Latest / The BlackSheep Podcast: Presented by HM Magazine / Joe Calderon: Lightworker

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Joe Calderon: Lightworker · The BlackSheep Podcast: Presented by HM Magazine

0:25
Job Drive. Today, we've got Joe from light Worker with us, and
0:33
Joe, you're a good friend of the podcast. I think this is your
0:36
like third or fourth time on the show, which is exciting. Uh,
0:40
but uh, we're not here to just hang out with Joe for no reason
0:45
at all. But there's a big reason why you're on the podcast, and
0:48
that's because Light Worker is releasing your first album in like for how many years?
0:53
Like what three years now something like that. It's been way too long,
0:55
yeah, almost three and a half years. It's way too long.
0:58
But yeah, you guys got a new album coming out called how the Beautiful
1:02
Decay and it's going to be out in April with Solid State Records. You
1:06
guys are doing your first one was with Solid State too, right, correct?
1:10
Heck yeah, so you're you got your second Solid State album, which
1:14
is exciting. So we're gonna dive into all the things with the new album.
1:19
But before we get into that, how are you doing today, Joe
1:23
hanging in there now? I'm just kidding. No, I'm good man.
1:26
I've been I've been looking forward to hanging out with you guys. I've been
1:29
looking forward to sharing new music with people. Uh, and uh, and
1:34
I know you guys have heard the songs or at least a handful of songs,
1:40
so I'm actually very curious as to what you guys think because I haven't
1:42
really gotten your opinions yet. So yeah, yeah, we're gonna get into
1:48
that for sure. It just ruthless as a Pitchfork rating reviewer. Yes,
1:59
oh man, only I could be that pretentious though. I know. I
2:04
knew well I know a guy who did write for Pitchfork, and I was
2:07
like, ah, that kind of tracks, So okay, do explain please.
2:14
No, just just a dude. He's he's a nice guy, but
2:16
he's definitely you know, he's only drinks I p a s and top shelf
2:22
whiskey, is what you're saying. Oh yeah, like and just just uh
2:25
you could just very very very very very sweet guy. But definitely has he
2:30
ever laughed in his life? Have you ever heard him laugh? You know?
2:34
I he's like a pandemic friend so like you know, from online because
2:38
he likes he likes Caspian like me, so so, which I mean,
2:46
I guess that kind of is going into a little bit of that territory a
2:50
little bit, if you will, you know, post rock and not stuff,
2:53
but no, he's he's very he's very sweet, but definitely has his
2:58
opinions. So heyay, it makes sense you probably should be a reviewer then
3:04
yeah, yeah, exactly. Do you guys know Pace magazine, right,
3:07
Yeah, of course. So one of their founders frequently trolls me on Twitter
3:13
and like to a point where it's I don't think he's like just simply goofing
3:15
around. I think he actually really doesn't like me, and so he's like
3:21
constantly trolling me on Twitter, and I will, like whenever he like does
3:24
or whatever, I always like say something about like how much better Pitchfork is
3:30
in return, just because I'm like, I'm not gonna take your shit,
3:32
dude, so I'm just gonna I'm gonna dish it right back. But he
3:36
always gives me rating until like, oh this tweet was only like a three
3:38
out of ten or something Mason, and I was like, well that's I
3:40
mean, that's better than what Pitchfork would have given me or whatever. That's
3:46
funny because like, if he's coming after you, the King of the trolls,
3:50
this guy's got some balls, I know, I know, so well,
3:54
should we talk about Oh yeah, let's let's do new music. Let's
3:59
do new music, all right? Sure, what do you guys want to
4:00
know? So I I heard that the album was uh named this because of
4:08
my teeth? Yeah? Yeah, is that true? It's it's you know,
4:15
that's why I asked you to send me that photo. You know,
4:18
I needed inspiration, you know, and geez we were able to write ten
4:26
songs based on but yeah, because that's yeah, I mean, like one
4:30
for each tooth that I saw. Dude, that's impressive. I don't know
4:34
any artist in the entire world who's wrote who's written ten songs about one other
4:41
man's teeth, you know, I mean, that's that's an impressive thing to
4:44
do. Well. Isn't that that band called Mantooth or something like that?
4:47
A bear tooth? Maybe I don't know, there's a bear tooth? Oh
4:51
no, maybe it's not man tooth or sharp tooth. No sharp tooth.
4:55
Yeah yeah, yeah that makes sense. But yeah, no, it's called
5:00
how the Beautiful Decay. It is ten songs and yeah, coming out in
5:05
April. Yeah, dude. Okay, so let's let's have Mason and I
5:11
give our first impression since we have heard, you know, a couple of
5:15
songs. Mason do you want to go first. Yeah, Well, first
5:19
off, first, it feels very nostalgic to me if it's like that whenever
5:26
I hear the you know, any one of the songs, I'm just like
5:29
that this brings me back to like, yeah, like that kind of that
5:32
mid to late two thousand's metal core, especially the stuff that you would have
5:35
heard on Solid say and obviously, Joe, I know like you grew up
5:39
with a lot of that stuff, so it's like not really that surprising that
5:42
I would hear that. I have no idea if that was the intention to
5:45
kind of get those types of guitar tones and that kind of songwriting or whatnot,
5:48
but it it. And it's not as if like your last album didn't
5:54
have didn't leave me with that kind of impression. It's certainly to a certain
5:58
degree D But I don't know, it feels like it's more intense this album
6:00
where it's just like whoa that really reminds me of something like oh Sleeper or
6:04
August Burn's read back in the day, or even at times like some he
6:09
Is Legend or something like there are just these moments of hearing that guitar tone,
6:14
especially when it's the moments where like you're not hearing the singing and screaming,
6:16
it's just the guitars or just the drums, and you're like, that
6:20
really brings me back to that particular tone. And I have no idea what
6:24
that tone is. I'm not a music person at all, not a get
6:26
ahead at all, but there's something about the tones that I'm hearing and just
6:30
the the production of it that feels very, very similar and nostalgic to what
6:35
I grew up with and certainly you grew up with as well. So I
6:40
think it's a compliment. I love that era, that era of production,
6:44
especially in metalcore, and so I've longed for that to like come back,
6:48
and so it's great to hear that again. That's awesome, dude, Yeah,
6:54
I would say that sonically and whatnot. It was Bo Burt who mixed
7:01
the record, and he did do the latest or the newest He Is Legend
7:06
record as well, and when that came out, we were like, yes,
7:13
like that that shit kicks ass. So like we were like it would
7:17
be rad if like, obviously we're a different kind of band than He Is
7:21
Legend, but they're still like very metal, you know, like they've got
7:26
riffs dude. And and I love that the Endless Hallway record, So you
7:34
know, so that's cool that you picked up on the he Is legend,
7:39
even if it wasn't necessarily like maybe the latest one, but you know,
7:43
and yeah, all that stuff. I mean, yeah, we love it.
