Franklin's Garage to Stage
All things starting a musical band. From garage to stage getting your band going and beyond.
Interviews with musician's, Producers, club owners, recording artist's and others in field of recording or performing.
Discussions on pitfalls to avoid and what works from personal and other's experiences.
Please text us your email so we can keep you up to date. We will not share your information with anyone.
https://franklinsgaragetostage.buzzsprout.com
https://www.franklinsgaragetostage.com
rob@franklinsgaragetostage.com
dana@franklinsgaragetostage.com
Franklin's Garage to Stage
Inside Aethraxia: Building A Band, A Sound, And A Scene
A jazz gig, a Meshuggah shirt hidden under a blazer, and a chance meeting set off a chain reaction that became Aethraxia—progressive metal built on precision, melody, and a quietly defiant philosophy. We sit down with guitarist-composer Steve and vocalist Tanner to unpack how classical training, jazz fluency, and modern heaviness fuse into songs that feel intricate without losing heart. The conversation moves from early musical roots—piano, cello, choir, and a career’s worth of gigs—to the moment they realized a true frontman changes everything.
Steve shares how years of playing jazz, funk, and even European power metal tours taught him to deliver without rehearsals, a discipline that now shapes the band’s click-tight live shows. Tanner opens up about escaping a strict upbringing, finding his voice, and why he avoids practice on show days and skips weed when singing to protect coordination and tone. We break down the band’s name—Aethraxia—as a stylized nod to ataraxia, inner peace, and how that thread runs through their heaviest songs. You’ll hear how they recorded first to attract the right live bassist, why Denver’s metal scene surprised them, and the booking approach that landed seven shows in four months, including headliners.
If you’re a musician, this is a playbook: build your craft with lessons and theory, prepare a full set before asking for shows, take gigs that stretch you, and aim to be the least experienced player in the room. If you’re a fan, it’s a window into a band evolving fast, already back in the studio, and planning diverse sets so no two shows feel the same. Come for the riffs and stay for the mindset—serious musicianship, clear standards, and the joy that keeps it all moving.
Enjoy the conversation, share it with a friend who loves progressive metal, and if it hit home, subscribe and leave a quick review so more listeners can find the show.
https://xn--thraxia-lxa.com/about
Thank you and please visit our social medial sites to leave feedback and or support our project.
https://franklinsgaragetostage.buzzsprout.com
https://franklinsgaragetostage.com
Hi, welcome to Franklin's Garage the Stage Podcast. My name is Rob Wardrums Franklin, and my co-host is Dana Thunderbase Franklin. How's it going, man? Good. How are you? I'm doing real well. Hey, at the start of these episodes, these episodes now I say uh an inspirational quote. They're typically about music, but they're just for life in general as well. But this one's uh pertains to music. And it's if you play music for no other reason than actually just because you love it, the skills just kind of creep up on you. And that's by uh Nuno Betancourt, whoever the heck he is. But anyway, that's the quote for today. Oh, okay. Well, uh Dana, introduce our guest today, please. All right.
Dana:Well, with with us today, we've got uh a band out of the from the Denver, Colorado Springs area in Colorado. Um band called Athraxia. So how are you guys doing?
Speaker 4:Great.
Dana:All right, maybe you can you know good. Cool. Yeah, one at a time, you know, kind of tell us a little bit about yourself and um you know explain to our listeners you know what your band's all about.
Rob :Let's start with the vocalist.
Dana:Go ahead, Tanner.
Tanner:Sure, you well, you what do you what do you want to know about me? Like my music background type stuff.
Rob :Yeah, we're you know how you got started in a music biz and basically just yeah, your your your overall bio just tell us about you.
Tanner:Sure, yeah, yeah, no worries. Um I started I started playing music uh pretty young, actually. Um I was a little bit limited just because I was like I grew up in this super strict religious organization that like didn't really allow like secular music or whatever, but I didn't You mean like a cult?
Dana:You knew what we're talking about.
Tanner:Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it is it is a cult, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, but I I started playing piano. My mom was a piano teacher, and she taught me piano when I was really young. I didn't like ever get really good at it because I only did that for a couple years before I switched to cello. And I played cello for a long time actually and played in uh youth orchestras and adult orchestras and musicals in the pit and stuff. Um but then as an adult, I got into singing through a choir and started doing solos. I would audition for the solos and I get them a lot of the time, and so I decided to do some voice lessons and some solo stuff, and uh basically got hooked up with Steve through my uh teacher here in Denver. And uh yeah, rest is history. He had me come over one day, he's like, uh come over, you know, we'll see what happens. And we made a demo that day, so oh cool, cool.
Rob :Steve?
