Dial The Wild
Dial The Wild Podcast is an ongoing discussion with like-minded individuals who have a desire to engage the primal nature within themselves. Topics ranging from Music, Sports, Hunting, Archery, Jeeping, MMA, Comedy, Fishing, etc. what ever dials-in your wild!
Dial The Wild
Rediscovering Passion W/ Zachary Tomfeld of Phantom Threat: Music, Hunting, and Iowa Traditions
What does it take to return to the music scene after a hiatus in your 30s? We kick off this episode with the Zachary Tomfeld, the voice of Phantom Threat, as he opens up about his journey from growing up in Letts, Iowa, to rediscovering his passion for music. Zachary shares his eclectic musical influences, from the gritty beats of East Coast hip-hop to the raw power of death metal and metalcore, and how Phantom Threat’s explosive live performances bring these sounds to life. It's an intimate look at balancing family, life, and an undying devotion to music, bound to inspire both musicians and fans alike.
Shifting gears, we dive into the heart of Midwest traditions with a spirited conversation on deer hunting and the beloved Ragbrai cycling event. Relive the nostalgia of using muzzleloaders and Mossberg shotguns while swapping hunting stories that capture the essence of the rugged Midwest. We then pedal into Ragbrai, detailing the camaraderie, logistical challenges, and cultural richness of this annual midwest event. Whether it's the physical grind of the ride or the communal spirit felt in the small towns, this segment paints a vivid picture of outdoor adventure and local culture.
Finally, we celebrate the vibrant Iowa metal scene with tales from recent performances and festivals. From the unique recording processes to the analog versus digital debate, we share memorable moments from gigs at Iowa Metal Underground and spotlight the camaraderie among bands like Frontal Assault, Ill Omen, and Fungal Mass. We express our excitement for upcoming shows and festivals, capturing the essence of the underground metal community and its unbreakable spirit. This episode is a testament to the power of music and the bonds it creates.
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We'll see you next time. Here we are, another dial, the wild episode, and I'm here with zachary temford tomfeld, tomfeld, god, why do I? Keep screwing that up, it's all right. It's story of my zachary tom feld vocalist for the one the only phantom threat and I gotta see you guys for the first time. Was it about a year ago? You guys played at the hilltop drop with like yeah, yeah, concrete sleep exactly and grip. Oh, that's where I saw hardship too, and those guys go hard in the paint.
Speaker 2:They're sick.
Speaker 1:I love it, but you are you born and raised in Muscatine, or is it more of a transplant situation?
Speaker 2:Muscatine area. I grew up in a little town called Letts shout out to Letts population 375. There you go. That's where I grew up. Yeah, around the Muscatine area pretty much my whole life.
Speaker 1:Cool, cool and just probably always been around or enamored with the scene of some sort, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean for the most part. Yeah, I kind of got away from making music for a big chunk of my 30s and then kind of got back into it, you know, and it was like, once I got back into it it was like why did I ever?
Speaker 1:why did I?
Speaker 2:ever stop doing this.
Speaker 1:You know, marriage happens and kids happen, and for me priorities change. You get grown up jobs and, before you know it, you're uh, you know you're in your late thirties, wondering what the hell happened.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:So no, it was definitely something I wanted to get back to someday and I'm glad that it kind of made itself full circle and but now, here you are at the confines of the patio here at galesburg and we're out podcasting where this patio party is going to be and, um, I you guys are one of those bands. You play a lot, you play out quite a bit, I would say, and it's like you guys just love playing live yeah, I would say we're uh, we're more of a live band than anything like recordings are solid, though we prioritize live performance.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, everything well, I, I think that's what it's all about. Personally, I know guys that would love to just record and make music and never have to play it like I get that too.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't know, man, the only reason you do it's for the energy, and the energy is when you, when you get somewhere. In my opinion, but yeah, yeah, you know, each to each his own. But no, got to see you guys last year at hilltop and then hired you for a dtw show now in macomb, yep, yep and uh, I saw you one or two other places. Oh, I saw you at the red rock room, redstone redstone room.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, yep, gotta go for that good show that was a good time.
Speaker 1:Sound was great, the beer was expensive, but we figured it out. Yep and uh, yep, but it was a good time and uh, you guys, I would say, are one of those groups. Each time we see you, you just get a little bit better and a little bit better, a little bit tighter and we try and it's coming.