7:46
And and you know, I think it's inevitably gonna come out of us
7:50
even if we tried to write something like a nineteen seventy five pop song.
7:57
No matter what, like my voice or or the way that Grayson plays guitar,
8:01
it's just gonna exude something from that era because that's kind of where we
8:05
you know, it's in our DNA. So and if you're saying that it
8:09
reminds you of that stuff, then it's I mean, yeah, it is
8:13
a big compliment, and thank you. Yeah, I have to back up
8:18
what Mason said. That was my initial first impression as well. You guys
8:22
have always been a melodic band. Melody has always been one of you guys
8:26
in strong suits. This album, the songs I've heard thus far, I
8:31
should say, are like melodic hardcore or melodic metalcore? What do you want
8:39
to call it? On steroids man, Like it's a carnival, Like there's
8:45
I don't know what is even going on, Like it takes it takes a
8:48
moment for me to like actually they take in each part because it's it's a
8:54
lot more complex than the last record I would say not to make, and
9:00
that on top of that, it sounds like you guys have a lot more
9:01
layers going on. There's a lot more. To me, it seems like
9:07
thought process, like like, yeah, that's right, it's uh. It's
9:13
like there's uh, there was a lot of thought put into like the transitions
9:16
from section to section. And it's crazy though, like just like Mason was
9:22
saying, I get a very nostalgic feeling that I don't hear bands like this
9:26
right now, and I'm here for it right now, and I love it.
9:30
I really do love it. Thank you guys, No much appreciated.
9:35
I guess. I guess for us, the way that we kind of approached
9:39
it was we knew we wanted this second record to be more aggressive than the
9:46
first one. There was definitely more to be angry about anyway, So that
9:52
ended up just uh like fitting in like a glove. And I think we
9:56
also, you know, the first album, we always viewed it as more
10:00
of a compilation of what it was that we could offer if that made sense.
10:03
Like it's like, okay, yeah, we could do kind of like
10:07
the more hard rock Ballady kind of stuff, or we can you know,
10:13
shred and uh, or we can you know, have like these groovy bouncy
10:18
parts. But on this record, I think, uh, in particular,
10:24
I just told Grayson before you even wrote a note for for how the Beautiful
10:28
Decay, which was titled that before the album, I mean, like even
10:33
a song was written, I just told him. I was just like,
10:35
I want to get heavier. I not not like musically, not physically right,
10:41
well physically too, I mean otherwise how else do you I mean,
10:46
it doesn't translate, that's right in that diaphragm. Oh absolutely so. But
10:52
yeah no, I just wanted it to be, you know, just more
10:54
just more pissed off and and you know, uh, and I think on
10:58
this record too, I wrote less musically and really just focused on the vocals
11:07
more. And so there were definitely some differences in terms of like that kind
11:11
of execution while still trying to I guess at the very least have like some
11:20
modern feel to it too, you know what I mean. So I'm definitely
11:26
curious as to like what some folks are going to think of the rest of
11:31
the record. I think you guys have heard two songs, right, I
11:35
think we've only heard one technically. Oh but yeah it was a very good
11:43
one. No, what was the name of that one? By the way,
11:46
that the one you sent us? Do you remember? Oh? Yeah,
11:48
that one that was Burnscar, which is going to be our second single.
11:54
So I figured I just give you guys a little taste of that because
11:58
I felt like it. I don't know, I mean, it just kind
12:05
of gives a little bit more of a fuller look I guess as to what
12:07
the record's going to be bringing to the table. So, but yeah,
12:13
it is interesting, you know where it feels like right now, a lot
12:16
of metal core is kind of like going towards this sort of new metal vibe.
12:20
You know, you kind of got, which I really like. You
12:22
know, you hear that a little bit with like Silent Planet. There's kind
12:26
of this really weird experimental stuff that they're kind of messing around with. And
12:28
you know, there's countless other kind of metal core bands that are doing kind
12:33
of you know, I find interesting stuff. But what I think a lot
12:37
of those bands are moving away from is that exact same tone that we were
12:41
talking about from like the you know, early to mid two thousands, late
12:46
two thousands, and you don't really hear that particular kind of guitar tone or
12:50
songwriting anymore. And so I really appreciate that you guys are kind of going
12:54
away from some of those trends that you see a lot of other metal core
12:58
bands are going down right now, and you're kind of doing your own thing,
13:01
which I think sounds really fresh, thank you. Yeah, yeah,
13:07
because I I don't think any of us really like new metal, to be
13:11
honest. I mean, it's not like it's a bad thing. I mean
13:13
there's a couple of bands that you know, like sure, i'll you know,
13:16
like jam like Old Pod or once in a while I'll throw some other
13:22
stuff on. But like the stuff that I really dig is just more of
13:28
the I guess, kind of the sweetish at the Gates influence stuff, you
13:33
know, Like that's that's kind of more and that's kind of what metal core
13:39
largely derives from, right So, and and just like I was telling you
13:43
guys last night, like I just love riffs, you know, and so
13:48
I think and and we're not the kind of band that I think would want
13:52
to necessarily chase trends or whatnot. We're just gonna want to write what we
13:58
like and we don't care about it also being necessarily like, oh, we're
14:05
on the cutting edge of anything. It's like, if we like it,
14:07
we like it, so we're going to write it, you know what I
14:11
mean. So we're not trying to necessarily break any barriers. We're just trying
14:15
to do what is fun on stage and you know, and what we want
14:20
to hear. And I think not, I think I know that's just how
14:26
we're just always going to be moving forward. So and hopefully I probably a
14:33
little bit more of an intense direction too. I've already told Grace and I
14:37
was just like, hey, I think we're kind of working our way towards
14:41
having songs with no melodic vocals at all. And you know, that's like
14:48
a very big goal for me personally, where I just want to be pissed
14:50
the whole time. So yeah, and from what I could tell, it
14:56
seemed like, you know, your burns gar, It seemed like it was
15:00
almost written, you know, in a pro Republican kind of sense. I
15:07
