telling us to cut it out. Even with the name Doomsday, we were trying to think of a bunch of names to start this band. One of them was going to be Twisted Fate, and I thought Doomsday was cool. It just stuck, and I was going through Spotify and there are like fifty other Doomsdays. What have I done? Thankfully I feel like we are the Doomsday now, with enough effort. Hopefully Metallica sees that and won’t sue us for everything they have.
Dead Rhetoric: Where do you see the differences between the first generation of crossover thrash artists and the current generation that are bursting through? Do you believe the diversity of influences has contributed to more acceptance of genre blending?
Charlie D.: 100%. Look at us. When we first started this band, I didn’t think about the thrash aspect at first. I wanted riffs, I wanted solos, in a hardcore band. Then it just became, we noticed a lot more people in the (thrash) scene accepting us. Okay, that’s sick! Bands like Enforced, Dead Heat – I feel like Dead Heat are very similar to us, coming up through the hardcore scene, doing a sound that they liked a lot. They like the Crumbsuckers, Suicidal Tendencies, stuff like that. But still wanting to blend their own sound to it, and I really relate to that because I was having a conversation with my friend Ace who is in another band called Mutually Assured Destruction. I really hope that there is another boom for thrash.
At least off the top of my head, I’m still stuck on the old stuff that I like, but I’m not noticing a lot of newer acts that are really trying to go all in on thrash 100% at the level we are at. Dead Heat, Enforced, Pest Control, I want to be right besides them. I want this genre to keep going. It has literally everything – you can do anything with a thrash band, and it will be the sickest thing. This is one of the few genres where you can take a lot of risks with what you are doing, and still be a thrash band at your core. I hope our little drop in the water is a good contribution to the scene.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you consider some of the biggest challenges the group faces currently?
Charlie D.: When it comes to challenges, we had a conversation with Ryan and I last year. What do we really want to do with this band? This could be really dope if we keep working as hard as we are doing now. But what do we really want to do? Are we going to quit our jobs for this? Hit the road – and we were super scared about leaving our lives behind for our band and our music. We had a long ass conversation, and it just came out that we have to be down for this. I feel like our biggest challenge is how do we get more into the metal scene outside of the current hardcore scene. I will play a hardcore show in a basement or outside anywhere. I will do it anywhere, anytime. I want to also embrace that metal side of us and also do more of that stuff. How do we break into that world even more? Not just be a hardcore band with good riffs.
Dead Rhetoric: What are some of the biggest worries or concerns you have about the world that we are going through today? If you had the ability to get the common person to focus on one or two key aspects to make their community or world a better place, what do you believe needs to be worked on the most?
Charlie D.: I feel like I say this at every show. About how the only thing that we have is each other, the community. Especially within the hardcore community, the only thing we really can depend on is ourselves. We are getting stripped of a lot lately. My trans friends getting their rights taken away, genders getting changed on their passports back to like what they don’t identify as. Women’s rights, or what is happening to Palestinians. I say almost at every show, Doomsday stands up for a free Palestine. The most important thing you can do is use your voice. You can have what you might think is no impact, or x amount of followers – but if you believe and stand up for something, you should use your voice. There are so many people that don’t and have that taken away from them against their will. Being louder in what we want. Not just on the internet. Not just posting something on your stories. Actual, tangible change. A tangible contribution.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you see the next twelve months shaping up for Doomsday as far as promotion and activities?
Charlie D.: We are planning a four-day record release tour with our homies in Iron Front. We announced some of the shows – one with Despise, Age of Apocalypse, which will be at Neck of the Woods in San Francisco. Just confirmed two more shows in Sacramento and Oxnard. We are trying to figure out the last date. We want to hit the road, hard, this next twelve months. I can’t wait to figure that out.