Exhausted: It’s in the Name

Trash metal is kept alive in South Dakota by Exhausted.

What is the scene in Sioux Falls like? Best moments from Milwaukee Metal Fest? In a world where it seems core is taking over, is trash still viable? How are band members balancing family life, work life, and everything being in a band requires? 

Val, Doug, and Michael cover it all in celebration of the Down To The Wire EP out Friday, June 26th.

Get more Exhausted: https://open.spotify.com/artist/66dtZ1Ny9vDcoYwUg3wj96?si=Zn3TxLVXQtGE_IAJRpRSdA

Exhausted Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exhaustedband/

Get more Val at https://valkleinhans.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When when we sent these songs out to some people to get some feedback, it's funny hearing like there wasn't always a runaway one people liked. There's like, and that kind of felt good. People are like, I kind of like this one, but I like this one a lot better. And the other someone else was like, I kind of like that one, but I like this one a lot better. And that's kind of like, all right, we're we're we're hitting on a lot of things here that people are enjoying.

unknown 0:22

We should be living mindfully.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

We should be living mindfully vigorously.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Welcome to another edition of Vigorously with me of mine hands, chatting with some neighbors today and doing it in the thrash metal world. So this is one of my favorite things to do. I know y'all know that I'm based in Minnesota, but we're talking to Sioux Falls, South Dakota today. Doug Michael from Exhausted, welcome, gentlemen. Thrilled to have you.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Happy to be here. Thank you for having us. It's great to be here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Is it really in the name, though? Like I I gotta ask, like, what is the last thing that had you both exhausted?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Uh going to Milwaukee, Melina.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Yeah.

unknown 1:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Doug and I believe that next commitment. We're both still recovering.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Oh no! So why does it happen in crowds sometimes? Like shows are fun. We love a festival, especially this time of year. We love a festival in the summer, but sometimes we end up getting the ick after the fashion. What happened exactly? Like, where is the hygiene? Or or who knows?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah, there's probably not a lot of hygiene going on.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Who what was your favorite set that you caught?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Oh, they're a tough one. There's so many good ones, but um I've been wanting to see Power Trip for a long time, and when Riley Gale died, I thought that I never would. So to finally see that, and like their energy was incredible. So that was probably my highlight.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Yeah.

unknown 1:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Power trip ruled. I've been um, you know, I've been like a uh acid bath fan since like the late 90s. I I I was working at uh my my mom worked at a car shop, she was a service manager, and one of her I was doing I was doing lawns, like doing their lawn at the time, and one of their techs gave me some CDs listed. One of them was that acid bath CD, and this was probably like 1999-ish. And I was like, that's awesome. I hadn't got to see them yet. Doug has, but um, that was the first time I got to see Acid Bath, and that was that was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Nice. That's kind of how I feel a little bit about typo negative two, or at least the nostalgia of it all. They're the one band that they're on my list of I'm pissed I didn't get the chance to see them. Because I I seriously got into them only two years before Peter died. So I like I never I never had the chance, I never had the opportunity. If Kenny and Johnny ever decided to do some sort of tribute situation, absolutely I would check that out. But they're they're they're on that list for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Yes, that would be and it's tough because everyone associates with Peter being typo negative.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Period, period, yeah. Create creative genius, a big you know, part of the brains behind the branding, the aesthetic, all the above. I mean, 100%. You guys give a lot of thought into that. There's obviously some passion, there's obviously some love for some music there. What do you love about music?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

I love the connection and how it moves you, and um, you know, it we're we're I know all of us in the band are in a lot of different genres of of music, you know, depending on how you're feeling. But between that and how it connects you with people are probably my two biggest ones. Just the the the feeling it gives you. The there's a can be a literal physical feeling, I mean if it's loud enough, right? But there's that emotional side and then just the connecting to it, connecting with others.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

You'd say the same, Doug.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, I think similar. It's the the way that it kind of I I guess like helps you process what you're feeling, no matter what it is. Like, you know, sometimes I'll listen to music and not even realize that I need some type of like emotional release. Um, you know, if I'm like anxious about something or whatever, it it sort of like helps you process whatever is going on that you might not even consciously be aware of yet, you know. So yeah, that that kind of like emotional regulation that that it can help provide, you know, um, I think is like a big fundamental thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah, you can walk away from a show feeling like, oh, I needed that. I don't know why. I don't I don't know why. I can't really put my finger on it either. And what's interesting about the metal, you know, of it all, or particularly the thrashed sub-genre in itself, that is a space where you are plenty allowed to be aggressive and carry that out. Like that's that's one of the few sacred places that you can do that. Why do you think that that's the place we can do this and like nowhere else?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

