The Underwire Podcast

Why Passion Projects Matter: Finding Joy and Purpose Through Music, Hobbies, and DIY Ethics with Rick Jimenez

• Episode 10

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Why Passion Projects Matter: Finding Joy and Purpose Through Music, Hobbies, and DIY with Rick Jimenez

On this episode, we’re diving into the power of passion projects and how they shape our sense of joy, purpose, and creativity.

Joining me is my good friend, Rick Jimenez - a musician, songwriter, and all-around creative powerhouse. Rick has spent years channeling his energy into music, collecting, and DIY projects, proving that the things we love—no matter how small—can be grounding forces in our lives.

In this episode, we discuss how creativity fuels personal growth, the importance of hobbies beyond just being “for fun,” and how a DIY mindset can be a game-changer. Rick’s perspective on making time for what brings you joy, whether it's music, collecting toys, or fitness, was a huge reminder that passion projects aren’t just hobbies—they’re essential for well-being.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:

  • The joy of collecting—why surrounding yourself with things you love can be surprisingly fulfilling
  • How the gym and music serve as outlets for mental clarity and self-expression
  • How involving his wife in his songwriting process became a unique bonding experience (and why he won’t send new songs to his band without her input first!)
  • DIY ethics from the hardcore/metal scene and how they apply beyond music
  • Perfectionism, to-do lists, and learning to embrace progress over perfection
  • Why indulging in what you love is essential when you're feeling stuck or uninspired

If you’ve ever felt like your hobbies are “just for fun,” this episode will remind you that they might be doing more for you than you realize.

Tune in and let’s tal


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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Underwire Podcast supporting you when life needs a lift. I'm your host, your friend Jess, and today I'm joined by my good friend Rick Jimenez, a musician, personal trainer, wrestling enthusiast, and all-around creative powerhouse. Something you need to know about Rick is that he is someone who throws himself fully into everything he's passionate about, from writing music and playing in bands to training clients and even collecting action figures and comics. In this episode, we get into how these different passion projects help him stay grounded, how he balances control. with collaboration in his creative work and why he now won't even share new song ideas with his band until his wife has weighed in first. We also dive into the mindset of DIY musicians, the liberating secret to managing an endless to-do list, and why embracing the things that bring you joy, no matter how big or small, is essential. If you've ever felt stuck, unmotivated, or unsure of what truly brings you fulfillment, this conversation might just spark something for you. So let's get right into it. Thank you so much for doing this. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you about how all of our passion projects help us to stay grounded. First off, can you introduce yourself and a little bit about the one million things that you have going on in your life currently? My name is Rick Jimenez. I am the guitar player and voice singer of Extinction AD. I'm the guitar player of This Is Hell. I am a part-time personal trainer, full-time wrestling enthusiast, and toy collector. I collect comic books as well, but you know, more of a reader. I am also a YouTube show participant, which is a not new venture, but Extinction AD also does a YouTube show called It's Go Time, You Asshole, which is a lot of fun. I'm an energy drink enthusiast as well. I love that. I'm glad that my list of your activities also matched up with everything that you listed. And, as you almost forgot to list your YouTube show, I was going to bring that up because I know that is something that you do. So, thank you for sharing. Obviously, that's so many different things. So, with all of those activities and passion projects, whether it's music or the gym or collecting, do these things help you stay grounded when life may feel overwhelming? I think they absolutely do, even though sometimes those things can become what makes things overwhelming. The difference, from my experience, of being overwhelmed as opposed to just biting off. more than you could chew is if it is in fact a passion project and I try to spend as much time as possible in my life doing passions and as little time possible in my life doing anything that's not just an obligation, but something I have little or no interest in, like my regular job. I don't have any interest in it, but it is a means to an end. And despite not thinking by any means that I am a capitalist, I am a realistic person. I live in a capitalistic society. So I have a job to make sure I have my bills paid and contribute to my family, but also because it enables me to pursue my passion projects that much more. So even though a band practice or three a week is a lot of time out of the week, and keeping up on watching wrestling and then specific wrestling toys that I'm very invested in buying, there's a lot. But I mean, that's all fun stuff. Same thing with reading and collecting comic books. And then on top of that, I need to make sure I get to the gym because just working out is important for me and very, very much keeping my head clear and making sure I could function like a regular person or at least regular for me. And then aside from that, I'm doing personal training. So sometimes I'm in the gym and I'm not working out for myself, but it's more so spending the majority. of my waking hours doing something that I am invested in because I enjoy it. I love all of that. So, in all of that, you mentioned the gym and how that helps to keep your head clear, and making sure that you are doing things that you love and that you enjoy. So, in doing all of those things, do you feel like these different passion projects act as outlets or like a form of therapy as a way to process your thoughts and your emotions? You know, I hate to say this because it's so cliche, but it's just absolutely true that the gym is like the biggest, staying clear-minded thing on earth. I feel the difference if I have to skip the gym, say for like three days straight for one reason or, and it's not just, oh no, I'm skinny fat and my muscles look like trash. It is that, but more so, my head just doesn't function as well. It took me a long time to realize that the mental clarity, I mean, it's real basic stuff. You use your body; your body is a machine, and you've got to change the oil and lube it up real nice. I like how you describe that. Yeah, I got to lube it up real nice. OK, but healthy body, healthy mind. And that's absolutely something that I've come to appreciate the older I get. Some of my other passion projects, doing music is an outlet, and it's kind of fulfilling what I, I believe I was put on earth. to do. Maybe that's not for me to deliver my music to other people. Hope that is part of it. But the main thing is the gratification I get from it and the expression and fulfillment I get from it. So I guess in turn that keeps me grounded too. But then any of my collecting habits, I don't think those have anything to do with grounding me as much as they just kind of fill a void and just kind of bring me joy. You know, I have so much joy looking at my action figures, and then the joy I get from reading comic books is things that kind of go in waves, where oh, I'm never out of it, but how much it dominates my time. And then sometimes I won't read a comic book. For like, you know, a month and a half. And then, like, right now, I'm reading like three or four comic books a day. And it's like, oh man, this is so much better than, like, scrolling on my phone when I'm in the bathroom or whatever. And I don't even have, like, anything negative to say about scrolling on a phone. I don't know what's on the next page here. Yeah, that's such a good point about that. There's nothing wrong with scrolling on your phone or doing whatever activity that you choose to do. But it's nice to know that there are different options that you can replace that with that feel more fulfilling, even if it is just reading a comic book. or legitimately anything else. And I think that it's good to have options there. Something that you mentioned when you were talking about your toy collecting is that you mentioned that it filled a void. But could you share more about what you think that void is? I really, really, specifically for me, I don't think it's like a nostalgia thing. I collected toys when I was younger or I played with toys. So now I want to collect them because I want to feel like I'm a kid again. I don't even think it's that. I think it's one of those things where if I didn't have the specific instance of, you know, I have two IKEA Detolfs, which is very specific for toys. collectors next to my desk to the right in my. And then to the left, I have a floating shelf with just my Ultimate Warrior collection and then other stuff behind me. But at any point, whether I'm editing a podcast or the YouTube show, or recording a demo, or doing anything that I do at my desk, I could turn to the right and look at one collection. And if it wasn't there, I don't think I would know what I'm. But now that it is there, it's not, oh, I collected these toys for years; I'm trying to finish this collection, whatever. I know they're in a tote because I live in an apartment; I don't have room. You know, I live in a house now; I do have room. office Being able to look at those toys just brings such a joyous satisfaction. And then same thing to the left with my Ultimate Warrior collection, which is like more than quadrupled in the past two years because I was like, oh, I don't need to collect every single Ultimate Warrior toy because I don't have any place to display this. Why? Why? Why am I just gonna get all this junk? And then once I did have a place to display it, hey, let's go crazy! Let's get it. It's like why? It's like, well, because he's my favorite wrestler and wrestling is like of paramount importance to me. And when I turn around and look at these toys, it is so cool. And I take great appreciation in the fact that I'm still buying new toys and not just recollecting things that I may have had when I was a So it's not even a nostalgia thing; it's an ongoing journey that makes it sound so pretentious. I mean, I'm buying half-naked men in plastic form, but it's just looking for something that you know exists and the gratification of finding it and then putting it to whatever use you have. For me, the use I have is taking out of the package, looking at it, saying, 'wow, this fucking kicks ass,' smelling it because I love the smell of toy plastic, and then putting it on the shelf in a prominent place where I can turn around. and look at it and say wow that was worth it I'm so cheap. So sometimes I'll buy stuff that's super expensive on eBay, but I'll lowball, like got this 40 figure for, you know, eight bucks. Like that was so worth 8. That's not even hours' worth of my time at work. Today, just before we started recording, I got three different shipments from three different companies of one, two, three, four, five, of six different figures that I put preorders in months ago. So it was funny. It's just ironic they're coming now. And I was like, oh, I'm running late,

