How Dustbolt Keeps Thrash Metal Alive

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Thrash metal doesn’t survive on playlists alone, it survives when people actually show up for each other. We sit down with Lenny Bruce, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of German thrash metal band Dustbolt, to dig into how a group of kids from a small town in Bavaria turned a teenage basement dream into real tours, real records, and a mission to make thrash matter to younger fans.

We talk about the idea behind “Thrash Is Back” and why it’s bigger than a tour name. Lenny breaks down the role of community in heavy music: local shows, DIY ethics, friendships that last, and how social media can be used to connect the scene instead of turning every artist into a numbers-obsessed brand. He also shares what it’s like keeping the same core lineup together since they were around 13, including the conflicts that come with being “married” to your bandmates for nearly two decades.

Then we get brutally honest about the modern live music economy. Post-pandemic costs, ticket-sale pressure, and venues booking whatever’s trending can make it harder for rock and metal bands to grow the old way. Lenny explains why Germany still has hope thanks to fan-driven festivals and why he believes the hunger for real, analog live shows is coming back as everything else gets more digital.

Plus: wild tour stories, the near-disaster first US run with Obituary, Exodus, and Power Trip, and how Dustbolt went fully independent recording, producing, and shooting videos with friends. We also dig into their newer music, including “Fire In Your Eyes,” and what they’re planning next.

If you’re into thrash metal, DIY music, and the reality of touring in 2026, hit subscribe, share this with a metalhead friend, and leave us a review so more listeners can find the show.

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Post-roll music is us band Monollith

Transcript

Cold Open And Recent Guests

Rob 0:00

Uh lately, we had uh Alexandra Lioness on our last episode. She's like a metal goddess, not only beautiful, but humble, talented. I mean, oh yeah. We've had uh our cousin Bruce Franklin from the doom metal band Trouble. That was killer. And Martin Motnik from uh from Germany and band Except. So that was pretty sick. Yeah. And dude, let me let me give you something to take a little listen to here. All right.

Dana 0:58

You know, speaking of from Germany also, like I said, having Martin Motnik from Accept is was killer, but from with us today from Germany, from Bavaria, Germany, we have uh the thrash metal band Dustbolt and Lenny Bruce, the vocalist in rhythm guitarist. How are you doing, man?

Lenny 1:15

Hell yeah, I'm good. Thanks for having me.

Dana 1:17

Of course. Well, tell tell us a little bit about uh Dustbolt and and just tell us about yourself and the band.

Lenny 1:26

Hell yeah. Um yeah,

Meet Dustbolt And The Next Album

Lenny 1:29

we're we're a thrash metal band from Germany. We started out as uh a high school band, young kids going to school together uh in our teen teenage years, basically. And I think we were 17 when we did our first European tour and uh played Wachen open Vacken Open Air. Um made a couple of albums, released a couple of albums, uh toured worldwide. Um and um yeah, we did uh in uh in the in the pandemic, we did uh uh an album called Sound and Fury, which is uh latest album, which was a little bit different, a little bit not so freshy than the rest. And uh now we started releasing new music again, which is more going back to our roots, which is which is more thresh metal. Um again, and we have three new songs out, and there's an album coming. And um yeah, we're looking forward to come back to the United States and tour the world again and just you know get out there and uh be active and play music.

Rob 2:38

Have you already got uh US tour scheduled or is that in the works?

Lenny 2:44

Uh no, nothing scheduled yet, but it's in the works. Yeah, it's in the works.

Rob 2:48

Well, that deeply uh definitely keep us updated, you know, so we can uh come check out one of your shows.

Lenny 2:55

Oh, yeah, we'll do. We'll do for sure.

Dana 2:57

Now I was reading something that you got something coming up, uh the Thrash's back tour. Is that something that you're doing later on this year?

Lenny 3:05

Yeah, it's just in Germany. Like for now, you know, we'll see. Maybe we can bring it somewhere else too. Expand it a little bit.

Dana 3:13

We'd love to see you here in the States.

Lenny 3:14

Yeah, bring it, bring bring it to the States. And um, yeah, it's a kind of like it's a kind of like, you know, I I just I just totally like the the the last album we did, it was not that thrashy. So it was kind of like uh uh we love to play with the words, you know, um call the tour thrashes back in terms of here we are again with the original style of music that we that we started with. And um also kind of like you know, we see a lot of young bands and a long a lot of young metal musicians out there uh playing music and playing great kinds of metal, but we kind of like feel that thrash metal is not like that represented like for young people, you know, uh, because there's like um all these bands still around Metallica, Anthrax, they're all still playing uh for a couple of years more. And um for us it was just like uh we wanted to tell our younger audience that um it's it's about time to make thrash metal a thing again for the younger generations in order to have something for you know for the time after Metallica and all those bands. So we gotta take care of the future and we gotta make sure that we keep this great style of metal and great style of music my favorite style of metal, actually. And um, so it's kind of like our job to you know bring it back to the young people and bring it back to um to a younger audience and and let them know about thrash metal.

