Distortion Analysis - Episode 3

TOPIC - Exodus selling shirts - how bands make music in the metal underground, the impact of streaming on bands and their careers

NEWS - According to studies that have been done dudes only play extreme metal to impress other dudes

ALBUM REVIEW - Megadeth: So Far, So Good, So What

MYSTERY BAND - William’s pick

LIVE SHOWS / TOURS - https://www.headbangersboat.com, Maryland Deathfest - https://deathfests.com, Testament with Overkill and Destruction on tour

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome to the store channel analysis. For each episode we discuss various topics of music news or bands on tour and share album reviews all focused on heavy metal. Here are your hosts, Sean McKnight and William Rizzo. Alright, here we go. So welcome to the what would this be the third episode of the Distortion Analysis with myself and William Rizzo. Episode three. Episode 5.6. Hey, I have to tell you.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

And some more sixes.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

So I got to listen to Zentrix a bit.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

I was digging it. It's got this old school thrash thing kind of going on. But what I thought about what was interesting was it's also kind of it feels contemporary somehow. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Which is like I've alluded to that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

That's yeah, you and you mentioned that too. And I was like, and I kind of made a mental note about that. And then when I was kind of listening, I was like, oh yeah, it does have that kind of it. It's like it's like if a it's like if if if if someone now was trying to be a thrash band from the past. Yes. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Yeah, it's it's aged well to where it doesn't sound overly dated.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Dated, yeah, exactly. I was gonna say it doesn't feel dated.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

So yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

So now I was digging it, so I just wanted to see. Oh man, I've been kind of taking listen to it.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Another convert, and then conversely, yes, listen to uh the blood incantation, and boy, did it blow my mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

So you you liked it, eh?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Oh it was so I don't know, man. It was just so different from what I'm used to listening to, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Those like the Pink Floyd departure things that they do where he does the clean vocal, and it's like, did you hear them? And those kind of refrains. I'm just like, oh my god, it's not even it, it doesn't, it's like it feels like it's a different band, but not it all fits with them somehow.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

It's real, it's got a real progressive bent to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

But if you heard that all by itself, you're like, this could be on a Pink Floyd album.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah, yeah. It's just heavier than anything they ever did.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Well, it is, but I well, no, I don't mean they're normal songs, but I mean those kind of like spacey refrains.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

You know, when they kind of go off in those trippy with the with the spacey stuff and he's got the clean vocal. I'm like, that could be on a freaking Pink Floyd album.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

You go on a little journey with them and then they bring you back into the the crazy yeah, it's heavy, but it's also very wiry in terms of how it kind of around.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

That's a good way to describe it. Wiry.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

They nailed that album live. I saw them play that whole thing beginning to end, and they nailed it. Oh, that's the one you saw. Perfect. Yeah, played it flawlessly. Amazing. Nice. Yeah, if you're getting a chance to see them live, I definitely recommend it. Cool. So all right, so let's move into the topic of the podcast. So this topic is kind of about how bands are making money these days. And then not the big bands, the Metallicas and the Panterrors, and all the big stadium bands. We're talking the underground bands, right? Oh, so the bands like Exodus and Testament, and you know, some of the new, of course, the new uh you know, unearth, you know, all these new unearth and you know, uh, and again, blood incantation. We have these up and comers. Power trip. Yeah, so I read this article about how uh Gary Holt Gary Holt from Exodus, who also is a guitarist and slayer, yeah. He makes his money largely from selling t-shirts out of his car. Did you read about that? No, yes. So he's like he's turning to like more of a merch guy, and that's kind of how they're large because they don't make their money from streaming. Um tours are expensive, so they often break even, or they'll they'll they'll make money from like merch, like shirts and stuff. Yeah. But the cost of the tour is like they have to pay for crew and you know, split the money and all that other stuff, and the tour bus is expensive, insurance, gas, all that stuff. And you know, they're making the money more from like selling shirts from merch.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Well, the shirts now are like 25 bucks a pop. So if you sell eight of them at a show, that's 200 bucks right there.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah, so I was reading, and I thought that sucks. Um, as far as like these bands that they don't make money from sales anymore, really, streaming doesn't pay shit. Yeah. Um, so and as an experienced musician yourself, being in a band, I was wondering what you thought of that. Because I mean, go back to the days that you started and how were bands making money.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Uh I mean you you well well playing shows you actually earned a a percentage of the door money, right? So if if they made, you know, two grand, then maybe you would end up with, you know, 10% of that or 15% of that on top of whatever merchandise that you sold.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

And then how many guys were in your band?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Five.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

So you had to split that money across five guys.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

We never made enough of money to really have any kind of fights about. Yeah. We sold our tapes, we had the you know, the we made 200 units of the first tape, 250 of the second one. It was not a lot. You know, but from well you know, you have bands that that uh do decently well, right? So they're now on full-fledged tours with with vans and buses and merch tables, and uh I could see the merch being a lot more uh significant in terms of an income for them, and and especially now that people are trying to like get back into uh the physical media aspect of it. I think you had mentioned that like you don't like CDs, but not anymore.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

I'm I like doing it though. I I like the I like the CD itself. I just don't like having a thousand of them that I have to move around every time. Yeah, right. I like the artwork, I like the size of them. I'd rather have vinyl because I like the bigger pieces there and stuff like that. Oh, sure, yeah. You know, but ultimately the the the CDs are okay, but yeah, I'm I'm I'm all about digital right now, so just for the sake of convenience more than anything else and storage.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Well, I mean, how else can you make money at this point? Um, because nobody is signing record contracts for the majority of the bands that you like to listen to. Yeah, you know, they're there uh the the the the strategy now is self-promotion, self-distribution. You know, I why do I need to be tied to a label that's gonna steal all my money? Because how many decades of of complaining do we listen to about how the music industry sucks? Yeah, that you get ripped off, you get robbed. Chuck Sheldoner talked about it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

You know, about being betrayed by the industry and all that. So I think everybody's uh mo now is uh we'll just do it ourselves. And there's plenty of tools for bands to promote themselves now. You can book your own tours without too much trouble.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