I got to make sure I'm ready to go by 3:

30. Oh, I got to open this box. I opened three of these figures, I'm like man, these are brand new figures. These three characters have never been made in this specific format, but they kind of fill gaps in my collection. Not an emotional gap, like a physical, like I need a figure of Boris Zhukov because it's never been made before. Opening it up at 44 years old and being like, wow, I never thought I'd see a plastic version of this guy, and he looks awesome! And I smelled it, and it smelled great. I said, okay, now I got to put this in my room and run downstairs and record. But I still get great joy. It's so cool that it's the nostalgia of, oh, a specific style of toy I got when I was a but it's the, I'm 44 and I love this, just. as, because of today, not because of when I was a. Yeah, well, joy is super important. So I'm glad that you get so much of it from your toys. And I can relate, as a fellow toy collector, that they do bring a lot of. That makes a lot of. So, with all of your different activities and passion projects, can you think about an experience where any of those things helped you through difficult times? Music, first and foremost, has been the guiding light of my entire life since I could remember existing. I don't know if I'm making things up or I'm a crazy person, but I have memories way old. I remember my first birthday vividly, and I remember watching. Def Leppard videos and other videos on MTV before I was three. And you're little; you just like music because it sounds cool, and these guys look cool, and all this stuff. I knew I always wanted to play music. I always had toy guitars, you know, a plastic guitar with nylon plastic hybrid strings. You know, you can't actually play it. I would buy big pieces of oak tag or white cardboard and make crazy-shaped guitars and then play those all the time. So I knew I always wanted to play music. I got my first guitar when I was 11 or 12, and then I was writing songs on my guitar poorly. Even before that, my sister never took a music lesson until she started. playing the flute, but she had a piano. Then she got a, just, oh, I can play this, just figure it out. So I would mess around on her keyboard. I remember the first song I ever wrote on a, just stupid, meaningless. But it's crazy that like I must've been like six or seven, like I need to write my own music. As things get more serious, as they do, it becomes more important. As time goes on, I naturally gravitated towards writing music that was expressing how I felt. I'm not just writing this heavy song because it sounds cool; I'm writing this heavy song because I'm pissed. And this, like, goes from really fast to heavy because I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated. I'm pissed. And then past that, like, oh, I'm going to write a more kind of emotional song. So, you know, even though it's in a minor key, I'm using prettier chords and stuff of that nature. So that has always been in, I don't even want to say my adult life, my teenage life up until now. That's my go-to to kind of let it out if I'm not going to verbalize it to my wife. Like, okay, let's let Rick vent for 15 minutes now. And you know, sometimes you need that also. But we're talking about the passion projects. And, you know, I put my all into every song I write for whatever band or project or just for my own MP3 storage on my computer or phone to listen to because that is my go-to for outlet expression coping. And I've been fortunate to have the chance to make that, I guess, like a quote unquote career here and there because I was a career musician for like over a And because of that, sometimes it starts to feel more job-oriented. And that sucks a lot of the fun. And I don't want to say it sucks the genuineness. I'm the lyricist for my band too. That's pathetic right now. We can pretend that that's a word. You know, it sucks some of that out of it. But even at that point, I'm incapable of writing a song just for shits and giggles if it's going to be used for something that I need to play it more than. once If I'm going to write a song to sell to somebody, you know, or entrance themes for wrestlers, then I'm more utilitarian as opposed to coming from the heart. Even at that point, like, well, it's got to be cool, you know? And at that point, then it will start to mean something to you anyway. Can you think of one specific example where writing music has helped you get through or process those emotions and come out on the other side feeling like a weight has lifted off you? For instance, for me personally, I can definitely relate with the music aspect of things because writing music, lyrics in particular, have been such an immense sense. of relief. Being able to feel something, I oftentimes write songs about experiences that I've had with ex-boyfriends or relationship issues where shit hit the fan and I was heartbroken. And writing songs, lyrics in particular, has really helped me be able to process those things and come out on the other side feeling a lot better because I've gotten those things out in a way that's extremely expressive but also in a creative form that I'm able to share it with whoever. And so, can you think of one time that that's happened for you? The writing of the last Extinction AD record that came out in August to the Detested on Unique Leader. Records Ding, I had that happen quite a bit on that record. And what's really cool about that is not just the shameless plugging of the new record, but the fact that for the first time in Extinction AD's career, I didn't have a backlog of songs written for album four. So when we were ready, you know, oh, we have this deadline to go to record. Oh, the songs have been done. And we purposely said, let's wait till we get back from this European tour. And then we'll write the record, which needs to be 100% completed by January 1st, 2024. So then at that point, we wrote well over 13 songs, cut two or three, so we have 10. I wouldn't write the lyrics until we. chose the 10 songs because writing lyrics is super, super taxing for me for a handful of reasons. A lot of it is subject matter which really gets very weighty to me. So sometimes I think it's a better idea to group it all together and just, OK, I'm just like Black Cloud, miserable shit guy for a month and a half because I'm writing lyrics for these songs, as opposed to spreading that out throughout a year. So I had a bunch of topics and notes I knew I wanted to write about. But when I had to hunker down and actually put the lyrics to the songs,

