Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 738 - Thrash Titans Return: Gus Pynn on Sacrifice’s Volume Six

Transcript

PODCAST: Episode 738 - Thrash Titans Return: Gus Pynn on Sacrifice’s Volume Six · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

• 0:00
  I was ready to take this kid in and record the whole album with
• 0:04
  it, and he looked me in the eye. He goes, no way.
• 0:09
  He goes, I want you to pull out that wooden drum set that you
• 0:12
  got stuck in your garage. He goes, I want you to pull him
• 0:16
  on and we're going to lay this album down with natural drums,
• 0:19
  natural everything. Guys, I want you off the floor.
• 0:21
  Don't you think it would sound better with the V kit?
• 0:23
  He goes, no, he goes, I'm going to be steadfast about this.
• 0:26
  I said OK. I said then I'm going to, I'll
• 0:28
  do my part. I said I'll go and I'll re head
• 0:30
  the whole kit, get the whole thing ready.
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  I'll shine up at him, I'll bring him in, I'll set them all up and
• 0:36
  then we'll go and he goes, see it's going to be great.
• 0:40
  I said OK. What's up
• 0:48
  everybodyitskefi@ghostcultmag.com I am back again with another
• 0:52
  interview and I am super stoked to be joined by Gus from
• 0:54
  Sacrifice. How are you doing today?
• 0:56
  I'm doing absolutely great tonight, Keith, absolutely well,
• 1:00
  finally starting to warm up here and the great white N.
• 1:03
  So last one I did man, we are, we are super frozen and is not
• 1:07
  what you can do when you're -20. Hey, you know, I lived in New
• 1:11
  England for a long time and I went through many winters when
• 1:15
  we actually had a winter in New York City when where I'm from
• 1:18
  originally, I live in California and I was like, where can I live
• 1:21
  where It's like all the things I love about the Northeast, but
• 1:23
  not freezing cold California, Northern California.
• 1:27
  So I got lucky. But yeah, I'm a big fan of
• 1:30
  Toronto. Big many time visitor to Canada
• 1:32
  specifically for metal. I was a frequent visitor to an
• 1:37
  occasional visitor to Toronto and Quebec for metal festivals
• 1:40
  and metal shows. I attended the Trawler Here
• 1:43
  metal fest many times. Please forgive me any French
• 1:46
  fans out there for my horrible French, but you know, long time
• 1:49
  fans. Sacrifice is a band I have
• 1:51
  literally followed since I'm a kid and obviously you were in.
• 1:54
  It's almost a kid. It's so gratifying to me for you
• 1:56
  guys to put out such a banger record in in 2025.
• 2:00
  It really shows your your heart and your dedication to your
• 2:03
  craft as a band here. Here's just a funny aside.
• 2:06
  When I first broke into journalism, one of my first
• 2:08
  contacts ever was Sean Palmerston, another great
• 2:11
  Canadian and he and I would talk about that like dude, all the
• 2:14
  Canadian bands. I was like, I know this is like
• 2:16
  very cliche to talk to your like 1 Canadian contact about
• 2:20
  Canadian things, but you know, I was like no.
• 2:22
  No, we've don't, Shawn, for a long time.
• 2:24
  Shawn, there's anybody know? If there's anybody knows us
• 2:27
  intimately, it's him. Yeah, Sean is the absolute best
• 2:31
  person and I'm so grateful. I think I've even bought some
• 2:35
  merch off of him that he was trying to unload at one point.
• 2:37
  I might have like a little button collection from him, but
• 2:40
  yeah, we shared like a mutual love.
• 2:41
  He's like, oh dude, I can't believe you even know the band.
• 2:44
  I'm like that. You can't believe I know
• 2:45
  sacrifice, dude. I've been.
• 2:46
  I have a sacrifice shirt that I wear in interviews sometimes.
• 2:50
  So at least that it wasn't like going to completely nerd out and
• 2:53
  wear it today like a dork. But Volume 6 is just absolutely
• 2:57
  killer, and I'm just so thrilled to have it and to hear it and to
• 3:01
  get to talk to you about it today.
• 3:02
  That's fantastic. Yeah, it's, it's been just like
• 3:06
  it's been advertised 16 years in the making and to be able to go
• 3:10
  in and and lay it down, like now it's Labor Day weekend 23.
• 3:15
  So I'm already a year and a half plus into its creation.