That's a good question. It is it is very like uh like a it's almost like a a primitive connection to something, right? Like it it it's beating your chest, it's kind of in a way, like it's and it's a place to let it out. It's uh um it it it it almost sounds cliche, like it is a space to let liter literally let it all out, like and and giving it, you know, the band's giving it to you and you're giving it back to the band, and there's this there's this symbiotic relationship relationship going on between the crowd and the band.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

And it's it's um kind of tribal feeling too. You know, it's not just that you're doing it, you know, maybe in your in your you know, house alone or whatever, but that you're doing with other people who are you know like you in some way.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Right. I've seen people go to pop shows for you know just because they want to be there, just because they want to party. And it's not that that doesn't happen in metal too, but they're more willing to like go alone or just go just to like, hey, I'm just here and I want to be here. Nah, metal makes it a community thing. You go to a show, especially like especially the local shows, you'll go and you'll show up and you'll know 20 people in that audience, and right you'll know them like really, really well. It it is a communal thing, and then you'll see them again the next week at a different show. But what bonds you is that they're all metal shows. It's there's there's something about it.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

It's like in that local scene, you kind of never go to a show alone, you know. You don't even if you show up alone, you you know that a bunch of your friends are gonna be there.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Somebody's there. Is that what it's like in Sioux Falls? I want to hear more about what's happening, like in the scene, especially musically. What is happening there?

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Oh, a lot, yeah, it is that way. It is there's a real brotherhood feeling. We just we just played a show Saturday night, and um one of the one of the other bands, and they kind of put on the show when I saw um when I saw when I saw Tony Doug, we just we just literally just locked eyes and he goes, you gross! And I said, Yeah, that's how I feel about me too. And then we gave each other a hug, and it was a laugh, and it stands. Yeah, but it is just such a genuine like hug and a genuine, like, oh I we've you know, we've talked on the internet or on you know on you know texting a lot, but we haven't seen each other in a long time. But and there's there's just a lot of that going on.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Musically, is metal popular? Is thrash the thing? How how how's how does that look when Sioux Falls?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Metal has a metal has a decent little little scene here right now, but thrash definitely not right now. It's a lot more core genres, a lot more like hardcore, metal core, death core kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Like everywhere else in the country. Yes, pretty much, okay. I got it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

And we've and we, you know, we really do try and shoot with that that thrash vibe at times, but we really try and not like limit ourselves to anything. Like we just we're shopping riffs to each other. If it sounds cool, it's cool. But like, yeah, we're uh there's a lot of like Doug said, a lot of core around, there's some death metal around, there's some um that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah, I hear that. I hear that in the music, I hear that in uh you know, just a bunch of what I was taking a look at when I was preparing for this, particularly in End Result on the upcoming EP. I do want to tell you that when I heard it, it gave me kind of like this is what it might sound like if Exodus incorporated a little bit of core. This is what that might sound like. So, what is your take on that genre blending and experimenting with sounds? It sounds like you're willing to do it as a band.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

I think it just happened naturally for us, you know. Like we we come from different from different you know backgrounds in in heavy music. Um you know, Mike, Mike writes a lot uh from uh you said that you grew up listening to Mad Ball, so you write a lot of you know hardcore mad ball kind of energy, but our lead guitarist Frank listens to a lot of like mellow death kind of stuff. So, you know, it's just like happens naturally when those things are kind of meeting in the middle, you know, figuring out ways to go from like one one thing to the next, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

And I think it's just being we we are every one of us in our own ways. Like we all have like we like every one of us has like we like kind of this thing maybe more than that guy. But at the end of the day, we're all just metal things.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Like whether that's Black Sabbath and Judas Priest to like you know, the the napalm deaths we just saw, you know, the other last weekend, like like every everything between I I don't I like listening to hardcore, I like listening to metal core, I like listening to thrash. Like so the fact that we've been these lifelong metal fans, like when um I know for me when I sit down to write some riffs, it's just like what am I feeling in the moment and what sounds cool?