there were two songs in particular:

The Cure or The Cause? I actually wrote the lyrics with my wife which I've never written lyrics. I love that so much. Oh, it was crazy. It was crazy! I never wrote lyrics with like a significant other ever, and I can't even remember the last time I wrote lyrics in conjunction with anybody. But she had expressed interest. It was adorable too because it was kind of like, well, I had this idea. Like, would you how would you feel about you know? I was like, yo, let's go for it! So she is a breast cancer survivor. She's gone through all the ins and outs of the health care system. So she put her thoughts onto the page and presented them to me. And I said, can we go in together on this? She was like, oh yeah! So then I put my two cents in, and you know, a little bit of rhyme scheme and vocal patterns and stuff. And we wound up with this, like, in my opinion, this unbelievable culmination project or whatever. And it was gratifying and super cool. And because I, you know, romanticize music so much, what a gift for both of us to have worked on a song together and have it be on an album. And then, albums done, hand it in. I'm listening to like rough mixes and like, all right, well, albums handed in for a And it's an eight-month period between when we hand it in and when it comes out. So, about four months in, I hadn't listened to the record in like three or four months. I listened to it. and I'm hearing it as an outsider. And I'm hearing her thoughts and my thoughts and her experiences. I was like, wow, this is fucking heavy. And it was like just a heavy experience. Super, super cool. Very gratifying. And I know like she's like over the moon that she got to do this. And she could tell her friends, like, I wrote a song and it's on Rick's Heavy Metal album. Yeah, that's really incredible. That's such a good ideato hear somebody like yourself talk about how you want your significant other, who is not involved with the punk rock hardcore metal scene at all, to be involved in this process and let her share that with you. Just that. alone that bonding experience must have been so incredible. So now, listening to that song, the both of you, not only are you thinking about each other, but every time she hears that song, she thinks about, oh yeah, that was a really cool time. That like my husband let me be involved with his band, and all of these things that I don't know anything about. And it's a really great example that I think other people should really take to, as you know you hear all the time, like oh well you know this person doesn't get it, this person doesn't get it. And it's like, well do you? You can involve them. And this is a great example of how. Yeah before we met you. know she didn't know anything about like the bubble that we exist in, you know, like the punk and metal and hardcore bubble. She knows bands and such, but I mean we've been together for nine years now. So she knows now, but it's it's still not exactly her world. It is, by proxy, over the course of almost a decade now, but yeah, it was unbelievable. And you know, it's funny now, I won't finish an Extinction AD demo and send it to the rest of the guys if I'm doing it all by myself until she listens to it and I get her two cents. And it's not even just the like, oh, isn't it so sweet I let my wife be; like, it's not even that. It's like I actually don't feel like I need her not approval, but I need her outsider opinion. Plus, like just kind of like our regular relationship, you know, it's I don't know if you like Rocky or not, but um you know Rocky talking about Adrian and like uh Paulie's like, 'Yo, what why what do you see in Adrian Now I'm no Rocky and Alyssa is no Adrian, but um he goes, 'I don't know. She fills gaps It's like what's gaps? Like oh she fills gaps. We fill each other's gaps, which now sounds filthy as hell. That can be taken literally, yeah. Figuratively, I mean you were talking about lubing yourself up or I mean I don't really know where this episode's going, but I'm here for it. I showed her. a demo the other day and she's like no cool. Everything sounds good. She goes that ending maybe that could be a little bit different or like maybe you don't need it. I go you know what I was even like not I was thinking it but as soon as she said it I was like yeah I don't know why I didn't think about it. Like oh give me five seconds, clip the just kind of maybe put a different fade on the part before it. And now okay let's listen. I'm just so excited hearing about your experience with your wife. Like that is goals. Okay for anybody listening this is how your relationship should be. You should you you should involve your significant other. This is how you're able to support each other. You don't have to understand the world that your significant other is coming from to be able to support them. And that in itself I'm sure that helps you stay grounded. Oh, it's the best because there's nobody more supportive while not being blindly placating the dumb shit that I do. Even when it comes to like collecting toys and buying toys, because I mean think about it from somebody else's point of view. Like you're two people having a life together. You have bills to pay. You have this to do, that and the other thing. I just got six action figures in the mail. Like, Rick, what the fuck are you doing? And it's like, well, I understand why you got those, and not even just to, like, okay, you're still like, oh cool, I'll look at your toys real quick. And you know, she doesn't know who Bar Zukoff is, but she sees I'm excited about it. She's like, oh yeah, that's cool. And the material that this toy is made of, it's heavy. Like, that's really cool. That is the energy we need. That is the energy we need. And you know, on the other hand, anytime we drive somewhere, we went to a comedy show last night and we had to drive 45 minutes. I listened to Meg the Stallion for 45 minutes, and then the rest of the month it's been that Justin Bieber Christmas album. And that's that's fine. So I think this is a good segue to you being a part of a completely different scene, right? Where it's just like everything is DIY, the punk rock hardcore metal scene. Like that is the bread and butter, doing everything yourself. Coming from a hardcore music scene DIY background where it's so prevalent, do you think that there are advantages that you have in all of life's endeavors versus a normie or non-music scene person? I hope it's an advantage and not pure stubbornness. Because I think everything that I've learned, or the things that I've held onto that I learned from the punk scene and the metal scene, the hardcore. scene is a bit of enlightenment and knowing that you can always do anything on earth that other people have a team or have to rely on. You can do it yourself. Now it may be done very differently. And that's what I don't want to say scares the normal person and by normalizing me outside of kind of, you know, this bubble, but it's so unfamiliar where I'm in a band on a record label. I love being on a record label. I don't want to worry about certain things, things I still have to worry about, but just decide to not worry about like marketing and stuff. Like I'm a musician. If you want to be super pretentious, I'm an artist. I'm not a fucking marketer. You know I'm not even a salesman. Like my least favorite part about personal training is sales. It's why I don't even do it as an employee of a gym anymore. But I can do music 100 by myself, and that means that I could even do music without a. I'd rather do it with a. That's why I do it with a. But say, like we don't have a record label, we could do it ourselves. And I learned that straight up from Minor Threat. Threat— what a guiding light in my entire life. And it's not just the most pure, energetic band in the history of music, in my opinion. It's not just that; it's like songs that are actually about something— prism of nothing but absolute purity. Because these are teenagers at the time playing a style of music that was like barely existed before them. So all of that, and okay, so they're this monumental band. Like, by the time I got into them, I wonder what record label they were on; I wonder what tours they did, all this. Like, they played a bunch of, they put out a bunch of, they put out those records themselves. They made their crappy little t-shirts themselves; they booked their tours themselves. Now again, they didn't invent this stuff; you know, Black Flag was doing this before them. But this is what introduced me to this, and I look up to Minor Threat in a way that I don't look up to Black Flag. And I was doing my band at that time, and we couldn't get on other bands. We couldn't get a record label to do anything aside from maybe one out of ten that we sent our demo to, to send us a letter being like, " Dear insert name here, thank you for sending us your tape. It may or may not have gotten eaten in our cassette player, but we're not going to sign you. But stay in touch." Generic things. Okay, we are going to take the money we make from our jobs at King Cullen and go to the only studio that we know exists, record a record, and then we're gonna look in the white pages or yellow pages find Vinyl Record Maker. Oh,