• 3:20
  So what can I tell you? I've had the luxury of listen to
• 3:23
  it right up until you guys all got it, probably about two weeks
• 3:27
  ago. And the reaction's been
• 3:29
  fantastic. Yeah, we've been all been stoked
• 3:31
  about it. Lots of plans, lots of, lots of
• 3:34
  stuff coming at us. So I can't complain at all.
• 3:37
  It's, it's been really gratifying, Keith, to say the
• 3:39
  least. Yeah, fantastic.
• 3:41
  And I can't imagine sitting on it and have after having like
• 3:44
  this big break and writing this record and and putting it down
• 3:48
  and being satisfied with it and, you know, all the great
• 3:51
  promotion and and work everyone has done to, you know, support
• 3:55
  and celebrate the album. But it has to also be like, I
• 3:58
  think fans don't understand that records is sometimes done,
• 4:00
  especially in this last few last five years of the world.
• 4:04
  Like they were definitely records done like pre 2020 that
• 4:07
  didn't come out until like 2020. Yeah.
• 4:09
  And they're just fucking coming out now.
• 4:10
  So yeah, they're just coming out now.
• 4:12
  Yeah, yeah. Or they're coming to Yeah, our
• 4:15
  bands are finally laying down what they probably held on to
• 4:18
  for the last four or five years. We're getting like the follow up
• 4:22
  now because like they had just put something out.
• 4:25
  So we're getting the music video now for the record 2-3 years
• 4:27
  ago. It's all good.
• 4:29
  And you know, there's also a lot of people like, you know, you
• 4:31
  know, I'm sure you know, everybody in the band's got
• 4:33
  families and work and things life, regular life too.
• 4:36
  But, you know, I always said, like, anybody who couldn't, you
• 4:39
  know, there were people who are introverts who thrived during a
• 4:43
  time locked in. And there were times when people
• 4:46
  were like, I can't work creatively until I know this
• 4:48
  thing is over. This global breakdown is
• 4:51
  through. So like, I appreciate that, you
• 4:54
  know, y'all came back together and worked and, and and wrote
• 4:57
  and, you know, made this thing for us to appreciate today.
• 5:00
  It's it's not, it's not a little thing.
• 5:02
  It's a big deal. Yeah.
• 5:04
  Before, before even the pandemic, it was only going to
• 5:07
  be an EP. We only had probably four or
• 5:09
  five song and and then became shut us down for almost a year
• 5:14
  and a half. Didn't play at all.
• 5:16
  And we crawled out of it a bit and we were able to move around
• 5:21
  a little bit more because I it's a strange and the whole world
• 5:24
  just locks down. Yeah.
• 5:26
  And you don't really know what's going on.
• 5:28
  It feels fucking confusing. From from Eternally for me
• 5:32
  anyways, went through the whole thing.
• 5:34
  Yeah, for him. And I, I mean, that was probably
• 5:37
  the most distant I ever felt that this album was ever going
• 5:40
  to get done to finally actually, you know, start to talk about it
• 5:44
  again in 2122 again. And then start playing again in
• 5:48
  22/23/23 was busy for us because we wanted to play, but we still
• 5:54
  wanted to concentrate on doing the record and and get mad,
• 5:57
  which that was the sole focus in 23.
• 6:00
  We said 24 comes around, then we'll go back out and we'll play
• 6:03
  some shows and we'll, you know, see who wants us and Maryland,
• 6:08
  we're gracious enough to give us another slot, give us a slot in
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  Baltimore. And then he said, well, you guys
• 6:15
  want to go to California and play.
• 6:16
  I was like, man, that's almost fucking stupid than nothing to
• 6:19
  go and play in Oakland. I was like fucking you got to go
• 6:24
  to the hardest rash and and and and for me, that was my sole
• 6:29
  purpose and intention to to play that show.
• 6:31
  And to be honest, Keith, that's probably probably one of the
• 6:33
  better live shows we had played was the Oakland show and how I
• 6:37
  felt about it and the playbacks on it.
• 6:41
  I heard no flaws in our in our game that night.
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  The only problem being is we never, I mean, we already had V6
• 6:48
  up here, right? And we couldn't, we couldn't
• 6:50
  play it. So probably was like, OK, this
• 6:52
  the last time we're playing this set.
• 6:53
  So next time we get to jam again and it's going to be new stuff.
• 6:57
  And I said, man, I'm fucking looking forward to that.