SPEAKER_02 10:13

And musically that kind of turns into some fast grooves. I can tell the grooves are an important part in the music chemistry of this band. How do you find a groove that you love?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Ooh, that's tough. I um you just know it, your face is all twisted up, you just got it. Yeah, I don't know. Like, I'll sit down and I'll find a few notes I like, right? A few like patterns, and then I just sit with that, and it probably it probably drives my wife nuts. Like I'll be in the basement with the amp cranked, and it'll just be I will fuck with that riff a lot of different ways until I find what I like, and then it's like, and then you know, a lot of times, you know, I'll shop it to uh Frank or or or Doug or the other guys, and they'll be like, hey, let's try this instead. And and that's the other part is we're all totally open to being like, okay, yeah, let's let's try this. Like, or or you know, we're just open to everybody's input because I think more, you know, more heads are better than one.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Got it. And this kind of gets into the lore of exhausted for a little bit here. Because correct me if I'm wrong, all of you left other bands and then developed this one.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Sort of not not so much left, like Doug's in multiple bands, um, Frank's in multiple bands, like they're all still Josh is in like six bands. Um, they're all still in other other bands, but we like um in the in a when I was still in college, so about 2009 10-ish, um I was in a band called Tennessee Murder Club for a while with with Josh, our drummer, and um Nick, our singer. And then I graduated and had to move away and go get you know go get a real job. And I had previously been, yeah, right, and I had previously been in a band um in college that just so happened to play shows with our lead guitarist Frank's band at the time. So I knew Frank, and then um when I when I moved away, I still had to write music. I still had to create music. Uh so I was just writing, I built a you know, a little makeshift home studio, and then I would like be like, hey, Frank, I'm not a lead guy, so I'd be like, Frank, will you will you do leads on this? So I'd been working with Frank for uh quite a while, and then uh I moved closer to Sioux Falls and um Frank and I had been talking about starting something, and then Frank ran into Nick at a uh some local show. Um and Nick mentioned to Frank, like we should start something with Mike, and Frank's like, yeah, I've been talking to Mike. So then Frank fed that back to me, and I'm like, okay, I'll reach out to Nick. Because I I had that previous connection with Nick being in a band before, and we did this little side project thing called Wretched Earth that was like a three-song EP, just it was just Nick and I. Um and so then we're like, all right, let's do this. And we're like, what who's the drummer? And Josh Ferry is kind of a local legend in Sioux Falls. I shouldn't seem to say kind of. Um he like I said, he's probably playing in how many bands he's playing in right now, Doug? Five, six.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

He's he's the guy you call.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

He and he's been doing it since the late 80s, early 90s. So we're like, let's get Josh. So we all had this little bit of connection, and then um we're like, we wanna we need a bassist, and we want someone that has a fresh perspective, and we want someone a little bit we did want someone a little bit younger than us. We're all at this juncture in our 40s except Doug. Um, but we and we knew Doug from playing in uh um in his other bands. Um why am I brain farting right now, Doug? Uh disarmed uh on the spot, yeah. The disarmed in Wives Tale.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

I think it was after uh I think it was after Nick saw or maybe heard the last disarm record because he said something like, I like what you I like what you did there. I like that you brought something you know else to the table instead of just following the guitars. So, you know, he's like, I'm starting this, I'm starting this thrash groove band, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

So that's how he got in touch with me, but that's something yeah, that's something else to the table, though. What do you think that was? What what was it that stood out?

SPEAKER_00 14:35

When we all talk, when we all talked, because I I had seen you too, Doug, because I I had seen the disarm play um four winds, and I was like, I remember seeing it too, and I was like, that basis is is freaking rocking it up there. And the other thing is we kind of saw is we saw your cut, we saw you know, we saw your vest and stuff, and we're like, this dude likes heavier stuff, too. Like, you know what I mean? Like I think that was honestly, I think some of that was part of it. We were like, this guy, this guy that wants, I think he's wanting to rip it as well. Like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 15:05

That um, and yeah, that's a good point. Because we should say the the band that we're referencing, disarmed, it's like a rock band, you know. I see there's a difference, it gets a little bit of like heavier stuff in there every once in a while, but it's not really you know metal, so yeah, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Not what you're doing now, it's right, right. Okay, so is it safe to say that all of you as a collective were looking to do what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_00 15:29

A thousand percent for me. This is this is a a thousand percent what I what I want in a band, and it's uh I love every second of it.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

I was really excited when Nick hit me up because I you know, like they said, I'm a little bit younger, and I grew up listening to Nodes of Ranvier, one of the larger bands to come out of Sioux Falls, and Nick was the the vocalist on one of those records, uh, which was the one that was my favorite growing up. So I was just really stoked when he, you know, knew who I was and was interested in working with me. Because it's like, dude, I've I've been listening to you since like middle school, you know. Like, hell yeah, let's let's do something.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

How are you keeping your cool when you meet him?