Speaker 1:It's coming along. Great, I think it's. It's a unique sound. What I like about your vocals is it takes me back to a time of like dan wyden at the zao, oh yeah, it takes me back to like suicide silence. It takes me back to, uh, black dahlia murder type stuff and I'm just like you don't hear that vocally in metal I know like when I was like, you know, coming of age I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was like the style of music I was into. You know that metalcore like, uh, screamy vocals, yeah, you know screechy stuff. It's like I feel like our, our band, phantom threat, is musically like very death metal and then like, but with my vocals it kind of we kind of get lumped into like the death chord. You know metalcore a little, you could go all day.
Speaker 1:You find it. Yeah, yeah, thrash metal or blah blah blah genre, sub-genre that you fall into. But, dude, it's fun, it's good, it's tight, your guitar players are off the chain, bass player's good and your drummer is grade freaking A Absolutely. I really enjoy seeing him play.
Speaker 2:They're a good group of people to be in a band with. I'll definitely say that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think my last podcast with um phantom threat was with alex. Alex, yes, and we had a good talk and you know it was over zoom and you're like, hey, I'm gonna come down for this one.
Speaker 2:I was like okay, it's easier in person I think it's.
Speaker 1:It's a lot more fun in person. But uh, no, we ended up deciding to meet here in galesburg and kind of splitting the trip. And I appreciate that. Um, but you said you started off you grew up muscatine area. What kind of splitting the trip. And I appreciate that. But you said you started off you grew up in the Muscatine area. What kind of stuff were you into in the early years?
Speaker 2:I mean when I was a kid I wanted to be a professional basketball player.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how'd that go?
Speaker 2:Well, I discovered guitar and marijuana and that was pretty much the end of my basketball career. And marijuana and I, that was pretty much the end of my basketball career. Um, but yeah, I guess, uh, I kind of just I don't know I naturally kind of migrated towards music. You know, I I grew up listening to a lot of, like, east coast hip-hop and, uh, west coast gangster rap. You know, yeah, like that was my love and it's still a love of mine yeah, absolutely but uh, I don't know that.
Speaker 2:From there I just kind of moved into like listening to like new metal. You know it was popular when I was in high school and then, like I don't know, I kind of just discovered like the underground music scene and you were in the right area to do. Yeah for sure, like iowa city area, like you know, I started going to shows there as soon as I got my driver's license and it kind of.
Speaker 2:It kind of changes direction. You know, once I've discovered, oh, there's like an underground music scene that's doing things that I've never heard before, like that kind of changed the way.
Speaker 1:You know, I looked at everything, I guess well, it you differently too, because you're used to hearing something on the radio, at least growing up, yeah yeah, and especially like in that time period where the Internet wasn't really what it is today iPods is something the rich kids had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't have an iPod until college you had MTV2, you know you were lucky.
Speaker 1:And if it was playing any music at the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know, headbangers Ball was great for stuff like that. You know it'd throw out some stuff you'd never heard before. But then you'd go to a place and you'd see something you'd be like well, why aren't I hearing this on the radio? And it doesn't appeal to a mass audience. But it's got its own following, its own scene, and it's great.
Speaker 2:And then there's like the energy, you know where you go to a show and like, for instance, like I can remember very vividly going to games and seeing hate breed back in the day you know, and I was, never a huge hate breed.
Speaker 2:It was like, oh, these are a hit. This is a heavy band, you know, and the opening bands poison the well, which I'd never really listened to before, and american nightmare, and I remember seeing those two bands and the energy they put off and it it changed the direction that I was going with, you know. It was like, oh, this is something totally different, like I kind of and gabe's is one of those venues.
Speaker 1:It's it's like the cbgbs of the midwest almost sometimes, but it's such a cool venue. It's such a cool spot for so many good groups to come through. I think in high school when I was there um, it was supposed to be a agony scene, zao show and they were touring. We are outdoors, we there was. It was supposed to be an agony scene and zao show when we get there and they both bands had gotten sick and they'd canceled. So we ended up listening to a couple uh like local bands and then, uh, if hope dies played and they were like super aggressive metal and that was great. And then right after them was fear before the march of Flames.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love Fear Before man Love those guys.