• 6:59
  I'm looking forward to finally building this set and, and, and
• 7:02
  unleashing it on everybody. So now it's now we're getting
• 7:05
  ready for Vancouver and Maine and I'm super stoked.
• 7:10
  I, I can't, I can't tell you how much I love this record.
• 7:12
  It's it's very pointed for me, very pointed for him.
• 7:17
  How much we as a band love it to to to a man in this in this
• 7:22
  band, even Sean, everybody that's heard it man has been,
• 7:25
  you know, free from the get go. Keith fucking or just they
• 7:29
  couldn't believe it. Like fuck man, you guys are like
• 7:31
  better than ever. And I'm like, yeah, well, it's,
• 7:35
  it just, it's always felt good. And it's, you know, between me
• 7:39
  and him and the fact that we can fucking still play at the top of
• 7:43
  our games, it's been, it's been nice to say the least.
• 7:46
  Awesome. And just shout out to the
• 7:48
  Maryland Death Fest guys. And you know, I'm so glad they
• 7:51
  got to come back after a little hiatus and it seems like they're
• 7:54
  back for for good now. And of course, because my luck
• 7:57
  is nothing but dumb, I was out of town the weekend of Oakland
• 8:01
  Death Fest. So I missed you guys.
• 8:03
  It was like, finally, there's literally a train ride away.
• 8:06
  I live in downtown in San Francisco.
• 8:08
  It's like I can just literally smell it.
• 8:10
  But I had spies there and they were stoked and a lot of people
• 8:13
  represented. So my question to you is, do you
• 8:17
  know we're fucking coming back with this one, right?
• 8:19
  I, I would assume so. I would assume so.
• 8:22
  I'm sure there's a lot of stuff. I mean, we have no shortage of
• 8:24
  shows and things to do. I'm I'm being a.
• 8:27
  Little more. Yeah, it's tough.
• 8:29
  I'm sorry. It's great.
• 8:30
  I'm being a little more choosy with all the that I do.
• 8:33
  I'm not going out like five nights a week anymore.
• 8:35
  I'm getting older and I can't bounce back anymore.
• 8:38
  And that's without drinking, I imagine when I used to drink.
• 8:40
  Yeah, I know. You know, just getting up and
• 8:42
  trying to fucking. Just yeah, like, oh, I sat up in
• 8:45
  bed at oh, my back. What's going on?
• 8:46
  Why is this happening? I know why I didn't take care of
• 8:49
  this. This is Roddy's a temple.
• 8:50
  And mine is like a wreck, like Indiana Jones.
• 8:53
  I don't know, just with booby traps.
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  Still trying to keep it fucking at all.
• 8:57
  So yeah, mine and working and and and you know, you got to
• 9:01
  keep liver, right? It's yeah, that's it.
• 9:03
  Without that, I mean you could start to feel yourself stiff up
• 9:06
  as you get older. Yeah, stretching and walking is
• 9:08
  very important move. Get moving, get moving.
• 9:11
  But yeah, so glad I MDF and things like that were huge.
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  And I had spies. We covered MDF and me, so we had
• 9:18
  some reviewage and then I had spies in Oakland who told me all
• 9:22
  about I was like, next time for sure.
• 9:24
  So yeah, I can't wait for you to come back and we'll catch you
• 9:26
  somewhere in the States, you know, somewhere.
• 9:29
  So we're all over. So we're all over.
• 9:31
  Let's let's talk about Volume 6. I love that you called it V6.
• 9:35
  Immediately when I heard the title, I was like, oh, Volume 6,
• 9:38
  like Volume 4, of course. And even Anthrax had a Volume 8.
• 9:42
  So I was like, yes, absolutely. Volume 6.
• 9:44
  I love this so much, everything about it.
• 9:46
  And then what I really loved about the record, especially
• 9:50
  like the first couple of quotes from Rob in the press release,
• 9:53
  was talking about like, just kind of the headspace the band
• 9:56
  was in. Like, let's bring it back old
• 9:57
  school. But also show that even with the
• 10:00
  long gap between albums other than the compilation, like,
• 10:03
  let's show what we, you know, we can still do this.
• 10:06
  And I love how varied the regular.
• 10:07
  It's brutal, it's thrashy, it's killer.
• 10:09
  But there's also, like, grooves, there's great groovy songs,
• 10:13
  different tempos. Like, a lot of feels like you
• 10:16
  just let it all fly. And I love that so much for
• 10:18
  y'all. Yeah.