mean, anti Biden everything. I mean, that's the I can I can
15:09
see where your anger was coming from. Oh yeah, Megacore, Yeah you
15:18
were. You were referencing the fires in in in Hawaii, right, and
15:22
that's what bird Scar is all about. Yeah yeah, yeah, no,
15:26
uh yeah, geez, I don't know where to go from. What are
15:33
you angry about? What are you angry about? I'm glad you're angry because
15:37
I love anger. We need more anger in this in this scene is the
15:41
first single was called Steal the Election, right, Yeah? Absolutely? And
15:46
then and I bought those new January sixes you know those? Yeah, oh
15:50
yeah, I did see those. Yeah yeah, I think they wanted to
15:52
like four K for it or something like that. You even bought the domain
15:56
name January sixth. I don't know, I'm gonna name my that's gonna be
16:00
my kid's middle name. It's just yeah six six J sixy exactly. That's
16:10
the kind of names I would imagine kids are being named now jy SX Oh
16:15
yeah. Absolutely. But in regard to the the two songs that have been
16:22
out so like first Light, that was the first single that you guys have
16:26
probably seen the video for, Yes We're in that green room thingy. That
16:32
one is about like just me dealing with some major suicidal thoughts on Easter twenty
16:40
twenty two, and yeah, that was not a good day. That was
16:45
not a fun day. And I quite literally wrote the lyrics and the melodies
16:52
to that song as I was feeling that, and I and it was just
16:57
really just an emotional purge, you know, and uh and uh. And
17:03
I really credit that process to helping me stave off those kind of feelings and
17:08
and and whatnot. And then in terms of burn scar So this is where
17:15
I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna have to suck it up and
17:17
talk about it. But it's quite it's quite the opposite of, you know,
17:21
in all seriousness, it's quite the opposite of the Maga stuff. It's
17:25
it's saying, like, I mean, there's a lyric in there. I'm
17:29
not sure if you guys heard it, but it says a hypocrisy in the
17:33
shape of a cross. And it's kind of like my anger towards a lot
17:41
of people that claim Christianity and I, in my opinion, are using I
17:45
guess the Lord's name in vain because you're doing atrocious things in the name of
17:49
God, whether that's being okay with people getting killed, just because they're different
17:57
than you, or you know, just being okay with like some just atrocious
18:07
things, you know, And I, as a person that still does identify
18:14
as a Christian, I'm just kind of like, this is bullshit and I'm
18:18
not going to let you know. I'm not going to stand by and just
18:22
be quiet about it and burn scar For me is just you know, it's
18:27
also like, hey, all the things it's about basically self fulfilling prophecies that
18:33
I think a lot of Christians kind of do and bring to the table where
18:37
it's just kind of like, hey, you talk about freedoms and all this
18:40
stuff, but you have no problem like taking away the freedoms of other people
18:45
and basically a lot of stuff that Mason tweets about like where I'm just kind
18:51
of like, yeah, dude, I completely agree, and I honestly I
18:56
give you so much props for that. Did one of my tweets make it
18:59
in the one of the songs or all your tweets made it in the songs?
19:04
But but no, it's just it's it's and it's not even about me
19:11
being like, it's not even about being political. It's just about treating people
19:14
with respect, you know, just like, well, humanity is not political
19:18
necessarily, and as soon as you lose the humanity in that, like,
19:25
I just I don't understand the thought processes of some people, right, And
19:30
I'm not trying to. I'm not like trying to like cast like tons and
19:32
tons of shame on them personally, but like God, have a little empathy,
19:37
have a little dignity and respect for the people who are just like you
19:42
that are dealing with stuff themselves just like you. I just don't. I
19:47
don't understand people, no, And that's been so frustrating, man, because
19:53
it's like it's one of those things where it's just like I have some friends
20:00
that you know, definitely have certain points of views, but like when we
20:03
cut to the core of it, dude, they're all into the same stuff
20:07
that I'm into, And so why don't we make our friendship about that instead
20:11
of like you know, I mean, yeah, you can have your opinion
20:15
and whatnot, but like, I don't know, it's it's a sticky,
20:22
uh subject to to tread through. But it's just something that kind of I
20:26
don't know. There's a number of songs about the hypocrisy of modern Christianity on
20:33
the New Record, so I'm definitely excited to see how some people react to
20:40
it. Yeah, I think that's unfortunately a well that will never run dry.
20:47
You can always go back to that writing well modern church. Yeah,
20:52
and it's and it's and it's funny because it's like, I know, some
20:56
people get mad and they're just kind of like, oh, well, you
20:57
know, Like I don't know, it's just it's weird, dude. I
21:03
have like a lot of like I grew up in the church and stuff too.
21:07
I definitely have ideas as to like where we should go. I'm not
21:11
saying that I'm correct, but I'm just kind of like, hey, at
21:15
the very least, like, hey, if you know, you wouldn't go
21:18
up to somebody like that you didn't know and just randomly be like, hey,
21:23
your haircut sucks, like this is what you need to do to fix
21:27
it, or you need to lose probably about one hundred pounds. And it's
21:32
like to a random person, you know what I mean, So why would
21:33
you go up to them and just say like, hey, you're doing this
21:37
wrong? Like it's and I feel like a lot of times people use the
21:44
excuse of like, well, I'm doing it out of love, and there's
21:47
one of the songs that on the on our record where it's called Rusted Crown
21:52
and you know, the lyrics go, you know, don't you dare say
21:56
it's love, because it's not. It's it's not love. It's it's like
22:03
this, you're wearing a crown that you've placed on your own fucking head.
22:10
And uh yeah. So anyway, sorry, I like brought the mood down,
22:14
Like, no, dude, this is good stuff, man, this
22:15
is exactly what we should be talking about. It's not all jokes on here,
22:21
come on now, poorly poorly worded jokes, I should say, yeah,
22:26
attempts to add jokes attempts, but yeah. And then there's a song
22:33
on on actually it's the very first song kind of like on on uh fry
22:37
by Failure. It's the very first song on the record. Is a direct
22:41
sequel to Empire, the first song off of our first record, Nice.