The content of email and the internet, you can stay connected to a very vibrant network of platforms like Bandcamp and stuff like that, too. And that, yeah. I mean, uh most people have bandcamp pages now.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Um, and and it's a similar kind of model as uh like what I use for reverb nation. You can set it up to monetize your your content, um, and you also have uh especially with bandcamp, you know, you have the merch pages. I mean that that's that's how I ended up getting into um um I got into uh there's a band from Brazil that I just got into about a year ago called Iskarnium. They have a band camp page, and uh that's where I ordered their CD and I got a shirt. Cool. So I mean that's kind of how they're making their money.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

That's how I did that with Zealand Arter too. I went to their website and got stuff directly from their website when I was looking at their stuff too. Yeah, so I mean I I can see, yeah, it looks like it seems like they're going in some ways back underground almost.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

In a way, it could be viewed as that because it's not mainstream. This is not a mainstream payment model.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Well, it seems like labels more are more like promotional platforms than anything else these days. I mean, they also help range tours and finance like recordings and stuff, right? But they're acting more almost like uh like the advertising source, and then you know the band sort of just uses them as that. I don't know. Okay. Well, because like you said, they're trying to produce. I just read that OPEF left nuclear blast uh and just started their own thing, and largely because they didn't want nuclear blast's uh weird logo on their stuff, they didn't like the radiation logo thing. What that was the reason why they didn't want to be on the label anymore. What's the matter with them?

SPEAKER_00 8:32

I would love to have that logo on my label. No, right, I know.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

I know, I thought it was cool too. I know, but anyway, what but the but they're doing that self-distribution thing, and they're I guess they're being distributed through uh through uh nuclear blast, but they're not signed to them. So, like you said, I think there's a lot of bands adopting that like DIY model as well as they should because they can make more money directly that way and not have to worry about paying back labels and stuff. But the tour thing I think gets tricky and the advertising gets tricky because that's the thing that that that's great about Bandcamp, just like YouTube, and we have all these other self-distribution platforms, but the downside is we're all drowning in the sea of content where like how do you get attention for your stuff when there's so many other things that are already out there that people are listening to, or yeah, so that they're already kind of now. I I'm somebody who likes to explore and find new things, but how do you get into the market where people aren't like you know, where how do you expose yourself to them?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

So you get your yeah, well that's where the that's where algorithms come in to the picture. I mean, the the I just got something popped to my feed called uh totem and uh we'll be talking about that down a trust me. We will be bringing that back up in this podcast, but uh it just showed up. I wouldn't have found it. I don't know what that yeah, I don't know anything about that. They're from uh I think um central cent either central Oregon or Central Washington.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Totem they're heavy as shit.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Oh, cool. But that's yeah, but so we we find things for algorithms now, you're right. So but I'm just gonna I'm kind of thinking about like the future though. How are bands like Exodus who are already up there? These guys are old, these guys are 50s, 60s now, you know, you know, they're in their 60s probably by now. Yes, and what are they gonna do as they get older? I uh can they keep touring? Can they keep this up?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I mean, what do they do as they get into their their uh he wanted to hang it up and just spend time with his family because he did enough, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then all you hear is Carrie King bitching about it.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Every time I see a headline that says Carrie King, it's always some gripe or some bitch about how Tom changed, he became a different person, and but they can still be together if it wasn't for Tom. I don't know, man. And like at some point, you do get to a point where you just can't not everybody can be um uh not Edgar Winter, uh uh um not Johnny Cash, the the the country guy that's like a hundred years old.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Johnny Winter, not oh Willie Nelson. Oh yeah, Willie Nelson, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What he does, but when you're doing metal, it's like at what point do you say I I can't we can't keep doing this anymore?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

And and part of the reason he he started to back off is because uh he is having all kinds of neck problems from headbanging all those years, he was having physical problems, and not to mention you know, I don't know, he can still do the scream, but I mean that's only gonna be for so long, too. I mean, those guys can't keep up that shit when they get into their 60s and 70s, man. You know, you're talking about just physical punishment alone for being on tour, but then stuff like that on top of it. I mean, that's like you know, just wrecking your body.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Once all of these older bands go away, and by going away, I mean by dying.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, like literally, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Over the next, you know, 20 years or so, we'll witness the the basically the end of the original crew of metal people. Yeah, all of them will be gone, and then you'll be looking at what you're bringing up, which is like how are new bands going to make it today to environment that's dominated by the internet, yeah. But I think one thing trend I've seen is like not only is the is the simplification of having your own band going on, there's also the simplification of the label model, yeah. So you like you just mentioned, you know, so they're they're they're agreeing to do distribution instead of also like the contract for the record itself, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

You know, two two separate animals. But uh look at how many people have started their own labels, not just the bands, yeah, yeah, their own label companies, and they're doing it, they're very, very close to the pulse of what's going on uh underground music-wise. So uh, you know, you as a band, you would be more willing to, I guess, uh enter into an agreement with a a DIY label.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Sure, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Than something like Columbia Records, where like you look, you know, you don't know what's gonna happen next, and they drop you as soon as they pick you up.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

And uh, you know, you you have to have a a lawyer review whatever contract they send you, yeah, to make sure you don't get screwed. And uh look at the look at what all of the uh legendary artists are doing now, they're selling their catalogs.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Big time, yeah, yep, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

That's unbelievable. That's the sign of someone who said, Well, I've had my time and now I want to be ten million dollars richer than I hope would be. So once I'm dead, who cares whether I signed it away or not?

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Yeah, why not?

