How Venom of Virtue Is Making Waves in the Music Scene: An Inside Look

Discover how Venom of Virtue, a Michigan-based band, is captivating audiences with their unique sound and upcoming performances. Learn about their journey and what to expect from their next show.

Venom of Virtue is hitting the road again, and their upcoming show in Ohio is set to be a highlight for fans. With a unique blend of rock and engaging lyrics, they are making a name for themselves in the music industry. In this episode, we’ll explore the band’s background, their creative process, and what fans can look forward to at their May performance.

Venom of Virtue formed in 2019 in Elma, Michigan, just before the pandemic hit. With members Alex Crafard (guitar), Ben (vocals), Maxwell (bass), and AJ (drums and keys), they quickly developed a chemistry that has propelled them into the limelight. Their name, inspired by the idea that "no good deed goes unpunished," reflects their journey in music—where virtuous intentions sometimes lead to unexpected challenges.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:30

So take a list and check them out. Let's get into it. What's up, Ohio? She's reds with Rassanne, and I am here with Alex Crayford with the band Venom of Virtue. This is a band out of Michigan, and they're going to be passing through Ohio here in May. So we're going to talk about that and just uh hear from Alex what the band's got going on, what they've got coming up, how they got started, all that good stuff in between. So Alex, it's almost, I feel like it's good morning, but kind of early afternoon. Yeah. How are you? Thanks for being on my show today.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Well, thanks for having me. I'm doing really good. How about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Excellent. It's, you know, I've had a uh three-day weekend and it's been really good, nice and relaxing. So it's nice. Gotta love the good start to the new So Venom of Virtue. Um, I know that you guys came through here last September, was it? You came to the mothership?

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Yep. Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Okay. So how did you get booked with the mothership?

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Awesome. How did they find so we actually had a booking, a booker for us during that because we had a little uh two-day uh weekend tour. So we started out in Nashville, Tennessee, and we played a show at the it would have been the shoot, why can't my brain work right now? It was the anyways, we started there. I'll get back to that, but we started there, and then the second show of that tour was the mothership in Mansfield, and we got that all set up through uh Nick Stevens through uh Vibe Touring Inc. Uh or Co. My bad. But yeah, so he helped us book through there, and then once we got in there and kind of met everyone there, we loved it so much that we decided to come back again. So we're excited to come back.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah, well, this uh definitely works because when you came through in September, I did want to come and hear you guys, but um, for whatever reason I wasn't able to. So it works out perfect that you guys are coming through again. And May 30th, I mean, that's gonna be an awesome time of year. So um, us Ohioans, you know, we're just gonna be uh just now starting to enjoy some nice weather.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Nice, nice. Um, it did sound like we were gonna try to do an outdoor show this time. Uh, they do have an indoor and an outdoor stage at that venue. Last year, like we did indoor, uh, it was later in the summer, but uh, we're excited. We're hoping for an outdoor show this time if the weather's permitting. So that'll be really fun to do this time. Check it out.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Okay, awesome. Yeah, well, I'll definitely be there. I can't wait to meet you guys in person. I uh I was looking to the show that's coming up. So you're gonna be playing with uh it looks like uh a couple bands that are local here to Ohio too, Breakaway and Before I Wake. Yep. Are you familiar with any of those guys?

SPEAKER_03 3:08

We haven't played with them before. Nate, who's actually helping book the show, um, who's from the mothership, he runs sound and everything too. Uh, he actually reached out around the area to get us some local acts to help fill out the show for us when we come in through. He kind of does that for like the out-of-state acts. He'll kind of have some bring in and then fill it around with some local acts to kind of fill up the night and make sure it's a good night there.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Okay, cool. Yeah, it's definitely going to be awesome. So I can't wait. So, a question that I always ask the bands what is behind the name Venom of Virtue? Is there a story behind it or how you came up with the name?

SPEAKER_03 3:42

So uh the way that happened is like during the early time, like we were like, all right, we're kind of getting some stuff together, we're kind of making it serious, you know, we got some songs. It's like, what are we gonna call ourselves, you know? And then we can't we had the group chat just kind of going back and forth, back and forth. Sometimes it was like some serious names, sometimes it was like some goofy ones, like oh well, this it's like, no, stop. And uh eventually, uh I I don't know how I even did it, but I just I just kind of going with like that like almost alliteration, but you know, like the O, the V O V kind of thing. So I just kind of throw out Ben of Virtue and it kind of just everyone's like, all right, yeah, like that kind of works. That you know, like no objections here. Like, all right, I guess that's what we got here, you know. You know, there's kind of like you know, no good deeds unpunished, you know. So like the Benim of Virtuous, you kind of sometimes, you know, like you do something good and you get bit back sometimes, so it can be kind of like taken to that way too. But so far it just we like the letter V. It's a pretty cool letter, kind of works out.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

I like the letter V.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Oh, I like the I like the band name too.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

What about the artwork for your albums? Do you guys do that or do you have somebody that creates for you?