we found one:

Max Disc in New York City. which we found out only did like hip hop records, and we didn't know what we were doing, but we knew we could do this. We brought them our dat tape and said, okay, here's 450 in cash. They said, okay, we will mail you records when they're done, which was like a year and a half later, which is crazy. And what an experience! Like, so all in all, that took two years, but two years later we had a vinyl record that was the same exact format as all the first Discord stuff. We did it ourselves; like, all right, we can't, like I said, we can't get on shows with other bands; we'll book our own shows. Well, where are you gonna book that show? The Roadhouse Pub won't have. us Revolution in Smithtown won't have us like our friend has a. Okay, let's find any band we can to come play with us and we will play in this basement. His parents said we could use the basement for whatever we want, so long as we clean it out. Let's clean out the basement and do shows. How are you gonna get people to pay attention to those? I'm going to draw like the Fantastic Four or something and then put our logo up top. I'm gonna go to Staples, I'm going to make 300 flyers. I'm gonna pay for 20 of them and then I'm going to go to a and force these flyers into everyone's. I'm like, all right, gave out 1, 000 flyers for a show in a basement that could. fit 70 people. Let's hope that 20 people show up. All right, eight people showed up. Awesome! Let's play to these eight people, and like, let's do it again next weekend. Maybe we could play on Long Island at like a beach, and then the basement, and then somebody else's backyard on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yo, we just booked a tour, which I know is crazy, but in, you know, 1998, like whatever. So then I can make a flyer that says you know, and then give that to 500 people over the course of, you know, two weeks at a shutdown show and a VOD show. It was the only way I knew from the time I said I'm going to do music, and now that I know what hardcore is and punk. is it's kind of acceptable to do this this way. And I mean I'm sure this is a bit of like my upbringing also. Yo, no one's going to help you do anything, and if they do, that's excellent. It's so great to get help when it comes to almost anything. Sometimes I don't want to be helped, and a lot of times I'm not going to ask for help because I'm just so used to doing shit myself. And it comes from, you know, a little bit of my upbringing and then what I learned in like heavy music underground scenes. You can't fail that way. You can, you can fail doing everything. I fail constantly, but it's kind of like, oh, we're doing it. You know, oh, is this record a failure? Like well, we made the record. That was the goal. Hey, real quick, I just wanted to take a second to thank you for. If you're enjoying the show and want to help keep it going, you can now support The Underwire on Buy Me A Coffee. It's similar to Patreon. It's like a little tip jar where you can send a one-time $ 5 donation or join as a monthly member for a little extra support. No pressure. Just know that every bit helps, and I appreciate you so much. You can check it out at buymeacoffee. com slash theunderwirepod. The link will be in the show notes. Now, back to the. So you touched on a bunch of different things that I have questions about. The first one. is you just mentioned failing. So what is your approach to dealing with criticisms or failures, and how have you learned to overcome those things, not let them get in the way of you persisting and achieving? Now that is pure stubbornness and just about a healthy dose of delusion. I'm not immune to having my feelings hurt or taking things personally, even when it's like critique of a band I'm playing in. And I'm also like, I'm not stupid; I'm fully cognizant of my position, not just in the world, but especially as a member of Extinction AD. The thing is, I think our band just fucking beats ass so hard. I think we rule. I think our records get better and better I think every song that we write is better than the last because if it's not then why would we bother using it Now I know not every song that I write is the greatest song on or potentially someone's favorite on top of I love track three from album two But to me when I'm done with a I just say oh well now this one's the fucking best Otherwise it's probably not even good enough But I know that's not the way the world thinks about things We play shows sometimes first of three second of four and we're playing to somebody else's crowd with a little bit of our own crowd and we crush And I'm like yo we're the fucking kings of the world. And then we'll play shows where we play last. Some might call it headlining; some might call it deadlining. Like seven out of ten, more like a thousand out of fucking ten, or straight up, oh give up. You guys are old and you suck. Like, why bother? Your last band wasn't even good. This one sucks even more. It's not like, oh, I don't care. The hatred fuels me. I don't think I'm that type of person. Like, I'd be fueled by positive reinforcement. When To The Detested winds up on anybody's album of the year list, oh my God, I don't care if it's just an Instagram post where like, well, there's three likes on this. Rick is hell at Instagram at ExtinctionAD. Instagram and then somebody else. To me, yo, we're on somebody's favorite albums of the year list. That's unbelievable. But the main thing is nothing can be so negative that would make me not feel like I need to do this. It's not even a need for the validation because if I was doing music or bands for validation from other people, I would have stopped after the first This Is Hell full length. The second full length came out in 2008, and that was like not a fucking hit to a lot of people. It was, oh, I liked the first one better. This one's like too aggressive