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AUGUST BURNS RED's MATT GREINER Promises Emotional Australian Return This September · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My name is Mac Rener. I played drums for the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: band August Burns Red and we are coming to Australia
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: this year.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: We're headliners back Cantwait, Cantwait Look Australia. He's getting the
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: first full tour celebrating Season of Surrender. Why did you
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: want this part of the world to experience the new
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: material first?
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hmmm, that's a great question and I hadn't thought about
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: it like that, but it's it's true. So we're currently
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: on tour with The Amity Affliction from Australia. We've been
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: on tour for about four and a half weeks and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: we have five more shows left and we're playing two
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: new songs. The album is obviously not out yet, but
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: it's just it's just the way the year shook down,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and we've been we've been trying to get I think
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: we've been trying to get back to Australia in a headliner.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're always trying to get back in places
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: we haven't been in a while. And it just worked
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: out really well to have the summer off for the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: most part and then go back in late September and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: we're we're very excited. I when we announced. I got
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of messages and I'm not used to that.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: It was a whol Like It's almost like when we
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: announced back in like two thousand and eight or nine
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: that we're going to South America for the first time
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and people are like, whoa, I can't wait to see
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: It felt like that level of excitement.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Ah, that's so nice, and that must have been so
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: nice to feel.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it did. I mean after twenty three years to
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: still have people at this point. It's like, I'm forty,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: you know, and I've been teaching drum lessons on this tour.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: And whereas in the past I've taught a lot of
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: people who are my age, now I'm teaching people's kids. Yeah,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: because you know, they'll say, well, I'm forty, I haven't
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: listening to you guys for twenty years. My kids ten
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and I think he'd have a lot of fun playing drums.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: And it's like, cool, that's that's awesome, Thank you very much.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: My friend is my friend is currently bringing me dinner.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Fantastic what's for dinner?
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Dinner? Dinner and an interview. Well, let's see what do
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: we go here? We got some chicken a you know,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: it's the whole thing and some some some tazikis. This
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: is great. I'm gonna wait to eat it because I
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: am not a I'm a messy eater. I'll wait till
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: we're done. All right.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll try and be quick so you can enjoy it.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: And look, I've seen a lot of the drumming tutorials
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: and teaching you've been doing on YouTube. That's fantastic. And
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: as you said, I think you're introducing a whole new
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: generation to your music.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's wild. Yeah, it's We're so fortunate to have
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: been a band, to be a band for twenty three years.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: And I think back to the Parkway Drive tour. We
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: didn't o nine with Architects. Can you believe that Parkway
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Drive headlining us made support Architects opening? Yeah, and just
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: playing these massive venues. There's a different era of metalcore.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: And someone earlier made a great point that bands that
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: are now going out with us, you might be able
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: to equate them with the way that the position we
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: were in with Parkway where they were kind of pulling
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: us along, and now hopefully we're pulling other bands with us.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, yeah, yeah, it's so crazy. I remember that,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: And because you mentioned two thousand and nine. I'm like,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: I was about to leave high school. So that's just
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: really feel very old right now.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I know, I was twenty four. We had all quit college,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: quit our jobs. I worked at a landscaping company for years.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Jb worked in a grocery store. Brent worked for a
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: lumber company, I think, and we're all like, let's do it,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: let's go. And we had been we quit maybe like
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: three or four years before this happened, you know, fairly quickly.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Here we are in Australia, like supporting this massive band.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: So cool.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's absolutely crazy. At last time you were here
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: with Polaris, the response was huge. What stands out in
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: your memory from that twenty twenty three run?