Rob 4:53

Nice. Well, that was kind of my first impression on hearing your tunes. It's like this is chilling. It's like almost like the early 90s metal rock that we were like totally into and we're playing ourselves, actually. It's just like, yeah, it's really sweet. I love it, man. It's you got some cool tunes.

Lenny 5:10

Cool, thank you very much.

Rob 5:12

Yep.

Dana 5:13

So with uh with with your band, you know, I I hear a lot of stuff that I've read about you guys where you you bring up the word community. Um how how do you describe what's what's not only what you do, but how you're you know, like you said, you're trying to bring thrash back, but it seems like you're more involved with trying to build that music as like you said, a small community and to get you know people back into it. How how would you describe that?

Lenny 5:41

Oh, absolutely. Um, I mean

Why Thrash Needs A New Generation

Lenny 5:44

the way we grew up and the way we kind of like explored music and the way we explored metal was that we had like so many local shows going on, you know, local shows like five euros or five bucks um entry, you have bands playing, and so kids would just come out and support each other, help out each other, like you know, who can who can cook for the bands, who can do do this, who can do this. So we were kind of we were kind of like it was just like some space where like some Misfits kids could find a place to um you know put their energy into and do something, do something beautiful and and and create something. And that was the way that we uh were raised with with the metal community and uh and and the you know, we had a lot of punk bands, we had a lot of like metal bands, and we were doing the in-between thing, like the thrash metal thing. Um, so for us it was always about friendship, it was always about do it yourself, you know, get into a van, a couple of friends, go out there, play gigs, do cool stuff, and that's kind of like what we do since we were teenagers, you know. It's like uh 17 or 18 years now since we're doing this band. And this band is just not like not just a band that makes music, it's you know, it's friends, uh all the crew friends and brothers, all the crew members we got on board, you know, they're friends and brothers, you know. It's we're uh it's it's hard, it's hard times in the music industry, and it's hard times for uh sub-genres and for small gigs and for small scenes to um establish. And um so for us it felt like you know, if we make people aware that if we hold together, if we stick together, if we support each other, um, if we reach out to each other, then um we can keep this music and this scene alive. Yeah, you know, and that's that's maybe that's maybe kind of like a difference because now on social media and Instagram and everything, like everybody's so like focused on themselves, and I'm perfect and I look great and I look better than the other guy, or something like that. And for us, it's not about that. It's about like, okay, cool, this this internet social media thing gives us the the possibility to uh connect to other people that are like-minded, that love the same kind of music as we do, that that love and miss like the energy of the live shows of that kind of music. So you know, let's get all together and make sure we keep this thing alive and create something beautiful so we can um present it to the kids and to younger audiences, you know, because I imagine if I was 16 years old now, I would of course want to look up to a band that is maybe not uh as old as Metallica or something because it's just such a big gap. So they need some younger role models and some younger artists, artists they can relate to. And uh that was our idea to make you know to try and make sure to build this community in order to present thrash metal to the next generations.

Rob 9:04

Hey, uh talking about your band, I mean let's tell tell us a little bit about the members in the band and uh you know names and what they do.

Lenny 9:14

So um we got me, Lenny, I'm a singer and guitar player. Uh we got Flo, he's uh the other guitar player um in the band since kind of like not day one but day three. Um uh and we got Nico on drums, um, same thing in the band since day one, day two.

Band Members And Going Fully Independent

Lenny 9:35

Nice. Um so the three of us started together being 13 years old. 13, yeah. Um and we didn't have any clue. Well, we would we were just starting, we were just doing it like with no plan or whatever. We just went for it, you know. Um on bass guitar, we have a new kid, he's called Yannick, he's a little bit younger than the rest of us, and he used to be uh a Dustbolt fan, which is cool. And I didn't like I didn't know, I didn't I didn't realize like I saw him play. We were looking for a new bass player, and I saw him play, and I was like, hey, he's cool. Um let me talk to him and see if he's interested, maybe in playing a couple of gigs with us. And then he was like, Hey, uh, I'm a big fan. And and and a couple of years ago, when he was 17, we uh we took him on stage to play a song with us, and um then I remembered, oh, it's you, it's the young kid from back then. Did he did he nail tweet?

Rob 10:32

I mean, was he did he nail it when you played?

Lenny 10:34

Yeah, he did. He did, he did. He knew all the songs. Then I was like, Oh, that's that's a good choice. It's a good choice for a bass player. He knows all the songs already, you know.

Dana 10:44

So has there been any other besides the new bass players, there been any other variations of the band, or or have you been in other bands, or is this just it since day one?

Lenny 10:56

I mean it's um it's yeah, it's the main band for all of us since day one. Nice. Um I did I I did and I still like do a little bit of other stuff, like musically. Uh I put out some solo music, which is like nothing to do with metal. Um and I um you know I I do music with uh some other people in the studio and stuff, and working different things, or playing as a session guitar player for um for other stuff, but um when it comes to like the art and the band, then Dustbolt is the main thing since they won. Yeah.