• 10:20
  I love the fact that when I sit back and I listen to this record
• 10:23
  and thrash songs jump out at me constantly.
• 10:26
  But yeah, I'm not one to shy away from songs like Underneath
• 10:30
  Millennia, which out of the gate we had that one written probably
• 10:35
  number one, number two, number three, I think it was Comatose,
• 10:39
  Underneath Millennia and then we wrote Missile.
• 10:41
  So we had those 3 songs right out of the gate.
• 10:43
  Coming out of maybe 1415. I still been trying to date time
• 10:47
  and everything and I've I've said maybe it's O 17 and stuff
• 10:50
  like that, but yeah, it goes back further than that.
• 10:53
  I say probably O fourteen O 15 when we start to to really pan
• 10:57
  and put those songs together. It took us a while.
• 11:01
  There's no doubt about it. People are going well.
• 11:03
  Seven years between writing new stuff and we had three new songs
• 11:09
  probably by, I say probably 1516.
• 11:14
  And then, you know, it's trying to find the time to write new
• 11:17
  stuff and then play shows and, and live life.
• 11:19
  And yeah, unfortunately we're not the fastest band in the
• 11:24
  world, but I, I always say, man, quality over quantity with us.
• 11:30
  And I keep I, I, I fucking love the, the new songs a lot.
• 11:34
  So he was like EP maybe with those and and then we'll see
• 11:39
  where it goes. Pandemic came and then we shut
• 11:42
  it down. And then next thing you know, we
• 11:43
  come back and he did the war War V over that stretch.
• 11:47
  We put that out and everybody was like, holy fuck, you guys
• 11:50
  going to do something else? And it was like, yeah, that's
• 11:53
  the plan. And then we turn around and, and
• 11:56
  then we write probably three more songs for this record over
• 11:59
  that period. And by the time we got to 2223,
• 12:04
  the beginning before we went in to do it, then he went through a
• 12:07
  writing glut, gave you a whole bunch of deviled stuff, and I
• 12:10
  fucking loved everything. And then he went back and
• 12:13
  revisited a song that I fell in love with during the 2020
• 12:16
  sessions with over the COVID stuff, I did a whole bunch of
• 12:19
  demo ship. And I've said this before where
• 12:23
  Brian Shelton's good friend of ours, Without him, I don't think
• 12:26
  the reunion would have happened. But he's been a good friend of
• 12:29
  mine since 2002. And he's he's been right there
• 12:34
  watching me rebuild my whole relationship with the band and,
• 12:37
  and watching us do the reunion. Condemned.
• 12:40
  And then we'll write this album. So he was Privy to a lot of new
• 12:46
  stuff that we had put together, whether it be done or not done.
• 12:50
  And I was saying to him, what do you think?
• 12:53
  And he was like, oh fuck, man, this is stupid good.
• 12:56
  You guys got to do this stuff. And I specifically talk about
• 12:59
  Explode because Explode was a song that we had demoed in 2020.
• 13:04
  I gave it to Rob. He fucking had all.
• 13:07
  He had about 20 songs demoed. I gave him.
• 13:10
  But he was like, holy shit, guys, you got to give me all
• 13:12
  this stuff. I said fuck man, it was just a
• 13:14
  weekend between me and him. I said here you go.
• 13:17
  I did this all with AV kit. What do you think?
• 13:20
  So he took it then. He did really, if you think
• 13:22
  about, he just did World War V, we put that one out and
• 13:25
  everybody was kind of like, OK, here we go.
• 13:28
  Are you guys going to record an album?
• 13:29
  Are you guys going to do something?
• 13:30
  I was like, well, he didn't say no and he didn't say no to me.
• 13:34
  But for at that time, after we came out of COVID into 2122, I
• 13:39
  thought was just going to be maybe an EP.
• 13:42
  And then he went through another writing glut.
• 13:44
  So between me and you, probably the best fucking thing that ever
• 13:47
  happened to him. And it's all about what can I
• 13:51
  tell you, man? He can look me in the eye and
• 13:53
  tell me he's got shit or he doesn't.
• 13:55
  And you know what? I've always between me and you.
• 13:57
  I've always trusted his instinct.
• 13:59
  And, and I, I know how hard it was to write truth back in 1989
• 14:05
  and how long it took us to finish writing that song.
• 14:07
  But when we finished it, man, that you just know.
