Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / EP100: Marcos Leal | Shattered Sun to Swim the Current, the ill Niño Truth, and Texas Metal Legacy

Transcript

EP100: Marcos Leal | Shattered Sun to Swim the Current, the ill Niño Truth, and Texas Metal Legacy · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: What's going on, many?
0:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm back at it again.
0:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh welcome back to the Club Security Originals podcast.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: Today's uh special.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: We're joined by South Texas owned Marcos Leal and I've got uh guest co-host Nick Lopez, a long time Mill Nino fan, longtime supporter of the show, and the co-host uh for the and uh co-host uh for this interview here with Marcos uh back.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, Marcos.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Man, thank you guys for having me, man.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: It's been uh it's been a minute, what it's been like two years?
0:26
SPEAKER_00: About two years, yeah.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Lots changed, a lot of uh a lot of cool things, a lot of sucky things have happened in that time.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: But uh man, I'm so thankful for you guys to have me back on the show and you know, still out here representing Corpus, man.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Glad you're here.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: Real quick, uh, shout out to Premier Hearing Solutions of South Texas uh for sponsoring us.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh thanks.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: If you you got some hearing care you need, uh she she can help you out over there.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Also CorpusChrist Originals.com.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh check out the merch to help support the uh podcast.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Man, dude, so yeah, a lot has been going through.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: I guess we'll talk about that a little later.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh we'll talk about what you got going on right now.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: Swim the current.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh I I uh, you know, after I left my last band, I kind of had this idea to uh mix country rock.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, I obviously I think you guys know that I'm a I'm a big country fan.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh mix, you know, the country with my rock roots.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: I've always had that idea to do that, and I just kind of ran into the right people at the right time, and uh fortunately they they saw my vision and man, it just swim the current started as like a feature, you know what I mean?
1:28
SPEAKER_00: It was just something like hey, they they paid me to appear on a track with them, and it just blossomed into really great friendships, but also there was a spark there uh writing music that I've just never had in my career before.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: And it was like two it was like two songs you did write just featuring two different things.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well it was it was one which was it was metal, you know what I mean?
1:49
SPEAKER_00: And then uh, you know, I had this idea that I wanted to kind of pitch to the guys, and obviously they're all from New York, so they're not a bunch of you know cowboys like I am.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: So uh, you know, pitching to a bunch of guys from New York, like, hey, I want to do country music and mix it with these this rock roots that we have.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Naturally, at first they were kind of like the fuck?
2:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about that, man.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: So we did solo and it sparked, man.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: It was a co-wetzel cover.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Shout out, co, yeah, my man.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was a co-wetzel cover and it did so well and it streamed so well that we signed a record deal off of it.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: It was like the first time in my career that it happened so fast.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: Like it was one song was a feature, then we're signing a record deal off a cover, and then we're putting out a full-on country single.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: So it was kind of a whirlwind, you know what I mean?
2:43
SPEAKER_00: How it happened like that.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: But man, those guys really came in at a really difficult time in my life, and uh kind of helped me get past it, you know what I mean?
2:53
SPEAKER_02: And it all floats so well too, man.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: Like, especially like how you said, like they were kind of iffy about it, and they're not, of course, they're New York, not Texas or whatever.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Um I got them wearing some cowboy boots though.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: I know it's in the day, but it's pretty crazy how they they like just adapt to it with the guitars and everything, and then the drummer too, you know, the drummer filling in on everything to make it fit.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: And it's crazy because you know each member, you know, George, Chris, Joe, uh, Greg, they all have their own like background of stuff that you know Chris has played with Dockin in Queensreich, and George has played with Disciples of Erity Living Color, and you know, Joe has done so many uh you know things in his career.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: So it's like everybody already had these things built in place.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, Joe, uh he already knew how to play steel guitar, not because he was trying to do country, he was into you know other things with it, but what are the odds that like I found a New York guitar player that is into steel guitar and already knows how to play?
3:58
SPEAKER_02: That was the the the first single right yeah after solo.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we did we did stay, stay.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: And uh like that song.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: It was like my first jump into it, and man, you know, just so you guys kind of understand how how like scary that was, it was like I've always been known as a metal guy, screaming from from Shattered Sun to El Nino to to jump into a whole nother genre is pretty terrifying.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Pretty terrifying.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna say what what uh what creative freedom uh does did you did you have or did you feel like you have because it's obviously a change in the style that you're singing.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think you know, coming from the band I was in before with Nino, there was such a a reins put on the uh like the songwriting.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, we're gonna stay in this little box here because this little box is what works for us.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: And even in like the writing for some of their music, you know, when I would try and stray out of it, I would always kind of tell myself, or there would always be somebody there to tell me, hey, we don't do that, we stay here.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: We're right in this box, you know what I mean?
5:04
SPEAKER_00: So as soon as like I kind of got away from that and threw out the idea that like, man, I I I kind of do want to sing country and I know how to sing it, I just kind of did my own thing, man.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Got with uh got with some really amazing producers and you know just kind of went for it.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which track uh pushed you the most, like vocally.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh I would say stay because it was hard for me to uh like put it in in your mind, like, hey, you're that you're going full on country here, you know what I mean?
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, you're gonna have rock elements.
5:38
SPEAKER_02: You can definitely hear it though too.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: I saw in the little country.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: And and you know, I have a funny story about that.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: Like, so Sahaj uh Tinkerton, he he uh sings for a band called Ra.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, they're a big new metal band, but he's this big producer, he does a lot of stuff for Breaking Benjamin and Starset.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: He's worked with Motley Crue, and so we we signed on to record with him, and I flew over there to Indianapolis, and like the first thing that caught me off guard, and this was like the first time that ever happened in my career, was so I get into a studio and he kind of sits me down and he's like, So I'm gonna be real with you, bro.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I've gone over all your music, and I don't think you can sing country music.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: He was like, and before I waste my time and your money writing songs, I need to know that you can sing them.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: So he was like, pick a couple country songs, and I'm gonna put them on right here, and you just sing to me.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: And mind you, I've been traveling all day, dude.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: So I was sipping, having drinks.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: I was like, no, no, no, you know, we'll we'll do this tomorrow.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: He was like, No, no, no, right now.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: He was like, So pick whatever country song you want.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, shit.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: So I pulled up a George Strait song and I pulled up a Coetzel song and I sang them right there, just in his you know, studio, just kind of like we are right now.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: And uh he looked at me and he goes, Alright, I believe he.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Now we can start writing some music.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: So it was to to have to sell somebody like that, like right on the spot, was like fuck, it was really hard.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
7:11
SPEAKER_00: But uh, and I was really nervous too.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: But you know, everything everything worked out, and you know, we were able to make some really great music.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have a whole record that's about to come out, you know what I mean?
7:21
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's been awesome.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: That's cool, man.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: You guys hope to make um do you know when uh that record's gonna come out?
7:28
SPEAKER_02: Um date yet?
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh we don't have a date.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, we are looking right at January because we were trying to shoot to uh release it before the year was out, but just kind of in the way it works in the record industry, it's like if you put something out right here in November and December, as soon as January hits, it's old.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: It's last year's record.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
7:49
SPEAKER_00: And it's and it's like Wow, yeah, that's that's that's so crazy.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: That's the way it goes with everyone.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, dude, damn.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine you you you put all this time and soul and heart into a record, and then by January 1st, it's like, oh man, that's last year's it's already in the trash, danger.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or you know, not so much in the trash, but it's kind of like what's new?
8:09
SPEAKER_00: You got something new?
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Because you guys put that out last time.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: I meant in the trash because those are your ideas, your musical ideas, now they're gone.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Now you have to come up with new musical ideas.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: You feel what I'm saying?
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's definitely like that, and it's it's like that in metal, and then like kind of transitioning into the country market.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Now I see it even more, and the the difference between the two is like in country, there's like you know, you you always find those bands where they have like one thing where it's like, man, the singer is epic.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Like that they always have the drummers, amazing, you know.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: You have those bands in country, like, dude, the opening band is like every member of the band is great.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: The singer looks like a freaking model, he's been singing since he was three years old in the choir, so it's like the competition like in that market is on a whole nother level.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: So it's definitely out there too, man.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: Because they know, like I've seen went to go see Giovanni and Great Band.
9:07
SPEAKER_02: Kobe uh Kobe and all that.
9:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:09
SPEAKER_02: And the openers, too, man, are like, damn, actually, there's some damn good openers in the uh Hunt Hunter Brothers.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: They opened up for Giovanni when we first saw them.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: And we me and my wife, we found fell in love with them.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, it's been good.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Treaty Oak Revival was uh opening band for Ko.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: They used to play right here at Brewster Street, and now they're one of the biggest bands in the world playing on Jimmy Fallon, and you know what I mean?
9:32
SPEAKER_00: It's it's like if you catch lightning in a bottle, man, you can really fly in that market.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: I think it makes me think of like Nashville.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, pretty much everybody's a musician in that town.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: So that that's why I'm saying, like, in in metal, it's like uh you have these bands where you're like, man, the singer's great, or man, they these guys are really good.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: That's why they stand out.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: In country, it's like, man, the opener is you ain't even you're not even talking about that.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: You're not even talking about the codes, you're not even talking about, you know what I mean, the Parker McCullums, the the the big time guys, and you're just like, man, the the the ladder's a lot steeper and a lot bigger, you know what I mean.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: But I love the challenge, man.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: I love I love uh being able to create like that.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: It not having somebody uh kind of hold you into you know one sound, one box.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: It's it's been uh it's been a whirlwind for my career because of that.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: So how do how did the the first uh show with swim?
10:28
SPEAKER_02: How did talk about that?
10:30
SPEAKER_00: That was that was incredible because it was uh You looked badass.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, it was fun.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: We played in we played in Bruce Brinkstein's club.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: No, uh it's called the Stone Pony, so it's like it has its own legendary lore to it, and we got to open for uh Tom Holland, who plays in uh Aerosmith.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: He's got a band that's on our label too, so it kind of threw us a bone, and uh, but the build-up to it was like, you know, we I'm in Texas, they're in New York.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: We took a whole year to write a record, you know, it's it's taken off, we hadn't even played in a room together, and we already have a song that's charting, so it was kind of like holy shit, you know what I mean?
11:09
SPEAKER_00: So there was a lot of pressure leading up to it, but I'll say this like they're some of the most amazing musicians that I've ever been around.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh they they kind of took me at a really, really like turbulent time in my life and were like, You're our missing piece.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: No, so like you know what I mean?
11:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, they already had something, they just needed that missing piece, and I at that moment was broken.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: So, you know what I mean?
11:36
SPEAKER_00: They they kind of had to champion me in it, and then once we kind of found that little niche with the country rock, it was like, oh, this is the this is the path.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: Let's go down it 100%.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: So that first show was amazing.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: It was it was amazing, and uh kind of have a special announcement while we're here on this subject.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are doing our first debut show here in Corpus, uh, January 31st, right here at the House of Rock.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's gonna be the first time that because you know, you playing that style of music in New York is it's cool.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
12:11
SPEAKER_00: I I think they they love us over there, they love the music.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: The guys have a following, but y'all guys know how special that music is here, you know what I mean?
12:19
SPEAKER_00: In Corpus in South Texas, in Texas, like uh marrying those two styles is just something that I think this area can really get behind.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to bring it home.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so what type of listener do you think swim the current connects with the most?
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Man, it's it's it's weird, dude, because it's like I feel like a lot of that metal crowd or that's followed me has crossed over, and I hear a lot of like, hey man, I don't listen to country, but I like this.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, you know what I mean, and then vice versa in the countryside, they're like, Man, you guys are like really rock oriented.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't listen to a lot of rock, but I listen to this.
12:58
SPEAKER_03: Interesting, though.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: So it it's it's like a cool little uh like hybrid, you know what I mean?
13:04
SPEAKER_00: Of I feel like the country artist that wants to listen to more rock and the rock, you know, uh listener that wants to listen to more country.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: So it's uh there's a cool little like niche there, uh, and we've definitely been growing a fan base over it, dude.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's been awesome.
13:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because that that I mean that's kind of how I am too.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm not really much of a country listener.
13:26
SPEAKER_02: My wife is, she loves country.
13:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I mean I'll live and listen to like some Kevin Fowler, yeah, you know, some other like radio stuff, you know, because it's usually played and you hear it.
13:37
SPEAKER_02: But when I got introduced to like more of the like co-edical, yeah, it's radio.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, OP and Giovanni and all that, I was like, damn, you know, I fuck with this.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: So whenever you you came up with it, and when y'all came out with Stay, uh me and my wife, we listened to it and she fell in love with it.
13:54
SPEAKER_02: She saw, man, that's fucking awesome.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, I mean the the way I kind of looked at it and embraced it, it was like, man, if if Jason Aldean or like, you know what I mean, like like Cole Wetzel or even like George Straight could sing on like a 90s rock record, that's that's what it is.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
14:11
SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's like uh it's like a 90s rock band with a country style vocal.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: And uh that that just got in me and and you know it it took on a whole path of of where we were going and and the type of music we were writing.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: It it's uh it's crazy because we already have a record done, it's already about to come out.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: And here after Thanksgiving, I'm hopping on a flight to start vocals for our second record that's already so like it's kind of like a contrast from my last band.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
14:41
SPEAKER_00: There was so much kind of controversy in every single single, and when's the record coming out?
14:47
SPEAKER_00: This you know what I mean?
14:48
SPEAKER_00: When you take all of that crap away and you and you let like your team cook and you let your band members cook, I mean, yo, dude, we we already have songs that are charting, we already have a record that's about to come out.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm about to put the finishing touches on the second record already.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: So it's you know what I mean?
15:04
SPEAKER_00: It's a whole different kind of onda there.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing, man.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, it makes you think like when you first did you know you that y'all were gonna like tour when you first started when you first got into Swim the Current?
15:14
SPEAKER_01: No, it was just like a side project, yeah.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: That's what it seemed like.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Because I mean I they came to me while I was still in El Nino, and I remember telling them, like, I don't want to do another metal band because I have Shattered Sun, I was in El Nino, so like I don't want to go do that again, you know what I mean?
15:33
SPEAKER_00: Like, and I want to do something that's like taking a chance, like, really like you know, step into the cliff and either we're gonna fall over or this thing is gonna hit.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: And they just kind of saw the uh potential in the music we were writing, and maybe a little bit of the fact that I've been singing country music in my backyard since I was a kid.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: So in all the back of the tour buses, you know, I was known to clear out a tour bus just jamming Jason Al Dean and George Train.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
16:05
SPEAKER_00: I I blast that shit every every time before a show, and and so that's how I would warm up my vocals.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: So like being able to sing it, actually, it's kind of it's something that's kind of hard to believe, but that's where my heart and soul is, man.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's kind of in my roots, you know.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: Texas roots, yeah, exactly.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so last thing, what what risks did you take uh with this uh this new record that paid off?
16:29
SPEAKER_00: Man, um I think even the label like was like I don't know, man.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if Marcus can sing like that that kept coming up like everywhere that we went.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Man, I don't know if Marcus can do that.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: If he can handle it, yeah, like because Marcus is this, and now we're doing this, you know what I mean?
16:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, and it and it wasn't until we showed him the music or like we performed live in front of them, or they saw the music video.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like morphing into a different like Marcus, you know what I mean?
17:00
SPEAKER_00: You you know me as this, but I can also be this, you know what I mean?
17:03
SPEAKER_00: And I think with anything, it it takes somebody having to see it.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: So like making some of these songs and risking like uh stay, for instance, like there's some things in the that song that I would never sing ever in anything, but like because the producer is like, Yeah, we gotta take a chance here, you know what I mean?
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is what so-and-so's doing.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: This is like, how can you put your spin on it?
17:27
SPEAKER_00: Just clicked, you know what I mean?
17:28
SPEAKER_00: And the listener loves it, you know what I mean?
17:31
SPEAKER_00: So it's uh I I I I think uh the proof's kind of in the pudding, like signing a record deal off of one song that came out that was a cover song, for them to be like, fuck it, let's take a chance.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: Bro, that's big, man.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: Especially here in South Texas, we got so many bands out here trying to try to like sign, get signed, make it, and stuff like that.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: And just like, and that's even a that's like next level, bro.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: You're doing totally different genre.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: You had already started in Shattered Sun and did your your your your time there, yeah.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: And now this is like it's it's totally up there, you know.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: It's unprecedented.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I I didn't think it was gonna work out this way, like, and again, I you know, gotta give credit to the band members because there was a lot of times throughout that year where I was just kind of down on you know the previous situation.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: I was you know, it's when well let me put it to you this way like when you spend five years trying to build somebody else's dream and build somebody else's like on the you know what I mean, and trying to step into somebody else's shoes of something that was already created, like there's a lot of pressure there, but when you can just kind of be like fuck it, this is me.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
18:43
SPEAKER_00: And if people don't like it, fuck it.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Like if it fails, fuck it.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Like I feel like when there wasn't that pressure there, it just like everything unlocked, you know what I mean?