and like oh, I don't know. Like we weren't cool anymore at that point. So that was like a Hundred years ago, I do it for my own gratification, my own fulfillment, my own enjoyment of creating, and then exerting it more with the guys and girls that I'm in bands with. Even like playing shows, like, well, you're playing shows for people to like clap and say that you're cool. Like, maybe, but I'm playing the show because I get to let it out. I can't let it out like that as much at practice. There's not that type of energy exchange. It's a different energy exchange, but at a show, could be playing to a hundred people, and three people in the front are psyched. Those three people, that energy is gonna last me, not just to like, oh well, I'm 175. million percent for this half hour. It's like, yo, I'm gonna be on a high for the next couple. That's gonna get me through going to work at a job I don't give a shit about for the next couple of days. And it's not the adulation, it's that connection, that energy exchange on a visceral meathead music level. And then hopefully, on a this is what I wrote the song about, I'm gonna talk about what the song is about before the song, even though I find out more and more you're not supposed to do that in metal. But that's why I write lyrics for a not just oh, it's gotta fill the gap here for something like I'm writing about stuff I care about. And I'm very open about that on stage. And sometimes that rubs people the wrong way, and that's totally fine. But it's so cool when it rubs people the right way. And after the show, I go to the merch booth, and someone comes up and like, " Oh, shit, that was cool! You know, I had a lot of fun, really surprised that you guys wrote a song about X, Y, or Z, and I really appreciate it. Man, that means more to me than like all the circle pits in the world." Yeah, you make a lot of really good points, and all of that is so important. I think that what you said about not doing it for other people's validation and staying true to knowing that you're doing this for you. And that's the main. reason I think that that is such a great way to overcome failure because it's gonna happen no matter what you do. And you just have to develop that sense of to be able to take those bad reviews, to take those negative comments, to take those people looking at their phone while your band is playing music, and just say, well, you know what, I'm just gonna continue doing what I love to do because I love to do it. And no matter what, there's always gonna be other people who like me who will resonate with me and the things that I'm doing. And just like you said, focus on the positives. And if you said there's yourself, your band's Instagram and one other person or sorry Spotify that says they're on your Spotify top whatever of the year. That's all that. And I think that that is a really good point. So with that, alongside with DIYing your way through making a record and all sorts of band stuff, what other skills or values have your passion projects taught you that have impacted other areas of your life? I've actually learned that I am a lot more patient with other people than I give myself credit for. Now I'm not more patient with other people than they think I am. Mr. Patience, I don't wanna overstate that. But like I said, I am very, very stuck in my ways. I like things done a very specific. way but music first going from one band to another, to another, to another and having different roles in those bands. You have to go with the flow whether you are the number two in the And by that I mean kind of supporting who's leading the In my experience, now this isn't all, but in my experience, bands do function the best when there is a specific leader to the The band mom or the band dad. Yeah, yeah, we used to call it the guy. And that isn't okay; they are the dictator, I'm not saying that, but someone kind of has to take the reins and lead everybody. The project manager, if you will. Yes, yes. Right, I've gone in and out of being that guy and then Thinking I was supposed to be that guy and then figuring out I wasn't or vice versa. Thinking I wasn't supposed to be that guy and wind up being that guy. With Extinction AD specifically being the leader of the band while trying my hardest to not give out orders, as well as, okay, we are doing this, this, this, and this day and make sure you could do it or else. Hey, what works for everybody scheduling-wise? Which, as we get older, is a little more difficult, but knowing when to take the reins and knowing when to include shirt designs. I'm sorry, guys, I'm going to take care of the shirts because I don't want to hear, well, that would be betterhere. you go guys let me know what you think. That's not, hey, I'm giving you something and it's concrete from now on, especially with the guys I'm in the band with. Now, if they're gonna bring something like a change in a song or, well, yeah, change in a song in any way, I'm looking forward to hearing it because they're right more times than they're not. And especially, I trust these guys and I appreciate their opinion so much, or their contributions, that they're gonna think of things or hear things different than I. Same way I was saying before with my wife, and it's all about making the song the best, not what's best for Rick's ego. Right, and you're Just stating all of these really great leadership skills that you've developed from your music projects. Yeah, years of experience and years of doing things the wrong way. I spent a large time of my music career musician, a lot of my years nitpicking things that don't matter and really kind of almost sabotaging my own enjoyment. And I look back at certain times now with like utter embarrassment of, oh, this show is so great, and I'm in this area that, like most people don't have the privilege to visit once in their life, and I'm here for the third time in my life,