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah, I'm not gonna be able to enjoy it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

So cash out whether I can, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah, so I think that's gonna lead to that's how the music of the the big colossus artists like Elton John Well, Hollow Notes, that just happened with them.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

There's a big dispute about them selling off their catalog, and that's why the two never talk to each other anymore. They hate each other. Yeah, they don't, yeah, yeah. But that's but they were business stuff, and that was a big part of it because one wanted to sell, the other one didn't. Yeah, there was a big controversy there, yeah. I think they ultimately ended up selling then, but but it was but you're right, as like as they get older, you know, it makes sense. But these underground bands, I don't think they're gonna have that luxury.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Well, that money is not there anymore.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

No, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

It's not just because the the music industry is funded differently now, it's just that people are a lot more broke than they used to be.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, that's the big part of it, for sure. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

It sucks, man. All the money in the world is going towards these hedge funds, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh private equity firms.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Uh, you know, they're talking about the hollowing out of the middle class, and that's not just in America, man. That's gonna happen throughout the whole world.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

So you're either an Uber rich crypto bro or you're a a sh a sh a schmuck.

unknown 14:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Well, I'm definitely one of the unwashed masses. I'm definitely one of the unwashed schmucks.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

So I will not be buying that Vinnie Vincent thing. So I guess only the rich elites can handle that.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Well, 200 bucks per song. 200 bucks a song.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

All right. So uh are we ready for metal news? Let's do it. Metal news is next. Okay. Let's do it. All right, so um, I was reading this article I sent to you about, and I want to get your opinion on this, about um how this recent article said in the news that uh oh the with extreme music, no, that's an important, that's an important classification here. With extreme music, it's mainly guys planning to impress other guys. So there's a whole article study that was done about this. Um, do you think now you're coming from the extreme music scene? Was that your motivation when you were learning to play and forming a band? Where you're like, did you worry about impressing other people, other musicians, I should say, or you didn't care or what?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

No, no, it was it was purely to it was it all in the service of the riff.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

And you know, that's not false modesty. That's that's years of sitting in my bedroom with you know, cranking um some crazy, crazy shit and going, I I want to write like that. Yeah, I don't care who likes it. If I cared about who liked it, I would have said, ah and just gave up on it. But that was never a motivation. It's funny because that study, I don't think that's a new study.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

I remember No, I think that's an older study. Yeah, I'm looking at the article right now. Let me see if I can see it.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

It's gotta be five to ten years old. Yeah. I think because I remember when it first came out and I was like, first of all, who who didn't know?

SPEAKER_01 16:49

2022, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Okay, so not that long ago.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

So like four years ago.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I I just said, but who had the motivation isn't it like glaringly obvious that the people in extreme metal are not doing it for money? You think they're not doing it for uh uh you know uh female attraction.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Right, not not extreme metal, no, you're not.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

No, no, it's it's the love of pushing the boundary.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

But the r that raises the point though that other bands within the metal genre, not not extreme metal, but let's say hard rock, that kind of stuff, like the Motley Cruz, Rats, those kind of bands back in the day. That was the goal though, was to to express impress women. Oh, totally. They were all going after the the the the ladies there. That was the goal back in the day, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

And well, it was it was two-pronged, really. I mean, the labels were just throwing money at those guys.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah, big time.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Uh whatever it took to get them to put out a new album, a new poison album, new warrant album, new Motley Crue album. Motley Crue is filthy stinking rich.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

You know, and uh they probably laughed all the way to the bank, and who wouldn't?

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Yeah, big time.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

So it's the the the extreme stuff is just not it's just not built for that. And I wouldn't want no I I wouldn't want it because it's not what that music is about.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Yeah, and did you did you did you have any of your friends or anybody that were like, hey man, I wonder I was trying to like you know press these dudes or try to blow this band away or anything like that? Did that ever was that ever a thing like you guys ever talk about in that brand practice? Because I know the bands I've been in, we've never we never gave a shit about that stuff. We were just trying to write good songs and wrestling that was heavy that we liked, and we kind of like we were sort of like them a god where we just kind of wrote songs for ourselves, like each other. Yeah, that was kind of like who we who we wrote for. Yeah. But like, did you come across that with other people where they were kind of more impressed by they're trying to impress other people or no?

SPEAKER_00 18:46

I think you know, we ran into a couple of characters here and there that were more about the shock value of it. Uh yeah, okay, you know, or or somebody who was just a pompous ass about uh how how great they thought they were or their band or their friend's band was. So occasionally you got some ass-headedness mixed in. But it it wasn't it wasn't a running theme. Like we didn't sit around and practice talking about that stuff. Our discussions at practice were things like, Man, could you imagine how fucking heavy it'll be if we come out of that chorus section and blow that one rift down to halftime, and you're hitting that there, just boom, bop, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And and we'd be like, Yeah, man, let's fucking do it like that. Yeah, that was it. We yeah, so yeah, I I don't know, like that study didn't surprise me at all. And I said that in interviews back in the early 90s. Oh, really? Like, you know, what motivates you? And I would say, well, it certainly couldn't be money or women or shit like that.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

There's no, yeah, there was none of that. Yeah, the ladies weren't like they're not into the extreme. I mean, there's women out there, I'm I don't want to stereotype, but but it wasn't like a big chick attraction thing for sure. No, no, so no. In fact, if anything, it probably scared women away more so than it attracted them in a lot of cases, I would think.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Right. Uh for the people who knew me personally, yeah. Um, the girls that knew me personally, they they came and got into it because they they they liked me, they wanted to support me and what we were doing, but they weren't like you know, listen to but they weren't like extreme music fans.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

No, okay, okay. Well, what did they when they came to the concert? Did the scare did you scare the crap out of them, or were they, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 20:35

No, they were there with you know groove to the heavier section. Oh, really? Okay, when there would be a breakdown part, I would look out and I'd see them, you know, like doing their little dance and shit. But that was cool. But I knew that they weren't there because they liked the music, they were there because they knew us. So I didn't meet my first um extreme metal chick uh until I was at a show in Champaign, Illinois. We were playing at the bar called Six Feet Under. And after we played, oh wow, the dick comes up and she's got to the max. And this is in like '95, and she's like, uh, I just checked out your your set. You guys were pretty awesome. I have a I and she goes, I uh I also play a Jackson guitar.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

And I was like, really.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

But I and I was dating somebody at the time, so I was like, man, I can't, I can't, you know, do shit right now. And and you know, and she gave me her number and shit, and I was like, that's enough for me.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

That wasn't enough. That was that was a victory. You could walk away. Yeah, yeah. Uh I also saw in Music News uh that immolation is getting to re ready to release their 12th album, 12th album. Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