Speaker 1:That was something I had never. Yes, sir, that chaotic subgenre of just wild.
Speaker 2:I was really into that style of music. Yeah, Like the number 12 looks like you Huge influence on me.
Speaker 1:Bands like the Locust, you know like all those, those, all those guys that dressed up, didn't they put on the bug eyes and stuff? I?
Speaker 2:just uh, I just loved that. That chaotic, like some of it was kind of like math core, math metal, uh, just like unhinged vocals. I just love that style.
Speaker 1:Everything falls together Somewhat like between the Barry to me type stuff. Yeah, short of getting gent, yeah. Absolutely you know it has its place too, oh yeah. When you're, when you're talking about just a chaotic metal show, you're not. You're not thinking of guys standing there tapping from one side of the front but it depends on what you're watching or what you're taking in bands like the chariot, the chariot was one of my favorites all the time got to see them in st louis several years back.
Speaker 1:They, uh, um, they played with evergreen terrace. Oh yeah, oh yeah, down at um the creepy crawl, when there was still a creepy crawl in st louis I think I saw evergreen terrace in iowa city and maybe in Cedar Rapids at a festival Still one of the best, sickest breakdowns ever. They were pretty sick, no, donnie, these days. So what else do you do besides scream in a mic and encourage people to beat the hell out of each other?
Speaker 2:I guess a lot of outdoorsy stuff, Camp hunt. Well, I was talking to Trent. All that good stuff. I was talking to Trent Randall on his podcast.
Speaker 1:You were just like dude. If I knew you guys were going to talk about deer hunting, I definitely would have popped on for a podcast. I was like well, that's Midwest fat dads, that's what we do we play metal. We shoot deer. We, of course course, eat them absolutely, and uh, I don't know. We work on stuff. We mow our yards. It's just what we do. So do you being in iowa?
Speaker 1:that's a one buck state, right pretty much or, or if you're a resident or something, I think you can get a second one. Yeah, but how? But how long have you been hunting deer?
Speaker 2:Probably since my early 20s.
Speaker 1:Did you pick up on that? My dad hunted a lot.
Speaker 2:I mean, I was always around it, but I didn't really start actively hunting until. I was probably in my early 20s Gotcha yeah.
Speaker 1:The bow hunt or mostly firearm.
Speaker 2:I started off shotgun hunting, hunting, uh, orange army, oh yeah. Now I pretty much predominantly muzzleloader hunt. Uh, that's the last two years, I think that's all I've shot deer with this muzzleloader, busted a muzzleloader, that's nice, I like it. It's. Uh, you know you got one shot. You got to make it count. Yeah, I like it. Well, my shotgun, you know you got one shot.
Speaker 1:You got to make it count. Yeah, I like it. Well, my shotgun's an H&R break, so it's like I only get one shot. That's all I need with that dude, that thing's a cannon. They don't even make them anymore.
Speaker 2:If I'm shotgun hunting, I always use a Mossberg 500. There you go, Classic, I'm a Mossberg guy Well that used to be the Walmart gun. Oh yeah, You'd go to.
Speaker 1:Walmart and they'd sell the hell out of it.
Speaker 2:Indestructible man and their parts forever.
Speaker 1:You know, you can always rebuild one if you have to, oh yeah, yeah, For 500 bucks you can get a really good gun that you can do anything with. Oh yeah, you know you could take that bird hunting, squirrel hunting, rabbit hunting, deer hunting, turkey Whatever you wanted with like a Mossberg 500.
Speaker 2:Why do I have three of them? I guess, I don't know. But one breaks down you need another.
Speaker 1:It's just you know. Why do you? Why do people have 18 guitars?
Speaker 2:Mind your own business. That's why.
Speaker 1:True story. But what was this freaking bike ride thing you had going on? Oh rag bra.
Speaker 2:Okay, bike ride across. Explain yeah, we have a team that did it last year and then we we did it again this year.
Speaker 1:This is a cycling event.
Speaker 2:Yeah, by cycling.
Speaker 1:Yes, Um, for people that don't know basically the route changes every year.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It always starts on the West side of Iowa and you dip your tire in the river over there and then they have a set route that you ride that goes through a whole bunch of little towns and you ride your bike all the way across iowa and dip your tire your tire in the mississippi when you're done the other side, damn how many miles is that it? Varies.