Steve:Uh yeah, yeah. Background. Um yeah, I started uh started playing, I'm super old, so I started playing guitar in the 80s. Uh I had parents that were I don't know, couldn't couldn't have been more disinterested in music. So I'm not sure where it came from. But I was, you know, watching uh MTV when I was a kid, and I didn't want to do what my dad did, and I wasn't interested in sports. So uh begged my mom for a guitar at about age 12, and she found me a guitar teacher, and then that that was it. That was it. So um that's all I did. I ended up going to music school. I actually have a master's degree in jazz guitar. Oh, nice. Um, and I just played a million gigs, made a living playing uh, you know, tons of different styles of music. Um, you know, my whole life. I own a teaching studio, so I teach lessons full time. I guess that's my day job is teaching music and teaching guitar, and then I still play uh 2025. I've probably played 120 shows at least, you know, different bands and corporate gigs and things. That's busy. Um, you know, like I think we were talking before this started, very little of that was metal. My, you know, initial inspiration for getting into music was all the 80s stuff that I was listening to, you know, it was Van Halen and Iron Maiden and stuff like that. But um, you know, kind of by the time I was out of high school and I started to, you know, I went to music school and was getting paid to play a lot. Like none of that was metal, you know. Um yeah, I always paid attention, you know, to some new bands and stuff, but uh the majority of my activity has been in different styles of music. Um a little resurgence for me maybe 10 years ago when uh maybe a little more when I moved to Colorado and I started playing. I met Stefan Flores, the Etheraxia drummer, shortly after I moved here on a on a jazz gig, like a you know, suit and tie background jazz standard sort of gig, you know. Um, and under his, you know, under his jacket, he had on a mashuga shirt at the jazz gig. So I was like, okay, this guy and me are gonna get along. Um so we played like a million gigs together since then in different bands. But um his band, uh when he was a kid, late 80s, early 90s, uh was a band called Titan Force. Uh that they were from here but released some albums on a European record label, and they still have a following in certain places. So about the last 10 years, I've been going and playing shows with them in Greece and Germany, and that's much more like a kind of classic power metal, very Iron Maiden-ish uh sort of material. So that's kind of where I got the idea that oh man, I want to play some you know, loud, heavy music again and play loud amps and distorted guitar and uh you know, maybe with a little bit more modern, modern bent. So that's kind of where this stemmed from.
Speaker 4:So cool.
Steve:Well, and then I you know, so I wrote started writing some tunes and doing some demos and started looking around. You know, I gotta find it, I gotta find a singer that can sing this stuff. Uh and Tanner is the guy I find in like five days, you know. Of course, like nice. It's like what? You know, so that's unusual. Yeah, yeah, that's that's unusual. I knew somebody I knew somebody would be out there, you know. Um, but I I didn't know it would be this guy this fast, you know. So it's fantastic.
Dana:So when you first uh were thinking about doing the band and and forming it, did you have that sound in mind and that like vocalist in mind as far as that kind of a sound? Or is that did the sound come from you guys playing? I mean, did you did you know right up front what you were looking for?
Steve:Uh not not necessarily. Um you know, I I thought I wanted to just do something like incredibly heavy, you know? Uh and uh, you know, because I was listening to Meshuga and and uh like I was listening to Ginger, if you know that band, I like that band a lot. Uh so I so I just wanted to write some of this really heavy stuff. So some of the sound of the band kind of came from um you know meeting tanner and realizing like here's somebody that can sing anything, you know. Um I I didn't think that there would be uh such a multi-faceted person out there. Uh and you know, if people listen to the album, it's like he can do anything. So that right away sort of changed how I looked at it. Um also some of the tunes on the album ended up not being that heavy, uh, kind of shockingly, because I have this background and all this other music. So there's you know, there's some tunes that kind of came out that I was like, I didn't really intend to write that, but but there we go, you know. Uh so yeah, so some of the stuff sounds exactly what I had in mind, and so you know, some of the other stuff is surprising because obviously I'm at Tanner, and then kind of some stuff came out of me that I didn't really intend to have come out either. So um, yeah. But generally, you know, generally it's what I had in mind and it's going how I wanted it to go. I wanted to write some music and make an album and start playing some cool shows in a scene that uh that I wasn't in, you know. And uh and it's it's going how I wanted it to go, and it's super fun.
Rob :So now I noticed on your videos, uh, by the way, uh Thraxia's website is let me spell it for you, a-e-t-h R-A-X-I-A.com. And they've got some outstanding videos on there and and uh bios as well. Uh, but one thing I wanted to ask is I hear the bass obviously, but I don't see a bass player. Do you have a full-time bass player?