I think they just released a video.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yes, they did Adversary.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yeah. A new album a couple days ago.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Have you have you? I was gonna say, have you chanced you had a chance to check it out? I haven't listened to it yet.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Oh, yeah. I mean it's classic immolation. It's okay. Brutal as fuck, it's They're not compromising. It's not a new sound. Sounds great.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Awesome. Okay. So I was just kinda I knew you're a fan, so I just wanted to make sure you knew about that album. That's what I figured. Okay. Well, I think that's it for music news, unless you had anything. Nope. Okay. So that means we move over into the part where we review an album. And it was your pick this week.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

And you went for the year was 1987. This is the third studio album by Megadeth. So far, so good, so what? Excellent. Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

This one was a uh I don't know about you, but this is around the time I was getting into bands, playing in bands, I mean. Okay. So I started in bands around 86, 87. And um, of course, that we were working metal bands, and this was one of the albums that we were aspiring to be like. I don't know about you, but we were trying to not that we were trying to play like them, but they were one of the bands that we looked up to. And then, and of course, the all all those early albums, we were listening, we were just sucking them up every time they come out with a new one. Sure, yeah. And it was just like they were one of the bands that were like the band, like one of those shining bands. And this album was one of those moments, I thought, at least for my upbringing, when I was kind of just coming up in bands. So this was a this was a big one for me. So when you mentioned that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Now, had you already listened to the first two Killing.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Of course, yeah, yeah. We were right there, you know, right from the beginning. Peace Cells, Killing's my business. Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. So, but yeah, we in fact we used to play um one of the bands I was in, we used to play um from um oh shit. What's the name? Peace, duh. So we used to play yeah, we used to play PCs. Stuff off of that. Yes, yeah, yeah. Oh man, oh man, so so good. But what about you? Why why what made you pick this album?

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Uh I wanted to well, we were talking about Megadeth recently, you know, last episode about we were talking about Dave.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Right, in their last tour and stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Bow Out, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Um and I'm like, you know, they I've always been a huge fan. Uh and and it it was so important that I would play along with those records to kind of get my chops up in the very beginning. You know, try try to learn how to play. And the thing is, like you got a little bit more of a head start than I did because I didn't get into metal until about 8990.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

And so by that point, those records had already been out.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

And like I knew I knew uh I had friends that liked Megadeth, and uh I knew that Peace Cells was like a huge deal, but I just I don't for whatever reason I didn't get into it yet. Okay. So the very first Megadeth stuff that I got into was actually I bought a compilation tape uh called Fresh Metal, and it had it had mini bits on it, and it had uh Halloween. Oh, cool. It had a Slayer tune, it had a uh a Death Angel song, and it and uh it also had uh a Megadeth song on it, it was um Hook and Mouth.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Right. Oh, I love that song.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Yep, it it blew me away, and it was the last song on that tape, and it also interestingly is the last song on the album. Um, but I remember listening to how driving that sound the song sounded, like the the riffs are just impeccable.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

And the guitar tone when he when he could when he when he hits those chords and he lets them ring out, I remember listening to that going, my god, listen to that guitar growl.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

So it it really was just I said, so I have to I have to go out and get this now, and that's how I ended up buying the album. And then right after I bought the album, uh Rust in Peace came out.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Oh, okay, gotcha. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

That's that sealed the deal. That's what I was doing. Yeah, that was one of the yeah, this guy is is the fucking dude.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Yeah. Well, like uh one of the things I find interesting about them, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it just seemed like they were always trying to one up what Metallica could do in terms of like technical ferocity and stuff like that. Yeah, like just how technical they would get comparatively to Metallica. I always felt like I always felt like Ms Dane was trying to show off like, hey, I'm better than them in a way. Oh, totally, don't you think?

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Well, because he was living in the shadow of his former band.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Never got over that.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

No, no, he still talks about it.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Yeah. I mean, how long how many decades need to go by for you to be like, I'm letting bygones be bygones? Right. Like he just doesn't do that, and it kind of like paid off uh in for the fans because he just kept creating great music. He did. There's a couple of couple of stinkers in there. Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

In terms of what they did like in the late 90s, early 2000s. I really didn't get into it. I wasn't even listening to it. So but the early seminal stuff is just absolutely groundbreaking.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Well, and this album was one of those, yeah. This album was one of those albums for me, I know, that uh you mentioned hook and mouth. My my song on here is uh In My Darkest Hour. That song. It I I heard that first, I think, when they because it was on the decline of Western Civilization soundtrack. Oh, that's whole document. Penelope's first did that that documentary. They uh Megadeth was one of the bands she profiled, and that was the song that they kept playing when they played that at the whiskey. So it was like when I heard that song, I was like, what is that? That was like just so dark and just such an interesting, powerful song. And then I read more about that, and he wrote that after Cliff Burton died, and it's a way it's kind of a tribute to Cliff Burton in a way. That's right. That's right, yeah. Yeah. So so um, so for me, that that was like the sort of that just that defining song on that album. Like I mean, the whole album's great. Like I'm a fan of like um, like you said, hook and mouth, uh, I like uh um set the world afire, stuff like that. Um, but uh and but I'll the only song I have to say on this album that I'm not a huge fan of is the cover. Anarchy in the UK, I don't think is a great, I don't like that cover. Really? What don't you like about it? Huh?

SPEAKER_00 28:18

What don't you like about it?