Speaker 1:Uh, this year was, I think, I rode 475 ish miles, how many miles a day, for how many days? I mean, it varies, it's got you.
Speaker 2:It takes an entire week um. The shortest day this year was probably 40 something miles. The longest day was 90 to 100 miles.
Speaker 1:Wow, I think the longest day I rode this year was 90 miles well, you were kind of taking pictures along the way and trying to take in like the local it's a very local spotlight.
Speaker 2:It's a very cool event, um, you really see, like small town iowa. Some of the towns you roll through might only have a couple hundred people that live there, but you know, all of a sudden, for a couple hours a day, there might be 10 or 20 000 people to come and roll through town. You know, know it's very cool. I would highly recommend everyone try it at least once. It's fun.
Speaker 1:Now, was this your first and only time doing it, or have you done it before? This was my second year. Second year doing it? Yeah, but you said completely different route. Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 2:Yeah, last year it ended in Davenport and this year year ended in Burlington. Okay, but it uh it just different towns every every year. You know, do you camp along the way? Or yeah, um, basically, we would have a support vehicle. Uh, I have a Chevy express camper van that I built out that, that was our support vehicle. We had someone to drive that. Um, you, basically, you drive out there, there, you set up your camp, you stay the night. Day one, you start riding, you tear down your camp, you start riding, and then there's like a meet-up town in the middle of the day where you meet back up with your support vehicle and you get food or drinks or, you know, ice or whatever you need, and then you part ways with them and you ride the route and then you meet up with them in the end town, set up camp, camp. Next morning you tear it down, you start riding.
Speaker 1:Now they have designated areas for these camps. You just find a spot along the road. It kind of depends.
Speaker 2:They have designated areas, but there's so many people and there's so many big campers and it's kind of a free-for-all. You just try to find the best place you can, and that's it was called.
Speaker 1:What again? Ragbrai, ragbrai, okay, and that's a jaunt across iowa every year, man, every year. That's crazy. Was it super hot for you this year doing that? Or there was a couple?
Speaker 2:days that were pretty warm. Last year was very, very hot. This year was not quite as hot, but this was the hilliest year of all time, so it was gotta work out and people think iowa is completely flat. But there's parts of iowa that are not flat at all do you think on on your route each day?
Speaker 1:how many times you think you stop?
Speaker 2:it varies. You know, there's like between towns there's there's little places you can stop. Maybe they have beer tents set up, or there's a lemonade stand, or you can stop and get a taco or whatever. There's plenty of opportunities to just stop and pull over. Sometimes your legs are burning so damn bad that it's like, okay, well, I'm stopping the next place. I see I'm stopping.
Speaker 1:Nice. So did you get started with Phantom Threat when they decided to start playing, or are you one of the original members of Phantom Threat? I guess?
Speaker 2:Yes, Okay cool.
Speaker 1:Because I know you've been through a couple drummers and a few other guys come and gone, but this lineup that I know of of you guys been together at least two years or so uh, damn, I'm terrible with time.
Speaker 1:Uh, yeah, probably not too but yeah, I would say it was about this time last year at hilltop and this was the lineup you guys had. Yeah, that's true, and it just seems like both your guitar players compliment each other well. Oh yeah, they shred, and everything's so low-end that your high vocals just kind of puts the icing on the cake.
Speaker 2:I like it that way, you know, and the recordings.
Speaker 1:I think the stuff that you guys have on Spotify is spot on. I just think it sounds great. The cast for Corpse Duty and one of them with the red cover on it, damn it, I can't ever remember all the names of them, but hell, I'm in the band.
Speaker 2:I can't remember the names of all of them. You're doing, alright?
Speaker 1:I'm going to pull it up here though, just because I can hear them in my head. I just can't remember the title of the song. Like I said, I've seen you guys half a dozen times, so well, we kind of do remember the title of the song that, like I said, I've seen you guys half a dozen times, so I will um we kind of do.
Speaker 2:We do like, when we record we go in and record the live uh like guitars and drums live stretch to get scratch track, yeah, just to get that drum track solid, and then kind of layer everything from there. There you go. It's not like a traditional live recording, but I mean it's.
Speaker 1:Go full chariot and do nothing. Yeah, nothing digital, everything's analog.
