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The Spirit Of Metal With EXODUS RISING · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  So what's going on y'all. I'm Jay Slave from Exodus Rising. I'm the
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  lead vocalist for the band. I'm blessed by the Lord to be able to
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  do this endeavor with my bandmates. We got in New York, Charlie.
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  We also have Chris Zappa and Casey Bonnet as well, and I'm just really
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  happy to be here. Dude, yatiful mine, thanks for joining us today,
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  what at all? Thank you a pleasure. So Exodus Rising premiere and
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  you track Blazing Love by Heavy at ten am Australian Time on February the ninth.
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  So how you feeling about the song? Guys? I love the song.
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  H When Chris and I have that idea of making this song, which
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  was the whole adventure, it was the last minute thing. Actually, this
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  song was the last song that we recorded in the album. Am I right?
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  Chris? Yeah? Actually yeah, this was the last song from the
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  sixteen tracks that we have in the album. And Chris and I were having
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  a conversation. It's like, hey man, what about doing songs so Solomon,
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  you know, and let's make a ballad, but a progressive, cool
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  ballad. And that was the last spurt of the moment, and I think
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  it took us like three days to put it together, right approximately, or
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  we put it together three or four days, and we just I think the
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  last one to record the song was Casey. Yeah, yeah, that's true.
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  And the other guitars afterwards, Yeah, the guitars after the fact that
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  we did everything, and that song is very special, total heart. You
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  know, I love the way that Jay sings it. It has a special
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  meaning, you know. It's it's about this incredible love between a man and
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  a woman and as powerful as God's love for us. So to us,
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  it's a very special song. It's a song that we actually really like.
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  That's the start. Tell us pick more about the song from a musical point
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  of view and what you're going for with it. Well, like I said
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  before, we were trying to make it into a progressive song. How do
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  you take a ballot and make it into a progressive song? Right, Because
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  that's why we do. So I'll let Chris break his head with that and
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  if he wants to explain to you it's genius because this is like Chris is
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  like the master genius when it comes to orchestrating and coming up with some insane,
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  crazy music. Magic fingers. Yeah, magic fingers. I just you
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  know, I'm basically, I just basically in the conversation, was like,
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  dude, let's do it slow, let's do a melodic, but let's do
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  different our timing on it, and let's make it very progressive and put it
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  in people's face. You know. So I think it was in the chords.
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  You know, it was already designated to be in the album, because
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  I'm telling you, in three days we put this song together. It was
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  that simple. I mean, it wasn't that easy. But I came up
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  with all the melodies, which was another name there. Because how Exodus Writing
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  writes their music, we first do the music and then we do the melodies,
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  hopefully hopefully for the second album. Then we all be together doing it
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  at the same time, and you know, I'll come up with an idea
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  melody, Jay will come up with an idea of a melody, will write
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  the music, probably around the melody or vice versa. Look, if it
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  ain't broken, don't fix it. That's the attitude, you know, exactly
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  so, and then the correspondence back and forth of you guys, there's a
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  lot made about this song coming out in Triumph for Valentine's Day, Like,
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  is that just because of the valid nature of it or is it sort of
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  some other connection with Valentine's data? Well, like, the song is all
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  about love. The song is about Salomon's great love that he had for his
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  wife. And the song is incredibly romantic. Uh, it's very sexy romantic
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  and uh. And when I say sexy, I mean we took it straight
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  out of the Bible. We didn't add it to it. It is what
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  it is. It's the lyrics that the poems that he wrote to his wife.
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  So what better what better song to put out in Valentine's with a beautiful
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  romantic song? Exactly? Yeah, deb sure. The press rely says Blazing
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  Love is a groundbreaking foray in the unshotted terror story. Can can you explain
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  a bit dap for what that means? So with Blazing Love, when we
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  decided to do it, the Songs of Solomon over every more, more or
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  less, every single Christian metal band Christian band has that has covered their music,
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  they only do sections of the Bible, but they always avoid the Songs
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  of Solomon because it's it's a spicy portion of the Bible. Don't get me
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  wrong, it's beautiful. It shows the it shows the true nature of what
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  love is, and it shows how you're supposed to be acting towards your towards
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  your wack or towards your husband when you're married under the guise of the Lord.
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  So when we when we did that, we're the first people to actually
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  even talk about the song of Solomon. We're doing it in a progressive heavy
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  metal fashion, you know, and it's it's it's raw, it's emotional,
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  and it's showing how what love is. Yeah, piggybacking and what Jay was
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  saying. For the past one hundred years, and any song have been done
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  biblically, like you said, nobody they has touched it because they're afraid that
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  people are going to criticize because the song, like you said, it's sexy,
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  has double meaning. It's very sexual, but it's very it's it's talking
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  about the love of God for a couple, for a couple who's married.