SPEAKER_03 4:47

So the very first one, our album Amplified, we actually went through uh a page, uh, it was a fiber thing, actually. So we actually kind of sent out to have some album cover too.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Okay, yeah, you went you went the fiber gig round.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

Yep, yep. So that one we kind of did that one. And then uh for uh recoiled, so we actually for the second album, we redid our first album, just kind of re-recorded it. It was like a first demo album, is basically what it was. We just kind of redid it with some upgrades, but I kind of made the artwork with that one. I I kind of like messed around with some skull shapes and everything like that, got the skull in there and just kind of kind of layer by layer added piece by piece, just to kind of get that full like kind of picture going there. It's always fun, you know. Like the you know, you get Canva, Canva's a good app that I use too. Um, you get some stuff in there, you can kind of see them different things, change it up quite a bit. You know, it's not even what it originally was sometimes, like the pizza you have sometimes put in there, or or Steven sometimes will take pictures of like my carpet or like some some weird texture, you know, just something, just something that'd be different.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Okay. But uh, but yeah, it's just it's yeah, that's pretty cool that you brought that up that you mentioned Canva. I was first introduced to that last year too when I started um doing some content creating on the side, and it's pretty cool what it can do for you. And the fact that you mentioned mentioned the textures, you know, you can just take pictures of those and turn them into something completely different. Like uh the somebody put on there um recently, it was just like a meme going around it looked like a C of an audience at a concert. It was it was a picture of carpet.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Nice. So yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

The way the light yeah, just the way the lighting fell on it. You you know, at first look, you would look at it and say, Oh yeah, this is a you know concert pick. No, it's somebody's carpet. Yeah, so that was pretty cool. I mean, from somebody for like me, I I grew up where the programs were really, really basic. I mean, we thought it was really cool just to have like Adobe and um, you know, your Microsoft Office programs, but now it's it's completely different.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

It's even it's become more even a better user interface. Like I remember like like is in even in my high school, we had like a Photoshop with Adobe and stuff like that. And sometimes it's just like you gotta do this and this and this to do this. It's like what? It's like you got all like these secret shortcuts to everything or like these sequences to get to the thing, and but like now it's like I just want to do that. It's like okay, here you go.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, it's so much set up like a thousand times.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Um, I even remember my early days in college. I took classes for like learning how to work in a database, and I'm like, what the hell? What am I gonna even use this for? It was just it didn't really register with me at the time, you know. I was just a young kid too, and whatever. But anyways, enough about me and my old ass. So, what all do you guys have coming up uh besides the show in Mothership in May? I know I, you know, I've checked out your um your Instagram, your Facebook, and you guys are always traveling somewhere. So what kind of shows do you have coming up?

SPEAKER_03 7:41

So the next show that we have that's uh after the mothership, um, we do have a battle of the bands coming up. And I always yeah, but the battle of the bands in uh Clyo, and uh that's gonna be June 20th, and then June 27th, we're coming to Flint for uh the CRB bar there. Uh gonna be joined up with uh Super Horndog, which is a great band that we love hanging out with. They're a bunch of funny guys. If you ever get a chance to talk to them, I definitely would recommend it. They're just they're just a hoot and a holler.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Okay, what's the band name again?

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Super Horndog.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Super Horndog?

SPEAKER_03 8:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Okay, I'm going after them.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

All right, they're nominated. String-based, they kind of give me like uh Primate Meets uh nice rush kind of vibe sometimes with a little bit of like you know, just some funniness in there too. But yeah, they're they're just a great group of guys there. Okay, so we're excited to play with them again.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

We're at um exactly are you located in Michigan? Where is did Venom of Virtue form, I guess?

SPEAKER_03 8:35

So it'd be in Elma, Michigan. So if you know where like Mount Pleasant is, I know like people know like the Soaring Eagle Casino is kind of a main spot, like in the middle of the middle of the mitten there. We're just uh a little bit south from there. And yeah, our drummer actually has a garage that we kind of set up our base at. He's got his own little recording set up there that he does all the recording with. So we do our own like sound recording in there. He he engineers all that. Okay, and we have the practice space there, so uh, Salma Michigan's kind of basically.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

So, how long ago did you guys actually form as a band?

SPEAKER_03 9:13

So it would have been 2019 when we first got together. So, right before the whole pandemic shutdown, uh, we kind of got together, just kind of kind of like forming the band at that point. Like we had one person, it always started with Craigslist for me for bands. I don't know why, but Craigslist has always been the go-to. But, anyways, I found a Craigslist to add. This guy was looking for people to play with, uh, met up with him, and then he's like, Yeah, I know this drummer, like he's he's a cool guy.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Like, we jammed quite a bit, like you should we should go over there, and so we did.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Uh, me and him, the drummer AJ, just kind of clicked instantly. You know how sometimes play music and like people almost have a chemistry together, like not everyone has that same chemistry together, depending on the people or whatever. But you know, it's just like when I make a change, they're making a change. They just somehow know like what's happening in the song, like even in a jam that we've never done before. So we get together and then we're playing for a little bit, and then we get this. He was the guy that I found, he was a bass player, but he was like, I want to play guitar, like I want to do rhythm guitar too. I was like, Okay, that's fine. Uh so then we need a bass player. So my brother used to play bass when we were younger, and he hadn't played for quite a while. But I was like, dude, this is the time you can join the band. Like, come on, man. And uh had a guitar guitar center uh credit card and everything.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