Speaker 2:There's aspects that I really like about that you get a different kind of energy doing it that way.
Speaker 1:The thin crest of an oracle's blood.
Speaker 1:That's what I was thinking of you know, when I've used your guys's intro a number of times for like background music on on social media posts. I like to do that when we got shows coming up is just use the band's background music to kind of beef up each post. And no, I'm excited because you know frank's the drummer, right? Yeah, he's gonna be up there doing his thing. You guys are all gonna be down here. This show is going to be so old school and laid back. I was talking to Alex about it a little bit and he was just kind of nervous. I'm like, dude, this is going to be the most laid back show you guys have probably ever played. This is going to be an outside like metal picnic, so yeah, it'll be good.
Speaker 2:It'll be good.
Speaker 1:But we were just talking a little bit ago. You guys just got done with Iowa Metal Fest, is that what it?
Speaker 2:was called and that was in.
Speaker 1:Cedar Rapids.
Speaker 2:Iowa Metal, underground, underground. Okay, put that on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was Cedar Rapids yeah, it was just last night and who all played at that one? Because that was a sick lineup there was a lot of bands.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to remember all of Maul Saw, pit Lord, play Pit Lord, false Providence X, cathedral Shit, I'm gone. I'll never remember every band.
Speaker 1:Iowa Metal Underground.
Speaker 2:Yeah, big shout out to those guys. Frontal Assault Ill Omen.
Speaker 1:Ill Omen Pit Lord Fungal Mass played.
Speaker 2:Big shout out to Fungal Mass. Mass leaf was actually one of the founding members of phantom threat okay, brotherhood of the oh, the mudcats that's cool man a lot of good bands, all the bands, ripped man. It was like the best, uh, 20 or 25 dollars you could spend and see quality bands. We were privileged to be a part of it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely what went into that? Just hey, we're interested, and you just kind of wait and see what the card's going to be.
Speaker 2:Because they're all different. Yeah Well, with this one, with Iowa Metal Underground putting it on, the guys from Frontal Assault and ill omen are doing that thing and, like we've played a lot of shows with those guys, we're, we're getting close with those guys. They're, they're super cool dudes. They rip, absolutely rip, and so it's like they reached out to us and got us on it and it was. We were definitely honored to be able to play it.
Speaker 1:It was a excellent, excellent time well, I think you're kind of right in the pocket of like underground iowa music where you want to be like muscatine. You know you're only a couple hours or so jaunt from anywhere you want to be in iowa and then you're less than 30 minutes from anywhere you want to be in the quad cities.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we really don't have much of a scene in muscatine anymore, but I mean, there's a couple bands still holding it down. Shout out to all the muscatine bands. But uh, you know, like the muscatine scene used to be pretty thriving back when I was a young person, you know, right, it's gotten. It's kind of, I think it a lack of venues and just there wasn't that much going on for a long time and that covid kind of nixed a lot.
Speaker 1:Reset everything a little bit everywhere, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we. You know we're kind of in a triangle of like the quad cities, burlington, iowa city. I mean it's a good location yeah.
Speaker 1:But no, it was a interesting situation Meeting up with Adam getting associated with this place here at the patio and then just us having a similar vision of something we wanted to do out here, and then coming here for a metal show where I believe it's again we Rise and Obsidian Hammer. Oh yeah, yeah. Obsidian Hammer and a handful of other bands played here that night. I was just like we could pack a DTW here like yeah this bad.
Speaker 1:You know, let's, let's, let's have a good ending to the summer here, because, shit, we're in august. Dude, I know it's hard to believe we're already in august, and you know it's. It's gonna be a lot of fun, uh, seeing liberty street get back together and do their thing. They haven't played in like nine years, wow, you know, and it's mostly like metal improv type stuff, which you don't see, so, but you know they all used to live together, they all used to hang out in the house and just play like all day long, and that's the kind of stuff that's the kind of stuff you want to see and of course, the boys in wyvern dude I absolutely.
Speaker 1:Even if I hated their music like I would absolutely hang out with all those guys anytime because they're so much fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're solid dudes but we played several shows with them now well, they were at that um redstone.
Speaker 1:They were at that show they were. Did they play the same dtw show as you guys did? I don't think so I think they played. I think they played the. Uh, they played the mean green.