Rob 11:37

Did you uh create your own logo and uh do you self-produce like your videos and all that, or do you get assistance with that?

Lenny 11:45

Oh man, like right now, like last year, we we were we kind of like had bad luck with the latest record label that we had. And um a year ago, we decided to kind of like quit all business partners, like labels and everything, and do everything by ourselves. And um Ghost on My Screen, the song and the video, that was like the first release that we did like independently on our own. Uh so we record the music here in our rehearsal room headquarters, we produce the music, we write the music here, uh, we shoot the videos by ourselves together with friends. Um, we release the music by ourselves. So now it's kind of like uh we do everything 100% by ourselves.

Dana 12:33

Yeah, nice, very cool. Yeah, more control over it. That's awesome. So the name Dust Bolt, I mean, that's a I mean, I was I was listening to the name earlier and just trying to decipher it. It's kind of a contradiction between you know dust bolt. I mean soft and heavy. How did how did that come about?

Lenny 12:53

You nailed it, man. You nailed it. I mean, to be honest, to be honest, we were like 13 years old, as I told you. And I think we we smoked a little bit of something right here. And we weren't we were just we were just sitting there like watch the looking at the moon, and we were like, okay, right now we need a band, we need a band name right now. You know, we want to start a band, so we need a name. Somebody came up with it, and we we just we we took it and we just you know losed it. But yeah, but but the idea was as you as you as you said, the idea was um to have something that is like really strong and brutal, and on the other hand, um the other word is like uh the opposite, it's a contradiction because I think it it's it it describes us as people really really well, you know, because we are all like really um funny and relaxed and and and and nice, nice to hang out with boys and people, but on stage with the music, it's just it's completely chaos and madness. That's energy. It's like two personalities, and I think that's kind of like uh it fits.

Rob 14:09

Nice. Well, you said you started when you were 13, but uh what what got you into it? What was your motivation? And when did you like first pick up a guitar and start like yelling into a mic?

Lenny 14:23

I mean uh I started playing guitar with the band, electric guitar. Uh so I played acoustic guitar before, my dad was a musician, and um, so for me it was always about music. Um but I picked up the electric guitar, I explored metal, and this whole world just you know opened up for me. Um I made I made some friends, uh they actually became band members and we did did this thing together. So it's kind of like um you know, it's kind of like the whole band is like uh a family thing for for our entire lives. We spend 95% of the time since since day one, since we're 13 together. Um we

Staying Friends Through Band Conflict

Lenny 15:11

are we are friends, we work together, you know, it's it's our little community. And um it's it's interesting because it's a lot of work, it's like being married to like three people uh for so long. You know, it's a lot of it's a lot of work, a lot of ups and downs, and everything in between. But it was always worth it in the end because if you if you if you play a a cool show and if you travel in a car like 10 hours, it's so much more beautiful if you do it with uh kind of like your family members with friends than with just random people, you know. So um for us it's still for us it's still this this kind of like story. Um we are four kids from a small town somewhere in Bavaria. Um nobody believed in us, and we said, like, we're gonna make it to Bakken, we're gonna make it to America, and we did because we worked our asses off. And um so that's always the thing that kept us going, you know. This this kind of like believing in ourselves and in us as friends, and that dudes that just make this thing, and yeah, then being somewhere on the planet, somewhere else, and playing, and you see the people smiling because they like what you do and they like your music, they know your music, you know, it makes you happy, and that that's what keeps you going. So it's the it's the metal community, the the metal fans, um yeah, and like people like you guys talking with you, and you know, talking about music, um, talking about bands. It's just uh I'm a fan by myself, you know. It's just it's just so much fun, it's beautiful.

Dana 16:58

Yeah, and music is it's something else. Uh, you know, on our show, you know, what when we even started this, you know, of course, Franklin's Garage of Stave, we've talked to a lot of other musicians and about their journey from you know just starting out to making it in bands and getting on stage and stuff, and it's just some of the stuff that you've already talked about. The you know, the getting in with other band members, trying to keep the band going, and all the difficulties that go with it. Um, now you as a particular with the being in the same band with the same guys for so long is almost unheard of, which is awesome. I I applaud you for that. Has there been any fisticuffs between you guys? I mean, you guys are almost like brothers. So has there been any has there ever been issues with you guys being friends and being so close for so long?

Lenny 17:48

You cannot imagine.

Dana 17:50

That's why I'm asking. It's like I mean, I played with my brother here for years and years, and you know, he's thrown sticks at me. And I mean it's it's it happened. So tell us.