22:45
Yeah. So it's called Healthscape, and it's kind of like building off of
22:49
what the first you know, what Empire talked about, which is like,
22:56
you know, this digital age that we live in and you know, we're
23:00
you know, attached to our phones and you know, we can't really and
23:03
this is you know, even pre you know, I wrote those lyrics and
23:10
like twenty eighteen, early twenty nineteen, so it's pre all that era,
23:14
you know what I'm saying, like, and and so now it's just kind
23:19
of like, okay, well everything that has happened in the last few years
23:23
is like okay, so it's just kind of like picking up where that left
23:27
off from and how we've kind of used that technology to uh definitely not better
23:33
ourselves. So yeah, yeah, interesting that you're saying that as a guy
23:40
who works at Google, you know. Yeah. I mean, like to
23:45
me, I the way I look at it is I see the uh the
23:49
power of technology and whatnot, and I'm just kind of like, there's a
23:53
lot of good stuff that we could be doing and you know, but we
24:00
basically squandered it, I think, you know. And I like, for
24:04
example, I don't envy kids that grew up this day and age when I
24:10
when we were growing up, like if you were to get bullied, you
24:14
know, like in middle school or something, at least there was some sort
24:17
of respite when you got home, you know. But now it's like with
24:22
technology, you can't get away from it. You just can't. And and
24:29
I just I feel so bad because it's like, dude, you can't even
24:33
have your own I don't. I don't know what the kids are on these
24:36
days, TikTok or whatever, but like you're you're surrounded by just shit just
24:41
slamming you digitally over the head consistently and so and I'm just like, well,
24:49
that's a grandom misuse of technology there, But that's just my opinion.
24:56
Yeah, do you guys remember kind of along those lines, you you guys
25:00
remember getting the like internet safety conversations when you were in like I don't know,
25:04
middle school or high school or whatever. I remember these all the time,
25:07
and it was all about like avoiding both like internet bullying like that that
25:14
seemed to be like a big topic of conversation, but also like how to
25:18
be safe online and like you know, how to you know, make sure
25:22
that you're not like giving out your address or whatever, like any identifying markers
25:26
so that like, you know, some creep could you know, follow you
25:30
home or whatever like that that always seemed to be like a big topic conversation.
25:33
And it's like that at this point, that's like the least of our
25:37
concerns, Like the biggest concerns is like just the garbage that people like constantly
25:42
are getting and how it's like making them feel like shit. And you know
25:47
why you see like so many so many kids now like diagnoms suicide at such
25:52
young age, young ages, is because like it's just like the content itself
25:56
is like the what's not really as concerning? Well may maybe I'm sure there's
26:00
still like Internet bullying going on, but like that's like the least of the
26:03
concerns and certainly the least of the concerns is like predators, Internet predators.
26:07
It's like just literally like the garbage that people are are you know, constantly
26:12
consuming all day long. Oh absolutely, And I and that's part of the
26:15
reason why excuse me, that's part of the reason why I really really enjoyed
26:22
and I think it was a little bit ahead of its time, but The
26:26
Great Depression by Blindside because yeah, yeah, because the the opening track is
26:33
just Christian basically calling this out in other words, and and he I remember
26:40
just reading some interviews, he was like, isn't it kind of crazy that
26:45
like because he what apparently like during you know, leading up to recording and
26:49
writing The Great Depression, you know, he went to South Africa. During
26:53
his experience there, He's like when he got back home, it's like,
26:56
it's crazy that people in the West are dying because of suicide and stuff like
27:03
that, and then the people in the East are dying too, but of
27:07
completely different reasons, you know. Uh and you know malnutrition, starvation,
27:12
uh and and uh it's like, jeez, what do we you know?
27:18
It's what are we doing to ourselves in that regard? And I really I
27:23
think with with how the Beautiful decay, I I try to be a I
27:29
guess a little bit more. I guess the goal is always to be more
27:33
honest, and it's usually just me getting in the way of myself when writing
27:37
lyrics. It's like, is this going to be too honest? Or is
27:40
this going to be too on the nose? You know what I mean?
27:44
Am I going to kiss people off? I mean that's something that we talked
27:45
about in the studio. And I remember Bo the first time we did that
27:51
song burn Scar and he's like, Dude, that lyric is sick hypocrisy in
27:55
the shape of a cross. Like He's like, he was so about that
27:59
part, and uh he was like, and I was like, why do
28:03
you like it so much? It's like because it makes you think, you
28:06
know, and it's either going to piss people off or or people or the
28:10
folks that really want to break it down, they will, and you know,
28:14
and I'm hoping that that's just some sort of invitation to kind of like
28:19
pulling a MxPx quote here, but an invitation to understanding, you know.
28:26
And I think that's kind of the It's kind of funny because I Mike probably
28:30
wrote that when he was like in his twenties, and but to me,
28:33
it's such a pound statement and I don't know, man, I I that's
28:41
just kind of like a lot of what how the beautiful, how the beautiful
28:45
decay is about his? Is that? And then there's still, you know,
28:48
stuff about myself crying about like how I feel like shit? But you
28:51
know, so do you have any lyrics about chick magnets or bitey cheese chick
28:57
mag Actually there is one we do, you uh, you know on the
29:00
first record we had, you know, kind of like our two ballads or
29:03
whatever, and there is one ballad on this record too, And that was
29:07
all I could muster up. And then I told Grayson to go away because
29:11
I was like, I don't I don't want to talk about love anymorey,
29:15
speaking of chick magnets, is Grayson's hair even longer now? Yes? Probably
29:23
we should probably hit up his fiance and ask. She should probably let us
29:27
know, you know, she's probably yeah, d easy, easy, he
29:33
got you know, he got nailed down. So he's good. He's uh
29:37
he's going to be uh tying the knot uh later this year, so good
29:41
for him, Good for him. She can she's not going to make him
29:44
cut the hair before the wedding because to do that for his wedding word,
29:48
I didn't have to. Well, I had a mullet beforehand, so that's
29:52
a little different. That's like the perfect time to have a mullet though,
29:57
Yes, Like it's a what I thought too when I was nine. You
30:02
know what is it like party in the back? I mean like dude,
30:07
yeah, yeah, but no, yeah, no, yeah. Grayson still
30:11
has that Nick Hippa kind of thing going on, you know, Nick Hippa
30:15
from Azale Dyeing, So yeah, yeah, does that? Does anybody have
30:21
the other guy from As I Lay Dying's vibe going on? Inland Pieces?