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Uh um I I wasn't the first time that I it didn't happen. He had done a he had nodes had done a reunion show, and he he didn't do the first one that they did in town, but he did do a few songs on the second reunion show that they did in town. And I went up and talked to him afterward, and he was probably like, Who's this guy? You know, because I was just like, Hey, uh, I grew up listening to you. It was really cool to see you like, all right, bye. You know, just like probably super awkward. Because he's um he's he's kind of intimidating, he's a very nice guy, but he's very quiet. Oh, you can't wait to don't know what he's thinking, he's just kind of enigmatic, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Got it. Okay. I I to me that's fun. I see why it's intimidating. I see why it's intimidating. I understand. But like I I also for me it's fun because it's like, all right, I'm a little puddle to solve, a little bit of a puzzle to play with here. What hmm, what what's the thing that's gonna make him crack? But oh that that's interesting, and that's that's cool. I mean, to end up working with somebody that you admired. Now, correct me if I'm wrong on this too. You've been a band for I mean, not really a long amount of time. You formed in 2023.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Yeah. And about three years almost to the day. I mean, you know, I mean, we we we've probably first jammed in June of 2023.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Okay, so we're coming up definitely on three years. Debut EP comes out about a year after that. And if we're talking just like general timeline by band standards, Exhausted is still a baby. Like, so is there is there something that you're learning with Exhausted that maybe you didn't learn with your other bands, or are we pulling experience, previous experience, and maybe using it when it comes to what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Probably a little bit both for me, Doug. Um, I don't know. Uh it's I I being as I've worked with almost you know everyone in the band except for Doug, but uh Doug's very easy to work with. It's just it's mainly pulling on on previous experiences, but it is it is its own beast in its own way.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Yeah. Do we feel like we're just beginning to process w how far you've come with all this and where you want to go? Or three years in, you've got the groove locked down, you're locked in and we know what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

I feel I I feel like um when we and correct me if I'm wrong, Doug, when we because we've already started writing about another batch of two to three songs, I felt like when we had the time to really work on it, it flowed faster this time. It flowed like we kind of had a better rhythm for each other.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Yeah, it was going it was going very smoothly. You know, when we've when we've worked on those new ones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

I can imagine coordinating schedules is hard. If you if you're still if you're doing this in addition to 5,000 other bands, I can imagine that that's probably the hardest part uh keeping this thing alive. So I what keeps you going and what keeps you committed? Because there's obviously commitment here.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

There's there's bumps in the road, obviously, with and it is it is very tough to get five because we're we're a five-piece. I mean, it's very tough to get five people on the same on the same schedule. And uh that is a that is a hardship at times. Um, but it's just I guess the payoff is the music. Like we're so excited to release this EP and get people you know we we've we've uh we've shown some people the EP because we kind of you know you want a little bit of feedback, we know what song to push, what you know, this and that. And um it's it's that payoff of that playing shows. I was playing last week and we hadn't played in eight, nine months, and you know it it it's the doing stuff, it's uh actually releasing the record, it's the it's the playing the shows, it's the that stuff for me is you know is a big part of it, having that artistic release.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Got it. It's it's the fire is ignited again, yeah, is what is what I'm hearing. So tell me tell me everything that we do need to know about this new EP. We're calling it down to the wire. Obviously, we're excited about it. What do we need to know?

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Yeah, it's three tracks. It's uh a little leaner and meaner than our first EP. Um, this one is somewhat self-produced, and we went for a raw kind of approach, um, something that captured a bit more of the energy that we got live. Um, the the place that we went for our first EP, uh all poetic audio, does like a great job. Um, and it brought a certain element out of the EP that I, you know, it it brought a kind of like hardcore vibe that I had not noticed because the the the guy's a hardcore guy, you know. Um you could tell that it was kind of like our EP through filtered through his lens, and that was great. But this time we were like, let's let's try something different. And so um Mike is good friends with uh this guy out in LA named Dave Vanderlindy. And so we recorded all of the stuff ourselves and then sent everything to.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

him for all of like the mixing and stuff like that and he he was involved in all of like the he basically coached us through it you know but it got this I learned a lot of things yeah well yeah it ended up with a very very raw very like aggressive kind of sound though it's all it does sound great what was the most surprising thing you learned Mike so I mean I mean we could start at the beginning so like so day Dave is literally my he's like my best friend I I I mean I grew up with him his parents are second parents to me this and that and um we had actually originally scheduled studio time at this place we did the original record the for or the the first EP at and then um one of the band members had a family emergency that weekend um and we couldn't do it and I was I was talking to Dave about it he's like you know we can do this remotely right and I could just coach you guys through it and I I'd mix and master it and I was like yeah yeah yeah and and I was like all right let's let's try that like um I had never you know I'd never double we we triple mic'd my cab and I I'd never phase aligned mics I mean that that that's ground zero start starting point stuff I'd never done um and he you know he he he coached me through that he coached like there's a lot of little things he coached me through and then or like helped with mic placements for drums or helped with um what DI we use for for like um some bass di and guitar di because we both so I was running three three mics and a DI in case we needed to do something different that way um I mean there was there was a lot and um to Doug's point what gave us kind of what gives this record a little more of a natural feel is um I sent Dave um versions of us playing these songs live so he built our click tracks the these songs these click tracks literally breathe like he listened to it and he so he he graduated from Berkeley School of Music I mean he is a professionally trained musician he's yeah yeah and now he's he's out in LA he's the main guitarist for um the a band called all hell the yeti um cool name yeah and uh but he built these click tracks to like whenever we naturally sped up or slowed down so yes we we we did I mean you're recording from you know hundreds and hundreds of miles away as you have to record to a click track but it is our natural pacing and it's our it's not just all right 180 here 170 here it's there the and it that takes a lot of time for Dave to even just build those click track so he that dude did so much work on this and we're we're so grateful. I'm wondering if as a musician that's himself that's something he understood and that's maybe why 100% he was just able to structure it that way because he knew it's gonna bring out the best in you guys yeah it sounds like us you know what I mean yeah totally so the natural feel the naturally implementing clicks where you would have them if you were playing live just for example is this the bold step forward that we're talking about with all the chatter about the CP because that's what we're saying about the CP I'm hearing that this this is a step forward for exhausted is that the secret sauce yeah I I think it is it it sounds it sounds more like us and and that's not to say anything negative on the the first place we went I think we're still figuring ourselves out I think we went in there and we're like we have these songs will you record them you know I mean like like and so but like this is a it's a little it it is it it's more it feels more like us it feels more natural.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