Steve:Yeah, we have a full-time bass player, not not on the album, uh you know, because our thought was you know, do the album as efficiently as possible sometimes. You know, if you are dealing with people or waiting, people that aren't all that invested in a project, it can slow it can slow you down, you know. Oh yeah, oh yeah. So you guys know about that? Oh yeah. Uh you know, so our I guess our thought was like do the album, make sure that that's killer, and then we can attract we can attract these other, you know, great players. Like Steph, Stefan and I play with a ton of great bass players. Uh, you know, so kind of the thought was like, okay, you know, we do the album and then you know we can attract you know uh some other good guys. Now for the live shows, uh the guy we got is a guy named Murphy Smith that had recently uh recently moved to Colorado. And you know, again, Stefan and I met him, we we've played some jazz gigs with the guy, uh, you know, so he's a very schooled player. You know, again, hasn't played much music like this, but has played a ton of music. Um, and he's doing all the live shows and is fantastic and is very into it. So now the new recording stuff, like we're back in the studio already with new material, and now the new stuff he will play on, you know. Uh because we have somebody that that gets it, uh, that I think is a little invested and enjoys it, uh, you know, and is a good good peer and friend of ours.
Speaker 4:So cool.
Tanner:Okay, he he can he's going there. He um I mean he has like jazz background and stuff, so he can play all the music great. But the thing that stuck out to me the first time first time I performed with him actually is when I really noticed it. But we had this um, he's just so good with his tone. Like we had um, we have this one song that kind of starts off, um, not necessarily starts off, but it gets into the verse a little slow and like subdued. It's almost a jazz solo with like a little voice line on top. And like I had to like like remind myself to sing because he started playing that and I was like, oh my god. Like it just sounded so cool. But and I he wasn't like playing the line any different, but his tone was just yeah, it was so good. Cool. Like, I like this guy.
Dana:Nice. Okay, so getting back to the name Athraxia. Um, when I first discovered you guys with you know some of these groups that you know I looked at and stuff, uh I saw the name and the way you had it spelled with the A and E kind of combined, and you know, I was trying to you know figure out it's like, well, how do they say that? You know, I gotta say the marketing behind it's fucking genius because now that name is just etched into my brain forever. Um I mean, was that you know was that something you guys did on on purpose, or how'd you come across that name?
Speaker 1:Man, so for a team. Uh we we were looking around, um, and I I had just it was around the time like Stephanie and I were going going to Greece uh with this other band. So I was kind of checking out some some Greek stuff, and I think I think we wanted a wanted a name that in a way was positive. Because you know, Tanner and I kind of talked about, you know, maybe if there's a message of the band or or whatever, and you know, despite the aggressive nature of a lot of the music, I think there is an I think it's overall positive, if anything else. And then if anything is like super dark, like wake me up, that's maybe more like personification or storytelling, you know. Um so this yeah, this Athraxia name kind of was born from like uh I was looking into like Greek philosophy and stuff, not really for myself. I'm not that deep, but uh, you know, looking for a cool name. Um and I think the the core of the word uh really has to do with like sort of uh the idea of like peace and inner peace and serenity or whatever. So while it looks cool with the X and you know, we spelled it with the A E thing, so it looks maybe you know, maybe more metal or something. Uh you know, actually the core of the word is is like inner peace and calmness, you know. Nice.
Speaker 2:So isn't it things it's based on ataraxia, right? That's the word.
Speaker 1:I think so, yeah. So we're like, oh, we could change it a little bit, you know, make a made up made up word, but there is a thread to a real thing. So yeah.
Rob :Okay. Like it. Do you mind if we uh give our listeners a taste of your music?
Speaker 1:Uh please do, yeah.
Rob :Cool. We're gonna play a song. It's called Nameless Grave, just a piece of it here.
Speaker 5:I guess we're all right.
Rob :Okay, well, I just want to give our listeners uh a piece of uh your music because it is outstanding. I I kind of hear a lot of uh like dream theater kind of influence. Is that is that an influence of yours or at all?
Speaker 1:Not really. Not really. I think um I I mean I've listened to Dream Theater. Uh you know, there's a lot of stuff that I've spent a lot more time listening to, but I I get the comparison uh because like I've got this jazz background and a lot of that stuff sneaks in, so I guess that might be the threat or the similarity, you know.
Rob :Okay. Um we haven't discussed uh Stefan yet. Can you give us a little bit uh his background?