Speaker 1:The st patty's day we did okay and you guys played the first one, I believe the raz. Yes, yeah, so, but now that was a great night too. That was you guys. That was who was on that card. I want to say post razzle, post ad was on that card. They were on the first two cards. So, yeah, they were on that Concrete Sleep came down.
Speaker 2:Oh, Die First, I think.
Speaker 1:Die First and Concrete Sleep. That was a good one Shout out to Die First Love, die First man, and I'm missing on Concrete too, man. I love old school hardcore.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, me too. Man, man and uh, you know they're just they're into other things right now. So, yeah, I don't blame them at all, but yeah, die first has been killing it. Oh yeah, it just I don't understand how they got. How is there a system out there that can supply the power to push what they're doing? I know they struggled with that a little bit at the, at the ritz there, because you know they weren't getting the output they wanted, but it's amazing to watch them play and they're another one that gets better each time you see them. Absolutely, they're solid. They're solid dudes, good group.
Speaker 1:I tried to get them down on this card and they just couldn't swing it, which I get it. There's another show, and I'm not too vain or proud to admit when there's other shows going on at the same time as us. But I posted a while back like um dark surface and Dan Bala and a handful of like, really good Springfield Peoria Like bands are playing the same day as as us, on the 17th, but they're playing down in Jacksonville. So I do encourage you if you're not feeling the drive to Galesburg, get your ass to Jacksonville and check out that Cause there's six killer. Uh, leave them cold. A hardcore group out of Quincy is going to be on that card and you know I'm just really excited for what those guys are putting together and that's why I like about the DTW shows is trying to pull bands from different scenes and trying to put together a car.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, because, like, honestly, like you know, it's like we're not that far from here, or, quincy Right, there's an untapped market that we've never. We don't know any bands from there, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, it's so convenient to just have so many shows in the Quad Cities.
Speaker 2:You can kind of you meet a lot of people that it's like, oh, we've only lived like a couple of hours from each other all this time. We could have been playing shows together.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, that's the one thing in. Social media is a good thing, absolutely, you know, absolutely. But that's that's the thing is. Do you guys want to drive an hour to get to galesburg or so? And you know it. You reach out to some of the other bands that we've had and be driving two hours or so to go to peoria and play or jacksonville or springfield and just kind of get having that local, that local following, that local scene is huge. Quad cities has it, peoria has it, you know Peoria has it. The Springfield, jacksonville area has it. Bloomington, illinois has it.
Speaker 1:And then Iowa city, cedar, Rapids, St Louis and then how many like amazing death metal groups are within the state of Wisconsin. Yeah, you know, and I know that I know there's some guys in Quincy and Quad Cities that are working to pull a lot of those bands down to do that and it's like dude, cross paths, like network make it work.
Speaker 2:And because like you know it's, I'm a fan of all heavy music. You know like, I like death metal, I like technical metal, I like grindcore, I like hardcore, I like all you know. Right, there's a place for all heavy music. And it's like it's cool when you can kind of get shows that cross over. It's like okay, we're five heavy bands, but we're all playing a little bit your own style.
Speaker 2:You know, I I like that. I mean, that's kind of the way it was. So when I was coming up it was like you would go see like a metal band and there'd probably be a hardcore band opening for hardcore band or, vice versa, punk band or alternative rock band or an indie band.
Speaker 1:you know there's a little bit less of that now, I think, just because it seems like the older we got the sounds would kind of stay within their own collectives. But I think we work a little bit harder to kind of cross the genres a little bit. That's what the Timberfest festivals that we had down by Macomb A lot of those people are free spirit. You know bluegrass, acoustic, you know just indie type, band type stuff, and then we would end the night with God War or somebody you know.
Speaker 1:And then everybody was super into it and it's not something you can explain to somebody until they've been to one of those shows. It might not be something you flip on on the radio, but when you go out there and just lose your mind for a little bit, it's a whole different ball of wax.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think with the internet, with streaming services, as much as people hate on streaming services like it's- it's here.
Speaker 1:You know it's not going anywhere.
Speaker 2:It, uh it. It kind of forces you to have a more open mind towards music, because you're exposed to so much different music that you would have never heard before. You know like people are are. People are more open to other styles of music as long as it's creative, and you know people are putting something into it, like like seeing a bluegrass band, like I love like a lot of that traditional roots music.