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  So people are afraid of it. We're not afraid, man. We're doing
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  the Bible. If you're doing the Bible, we don't pick and choose from
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  the Bible. We just do the Bible, you know, pretty much.
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  So I hope this answer your question. It does my friend in Daed.
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  But guys out there that are unfamiliar with Exodus Rising, guys, tell us
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  speak more about the band. Go ahead, Jay, I answered this one.
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  Well, we're we're We're definitely like you ever watched you ever watched those
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  claymation movies back in the day, the Land of Misfits, like all the
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  broken and whatnot. That's that's what we are like. That's ideally how we
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  came together. So New York. Charlie and Casey their their brothers, so
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  obviously they were born, you know, in the same in the same family.
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  They're already there, so that's cool. I've known Charlie since I was
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  in middle school. He was even years old when I was eleven, so
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  I was so when I was when I was eleven, Charlie used to I
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  used to get in trouble a lot, and then I used to get thrown
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  into the guidance councilor room. And then Charlie saw that I was getting picked
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  on or or whatever. But he taught me how to take my my my
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  little boy anger and become a man out of it. And I basically I'm
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  told him to take it like a man. Then and then all these years
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  later and I was starting to get back into the into the music scene again.
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  I wanted to do I wanted to do more covers with my with like
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  music and stuff like that, become more of a singer and really live up
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  to what I've been studying my entire life up until this point. And then
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  Charlie was just like, look, dude, you like metal. I'm like
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  yeah, and I'm like okay, well, He's like, I got a
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  whole project. Do you want to be on you want to be in on
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  this? I don't know if you can do it. I said, nah,
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  I'll do it, and then look what happened. So that's my pretty
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  much pretty much. You know, we've been out there. You know,
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  Chris, how hard it is to find a great singer in any band period,
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  right, So as a band that've been together for two years, that's
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  been two years of looking for singers, and we have found some amazing ones,
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  some great ones, but commitment wise, their commendment level has been of
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  ten or fifteen percent only. You cannot have an album coming out with a
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  singer who has a fifteen percent commendment. We need one hundred and fifty percent
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  commendment right. So I've been I've been praying, we've been praying to find
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  a great singer. And next thing I know, I'll open Facebook and there's
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  Jay and I'm like, okay, I don't remember him by singing, you
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  know. And next thing, you know, one thing led to another and
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  he's in the studio auditioning, and I was thrown back. I was like,
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  oh my god, you got an amazing gift. Several years ago,
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  Chris, how long hasn't been already ten years since the last time since I
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  met you? Fifteen years? Fourteen years? Right? Fifteen years? Yeah,
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  we go way back. Yeah, fifteen or fourteen years. I had
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  a band call on the Fly, and we wanted Chris to play keyboards for
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  us. Somehow the other was hard for Chris to make it over here,
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  and we ended up finding somebody else. But Chris and I stood in contact.
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  I always thought he was a phenomenal, incredible keyboard player. So one
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  day when Casey came over, Kenny came over. You know, He's like,
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  yo, dude, I'm going to stay in New York. And I'm
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  like, great, let's start working in the album. That was two years
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  ago, right, Kenny, three years ago? Now, years ago,
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  and I'm like, great, let's start working in the album. And we
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  call Chris. I was like, Chris, are you in. We're gonna
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  do this whole album. We're gonna do the Bible, we want to do
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  your songs, our songs, We're gonna mix him, We're going to put
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  them all together, and I'm going to produce the whole album. Let's do
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  this. And we just went straightforward and did what we had to do.
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  And Kenny did all the guitars for the album. Then Chris did all the
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  keyboards. I mean, it was a labor of love. It was a
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  lot of headache, or it was a labor of love. I mean,
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  Chris, we were talking about not sleeping for twenty one days, twenty one
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  hours. Well, Jay and I and the guys, we've been in that
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  predicatament doing this album. What we worked to three or four in the morning,
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  starting early, and we didn't go to bed to six in the morning,
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  and for twenty two hours, twenty hours, were smoking a cigar in
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  the back probably at what time five and the morning hurt and it hurts to
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  smoke. It, don't get me, it hurts, but it's worth it.
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  We were just going like, oh man, you know we're tired.