What do you hope people feel when they hear any of your songs new stuff old stuff any of it I've heard people say stuff to me like even that that that show we played Saturday night the uh I since Doug and I were kind of sick I I was you know I was I was just drinking water so I kept going to the bar just getting water and the um one of the bartenders she told me after we played she's like I don't usually like stuff that heavy but she's like I like you guys I'm like we bring enough groove to it don't we and she's like yeah as I like I I I want it to be undeniable like for like anyone that's likes any kind of heavy ish music like it's it's gonna appeal to someone who likes death metal it's gonna appeal to someone who like you know you like it's it's just undeniably headbanging good that Mike that reminds me of when we were opening for Deceased and you and I were warming up in the back you know just like just with our guitars no amps and one of the guys from Deceased was in the green room with us as we were playing to um you know using your earbuds and he was like oh man you know something like oh man I like even without distortion I can tell that's heavy you know yeah yeah it's like the people who like the heavy stuff are gonna be like you know and then the people who don't like that heavy hopefully would also find something yeah to do yes it's like the opening to rain in blood or something where you just know a kind of whoop ass is about to be unleashed what was the first song album band whatever direction you want to take this that made you realize music could change how you actively feel about life load of question load of question but I love it for me it was a long journey I had a when I was growing up I'm talking like second third fourth grade I had a cousin down in Arizona who was about four or five years older than me he would come up to South Dakota for the summer I don't know if he why um he just but his parents sent him up to my grandma's for the and he was you know he'd played he he played video games and he listened to punk and metal and so like I just was like hang out with him all the time and it was it was it's thinking long way back but it was a mixture of things like offspring in 311 to like Born in White Zombie Pantera and it was like and I don't I don't honestly it's thinking back now what I I didn't know what I was listening to to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

I just knew I liked it. You know what I mean? Like I didn't know that I was um but yeah going back and being like there's been times I've been like oh I remember when I heard this in my basement at in fourth fifth whatever grade it was and I was like now I remember you know but yeah it was it was there was something moving about it that I was always drawn to that type of music.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Yeah I can remember for me I've liked music as long as I can remember and I mostly grew up listening to like Christian pop music contemporary Christian music was a as a younger child and then um got really into like Leonard Skinnard and stuff uh kind of in late elementary school um and then I remember sometime in middle school you know so I got into like Leonard Skinnard Led Zeppelin some of those old some of those old uh rock bands and then I remember in uh sometime in middle school a friend showed me this uh this band that was I think they were from Omaha called Stigmata they were never like a big band but they were some Christian heavy band he showed them to me at youth group and I mean it like scared me but in a way where I was like I didn't know you could do this I just never heard anything like that but I was like you know this sounds so evil and you know but I was like I was scared but I kind of liked that I was scared you know it it like kept me coming back um so you know from then I just I uh wanted to find more stuff yeah like that you know there's something about the way I don't know what it is about those like particularly those 70s bands they are a gateway they are gateway dude because it honestly Alan Collins Gary Rosendon on guitar and all those solos those early skitter like solos I'm like why that's honestly what just what got me interested in music that has heavy guitar period at all. Say what you want to say about later skinners they're just the two that like introduced me to that dual guitar five class classic five piece setup that I was starting to learn that I liked because guess what follows Aerosmith Guns N'Roses you know all the above and then you start to hear Aerosmith uh bitching about love lost and you're like I totally understand this as an 11 year old who crush wasn't returned you know like somehow like adult subject matter like relates but you know it's they don't know what you're listening to in those headphones it's fine that's why I love headphones headphones on world options you're absolutely right though it is those I you know you guys saying that it was my parents growing up you know it was guns and roses in my youth too is guns and roses the first concert my parents ever brought me to sixth grade was was guns and or it was um aerosmith played Sioux Falls oh yeah here yeah bunch of college kids behind us spill speared bill beer all over me it was a good time yeah that's the that that sounds like a proper initiation properly initiated into the culture with that that so uh dog was it ever a struggle for you like the Christian aspect and combining it with all the metal stereotypes yeah a little bit um not not much it it didn't it didn't really bother me much but I did mostly start listening to Christian metal um but there is like a pretty big christian metal scene so it didn't feel like it held me back and then you know I slowly got into sort of like the wider the the wider metal world you know uh they were kind of you're like maybe skillet or demon hunter something like that kind of yeah demon hunter was demon hunter was like the one yeah for sure still one of my one of my all-time favorites but yeah yeah they get you interested in everything else for sure at the time that we're talking we're almost two eps in are we working toward a full length album soon it's it's kind of we're definitely yeah we're definitely writing songs it's it's that getting enough done to be like you know it it it it's the coordinating schedules yeah it really is getting getting getting enough done to have and we've even talked about maybe doing like um if we did another EP maybe even after this one like maybe doing a a release of all of them together type of deal or something.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Doing some combined release or something like that. But it it it's like I said we we had we we darn near knocked out two two ish songs have another one right in the chamber in the first few months of this year then stuff kind of slows down because uh people get busy and I'm I'm just as guilty as anyone in the band with stuff getting busy and I can't make stuff too but like it's just it's just tough.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Not not playing shows lately has been really nice for getting more of that stuff done too because you know whenever whenever you have shows you know if you're not like grouping them all like on a tour you know and you're just playing like a show every once in a while then that just really stops you from building momentum doing anything else because you'll have like a few a few weeks where you can write and then it's like okay now we have to stop that and we just have to get ready for the show you know and yeah to not have shows kind of get in the way of that lately.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Not that they get in the way but I understand what you mean like you you and you enjoy them you love playing them it's not bad but it it just kind of co-opts your time you know when they're all spread out just once a month once every two months that kind of thing yeah you know it just it it's hard to really get in the groove with anything else you know I understand.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