and I'm playing this gigantic festival:

the monitor. sounds so bad, I'm gonna throw a temper tantrum and not enjoy myself. Like, yo, you suck. But learning experience now, like I never give a third thought about what my monitor mix sounds like. I'll give it a first thought and a second thought, but like, all right, we're playing the it sounds like it sounds. Have a good time; it doesn't matter. If I could play, that's all that. And it used to be like, well, if I don't hear things right, I can't play right. Like, well then, you are a dumb bitch, get it together. And I think a lot of band patience transferred over to personal training, and then the patience you learn as a personal trainer transfers even more. back to the band. Because when you're someone's personal trainer, you are obviously training them with weights, and cardio, and resistance stuff. But something I didn't know when I figured out real quick, you are their bartending therapist. I know things about some of my personal training clients that I know that their family and their husbands and wives don't know about. And they don't even know that they've told me. So like, oh, I could be like a and a good secret keeper. And I could also have patience with someone who has no idea what they're doing, which is my favorite type of client because that's why you go to a personal trainer. as opposed to spending three years in a walking around not knowing what to do and too embarrassed to ask somebody. And then you're doing things wrong and you get hurt. Like, oh, I can't stand that. So I mean realizing that, oh my God, I thought I was the most dictator-like, impatient person on earth. Like, yo, you do have those skills and you learn them from here, and you brought them over here. Now you gotta bring them back over here. It doesn't transfer to everything across the board in life, but I try very hard to go through life being patient, go through life not needing every single thing to be done exactly how I want it. I'm victim of. failing at both those things still, but at least I'm kind of cognizant of those things, and I try to put them into life overall. When you just mentioned that you're trying to be cognizant of all the things that you have and trying to let some things go versus other things that need to get done, that makes me think of to-do lists. And something that you mentioned to me before, that you feel like there's always an endless to-do list rushing through to find more free time, but the free time never comes. I can relate to that 100 because that's how I feel like I live my So how do all of your projects fit into that endless cycle? For me, it's a matter. of making sure the things that are worthy of my time get the proper time, and the things that are purely obligation, just something that needs to get done for one reason or I will get through that as fast as humanly possible. And I will do that to make time for the things that I find important. I've been a major proponent of the to-do list for since I've been like a young adult, and it's always, you know, make a list, and then it gets to the point where every little thing that you know you need to do, add it to the list. Even if it's something like brush your Because crossing... Well, I don't put brush... No, but I saw somewhere that you add when you make a to do list. The first thing on your to do list is to write make a to do list because that's guaranteed one thing you get to cross off. And for people like you and me that like that dopamine boost, oh my goodness, does it feel good crossing that shit off your to do list. So I put those little things on there that are just repeated tasks that I know that I need to get done. I highly recommend I do that as well, just not as minute as brushing my teeth. Okay, all right, fine, fair. But Jim goes on the to do list every single day. Things that, well this actually makes sense because it's on a schedule, but like take out the trash or take out the recycling. But the little things that can slip through the or probably won't but like you said just you have a whole list because it's easy for me like on a day off I'm off tomorrow. The first thing I do when I wake up I'm going to finish editing the newest episode of It's Go Time You Asshole. I could wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face, put on deodorant, have my vitamin, and then go and start editing the show. And that's on the list but then I might be doing that for two hours. If I have some other things on the list I won't. Oh, shit! I'm taking a break for lunch. Oh, let me just do all these other things also break my stride. Like, oh, I'll take care of those little. easy things first. Like, oh I have two more gifts to wrap. Let me just get those out of the way. Whenever, like I feel like I need to shave my face because I don't shave my face like every day or anything, I will put shave. It just continues to the next day. I mean really, life is just a never-ending to-do list. Yes, there's always going to be a to-do list. And I think that once you accept that, I feel like that is very liberating. Right? Oh, so, so I I'm so sorry to jump all over you. No, but it's so true. Cast etiquette. But no, it's so true. I used to get so overwhelmed where like, oh shit, I didn't get some of these things done and I should have done this at five. And now it's 10, and I can't do this at 10 for some reason or another. And it's like, oh no, as opposed to, yo, it's never ever going to be done. And if it is done, that's wild. And then what do you do at that point? Well, I have to make tomorrow's to-do list. Life is like the game of Tetris, where you just have never-ending Tetris blocks falling, and you just got to fit them in when when you can. Yes. And if you can not be overwhelmed by, oh no, I'm getting a line and I'm all the way at the top, as opposed to, I'm going to be able to figure this out, and I'm going to wait for that line, and I'm going to block out four. Tetris four is the most, or five is the line in Tetris. But yes, I agree. Not finishing your to-do list, knowing that it's okay, is liberating, as well as adding free time. Even if that free time is like, tonight is a new episode of Creature Commandos. You better believe that watching the new episode of Creature Commandos is on my to-do list. It airs at nine.

I might not watch it till 10:

30, but I also know by the time I'm watching that show, especially I don't have work tomorrow, I have the rest of the day is just enjoying free time. That might just be laying in bed watching TV. It might be reading a comic book. If I'm like super energized at that point, I might start editing the YouTube show. early It's like kind of free open time. So that was a crazy revelation, adding the downtime to my to-do list. And it's kind of I almost don't want to say it's invaluable because I know it's there, but man, it like really kicks ass. Like, oh, that's one of the things on my list. So having downtime is just as important as editing the show, going to the gym, and on Saturday morning, shaving. Oh, I mean, shaving is very important. I'm going to start adding that to my to-do list, except it's not my face. That brings us to some advice that I would like to ask you for. So to anyone listening, what would you say to anyone who may feel stuck or like they don't have any sort of passion project. What would you tell them to maybe find something and get involved? First,