Lenny 18:00

I mean, you know, the good the good thing is the good thing is whatever happens, you always know that the other person loves you and you love the other person, and like no, there's no doubt about that. It's like family, you know? It's like I hate you right now, I hate you for doing that, but you know, whatever you do, I'm still gonna love you anyway. Because I, you know, very cool attitude. It's already there's nothing you can do about it. It's too too too much time and too much, you know, uh too much memory shared. So um that's a good thing, and that can be also a really be a complicated thing, you know, because it's like it might be easier to tell somebody like to not do something or to fuck off if you don't like them. Exactly. But um, if it's a friend, it's always like the balance between okay, are we talking as friends now? Are we talking as band members now? Um, but we've found a way. We found a way and uh we made it. You know, we somehow we made it.

Dana 19:04

As long as you've been doing it together. That's I mean that that's amazing.

Rob 19:09

Yeah. Well, this kind of leads us up to uh, you know, we talk about conflicts and shit like that. Oh, here we go. I see what every band and every musician has that moment where they just oh shit where something's gone like terribly wrong at rehearsal or on stage. That's just something that's gonna be ingrained in your brain forever. Give us a give us an example, yeah.

Lenny 19:34

Oh I mean, I mean there's you know nowadays, I'm glad about that. Nowadays I can laugh about stuff. I can I can laugh about it, but I I remember like when I was younger, um I was like so ambitious that if something went wrong, I would just freak out. And um I remember one thing, but that I didn't freak out because it was really funny. I remember one thing we played, I think we were really young. It was um probably

Tour Chaos And Unforgettable Onstage Moments

Lenny 20:09

I think I was 20, 21 or something, and it was the first time we played a tour in Spain uh with a band called Legion of the Damned from Netherlands. Oh, cool, next we we we played in Spain, and it was like five shows in Spain or something, and you know, none of us have has ever been to Spain, and so it was like paid holiday, and we had beautiful hotels and everything was just wow! So we went out every night and partying, drinking, and everything, and it worked until the last show. The last show we were so wasted just from from the days before that that we went on stage. We went on stage, uh, the intro was playing, and the drums didn't start. Drummer didn't start. I was like, I was standing there, like, why isn't he starting? Why isn't he counting in? And then I was like, okay, fuck it. I turned over looking back to him, and he just sits there on the drums without stick drums in his hands, eyes wide open, because he just forgot his drumsticks. He was just sitting there ready to go. He was sitting there ready to go without drumsticks. And it was like it was between like, are you are you fucking kidding me right now? And it was so hilarious and funny at the same time.

Rob 21:36

Oh, that's something he'll never forget.

Lenny 21:39

So he just he just left, he ran, he ran backstage, grabbed a couple of sticks, came back, and then he counted in and started. Um and it was kind of like embarrassing 30 seconds. It was kind of like weird having like this huge intro of the band just standing there waiting, not playing.

Rob 22:00

How'd the crowd react?

Lenny 22:01

You know. I think they were just looking confused. I think I I remember I tried not to look too much into the audience. I don't blame you. Just just uh trying to forget about it, yeah. It's like no, this is really part of the show was good afterwards. The show was good. The rest was okay.

Rob 22:25

You've got to have more than that. I mean, what else has happened?

Lenny 22:30

Oh. Like on stage, you know, stuff that happens on tour. Somebody's gotta throw up on stage, or something upset happens, you know. Just take the side the back door, take the back door, do what you gotta do, and come back and just pretend nothing happened. Um then um okay, I got one disgusting one. All right, all right. We were we were okay, we were playing a gig, and after the gig we drove home, and we didn't want to go home. Like, you know, we were like, oh man, this must go on. I don't want to go go get back home now. So friends of us were playing um not too far away. So we were visiting them, cool band at Sanity Alert from Austria, and they were playing a small gig, and we went into their show to see their show and to you know have a couple of drinks and just have a good time. And in front of the stage, suddenly there was this big um brown water thing coming up from the ground like a fontain, um just going, you know, in front of the stage in the middle of the crowd, this round fontain, and there were like drunk people, you know, and they started mushing through that water, and suddenly, like, this whole venue it stank so and then everybody started to realize that it was it was a sold-out show. There was like too many people at the show, and the whole like the toilets and the whole system, it collapsed. Oh nasty, and they had this so they had this small hole in front of the stage where all this like shitty water just like ex exploded out in the middle of the show, and it was just funny. People are like watching a show, seeing seeing your yeah, seeing your friends play suddenly, like there's this water thing coming up, and you're like, what the fuck? This is crazy. People starting moshing, and then you realize what it is, and then it's like, oh, this is like get just let's just get out of here, you know.

Rob 24:40

I'm surprised it didn't clear everybody up. Wow.

Lenny 24:45

But you know, it's just random stuff that happens on tour.

Rob 24:48

Yeah, happens to us all.

Dana 24:51

Okay, well, I'm glad you didn't mention this one because uh I was I thought for sure when we hit the old shit moment that you were gonna mention this, because I just saw a video like a couple of days ago of a concert. I think you were doing that song Super Gal. I'm not sure if I'm saying that right, but um, and yeah and one of you were running around on stage and the and the fucking floor, just like one of the panels of the floor disappeared, and he like got sucked into it. Oh, I didn't see that one. It was like oh yeah, I think it was just a couple of months ago.