I don't know if this is the same case maybe similar in South Dakota because your winners are kind of sort of similar a lot of our bands like in this area they winter is like writing time winter is like writing and recording time at least the ones that I know well enough to have that information on like that that's that's what they do. And then when it becomes spring summer even up you know up through fall sometimes then it's like okay we're locked in on shows and festivals and that kind of seems to be what they do.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Yeah yeah I would say largely especially we do have one kind of like decent sized local festival in early December here.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Um but then it's kind of the January through I don't know maybe March.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Right. Yeah people forget that March is still kind of winter here. Right yeah and then we have blizzards in April literally literally Prince was not lying I learned that when I moved here I do not understand how we like this is tolerable. Why do I live where the earth like hurts my face well that's because it's affordable that's because that's where all this angry music comes from sometimes hello after the burial hello after the burial hello like Bob Dylan hello prince and all all of them like you know there's we we treasure that stuff we you know we we love it are there any local favorites that you guys cling on to in the same kind of way I mean either South Dakota or Sioux Falls yeah I mean Doug and I both grew up listening to nodes which you know had had both you know had Nick and Josh that are both an exhausted in it so they were they were bands I grew up listening to um I um yeah so those were got uh suffer and fall and um those kind of death metal bands that you know in the early days of of Midwest death metal um um there uh suffer and fall were were were big deals around this area um which also had josh in them suffer felt like it they would be a lot bigger if they weren't from here yeah yeah like they never quite got their due for doing what they were doing where they were doing it you know I mean when we when we were at uh the Milwaukee Metal fest the other week and um Josh was texting me our our drummer and he goes you know we he goes I played that two or three years in a row we went on right we went on right before OPEF in 2000 he's like hell yeah you know what I mean yeah like I mean they were they were right there huge so but is there is there a challenge to doing this in somewhere like Sioux Falls what are there I mean because to me it seems like most stuff is remote kind of like what you guys were talking about with the production aspect of this so sometimes I wonder like it is is it a challenge anymore is it not is it still easier for you know the stereotypical band that's either in LA or New York and they've got easy local access right there or does the internet make all of this easier and it really doesn't matter where you are anymore how do you feel about that I think the internet can be a little bit of a um an equalizer but it's it's also become you know we it's also almost become like a um a paradox of choice where like choice is good right like being able to choose things is good but uh it can become overwhelming too um um like so I think there is a paradox to choice at times but I also think there's a there's a a give and take to being in a in a small community right like if you're a good band in a small community you're the band you are the band and and it builds you up but at the same time now you gotta find somewhere else to go.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

Whereas if you're in a big music hub of New York LA whatever you don't you can thrive there and be that you know so I I think there's there's give and take to both sides of that yeah I often I often wonder about this too.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