SPEAKER_01 28:20

I don't know. It just seems like it just is it it feels to me awkward to to sounding uh coming out of them in a way. Like I think it's his voice, really. Like I know it's kind of like a he's got kind of a punky sort of approach to it, but yeah, it it just sounds too I don't know, his voice kind of gets on my nerves on it. I think he's trying too hard to be punky or something. I can't tell what it is, but it's something with his voice that bothers me on that is too, I don't know what it is, whatever it is, but but the vocal is the thing I don't like on it so much. So I don't know, but that's the only thing I don't like about that. But I don't what did you like that cover? I love it. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

I love it. But I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I'm not married to it. It's it's just a good cover to me, but part you know, from musically from a musician sense, it's it's very tight. Yeah, it's got the rest of the album, and they got Steve Jones to play the solo. I didn't know that. Oh, he played the solo on that. Oh, cool. I didn't realize that. Uh I think that they never had him like, as far as I know, he didn't come out on tour with them.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

That would have been cool, actually, if he didn't.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, would have been, but um I didn't know about that. Damn. Yeah, I mean, uh I I think it was it was a nice gesture that Dave made because of how how much he felt rooted in punk music. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

And that theme keeps repeating itself throughout not just this album, but the newest album.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

There's a there's some punky stuff on there too.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Yeah, yeah. So I mean it's part of his roots. Oh, I know, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

100%. Oh, I don't I don't discount that they did it. I just didn't like his voice on it. That's all. I think it's funny. I think it was the only thing that annoyed me. Um I don't know if you saw this or not, but did you see that they released a remastered version of that album?

SPEAKER_00 30:06

You took the words right out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Dude, did you listen to the did you listen to the remixes?

SPEAKER_00 30:12

I look I honestly I couldn't. I I made it to the second song because I'm like, who who put horns in the listen to like the thing?

SPEAKER_01 30:22

That's yeah, I thought that was interesting. But then also like listen to In My Darkness Hour because the drum sound is completely different. Really? It's like a regular, it's like the same guitar, but it's like the drums are louder, and that snare is a whole different snare sound. I was like, where the hell did that come from? Yeah, so yeah, it's a really different mix with that. When you hear the drum sounds on that thing, I was like, where did that come from? And the the snare is really pronounced. Like it's um, it's I if I was engineering it, I'd say pull back the snare a bit because it's it's really out front. Yeah, so yeah, listen to that and you'll hear what I'm talking about. Like it's just so up front.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Last night I A-B'd them. Oh, okay. Oh, you did interesting. Uh, but I not the whole record, I listened to um the intro.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Um into the lungs of hell.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Yeah, and then set the world on fire. And then I made it to the point where he plays the intro riff and on Set the World A Fire, the the verse riff. Yeah, I think it's an iconic riff, right? So I listened to those side by side. I'm like, look at how much they changed his guitar tone. It was almost as if he came into the control room and was like, listen, I want to be in front of everybody and to hell with everybody else. And I I I I got turned off. It sounded very like a very narcissistic mix from a guitarist perspective.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Also known in engine in engineering circles as the Lars Ulrich mix.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

There you have it.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Yeah, yeah. Lars Ulrich from uh Justice mix. Don't bring that bass slider up anymore. Yeah, right. Don't bring that bass up so we can actually hear it. What we can hear the bass, pull it back, way back, way back.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

I'm glad you brought this up because I was like, man, I uh we have to discuss this because I didn't even know that they had remastered it.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, there was that whole big controversy when the thing came out because they were like, this mix is super thin, where's all the bass? And it turned out that a lot of it was Ulrich taking out his frustrations about Cliff Burton dying on Jason Newstead. Yeah, that's where a lot of that that's where that a lot was that was channeled. I think the whole band was kind of taking out on him. So he was kind of eating shit of that, yeah. Which is he's he's a brilliant bass player, yeah. So and then what was funny is that I don't know if you saw that, but when the um when that controversy was going on, uh Ulrich was blaming the engineer, and the engineer was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I that's not I had the bass in there, he pulled that out, yeah. So he was he was like you know, he's standing up for himself, so he's like, that's bullshit. So you know, so that that whole thing's been out there for for a minute there.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Well, that's a potentially career derailing uh critique. So my fucking recording career was on the line. I don't care who's talking about, I don't care if it's Will Ramer from Myth Mortician.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

I'd be like, that motherfucker lied.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Right, exactly. Exactly. You can't just let those things slip. No, and and the mix is does suck on that. That that album stands thin as hell. I mean, it should be like gigantic, but it's got like there's there's no so little bass on it, and it's because of our so there you have it.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

I I really so I much prefer the original recording. And if you look at if you look at some of the comments in the in the YouTube video of the remaster, it's a lot of people are saying, I hate this mix.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Yeah, it's weird, it's a weird mix, man. I don't know where uh where they came out of that one from with the again the horns and the weird loud drum thing, but I don't know. It's interesting. I don't know if it's I don't I don't know if I don't think it really improved anything, but so but it was at least an interesting variation. All right, so um anything else to add about the album?

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Here's a quote from uh uh speaking of YouTube, yeah. This is the quote that's on the original recording.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

This is Megadeth's meanest, badass fucking tear it up as scorched earth best. Nice. And I totally agree. I would agree with um it really there's so many moments in there where you're just like it's like you're you're chewing on a steak, a tender steak, and the juices are just you know dripping down your mouth, and you're just making a mess out of everything, and the mass of the tender is going in there too, and you're just like this tastes so fucking good. And from you know, from such an early time in metal, yeah, really made a hell of a statement in terms of you know them staking out their territory. Uh also on Set the World A Fire, listen to this lyric bodies melted like a candle. That's brutal as fuck. Right on. He was brutal in in 87 with that.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

You're not gonna see a lyric like that on the newest record.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

So yeah, man. I'm saying uh this is also it's also an interesting album because I when I was researching it, the the lead guitarist, Jeff Young, yeah, not the original guy who was supposed to develop the album. You know about this. No, no, he wasn't is it still Chris Poland or was it uh Chris Poland was from so they they came out of they came out of Peace Cells, yeah. And right after they finished touring, apparently they fired uh uh Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson. Right, right, right, right. So who did they get to play drums but Gar Samuelson's drum tech?

SPEAKER_01 36:10

I didn't know that. That was his drum tech? No shit.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

That's his drum tech on So Far So Good. Oh the the guitar, uh Dave when Dave uh got rid of uh Poland, yeah, um I guess he started auditioning people and he found this one guy that was in this one band, but there was something wrong with the guy's ability to to play. And he I don't know if this is just like you know, uh gossip, metal gossip, but apparently he was like, I'm gonna have my guitar teacher record the actual parts. Oh and they were like, uh okay. So they had the guitarist uh teacher, the guy's teacher, come in, and that ended up being Jeff Young. No shit. And then they ended up saying, Well, we'll keep it him. Yeah, why? Yeah, why would they you could go kick rocks?