He's like, You get what you need, I'm gonna put it on my credit card, you just make the payments, and that's what we did.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

And he got his whole set up and introduced my brother there, and then then we had one guy try out for singing, and he he just didn't kind of fit the vibe. He was more into doing like covers and stuff, which is fine, you know, everyone's got their own thing that they want to do with music, right? But he's like, I know this this one kid though, like he's kind of nearby, like he's kind of been looking for a band. He he does like a lot of like local talent show stuff here, and I was like, Okay, brought him in, and there's Ben. And from there, it's just like, all right, like all four of us there were doing really good. Uh the other guy that I originally like met up with, like, didn't end up working out with him. He his job just didn't fit the schedule. Thus just thus four that were there though, left, like that's kind of what cemented, and it's just been that way since 2019. And here we are seven years later.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

So yeah, so the members of the band, we've got Ben who does the vocals, Alex, who yourself, you do the guitar, Maxwell is your brother who does bass, and then AJ does the drums.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

And he does he also do the keyboard as well.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Oh, yeah, he has uh just recently we've uh our song Lonesome Story. We've we're kind of doing two versions. We're working on our uh our latest album. Uh it's gonna be called Truth. Um, but we've had quite a few singles come out for it, but we've just been it's been taking us a while, but we're kind of hammering it in this album. Um, but on Lonesome Story, we do like the regular single that we have, and then we're gonna do like a more acoustic version of that song since it's kind of more of a ballady sadder song kind of thing. And during that one, he does play keys, so it's kind of a cool thing that he added in there. Another little uh instrument to add to our repertoire of sounds and everything to our music.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Do you uh plan to take that with you on the road so you can do it acoustic?

SPEAKER_03 12:13

Um, we might. Um, we actually just started uh our last show. It was actually a birthday show for myself. It was my birthday uh last Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Um but uh well happy related birthday.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Thank you. Uh but we how young are you? Uh 32.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

32. Okay, sweet.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

But uh anyway, we're still young. Enjoy it. That's what I that's what I like to think. I uh during that last show, we kind of introduced a new thing where we're gonna have uh Ben. He'll just be out there like we all it's in the middle of the set, but we all leave the stage. It's just Ben up there with his acoustic and he does lunch story, but we could even have that incorporate where you know AJ comes up there with the keyboards, you know, it's just kind of a new idea we've been working with. Like we can always branch off of that. Yeah, so that would be cool.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Well, that's cool. I mean, it shows that you guys are you know evolving as you come up with more um of your singles. I was listening to the acous the acoustic version, and it's a beautiful song. Who who wrote that?

SPEAKER_03 13:12

Uh, so that song, uh Ben actually had that way before he even joined the band for lyrics and everything, and uh he had the chords and everything like that. And even in he even introduced it like very early on in the band, and we're like, I don't know, it just seems kind of slow, like we're rocking, man. Like, like you know, we're just rocking. Uh it came back again later on. I don't even know how it did, but he started playing it, and then we all kind of added our our own stuff on top of that that he had, and it just kind of branched together into this nice song that we really like now. And um, that's just how you know the writing process goes. Like one of us will have something that starts something, and then the rest of us just kind of put our own flavor in there, and that's where you get.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Cool. Yeah, I like the lyrics too. From I was looking at the post, and you guys had a lot of people reach out to that they seem to like it.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

Yeah, he's very good with his lyrics. He does all most of his lyrics. There's sometimes we'll we'll do like a group writing for lyrics and everything, but I I really respect his lyric writing. It always seems to like it can reach someone somehow, like even if it's not the exact way that he's meaning it. But I just I always like that for him. Like I always respected him for that.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah, I mean for some people it probably comes really easy and some people not so easy. It could always be I've talked to musicians where it's almost like a um, it can be a tough process because they can, you know, get within their own head too much. You just never know how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

And sometimes that goes in way, you know, like I even have it for guitar, like where it's just like I feel like, yeah, I'm just writing riffs all the time, like got another one, got another one.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

And it's like I go to a practice, it's like, I don't know what I'm doing up here right now. I just not feeling it. Like, I don't know, it just happens. But you just gotta power through it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Yeah. Well, and you know, as you get to know yourself more as a musician and collectively as a band, you'll you'll kind of uh you know figure it out the longer that you're together. So it's all part of the creative process, which is awesome. What kind of uh musical influences do you have personally?