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  You know, we pray together, we we we we ask God for guidance,
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  you know, Jesus for guidance. And but you know what, at
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  the end of the album, Chris, all I got to tell you is
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  to listen to the result. It was the result of It was a gift
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  from God to us and put this together and spread his work. It's pretty
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  much what we did it for, you know, bottom line. So that's
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  that's how all this came to be. Wait, now, I wasn't going
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  to bring this up Gods because to me, it's irrelevant and I don't think
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  it should factor in people's appreciation music at all. But you guys are a
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  Christian metal band, and you mentioned the Bible and any music a few times,
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  but people that there's a stigma around Christian metal bands where people feel like
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  they have to justify the music and stuff like that. But at the end
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  of the day, you're just a band like anyone else, singing about something
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  you're passionate about, and people don't have to believe in start or religion to
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  be able to enjoy your music and understand it. Do that. I'm going
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  to tell you this Jay and I are always wrestling with this with people.
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  You know, we've been called satanic a few times, Chris. We've been
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  we've been rebuked by other Christians. Okay, that's what we're doing is not
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  of God. And we've been we've been, you know, praise by people
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  who are not Christians. You know, they love our music. They'll take
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  me wrong. A lot of Christians love our material. Ah. So,
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  like you said, Chris, there's a stigma around Christian music. And everybody
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  who plays Christian metal knows this. Everybody thinks that you're in another planet playing
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  music. You know that. Oh God doesn't like Christian heavy metal. Music
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  is music? Are gonna I'll bring up a part of the Bible from Psalms
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  that actually says, play the drums loud, play the symbol's loud, play
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  the strings loud, and the horns loud. What are you saying to to
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  to adore me, to to worship me? That sounded like a rock band
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  to me. Oh, I'm sorry. Anybody who reads it, it's gonna
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  go, oh, that's a rock band that's actually except is ricing you just
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  described. So look, look, music is music. Music is done for
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  our pleasure to enjoy ourselves and relax. But if you take any kind of
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  music and you change your melodies, and you change the lyrics and you worship
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  God with it, then now it becomes a worship song. Anything used to
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  idolize the Lord, to glorify him becomes a worship song. And you know,
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  but here's a thing. Anybody could listen to it because the music is
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  driving, the music is in your face. The skills of each individual on
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  this band supersedes many. You understand. I mean, if I'm going to
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  talk about Jay and Chris and Kenny, I think the gifted. If I'm
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  going to talk about about the drummer who's not here, I'm gonna say the
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  guy is he should be playing in Dream Theater. Right. So, anybody
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  who's into rock music, anybody's into our John music, it's gonna appreciate what
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  we're doing. We're not trying to sell you God. We try to share
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  our love for God to you. You see the difference. We're not trying
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  to convince you. But like you said before, God is our passion,
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  it's our life. So as musicians, we're just sharing. We're playing what
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  we love. If it ministered to you, amen, you understand. But
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  we're not trying to convince you. We just wanted to share our love for
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  God with you. That's pretty much. Yeah. Just have fun, enjoy
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  it. Something you don't have fun, love it, dude. Yeah,
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  I mean, and not only that. I mean, you know you're talking
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  about the oldest stories in the Bible. I mean, if you really read
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  them, they are super metal, man. I mean this, you know,
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  all this stuff in the Bible, all this stories. It's just you
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  know, you're talking about giants biting and you know, the whole things.
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  You know, this is amazing. So yeah, there's blood and love everywhere.
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  That's just the the most mental part about it. There's blood and love
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  everywhere. The Bible's about forgiveness, love, war, sex, I mean,
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  the only thing that needs to put in rock and roll. Yeah,
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  even drugs. Drugs there. Yeah, they mentioned even drugs in there.
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  You know. But but you know, not kidding around is just an amazing
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  book. And instead of me, you know, writing about fantasy, I
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  want to tell a story that has already written for over two thousand years,
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  you know, and they amazing stories, So why not? Why not?
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  In day now? My first introduction to Exodus Rising was by the song Paradise
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  Lost, which you guys sent to me, and he's like, what did
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  you choose that one? To send it and introduce me to the band?
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  Anybody wants to take this and I've been talking too much. I don't mind.
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  You want to, It's up to you, Chris. That's your song,
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  bro. Yeah, you came up with that, baby, you came
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  up with it. I just cut it in pieces, dissected and a whole
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  lot of stuff, but that's yourself. Yeah. Yeah, So yeah,
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  I think it's like a good song to like basically, that song really summarized
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  what exced Horizing is all about. Has everything, especially like everything is heavy,
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  and then in the middle part it's like a very soft piano melodic part
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  that by the way, you know, Jay sings fantastic, you know in
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  that part, and then all of a sudden the guitar solos. It's just
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  like everything about that song it kind of like represents the band, especially the
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  sophonic orchestra and the orchestra parts, and the Bible is a very epic story.