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Yeah, why would they go back to him if they yeah, I don't know. That's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. So that's how that happened that's how he ended up on there. No shit. I did not know that's that's the story, and I'm kind of sort of an ever-evolving lineup there for a while. Oh, yeah. So yeah. All right, so uh all right, so I guess we're moving on to the mystery band. Bing bong boom. And that is your pick.

SPEAKER_02 37:40

Me!

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Yes, it's your pick. You get to surprise me with the band. We talked who you turned me on to this week or this episode.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

We we talked about um the record store that I used to go to when I was a kid on Long Island. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

So this is Oh, I know I remember that story, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

This is one of the records that I got.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

King Horse. Oh, produced by Danzig. I had dinner with him.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Oh, how tasty.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Yeah, I mean I I met him when uh he was signed in nuclear blast, so I ended up uh having dinner with him one night in New York. Nice! Yeah, yeah, he's uh sh that's interesting. King Horse. Okay, hold on. Write this down. When did that come out?

SPEAKER_00 38:23

This is from 90. Okay. Huh. Never mind. All right, 1990. They're from Louisville, Kentucky. It's a hardcore punk band, basically. No kidding. I didn't know that Louisville had such a vibrant punk scene. Louisville, Kentucky? Is that what you said? That's what they're from. That's what they're from.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Wow, it's a punk punk band.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Yeah, now the interesting tie-ins here is that the artwork was done by Pusshead. Oh, that's why that looks familiar. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Oh, okay. It looks so familiar. How badass is that man? Oh, that's why. Okay. It's just beautiful. How did you find out about them?

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Uh, a review in Guitar Player magazine. Oh, no shit. Okay. Yeah. So uh you go. He was the the fellows. I don't know if you can how well he can see.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Yeah, there you go. That's good. Oh, right on. I wonder how uh did you ever hear how Glenn Danzig got involved with them?

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Uh yeah, I've I remember reading the story like a week or two ago, and there is a connection there. Um, he I think that there were guys from the previous incarnation of this band when they were called something different that was somehow I think they were in a band that opened for Danzig.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Oh, okay. So they already knew him somehow. They knew each other, yeah. Oh, okay, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

And then I think I think he had them come out as King Horse for some live dates. Oh, gotcha. Yeah, so there's definitely that connection there. But uh I think you'll uh I think you'll really like, and I think the listeners who really like listeners. It's very uh primal, it's very punky.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

What what year did that come out?

SPEAKER_00 40:12

It's 1990.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

1990, okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yeah, on Caroline Records, which is oh that was on Caroline, wow. Okay. Um, which I think isn't that the same label that put out um the first Suicidal Tendencies album.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

I think that's true. I have to look that up. It was them, was it them or something pop? Yeah, I think so. I have to look that up. But yeah, I think you might be right about that.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

So uh but I love the album that I loved vocals, man. It's just it's very unique, okay. Very unique sounding. So it's it's it sounds very uh um homegrown and and visceral as way of okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Can you tell any like um uh gundanzig influence on it? Like from him producing, is there any kind of like mis vibe or anything?

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Yeah, there's definitely um or danzig vibe of some sort. Yeah, there's definitely in terms of the like the vocalizations of the vocalization. Oh, is that right? Okay, yeah, I can kind of hear some danzig in that. No kidding. Oh, interesting. Okay, but it's not it's not at all any kind of a ripoff.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

It's like no no no no no. I but but I but it just usually producers have some sort of like influence on on exonically, you know. So I just wanted I just was kind of curious how much he his influence came through on that. Yeah, it's it's there. Okay, huh? No shit. But it sounds punky. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Um, I I it's from uh again that time like you when we were talking about Zentrix earlier, where like things are things are recorded in such a way they they did a very nice job with the production with keeping all of the instruments separate and the the um the guitar tone is is very just raw and brutal. Like it sounds like he's playing through um like a little practice amp that has a loose pedal in front of it that's just up to total, you know, totally dined. Um playing by itself, you're like, that sounds like a cheap ass amp. And then all the other instruments kick in, and it's like, oh, I see what they were doing. It's a perfect, it's a really nice mix.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Okay, I will take a listen to King Horse. Thank you for that recommendation.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

And that's the debut album and the only release that they had.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

I think they had like that was the only release that they had, really.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Oh there was no follow-up, no shit. And I think there was like I think they they appeared on like a a split okay somewhere else, and I think they might have put out like a seven inch or something.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Okay, and then that was it.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Yeah, but they don't have like a large discography, it's it's this record.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Okay, cool. I will definitely give it a spin. Thank you for right recommendation. I will have one for you next episode. Right on. All right, so that moves us over to live shows and tours that we've heard about and that uh we want to talk about. So um to start with, I sent you the link to the headbanger's boat, which is being done by Lamb of God. And they're doing like a they're doing a uh from October to November. Uh it's a cruise from uh Miami to the Bahamas. Yeah. Did you look at the lineup? No. Oh, dude, it's Lamb of God. Uh okay, so Lamb of God, Zach Sabbath, which is black, you know, uh Zach's Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's Zach Wilde's uh Black Sabbath band. Um the Dillinger Explain Escape Plan, In Flames, Death Angel, The Haunted, Gwar, All Shall Perish, Kaleese Khaleesa, who I've never heard of, uh Dri, which was a random, weird, out of the out of nowhere punk band. Um Harms Way, who I've never heard, Soylent Green, which was also a surprise. 200 Stab Wounds. Um are you familiar with them? I've seen 'em. Okay. What why not 100? Do they need why they need 200? I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

They told me they needed the extra hundred stabs okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

I'm just curious. Uh uh X cops out of nowhere, uh Chainsaint, who I've never heard of, and also Jose Mangan. So that's like the lineup I'm seeing here so far. But what do you think of that?

SPEAKER_00 44:19

That's interesting and destructive.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

I don't know how I feel about a headbanger's boat. How do you feel about a like a cruise with headbangers?