• 14:11
  You just know that you got something.
• 14:12
  And just like with The Condemned with Volume 6, every time he's
• 14:18
  touched something, it's been fucking gold.
• 14:20
  And I've all I had to do is he said it to me in O six.
• 14:24
  He goes, I just want you to be yourself.
• 14:26
  I want you to be like any of those new modern drummers, you
• 14:30
  know, just be yourself, man. And and trust me, it'll people
• 14:33
  will resonate to our sound and what we are.
• 14:37
  I said, OK, And that's that's been the recipe, man, for the
• 14:39
  last 20-3 years, give or take. So that's that's pretty good
• 14:43
  record over that, that time everybody said, well man, maybe
• 14:46
  you guys should have done maybe three or four more records.
• 14:48
  But shit, man, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't shit
• 14:52
  the egg right? You gotta wait till the egg
• 14:53
  comes. Exactly.
• 14:55
  You can't squeeze it out before it's time.
• 14:56
  Can't. Squeeze it out.
• 14:57
  I you know, I'd rather him give me something that he's fucking,
• 15:01
  you know, he looks at me in the eye angle.
• 15:03
  Yeah, this is this is fucking what I wanted and I'm like,
• 15:06
  yeah, I knew that when we did we did comatose and I was like,
• 15:09
  that's the fucking blister and song you that's the idea.
• 15:12
  But I mean, get me wrong, it's sometimes it's taking a lot of
• 15:16
  cultivation for certain things and the way he does things and
• 15:20
  you know, I get if I if I told you it's the easiest guy to
• 15:23
  fucking, you know, to get inside his head and get it all figured
• 15:26
  out. Not really.
• 15:28
  It's taking me time to to put it all together and to get the
• 15:31
  meter he's wanted for this record.
• 15:33
  Because you know what, Keith? I mean, you listen to it.
• 15:35
  I don't think any of the songs sound the same.
• 15:37
  I mean, it's trash. But we, we, we, we could fucking
• 15:41
  I find we, we got maybe 3 gears four years for this band that
• 15:45
  it's just, it's just a it's just a natural thing for us.
• 15:49
  And everybody says the same thing.
• 15:51
  And that's what I've loved about the reviews is they're, they're
• 15:54
  happy with the variety and I get it.
• 15:56
  So I I can't complain about the variety.
• 15:59
  Yeah. Is any guitar player easy to
• 16:01
  figure out and read mentally in a band with you?
• 16:03
  I mean, they're so their own breed.
• 16:05
  I know they say drummers are their own breed of people, but
• 16:07
  like, no drum. No, it's guitar players who are
• 16:09
  really specific and interesting individuals.
• 16:12
  And I love how much you guys like how much pre production you
• 16:16
  just talked about because that's I think that's the thing we're
• 16:18
  losing despite the availability of gear and home studios and
• 16:21
  just a little home rig. I think like that's actually the
• 16:24
  key to making a great record and a veteran band, an experience
• 16:27
  band. Even if you weren't pumping out
• 16:28
  records all that time, you know what's going to pass muster.
• 16:31
  You know what sounds like sacrifice.
• 16:33
  So I love that for you and I love that you talked about the V
• 16:35
  kit. I think you're sitting in front
• 16:37
  of one right now, and I wanted to know, like how much the
• 16:40
  drumming changed from the demos on the electric kit to when you
• 16:44
  put it over to your full set. Did it change much?
• 16:46
  Do you add more when you're putting it down or what?
• 16:49
  Yeah. That's that's a fucking
• 16:50
  excellent question because, you know, when I when I bought my V
• 16:54
  kit, I just didn't buy a fucking, you know, half ass kit,
• 16:58
  man. I I went about the VAD five O 6.
• 17:01
  This is fucking $8000 worth of fucking drums.
• 17:04
  And I was lucky because we re issued the albums.
• 17:07
  We got a great deal with High Road Records.
• 17:11
  They put them all out. They they gave us a great purse
• 17:14
  for all of them. And I was fortunate enough to
• 17:16
  buy my kit. And over that time when we were
• 17:18
  writing this stuff, and I was pretty happy about I was, I was,
• 17:22
  I was ready to take this kid in and record the whole album with
• 17:26
  it. And he looked me in the eye.