18:53
SPEAKER_01: Kind of like going back to when you first started singing and all that stuff, yeah.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: Man, so the um so now let's talk about let's take it back uh a chapter that shaped your whole career, Shattered Sun and the 10-year anniversary of Hope Within Hatred's coming up.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: This Friday we're doing uh Brewster Street Ice House, man.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: We got some amazing, kind of like to what you were speaking to a minute ago.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: There's some amazing talent here in this uh in the city in this music scene, Zombie King Tilde.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's a band from Alice that's kind of on the come up called Excess.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Yes, uh, fucking love this king.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude, for real.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: Rock was fucking wild here.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I fucking love rocking, dude.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and you know, they they started working with uh with my guy who does all of my vocals, and I was kind of hearing some of these tracks before they came out, and I was like, dude, this fucking guy can sing, dude.
19:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, whale, don't you?
19:44
SPEAKER_00: And I know him because he he works at my H E B there now.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, you know what I mean?
19:50
SPEAKER_00: But we kind of see each other in that line.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, I'm here shopping for Pampers and Milk, and you're back there in the seafood section, but fucking rock this motherfucking place here, dog.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, but great talent.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: Zombie King, I feel is like the uh I feel like they're the next uh us, like that that band that kind of took the step, you know, and and it's crazy that they're working with our producer, uh Robert Beltran, yeah, who took hope within hatred and and he took our band and kind of was like fucking go get it, you know what I mean?
20:23
SPEAKER_00: And and uh so a lot of talent, man, but you know, celebrating ten years of a record that you know at the time you don't think about ten years.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: You're just like let's get the record out, let's go tour, let's whatever, I don't care.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Just let's keep going.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: So to be here ten years later and celebrating and charted you know, pretty high on Billboard, sold about a hundred and fifty thousand copies, you know what I mean?
20:47
SPEAKER_00: It just for a metal band to do that from here, man.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: It was we toured with some of the biggest bands in the world, you know what I mean?
20:53
SPEAKER_00: So to be here festivals too.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, dude.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: We we got to do, you know, our management, we got to be managed by Johnny Z, who found Metallica, you know, Chuck Billy was our manager, was you know, testament, one of the biggest singers, biggest bands, biggest singers in the world, you know, to to have their guidance, you know what I mean, and then to to be here ten years later and and see how much that record means to people was pretty one of my proudest moments, you know, in my career.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: We got another Alice native in the chat, Joaquin Rangel.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: Joaquin!
21:24
SPEAKER_01: Going to be a badass show celebrating the album.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, November 28th.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I was selling him, man.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Dude, I don't know what's in the water in Alice, bro, but most of the dudes that come out of there that I've met like totally exceeded my expectations, bro.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what it is, bro.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: And I I have a theory on this.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Tell him uh I think in Alice, when you when you start, and I think we talked about this on our previous podcast before, uh when you get to a certain age, it's like we're either you're gonna go to college or you're gonna go to the Oilfield.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: Which one's it gonna be?
21:57
SPEAKER_00: And if you have a dream that is like that doesn't Fit in that mold, you kind of go into like, I gotta do this now, or I'm gonna be on a fucking whole ring.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: That's that's exactly the Shattered Sun story.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, we got to a point where it was like, okay, we're going all in because right now, guess what?
22:16
SPEAKER_00: He's having a baby.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh he just got a job offer from you know neighbors and they're paying$50 an hour.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: So and so wants to get married, so-and-so's having a kid.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: So you get to that point where you're like, Well, I can't do music no more, so it's either gonna be now or never.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: And it hit for us, you know what I mean?
22:33
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like a jackpot.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: But I see I see the same thing in the guys in XS, you know what I mean?
22:38
SPEAKER_00: Like they uh, or even in Zombie King too, Zombie King's from Robstown.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you get to that point where you're like, it's gotta happen now, or I might not be able to do this later.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: Not only that, dude, y'all's musicianship is really good too.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, man.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, dude, it's awesome.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: I was listening to Hope and Hatred.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh man, it was it's amazing, dude.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: Your your vocals are good.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: It's all of it, dude.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: Everything's still fucking all of it's hard, man.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: And I've been digging into it, uh, just you know, over the past couple of months that we knew that this was gonna happen.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh digging into the old memories, and I was laughing on the way here because I was like, man, 27-year-old Marcus was fucking crazy.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: Like, or even uh, you know, you know, 20-year-old Joseph, you know what I mean, or or 22-year-old Jesse is like, man, we did some fucking crazy shit, dude.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, but it it's it's the uh it's the how bad do you want it?
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, we we would play uh a big festival, we'd play at two o'clock in the afternoon, then we'd go headline a show that night and we'd drink all night and then wake up the next morning at 9 a.m.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: to do a radio station acoustic and you know do a meet and greet with fans and do it all again the next day, riding around in a 15-passenger with no AC in the middle of summer.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Like, would 38-year-old Marcus do that?
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Probably fucking not.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, probably fucking not.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I mean?
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Yo, straight up, like, yo, we had an exhaust leak in the in our van.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: We used to call our van Vanterra.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: And like, I tell we were laughing about this the other day rehearsal.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: I was like, at some point, we're gonna get older and we're gonna go in the doctor's office, and they're gonna be like, Were you guys ever like around like it's an industrial plant?
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, are we inhaling a lot of fumes?
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, for about two years of our lives, we were we're going at it pretty hard.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: But uh you know, man, it's it's awesome going back and seeing uh all the memories.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: But what what's really cool is seeing the fans like how that record meant something for them, you know what I mean?
24:40
SPEAKER_00: How that record helped them through this or through that, and you know, to to still be here 10 years later.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you guys know you know, somebody put out a song last week that got a million views, and nobody gives a fuck right now.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
24:52
SPEAKER_00: So to have a record 10 years later, that's still um that still means something to people, man.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: That's that's special to me.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: That's what's uh what's up, Jose Lasso and uh Todd in the Facebook chat.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you guys.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: He was crazy, yeah.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Jose knows.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: Jose fucking knows he was in that van quite a bit.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Dude, we we used to uh we used to be wild, bro.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Like we were laughing about it earlier, and I was like, you know, we used to drink like 230 packs in a bottle before we even stepped on stage.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: And like now, I was like, is anybody gonna have a beer or two before the show?
25:26
SPEAKER_00: It's like no nah nah.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: I need to be able to see.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, no, some of my good.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Danny was like, he was on the memory dog.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I didn't see this, like, you know what I mean?
25:35
SPEAKER_00: We can have a drink afterwards, Salvatore, but you know, we used to we used to be pretty, we used to be pretty wild, man.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: I think about it now because times are different.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Like some of these young bands, man, they're like they're zoned in, man.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: They have they have rigs and they have computers and they have tracks and everything is is so to like be drinking 230 packs in a bottle, that's an o no nowadays.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: But back then, man, like we were literally like, hey, plug and play.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: That's how we learned.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, there was no time to when you were open up opening up for these big bands, dude.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: There's no, hey, I gotta set my this up and that up and this other.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, dude, you got you got 30 minutes to wow this crowd, and guess what?
26:14
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a throw and go, get your shit on, play, and then get the fuck off right afterwards.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: And if you if you can't win a crowd over in that time, you know what I mean?
26:23
SPEAKER_00: It it's it's tough, you know what I mean.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: So we're fortunately we were able to do that quite a bit.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: We got pretty good at doing that.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's crazy.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Imagine fucking even go through all that, you know, because I remember the day when uh y'all posted y'all y'all got signed to uh victory and all that, and you know, Robert being a part of that too, you know, because Robert grew up in the neighborhood of my uh my grandmother and you know, just around the corner.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: So I like I told him today, just for someone from the neighborhood to see something do some some badass shit, it's fucking amazing.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: It would have never happened without Robert.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: Robert's a good fucking dude, even whenever I was at a band around the high school days, we didn't have a place to fucking practice because my uh neighbor was complaining about the noise, couldn't go nowhere else.
27:08
SPEAKER_02: So we're like, that's how Robert like I don't know, man.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but yeah, like that whole building set set just for yeah.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: I remember having a drum set at the bottom.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: I was playing at the same time.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: We were I was playing in a band called Wicked Red.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: He was in uh excrete, excrete excrete, excrete, yeah.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
27:25
SPEAKER_00: I think all of those lessons and things uh from those days when he was playing and he was actually you know trying to chase uh being you know a professional musician, like we all were like a lot of bands, you know what I mean?