I actually have a great succinct answer to this:

everybody on earth who's a human has at least a little bit of an interest in something that isn't an. I don't know what that is, but it's definitely something. Could be gardening, sewing, drawing, playing guitar, watching a specific franchise of expansive movies. Yo, indulge that a little more than you feel comfortable doing. Because I know, like you said, if you feel stuck, you're probably being weighed down by obligation and pressure of other kinds of societal norms. And today is the best time to do it because societal norms are all about indulging interests and hobbies and stuff. And there's so many and the kind of looking down nature on some of these things. Let me just speak specifically on like something geeky like the Marvel movies. Just say you saw one or two of those in passing since 2008 and you really enjoy them. Every time you know a new one's coming out, you want to go see it, but you may not go see it. Just maybe watch a few of those in order and see if it piques your interest to be like oh instead of just a couple of minutes of diversion, like I'm really enjoying this world. Dive into that world. Like look deep. into the lore of whatever that interest is. If you have a gardening section on your deck outside your kitchen and, like, oh I don't know, I just like put a flower in there here and there. And it's so gratifying when that dopey seed I got from Home Depot turned into a couple of... Yeah, it is gratifying. Why don't you go and get some strawberry seeds and tomato seeds and, like, look on YouTube of what is a life hack of getting these things to grow crazy? If you cut a bottle in half and then put dish soap, there's all these weird things that always come up on my Facebook

and/ or Instagram:

growing things in a Just indulge in those things. Like, give yourself. two hours out of your day and do something that you're interested in but you're almost embarrassed to indulge in and just see if it sparks something in you because it's so fun, enjoyable, and gratifying to have something that you enjoy that isn't an obligation and you do not have to feel stupid about it. It'll take you places that you didn't think were possible, not just because if you're stuck you might just kind of be the nature of your, to kind of, you know, stay the course, you know, do the how to be an adult guide. Or you might used to have a certain thing you were very into and your life just took you into a place where you felt like. you didn't have the time or the energy for it. Just indulge it a little bit and see where it Because if it becomes a passion, you absolutely will find time for it. A lot of my passions fluctuated. Oh, I'm very into this; I'm kind of not into this anymore. I'm very into this; I'm kind of not into it anymore. And it kind of like perpetuates itself if it's something that is sparking your interest to that level. I do believe everybody has something like that inside of them. So just find that little thing and explore it. Exploit it. That is so important, like going through life without anything to look forward to. Life is meant to be lived, not to just coast through. And the way that Western societal culture is set up is to just do as much as you can with work and being productive, that people tend to, like you said, like, oh, I'm too feels like finding something that you're interested in or passionate about is too much of an effort or not worth their time. I think that it's worth saying to yourself that you deserve to have those things, regardless of what your life looks like or what situation that you're in. It's so important to find at least one thing that you can enjoy and feel passionate about, and not be ridiculed or not supported by people around you. Because it doesn't Matter how weird or whatever your quote unquote interest is, it should be something that is true to you, and you're doing it, Rick, like you said earlier, for yourself, not looking for validation from somebody else. And you know what's the worst? It's when you're really excited about something and a person is like, " Oh, I don't understand why you're into that." Like, Rick, you had such a great example about your toys and your your wife earlier, and I just love everything so much that you had to say about your relationship with her. And that makes me so happy and brings me so much joy. But I'm going to use that as an example. You know she doesn't know. about your toys, but she's able to be like, oh, that's cool. You like them, so I'm stoked for you. And that's the type of energy we need. With that being said, all of that is great advice. Go find a passion, a hobby to be stoked about. But now we're getting into some fun questions. I need to come up with some cool music for the fun questions. I think I think I know someone who plays guitar. Yeah, me too. Yeah, it's you. You could write your own fun music. Oh, I don't want to derail this, but just real quick, when we were talking about you writing lyrics, do you write lyrics first and then write music? Oh, OK, OK. I'm so glad you asked me this question. So when I write songs well I don't write hardcore lyrics for I I write hardcore songs completely differently. But when I write, I think of a melody first, of the chorus. The chorus, the hook, is the number one thing that I think of. I write well, excuse me princess, songs; they start off at me like walking in the park. Like half, most of them come from me just taking a walk somewhere or I'm in the, I have this hook that just resonates in my brain and I'll record it to my voice memo. I'll just, like, you know, with my mouth, 'That's what she said And I will let it marinate for a couple of days and if it still stays stuck in my head I will then write the song based off of the hook And sometimes that could be just aSometimes that will be most of the time it does have some sort of Like I'll have an idea of what I wanna write the song about, and in my phone, there is an ongoing notepad of any time I have like a feeling that's really strong, I'm like fuck this guy you Cause it's always about dudes. I never it's funny my friend Sean, who's playing in well excuse me princess now, I always tell everybody I don't have any bad ideas, I've never had a bad idea in my life. And he was like, yeah you do. And I'm like, no name one time that I've had a bad idea. He's like, you just wrote five songs about it. I'm like, oh my God, Oh got him. Yeah that was I mean touche he was right. But anyway I'm derailing off topic. See I ramble too. But I write the pop punk songs by just thinking of a chorus first and then taking all of the content that I have in my notepad that aligns with whatever the song is going for. Just kind of pick and choose different words or lyrics or just like ideas from that and then bring it into the song. See look you asked me a question and I got excited about it and I just went off for like 15 minutes right. We're getting into some fun questions now. Are you ready for those? I love fun I love fun too. What a coincidence! It's the best. All right first question I always ask this question is who is one person that you're grateful for and why. Okay, I'm not going to say my wife because I spoke about her so much already. We love your wife. That's such a We love your wife. Oh, I also hate choosing like one person because like, oh, but what about this person and that person? But I know that that's the rules. So I don't even want to say this is my go-to, but John Moore is my best friend since 1985. We met on the bus in kindergarten. We wound up sitting next to each other and then, oh, you like to You like to You like transformers. And we drew Optimus Prime together, which is so funny. I can't imagine like drawing like you draw. the head I'll draw the body. Do you still have that? The drawing? No. But you know what I do have? Yeah, I have the T-shirt that I wore to the first day of kindergarten. It is a red T-shirt with a yellow background and then a John Romita Sr. Spider-Man drawing on it. But I wore that shirt the first day of kindergarten and that's also the day I met John Moore. So I have the T-shirt that I wore when I met John Moore, which is crazy. And that. But yeah, he's been my best friend since September of 1985. Played in bands together, still do a bunch of cool stuff together, collect toys together. Hell yeah! Well, shout out to John Moore. Next question is what are you currently listening to It does not have to be something that just came out recently. Just what is in your rotation? There's a band from Brooklyn called Desert Sharks. I have no idea how to classify what type of band this is, so I won't bother an old friend of mine that we wound up losing touch like 20 years ago. We did a festival in Montreal with This Is Hell last summer, and her band was playing also. And we ran into each other and like, oh holy shit, this is crazy running into each other here. She's like, oh I'm playing in this band Desert Sharks, blah blah blah. I was like, oh that's sick, I'll check it out. And since then, the band's been in like constant rotation for me. They were like not the top, but I think like the number two band on my Spotify wrapped. Because the number one was Extinction AD for you, I wish it was Slayer, which was like, oh, I don't, I mean, huge, huge Slayer guy obviously. But I didn't think it would be number one on my list. But hey, what are you gonna do? Slayer was number one, Desert Sharks was number two.