SPEAKER_03 15:13

Um, so when I was growing up, I I had a lot of family on my mom's side that played, they played country music, actually. Um, so I'd go to a lot of family reunions, so guitars were kind of all over around me for a little bit, like acoustic guitars. So always kind of been drawn to that. And then my aunt had a piano at her house, and I went over there and I just kind of started playing it. I was probably like nine years, nine years old, and uh uh they just kind of was like, Oh, he's kind of got something going there. So then they bought me my own guitar, which was actually uh an SG, but earlier, so back again a new SG. But um, so they got me an SG for my birthday, my 10th birthday, and just just from there, just kind of been playing. I've been listening to Van Halen. That was a big inf influence there. Uh T BC, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, all the classics there. Uh yeah, just you know, just and then from there, like metal came on more later on, you know, like with like Slipknot and like Lama God and uh some heavier stuff going on there. But yeah, just I kind of like a little everything with like you know, with a real instrument kind of thing going on. And even from there, like I don't know, I just there's some things where I think are too synthetic, sounding a little bit, and then there's some things that are just like, oh, I, you know, like I get the groove of this, you know, it just sounds like especially with AI stuff now. Like you hear something that's completely AI made and it's like click, I can hear it. Like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, this has been coming up a lot in in many of my uh the episodes that I do because it's a real thing that's out there, and you know, for for the true musicians for like yourselves, it's mostly looked upon as a nuisance more than you know, something that um should be considered part of the creative process. So, I mean, there's all kinds of different types of AI that are out there.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

And like, I understand, like to use it as a tool, maybe you want an idea as a tool. Yeah, use it as a tool, don't make it the final product, you know. Like, don't make it right the product, you know. Like, I understand if you got songs that like, you know, like I don't know what to do with these, I don't have anyone, like no one wants to like play with, like, I don't I don't know anyone to play the drums for, you know, like but I just want to hear what's gonna sound like like, yeah, sure, like you know, AI is cool for that. Um, but don't go claiming like, oh yeah, like I made all of this, I made the whole song, like I did this and that. It's like kinda, but not really. Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Well, and like how are how are you gonna pull that off when you're really live and and performing, I guess, unless you've got a good, you know, technical setup and somebody that would know how to put all of that together. But I mean our generation and all the ones before us, it is just you you can either do it or you can't.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

Right.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

You know, but AI is making like this big, huge in-between and it's it's kind of scary.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Bridging that gap, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Yeah. Bridging a big gap, really. I don't know if I want to be on that bridge. When it comes to country music though, that you said that your uh family played, what kind of artist were they into?

SPEAKER_03 18:10

So, and weirdly enough, I'm not much of a country fan, so like they play a lot of older country music. Like they they played a lot of covers. Like my aunt, uh my aunt played a lot of uh covers. She even did like some A C D C covers that were like more country a little bit. She liked playing the big ball song. She always liked playing the funny like that, making everyone laugh. But I had an uh my other uncle, uh Louie, he played guitar and he's a fantastic guitar player. Like, even like country music, like he's just he's one of those that can just shred the old style, like you know, that chicken pick and stuff that can just go everywhere on the breadboard, you know. Like you can't say it's not talented, like like country or not, it's it's amazing. Like it's it's just it sounds awesome and it's just inspiring. And like that was another influence I had. Um, you just seeing it in person, you know, like in the whole band setting. It's just it just you know, it clicks with you.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Yeah. No, I I get what you're saying. When I first started getting into music, I was introduced to country through my grandma. So it was, you know, the old the older country, like Alabama, Alan Jackson, the Judds, all of those. And then the older I got, I kind of fell out of that and you know, fell into the rock and metal.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

And uh that's pretty much where I've stayed. So what about the uh influences with the the guys in the band?

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Um so I know my singer is he's actually into country. He's a big country music fan. He actually has his own country songs that he's been doing kind of on his side thing. He hasn't really like had a band for it or anything yet. Um, we've even like had like ideas like, well, you know, we could rockify one of those songs a little bit, you know, if you want to put a little VOV flavor on it. But yeah, he's very into country music. Uh he's got lots of influences there. Uh my drummer's kind of more of the more the metal ahead for sure. More of the slipknot fan. Uh trying to think of more stuff. He'd like he likes a lot of the new metal, he likes like Limp Biscuit. Uh let's see, Lamagod 2. He's a big fan of but yeah, more of the metal head. My brother, he's kind of more into the primus, more of the he likes more of the obscure stuff. There's times where he's sending me some songs that are just like, where did you even hear of this? Like, what is this? Not sure if you've been seeing it. They've been they've been becoming really popular lately, but it's like, and I'm gonna butcher the name. It's like the Angine Del Between or whatever. They're the guys that have like the polka dots on them, but it's like I'm not familiar with them. No, you'll have to check them out. They they they do yeah, I'm gonna look that up, but they're microtonal music, so they have like so like on their frets, they have like frets in between frets. So like they have like extra notes in their guitars and basses, and the guy is actually it's just a drummer, and the guy that plays guitar, he has a guitar on top and bass on bottom, and he uses a looping pedal.