• 17:27
  He goes no fucking way. He goes I want you to pull out
• 17:33
  that wooden drum set that you got stuck in your fucking
• 17:35
  garage. He goes, I want you to pull them
• 17:38
  out and we're going to lay this album down with natural drums,
• 17:41
  natural everything. Guys, I want you off the floor.
• 17:43
  Don't you think it would sound better with the V kit?
• 17:45
  He goes, no, he goes, I'm going to be steadfast about this.
• 17:48
  I said. I said OK, I'll send then I'm
• 17:50
  going to, I'll do my part. I said I'll go and I'll re head
• 17:53
  the whole fucking kit, get the whole thing ready.
• 17:55
  I'll shine the fucking shit out of him.
• 17:57
  I'll bring him in. I'll set him and then we'll go
• 18:00
  and he goes, see, it's going to be great.
• 18:03
  I said OK, so that's what we did.
• 18:05
  And man, here's instinct this time around.
• 18:08
  Keith was fucking like bang on the money, man.
• 18:12
  I remember when Darius sent me the mix last June and I heard
• 18:16
  the snare and he mixed on this kid.
• 18:18
  And, and for any people, any person who wants a bitch about
• 18:21
  this snare sound and this fucking record, I forget it,
• 18:24
  man. There's nothing to bitch about.
• 18:26
  It's probably the best fucking snare sound I've ever heard
• 18:29
  natural come out of anything I've ever done.
• 18:32
  And I mean, I've done some fucking great ones.
• 18:34
  Ryan did an amazing job on Soldiers and and Ford.
• 18:37
  And these were just natural. I mean, I've always played out
• 18:40
  of a Ludwig snare, but this one that I put up for V6 was
• 18:45
  specifically that this snare drum sat to the side while I
• 18:49
  recorded the ones I condemn. I have a picture of it sitting
• 18:53
  in studio set up and I never put it in the so back story for that
• 18:57
  is I went and regret it not putting it up after mixing it
• 19:01
  and having that album all these years.
• 19:03
  Not that the songs are not great, not that the the overall
• 19:07
  ambience of the IT is what it is, but for for for my own
• 19:11
  personal satisfaction. I kind of kicked myself a bit
• 19:14
  about Hey Keith. So this time around I thought,
• 19:17
  you know, fucking there's no way, man.
• 19:18
  I had a plan of attack. I said I'm going to go in.
• 19:21
  I'm going to lay this album down.
• 19:22
  Perfect. Most flawless 4 days I've ever
• 19:24
  experienced, any recording I've ever done and I've obviously
• 19:29
  done a lot of it and everything about this album from from day
• 19:33
  one till day four and it was only four days, 3 songs a day.
• 19:38
  So you do the math right? That's 12 songs.
• 19:40
  So that was that was the schedule after day one.
• 19:44
  I was a little worried, but by the time we got through day 2,
• 19:47
  which was spectacular, like we finished comatose and underneath
• 19:52
  millennia. We did a lot of stuff that day
• 19:54
  and I forget what the third song was.
• 19:56
  Garrison probably probably have a better idea, but that but I I
• 20:00
  knew going into day three, day four especially, but day 4 was
• 20:05
  the biggest mystery to me because the back story about
• 20:09
  Andono poison. That song is basically day four
• 20:13
  at Phase One Studios. It was just a demo.
• 20:16
  So Rob gave me the demo. I fell in love with the song.
• 20:19
  He goes, you want to record that?
• 20:20
  And I said absolutely. So we started, did all the
• 20:23
  double bass parts. We got to the end of the double
• 20:25
  bass part and before the fast part and he goes, I don't know,
• 20:29
  I don't know if we should finish it.
• 20:32
  All of a sudden my mic gets turned off and Darius goes, can
• 20:35
  you come in the studio goes we're going to have something to
• 20:36
  eat and then we're going to finish that song.
• 20:38
  I said, OK, so he convinced Rob to finish it.
• 20:40
  We had lunch. 5:00 came 90 minutes later.
• 20:44
  We did the whole fast part, pieced it all together and then
• 20:48
  bam, he fucking played it back for us.
• 20:49
  I said wow. And then for me, I said to him,
• 20:52
  after we mixed everything and, and it was all presented to me,
• 20:55
  I said that's that's my favorite song in the record by far.
• 20:59
  I said that's that encompasses everything we've ever, ever been
• 21:02
  and never wanted to achieve in regards to my perfect song.