27:38
SPEAKER_00: I think those things helped guide us.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Like he was working with a lot of bands, you know what I mean, when when we first got with him, but we were the only band that was like, we'll fucking do whatever, like we'll do what the fuck ever.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll yeah, we'll play in Robstown, Benavides, then we'll come back and we'll play Corp.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Like, like we did not care, yeah.
27:57
SPEAKER_02: It's it's that point, like fucking playing in a fucking house party, then fucking do it.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, and and that's the thing, like we like we really sold out to the cause, and he was the one that was there that was kind of like driving it.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: And I think you know, and I don't mean this in an insulting way, I think you know, him not being able to do that in Xcrete is what fueled the no, you guys have to.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: No, you feel that, right?
28:21
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
28:22
SPEAKER_01: I definitely hear what you're saying on that dude.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like and and I don't I don't mean that I love Rob to death, I don't mean that in an insulted way.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, I loved Xcrete too.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: They used to complain now.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but like, because they man, they did a bunch of things that were like pro at that level where we were all little kids, we were like, oh my god, like you know what I mean, bro.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
28:40
SPEAKER_00: They brought their own PA, like you know what I mean?
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, there was no way to compete, but I think like him not being able to do those things and cross those barriers were like whenever we would slack off, he'd be like, No, you can't, because this is where we have to push through, this is what we have to do.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, you guys can only rehearse two times a week.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: No, fuck that.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, you gotta be do rehearsing every day, like, and just through all of the things that happened, like you know, us kind of making hope within hatred, and then us signing a management deal, a record label, there was so many things in there where it was like without Rob, it it wouldn't have worked.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: And and we laugh about this all the time now, but it's like Rob was the type of guy that he would run our sound, and immediately after the show, we'd all be gassed up.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, we did so great.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: He'd come up and he'd be like, There's a couple things, there's a couple things we need to talk about.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: And some people don't like that criticism, you know what I mean?
29:42
SPEAKER_00: But I can tell you this from fucking fact the people that do not like that criticism are the people that will not take that next step.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Like you have to you have to be able to be there, like, yeah, you know, you fucked up on this part, and you know, you you you sounded out of key here, and you know, you look gassed here.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: So getting in that mindset, like without without Rob, we would have never signed any deals, we would have never this record would have never done things that so it seems like he's more pushing you guys as artists and stuff like that.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: Is there a point where he helped y'all like music-wise?
30:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: He helped he helped with a lot of the writing in that first record.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we were not seasoned musicians, uh, we were uh kids, you know what I mean?
30:28
SPEAKER_00: And you know, Hope Within Hatred was the first one, it had that lick, Dan it could dig it, dan, it could dig it, dan like he was the one who kind of was like, we can make this into something special.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Like he he took a lot of those songs and turned them into uh what they are now, and without without his guidance, man, we we we couldn't have done the things that we did.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: Not not very many bands have their producer go out on the road with them and run sound every night.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: That's that's pretty nuts, dude.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty nuts.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you got some?
31:02
SPEAKER_02: No, I was gonna say shout out Rob, man.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: You have a real one for sure.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: And what he's doing with with Zombie King, like I see it even even more so now with those guys because like they're they're that same level of hungry, and then I see Rob kind of being the the jet fuel behind them, and I just got so much love for those dudes, man, because I feel like they're gonna be the next band to really take off from this area.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: That's cool, man.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: So as far as hope within hatred, uh, when did you first realize um that that album was gonna change everything?
31:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh funny with my dad.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: God rest his soul, man.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: But uh my dad was one of those guys that was like uh I don't I don't believe that there's money here.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't believe that this could change your life.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: Like this just sounds like you know, I've been playing music since I was 13.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: So what what's the difference between this song and this record and this everything?
31:57
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't until very early on.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: You remember River City Rockfest?
32:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: We we won a battle of the bands to play River City Rockfest, and we played in front of maybe 15,000 people.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I remember and I think we opened for Def Leopard that day.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, we we played it, and I remember my dad was like, Oh, like I I can see what it is now.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: Like, you can make money here, this could change your life.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, so that that switched my dad to like okay, like now I believe you.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of the moment where I was like, Dad, look, like we have this album, and we were talking to these management people, and we're gonna sign this record deal.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never I'll never forget this as long as I live.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: We were playing a show at the Aztec Theater, and my dad showed up, and there was a line from here down the end of the street for our merch, and he goes, So everybody here is paying$20 something dollars a shirt.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, some are paying$30,$40,$50,$60.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
33:01
SPEAKER_00: So that's when he was kind of like, Oh shit, okay, this is this is some real deal shit right here.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: And uh that was kind of the moment where I was like, Yeah, this is gonna change everything moving forward, and you need you need that approval from your parents.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: Remember, we used to be online at uh Texas Sky, I don't remember what show it was, but there would be dudes walking by with t-shirts with the band name on it.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: And one time a friend of mine is like, hey, security, because he's bootlegging the bootlegging.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Bootlegging, dude.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: They're cheaper out here than the ones in the ring.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, now, now even more so, bro.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: For real, I go like especially like some bands too, like for instance, like uh Mojess and White, like I seen them, you know, when they used to play here at House of Rock, their shirts were like, you know, 20 and 25 bucks.
33:46
SPEAKER_02: Now they they've gone so much bigger, and you see the shirts like damn 30, 35, 40, 50.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh dude.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: No, and and I'll I'll tell you about the bands now, but and I'll tell you why why, because you know, I haven't I haven't purchased merchandise for Shattered Sun in a very long time.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: So over this past week I've been kind of getting quotes from people and some I won't say who, but a business here in the uh coastal pan area was like, you know, they quoted me pretty pretty high, and I was like, dude, broken down.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: I was like, yo, that's$22 a shirt.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: I was like, where's their room to make money?
34:19
SPEAKER_00: He was like, well, you know, a lot of bands sell their shirts for$50,$60.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: I was like, yeah, fucking Metallica.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, we're not fucking Metallica, you know what I mean?
34:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, I was like, that that's that's crazy, bro.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: We used to we used to buy shirts, you know, for four or five, six dollars a shirt, and you turn around and flip them for 20.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Nowadays it's it's a crazy game, man.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, crazy.
34:40
SPEAKER_02: I mean, all the all the machines now that they're using and everything, it's not just a little press on, it's all inked in.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: And it it's funny because like when I was in El Nino, I never had to worry about any of that.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, so you know, being in Swim the Current and Shattered Sun, like this past week was maybe the first time in years that I ever tried to put in like a merch order for Shattered Sun, and I was like, so whoa, times changed.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh yes, talking about the now we're I guess we're moving on to the to the El Nino portion where we obviously we want to hear talk about uh your your side of the story or whatever you want to share.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh so um uh what did we say?
35:23
SPEAKER_01: Now we're stepping into the chapter fans have been asking about for years, and one that you've never spoken about in full.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, we had El Nino on a couple episodes after your the solo episode with yours.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh so you got any initial thoughts you'd like to share?
35:38
SPEAKER_00: Or man, it's uh it's such a touchy situation for me because it's like there is still animosity there and there is still anger there.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: But like, you know, something I've kind of learned over the past like you know, year and a half that I've been out of the band is I try not to let that anger kind of consume me anymore, because for a while it was.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: And uh again, I have to I have to shout out both Chattered and and Swim because you know those guys kind of really helped me through a tough, difficult fucking time.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: And I think the one thing that I can say is like, you know, there's no real brothers like other than your real brothers, you know what I mean?
36:25
SPEAKER_00: I and throughout that experience I kind of saw people that I had pretty you know, really, really close relationships with, not only in the band, but outside of the band and the business, uh be completely destroyed over uh over what happened.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: And I think overall when I think about it, what makes me angriest uh about it is that we had something special.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: Like there was something special there.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: There was a you know, an electricity within that band that uh I j I I'd never felt before.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
37:05
SPEAKER_00: And and uh to see the things that we built up and mind you, uh you know, I'm Nick knows this and the story's pretty you know told.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: I I was a big El Nino fan growing up, so I I witnessed El Nino playing Concrete Street behind us to playing at zeros in front of 20 people and then insert me to build it all back up again.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, and that that specific interview that you're talking about, I just kinda that night we had a sold-out show, you guys were there, you know what I mean?