SPEAKER_00 44:28

I mean, it's a fun idea. Just be on a boat with a bunch of other metal people.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

That's how I feel about it. But my question to you is, would you go? Would I go? Yeah. No. Why not?

SPEAKER_00 44:43

No, and um, just at some point you just gotta turn it off.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

At some point, I just maybe I'm getting old, man, but it's like at some point I go, all right, I had enough.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

I need a break.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

These people don't do that. No, that's true. No, there's on a cruise, yeah. Oh my god. I mean, you know, there's gonna be, and and that I'm telling you, the inside of that boat is gonna be need to be posed down.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

I would not want to be on the cleanup crew. Yeah, I would not want to be the cleanup crew on that on that cruise. Yeah, and I've seen like the footage and stuff, and it's like the the pools and like all the other stuff is just like overflowing with people. I'm like, oh dude, there's no way I'm just like, it's like I and I think it's an age thing. I'm getting old, you know, because I probably throw my face into the middle of that when I was in my 20s. And now I'm like, and now I'm like, if I do that, I'm coming out there with a disease. I know I'm coming out sick somehow with something. Yeah, something's gonna come, you know, it's gonna be bad. I that's all I know.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Either it's either gonna be puke touching me or PP or poo-poo, or b or all three at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Well, if it's guar, it's gonna be all three at the same time. And other things mixed in, and other things, other fluids mixed in that we shall not discuss. Now, besides that, um I also saw that uh testament, overkill, and destruction are on the road together. I saw that. Did you see are you gonna go see it?

SPEAKER_00 46:08

It's uh Thrash of the Titans or something.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

Yeah, Thrash of the Titans, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Starting yeah, I might I might go see that. Um I know that they're playing Overkill.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

Are they they're playing your way, aren't they? Like New York or Philly or something.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

I'm sure they are. I haven't looked up the dates for it. Okay. When is it? Do you know it's uh starting in March? Okay. I'll have to look it up. Um I'll see if I can find a finding. The bass player for Overkill isn't gonna be on the tour.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

No, I read that. They got uh who'd they get? They got the guy from uh shit. Who they have sent in for him? I did read about that.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

Yeah, I forgot.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Oh, damn it, I forgot who they had.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

Oh, it was it was it wasn't a nobody.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

No, no, no, no. Uh-uh. No, it was I forget who the bass player was that they got. Damn it. Yeah, that's that's escaping me. Right now I'll find it. Uh they're gonna be in Reading, Pennsylvania on March 29th, which isn't too far from you.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

I remember seeing those.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Oh, Sayreville, New Jersey. Really? At the Starland Barroom on on March 20th.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

Oh, I've never been there.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

Well, there you go. I think that's the closest they're gonna get to you, though. On what day? March 28th. Okay. In Sayreville? Okay. So that or Reading, Pennsylvania, you're closer to the city.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

No, Sayreville's gonna be way closer.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

Oh, okay. So that's the one at 28th at the just so you know. At the Starland Ballroom, yeah. So yep, there you go. Uh all right. Yeah, Red. I can't remember who which bass player they got. That's driving me crazy who they got to join them.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Damn it. I think they said something about Didi Verney had like a shoulder surgery or something.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

Oh, is that right? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

And he is his own side band, his own side project. Which is like it's like uh it's not thrash metal at all. It's oh is that right.

SPEAKER_01 48:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Yeah, it's uh it's like a very, very um uh energetic uh Brian Setzer.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

Oh, right on. Is that right? More like uh rockabilly stuff.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

Yeah, that's I'm trying to remember the name. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

Now another thing I saw coming up is also the Maryland Death Fest is coming up in May. It is in Baltimore. Have you ever been? No, but um you should go to that.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

Yeah, we talked about it last uh episode a little bit because uh I think I had mentioned that I had never seen Grave in concert.

SPEAKER_01 48:38

Well, I'm gonna say the lineup is crazy, dude. It's a crater, old man's child, destruction, grave, rotting Christ, Death Angels, Cancer is on there, The Crown, Pig Destroyer, Mortician, uh Macabre. I mean, like the lineup is crazy. Uh oh uh this one band from Iceland that I might I might be turning you on to. Um so yeah, they're like a black metal band, but almost techno, so it's hard to describe. Um but yeah, so uh but yeah, but yeah, the cephalic carnage. I mean, it's like a crazy lineup, man. Have you been to you should check out the website? Like it's a the lineup is nuts. So a lot of bands.

SPEAKER_00 49:15

I have seen it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Yeah. Are you gonna try to go to it?

SPEAKER_00 49:19

I'm strongly considering it just like it's a just for the to to be able to see Grave because Grave, yeah. I I don't know how much longer uh that guy, Ola Lindgren, is gonna be around.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Well, I don't think they're doing and they're doing old school, they're doing old school sets in a lot of these. Yeah. They're doing an old school set themselves, so there you go.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

Yeah, yeah. I would be happy to see that. So yeah, maybe I will make plans to go up that way.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

I'd like to see uh Crater, that's one of the bands on my list, and also macabre. I like to see I saw them in Chicago like a or Milwaukee like a hundred years ago, but but uh yeah, some of those bands. Um yeah, so that I mean that lineup is so I've been to the Deathfest before. It's a great show, man. If you get a chance to go see it, it's a weird spot though, because it's like in the city. I know, but but it's like outside in the city, it's like in a parking lot, basically.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

Yeah, I've seen of bands playing it.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

It's a weird, yeah, it's a bizarre.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

It's very weird to see um what's his name? John McIntyre from Incantation.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Their last set last year, and he's standing there and he's belting stuff out, and behind him is a is a slightly out of focus Marshall's sign. And you're like, Oh, you can go pick up a blazer once we're done here. Yeah, what the hell is going on there?

SPEAKER_01 50:38

Yeah, yeah, that's so weird.