• 21:05
  And just between me and you, that's that's that's how I felt
• 21:09
  about that song. I thought if that's going to be
• 21:11
  the catapult for this record going forward, as I'm going to
• 21:14
  be super fucking happy when it's finished.
• 21:16
  And yeah, and by the time Scott got it, Joe got it, and we put
• 21:21
  all the parts in and then mixed it over September 2022, thousand
• 21:26
  23 to basically May 20, 2024. I get the final mix in June of
• 21:32
  24. So we're 25 now.
• 21:35
  So yeah, I've had it since then. And I had some deadly BBQ
• 21:39
  sessions last summer with a loudspeaker.
• 21:41
  Right, let's just see some neighbors around my neighborhood
• 21:44
  fucking her down pretty more than once.
• 21:46
  When I listen to metal in my backyard barbecuing, so do my
• 21:50
  neighbors. By the way, There's nothing you
• 21:52
  can count on metal heads for, especially ones that don't play
• 21:55
  drums, to criticize drum tunings and drum and snare sounds and
• 21:58
  things like that. That's what they love to do,
• 22:00
  being a fool. Oh yeah, Especially, yeah, yeah,
• 22:03
  'cause I mean for me, well, I mean for me, I wanted a natural
• 22:07
  fucking sound for this record. Which he goes, that's what we're
• 22:11
  going to achieve. So I said, OK, I'm going to buy
• 22:15
  in and and I'll let my, I'll let my feet, my hands through the
• 22:18
  talking on this record. So yeah, I was, I was pleased as
• 22:22
  Punch Man that we got everything laid down and it, it came out as
• 22:26
  great as it did that I expected to have this kind of reaction
• 22:30
  going into the beginning of this year.
• 22:33
  Not in your fucking life, man. But now that I've, I've heard
• 22:36
  all the good things and we're going to get a, a score release,
• 22:41
  you know, over here in Canada and it seems to be getting some
• 22:46
  momentum in the US. So I, I can, I can only expect
• 22:49
  big things going into this year and and next year for sure.
• 22:51
  Fantastic. I just have a couple more for
• 22:53
  you, man. I'm I've been so pleased.
• 22:55
  This has been amazing. So heading back out on the road,
• 22:59
  how many of the new songs are going to make it into the set
• 23:02
  list? I know last time, like you said,
• 23:03
  it was this is the one time only we're going to play all the
• 23:05
  classics and see some deep cuts. And now we have this brand new
• 23:08
  record. I'm sure you want to play some
• 23:10
  of it live well. I know for sure chromatosis
• 23:13
  that's that's going to be first and foremost and well, goals and
• 23:17
  we got to play that one live. And I was like, yeah, OK, I
• 23:20
  said, but if we do that one, it's got to be at the beginning
• 23:22
  of the set now, because man, that the amount of energy that
• 23:24
  I'm going to expend just to play that and 1st 4 cuts off this,
• 23:28
  you know, of whatever we do. I mean, we we, we can never play
• 23:32
  a a fucking set where we don't play for determination term
• 23:35
  strength. So that'll always be at the
• 23:37
  beginning of every one of our sets.
• 23:39
  Now we get this line in Comatose.
• 23:41
  I think Anecdotal Poison is going to be probably second.
• 23:45
  The boys love playing underneath Millennia, so I guarantee you
• 23:49
  those 3 songs will definitely be in every set that we play going
• 23:52
  forward. After that, it's anybody's coin
• 23:55
  flip as to maybe what they're going to want to play.
• 23:57
  And I know what I love. I love playing pretty much the
• 24:00
  whole thing, so whichever they want to throw at me and pick
• 24:03
  from night to night, I'll be happy to play for them.
• 24:06
  And I think we'll be able to play a little bit longer than
• 24:09
  4550 minutes going forward. I know that.
• 24:12
  And everybody's going to probably demand that we play,
• 24:14
  you know, 60 minutes, 7080 minutes a night.
• 24:17
  So I'm looking forward to that for sure.
• 24:19
  Right on us too. I always look to end these
• 24:21
  interviews with a wild card questions.
• 24:23
  So my wild card question for you, I'm trying to pick a
• 24:25
  specific one for everybody. If you could go back, you've had
• 24:28
  some ups and downs in your career.
• 24:30
  It's been a long career. Obviously the band is riding
• 24:32
  high right now. If you could go back and get in
• 24:34
  the DeLorean and get in The Time Machine and meet younger you and
• 24:39
  give yourself one piece of advice about the music business,
• 24:42
  what would you tell yourself? I don't know.