Lenny 25:21

That was at Vacan. We played Vaccan open there, and um okay, yeah, they somebody didn't like there was a mistake in building the stage or something, and this one palette of the stage. Uh it just like yeah, it just uh cracked down and flow or guitar play. He fell. Oh, so it was elegant.

Dana 25:40

Yeah, I was wondering if it was you or him. Yeah, I just saw he just like disappeared.

Lenny 25:46

And I remember I was really confused looking back. I I also think it's really funny, and people loved it because people were like, all right, cool. They they act they literally smashed the stage um at Vacken open air. Like he disappeared for a couple of seconds, but um, and we played the rest of the show with like the stage thing, like you know, um like yeah, uneven, like showing, you know, going showing up like going upwards out of that hole. It was like looked hilarious, and we had to take care not to fall down again. But um, yeah, that was funny.

Rob 26:25

What's the club scene like out there locally for you?

Lenny 26:31

Um it's having uh heavy time right now. Um, so things were better for small clubs uh about like 10 years ago. When we started out, um there was like so many small gigs, you know, as I said, like five bucks free local bands playing and stuff. Now it's getting more um it's getting harder for young bands to start out, I think. There's not that many small stages, like you know, jam nights, five bucks local band stuff anymore. It's like all getting bigger sized, big shows get bigger and bigger and bigger, and people like spend their money on going to just big arena shows more. Um but I'm kind of like optimistic that with everything happening with um AI and uh technology and every big everything becoming more like or less organic,

Small Clubs, Festivals, And Survival After COVID

Lenny 27:25

I I'm kind of like hopeful that people will look for more live stuff, um yeah, for more like simple stuff in reality. Like I go to a club, you know, 10 bucks, there's a couple of bands playing, mean meeting people, hanging out, like the real deal, real stuff. You can talk to people, you can hear and watch musicians play in in reality. I hope that this will kind of like be an answer to everything getting more more technical and more digital, that uh that the analog like re real deal um gets more important again. But basically, basically, we have a a good good club structure here, a good club scene, and which is really great about Germany, which I really love and appreciate, is that we have so many small and middle-sized festivals, especially metal festivals, um, done by fans, for fans. You know, there's metal communities, local metal communities, and they make festivals and they make gigs and they make shows and they invite bands. So this is such a cool thing. So we got a lot of really great metal heads here in the country um trying to keep the scene alive. Yeah.

Dana 28:47

Awesome. Yeah, we've noticed that you know, we were fortunate enough, being older as we are, that you know, we played in the 80s and 90s when there were a bunch of small clubs around. You can still play every weekend wherever you wanted to, you know, get four, like you said, four or five bands together. We all just go to a club and play all day. And like I said, we're fortunate that we grew up in that time. You know, we even noticed, you know, even around here and back where we're from in Reno, Nevada, where we played a lot, that a lot of those clubs are closed. I mean, they're just they're just non-existent anymore. And you know, I it's like you mentioned, I I feel for the younger musicians trying to come up and and break into because they don't have the small venues to break it into anymore.

Lenny 29:30

It's it's exactly and just try try out themselves, you know. I remember like we started, we started um I was I was 12 or 13 years old, and I go into the youth club because that that was where the bands were playing, and I saw like an adult metal band playing, and I was blown away. And I was like, whatever I I need to do to get there, I want to do it, you know. This is what I want to do. And and then I then I was like, okay, wow, and and a year later we played our first gig like in front of 40 people, 30 people, didn't matter because it felt like wow, like a breakthrough moment. But we had the we had the chance in that small club to just try out ourselves, you know. Maybe it probably was horrible because we were 13, didn't know what we were doing, but we just but we we could start and and and try and fail and and see what's happening. And uh, do you guys ever that's that's why it's yeah.

Dana 30:32

Do you ever go back to your roots and play in like small clubs just to get? I mean, because you guys are obviously big enough now to where you're playing these festivals and all these big shows, but do you miss playing in front of the smaller crowds of 40-50 people? And do you ever go out just for the fuck event and play in small places just to do that again?

Lenny 30:51

Oh, yeah, we do it here and dare. We do it here and dare. And I love it. I I love it, I still love it because it's just in the most like old school natural thing, like you know, like back in the day, inviting friends to your rehearsal room, 20 people, bring a couple of bring a couple of beers and just make music, and and it's so cool. Yeah, we s we still do that, and sometimes we even we play some like birthdays for some some diehard fan fans.

Rob 31:21

Oh very cool.