Speaker 1:Um Stefan uh he started playing drums pretty young. He grew up in Hawaii. Uh so his first experiences drumming were like playing in jazz band and stuff when he was a kid in Hawaii. Um and he had some really supportive parents. Um, he often tells this story that like for his 13th birthday, his mom went and checked him out of school to take him to the music store to buy him a drum set. Uh you know, I didn't have those parents, man. Um and uh, you know, him and his brothers, so this band Titan Force, if you check this out, that was him and two of his brothers. Uh he has a brother named Mario that plays guitar, and a brother named John that plays bass, and they all live in Colorado now. Um, but this was their metal band in in the 80s, and it started out as the three of them uh and the bass player sang. Uh and they ultimately ended up getting, if you know the band, uh this is pretty underground, uh Jag Panzer.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the singer, um the singer from Jag Panzer, uh Harry, uh became the singer for Titan Force. Uh, and then they were able to release some albums on a European record label. So when Stefan was young, they had a little bit of notoriety and toured a bit in Europe uh doing that. But you know, he was kind of a guy like me, like he got into metal, but then he was always studying drums and taking lessons, um, you know, aiming to learn anything, you know. So when I moved to Colorado and Metam, I mean I knew him as a you know, his name was tossed around as a jazz drummer, you know. Uh then I finally got to play with him and you know, we became good friends and stuff. But um, you know, I think that's primarily what what he was known for. But um, yeah, just a guy that's that's worked making a living playing drums all these years.
Rob :So and Tanner, I apologize for uh playing a piece of music that you weren't uh featured on here, but on the way out we'll make sure there's some music is played with with your vocals there, because your vocals are a killer.
Dana:Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 1:So I mean Yeah, I would I would say I kind of had this vision of this band where you know there'd be like some vocal tunes and some instrumental tunes. And really after meeting Tatter, man, I I have not like I have no interest in writing any instrumental music for this band.
Speaker:You know, that's a good compliment.
Speaker 4:Oh shit.
Speaker:Yeah, that says that I'll write that one, you know. I can still play selling, we could we could do it. That needs to happen, man. That definitely needs to happen.
Dana:So for each for each one of you guys, I mean there's there's a point in every musician's life of when you know that light bulb goes up and they're like, oh shit, this is what I want to do the rest of my life. Um for each one of you, when did that happen and how did it come about?
Rob :Great question.
Speaker 2:All right, I'll go. Man, I was like, um, I think I was like I said, I was born in this this cult inspired. I had like distorted visions of like um like um like what was possible or what I could do, or lim maybe limited visions, right? But I think I was like five or six years old. I I actually remember this um going and visiting my grandparents, and they're like, what do you want to do when you grow up? You know, like everybody asked. I was like, I'm gonna be a composer.
Speaker 7:Huh. Cool.
Speaker 2:Like, you know, because I'm like raised in classical music. I think that's like what people play, you know what I mean? I'm like so so out there, but I'm like, yeah, I'll be a I'm gonna be a composer. But um, so like from a pretty early age, I was I wanted to write music, and I actually did write like some sheet music even as a kid just for fun. Um but in high school, and I didn't mention this when I was talking earlier, but high school, you know, I was um I actually went to public school for high school, and that's when I kind of you know became normal and got got into like actually like got into good music and stuff. Um I shouldn't tell on my parents too much. I love my parents, they're awesome, and they fully support me, you know. I've met them, they seem awesome, yeah. Cool. They're super cool. But I remember my first, I'm getting off topic here, I'll get back on in a second, but I remember I got my uh my first my first iPod shuffle, and I had to like save up my own money, talk them into it, and the first two songs I downloaded was The Final Countdown and uh Teenagers, Teenagers by My Chemical Romance. And my dad heard Teenagers and I was so pissed, man. He was like, It's like there's the dad, where is that talk? But anyways, yeah, so I I got exposed to good music, and in high school I actually started um producing like electronica and stuff. But um, yeah. From a real early age, I knew what I I knew I wanted to be involved in music. Um, but I would say I didn't really fancy myself or see myself as a vocalist until about four or five years ago. Um and really committed to metal about two years ago.
Rob :Who and Steve? How about you? When was that moment, that light bulb going off saying, oh, this is it, music?
Speaker 1:Uh man. I it was it was pretty early. I always I always knew I probably needed to do something uh creative, like maybe naively, but you know, I think back, I'm like, man, I'm glad if that was naive, I'm glad that's what I that I followed that, you know. Um I was uh like I was a creative kid, you know, like before I got into music it was art. You know, I I always had I was like this nerdy kid that um you know always traveled with like notebooks and colored pencils and shit, you know. Now I'm like a nerdy adult that travels with a guitar. But uh you know, and I would I would like, you know, I got like a super eight movie camera and made like claymation movies and stuff like that.
Speaker 7:You know, sweet.