It does seem like it would be easy to like it could just be grass is always greener because you know there's less competition so I hear that it's really hard to get on cool shows in big cities. You know you need to have like guaranteed like 300 tickets sold for it in order to get on like a cool show. And we don't have that here because you know we couldn't you know you can't even get 300 people in a room here. And so the competition isn't so high and like Mike said that means that you get to stand out easily but like Mike said when there are just are not that many people around here it can feel like you just kind of get capped at a certain point of growth you know where it's like yeah I mean anyone who would be into this in Sioux Falls has probably heard us before you know but it can feel like that you know yeah um that uh unlike a big city where you might have kind of like a scene that you know can rotate through and it's like maybe you go play in this like other area of the city or something and it has a different you know crew or whatever. It's like everyone everything's the same here. You know you you're kind of in front of the same you know 30 core people all the time you know and you see them and you're like all right Bill next week we'll see you later which is great for the which is great for the tightness of the community you know like you get you get to become good friends with them.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

But yeah it's um you do have to go a lot further to try to get any sort of um return for it you know where it's like if we wanted to go get in front of new eyes we'd have to you know travel you know three hours minimum to get to any like reason you know sized city depending on where you want yeah I mean shoot and then uh some cities nurture the arts some don't there's challenges with that there there's some that help with that there's some that don't it's just it you you have to pray that like some almost somebody cares enough right to nurture it all I really think the key is all ages shows the the the the you not only do they bring the excitement not only they bring the I because I just I remember being that age and I remember how important that was to me man I saw this cool band I want to show everyone this cool band you know what I mean like I you know I wanted to be the first one to show everyone this cool band and not and then they help build it they help and so I think the tough part is a lot of these venues are bars and a lot of these venues have alcohol and so then they you know if then if they really want to make it all ages they gotta pay some you know then they gotta pay someone to sit at that door and that's more money out of their pocket.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

So I and so I I get it I get why the lot of this stuff isn't all ages so it's it's tough but I think if you really want to grow a scene the youth is if you want to grow anything in this world it you get it's the youth and they build it up but that's just how it's always done in any kind of organization.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Yeah because it creates a conducive environment for word of mouth really I mean yes social media can help but it's certainly not everything.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

And they have the energy and they have the time they don't already have the 60 hour a week job and the kids and the you know what I mean it's just it's just a reality of it.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

Well that's the thing they they kind of become your default street crew or what we that's what I we used to call them was our was like our street crew they kind of become your default version of that so that you get to focus on the music or you get to focus on the shows you get to focus on that part of it which is a lot in itself but I've had this conversation thousands of times on this podcast where a lot of bands today it's a very DIY situation for most of them and they truly are doing all of it together mostly themselves maybe they have a small team around them at most but it's mostly them how do you see exhausted's future in those terms do we want to stay DIY do we want to find a team what would your dream scenario look like or maybe you have a team and I don't even know about it.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

No uh it does it it seems like for the foreseeable future it would be DIY you know um we've been working with a publicist Colby who's the one who got you know with you Yasha and that's been huge having someone someone in our court you know pushing us out there. Um but you're right it takes a lot of work and it gets you know no pun intended it gets exhausting trying to do all of the things that you're supposed to do on top of the fact that we're all you know working full time or over full time you know um some of us are parents and yeah whatnot. So it