Speaker 2:You know I, yeah I dig it, I dig it a lot. But uh, it's like you know, you, you you can look at a technical death metal band and you can look at somebody in one of those bands shredding on an acoustic or a mandolin.
Speaker 1:Or a banjo, and it's like oh, these dudes are all shredding, it's just one of them's not plugged into a pedalboard. Yeah, we talked about that on one podcast too. It's just like they're doing the same thing. They're sweep, picking on different stuff and they're just calling it something else, but at the end of the day, like talent's talent, you know, and it's amazing um, and I I can't imagine how boring life would be if I only listened to one style of music.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I just can't, I'm not I'm not wired that way, gotta have. And well, to me it's just different moods, or where I'm at in my day, or where I'm at in my head, and you know, know what. What am I trying to accomplish here, for sure, am I trying to chill out? Am I trying to beef up? You know what's going on. Am I trying to ride my bike across to Iowa?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I'm sure that like you've got a like what kind of stuff goes into a playlist for that?
Speaker 2:Um mostly house music, mostly techno techno like Um mostly house music, mostly techno techno like high BPM techno.
Speaker 1:Okay, so like, uh, so so like the background music of your own bike writing video For sure.
Speaker 2:For sure, I'm a bad ass, which I listen to a lot of that style of music anyway when I'm not riding a bike, but like it's uh to me personally, you want like a high bpm music, just to you know, kind of keep you in the groove, keep you pedaling so what is it that uh, a lead vocalist of uh phantom threat, does for a living?
Speaker 2:well, uh, the majority of my adult life I worked in the plastics industry as a maintenance mechanic or maintenance lead, or I did a lot of work in tool and dye. This was the last year. I took a job as a field service technician for a corporation that maintains and repairs hospital equipment, and so I travel around to different hospitals and just work on sterilization and washing equipment for surgical tools and robotic arms.
Speaker 1:So you've gotten to see lots of interesting. It's interesting. It's definitely interesting. My wife works in um histology so I get to hear about all the things that are you know, I mean within um. You know no names or anything, obviously, but uh, she's always telling me you know, had a boob come down to me or someone's leg or you know an eyeball, you know whatever they had to remove.
Speaker 1:They send to her and she gets the dice up and put it in on slides for the, for the pathologist to. You know, see wild, wild job. And it's just like how am I married to this woman? She goes and she chops up body parts and she comes home and just acts like the sweetest person on earth.
Speaker 1:But I punch out and that's it. But then again I was the like the crankiest person in the world doing pest control, you know, on the daily, and then I'd come home and have to check out of that and be dad or be husband and stuff, and it's not easy sometimes. But how far out do they get you traveling to do that job?
Speaker 2:I'm mostly in the Iowa city, Cedar Rapids area for the most part. Occasionally I have to travel other places, but not a whole lot.
Speaker 1:Like a week or two type job, or when you go do those or showing up to fix something.
Speaker 2:Well, most of my travel is like for training. They have a extensive training program that I had to go out to Ohio for for a couple of weeks Okay, A couple of times now.
Speaker 1:Take your bike, or I did, I did, I did a lot, you did ride your bike clear out there.
Speaker 2:I did some bike training out there. I took it with me. I didn't ride it all the way out there. Okay, that's what I was getting at. I was like what did you?
Speaker 1:none of us, not yet, not yet. How long have you been doing?
Speaker 2:the bike deal, or just riding, or is that just something you've always did? I I would not consider myself a cyclist. I basically train on my bike for this one specific week-long ride every year, and I'm I'm not like a cyclist, but I am an adventure enthusiast, sure. So that's kind of like the rag ride. Adventure draws me in. So riding a bike.
Speaker 1:I've only ridden my bike once since I got back so well, I'm sure you need a little time to decompress from some of that, so, but you know, riding a bike, shooting deer playing in a metal band. I don't know anything, anything much more Midwest than that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, work, a full-time job, wife and kids. Nope, nope, neither, just do your own thing. Yes, sir, that's nothing wrong with that. So what else is on the spectrum? You guys, I'm sure, have got a few shows lined up ready to go out and play. Yes, we are playing the show here. That's our next show, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then after that we are playing in Iowa City with Nervosa. Then we are playing in Iowa City with Goat Whore, which will be an awesome, awesome show. That's at Gabe's Okay. Beyond that, I think we have some other shows booked, but I don't remember what they are offhand. Uh, we'll be going in and recording a new ep at flat black studio with luke tweedy at the end of this month, so hopefully there'll be some, some fresh music to stream looks like you got something the iowa city show.