Speaker 1:And yeah, and my dad, you know, my dad's probably horrified because he, you know, I grew up in North Dakota too, which you know, much like Tanner, man, you know, I grew up in a place you gotta get out of, you know. Uh so I think my dad wanted me to be involved in sports and stuff, and I just had no interest, you know. It's like I, you know, I could sit there for hours on it and make frickin' claymation movies with a super 8 video camera, you know. My my dad was probably horrified. Uh but I think I got to like age 12, and it it was like, um, you know, okay, I do this creative stuff. I seem to need to be able to do this, but like this this other stuff isn't really cool. You know, like um, you know, like like I'm 12, you know, 12, 13. I'm like, I'm starting to think about like, hey, like, am I gonna get some girls with like you come over and watch my freaking claymation movie? Um so so I think that that factored into it, but that was you know, MTV was in its prime too, and I was just like, oh my god, this whole culture of music and being cool and the creativity. Um I begged my mom for guitar lessons, and I I don't think I had, you know, there's probably most people are probably more t naturally talented than I was, because it was tough going trying to get, you know, learn how to play an instrument at first or whatever, but I was just determined. So I think I think I decided early on, uh, even though I don't even think I had consciously decided, I had decided, you know. Um, and now that I'm old, I'm in my 50s, and I've been doing this my entire life. I've managed to make a meager living in music. And um, you know, I just think that I thank thank my younger self for getting me into this because I don't know what else I would have done, you know.
Dana:Okay, well, talking about the claymation and the getting the girls, it's let's get real now. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, right? I mean, that's that's that's what this is shit's all about. Uh now have you guys had uh discussions and you know uh about that in the band as far as you know expectations and you know limitations and how far you can take it before you're professional and or not professional. Uh have you had any problems with that and or discussions within the band about you know where the limits set?
Speaker 1:Uh no. I mean it's a good thing.
Rob :You haven't had to. That's a that's a good thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know, man. I mean, I I have I have worked as a musician my entire life, you know. Um been around tons of great musicians, tons of gigs. Uh most of the people I've worked with, stuff I've been around is like super pro. You know, I mean, sure there's you know, a few people here and there that uh you know drink too much on a gig or whatever, but uh my experience is they sort of filter themselves out, you know. Um yeah, so no, and and then really like man, I'm married. Stefan's married. Uh I'm not really in a, you know, maybe in my 20s, early 20s for a while. I was I was in it partially for the partying, but even then not really, because I was practicing my ass off so I could do this for my whole life. Um so yeah, I mean for me, the like whatever, man. It's it's uh I like to drink a little bit. That's about it. Stefan's probably about the same. I don't, yeah, there's no issues, you know, we're not on the road or anything either. You know, if it ever got to the point where we're traveling, um yeah, I don't know. I don't I don't even know if there if a discussion is to be had at all.
Speaker 4:Cool.
Speaker 1:Well that's that's a good thing. You know, if somebody falls off the stage, then it's like, hey, this is now affecting the fan.
Rob :Yeah. All right, gotta do something about this. All right. Well, we have one one portion of our episodes where we was I ask our guests if they've had a uh oh shit, an oh shit moment where something's gone terribly wrong either during a performance or a practice or whatever, where you just said, oh shit.
Dana:Lay it on us, guys. We know we know there's stories out there. Every band has them.
Speaker 2:Tanner, you first I try not to get like I try not to like dwell on shit because I know it happens, but the actually the last gig we played, I just came in because we played to a click track. Um, and I just came in too early on my verse, and I got to the end of the verse, and I was like, oh, you're still playing the verse. And um, and like some of the songs are more screamy, and it's like I can if I like messed up, I could really get away with that pretty easily, just like you know, make some noise. People are gonna be like, oh you know, he's probably said a word there. But this was like uh this was one of the songs that was like no screaming, just pure singing, no screaming, and I just I fucked it up so bad. I pretty much got into it on like the last chorus.
unknown:Yeah.
Rob :Well that's not too terrible.
Speaker 1:Now I did just I did just get I'm now I'm just having conversations with Tanner. Sorry. I did just get the video from Michael of that show, and I didn't hear that part, but I just heard a little bit of like a different part of the tune, and you sounded freaking incredible. So whatever it's worth, man, you know. Yeah, yeah.
Rob :Steve, do you any like equipment malfunctions or just something that was an old shit?
Speaker 1:Um I mean, I've probably played thousands of gigs in my life, so there's yeah, there's probably stuff in the past. Um probably stuff in the past that's they would there's some really funny stories that I could tell for sure, but they but they would be long and wouldn't really pertain to this band. Um I would say in this band, just the uh the first gig I had a little pedal uh guitar rig issue that was resolved pretty quick. I'd say like my ongoing the ongoing equipment uh issue in this band that has given me a problem uh is actually that for some reason on this gig, uh, you know, you would think nine or ten songs wouldn't be this intense, but super intense. So I end up like sweating on this gig more than any other gig I've ever done. And then my glasses slide down my nose. So so I'm so I'm trying to like, you know, this is like a very metal uh problem to have. But so I need to, I'm trying to figure out a situation where I gotta like tighten this shit up or get some tighter glasses, or you know, you sore contacts, you may have to go back to that. But yeah, so that's like my um really my pressing gear issue in this band is is uh glasses.