37:37
SPEAKER_01: We we had some No AC and everything, bro.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: That was one of that was one of the toughest shows I ever played.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: But uh seeing that interview and the things that were said in that interview to how things played out, I think is is pretty telling.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: Um But you know, I like I said, I I'm kind of an open book about it now.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: Um it's just kind of a lesson learned type of deal for me.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
38:04
SPEAKER_01: When did you first feel that uh your time with El Nino uh might be coming to an end?
38:10
SPEAKER_00: Um I think it was there towards the uh towards when you know album deadlines were getting missed, and uh you know, I I was the face of the band for five years, so when you tell your fan base who's ravid for a record, hey, this record's coming out July 22nd, and then July 22nd happens and there's nothing and there's no announcement, well who do you think they're gonna look to?
38:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, they're they're not gonna go to the drummer or the bass player, they're gonna go to the singer.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
38:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's just what happens in the business when you put when you put somebody to be the face of your band, you know what I mean?
38:52
SPEAKER_00: So after that cycle that had kind of gone on, you know, trying to save face for everything, I think that last uh miss state of the record kind of just put a wedge there in between uh in between relationships, as far as because I I I think I've heard it said a few times, I think I think Dave said this.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Um he said Marcus wanted too much control in in my band and my rebuttal to that would be I never wanted control in your band or in El Nino, but when it comes to the music that I write, yeah, I anybody wants their control in their music that they write.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: When you uh when you appoint somebody to uh to write a record for your band and bring your band back from the ashes, and you know, we were number one on on XM and we were playing every festival and we were going on tour with Megadeth, like yo, we built that.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
39:57
SPEAKER_00: So it's like to now it turn into like no, this is my band.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, like that that uh that that didn't sit well with me.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, it was a it was a pretty tough ordeal because I I am very much one of the main songwriters in that record, and uh for it to be sitting on the shelf right now with probably some of the greatest songs in the band's catalog, uh and I know I know I know when people will say hear me say that, they'll be like, I chill out, but I mean it.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: Like they're that record was built to restore the band.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: So it was written in the vein of those first few records.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: So for them to be sitting on a shelf and nobody to be using them, yeah.
40:44
SPEAKER_02: Especially, you know, having Rizzo back on it too, man.
40:47
SPEAKER_02: Like I mean, whenever seeing I mean I've seen them plenty of times, and then whenever y'all performed when you were with them, you know, of course you played, you know, uh Sangre and Mascara.
41:01
SPEAKER_02: But me personally as a big fan too, I wanted you know uh all or nothing, I wanted this is over, and then the recent one Beast of Slide, bro, I fucking love that song, and I'll never fucking be able to get it.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and that and that that's the that's the shitty thing, is like we we built like something, you know, with Mascara.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me put it to you this way like a lot of bands that I've seen that have the second singer, uh take Queens Reich, for example, you know what I mean?
41:27
SPEAKER_00: Like I went to see Queens Reich and I saw them play eight new songs, and everybody was just kind of sitting down, they're waiting for the hits, you know what I mean.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: For us to make a song with your second singer that goes number one on uh XM radio that fans are showing up to the show and saying they want to see, yeah, yo man, you don't you you don't you don't get those chances too much in in your career, and uh it's tough, man.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: It it's tough.
41:53
SPEAKER_02: I go I know they're hits and everything too, man, but sometimes it's like I mean, people say even with Dev Tones, you know, not to put Deft Tones down, but like people like uh they're gonna play the same songs, you know, want to hear something different, new set list.
42:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, I mean it's really like that for a lot of bands too.
42:08
SPEAKER_02: Is some people kind of hold on to the old stuff because that's what made them, but I mean you gotta have faith in the new stuff too.
42:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and here's the thing too, like with the old stuff, like yo, I I I looked up to Christian, you know what I mean?
42:22
SPEAKER_00: So I never shied away from being like giving the OGs the props, dude.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: Like that was never a uh because I feel like that was kind of set up for it to be like head to head, like their band lines at the gates was doing this, but we're only you know we're doing this.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: Like I never really wanted to participate in that because I was just like, man, you know, I I'm I'm just trying to build the second chapter for this band, you know what I mean, while while honoring the OGs, you know what I mean?
42:47
SPEAKER_00: And uh I think somewhere in the mix there that kind of got mixed up, and you know, it it's it's a tough deal.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: I I I have uh difficulty still talking about it without getting angry about it because there was a lot of things that were really uh destroyed in that process that are still pretty raw to this day.
43:09
SPEAKER_01: What part of the story do fans still misunderstand the most?
43:15
SPEAKER_00: I think it's hard.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: I think it's hard whenever uh you know you you do away with the original iconic singer and the members that have been there in the band, which you know, shout out Christian and a ruin Diego, Lions at the Gates, man, those guys are are great.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: Um it's hard to take away the original singer and then replace them with new guys and have it work, especially the singer.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: So for that to happen, it's it it it's kind of unreal.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
43:47
SPEAKER_00: There's only a few bands that are able to make that singer change in history.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: So for that to all happen and there'd be success and selling out shows, man, we got to play in front of I got Step on stage in front of 90,000 people in France, dude.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, so to have that and then have it all just be like boom, destroyed, online drama, a record that you were promised that you're never getting again, relationships with guys that have been friends for 20 years, destroyed, like, and then like, hey, nothing happened.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: Hey, check out this new singer, and hey, we got this new song.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: You know, like you know what I mean?
44:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, it's it's I think the fans kind of are like, what the fuck happened?
44:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was like, what the fuck is going on here?
44:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I mean?
44:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I I uh I woke up to the new, even though like leading up to that tour in Europe, uh to you know, the things that were going on between me and Dave, even in those heated moments, I was trying to make it work.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't trying to, I'm just trying, I'm I'm trying to have some control, and I'm trying to tell control of my music, and I'm trying to to let people know, like, hey, the record's gonna be out here.
45:07
SPEAKER_00: I know we've been promising it for three years, but it's gonna be here.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: And and you have my word on that.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: That's a big thing for us here in Texas.
45:13
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
45:14
SPEAKER_00: I give you my word.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I mean?
45:16
SPEAKER_00: So when when somebody else breaks that word, who are they gonna come look at?
45:20
SPEAKER_01: The person that made the deal, like in the first place.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.
45:23
SPEAKER_01: No matter who it is, am I now you told who's gonna be able to do it?
45:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, dude, you know, and I remember having this conversation where like my my you know, this is kind of on a small level, but like my Thea was like, hey, you know, I pre-ordered the record and I pre-ordered, like when's it coming out?
45:37
SPEAKER_01: I ordered it too, bro.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: Like, where's it at?
45:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I mean, and and you know, it it's tough.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: So like even when I'm I'm having those negotiations with with you know Dave and lawyers and all that stuff, like it was my intention to go to Europe, it was my intention to put out that record, it was my intention to continue to go do what we built, and then you know, I wake up one day to now Tommy Vex is in my spot, and there's this rumor going around that something's wrong with my kids, and you know, that's it that's the thing, man.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how so how did it affect you personally?
46:19
SPEAKER_01: Like behind the scenes, yeah.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: I was I was uh I was angry, I was angry, bro.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, I I uh not only financially what it does for your family, you know, you take away ten, twelve thousand dollars that you're gonna make in a month, like yo, you know, it crippled me, you know what I mean?
46:34
SPEAKER_00: Like financially.
46:35
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but hearing people like, hey man, are you are your kids okay?
46:40
SPEAKER_00: Is everything okay with you, bro?
46:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I sent you a message too.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and and it and it's like, dude, that just like it it drove the you know, South Texas word, rabbi.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: It drove that rabbi in me, dude, because I was just like, I see what y'all trying to do, y'all trying to spin the narrative.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: And uh I stayed quiet for so long because my intention was to stay.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: My intention was to put out the record, my intention was to do all those things.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: But when I start seeing people say things about my kids and start bringing up the fact that, oh, you know, maybe he's got alcohol problems, maybe he's got a drug problem.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's like, dude, to have to hold quiet in those moments, especially especially you know, dealing with the kids and shit, you know, you shouldn't fucking do that anymore.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bro.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: And and uh you know, when things got really nasty in public, um that was do I have regret in that?
47:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I I do.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: Um I wish it didn't have to be public, but at the same time, like when you push somebody into a corner like that, man, and and I have people from the industry calling and being like, dude, I heard you're doing this and I heard you're doing that, and I heard your kids are sick, and I heard it, you know, and then to have somebody like you know, I'm hearing somebody like Tommy Vex, who is known for his, you know what I mean, uh stuff saying things to people or like saying things publicly, in you know, whether he you know knew about it or not, like it just it it really fucked me up, dude.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
48:17
SPEAKER_00: Like, because it was just like I sacrificed these five years of my life for you and for this, so for it to be spun that you know I have a drinking problem or I have a uh problem with my kids or a drug problem, and then having people outside the band stir that is just kind of like man, it it uh all all of this happened because I put my foot down about my music.