Which leads us to our next question:

If your life were a wrestling storyline, what would your gimmick and entrance music be? Probably be, you know, well this is real life. I'll just be like a short little scrawny guy. And my entrance theme would be Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def. Leppard. And the thing is, like, because I'm so scrawny and I just don't know what's going on, I'm always getting beat, and I'm always getting beat. And then what happens is one day I'm doing a promo, I'm so, like, sick of getting beat, and someone's like, well, I don't know, Rick Jimenez, like you're just a big loser. And I lose it on him. I go, look, motherfuckers, pronounce Jimenez. I'm sick of this shit! It's not Jimenez; it's not, it's not Jimenz. It ends with a Z. It's definitely not a fucking S, for some reason, you fool. So I lose it. And then, all of a sudden, I'm gone for like a couple of It's probably after Survivor Series I'm just gone. And then it's the Royal Rumble. Nobody knows who's number 30. The buzzer goes off. And then the Extinction AD song Burnt Sienna plays. And then I come out and I'm in like the corniest spandex, like X-Men basic in the Danger Room X-Men outfit, the blue and yellow one. But instead of blue and yellow, it's all like a Puerto Rican flag. You know what? I'll have like a mascot. I'm like Captain America, only it's like Puerto Rico. All right, I'm into it. I'm here for it. Let's go. His costume is actually a Puerto Rican flag anyway. I hate to break it to you people.

So that's my new gimmick:

Captain Puerto Rico, Rick Jimenez. And then I go down to the ring. I'm number 30. So I'm supposed to win the Royal Rumble; I still lose the Royal. So I'm not going to WrestleMania, I'm not winning the title, but at least Samantha Irving pronounced my name correctly because I know everyone's nostalgic for Lillian Garcia's back and everything. But come on, if it's not Howard Finkel, it's gotta be Samantha Irving. That was such a great, detailed, vivid answer. There it is, right from the heart. I love that. So,

last question:

If your house was on fire but you and all living things were safe, like pets and significant others or plants or what have you, what would be the one thing that you would make sure to grab before you escape? Well, good thing my pets are safe. Big shout out to Paco and Griffin, my two puppies. And my wife is safe. So, I have a million of the coolest comic books that I treasure and read. I have these toys that are mostly out of the package, and a lot of them have been played with, and they just sit on the shelves, and they mean so much to me. But I would let all of that go, and I would grab my because my computer has all of the raw files of all the music I've written since, essentially, like 2007, is on there, including incomplete demos. And that would just absolutely crush me if that stuff got lost. Of your bands, before we go, can you tell anyone listening where they can find all of your passion projects on the internet. Yes, you could find Extinction AD everywhere,

like on every social media platform:

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, everything is at Extinction AD. Bandcamp, all this stuff could find a bunch of Extinction AD stuff on uniqueleaderrecords. com. Also, you could find This Is Hell on the internet. Usually, the social medias are at ThisIsHellNY. You could find me on social medias and such at RickIsHell. But please go and subscribe to Extinction AD on YouTube because we do. It's go time. We try to do about one a month, sometimes two, where it's me and the guys, sometimes a. guest, we're drinking a surprise energy drink and discussing a topic or playing a about 15 or 18 minutes of a. It's like the most fun television show on earth. We're fucking hilarious, I promise! Well, thank you again so much for being here today and sharing your experiences with all of your passion projects. Thank you for having me; this was a lot of fun. All right, folks, that just about wraps up another episode of The Underwire. A huge thank you to Rick for sharing all of his insights on music, creativity, and how leaning into the things that bring us joy can be a powerful tool for staying grounded. If there's one thing to take away from this conversation it's that passion projects aren't just hobbies; they're essential. Whether it's writing music, binging your favorite movie franchise, or even just knocking out small tasks, whatever brings you joy is worth prioritizing. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend who would enjoy it too. And if you haven't yet, please subscribe and leave a five-star rating, because it really helps the podcast reach more people like you. You can also follow and share your thoughts with me on Instagram at theunderwirepod. I'd love to hear from you. And hey, if The Underwire has ever resonated with you and you wanna help support the making of this podcast. You can now buy me a coffee. It's kind of like a Patreon but with no commitment. You can make a one-time $ 5 donation or join a monthly membership for $5 or 10 if you wanna support on a monthly basis. Every bit helps keep this passion project going, whether it's covering hosting fees, upgrading equipment, or fueling those late-night editing sessions because it's me. Hi, I'm the editor, it's me. More than that though, it's a way for us to stay connected and keep these conversations going. If you decide to, just know that it truly means the world to me. Thank you again for all of your ongoing support and remember. keep pushing forward, stay weird, and I'll catch you on the next episode. See ya.

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Jess Goldey

Host
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Ryan Rainbro

Co-host