Speaker 5:Well, that's pretty metal. Yeah, that's pretty metal. That's not bad. It's our show. You know, our show is that. Yeah, there you go.
Dana:Okay, so our course our show is called you know Franklin's Garage the Stage, and you know, on the whole premise of helping musicians that are just starting out to try to find their way of how to get out of their bedroom into the into the stage. Um Do you have any advice for starting out musicians? And I mean, shit, we can go back all of our episodes about the trials and tribulations of just starting a band, let alone gigging together. But um, the one piece of advice that each one of you would have for new new musicians and new bands that are trying to take that next stage up to actually play live.
Speaker 1:Uh Tanner, you got anything?
Speaker 2:Uh I mean you have way more experience with this, but I would say, you know, you do need to do a like make sure you're ready. I would say like work on your you can never go wrong with working on your craft.
Speaker 7:Right.
Speaker 2:But if you're ready to go on the stage, then just go get on a stage. Whether it's an open mic or karaoke, go get on a stage, talk to people, be ready to be rejected. But um I think the best way to actually get a gig, if you want to get a gig, you need to have a show ready. You need to have a set ready. And if you have somebody that also have sets ready, that'll help a lot too. Um biggest just one piece of advice though is just to do it and be ready. Not be afraid of rejection.
Rob :Good advice. See, what do you got?
Speaker 1:Um I would say, yeah, on the on the personal level, making sure that you are as good as you can be at what you do, you know. So um, you know, I was always like a just incessantly practicing, and I went to music school and studied all these styles of music. Um, you know, my thing for years was that I just wanted to be able to go to any gig, be able to play jazz, play funk. If I someone paid me enough money, I'd play a country gig or whatever, and be able to do all of be able to do all of that legitimately, because I wanted to make a living with a guitar, right? I mean, that was like the first and foremost thing. Um so I would say, you know, for instrumentalists or vocalists, like, man, study, take lessons, like learn everything you can. You know, people will say all sorts of things like, oh, you don't need to know a music theory, that'll ruin your creativity, or like, no, learn as much as you can, learn everything, you know. Um, and then I would say, like, take take any gig, you know, like when you're starting out, if someone wants you playing a cover band is gonna pay you to do something, you know, take take any gig and just do it, you know, just be be brave. Um, you know, it's kind of two different things. I think if you take the track of like you want to be a working musician like I did, or if you just want to head right into being an original band, I think there's maybe different things to focus focus on. Uh, but you can do both simultaneously, you know. I'd say take take every gig, align yourself with the best musicians, or trying try to align yourself with um, you know, like when I was young younger, it was always like I wanted to play with older, more experienced players, always be the worst. You know, if I'm the worst, then I'm always learning, you know, in the bands that I'm in. You know, probably um a big piece of advice would just be like try to enjoy it all too, right? Like, this is supposed to be fun, even if you're working, um forcing yourself to do things like uh this shit's really cool. Music's really freaking cool, and uh remember to have fun, you know.
Rob :That's that's what it's all about, right? You may have already said this, um, and I apologize if you have, but when did the band actually form? And what are your plans for 2026?
Speaker 1:I think the band formed when I met Tanner. It was like it was an idea before that, you know. It was like, uh, you know, was that recently or what? We can write some music or whatever. When I when I'm like when I met Tanner, it was like, okay, like hell yeah, you know, when you find uh you know a key piece or another person that's like like-minded and motivated, then it's like hell yeah, you know.
Speaker 4:So yeah, oh yeah, we know that, yeah. Yeah, we know the field.
Speaker 2:We met uh I think I think I came over and met you, was it November 1st last year?
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, last year, okay.
Rob :So a year, all right. You've accomplished quite a bit in that short time frame.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I th I think so, and it's really only been the first show that we played was August, what was it, August 11th?
Speaker 2:Uh 22nd.
Speaker 1:22nd, August 22nd. So yeah, we have a show again in a couple weeks, so then it's you know, really in the first four months since we peaked our heads out. Uh, we released that album and it played at this point like a like a number of shows.
Dana:So yeah, what I've seen very recently, you guys have been really busy. I mean, I see a bunch of clips of shows that you guys have done, and it looks like you're out there quite a bit, which is nice. Any any pre-show rituals? Good or bad, lay it on us. Anything crazy?