48:45
SPEAKER_01: Damn.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: You know?
48:47
SPEAKER_01: Looking back at our did you asking the no no no looking back at our last interview with the band, uh what stands out now.
48:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh all the love that we that we had, you know what I mean?
48:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, Dave talked about you know me and you know, and about what I had done for the band, so you know, to fast forward it to be like nah na nah, just don't even think about Margus, don't even think about that music, this new guy.
49:13
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I'll I'll say this too, you know, it this is not a shot at the new singer, because I know it'll be construed that way.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I want to I want to start out by saying that that replacement is not a talent level replacement, and I don't mean that to pat myself on the background.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: That replacement is when you when you replace uh a veteran of the industry with somebody that is young, that is just like you know, I don't know how this works, but I'll never push you.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: I'll never push anything, I'll never ask anything, I'll never, I'll never uh bring up anything that's bothering me.
49:55
SPEAKER_00: Like that that's what is wanted there, not so much a talent uh acquisition.
50:02
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, it's just uh it's a real tough deal, man.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: It's tough to uh kind of put it all into words.
50:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so what did this experience teach you uh about your value or your voice identity?
50:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh one, there's really no substitute for like your actual family, your actual brothers.
50:25
SPEAKER_00: Like I watch dudes that I've been uh friends with forever turn their back on me like that.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: People in the industry that I you know we're here we're on here talking about hope with and hatred, you know.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: I I won't say names, but uh, you know, a a former manager of mine that turned their back on me like that.
50:44
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
50:45
SPEAKER_00: And and like I said, the people that were there for me when all that stuff went away were the guys in Shatter Tun, or the guys in Swim the Current was my wife, was my kids, was my my brothers, you know what I mean?
51:02
SPEAKER_00: Like so when you go around you're like, oh man, family, family, right?
51:06
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what that's what the that's what the thing is.
51:11
SPEAKER_00: When it comes to this business, uh they're in family.
51:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's uh it's unfortunate, man.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's uh it's a tough deal.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: But you know, lesson learned, and you know, the only thing I'll tell young musicians that are coming up is make agreements, don't do things because man, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: Like, so I'm just gonna go and go and go, and I'm gonna write and write and write.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: And you know, let me put it to you this way, you know how much of a uh uh thorn in your side it is to you write a song, you see the song take so much success, and then you come and you see the credits, and it's written, produced, and performed by you know what I mean, and your name's not there, and it it's uh you know, so I I would I would deem it less as I wanted control in the band to more than I wanted control in my music, which I I don't think is a big thing for uh musicians to have.
52:14
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, lesson learned lesson learned.
52:20
SPEAKER_02: What's what's uh you got something I was just saying?
52:22
SPEAKER_02: Just fuck it, just uh yeah, what's done is done, and just fucking just keep moving on and yeah, and I and I you know I'll your boys always gonna be there shattered.
52:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean fucking all y'all stay together and and I gotta I gotta give it to Mark Rizzo too, man.
52:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, like of all those dudes, like Rizzo was the only one that that stayed by my side.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: Rizzo was the only one that I knew it too, because when I saw that he wasn't there, I was like, he fucking knows too.
52:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he fucking knows too much.
52:50
SPEAKER_00: And yo, he had already been through that, you know, years before I was there, you know what I mean?
52:54
SPEAKER_00: And he was the only one, and and man, not you know, not to get like too too deep into it, but like, yo, when you lose out like on monies that your family was counting on, like, and and you're just kind of like I was expecting this, but now like what am I?
53:13
SPEAKER_00: Who am I?
53:13
SPEAKER_00: Where am I?
53:14
SPEAKER_00: What the you know what I mean?
53:15
SPEAKER_00: Like uh Rizzo was the only one that was there to you know help me, you know, in every which way.
53:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh shout out Daniel Adamet too, you know what I mean.
53:25
SPEAKER_00: Daniel Adamet kind of stood in the face of that evil.
53:29
SPEAKER_00: And Robert Beltron, man, you know, Robert Beltron worked with El Nino for two years, and you know, right there when I was leaving, you know, he had the opportunity to stay on, and he was just like, no man, yeah, y'all ain't gonna do my boy like that, and then me stick around, you know what I mean?
53:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's but flip side of that, I saw dudes that were like, I'll drop him in a heartbeat as long as I get to stay.
53:54
SPEAKER_01: So last thing on this, uh, what's one truth the fans deserve to hear today?
54:05
SPEAKER_00: That everything is that is perceived to be is um all the things that the fans have like theories about it's true.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
54:18
SPEAKER_00: And uh they deserve that record.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't I don't think they'll ever get it.
54:24
SPEAKER_00: Um I I don't think that it'll ever come to fruition.
54:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, look put it put it to you this way, like, why are they gonna put out a record that promotes me and my voice?
54:38
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
54:39
SPEAKER_00: And I I also think on the flip side of it, like why have they not put out anything in that time?
54:46
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
54:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh it sucks because you know, those those guys those guys are gonna have to put that same foot down that I put down at some point, and I'm definitely not gonna be the one to be there to say I told you so.
55:03
SPEAKER_01: Cool, man.
55:03
SPEAKER_01: I guess we uh I'm I'm happy that we can just like not really gossip about this stuff and just kind of talk about your side of the story and stuff like that.
55:10
SPEAKER_00: And you know, and and you know, I'll I'll say this too, man.
55:13
SPEAKER_00: Like uh somebody's gonna hear this and they're going to say everything that I'm saying is bullshit.
55:20
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
55:21
SPEAKER_00: But look look look at that last podcast and everything that was said said there.
55:28
SPEAKER_00: And then look at how everything played out.
55:30
SPEAKER_00: And you you tell me who's lying.
55:33
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
55:34
SPEAKER_00: So crazy.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
55:35
SPEAKER_00: And it it's it's tough, man.
55:37
SPEAKER_00: But in a weird way, I'm glad that you guys had that interview, and I'm glad that like I was not a part of it.
55:42
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm sorry we didn't wait for you, dude.
55:44
SPEAKER_01: I know you were on the way.
55:46
SPEAKER_00: And then we're like, I was outside.
55:48
SPEAKER_01: So sorry, man.
55:51
SPEAKER_00: It actually worked out uh in the better that I wasn't, you know what I mean?
55:56
SPEAKER_00: In the in the grand scheme of things, and that that's what I will say, kind of in the grand scheme of things.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: I know we talked about a lot of things here when it comes to that.
56:05
SPEAKER_00: When I stand kind of back and look at it, I'm like, maybe this happened because my wife was pregnant with twins at that time.
56:16
SPEAKER_00: She had just lost her dad at eight months pregnant.
56:20
SPEAKER_00: Could I really leave for two months and just be like, here, stay with these twins, and I'm gonna go on the road.
56:27
SPEAKER_00: And it don't matter if you're making good money or not.
56:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
56:30
SPEAKER_00: Like that that's a that's a hard pill to swallow.
56:32
SPEAKER_00: So, like when I kind of stand back and look at it, I'm like, maybe maybe something was looking out for me.
56:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know what I mean?
56:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's cool to look at it like that, how it went down, but you know, shit happens for a reason, whether it's good or you know, it absolutely does.
56:45
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say this I I hope that record sees the light of day.
56:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh before we leave, I'll probably show you guys a couple tracks from it.
56:52
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm glad that I'm glad that there was actually music there, you know, because in my mind I was like, is there even any music?
56:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, yeah.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: That was my my thought too.
56:59
SPEAKER_00: So you know, and there there's uh there's a whole record there that it's just uh man, it's it's uh that's what kind of twists my gears a little more than anything is like I wrote some of those songs like in like the worst moments of my life, losing my dad, losing my father, and which was Beast of Science, pretty much what you uh talked about, and that's why I fucking hit so much because exactly you know what I mean, and I went through some of that shit.
57:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, see seeing that those songs are never gonna, you know, be even played again.
57:28
SPEAKER_00: God, such a such a bitter thing, but you know what, man?
57:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in that situation, you know, ego and a lot of the things that went on before I was even there uh prevailed over uh you know what we were building.
57:43
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's sad, it's sad for the guys that are still there, but it is what it is, it is what it is.
57:50
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to the shout out to the guys in uh Facebook, Eric Pena, Matt Gantu, uh John Biggie Vasquez.
57:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, Biggie.
57:56
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something about John Biggie Vasquez right there.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: That guy right there is the first bottle that ever showed me how to make a dollar doing this business.
58:04
SPEAKER_00: Hey, he used to be in a band called Seed.
58:08
SPEAKER_00: And uh when Shattered Sone was just coming up, man, we would uh we would go and play shows and I would kind of watch them.
58:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, damn, they're selling merch.
58:17
SPEAKER_00: Yo, and they're selling hot dogs and cokes.
58:21
SPEAKER_00: And they're charging at the door.
58:22
SPEAKER_00: And I remember I went up to it one time, I was like, man, how do you do this?
58:24
SPEAKER_00: He's like, oh man, I'm trying to make a dog.
58:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm like, all right, dude.
58:29
SPEAKER_00: I was like, fuck yeah.
58:30
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, John is coming together.
58:34
SPEAKER_00: So I I uh I I got a lot of love for him, man, because uh John, you know, Biggie fucking helped me out through those very, very early years.
58:41
SPEAKER_00: A lot of these guys here, Jose man, has been with us from the very, very beginning, man.
58:46
SPEAKER_00: Eric Benya.
58:47
SPEAKER_00: I went to school with him, man.
58:48
SPEAKER_00: Matt Ganthu's got a great band.
58:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, they're doing things, he's always been supporting me.
58:53
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, shout out to all you guys, man.
58:55
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate y'all very, very much.
58:57
SPEAKER_02: All the drunk people landed up.
59:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, seed.
59:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know.
59:03
SPEAKER_02: So um also, too, like bringing up uh you got to see Lions at the game and you got to meet up with Christian.
59:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, so you know, though those guys were the first ones to to really reach out to me when everything went down, and not in the not in the sense of like I told you so, but it was kind of like, hey, bro, we're like we were never your enemy.
59:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh like, you know, and there was there was so much of that, you know what I mean?
59:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, like this Vato was my fucking enemy, like he is my competition, and like if that was the case, you know what I mean, they would have never came to me like that, you know what I mean?
59:43
SPEAKER_00: They would have never, they were some of the first ones to reach out to me, you know what I mean?
59:47
SPEAKER_00: And I got I got a lot of love for those guys, you know.
59:49
SPEAKER_00: Aru, you know, wrote some of the most important records of my youth.
59:55
SPEAKER_00: So to like look at those guys and view them as man, let me give you let me give y'all a little bit of tea real quick.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you all a little bit of tea real quick.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_00: So the last performance that I did with El Nino uh was in Columbus, Ohio at Incarceration Fest.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_00: And it just so happened that it fell that Lions at the Gates were playing on the same day as El Nino.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_00: So that day, everybody was drinking, you know, everybody was gassed up, looking for somebody to say something.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_00: Looking for you know what I mean?
1:00:32
SPEAKER_00: And it was it was more of the new guys than it was the OGs.
1:00:35
SPEAKER_00: Because we we'd kind of been trained that way, you know what I mean?
1:00:38
SPEAKER_00: Like, it was like man, first motherfucker that even looks at me, it's on site.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:00:43
SPEAKER_00: And I remember through the day we were kind of like barking and talking shit and whatever, and I remember Michelle, you know, my wife was just kind of like, you know, they're they're not really engaging in this.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_00: What's what's going on here?
1:00:56
SPEAKER_00: Are we the fucking bullies?
1:00:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh are we the fucking assholes that are fucking being like dicks?
1:01:02
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:01:03
SPEAKER_00: And I remember leaving there and I was like, something not happening up here.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_00: And and then everything goes down, and you know, like they were one of the first ones to reach out to me and befriend me, even after all the shit that you know I said and all the the shit that was talked from the camp, like they were very, very nice to me and very accepting to me.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_00: And and uh I love those dudes, man.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_00: They they're uh they're great.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_00: Christian is still one of my idols.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_00: I look up to him not only as a musician but as a as a father, you know what I mean?
1:01:38
SPEAKER_00: And uh I think uh very much what they did with Lions at the Gates is what I'm doing with Swim the Current.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:01:48
SPEAKER_00: Everybody told them you ain't shit without them, you know, you ain't shit without this without this thing that you built, and they were like, no, fuck you, I'm gonna go show you.
1:01:55
SPEAKER_00: And they built something, you know what I mean, with it.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_00: And then you know, I'm looking at what we're doing, and it kind of finally clicked.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm gonna build this, you know what I mean?
1:02:05
SPEAKER_00: And uh so much love and respect for those guys, man.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_00: They're they're uh veterans in this industry, got a lot of love for them.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I still haven't seen them yet, man.
1:02:13
SPEAKER_02: I've been I've been missing them even in Austin too.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_02: I missed them in Austin.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_02: I was like, fuck, I need to be able to do that.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be here with Death Angel here at the House of Rock.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_02: That shit, dude.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:02:22
SPEAKER_00: Let me see if I can come and uh do a little crawfish boil or some fajitas for those guys or something, man.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_00: But good dudes, man, and and uh I guess the last thing I'll kind of say on that whole situation is there's one main culprit in what happened with those guys and what happened with me and our situation, and there's one guy that's kind of at the center of all of it, and I think everybody knows who that is, and I think the fact that me and Miggy and Sal aren't friends, me and Jess aren't friends, like me and my ex-manager never I'll never speak to her again.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:03:08
SPEAKER_00: It's uh that's uh there's there's a culprit in the middle of that, and you know, it is what it is.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_01: Right on, man.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_01: Let's look ahead uh to what's coming next before we wrap up.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh so what's the next big goal you want to accomplish musically?
1:03:23
SPEAKER_00: Man, uh release of the swimming current record.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_00: Um we have some tour offers that are on the table.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_00: Um that that that I'm really looking forward to.
1:03:33
SPEAKER_00: Again, man, jumping into a different genre.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a little scary, man, but crazy.
1:03:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean I'm excited about it, bro.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_02: I think it'll work out, man.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna it's gonna expand your uh fans and it's expand to other fans, different genres too.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_02: Like it's gonna lead to something else, but yeah, and it's really good to have experience in different styles.
1:03:52
SPEAKER_00: Even even with uh Shattered Sun, you know, Rob works for Coetzel, you know, as the league gets RTEC.
1:03:58
SPEAKER_00: Jesse plays for Pecos in the Rooftops.
1:04:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh Joseph, you know what I mean, uh works for Testament and works for those bands selling merch.
1:04:07
SPEAKER_00: And so none of these guys really got away from music.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_00: So you know what I mean?
1:04:12
SPEAKER_00: Like uh everybody's still kind of in that country game, like in a in a way.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_00: So for me to kind of take the dive in there with this new band, I I I think uh I think it's gonna be pretty special, bro.
1:04:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_02: You got a fucking army behind you, man.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, man.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm very thankful for very thankful for all the the people in Alice and all the people Corpus, all here in the surrounding areas.
1:04:34
SPEAKER_00: I had a buddy, I have my 20-year anniversary or 20-year reunion, high school coming up, and I had a buddy that I ran into not long ago.
1:04:42
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Man, why the fuck do you still live in Alice?
1:04:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, bro, like I've seen some crazy places in this world.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_00: I've played in front of some massive audiences, I've been all over the world.
1:04:57
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes Alice is just kind of like it's my home.
1:05:01
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:05:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, it's it's hard, it's it's hard to it's hard to leave there.
1:05:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want I want my kids to be raised there.
1:05:07
SPEAKER_00: I I get enough of the big city while I'm out on the road.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:05:11
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes Alice is kind of just keeps me grounded.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you gotta have something small, man.
1:05:16
SPEAKER_01: What's the most Alice, Texas thing about you that never changed?
1:05:19
SPEAKER_00: All my buddies say I'm gonna be the mayor of Alice when I'll go into H E B and take pictures and shake hands, and you know, I'm just there for some pampers and some milk.
1:05:29
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:05:30
SPEAKER_00: But you know, I I love Alice, man.
1:05:32
SPEAKER_00: I I I uh that's uh that's a very special part of me.
1:05:36
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something I hear a lot of these young guys say is and I heard it too coming up.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can't be in Alice, you can't be in Corpus if you want to make it, man.
1:05:46
SPEAKER_00: You gotta go here, you gotta go there.
1:05:48
SPEAKER_00: Bullshit.
1:05:49
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:05:50
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm living proof that uh you could be from Alice, as long as you got the heart, dedication, and uh the drive.