Lenny 31:22

Um last year we had some couple of great guys, I love them. Uh they set up uh a birthday party show, but they did it, they they made a show in the middle of nowhere in East Germany, in a small village where like not like no no metal band has ever played there before. Not like bands, bands don't go there because it's just a little bit in the woods and stuff, you know. And we we played there a small gig with like 120 people in a small club, and everybody was enjoying it so much because they were like, wow, we never thought that any band would come here and play. And um we loved that show, you know, because people enjoyed it. So sometimes I feel like those small shows and small villages are even more uh like uh enthusiasm enthusiastic than playing in a major city like Hamburg or Berlin where they can see a band play every day. It's nothing special anymore. So anytime it's something special for the audience, it's also special for the band, I think. Doesn't matter how many people.

Rob 32:30

Yeah, and you can't beat that feeling. It's uh yeah, it's cool. So you said you're with a label now, right? Are you still independently uh producing your albums?

Lenny 32:40

Yeah, we're still independently producing it. So we are finishing it this summer. It's like two more songs that we're gonna do, then we have the whole album done done. And um then we're gonna drop the album early next year. Maybe with a label, maybe independently, we don't know yet. We've got to figure it out.

Rob 33:03

Cool.

Dana 33:03

So have you have you had any actual real job? Or has you have you just been a musician your whole? I mean, you said you started 13, 14. So have you have you had to work any other job, or has it just been music your whole life, which is awesome? And if so, I'm jealous as hell.

Lenny 33:22

Um, no, it would be awesome. No, so we all have jobs, yes, of course, we all have jobs. I'm really lucky to I started uh when I was like uh 20. I started working in um in clubs in venues here in Munich where I live. And um so that's a job I still do. Like when I'm not like making music myself, I'm uh kind of like a local promoter setting up show shows, helping, setting up shows, doing the production of the shows, um, taking taking care of the bands and stuff because it's kind of like easy for me because I know what bands when a band is on tour and they play in your venue, I know what they need because I know their side, you know? I know how they feel and how to make them happy, kind of like. And um, so that's my kind of like day job. I work in venues and at shows. Um, so it's um it's still music.

Dana 34:23

Yeah, but I'm still jealous. I mean you're surrounded around music 24-7. That's awesome.

Lenny 34:28

Yeah, that was that was the goal, yeah. But I still I still I can't get enough, like even if I already like do it like this, it's still like I want to spend more time with music. I don't know if it ever stops.

Rob 34:43

Are the venues we speak we've spoken to a lot of like UK and other European bands? Are the venues uh kind of the place where you have to have ticket sales to play? Like your shows don't get canceled if you don't if you have enough sales, or how does it work over there?

Lenny 35:00

It changed, I think everything changed with the pandemic. Yeah, um it wasn't easy before, it started to become hard before, but after the pandemic it just got crazy and mad. So the thing right now is like speaking 100% honest, um all the costs and all the prices, they went up that much that it's really hard for a small club to make enough money to pay everybody with you know with small ticket sales. So I can understand the clubs because they didn't they have to fight to survive too. So what happens of course is that they they would just book like some trendy uh TikTok kids, DJ guys, um because they they are blowing up on TikTok, they bring like three or four hundred kids. Um they don't have any gear, any backlines, you don't need stage hands, you don't need big production because they just have a laptop, you know. So it's kind of like hard for a rock band, uh, because a rock band is more it's more effort. You need you have more gear, you more people, you know. Um so that's one thing, and um, yeah, it's absolutely right. So if you don't sell enough tickets to have like the costs covered or a little bit of like profit, then your show has to it it gets cancelled. Yeah. And like before the pandemic, you still it was still like, you know, there was a promoter who believed in a band, he booked the band, it was like 80 tickets in the first time he did the show, and was like, okay, it was just 80 80 tickets, but I believe in a band. You know, if they come every year, maybe the next time's gonna be 120, and next time it's gonna be 200, next time it's gonna be 300. So there was like um they kind of like some people in the industry were building artists and bands and trying to build them over a longer time period. And now it's just like they kind of like have to book whatever's going well on social media right now because it's selling tickets right now and that's what they're gonna do. Um if they like the music or not, you know, it's not that important, or um, if they wanna like build a career of an artist, they they can't, um it's too expensive, too too much risk. So I think to sum it up, the problem is that there's no chance anymore to take any risk to try something because if it doesn't work, it's not just a little ouch, okay, but not not too bad. But if it doesn't work, it's like really um about the existence of the of the promoter or of the venue or of the club or of the band.

Dana 38:12

Yeah, that's it's brutal out there now, that's for sure. Describe your the best moment you've had in your musical career so far. I mean, the number one moment you were like shit doesn't get any better than this, even though hopefully it will for you, but that top of the the pinnacle of your career right as of right now.

Lenny 38:34

I mean, I guess probably for me, it was the first time we played America, the first tour we ever did in America. It was Obituary, Exodus, Power Trip, and Dust Bolt.

Rob 38:49

Nice, very cool. Good lineup right there.