30:26
Yeah? Yeah, any of those Tim vibes going on? Uh? Jo
30:32
just got some pretty interesting contacts in his phone I bet probably contacts that could
30:37
disappear someone for you. Oh man, yeah, you know, well,
30:41
I mean I do. I mean, I hope you have a good lawyer.
30:44
I do have my cousins from Mario, so you know, we'll see
30:47
what's up. But are they Are they twins like in Breaking Bad? Oh
30:56
no, no, just yielding an axe? No? But they still I
31:02
mean I remember when I met one of them. He didn't know, like
31:03
he was like a brand new dude that I just met, and they were
31:07
like, yeah, this is your cousin. I didn't know until afterwards,
31:10
but he had like these tattoos, and I thought they were very interesting.
31:12
And I was only like eleven or something and we're hanging out and at church,
31:17
of all places, they made him go to church, I guess,
31:19
and I could just see his hand tattoos, and I'm like, hey,
31:22
man, what does that mean. He's all like, calm down, fool,
31:25
you don't need to know, and I was like scared, dude.
31:29
I was just like I was like damn, okay, Like yeah, I'm
31:33
not you know, so who could make who could make him go to church?
31:42
His mom? Probably, yeah, dude, but you do not mess
31:45
with Latin moms let me tell you. Let me tell you what man La
31:48
mom was like, I'll put you in a grave. Yeah, isn't there
31:52
like that classic like like Hispanic mom thing where you like she takes off her
31:56
like sandal and is likes with it. Yeah, dude, things like a
32:00
boomerang. Dude, Yeah, what do you call it? Chunker a chunk?
32:07
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm glad I know that now.
32:12
Yeah. It's one of those things where it's just kind of you know,
32:15
yeah, but I mean if you're if you're Latino and you know you
32:20
you know what the chunkla is and the wrath of it. You know.
32:28
So my brother's got the wooden spoon that was their chunkola. That is that.
32:37
I don't know it was. I thought it was focused on the family
32:38
and yeah, well you know what, yeah, I would agree with that
32:43
too because I got that, like my mom was a huge fan of what's
32:46
his name, James, Yeah, doctor James Dobson, huge fan. And
32:53
you got like, like, how are you still alive today? You you
32:57
not only had a Latino mom, but also so James Dobson influencing her,
33:01
like, dude, focus on the family stuff. Like and I went to
33:06
two churches on Sundays, you know, because I had extra I had well,
33:09
I had to make sure my sins were completely cleansed in both languages,
33:15
you know, like they wanted to make sure that, you know, they
33:19
were just like you the swear words in Spanish and in English, you know,
33:24
but no, yeah, exactly. And that was the thing was just
33:30
you know, like my yeah, my my background was pretty pretty uh you
33:35
know religious. I mean my grandmother, my step grandmother was like super super
33:39
hardcore and uh you know, like speaking in tongues and all that stuff.
33:44
Like she would start praying and I would always get scared because whenever we would
33:49
say prayer before dinner, what she would do when she went into her praying
33:53
fit should I say, she would just start crying, no, like crying
34:01
like and I was just like, oh man, this woman better not pray
34:05
before dinner, dude, because I'm trying to eat, like we're gonna be
34:07
here, yeah, be eating my own tears like you know, like no,
34:15
it was brutal like back then, I mean yeah, and uh yeah,
34:19
we grew up in a very I mean that's what I was surrounded by.
34:22
And uh, growing up, I mean my mom and and my stepdad.
34:27
They were a little bit more I guess, uh flexible with you know,
34:30
I guess American culture and you know, me being first generation here,
34:35
but but I was definitely surrounded by that stuff. You know, made like
34:40
at least a monthly trip to the Christian bookstore and uh you know. Yeah,
34:46
so I don't even know those exist anymore. Like well, lifely doesn't
34:50
have any physical stories. Oh really, yeah, I think there's I mean,
34:55
life way. Yeah, come to come to the Midwest, you'll find
34:59
them all over the place still. But yeah, the little mom and pop
35:01
ones. Oh okay, god, there's one in there's one in Sioux Falls,
35:06
which is close to here. It's called Crossroads and it's huge. Oh
35:12
wow, okay, so they still exist. Wow. I actually have a
35:15
funny story about one of the Dakota's. Well it's not that funny, but
35:19
it was which which Dakota? Though? Do you know North or South?
35:22
Yeah, everyone says the Dakotas. That pisces me off as a as a
35:25
South Dakota. Tell you man, Okay, well, so since you're South
35:30
Dakota, we'll just dance in North Dakota. Uh okay, it's one of
35:35
those stories, all right, let's hear it the the worst Dakota all rights
35:38
Dakota. No, it was. It was pretty wild. Like we went
35:42
out on a tour with Spirit Breaker, you know, a couple of years
35:45
back, and uh, you're you know, your boys and Light Worker were
35:49
definitely the most ethnically diverse band on the solid state roster, and I'm very
35:52
proud of that, you know, Like we we've and so we we get
35:59
into this little town and uh we're stepping, you know, stopping by to
36:04
get some food, and we walth Leath, North Dakota. No, No,
36:10
I don't remember what it was. But well I'll give you a story
36:15
about Leaf later, okay, But uh we walk in and uh, you
36:20
know it's a definitely a very well populated, uh white folk place, you
36:25
know, and uh and we just we just walked in. Either that could
36:30
be either one of the Dakotas. It could be, yes, But what
36:34
was hilarious was I mean it almost sounds like a like a bar joke.
36:37
It's just like you got a Mexican, a Salvador and an Asian walk into
36:40
a cafe. But we walk in and we had like one you know,
36:47
like we had Ryan, our drummer as a white dude, and but like
36:51
the two white dudes are covered in tattoos, you know. And so we
36:54
walk in and everybody you can hear it from outside. Everybody's like having a
36:58
good time talking, and then we walk in and it just silence, and
37:04
we're just like, yo, what's going It's like when Pee Herman walks into
37:08
that biker bar. It was. It was brutal. So we walked in
37:15
and then we just and we ate as quickly as possible, and then we
37:17
just dipped because we didn't want people to feel uncomfortable. Oh my gosh,
37:22
yeah, it was. It was the weirdest thing. I was just like,
37:24
wow, okay, you know what that might have been. That might
37:27
have been Leith, North Dakota. Leif North Dakota was Do you know about
37:30
it, Mason? Have I told you about this? Yeah? That's like
37:32
the Christian nationalist one, right, it's the Nazi one. Yeah. Yeah.