1:06:07
SPEAKER_00: Getting out of all of this stuff that we talked about and and uh you know I don't want it to look like you know man I I'm still bitter.
1:06:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, friendships that I've lost in that situation, yeah.
1:06:20
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:06:21
SPEAKER_00: I've I I love Maggie.
1:06:23
SPEAKER_00: I love Sal.
1:06:24
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:06:24
SPEAKER_00: I I I I I hate that things played out that way, but I will not let it, you know, consume me to where it's like I can't be a good band mate, I can't take on these next challenges with these next bands or with with swim the current.
1:06:42
SPEAKER_00: I can't be a great father and a great husband.
1:06:45
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
1:06:46
SPEAKER_01: It makes me think about your relationship with your brothers and chattered son, but like before all this happened, you know what I mean?
1:06:52
SPEAKER_01: I wonder what their feelings were.
1:06:55
SPEAKER_00: I th I think I think at that time when I first got in El Nino, I think it maybe felt like I was kind of abandoning ship.
1:07:03
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:07:04
SPEAKER_00: And I know a lot of people looked at it that way.
1:07:08
SPEAKER_00: I never did, but I mean I understand why it was that way, but when the ship abandoned me, you know what I mean?
1:07:15
SPEAKER_00: Those were the first guys there.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_00: Those were the first bottles there.
1:07:19
SPEAKER_01: Jeff DeLeon on uh YouTube, what's up, Marco S and Nick?
1:07:22
SPEAKER_01: What's up?
1:07:23
SPEAKER_01: Jeff Joe Kilamura.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Joe, my guitar player, right there.
1:07:27
SPEAKER_01: How did you say the last name?
1:07:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh Guerreri.
1:07:30
SPEAKER_01: Guerrero, yeah.
1:07:31
SPEAKER_00: He he is uh he's the most Italian guy I know.
1:07:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
1:07:39
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
1:07:39
SPEAKER_00: Hey, they they turned me on to uh the last time I went to New York, bro.
1:07:43
SPEAKER_00: The first thing I said when I got off the plane, I was like, You better take me to a Jewish deli.
1:07:46
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:07:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, but but it's the same, it's the same way because you know they're gonna come down here and text them like it and turn back.
1:07:56
SPEAKER_00: I gotta I gotta cook you some fajitas, you know what I mean?
1:07:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh so man, I remember I remember the hot dogs and all the drunk people lined up.
1:08:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I know.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_00: And and they did that at the Casey Hall in Alice, and I was like, why the fuck didn't I think of that, dude?
1:08:11
SPEAKER_00: People these drunk people paying five dollars for a hot dog, dude.
1:08:14
SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's when they spend the most, bro.
1:08:16
SPEAKER_00: Hell yeah, I loved it, man.
1:08:18
SPEAKER_00: I shout out, shout out Biggie, man.
1:08:20
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who showed me that.
1:08:21
SPEAKER_00: But but yeah, man, I'm excited for uh swim the current coming to Corpus Christi, uh January 31st, House of Rock.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_00: Would love for you guys to come out, man.
1:08:29
SPEAKER_02: And I hope I have him in town too, man.
1:08:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you better check that work skid.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_02: Um there's no telling, dog, but oh yeah, definitely want to be okay.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_02: It's on a Saturday, and then that's yeah, man.
1:08:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm excited for you.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be sick that day.
1:08:45
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
1:08:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm uh I'm ready for my cowboys.
1:08:49
SPEAKER_00: Juan, I love Juan to death, man.
1:08:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh all all these guys, man, that are here in the comments, dude.
1:08:55
SPEAKER_00: It just uh I need to put that in my schedule.
1:08:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: You do.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: I love all these guys, man.
1:09:00
SPEAKER_00: They they've uh they've done so much for me.
1:09:02
SPEAKER_01: Cool, man.
1:09:02
SPEAKER_01: So uh last thing, uh what what do you want uh your legacy to be in so as a South Texas artist?
1:09:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I hate I hate to say it this way, but like I feel like I kind of already accomplished it.
1:09:14
SPEAKER_00: Like when I first started out, I wanted to make a song.
1:09:18
SPEAKER_00: And I remember my dad, my dad would tell me this.
1:09:20
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Doesn't matter how much money you make, doesn't matter how much if you do rock star shit, if you fly in a plane, if you ride in a bus, am I gonna remember one of your songs?
1:09:31
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:09:32
SPEAKER_00: And my dad started listening off bands, you know what I mean, that he would listen to.
1:09:35
SPEAKER_00: And you know, 10 years down the road, you know, when I when I hear people say, Man, are you gonna play Burning Regrets?
1:09:41
SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna like the deep cuts on the route?
1:09:43
SPEAKER_00: We have a we have a song called 281, you know what I mean, that I wrote about you know driving home and the the last road we would always hit was 281.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_00: And and to have people, you know, come and say, Man, dude, 281 got me home, 281 did you know what I mean?
1:09:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, like to to have that, man, if I died tomorrow, you know, I I think my my legacy is kind of already built.
1:10:06
SPEAKER_00: I I helped the people around me, I helped my friends, yeah, I helped other bands, and I was able to make some great music while I was here, man.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_01: Nice, bro.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_01: Man, was there anything you guys you guys would like to share, Nick uh or uh Michael's shit man?
1:10:21
SPEAKER_02: No, just uh just congrats to to you and the boys in Shatter, man.
1:10:24
SPEAKER_02: Ten years.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, man.
1:10:26
SPEAKER_02: You know, still it's the album still holds up, dude.
1:10:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I know I listened to it.
1:10:30
SPEAKER_00: I listened to it, you know, the past two weeks, man, and I'm just like, fuck, man.
1:10:35
SPEAKER_00: 27-year-old Marcus was a crazy motherfucker, dude.
1:10:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, everything pops up, man.
1:10:39
SPEAKER_02: Like I have my homeboy Mike Gomez and uh Gregory Portland, man.
1:10:43
SPEAKER_02: Every time it's either me or him.
1:10:45
SPEAKER_02: Um Testament uh song.
1:10:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Return of Serenity.
1:10:49
SPEAKER_00: Return to Serenity.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_02: Anytime that song pops up, we're always recording and sending each other, and you know, because we both dig it.
1:10:56
SPEAKER_00: And shout out, shout out to Rex and the guys at C101 who that that kind of kill still keep our our legacy alive.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_00: Like even obviously they're pumping the show you know right now, but Rex plays that shit all the time, and we laughed the other day because he was like, Oh, he's like, I had to ditch a couple of Tommy Vex songs to put on some shattered sun, and I was like, Oh, you know what, Rex, that's why I love you know that's why I'm fucking legend, bro.
1:11:21
SPEAKER_02: But there's just bangers on that album, man.
1:11:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then plus the single Dead Said fucking wage war.
1:11:27
SPEAKER_00: Like it was a product of us being at the end of the rope and Robert Beltran being like, nah, fuck that.
1:11:34
SPEAKER_00: You're good.
1:11:34
SPEAKER_00: Kicking the ass.
1:11:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he was absolutely the kick in the ass, man.
1:11:38
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, to be celebrating that this Friday, freaking if you get if you need somewhere to go.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_01: Promote the show, look at the camera right here.
1:11:45
SPEAKER_00: Right here, this Friday.
1:11:46
SPEAKER_00: You need somewhere to go.
1:11:47
SPEAKER_00: I know everybody gets tired of you know, Thanksgiving, especially if the Cowboys lose, be like, what the fuck am I gonna do?
1:11:53
SPEAKER_00: Come to Brewster Street, come celebrate with us, man.
1:11:56
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have a packed house, it's gonna be great, man.
1:11:58
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna have the Longhorn game playing as well.
1:12:00
SPEAKER_01: So you guys want to watch that game while you're watching the show?
1:12:02
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
1:12:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna see if I can bug them about uh playing the uh playing the Eagles game, just kind of like a recap, you know, just for all for all my Eagles fans, in case it's gonna be.
1:12:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all right.
1:12:15
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for everybody in the comment section, man.
1:12:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Marcos, thank you for your honesty and giving the fans the clarity that's been they've been waiting for.
1:12:21
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
1:12:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh big thank you to our guest co host Nick Lopez for bringing us the full circle uh moment back to uh from our very first interview with you, with you both of you guys.
1:12:29
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, again, episode sponsored by Premier Here in South Solutions of South Texas.
1:12:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh check out corpuscristic originals.com.
1:12:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh help rep help uh support the uh podcast.
1:12:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's been the Corpus Christi Originals podcast.
1:12:41
SPEAKER_01: See you next episode.