Speaker 1:No, I mean, I think I think maybe you'd have to be on tour or something at a certain level before you can afford to have a ritual, you know. It's kind of like a lot of a lot of these shows are like uh, you know, there might be three or four or five bands on a show, so it's like, man, you're hanging out. I mean, I just like hanging out talking to other musicians. That's what we're like really super fun thing for me. Hang out, and what's your time to set up and go, you set up and go, you know. Um, I think I remember seeing an interview with a singer from that band, Train, uh, a few years ago. And he was, you know, they're like a super famous band, right? So you have the luxury of like, you know, green room and dressing rooms and stuff. And he was talking about he had some multi-stage uh pre-show ritual of applying essential oils, you know. I'll never need that, man. I'll just like make like house drink some beer and talk to some other dudes and some other bands and then go play, you know. So there's none for me. I don't know.
Rob :No superstitions or I don't really have any. Alright. No superstitions, like favorite soccer or whatever?
Speaker 2:I have superstitions. Yeah, I don't have rituals, but I have superstitions.
Speaker 4:Alright.
Speaker 2:Uh one of my superstitions is I don't uh I don't, it's not totally superstition, but I don't practice the day that I'm playing.
Speaker 7:Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2:I like obviously, but um never never practice the day I'm playing. And part of that's just like a principle of mine so that I make sure I'm ready by the time that day comes. And if it's like I'm not ready, well it's like, well, you fucked yourself, so deal with this and maybe do better next time. But no, I I um I really wanna I really don't like to practice the day that I play. Um, and I think that's kind of superstition. The other thing I don't do on the days I play that I do almost every other day is uh smoke weed. Don't do that on days I play. Um maybe if I wasn't singing I would. Maybe if I wasn't singing, I would, but it um I just don't want to risk anything with my voice.
Dana:You're like right before a podcast and I was playing to smoke.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, no. It's like a qi chi-chong moment there, you know.
Rob :So 26, what do you guys got lined up?
Speaker 2:Um I actually I teach voice actually, and I um part of vocal health and stuff. I've I've like watched videos of people like vocal cores and stuff. And um with weed, it's um it's not necessarily the smoke, like people smoke and they're fine or whatever. But like when you're stoned, your vocal cord like mental connection isn't as strong. And like there was a video of one guy singing stoned, and like his one um like one side of his vocal fold like wasn't activating, so the other side was like having to work harder, like they weren't coming together. It's like the other side was coming to it, and it's like you know, people there's so many great stoner musicians, singers out there in the world that have made incredible careers for themselves. Um, but you know, I just I know it makes me sound different, so I don't want to mess with it. So yeah, don't don't smoke, don't practice. Um that's about it. That's about it.
Rob :So 26, what do you guys got lined up? I mean, what's what's the first things on your calendar in 26?
Speaker 1:Uh we I think we have three shows in January. Um and then man, uh I we're gonna release a bunch of material, hopefully, in 2026. So we've already been back in the studio. Uh Tanner and I are getting together, and there's uh at this point a growing mountain of uh material to finish and and release and stuff. So hopefully we have a good year being able to you know feed that to people who already dig the band and pull some more people in and uh you know be able to play a lot and you know at this point we're playing the album. Uh but hopefully, you know, as soon as the next show we got enough material so no show will be the same, you know.
Dana:Nice.
Speaker 1:That's very cool.
Dana:So when you do your live shows, do you uh do you do have your own sound guy and hold and light lighting guy, or is that depending on venue?
Speaker 1:We don't have our own feedback. No, I think uh yeah, I think we have to get to a certain point before we could before we could do that. Uh most of the venues uh that we have played, maybe save one, um are super pro. Uh you know, the the gear, uh, the sound guys that we've dealt with, people have been super pro. So you know, the at least you know, the region that we live in, we're we're pretty we're pretty lucky with it with the venues. So sure it'd be great to have you know, lighting guy, sound guy, and probably at some of these places, you know, we could probably lobby to bring our own guys in, but um, you know, that's logistics and paying them and stuff. And I think for for for what we're doing, the guys, the house guys are doing a pretty good job so far.
Rob :So um, what was I gonna ask you? Oh, yeah. Um, if for a brand new listener, how would you describe your music and your band to be like brand new listeners? And right now you're speaking of almost uh like nearly 75,000 downloads in 30 countries and 200 cities. So tell tell our listeners about the band, how you would describe it, somebody asking you on the street.
Speaker:Tanner, how would you describe it?
Speaker 2:Oh, okay. I always start off, I say it's I say it's progressive metal, just to get a nice umbrella term out there that they can fit it under. And then I and then I usually say something like it's like kind of highbrow and it's um really virtuoso and There's a lot of talent. Yeah, that's you that's usually how I describe it.
Rob :Okay, very cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it's gonna evolve, you know. I mean, that's like kind of the first, you know, the the album is the first crop of tunes, you know. Um so yeah, we'll see, we'll see what happens. I don't even really know how to describe it, you know, being being close to it.
Dana:So there's so many delay.
Speaker 1:It's probably too high brow.