37:37
So there was this town, this tiny little town in western North Dakota
37:42
that uh, like the whole town was up for sale, right yeah,
37:46
well not the whole time. It started off with a couple of houses or
37:49
whatever, and then this one dude bought both the houses and then the rest
37:52
of the town kind of like started gett bought up by this guy, and
37:57
no one knew who he was or anything like that. They you know,
37:59
they some people had met him, but he was like really kind of like
38:01
reclusive and stuff. And then all of a sudden, like a busload of
38:07
people start moving into these houses. Turns out they were like all neo Nazis,
38:15
and then they started like like patrolling the streets of this little town with
38:21
ak's and stuff, and they are like straight up like holding this entire town
38:28
hostage. Uh. And it like turned into like this big like standoff and
38:31
everything, and it's just absolutely wild. But then it became like an instance
38:36
of domestic terrorism and everything like that. I can't believe it's not more well
38:38
known in like the zeit was this also in January. I feel like that's
38:43
like that they loved they which doesn't make sense because it's just ungodly cold in
38:49
January. But yeah, usually, I mean you think about like Cannonball with
38:52
uh, with like the the pipeline issue and stuff like that that happened in
38:58
in North Dakota with made my contribes like protecting their land and stuff like that,
39:01
and that also happened in January, so yeah, maybe it did the
39:05
whole the whole Texas thing in the border this earlier this year, that was
39:07
also January. Yeah, with January and like revolution on dude, I don't
39:13
know. My friend, my friend pointed that out to me, and I
39:16
was like, dang, dude. I was like, yeah, I'm gonna
39:20
watch. It's like I guess maybe after the holidays, you know, they're
39:22
just kind of like all riled up for some weird reason, you know,
39:28
too many carbs. Yeah, they have a terrible gut flora or gut biome
39:35
going on, you know what. That that very well could be the the
39:38
case. Yeah, they can't wait till May when it's nice in the northern
39:42
hemisphere. They gotta get on that. On that Joe rugg and heat shock
39:45
therapy or whatever they call it. Oh yeah, yeah, exactly. Well,
39:51
they're probably doing the the ice dips, you know, so they're used
39:53
to it. Yeah, you know, they're just kind of like all right,
39:57
like that's like a layer of protection some how. I don't know.
40:00
I don't know, man, I, but a lot of that stuff,
40:04
to be honest with you, kind of fascinates me, like in like in
40:07
a very like I'm terrified of it, and I'm like, you know,
40:12
and it's terrible, but I'm just like wow, like people actually, you
40:16
know, think that way. It's it's it's it's it's wild. So but
40:22
yeah, I agree, I think it's a it is a wild situation.
40:28
You know, usually when bands have a story about the Dakotas, I'll use
40:32
your word, it's it's almost always like, oh, they flipped their van,
40:39
or someone stole something out of or stole all the stuff out of their
40:44
van, or oh we had a an accident or this thing. It never
40:49
is like to like play a show or have like a cool story or anything
40:52
like that. It's always like, here's this terrible tragedy that happened to us,
40:57
and it happened in South Dakota or happened to North Dakota. Oh man,
41:01
Yeah, I mean, well, hey, isn't like Jeremy from Earth
41:05
Growns from around there? Yeah? He literally lives like fifteen minutes from Colin.
41:07
Yeah. Oh wow, yeah we actually we uh we crashed at his
41:14
place. Dude, that's a cool dude crashed into his neighbors. You shouldn't
41:19
let me know. Oh wow, I didn't know. We'll shoot, now,
41:22
I know, you know, are you guys coming back through again at
41:24
some point? Do you think? Oh? Dude, so, I think
41:29
that's probably one of the biggest differences between the theory by failure era and this
41:32
eras were we're definitely trying to hit the road more good. So, yeah,
41:38
I meant it before Grayson gets married. Well, to be honest with
41:44
you, he's uh, he does what he he joins us when he can,
41:47
but he's he we're definitely, uh, you know, just gonna be
41:54
probably touring mainly as a four piece, kind of like a fit for a
41:57
king kind of deally you know. So that's that's kind of like the path
42:01
that we're headed. But he will definitely be playing shows as frequently as possible.
42:07
So yeah, dude, I love it. So I know you guys
42:10
are doing the West Coast stuff soon, but yeah, are there I mean
42:15
it sounds like there are at least maybe potential plans or at least hopes for
42:20
getting around the rest of the United States. Oh? Absolutely, I mean
42:23
it's I guess what I can say about that is it's all in the works.
42:29
Great, you know, it's it's something that we really want to do
42:36
and we can't wait to get out there because we have been playing First Light
42:40
actually for a while now live, and every time we've played that song,
42:46
like folks even though folks didn't know that song up until what was it about
42:52
a week ago, Like when they heard it live, you know, they
42:55
would just start doing the whole you know, going dummy, dude. It's
43:00
so satisfying man, like you just I was, I was talking to somebody
43:06
else about this earlier. Today it's like metal and just heavy music in general,
43:10
I think is very blessed in the sense of, like you get direct
43:15
feedback from how much your audience is clovering each other, whereas opposed to like,
43:21
you know, if you go to nineteen seventy five or something like that,
43:23
or Ji meet World, like you kind of don't know, yeahs,
43:28
like, especially if you're a younger band, if like kind of don't know
43:31
if they're into you or if they're just kind of waiting for the next man,
43:35
because either you know, they're usually pretty straight laced, you know,
43:39
like I remember Thrice saying when they started to shift their sound to like during
43:45
the Beggars era, they were like, yeah, we couldn't tell if people
43:47
like their music or not because we're so used to people just like pummeling each
43:51
other. But we're just like, Okay, this is just how it is
43:54
now. You know, when you play a song like Red Sky, you're
43:58
not gonna have people you know, bash into each other. And but you
44:01
know, heavy music, there's something very validating when you're watching the crowd and
44:07
you just see people just killing each other. It's awesome. We love that
44:15
too, Joe. You ready for Well, we're going to do a little
44:21
kind of both. We're going to do a list of bands that on paper
44:27
you shouldn't like but you do like, and then on the inverse, a
44:30
list of bands that you don't like but you should like on paper. Yes,
44:36
yes, yes, yes already So I guess, So which ones do
44:40
you guys want first? Whenever one you want to go with first? But
44:45
yeah, let's go with bands that you that you do like but you shouldn't
44:51
like. Okay, Yeah, nineteen seventy five definitely being one of them.