SPEAKER_02 44:01

having having a team feels like so far off you know but uh the little bit that we get to feel now is really nice but it's also like really rewarding to work for your own stuff you know it's really rewarding to do things yourself you know um so there's definitely some you know some positive in it I don't mean to make it sound like awful or anything like that but you know like anything in life pros and cons right pros pros and cons to every single decision that's I mean kind of how I see it but I relate to the struggle though just because I mean I think anybody doing anything creative whether it's the art of broadcast the art of painting the art of poetry the art of music whatever creative endeavor you decide on there's a level of struggle in that regardless of what you do and that's why I think the people who take on those roles are some of the most passionate people I've ever met. For sure and I think that struggle is just part of it and I think it can deepen the the art like it's this is this is mine man we spent a lot of you know this is we spent a lot of time writing this recording this rehearsing this you know it it it makes it like you said Doug there's this there's this uh level of more personal relationship to to the to the art to what we're putting out there let's talk a little bit more about what we are putting out there your favorite part of down to the wire what is it for me it it's uh the the the the three songs are and I and I love this kind of about exhausted their three songs are uniquely different but they sound like exhausted like like I I feel like anyone like listens to it can find something to latch on to enjoy when when we sent these songs out to some people to get some feedback is funny hearing like there there wasn't always a runaway one people liked there's like and that kind of felt good people are like I kind of like this one but I like this one a lot better and the other someone else like I kind of like that one but I like this one a lot better and that's kind of like all right we're we're we're hitting on a lot of things here that people are enjoying what's the most surprising piece of feedback that you've gotten so far I guess I had I had a buddy liken some of our stuff to to prong oh interesting okay and I and I see yeah yeah they're fun you know and I forgot that early prong was thrash true you know you're right they were like crossover thrashy yeah and I'm like and and and I had the same reaction you did I I go snap my finger snap my neck doesn't really sound like whose fist really yeah yeah yeah yeah and I was like wait what and then I was like well I and yeah they were they were crossover thrash you know like so like that that one took me a little by surprise yeah but then it kind of made sense and then we saw we saw them we saw them the other weekend Doug and they and they ripped it they were they were fun as you did I saw them two weeks ago and I was in the pit for whose fist I was like come on we need to stereotype it right now if there's a pit song you get in the goddamn pit for that song right if you've never done it ever in your life that's the one that you get on there for Doug what was the most surprising thing about this experience or maybe the thing that you just kind of held on to as a learning lesson while you were in the process of creating the CP it feels totally different to record something yourself versus record something with someone else and you know I feel like I have a long way to grow in that still but it makes you realize how much it feels like you kind of have like I don't know someone like holding your hand or maybe like training wheels or something when they're the ones who are clicking record and you you know you just have to sit there and play it and then they'll like you know they'll they're like listening to what you're doing and they're like yeah that was good or like nah do it again or you know whatever versus when you have to be the one who's that critical that critical voice and like finding some line between like to you know too critical what's what's unrealistic right you know um versus um like yeah that can't that shouldn't go out the door you know um but you know I mean I just I sat I sat here for hours like working on working on tracking and just like over and over you know hit record try it and then it's like nope not good enough and then you know um you just keep going and it it you know having someone there doing that with you ends up feeling it's like such a relief that you don't even really understand until it's gone you know they can pull you out of your head a little bit because you're your own worst critic or at least I am for certain and they can kind of give you that reassurance when you they're like you're being way too hard on yourself, dude. Like that type of situation.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

Right. Or or on the flip side when you're like I thought that was good and they were like I heard something you know it's great when you have someone who can tell like you hit that note a little you know it wasn't confident enough and you're like I didn't even know but I trust you you know you know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 49:35

There are a few parts Doug remember on um on end result that part that goes I uh I I I had to do I had to do four I had to do two tracks because I did all the rhythm tracking I had to do two tracks for every so there was a backup track in case I screwed something up right so like and okay on all four tracks Dave was like dude you missed that 30 second note on every one of them he's like you gotta redo it okay darn it you know he's like he's like you did 31 notes on every one of them I was like none of them you know you missed the 30 second note that is insane well well there was at least there was he's like he's like there was 31 notes in every one of those maybe it wasn't the same note every time but it was sure um the I guess the other surprising one was those the the overdub so there's spots on these on every song where Dave was like pick spots you want just a little more punch and he goes but what I need from you he goes I need you to create the exact opposite tone of what you already did he goes use a different guitar use a different amp use because what you want is you don't want it louder the idea is not to add another thing that's louder it's to fill space so it should be contrasting and so I the first thing I said I I did it and I did it for all the tracks he's like nope it sounds too close to you it sounds like you he goes listen he goes this needs to sound shitty make a shitty tone think high school college shitty tones and I'm like and I go I have my little line six practice amp that I had in college that is on the album like we you know we got we got these high-end mics amps cabs whatever but like the overdubs are like was my I mic'd up this shitty little 20 watt line six he's like yep that's what we're looking for because it needs to be so contrasting you it's not to layer it it's to it's to fill in the holes okay so that's yeah so that everything so that there's something for multiple things for a listener to grab onto multiple layers to it all I mean that's definitely something that some of my favorite bands do for sure when it comes to production.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

I thought that was fun well and and he presented it to you in a constructive way this wasn't subjective criticism this is I know I I know you've played it better man I know you've played it better like come on we can we gotta do it this way instead this specific way makes total sense well gentlemen I am very excited for this ep cannot wait cannot wait to get my hands on it and just hear even more than I've already heard congratulations on it thank you so much for your time and thank you Val appreciate it hope to see you again has been fun yes that's been great the new EP from Exhausted Down to the wire out on Friday make sure you stream it make sure you get access to it wherever you listen to music I will put some links to do so in the show notes of course and at valplants.com where you can get a recap of every episode of Vigorously just in case you missed one. I was reminded this episode that one of the core things about metal and the metal and heavy music community that I love that is still very much alive today is how it's so funny. We keep it as such an underground thing we think it's such uh an underground secretive thing but it's so huge. And when you find someone else that's into the same type of music you build your own community and you're loyal and you ride or die. Like that that is still happening universally for this genre. And that's why I will forever love it. And it was nice to be reminded of that this week. And thanks for joining me for another episode you stay right here. Bye