Speaker 2:But it's like, you know, it's not um it's not like it's not necessarily groove metal. It's you know, it's you gotta listen to it.
Speaker 1:Okay. Yeah, there's elements of a lot of things in there, you know. So yeah.
Dana:Cool, cool. What's your what's your guys' practice regimen like? How many times a week? How long? You know, I mean, is there anything set in stone or is it just like you call Tanner's like, dude, let's make some music. Make some noise today.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I mean, we could we could get together more, but the the guys, you know, at least the instrumentalists involved in this band, uh, you know, we come from this world of like for like decades, I've done gigs and Stefan and Murphy the bass player. For decades, we've done tons of pro gigs where there's no rehearsal, and you might not even have met the people you're playing with before you play. Uh, you know, sort of corporate band gigs. Actually, Murphy subbed with a different band that um Stefan and I play with um on Saturday, and he came in and there were tunes uh with with a different singer, none of us had played before, and they were great, right? So we kind of come from this world where, you know, since I've been young, it was expected like, hey, if you get called for this gig, there may not be a rehearsal, you show up um and you just kill the gig, or we don't call you again, right? Uh you know, maybe maybe different than a lot of, you know, I think a lot of rock bands maybe do a thing where they have to they play together, they get together and play together all the time, or they have to do that to keep things sharp or whatever. But it's like, man, guys like me and Stephanie Murphy, we're sometimes playing three or four other gigs that week. So it's not a question of it's no longer a question of like, oh, can I play my instrument with these people or I need to practice my instrument with these people? It's like can you play the show? You know? Yeah, I would probably prefer um to get together a little bit more, but uh I feel like the tunes that we have that we've been playing live, we we don't need to get together very much. You know, I think it's gonna be if we haven't played for a little bit, definitely when we add some new tunes to the set or whatever, you know, then when we get together, but it's like, man, I can count on you know, we can all count on each other to like, hey, if we haven't seen each other for two weeks and we're gonna show up and play a show, that show's gonna kill. Oh, that's very cool. So I don't know, Tanner, what you think about it. I mean, I would prefer getting together a little bit more, but it's like everybody's busy, but everybody's also super pro and doesn't necessarily need it, maybe like some people that have less experience.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I know I think I think it's been working great. I mean, as we add more to the set, we can we'll run the set again. You know, we'll just do a quick rehearsal for any time we change the set, and it'll be fine. Um yeah, and then Steve and I get together a little more often just to uh like make demos and stuff. How is that? Yeah, we we get together more on the creativity side, but yeah, as far as rehearsal, I think we do we do pretty we do great.
Rob :We have to have that confidence level with each other. That's that's very cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I think last the last time we rehearsed, I think we had the the space reserved for three hours or something. We got together and we played through the set once, and we were all like you know what we could run it through it again or not, like yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean we're playing to a click, we're playing to a click, and we're playing it exactly as it's written, exactly as it is on the album, so it's super easy to like practice at home. You can just practice with the album, and it's like nice, you know.
Rob :How is the uh Denver area for getting uh shows? You guys uh for new for new venues, what are the club owners like requiring of bands out there?
Speaker 1:Um it's pretty cool. I I'm pretty shocked because this was not my really not my scene around here before this this band. Um and I've been doing the one reaching out and booking, and man, we've played in less than four months. I think we will have played seven shows. Uh you know, a number of those have been headlining shows, whether we deserve it or not. Uh I don't know. Our band's pretty cool, but we're still pretty new. Um and it's it's been relatively there's some annoying things about booking in this scene, but it's been relatively easy, I think. Um you know, and I think it's gonna continue to be uh easier, easy, easier as we reach more people at shows and as we play with more more other bands and stuff and build the you know, build those friendships and connections and stuff. But man, I've just been having an unbelievable amount of fun at the shows. And uh yeah, it's really cool. I think it's gonna I think it's gonna continue, and this is actually a pretty good area where you can have a band like this, an original band, and and be kind of busy with it, actually.
Dana:That's nice. Yeah, you can't do that in a whole lot of areas. So that's that's awesome that that you've got that out there. Well, we're gonna check out some more music from you guys here. So let's get this queued up and here we go. There's Tanner.
Speaker:Hold down the A until the special characters come out. That might have been the one marketing squaw with the name of the fan.
Dana:I love it.
Speaker:We're not the only fan, we're not the only metal band that has the best.
Rob :Well, we're gonna be putting your website link as well as your titles on our website. So uh thank you guys very much.
Dana:Appreciate it, guys. You guys are awesome, and I'm gonna end up I'm gonna end up the total of let's live each date to the fullest potential, because that's what we all love to do in the music world. Go after give it your best. Thanks, guys.
Speaker 5:Thank you.