SPEAKER_04 20:45

Damn.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

So, like, and it's just crazy sound and stuff, but like I was just like, where did you find this? This this actually kind of rocks.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Yeah, really. I mean, yeah, did he say where he found them? How we came across them?

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Internet, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Like he'll even dive into like older uh I'm trying to think of his name, even. Uh, it's the same guy that does like the don't go roller skating in a buffalo herd song. I'm not sure if you've heard that, like on Jackass or anything like that. It's an old country musician. Um, but uh he was finding other songs. Yeah. And just like this one song was just like, My uncle used to love me till she died. It was just like, what the heck? Where'd you find this?

SPEAKER_01 21:23

So was he pretty sad to hear that David, excuse me, my voice is trying to leave me. Was he pretty sad to hear that David Allan Coe passed away?

SPEAKER_03 21:30

Um, I'm not sure if he was. He's he's not he's a man of few words, so okay. But not that I heard of that he was.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Alright. So um, you know, sometimes you gotta be careful for those guys that are man of few words. It's like, what are they thinking in there? What's going on? It's whirling around in there.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Well, if I know my brother, it's it's something funny and goofy that you just don't need me. It's just woo or something. I don't know, some weird noise. He's a funny guy.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

That um, yeah, that. Leads me to ask too like who who's the creative behind the shorts that you guys put on?

SPEAKER_03 22:05

That's a just the the the whole collective whole collective of all of us, just these group balls. Jay he's got the he does all the filming and everything like that. So he'll set up the camera angles and stuff like that, but we'll all come together.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

It's like, all right, let's try something. We need to do something for this show coming up. We gotta make some videos.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

And we just start brainstorming and things come together, and it's just like, all right, all right, let's check back at it and then look at it. And you know, sometimes we'll have that happen. It's just we'll look back and it's like, uh, and then sometimes look back at it. It's like that was actually pretty good. Like that just kind of happened. Like that was awesome. Like, uh, I'm sure you saw the mothership video with the Yeah, so like the whole the camera shots.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Oh yeah, the one I like the one too where I think it was Ben, you took him shopping, told him to find an outfit.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Yeah, yep, yep. And we're like, mm-mm. Mm-mm. The new band fit.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Yeah, the new band fit. Yeah, I thought that was cute.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

So I was at the I was at the mothership in March and um I went in and uh interviewed the band. It was their um like their album release party for Diminished Fifth.

SPEAKER_04 23:12

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

And I was so nervous because I'm not really set up um with all of the the best equipment I would say to go in person. So I went there and I figured it out. But um it definitely made me think about, you know, what I what do I need to get? So if I can go and start doing this more in person, you know, what can I get? And that I'm not gonna have to like fumble around with, you know, because you get there and then they're coming in and they're talking and and this is not just with diminished fists, that is it was like this. I was at another event too, but you you know, you've got a bunch of people coming out and talking to you and stuff, and I'm trying to like figure out my equipment at the same time, and then I get kind of flustered and stuff. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

You need that, yeah, that of accessibility, but like quality as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And just making sure that everything works and you know, sometimes I can be an airhead too. So but what I was gonna ask you is uh what is something that you want your fans to take away when they hear you play, when they've heard your music?

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Just that, like, you know, a lot of our songs kind of do kind of revolve around, you know, mental health that you know everyone has their own voice and you can relate to every everyone has you know has those feelings. Everyone can feel that way. When we have a show, we're having a good time. Um, we're kind of making a family. We kind of we like to call our fans like B O V fam, but we want we want that close connection. We want everyone to feel welcomed. We want everyone to feel like that they can talk to us, have a great time. We're always loving to talk to everybody after the show, before the show. We're not, you know, we're not just gonna go hide away or anything like that. You know, like we want to talk to you, you know, and we love those interactions. There's so much like that's kind of one of the main things that we love about playing live shows, is like all the interactions of people, you know, talking about uh the other bands, even like interacting with them. It's just you know, the whole community of that is just it's a main thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

I think that's awesome um that you said that, especially that you know you consider them a family because um, you know, it's the fans that you're doing this for.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

At least it's one of the reasons.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

Right. But you know, a lot of this can't happen without Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Yeah, absolutely. The crazy thing is is not to keep going back to the AI thing, but I just recently uh saw where there was somebody he uh he wasn't a musician, he was some kind of another creator, and he was indicted recently because he was going and making it look like he had thousands and like millions of subscribers, but it was actually just a bunch of bots in the background. And you know, he was monetizing off of that, right? So he was making, I mean, he made millions, you know, over the last uh say like five years. I wish I could remember what it was that he was doing, what his niche was. But yeah, they found that he was really a fake. Um well, just a couple months ago, I read about it.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Some dude, and he made it look like he had all these subscribers, and um, he just created something on the back end, you know, with um technically where it would look like they were, you know, real people subscribing and and whatever. And yeah, he got invited recently. It was a pretty big deal.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

That's crazy. I have heard like technically like that in like that industry, like or where someone will like set up a tour, but they'll have the money to buy all the tickets, so it's like a sold-out tour, but they're the ones that bought their own tickets, you know. But it looked good. They sold it. I've heard that too.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Yeah, yes, damn, yeah, like crazy things, yeah. I know there's always somebody out there trying to get rich quick. Yeah, so it takes all cotton. You had mentioned too the the one album. Is it Amplified?