Speaker 1:That's october 17th. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. That's gonna be at wildwood, which, after talking to alex, he says that's one of your guys's favorite places to play. Yeah, that's October 17th. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's gonna be at Wildwood, which, after talking to Alex, he says that's one of your guys favorite places to play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's with ingested that'll be a good show it looks like the Iowa Metal Underground did a really good video of you guys there at the Redstone room. I thought about nabbing it but I'm like I'm not gonna take somebody else's stuff you know, looks like it's coming along nicely. You guys are playing a lot, you're recording when you want to or need to and just trying to make it work as a bunch of grown dudes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're just trying to keep progressing with it. You know it's you get out of it what you put into it. So, absolutely, we try to put it, we try to put a lot into it. It's rewarding.
Speaker 1:I love that how often do you guys practice Every Wednesday.
Speaker 2:Every Wednesday, there you go, and that helps when it's on a reoccurring deal, Because then it's like this is what we do on Wednesdays. I don't have any plans on Wednesdays ever. I'm already booked, so just head there after work and do your thing and you guys writing much new stuff or you said you're getting ready to record. We've got a lot of stuff coming down the pipes. That's going to be, I think, hopefully a level of brutality that we haven't had before tapping into some darkness.
Speaker 2:I think the new, the new material is going to be very, uh, eye-opening to people. I hope gotcha, I hope we'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe not, you never know cool, you got anything else you want to chat about, or a big shout out to iowa metal underground for putting on that show last night.
Speaker 1:Uh, killer time yeah, I wish there was more of that, just the festivals, and I know that quincy had one. Um, uh, tim gale over at midwest monster promotions. He did a, he did one. He's big on like having a bunch of local bands and then a cover band at the end of the night. Is kind of how he likes to run his promotions and his productions. And I think yesterday was nativity and sabbath, so like a black sabbath type cover band, and today today is the second day of it and I think they're having like a limp biscuit cover band. Oh my god which I I can?
Speaker 1:I can get down some biscuit dude. You know you start getting into the scene. You're like I don't listen to anything on the radio. You know tough guy and everything.
Speaker 2:But then years later, limp Bizkit's having that resurgence right now, man.
Speaker 1:It's crazy seeing what they're doing. It's crazy Original members and all just.
Speaker 2:Another whole generation listened to them and that generation had kids, and now their kids are starting to listen to them and they're like, oh okay, I get biscuit.
Speaker 1:All I wanted was a Pepsi, I get it now it's wild, it's wild. I'm going to go watch a. I'm going to go watch a documentary on Woodstock 99 and see how this turns out.
Speaker 1:No, they've calmed down quite a bit, which they needed to, and but it's good for, like you said, the resurgence that they're having. It's just, you know, I it's. It's funny you talk to people that were back in the day like well, it's, you know, it's not seen. I'm not listening to that and like now I'm meeting them all at either blimp biscuit shows or we're all just like dude. I've always loved slipknot, I just didn't ever want to admit it in front of people.
Speaker 1:But you know, you grow up and you learn and it's all good stuff. Man, I appreciate you coming down.
Speaker 2:Hell yeah, I appreciate you having us, I appreciate you putting us on these shows.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a really, really dope show. I'm really excited for it. Are they open? Not yet for it, not yet. It sounds like the owner, adam, just got here. Awesome, so probably a good time to end August 17th here at the patio in Galesburg. You're going to see Phantom Threat. You're going to get to meet this guy, zachary. You're going to meet Alexlex, frank, all the guys, and gonna, uh, meet the boys from wyvern. Gonna get to see liberty street do their thing again for the first time in almost a decade and, um, get here, do your thing. Um, hey, you wait a minute, we're closing shit down. You calm down. Hey, hey, who owns this place? I do now fool. All right, come here, listen to them, buy their merch. Thanks again for coming, appreciate you, and we'll call that a podcast thanks, sounds good.
Speaker 2:Thank you Outro.
Speaker 1:Music.