SPEAKER_00 50:39

Right in the middle of the street.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

Yeah, like well, when you go there, you're like you're you're looking around, like, is there really a show here? You know, because you're like the when you park and stuff, it's really confusing, and then you see this mass of people, but then it just looks like they're going to a parking lot, which they are, but then you don't realize that that's the show. It's not just the parking lot for the parking lot saying it's like that's where the show is. So, yeah, it's a really it's just yeah, it's a very strange uh arrangement. But I guess I can't imagine what it's like for the people that live near there. So what must be because it's like outside is so fucking loud there, but yeah. Well, I guess that's the I guess that's the vibe.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

They gotta put up with it for a couple days, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

So I don't know, kind of worth it, I guess. But so you think you might check it out?

SPEAKER_00 51:21

I think I might do that. Um and last episode we discussed uh triumph. Yes. Uh guess who has a uh row s ticket to no, dude.

SPEAKER_01 51:36

You got you got tickets, you bastard. What what where where are they playing and when?

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Uh I think it's called Freedom Mortgage Pavilion.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

Oh, is it the one in Camden? Yeah, it's oh okay. Is that what it is now? I've been there before, but I can't keep track of the name.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

Yeah, it was called something else the last time I was there. I actually saw the Who there back in like 2002.

SPEAKER_01 51:58

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

2000 something. But um, yeah, I mean it's it's them and April Wine.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

Oh, yeah, that's right. I saw April Wine was opening that show. That sounds so awesome. I love April Wine. I don't know anything about the you don't know April Wine, you wouldn't know you uh just Google them, you'll know them because it you would have heard them on MTV at some point, I'm sure. Uh get a couple big hits and stuff. Yeah, really good band. I think you like them. Guitar works amazing. You love the guitar stuff, yeah. Very 70s, but still good band. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. I don't know. Yes, I saw Tenacious D there that same place. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I was trying to think if I saw it was Tenacious D. But yeah, that's what I saw at that at that. So so when's this when is that show?

SPEAKER_00 52:41

Uh it's the it's May. It's the it's the Thursday after Memorial Day weekend.

SPEAKER_01 52:49

Okay. Oh, nice. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:51

I think it's June actually. I think it's like very beginning.

SPEAKER_01 52:53

Oh, that would be June then, yeah. So that'd be June.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

So uh yeah, man. I mean I'm oh so good. Yeah, and I uh they they gave you the opportunity to upgrade your ticket to a VIP experience if you wanted, which involved things like you know, you they let you into the venue early, you get in early access to all the merchandise tables, backstage or anything like that, or no? Uh well there was a the top level, which was like the elite fan thing, which okay that was you couldn't even buy that because it had sold out.

SPEAKER_01 53:26

Oh, god, okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

Yeah, that involved a meet and greet with the guys from Triumph. How much was the ticket? Just based just basically baseline ticket. Yeah, it was like 40 bucks. Is that it? Holy shit. But I mean, that's if you were okay sitting all the way in the back. I said, I'm only gonna do this once.

SPEAKER_03 53:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

Uh I looked at their little map and I'm like, ooh, that's like right by where Rick Emmett likes to stand.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

So uh it's row S, which is I don't know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 53:56

Uh but your ticket was 40 bucks? Huh? Your ticket was 40 bucks. How much is that one?

SPEAKER_00 54:01

For that, I don't know. I had to pay like I think I paid like 150.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

That's not bad. Not for a good seat like that. Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

I've never sat on the floor for a show.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:12

So I'm like, I wish this always existed where I could just look at the map and yeah, I know. I just pick it that I wanted because when you in the old days with Ticketmaster, you just got whatever the guy you got, whatever you got, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

That was it, and then you hope for the hope you could see, yeah, totally. Yeah, no, that was not that's not that's not bad though for a decent seat for for them. Because I know some of the other bands are charging ridiculous, like you know, some of these other bands are charging ridiculous amounts. But I saw ELO on their last tour, and that it was like 150 bucks per ticket, too. It was not bad. Oh wow, yeah, yeah. Those weren't amazing seats, but they weren't bad. It wasn't like nosebleed, but it was yeah, it was decent seats. So, but that's good. I'm glad they aren't charging like an exorbitant amount or anything. So I was wondering.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

When the police did their reunion tour back in 2007, I got the first the it's like the tickets went on sale like 9 a.m. Yeah, and I was online at nine, uh, you know, 8 59, and I'm purchasing purchase. And uh as soon as it hit nine o'clock, I I got in, yeah, and still ended up with nosebleed seats all the way in the back of Madison Square. And I'm like, what was the point of me doing that?

unknown 55:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

Who who and this is before I knew anything about bots, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm like, how did 30,000 people get in front of me in line?

SPEAKER_01 55:34

Right, just like that. Yeah, just like that. Yeah, I don't understand. I don't understand either, yeah, yeah. Or and definitely don't let other people that don't under don't understand the system buy tickets for you. Um, I went to see the stones on one of their on their last tour with Charlie before he died. Oh, yeah. Yeah, my mom wanted to go, so this was a cool, you know, moment with my mom. Yeah, but she was the one who bought the tickets, which was the mistake because she didn't know she didn't know how the stadiums worked, and we ended up, I think we had the very worst seats that you could possibly have in the Lincoln Center in Philly, you know, the link. Oh yeah. We were I think we were in Jersey, I'm not even sure. We were at the very top of that, we were in the top, top, top row of that stadium in the back center. We could not be farther away. Like I said, we were closer to New Jersey than we were the stone.

SPEAKER_03 56:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

So that's how that's how far away they were like this big, but luckily they had terrible big speakers and they had like the big screens and stuff we can see them. So I was like, mom, you're never gonna pick a concert ticket again. Like, no, this is never gonna happen again. So I'll be putting making sure I get the tickets from now on some from now on.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

So well, it was a wholesome intention.

SPEAKER_01 56:39

It was. It was and it was a great experience. I got the you know, experienced stones with my mom, so that was a good start. Cool, good experience. All right, so I think that brings us to the end of the road here. Did you have anything else you want to follow up with?

SPEAKER_00 56:51

Uh no, I think that uh um okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

Well, uh then join us for our next episode where we'll be talking about things like uh bands that are on tour that should no longer maybe be on tour. We have some more news coming up. Uh, my mystery band will be uh the next pick and more album reviews and more live tour stuff. Until then, that's it. Thank you for joining us on Twitch Garrett Podcast with anyone twitchy.