SPEAKER_03 27:02

Yeah, that'd be the technically it's their second studio album, but uh recoiled would be like I like that song. The song Amplified, yeah. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Yeah, yeah. When you're talking about, you know, that you guys um speak mental health. I definitely could hear that throughout the lyrics too. That's what made me like the song.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

Yeah, Ben again, like he's just got a way of like, you know, making it branch across everything, you know, like everyone can find something in it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Right.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

And for the riff there, uh like that's kind of like uh one of my other influences would be like Zach Wilde, too. Um so I do have a lot of influence in that and that song, you know, like with especially with the pinch harmonics in there and actually live, I'll play that solo behind my head and everything. I'll bust it out like this, just because that's what he always does in every one of his shows. And it's just kind of like another thing to kind of amplify the show, and you know, something that you know, and like a note to my one of my heroes, um, can't do it nearly as awesome as he can, but you know, still gotta throw it out there, you know. Not everyone's doing it. Sometimes some people are like, you know, it's just kind of over crazy. It's like, whatever, it's for the fans, like you know, yeah. Exact. Oh, of course. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Okay, sweet.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

God, it just left me too. Uh something else I was gonna ask you. It'll eventually come back. Come back to me. So I guess I can tell you, try not to get old because these kinds of things happen to you, Alex.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

It's already happening to me. Like, like I said, I forgot I still can't remember the first the first show of that weekend tour we did. I can see the flyer. I just can't see the name. Yeah, I don't know what's going on. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Well, that could be a sign too if you, you know, you've just had a a lot going on and you've been to so many places, so it's a good thing. With Zach Wilde, are you excited that he's playing uh with Pantera?

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Yeah. I you know, I it's like a this and that, you know, I have a little bit of mixed feelings on it.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

Like for them just to kind of revive Pantera as a live show and everything like that, that is completely awesome. But like if they were to make new music as Pantera, I don't know if I'd be like, well, that's kind of weird. Like, why call it Pantera at that point? But but to like bring back Pantera as like as like a you know a tribute, a tribute band, the ultimate tribute. You know, we got two of the original members, you got you know, it's that to me that's how I see it. And like he does do them a great service.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

They were too original and too great, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Right. Yeah. I can I can agree with that too. It would be totally weird if they were to make new music and still call it Pantera.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

So, what all do you guys have lined up later this year for 2026?

SPEAKER_03 29:33

So we do, let me see here. I don't have the calendar exactly in front of me, but I know we have the two in June. July, I I know we're taking kind of a short break there. Uh, our singer's gonna have to have some surgery during that time.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

And then August, we do have a show in it would be Rose City in Michigan. Uh it's gonna be a uh cabin, or it's not cabin, it's barnstock. That's what it's called. Barnstock. Um, so that would be a great show. It's two days. You have two days of music up there.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

What happens during Barnstock?

SPEAKER_03 30:05

Um, it's just uh I'm not sure. It'd be our first time being up there. Um it's uh through the band Tribe989, they they post it. Um, but they just invite bands up there. It's kind of like their own little venue kind of up there that they have that they've been setting up. Um we have that sounds fun. Yeah. And then September we are going to be in Gladwin at uh Crystal Fest. I believe it's four this time, or four, it might be three or four. But uh yeah, it's uh she's a super fan in Michigan, she loves a lot of local bands, local music. Uh she sets this up at like her own private area that she has and everything. She sets it up for donation for the bands, so bands get paid and everything like that. Uh, but she invites all of her favorite bands out and just have a big party, big bonfire, lots of food, drinks, and everything like that. Great time. So we're excited to come back there again.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

All right, awesome. Yeah, so you've definitely got some really cool shows coming up.

SPEAKER_03 31:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

What kind of advice would you give to somebody, say a band that is uh newer getting out on the road?

SPEAKER_03 31:09

Uh some good advice I would give. Make sure you have reliable equipment, like make sure you have everything kind of like prepped beforehand. Sometimes there's even times where you know we forget something.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

It's like, oh, I didn't change the battery, my pickups.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Like, why, why, why, you know, just have that checklist. Be very considerate to other bands of the night too.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Like, you know, it can be easy, you know, be like, we're playing this awesome show, we're gonna have a great time, we're gonna do a great job, you know, we're gonna do all these things. Well, it's like, well, you got other people you're working with.

