Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 789 -Svend Karlsson of Baest Talks Danish Death Metal and Their "Colossal" New Album

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PODCAST: Episode 789 -Svend Karlsson of Baest Talks Danish Death Metal and Their "Colossal" New Album · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

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  I think one of the keywords for this one was exactly fun because
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  we threw away all the rules and darkness there is to writing
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  death metal songs. And the only rule that was was
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  that if we thought it was fun, it was going on the record.
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  And that definitely helped us branch out as much as we have.
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  What's up, everybody? It's Kefi Coast codemag.com as
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  the sirens go on behind me. They're coming for me.
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  I'm hanging out with Fandom Beast today.
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  How are you doing, Sir? I'm doing good today, thank you
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  and waiting for the single to drop in a couple hours.
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  So pretty exciting times. Yeah, what an exciting time.
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  New album Colossal coming soon ahead of this as we're recording
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  this, and I'm super stoked. I've been following this band
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  for a long time. Actually, the guitar player in
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  my band, last time I saw him was rocking his shirt, his white
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  long sleeve from the Arch Enemy tour you guys just did.
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  So it's super cool. I see the band all the time.
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  I listen to the band. I've been following you guys
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  since, you know, maybe not quite the very beginning because the
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  band is around for about 10 years now, but definitely since
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  the first full album. So yeah, let's talk Colossal.
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  And I'm so stoked for this record.
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  It's so fun. I don't use fun a lot in music.
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  It's a lot of this riffs, but I I have so much fun listening to
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  the band and, and just, it seems like there's just so much love
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  and passion put into this extremely aggressive, gnarly
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  music. Yeah, man, I think one of the
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  keywords for this one was exactly fun because we threw
• 1:39
  away all the rules and dogmas there is to writing death metal
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  songs. And the only rule that was was
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  that if we thought it was fun, it was going on the record.
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  And that definitely helped us branch out as much as we have.
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  And yeah, that's the way for us, I think.
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  Amazing. And I feel like the profile of
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  the band has been rising. You, you know, I think there's
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  been some amazing music coming out of Denmark.
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  It's not just a little drummer in Metallica and King Diamond
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  anymore. It's a great scene of bands and
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  I feel like you're helping put your country a little stronger
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  on the map. It's hard with Finland and
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  Scandinavia and all the other Swedish, you know, so all the
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  Swedish bands. But like, I feel like Denmark is
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  really The profile is raised now, finally, I think, to where
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  it belongs. Yeah, that scene is exploding.
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  We're going really good. We have the guys from Neck
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  Breaker are really turning some hits now they're supporting
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  Slayer and supporting Kujira. So those guys are going to be
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  off like a rocket and that's that's really awesome.
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  What a time to be alive as we, you know, I know we just lost
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  Ozzy yesterday as we recorded this and it's a sad time for
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  rockers and metal heads. But it is, it does seem like a
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  very good time when you know, we still have a lot of classic
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  bands out there or back like in the case of Slayer, we've
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  covered a lot since they came back and new band, you know,
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  newer bands, let's say not new, but new to us, especially in
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  America and Western Europe. You guys have been working
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  really hard and touring and I feel like very prolific.
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  I don't know if you write all the time or demo stuff all the
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  time, but it just feels like since the 2019 released the four
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  foot, this is the fourth full length and lots of singles and
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  lots of EPS. So it feels like you guys are
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  working very hard. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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  No, we do. We actually do a lot of
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  songwriting on the route too, because, you know, we're
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  spending so much time and so much time together and that just
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  inspires everyone. And we talk about music all the
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  time and and then we just get to writing and also we meet up
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  every Monday morning to rehearse and do all the band stuff.
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  So yeah, I think already on some four or something. 5 for the
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  next record too, because it is really inspiring to release
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  Colossal as it is a new new kind of new kind of path for us.
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  So yeah, we tore a lot and we play a lot and then we have a
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  lot of fun. Right on.
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  I'm glad you do. It has to be fun for you.
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  That's always the first instinct is I know people, especially
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  music fans, we're very possessive of bands and the
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  first time we hear from a band we end up loving and we want
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  them to stay that way. But you're living in creature
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  and you have experiences and you play the you tour the world and
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  then you're like, oh, you know, I want to do something a little
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  different this next time. So you're the first fan you have
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  to impress. I always say that and you know,
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  Colossal, such a strong record. There's no skips top to bottom.
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  You know, every band says our new record is our favorite or
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  our best, but this, I think this really is your best record
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  actually. Thank you.
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  I think it is. I don't know.
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  Yeah, of course it's our favorite.
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  But you know, some of the rifts are from when Leslie was 14,
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  some of them is from when I was 15.