Lenny 38:52

Um okay, and listen, the thing is the thing is, um we were getting this tour uh because of Donald from Obituary, the drummer. Um, he's he he loved us, he we played with him in Europe, he loved us, and he was like, Man, I gotta bring you, I gotta bring you to the States. And uh I thought he was kidding, and he actually did. So we were having this tour, but we were having

The First US Tour That Almost Died

Lenny 39:18

some visa issues. So we applied for the visa like four months prior to the tour. And like a week before the tour, we got a response that there's still something missing, and that we have to go in revision and like provide more documents and stuff, and we're we're we're not ready to go yet, and we're not ready to go yet, and then our flights got cancelled because of our tornado of flights to Florida, so we didn't have any flights anymore, and we didn't have a visa, and the tour started. So we were sitting we were sitting in our small apartment where I lived, um in Germany, sitting there, young kids, and we were watching online how the tour started and how they played all these packed venues, and we were still sitting in Germany.

Rob 40:13

Well, that's a break your heart.

Lenny 40:16

It seems like our biggest dream ever is not coming true right now. It was like really hard. And then I was like, then I was like, okay, guys, we we we can't sit here and just cry. Right. Uh we we gotta we go into the rehearsal room and we play a gig for us for ourselves in the rehearsal room every night until we get that fucking visa thing done, and then we go go over there. And we did that for three or four days, I think. And then I got a call, and it was just like, it's there, it's there, leave, go to the airport, like book the next flight. It we're starting, and then um then we then we went to the US, and it was the first time for all of us to be in the US, the first time ever, like to be in the US. And then we uh we landed in the US. Uh first show was Columbus, Ohio. And um then we did the first show in the US, and people were knowing our band name, and they were like screaming, and uh I played the gig and I looked over and I had Gary Holt standing there, and I was like the obituary guys, everybody was standing there watching us play, you know, and it was like going from going from being really like disappointed sitting in my apartment in Bavaria to being in the United States and Gary Hold and everybody's there and just playing and people love it. There was and I was like, Oh, okay, cool. We're you know, we we made it to the United States, we're actually here playing a gig. This is so cool. And um I I love I loved uh I love it in the United States. I love it over there. It's just like like a stomach feeling, you know. I feel really um comfortable. Um I like the people. Um it's just so massive and impressive for us, you know. Tiny, tiny, tiny uh Europe and everything's so huge in the nature, and it's it's wow, it's just amazing. And uh yeah, so that I think that was like uh a real big moment for us to actually play our first gig in the States, yeah.

Rob 42:27

Yeah, that that had to be killer feelings. Killer feeling, yeah. Very cool. Well, like Dana said earlier, we're all about uh garage to stage. So what would be your advice for like the bands just starting to hit the socials and just starting to hit the smaller stages? How would you like advise them to get to that next level of you know the next higher venues? What would be your advice there? Can't talk today.

Lenny 42:57

I think I think even though you know it's it's not easy these days, but not to be too much um focused on the outcome, not to be too much focused on what other people say um on social media or the numbers, but be focused on doing what you love and how you s how you feel it and how you see it. I think because now it's like really I see a lot of like artists and bands, they're like just

Advice For New Bands Plus Writing New Songs

Lenny 43:34

you know, kind of like l looking all the same, sounding all the same, and I think what what really needs to be um what's really important for younger people is to to stay to do their original thing, to do their version and their thing. And that means just you know, if it if it feels right, go for it, believe in it, and um just push through it if you if you You're 100% convinced that you know that it's the right thing, you you will know it, you will feel it. And uh everything else comes afterwards, you know. So it's not about it's not about getting famous, it's not about getting fame on a social media or something. Social media is a tool to promote your band, yes. But um in the end it all comes to the music, you know. If you the most important thing is having fun playing music uh with people you like, and um because no one can take away that from you. That's the that's I think that should always be the the center of everything and the most important thing the music.

Dana 44:42

Well said. Great advice. Yeah, so I like I kind of like you. I like playing too, so you know, I think. It's been a minute. So Lenny, it's been great talking to you. Um to close this up, I wanna I want to say we've seen a lot back on social media right now about the the new single You Got Out uh Fire in Your Eyes, I think it's called. What um tell us how how you created that, how that came about, and and why everybody needs to listen to it.

Lenny 45:15

Hell yeah. Um that song was written by Flo, our guitar player. He came to me with this riff and this structure and some ideas. And um I write a lot of music in Dustbolt, like uh Ghost on the Screen Supergirl. It's like typical the way I I write stuff, and uh for me it's always like really great when when Flo comes up with a song because I can switch my role. So I'm kind of like just a singer because he's doing the guitar parts and everything, and uh it it helps me getting more into the lyrics, getting more into the singing, and then something interesting comes out, and um I think that song is really um it's a cool thing because it's it feels like uh like a little bit like heavy metal song, melodic guitarists and melodic vocals, but it's still it's really heavy, it's really emotional, it's um it has some depth, and um I really like it and I'm looking forward to playing this song live. I can imagine this being a cool song for a for a show on a festival, playing at night, and um yeah. So everybody check it out if you like. Um song is called Fire in Your Eyes. I I really love it. I like it. For me, it's easier to have uh relationship to songs that Flo writ has written than to my own songs because for my own songs I'm just critical 100%. I can't enjoy anything. I'm just yeah, might it might be cool, but that snare hit, it just nah.