SPEAKER_03 31:36

So, you know, make sure you clean up your your stage, you know, like set up fast, tear down fast. Make sure you're not you know breaking your drums down on stage, you know, like you can always get all the drums off the stage and then break them down, you know, just like little things like that. And then also, you know, be nice to everyone that's there, you know, because we're all here for the same reason. We're all to have a good night. Uh let's hang out, you know, stay the whole night. Don't just play your set and then go home, you know. Like I understand some people work and that can happen sometimes, but like if you can stay, you know, like it's the whole point. Like everyone, it's a whole everyone's in it, you know, everyone's involved. So even if you play first, don't leave, and then the last band has to stay and play last, and you're you're already gone. You don't even know how they did. But yeah, just lots of little stuff.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Nobody likes asked person, anyways, you know, regardless of what they do. But uh seems like uh I guess in everything that you do, there's always somebody that that thinks they're better than other people and that they don't have to, you know, put in those connections at work to, you know, to try to connect with other people.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

Right. Yeah. They're like, yeah, I don't know those guys, but I don't even listen to their stuff. And it's like, well, why not? You're playing with them, check out a few of their songs, check them out. What are they doing online? You know, and that leads to more connections.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah, sign of it's gonna be a long night.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

You meet somebody and they're like that at first. Right. But you know, we've had it plenty of times. We get bands that that we talk to that we play a lot of shows with now, you know, because like they're good people, like they show up on time, they you know, like I can count on them, like we can they can count on us. So, like, you know, it just gets you more shows, it branches out. A clinical trial, they're a great band that we like to uh play shows with. We actually wanted to bring them to Mansfield with us, uh, but they just didn't end up uh scheduling working out. But you know, just like stuff like that, you know, like we were willing to take them with us to Ohio. Like, that's that's just how good of a band relationship we have with them.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

That's how it should be. I saw them uh listed on one of your flyers too, and I was gonna ask about that. What kind of music do they play?

SPEAKER_03 33:35

Oh, they're kind of like a hard rock, new metal-ish kind of thing. They do a little bit of like screen vocals to clean vocals. I I really love their stuff. Uh their one song, Dysfunctional. It's like, it's like super fast and like it has like it almost reminds me of like an 80s power metal, but like meets like a modern heavy, I don't know, it just grooves. I love it. I love hearing it live. They closed it out or because they played with us at the birthday show last Saturday. Yeah, they closed out with that song. I'm like, yes, I'm glad they played it.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Awesome. I'm gonna have to check them out. Yeah, when I saw the name, I was like, the the first thing that comes to mind for me is uh, you know, is this was the name of the band was it like created uh with a health care with healthcare in mind?

SPEAKER_03 34:17

I do or I do believe it was. And like I'm pretty sure, and I I don't want to say stuff, you know, like if it's not true, like I don't want to spread rumors, but I believe she did have she did have cancer before and she did beat cancer. So I think it does kind of come in line with that. I don't know if that's exactly why they named it clinical trial. They do a lot of uh cancer benefit shows too, so they do like raise money for like people in the area of that show. Yeah, they do a lot of great things.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

Okay, cool. I'll have to reach out to them too. And the reason why I asked is because I, you know, I have a career in healthcare. So when you see a band named Clinical Trial, yeah, my light bulb went off. I was like, okay, I wonder what kind of music they've got going on, what kind of stories they have to tell.

SPEAKER_04 34:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

So with you and your brother, uh, I mean, did you, guy, between the two of you, did you always know or have a feeling that you wanted to be a musician when you grew up?

SPEAKER_03 35:11

So I did you ever talk about? I always had that dream and always had that like goal of like playing like in a band and playing music, you know, professionally as like as a job. I don't know if he did as much. He played a little bit when I played, and I think my my parents got him a bass just kind of like be like, well, let's get both of them involved, you know, like instead of like putting all the time into me, like let's put time into him too, and uh got us playing. And then he kind of grew out of it and kind of grew into more of the computer side. So he kind of started like building his own computers and everything like that. And then once I yeah, the band kind of got together, he was just like, All right, you know, I did like playing bass, and he just picked it right up. Like, I don't have to show him anything, he just knows what to do, what to play. Um, so it's just wow, that's awesome. Yeah, it just works out really good.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Did either of you have music lessons?

SPEAKER_03 35:58

I did like a short time of music lessons at this guitar shop, but like the the main thing that he was showing me was like how to play songs, and mostly I could do that from the internet at that time, so okay. It wasn't a lot, like there wasn't like much theory to it, like there was like one pentatonic or whatever, like but like other than that it wasn't much, but yeah, both of us just kind of internet you know, we look it up, we kind of kind of figure it out on our own. I've had some books I've read through that kind of helped a little bit, but other than that, it's just mostly self-taught for both of us.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

If I if I had the time, I would actually sit down and learn to play the piano. That's one thing I'm I've always wanted to play. I took, you know, a couple years of lessons when I was little, but we didn't have a piano at home, so it made it hard to practice.

SPEAKER_04 36:50

Right, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

You know, the further along you get, the more practice you need. So it didn't make sense to, you know, keep paying for piano lessons. That was pretty much the the only music that I learned to play. And when I say learn to play, you know, I'm talking about like, you know, use one finger to go through the notes, not a full song.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

So like the chicken picking of it, like keyboard, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Right, the chopsticks.