44:54
You mentioned them a few times. I'm like, you're not just like pulling
44:59
their name out of your ass. You definitely listen to this band if you
45:00
were mentioning to him as much as you are. Oh dude, I love
45:04
that band, like it's I think they write really good pop music, you
45:08
know, with actual instruments and you know the Yeah, I just think they're
45:15
great. They're really catchy, and it's kind of crazy to me that,
45:21
you know, just from their debut they were already selling out arenas and stuff
45:24
like that because their music was just that good. And I really admire their
45:29
work ethic because up until the most recent album, every album had at least
45:34
like fourteen songs or more. Like that's some output, yeah, exactly.
45:40
So it's just kind of like WHOA, Okay, So I would say that's
45:44
definitely one. Another one I would say, is trying to looking through my
45:52
old list here. That was like the first one I thought of. Oh,
45:58
Kaliucci's would be another one. Kelly Kelly, Kelly what kellycies? She's
46:07
an R and B singera R and B singer. She sings in English and
46:10
in Spanish. How do you spell her name? K A L I?
46:16
And then is U C H? I say, yeah, and uh,
46:22
if you get her not her latest album. Her output is pretty incredible too.
46:28
But if you if you guys put on Red Moon and Venus A that's
46:32
the record and b if you put that record on on a date or something.
46:38
Just trust me. Okay, that'll that'll zac. Oh yeah, So
46:49
if I have some dark chocolate, it's like it's it's it's done. Where
46:52
it's gonna happen. Dude, Yeah, it's it's it's Are you speaking from
47:00
experience here, Joe? Is that what's going on? I'm a good Christian
47:02
boy? All right? All right? Good? So anyway, next band
47:13
or artist seriously scrolling through here, and I'm just kidding, is that what
47:19
that was? Just one more from this category and then we'll do the inverse?
47:22
Okay, yeah, I would say on paper, I'm trying to think
47:29
of a Oh and hopefully they don't view this as a dig, just because
47:32
I love them dearly. But my boys in for all eternity. Oh okay.
47:38
I don't typically like the I guess kind of warped tour metal kind of
47:46
stuff, you know, like you know, like the and but I just
47:51
thought that the way they went about it was just really well crafted and they're
47:57
just good Australian boys them. Yeah. Absolutely, there's such a good time.
48:05
And uh and I really, I really hope that they come back and
48:08
write another record because I think they're latest one was just it was I mean,
48:15
it was also pretty ridiculously heavy mhm and uh and just filled with a
48:20
lot of emotion and I was just very very yeah that that was a really
48:23
really good record. So but yeah, that's kind of I yeah, because
48:28
like I said, that one probably surprised some people, but yeah, yeah,
48:31
I think it surprised me. I'll tell you that much. And then
48:37
ones that you would think that I would like but I don't. So for
48:42
example, I use this example quite a bit. I love Me Without You
48:47
and like Touche Morey, those kind of bands where it's sort of like sort
48:52
of like spoken word ish kind of music but very indie and post hardcore,
48:57
I, for whatever reason, cannot get into a lot ofest you say,
49:00
I don't know why it is. I just can't get into it. Like
49:02
you know, on paper, you know, if you see like you know,
49:05
the you know fans also like on Spotify or whatever, you always would
49:08
see a lot of dispute under you know, Me Without You or Touche Moury.
49:12
But for whatever reason, I just can't get into a lot of dispute.
49:15
So that would be a band that on paper I should like that band,
49:16
but for whatever reason I just can't get into them, that's because you
49:20
need to listen to Ladispute. That's the Pitchfork writer saying that I like that
49:31
no honestly, and you know, I'll give three more. But that's actually
49:36
a very big one for me because I really dig Me Without You and Touche
49:40
more I dig and but yeah, I would say the first one right off
49:47
the bat, when you know is uh is death Cab for Cutie? Really?
49:52
Yeah, I do not like them, like not a single song.
49:58
I like one one song New Year, Okay, okay, but uh no,
50:06
I just because like everybody's like, well, dude, you love Jimmy
50:07
World. I'm like, yeah, because jim can sing, so uh,
50:15
you have the same sentiments about like Pulsa Service. Oh. If I'm gonna
50:21
listen to more electronics stuff, it's definitely going to be more in the uh
50:24
kind of like uh, I guess nine inch Nails kind of realm Okay,
50:30
yeah, So like I just dark, you know, I thought you were
50:35
gonna say. I thought you're gonna say knife Party or something like that.
50:37
Knife Part. Isn't that a Deaftones song? Too? Oh? Probably?
50:40
Yeah? Yeah, Yeah, I don't know. I'm not a Deaftones fan
50:44
Deaftnes is one of those bands on you are the one talking about how you
50:47
don't like new metal. Deaf Tones is one of those bands on paper I
50:50
should like, but I don't. So Okay, I will, I will,
50:53
I will say that. Yeah, the early stuff is definitely new metal
50:58
ish, but after after White Pony, they kind of just did their own
51:01
thing. Yeah at that point. Yeah, but but anyway, Yeah,
51:07
Death Cab I just I mean, I just the singer Ben something like I
51:14
was gonna say Gibbons, but then I was like, oh no, that's
51:15
a that's yeah. But but yeah, he I don't know, like,
51:22
I mean, he seems like a nice guy and you know, like and
51:25
the music is cool. I mean sometimes, but I don't know, I
51:28
just can't get into him, dude. Yeah, another you're forgiven this time
51:36
this time. Yes, let's see here another band or group that can't get
51:43
into I feel like, oh, brand new. Oh I get that,
51:47
I feel that. I totally feel that. I'm I'm exactly the same way.
51:52
Yeah, just I'm just kind of like, nah, dude, I
51:54
just like I can't do it. Uh, can you do that again?
52:07
You need to put that on the next record. Another band own. Uh
52:15
oh, here's a good one. Tool. I was waiting for it.
52:21
Tool. You don't like Tool? Why would you like Tool? No?
52:25
No, I can't. I can't do it. I can't do it.
52:28
Okay. So here's the question. Then, is it because of the name.
52:32
M hm, No, it's because of the fans probably like Color.