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  The music should reflect that that epic neess and tells us compelling stories.
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  So I think that paradized thoughts, it's like a good song like to basically
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  sums up basically what the band is all about. It's like kind of like
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  a preview what to expect the rest of the album. Like if you like
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  this song, then kind of like imagine the rest of the album. How
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  are you gonna expect? And yeah, like I actually that's a really that
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  song. Actually it was based on a song of mine way back. It's
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  used to call into the Multiverse. And then Charlie came up to me told
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  me what take that song and put into the album, and I was like,
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  yeah, sure, you know, why not? And and then like
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  the end result and came out myself. And also when Jay started singing,
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  I was my mind was blown. I was like whoa, you know,
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  like I never imagine how that song moves so with lyrics and with with with
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  that amazing voice. So so yeah, like I'm really actually one of my
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  my favorite songs. Really, it's a really good song. Sometimes we talk
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  about songs in the album which is our favorite song and which is our last
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  favorite, But it seems like every song we love and we hear it or
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  listen to it over and over and over and over. Uh, to reflect
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  a little bit in what Chris was saying, Paradise Laws is the definition of
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  expus rising. In other words, when when we talk say that it's a
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  roller coaster ride. Yeah, it goes down, it goes up. Is
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  that people described when they hear the album. People describe it as an adventure.
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  I just went through a journey and adventure through through music. It picked
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  me up, It dropped me down and picked me up again. It took
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  me to places that I haven't been in a long time emotionally and again.
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  Each song. Although Chris had the song already, I tailor the song to
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  the chapter in the Bible. That's what comes to producing as a producer.
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  I cut, chopped, listen to this, pilot's add this, pilot's put
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  this here, Let's do that here in tailor to Paradise Laws. So it
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  works as if it was made from the beginning for the Bible part. But
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  as we're tailoring everything is where we discovered our sound. As I'm chopping and
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  coming up with Kenny with different parts and Christen with different parts, we decided
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  we found our niche. And the whole album is just a roller coaster ride.
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  It's just an emotionally an emotional god. I can't say right, emotional
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  emotional damage, no emotion damage. The whole album is very emotional, man.
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  It takes you up, picks you up, It drops you that one
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  and picks you up. And that's what we're all about, man, A
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  lot of feeling, a lot of melodies, you know. So I hope
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  that was a good answer. It was, indeed. And speaking of the
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  album, guys, we haven't really given it a pluget. But the album
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  is called The Book of Life and it's out now for download on the banded
• 21:25
  website. So fill us in right, what's what's the band website? Where
• 21:29
  can people get hold of it? Go to Exodus raising music dot com.
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  You can get the full album there. We got an old THHD full quality.
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  You can hear every soaring, symphonic epic that's on it, and it's
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  beautiful. It is, guys, that I can tell you from what I've
• 21:45
  heard of it, which is most of it. It is a bloody good
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  album, guys, like, is it done well? I urge anyone out
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  there that's got any stupid prejudice or anything because of your brand of music to
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  get over it and get over yourselves and have a listen, because at the
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  end it's just music and damn fun music of that. Thank you, thank
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  you, thank you. Hey even love it, so y of us do.
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  It's awesome. I don't know how I feel about that, but that's
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  awesome. Tell you show your friends, maybe they won't burn. I mean,
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  I don't know, Chris. That was really funny, Chris, because
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  we look at the comments in the video and this guy who's a Satanist,
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  I mean, was the one or two guys right, so different guys?
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  Yeah, there was. There was like two people. It was under armageddon
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  as well, the end of the world. You I'm out of all the
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  things. They were like, oh yeah, well I'm a Satanist, but
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  this is brutal. I love it, im like much. Man, we
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  we We're there, and that only has one thing to show that God's word
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  is so powerful that even satan will bowl in front of him. You know.
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  It's simple as that, man. So I can't even argue with that,
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  brother, I can't even argue with that. Thanks. Thanks for your
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  time, gentlemen. It's been an absolutely pleasure to get it. I is
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  better and like I say, your music hit me between the arts and first
• 23:22
  time I heard it, So congratulations, are well done. And I look
• 23:25
  forward to speaking with Thanks, dude, appreciate you, appreciate what you know,
• 23:32
  you're giving us this interview. We truly appreciate it. Man and the
• 23:36
  name of Exodus Racing and then the name of God. Man, I'm pretty
• 23:38
  sure he appreciates this as well. Of course, I was gonna say,
• 23:45
  check out heavymag dot com Man, Heavymag dot Com, dot Age mag Man,
• 23:51
  Heavy Mag, Heavy Mag. Man. They got good taste over there.
• 23:53
  You gotta check them out.