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  And it's like a full circle kind of project.
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  And everyone got their early influences to be a part of that
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  record because we just all the rules we had processed.
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  So yeah, I'm pretty excited to release it very soon and hear
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  what people think. Right on.
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  And I was a big fan, by the way, of Necro Sapiens.
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  So just so everybody knows, I've been again, been following the
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  band and, you know, you put out that first big, you know,
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  release in 2019 and then the whole world ground to a halt.
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  But you kept going and kept working, which was nice.
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  And, you know, work ethic is a thing.
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  Nothing gets handed to you. And it's in the music business.
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  You have to earn your time, whatever that is.
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  And, you know, I hope people appreciate and understand that.
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  Seems like you know you've taken this very seriously and it's
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  reflected in the in the quality of the records.
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  I really hope so too. But definitely ready, You know,
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  it's been going well for 10 years and now we're ready to
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  bring it to the to the bigger stages too.
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  We did that with Archie enemy. They put us on the tour in the
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  in the US and Canada, which was the best tour we've ever done.
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  And so so more of those to come, I hope.
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  But nonetheless, we'll, we'll keep playing and keep writing no
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  matter what happens. Right on.
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  We want you back here. Like I said, by all accounts, a
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  lot of impressed heads here in the West Coast.
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  Archie Enemy. One of the most professional
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  bands I've ever met, actually, and always very first class with
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  everything, how they treat people, how they carry
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  themselves, business dealings. You know, I'm always a big fan.
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  So going all the way back. But you know, I love Michael.
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  I'm sure as a guitar player you have to, you know, there's like
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  everybody has like a little shrine.
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  Michael is kind of the new Michael Scheckner.
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  Michael Ahmad. He is, you know, the guitar
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  hero's Guitar Hero. He's so good.
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  He he is very much and he's not, he's not, he's not difficult to
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  talk to. You know, he's open about
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  talking about his gear, his shirt collection, his history
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  in, in all the different bands. So he's an all around cool guy,
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  like a normal rocker, and that's pretty cool to experience as
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  well. Yeah, and I don't know.
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  Yeah. He's so laid back.
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  Also, he's unassuming, which is surprising because you know, if
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  he was sort of like, oh, I'm, I'm Michael, you know, if he was
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  a little egotistical, you could appreciate why, because he's so
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  good. He's so good, but he's so nice.
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  He always struck me as very nice a few times we've met in person.
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  So very cool stuff. As far as Colossal is concerned,
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  like I said, it's definitely a step up.
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  It's definitely heavier and catchier than anything, but I
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  love, again, the song quality. It feels like this album was
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  done with so much care. It's long, but like I said,
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  there's no there's no songs I would leave off or kick off the
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  island if you will. I would keep everything, so I'm
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  glad you did too. I'm glad we did.
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  It's tough to decide. We have some bonus songs for the
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  for the CD edition that didn't make the album.
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  But yeah, I think we're very, very happy with it.
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  We spent a long time doing, we were in the studio 5 or 6 times,
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  so it was a long process, but I think that's the right thing to
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  do. We got to play a lot of the
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  songs live before recording them to see how they went on, you
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  know, with an audience. So yeah, definitely the most
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  different record recording, writing and sound wise we've
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  ever done. Absolutely, and one of the
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  trademarks of the band that beside great merch is always
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  great artwork on the albums. I love this very distinctive
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  artwork. It doesn't it's it's super
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  eye-catching right with the colors, it's very vibrant, but
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  it's also like, you know, just definitely represents the name
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  colossal. It feels huge and I wanted to
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  shout out your artists properly. Yeah, man, it's an amazing.
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  It's an amazing cover. And he really understood right
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  away when I talked to him about, you know, Judas Priest and Thin
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  Lizzy Chinatown and all that era of covers that are just huge.
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  And I think he hit it spot on. I think it's a great cover.
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  It's very different from our other covers, but then again, it
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  is a very different record. So I'm really happy how that
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  turned out as well. Yeah, it's definitely not an
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  atypical death metal related cover, but it definitely works.
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  And I love that you mentioned then Lizzie.
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  That's one of my favorite bands and clearly an influence on
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  Beast and, you know, so underrated.
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  I feel like people only you know, they know the hits radio
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  here in America plays just the hit songs or the hit songs end
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  up in a car commercial or movie. But such a fantastic band all
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  the way through really from the beginning, you know, just an
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  incredible run. And I just feel like here in
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  America, they just didn't get to be as big as they should have.
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  But you know, it makes me sad. But what an incredible band and
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  I and I clearly a band that has their fingerprints on on your
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  band. Very much, very much.
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  Especially, you know, like the Beacons.