SPEAKER_03 37:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

I can play the chopsticks, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

Uh, piano would be awesome to learn. Like I've always thought that was very interesting. Being able to have the two different hands doing completely different things, like guitar is one thing, you know, but they're they're incorporated together, like they're synced together. But it's always it's always impressed me of like seeing like playing a whole bass melody here and then the higher melody over here. It's like I don't know how they could be that.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah. And it might be something that I eventually do take up, you know, when I can devote the time to learning it because I feel it, you know, it it's just something that I feel like I would really get a lot of value and just a lot from. What about any of the guys in the band? Did they any of you guys play in the high school band?

SPEAKER_03 37:53

I don't believe any of us played. I think Ben played in high school band. I I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think he's the only one that might have done marching band, I think he did.

SPEAKER_04 38:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

But other than that, no, I don't think so. Uh I know AJ, he can play guitar as well. Like, so he's even got like some riffs and some of the songs that we that we played and everything too. He plays drums, guitar, he can do some bass, and keyboard. Yep, and then the keyboard for like lonesome story stuff. He plays quite a few instruments, but yeah, for the most part, yeah, it's just I think a lot of us are all self-taught. Not much like actual like training or like what do you call it, uh classical training or whatever. Yeah, formal training.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

But I think that's pretty cool, you know, especially when you're self-taught because it just shows, you know, how talented and gifted a person is that can, you know, not only play music, but give the gift back. And that, you know, that's one of the main reasons why I'm doing this show is because, you know, learning just about the musicians and you know, what got you into music, what you're uh wanting to do, but how you're giving back, you know, to the audience and to your community. It's just there's just so many different things that um music does for everybody.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

And you can't put a price tag on it.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

And that's the thing too, is like that's my favorite part about like some music theory is like it's called theory for a reason. Like it, you know, it doesn't always mean that. Like it can be anything to anyone. If you have an ear for it, then you can play it, you can hear it. You don't have to like actually know what the theory is behind it. Like, you know, it's just it's just a tool. Theory is a tool, you know. It doesn't mean you have to use it. Um, it can be helpful sometimes, but you know, it's not everything.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Yeah. Well, one of the things too, um, that I always like to mention is, you know, the plug that I have for my audience is, you know, if you're a parent or even a guardian and you've got young kids and they show an interest for music, um, you know, whether they're, you know, constantly singing or they're playing, you know, making uh improvisational uh music in the house, um, anything, but you know, help them explore that. I feel like it's really important, you know, not only let them explore that, but support them. So, and it could be in the smallest ways, you know, just getting involved in the music, you taking them to concerts, let them take music lessons if they want, join the band, um, you know, anything. But that's what um, you know, the more musicians that I meet in doing this, there was always somebody there to spur them on, whether it was a family or a friend, you had that support. And look at all of the many things that you're able to do with the music and the ways that you can give back. So we've got to bring up these kids and help them explore.

SPEAKER_04 40:49

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

But learn the musical instruments for what they are, not through AI, also.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

And that, you know, I I have a new daughter right now, too. And I'm a like she's always she's already gravitoid, like gravitated towards the guitars because I I play it for her and stuff, so she's starting to see it. Uh, she just got turned nine, just turned nine months, so she's not walking yet, but I'm definitely gonna have to have the guitars locked up because she's definitely gonna be getting at them.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Yeah, yep. You better go to the dollar store, get some of those uh play guitars. The good Lilies guitars, yeah. My youngest, who is a musician out of my three kids, and uh that's what we would always do. Uh, she really liked just the uh anything that the Dollar Tree or you know dollar stores would have, and we went through a lot of those in the toddler phase.

SPEAKER_04 41:39

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

And now she likes to play drum, she plays trumpet and bass. So before we go, is there anything else that you want Ohio to know before you guys come here?

SPEAKER_03 41:52

A great set plan for you. Excited to see everyone there again, see Nate, see Keith, see uh Shannon there again. Lots of great people there. We're excited to be there. Make sure you check us out on the website, uh, check us out on YouTube, check us out on Facebook, Venomavirtue.com. Yeah. Uh just give me a channel. You got your music.

unknown 42:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Are you guys on uh like the major streaming platforms too? Apple, Spotify.

SPEAKER_03 42:15

Yep, Spotify, Apple, uh YouTube Music, uh Deezer, pretty much any. I don't know if there's a streaming service we're not on for our music. That's just easy to say it that way.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

All right, cool. All right, well, Ohio, you heard it first from Alex Crayford, and him and the guys are gonna be here very soon. It's already early May. So probably the next time we blink our eyes, you guys will be here. So thanks so much for being on the show. I can't wait to meet you guys in person and rock out with you.

SPEAKER_04 42:44

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

Mansfield again, that's May 30th at the Mothership here on Marion Avenue, and they're going to be rocking out and joined with a couple of other area local musicians that will be there. So hope to see you soon. And until then, keep it loud. Yeah.