Rob 46:52

Do you guys have uh like a formula you stick to when you're uh writing a song? Like eight progressions here, two progressions for the pre-course, and you know, things like that.

Lenny 47:02

I wish we had would make things easier. No, not not really. I mean, not really. I was for the first albums, it was just all stomach feeling, just you know, go with the flow, and we were young and we wanted to show everybody what we're able to play, and just you we can put and throw another ribbon there, we can throw another ribbon there. Um now by time it became I became really more focused on songwriting. How can I, you know, put my idea like how can I get my idea in my head across to people so they understand what I mean? Um, like make it more relatable, make it more accessible without being too like poppy, you know, still like heavy. Um and that's the thing I'm working on a lot. And um, you know, as I told you, it's like we're friends. So if I have some kind of like new perspective or idea, or if I have like, oh, I just listened to this song and it's it's interesting how it's built and how it's made, and I I would show it to the other guys and tell them about it, and and they say, like, oh, you're crazy, and I'm saying, No, I'm not. Let's try it out, and then you know, we just play around, we just fool around and we try to get better in what we do, everybody for um everybody in the band. And um I think which we're still we still we still feel like we have so much to learn, we're still growing so much. So it it it always keeps us moving and excited to do the next thing because there's no real formula, but just yeah, trying to do something that we really that is super interesting to us. Yeah, like if you if you write something and in the end you listen to it and it's and you're like, this is like we did that? Really? Wow, it's crazy. That's kind of like a cool thing, that's a cool feeling because you know, I love it when you start writing and you don't know what what comes out at the end, because it's uh a journey of of experiments and trying out, and uh, I think it's always cool.

Dana 49:07

Yeah, especially when you compare what originally started too to how it how it officially ends in your fashion of it all. Yeah, I hear you.

Lenny 49:16

Yeah, we're gonna be able to do it. We're going going from an i go going from an idea like recorded on uh vocal memory or an iPhone, and then like you know, some months later you have a fully produced song, and you're like, wow, you know, we had this in the beginning, and now we have this. This really cool.

Rob 49:34

Yeah, definitely. Well, everybody listening, we're gonna include links to Dust Bolt's uh site, so please do check them out. You will be utterly amazed. These guys are killer, Lenny. You're a killer dude to talk to. And uh in closing, tell us what you got going on for the rest of the year. We know you're finishing those two tunes for the LP, but what else do you got planned for the rest of this uh year?

Lenny 49:56

Uh so we get uh we have a small EP coming out on vinyl for for the community and for the fans. Um uh limited vinyl because we're really active online now, but we also still want to do, you know, we love vinyl, we collect vinyls by ourselves. Um so we still want to be able to offer vinyl to to our fans and to to everybody who's interested in that. Then we're gonna tour the the the thrash is back tour in Germany this um September, October. And um yeah, we are already planning to

Upcoming Plans And How Listeners Can Help

Lenny 50:34

for shows for next year. We probably have something coming up for South America. We're working on North America, and um yeah, we hope to meet everybody in person and in reality and play play small clubs, play festivals, play whatever, just play music. Definitely come check it out. So cool. Looking forward to it.

Dana 50:53

You let us know when you get up here to North America, and we will definitely we will we will make it to the Clairton nearest place and we will check it out and we'll hang for sure.

Lenny 51:02

Hell yeah, please. You have to. You have to.

Dana 51:05

Definitely. Well, thanks again, Lenny. It was amazing to talk to you. Stay on the line for a few seconds and we can chat after we do this. Thank you.

Rob 51:12

Well, Dana Wellsman, we gotta tell the fans and start uh sending us some comments, huh?

Dana 51:16

Yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, I mean, social media nowadays, people are so attention attention disorder, I guess.

Rob 51:23

Their attention spans are not that two seconds.

Dana 51:25

It's like they look at something and they go by. So leave us comments, people, whether you love us, you hate us, you know, you think you're I mean, just anything. Um, we we've got good and bad. Well, you take the haters.

Rob 51:34

Just tell us what you like, what you don't.

Dana 51:37

Yeah, we we've got shit to give away to people. We've got t-shirts from previous bands, and we've got you know, we got some vinyl, we got you know, we got all kinds of shit to give away. So give us a comment, you know. And you know, we want to thank all of our listeners that we've had. You know, we've we we're over the 100,000 mark, and we're 57 countries now. We we appreciate all the love and support. And um, you know, anybody out there's got some extra bucks, we can use some bucks. This is all self-produced just from the two of us, and um, we can definitely use some financial help if anybody wants to contribute to our ugly asses. So thank you. Um thank you, everybody. Thank you later.