52:37
No, it's actually because of theirs. You don't like Maynard. I think
52:44
he's awesome. Oh dude, No, He's like. It was funny because
52:47
Grayson and I were hanging out a few weeks ago and we're and we're just
52:52
talking about, like, what would be a cool song to cover in the
52:57
future that you know, maybe is like kind of like on us on the
53:00
softer side. And so we're like going back and forth a couple of songs
53:04
and he was like, hey, pull up this a perfect circle song.
53:07
I'm like no, and he's like, dude, just just do it.
53:10
And I was like okay, And then he pulled up a song and it
53:14
was actually, I will say it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool.
53:16
I forget what the name of the song was, but like, but
53:21
I was like, all right, this is this is pretty cool. But
53:22
I just think I don't know I I will say I did like Maynard's guest
53:28
vocals on that one Deftone song Passenger, and uh, but you know,
53:34
I don't know. He just I don't know. He seems like a real
53:36
he gives a lot of what's that one guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah
53:45
he is. But he reminds me particularly of this one guy who shoot,
53:50
what's his name? He always has that smug look on his little face too.
53:55
It's a little person. No he's not, No, No, what's
54:01
his name? It's it's that guy. He's like, he's very critical of
54:06
religion. I mean, yeah, Mike, No, it's not Dawkins.
54:13
It's uh, it's not Kitchens, No, not Hitchens. He's not a
54:19
little bit younger. We not Jordan Peterson. No, but we're getting warmer
54:23
man. What's his what's his freaking name? Sam Harris? Yes, Sam
54:29
Harris. Yeah. Every time I I want to feel that I could see
54:34
that little curl up on his on his lips, like that little smile,
54:37
especially when he knows he's saying something controversial or what or what he thinks.
54:42
He's really smart with what he's saying. Yeah, and I'm just kind of
54:45
like the cringe. And that's what I get from Uh, mister Maynard,
54:53
the way he talks about his own band drives me up a wall. He
55:00
don't like write any of the of the music. And there's this one interview
55:01
I heard him where he was like, he's like, yeah, we would
55:05
have released a record five years ago if the band would have made some music.
55:10
It's like wow, wow, oh my god, dude, okay,
55:15
ud yeah, so but yeah, so I guess it's Tool Death Cab and
55:20
I forget who else? I said, Oh, brand New, brand New?
55:22
Yeah yeah, yeah, so I guess there's four there. So but
55:27
uh yeah, yeah, that's a good list. Those are that is that
55:35
is honestly a solid list, most of most of which Mason and I agree
55:37
with. Yeah. Really that brand New one, I was like, Oh,
55:42
as soon as you said, I'm like, oh, that one hundred
55:44
percent is exactly where I feel. We're like all my friends that like a
55:46
lot of the same music love brand New and I would have grown up at
55:50
the time when brand New was, you know, big, and for whatever
55:52
reason, I just never got into him and still to the state can't get
55:55
into him. Yeah no, no, it's just I don't know what it
55:59
is. Oh, I need another band. I need to add another band
56:01
for the other list real quick, one that's on paper that I probably shouldn't
56:06
like. And and but I love the fuck out of his band called Cannons.
56:10
Okay they're uh Cannons, Yeah, they're They're like a southern California pop
56:19
trio, pop rock trio, and uh, it's just it's just a vibe,
56:24
man, Like, I just really enjoy their music. They have a
56:28
lot of I'm really big into like motown and and Seoul, and they definitely
56:34
add that in there, and they do it very tastefully. Yeah. Yeah,
56:38
it's awesome. It's perfect cruising. I did that. Yeah. Do
56:42
you just you know like warm spring night? Put that on? Dude,
56:45
It's so good. A warm spring night around here is like thirty five degrees
56:51
so oh dude. So so when we were touring through there a couple of
56:59
years ago, we we I mean, I know, this is kind of
57:00
like the Midwest is like when does when does it get warm? It gets
57:07
really hot usually by like the June, but then by July you're hitting like
57:15
mid nineties pretty much the entire time. And when does it get start cooling
57:19
down? Uh? D of September, beginning of October Ish. Wow.
57:25
Yeah, I'm just spoiled by California. So I'm just like fascinated with that.
57:30
Like I'm just kind of because when we were touring through like the Midwest
57:34
in May and there was like still a ton of snow on the ground,
57:37
and we were just like, bro, I thought, by May, for
57:42
sure it would at least be like, you know, sixty degrees or something.
57:45
But well, the thing is like you could get a day in May,
57:47
at least in South Dakota, in like the Midwest in general, where
57:51
it's seventy degrees, and then the next day it snows six inches. Like
57:54
that's very something that could totally happen, very common. Yeah. Wow,
58:00
Now that I'm like genuinely fascinated by that stuff, Like I'm definitely like the
58:05
David Attenborough kind of dude. You know, I can watch those documentaries forever,
58:08
dude. They're great. They're great. Yeah. So now the thing
58:13
I love about the Midwest is like in a calendar year, you could get
58:16
one hundred and twenty degree one hundred and thirty degree difference between you know,
58:20
you could have a day summer it's over one hundred degrees and then a day
58:23
in the winter that's like negative thirtyative forty. Yeah, yeah, jeez,
58:30
wow, that's that's pretty that's brutal, especially these last couple of years,
58:35
this last year, and we're not here to talk about weather, but this
58:37
last year, not this year, but last year, we had two weeks
58:42
straight in my home place here where it was over one hundred and two degrees
58:45
for or in July, and then that same year we had a week straight
58:52
where it was negative twenty five before Winchell, after Winchill, we had like
58:57
a number of days in there where it was like negative fifty, negative sixty.
59:00
It was yeah, wow, Well, I got to pick your brain
59:06
more about that offline, because I'm just like fascinating. Yeah, it's a
59:09
blasts good time. You never know what's gonna throw at you. I love
59:13
it. Joe, Thank you so much for chatting about the new album.
59:17
We're really stoked about it. It very well could be an album that one
59:21
of you know, whether it's culin or I, but it could be certainly
59:23
in our top five for the year. So we're super stoked about it.
59:28
I can't wait to see you guys out on the road and uh yeah,
59:30
we're just really looking forward to it. Fuck yeah, well dude, it's
59:34
always good to talk to you guys and hope to see you guys at a
59:37
show. Much love. Were aweso