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  That instrumental before the last track of the album is an
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  homage to everything Irish and Cliffs of Dover and Mark
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  Knopfler, and we listen to it a lot and we like that melodic
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  rock. It's nice we got to put an
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  instrumental like that into the album.
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  And I'm glad to. We are right around the corner.
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  You know, it's the midst of festival season in Europe and we
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  have some festivals here in America.
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  We're starting to do our part where we're catching up, but not
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  quite. And you are playing Beyond the
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  Gates, which we've covered last year and and we'll cover again
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  in the future and super excited about that.
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  Is there anybody beside your own performance that you're most
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  excited to see on that lineup? I actually don't think we're
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  playing beyond the gates. Oh, OK, sorry my bad.
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  It's. All good, I got my.
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  Schedule so continue. Yeah, we're playing.
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  We're playing Summer Breeze where we're going to watch our
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  friends in Coffin Feeder. We're going to play.
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  Yeah, actually we're going to play twice at Summer Breeze
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  because we have our normal set Wednesday and then Tuesday we
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  have like a camping ground set where we're playing covers.
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  We play some covers by Entombed, some by Motörhead and some by
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  Black Sabbath. It's it's going to be a fun
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  festival. I can't really remember the
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  lineup, but I remember looking at it and being like holy shit,
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  we're going to be so busy playing and busy watching other
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  bands. So it's it's going to be
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  awesome. Right on summer Vree is one of
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  the, you know, best names in metal festivals and they've
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  branched out to other countries and such a such a fun time and
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  I'm excited. Cover set.
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  You know, I would have met, you know, any covers you guys do
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  would be, you know, hella good. But I'm really, you know, that's
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  very exciting. Motörhead and Sabbath, of
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  course. So yeah, you know, maybe we get
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  some Thin Lizzy in there, some Thin Lizzy death metal, maybe
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  like a death metal version of something.
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  Yeah, maybe we really want to do Black Rose.
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  Oh, Black Rose, Because. Yeah, it's a huge track.
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  So we have Black Rose. We also talked about doing
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  Kansas Carry On, My Wayward Son. Also, we talked about doing some
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  Opeth covers when we get the time because we spend all the
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  time writing our own. But someday we'll have the time
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  to do a do a really fun. Nice.
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  I'm surprised more people don't cover Opeth.
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  They're so huge and such a rich catalog to pull from.
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  If you love the early black and death metal, you have that.
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  If you like the Stoner doom, you can do the newer stuff, a little
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  psychedelic rock, the kraut rock stuff.
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  So yeah, you know, there's a little something for everybody.
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  I have definitely hurt myself trying to learn deliverance on
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  bass really hard to get the rhythms, so shout out to them.
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  So yeah, that's fun. What do you need to take with
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  you on tour that you know to keep like a little essence of
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  home so you feel good when you hit the road?
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  I don't think we have anything in particular, but the guys all
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  have families, so whenever they're Facetiming their wives
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  or their kids, we're always saying hi, like as as a group.
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  And that's really, really nice to get to get to see the ones at
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  home. And it's really awesome that we
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  get to be a part of the other guys family as well.
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  We know the kids and yeah, talk to them when we're on tour.
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  So yeah, that keeps us, keeps us safe and happy, I guess.
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  Right on that's really important is a little piece of home.
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  The road can be hard. You were here in the States for
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  quite a while. I'm sure it's a big culture
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  shock. Hopefully again, all the reports
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  I heard were that you guys went over well and and really built
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  the fan base. So I hope you come back, please
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  come back and share some more riffs with us and and rage out
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  with us. We need it.
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  We need to distract ourselves from everything else out there.
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  Yeah. It's hot tonight over there, but
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  we didn't feel it that much. But for sure we'll be back.
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  We're working on it right now. There was supposed to be some
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  tours in the spring that didn't go anyways.
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  And yeah, we're just waiting for the right opportunity and then
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  we'll go right back because it's an awesome place to tour and you
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  people over there are awesome, so why not?
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  Right on. We appreciate you.
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  You know, I always say like, especially for heavy music,
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  especially for death metal. Nobody is here by accident.
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  You're here because you want to be here.
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  Nobody's a casual fan. I like Slayer once for a few
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  minutes. Nobody like everybody's like
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  slut. You know, death metal.
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  That's that's how we are. We, we love our shit intensely,
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  for better or worse as a people. So I'm glad you had a good
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  experience here and I wish you the best spend from beast man.
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  Thank you so much for hanging out with us today.
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  Best of luck with Colossal coming out soon on Century Media
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  Records and again just amazingly get to talk to you and and share
• 14:09
  this time. Thank you so much.
• 14:10
  Thank you man, thanks for having me.