• 24:44
  I don't think there would have been any, any change in how I
• 24:47
  felt coming out of 1990 because those guys have always said,
• 24:51
  yeah, you probably did the best thing.
• 24:53
  That's all of us should have done in 1990, which was get the
• 24:56
  fuck out when it was starting to die.
• 24:59
  I said I get that, but I wish maybe I had to come back.
• 25:03
  And as opposed to taking the whole 12 years off where I never
• 25:06
  did any playing, no drumming at all, no interest in music except
• 25:11
  to listen to it and still be inspired by a lot more newer
• 25:15
  bands and stuff that I generally love.
• 25:18
  Yeah, I kind of wish I maybe got back into it.
• 25:20
  Maybe in early 2000s. Two thousand and one 2002
• 25:24
  started to spread my wings again and becoming, you know, get my
• 25:30
  trash chops back because it wasn't until then, I'd say
• 25:33
  probably 2012, 2013 before I actually sat down behind the
• 25:37
  drum set. And after we did condemned, I
• 25:40
  started feeling good about who I was again, who I was as a
• 25:43
  drummer within the band and and playing our set and trying to
• 25:47
  achieve. I I'm not going to lie to you.
• 25:50
  Playing soldiers of misfortune at this age is fucking
• 25:53
  difficult. And I'm not going to lie to
• 25:55
  anybody. That's a extremely bad the pace
• 25:59
  that I recorded that record at and the piston vinegar I did is
• 26:03
  very difficult to duplicate, man.
• 26:05
  I'm not I'm not lying to you because you know, soldiers Pong
• 26:10
  prophecy in defiance, like those are songs that that hugely
• 26:16
  resonated with a lot of people and you know, and to go back and
• 26:20
  to play it at that same pace takes a lot, a lot of patience
• 26:24
  and hard work eternally. So I'm glad that I've been able
• 26:29
  to get back to that level. But I wish I wish I hadn't done
• 26:32
  it sooner as opposed to maybe later.
• 26:34
  I'll probably wouldn't. I probably wouldn't have been up
• 26:35
  to speed probably a bit earlier, maybe in O 8 as O 9 and and had
• 26:41
  been more the way I play today then and then I did.
• 26:45
  But I I came out of O 6. I didn't feel as as good about
• 26:49
  my drumming in those first three years as I do now after we did
• 26:54
  condemn. But it's still it's been a it's
• 26:57
  been a long grind to get back to where I can look everybody in
• 27:01
  the angle. Yeah, this is this is where I
• 27:04
  wanted the band to be and where my own personal ability is to
• 27:09
  lie with this band. Right on.
• 27:11
  I appreciate hearing that. Thank you for sharing all that
• 27:13
  with us. Oh, no problem.
• 27:15
  Volume 6 is out now in Curse Blessings Records.
• 27:18
  Shout out to them for a great job.
• 27:20
  Great job by the PRR homies at Ear Split PR and Gusman.
• 27:25
  It's been just a real treat for me and a pleasure to chop it up
• 27:28
  with you today. Thank you very much for having
• 27:30
  me tonight, man. I really appreciate it.
• 27:33
  Now tell me, so you're in Northern Northern California.
• 27:36
  I'm in the Bay Area. Yeah, I'm in San Francisco.
• 27:38
  So you are in San Fran? But I am an East Coast guy, so
• 27:41
  I'm always, I start talking with my hands and I talk and
• 27:44
  everybody and you know, so. You'll bounce back and forth the
• 27:47
  the Gold Coast if you. Get a chance, right?
• 27:49
  Yeah, I visited back East and not too recently, but yeah, I
• 27:52
  did a big trip back home at one point.
• 27:55
  And yeah, I mean, I, you know, we're we're we're a global
• 27:58
  organization. So I'm proud to say we'll catch
• 28:02
  you somewhere around the world. And I promise if I meet you, if
• 28:07
  I get to meet you in person, you and Rob, I'm going to give you a
• 28:09
  big shake, big handshake, because really, this band meant
• 28:12
  a lot to me coming up. And I made music the way I make
• 28:16
  music. And, you know, I'm super stoked.
• 28:18
  So thank you so much for everything.
• 28:20
  Oh, you're welcome. Thank you very much for having
• 28:21
  me. OK.
• 28:22
  All right, take care and have a good evening.
• 28:24
  You too, Sir, I.