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, so interesting. So we were just talking about this
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: before this interview. I my wife and I got pregnant
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, and I found out early enough
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: that was like, guys, I'm not going to be able
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: to go to Australia. We got to have my buddy
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Adam go. So Adam plays for Texas in July. Incredible drummer,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: honestly one of the best drummers I've ever seen in
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: my life, and he knows our parts in and out,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: so he learned the set went on the tour, and
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I lived through the pictures and the videos, but it
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: seemed like it was it was good. I know that.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I know that, like the bands on tour, who is
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the other band? It was Plaris and Kublai Khan, I
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: think or yeah, yeah, yeah it was, and I think
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: they like they destroyed. Like I remember the guys being
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: like they're like really felt like we tried to step,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: like we really tried to, you know, be something, but
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: hard to like some some really good bands surrounding you,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: like that really ups the annie. Yeah, and you know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: when we announced this, it it felt good to know
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that we have fans there that are really excited to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: see us. Because you haven't been there in a while.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: The last tour, you know, maybe you didn't feel like
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you had impact the way that you wanted to. And
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: when we announced this, I just know personally, I'm like, dang,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: this is gonna be a This feels like it's gonna
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: be a great tour. Like people are going to show
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: up and they're gonna be really excited to see us.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you know what, it's so beautiful that like,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: you know, I've got four kids myself, so I understand
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: the sacrifice.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Congratulations, thank you you too.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: It's but you know, it's there's nothing worth more sacrifice
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: and then having kids.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: So one hundred percent, I want to have as many
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: as I can. Oh. I love that I get to
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: do this band yeah uh and be on tour, and
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I think, I think, like, man, we get to be
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: home like six to eight months out of the year.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: What a blessing, because yeah, I'm gone, Like when i'm gone,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I'm gone five weeks boom. But when I'm home, i'm home.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I get to be very involved. And my wife just
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: surprised me and floor two kids out to Chicago. I
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: had no idea. I walked in the hotel lobby on
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: a day off and there she is standing there. I'm like,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: you're just thinking about everything it took to like make
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: that that happen.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I feel very fortunate to be with someone who like
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: really supports this job and this lifestyle, Like she gets it,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: you know, and she wants me to do this sometimes
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: more than I do, like go, you're good at like
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: keep going, you know. Yeah, yeah, but I miss you guys,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to miss my ke go.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: We got yeah, and that makes everything, doesn't Not having
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: a supportive partner's huge.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It's a complete difference maker. I'm having a blast on
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: our current tour, and Australia is going to be tough
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: because like kids will be a little bit older, will
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: be on the other side of the world. But it's
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: going to be just fine. Two and a half weeks
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and playing some ripping shows and meeting a lot of people.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: I'll be hopping down in the barricade after we play
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to say hi to people who are there, and teaching
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: some drums while I'm over there. It's gonna be fun.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Yes, And then next time when the kids are older,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: they'll have to come out with you.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: But I know, I know. And then I spend all
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: my money I make on tour on plane tickets.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: That's right, that's it, Oh fantasy. Look, you guys have
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: had two Grammy nominations now, for Identity and Invisible Enemy.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Did those moments change the way the band viewed itself
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: at all? Or was it more like cool now we
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: can go back to work.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Mmmm. For me personally, it changed things. It was it
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: was very cool. I really hope we get back. I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: don't even need the win. I just at this stage
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of my life, you know, it would be really cool
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: if I can take my family to the Grammys, because
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: back then, you know, I wasn't married to Annie and
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: I didn't have kids, and I think it's really cool
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: for the people around us that support us. Maybe that's
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the best way to put it, like taking my mom
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and my dad and my sister and just you know,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: like your loved ones with you. Uh, it's very validating.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: It's it's it's very validating because because everyone knows what
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the Grammys are, you gonna known it for a Grammy. Yeah,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, you want to go. You've been putting
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: up with my loud drumming for twenty five years like this, Yeah,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: that's the least I can do.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, imagine that would be amazing to experience.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I know, I think it's going to happen. I just
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I'm very hopeful that it's gonna happen again. And we'll
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: look back on this interview and you and I'll both
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: know that we talked about this, and we'll take picture,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: like I'll take a picture of my kids and Annie
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: at the Grammys and just.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Like, yes, we made Yeah, that's it. That's wonderful, such
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: a nice guy and look you to it with everyone from.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Bullet from my Valentine to A Day to Remember. Which
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: band surprise you the most ones who actually hit the
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: road with them?
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Huh, that's a that's a great question. I think A
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: data Remember and Parkway Drive kind of in the same
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: realm of like, these bands are freaking huge and they're
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: just normal dudes. Yeah, I love that about those guys,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Like you guys are massive and you just you just
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: carry yourself like someone who just wants to have fun.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: And and yeah, I don't know, that's just always surprising
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: to me. It's it's it's very it's very cool to
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: see people who are humble who have a reason to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: be pretentious.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's that's cool.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: And and also I think have interests outside of the band,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Like my band guys are good at that, like you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: whether it's sports or I like farming and landscaping, and
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: you know, like it's cool to have interest outside of
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: it because it makes you a more interesting person in
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: my opinion, Yeah, and more fun.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I think from my perspective having this job where I
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: interview a lot of musicians and as a fan, it's
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: what you said is so true, remembering that musicians or
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: famous people are still people at the end of the day.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: But it is so humble when you come across these
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: people and yeah, they are just so down to earth
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: and it's.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Like, yeah, wow, I know, I know because it's like
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: because it's like, you see what they're able to do
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: on a stage. I think for me, it's the fact
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: that people can perform under pressure. Yeah, Like, it's one
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: thing to have a great voice. It's one thing for
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Tiger Woods to be amazing at golf. But the fact
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: that he can do it under the amount of scrutiny
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: and pressure, that's that's the thing. And then it's like
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: for you, for him to talk to you and like
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: be able to relate, it's like, wow, I just it's
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: just mind boggling.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, totally definitely I feel that. And speaking more
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: about performing under pressure, you've played brutally technical material for
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: years now, what song secretly makes you a little bit
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: nervous before playing it live?
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: If anyone, all of them, all of them still dude,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: sorry to say, dude, I don't like I shouldn't say.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: I don't like saying I have three sisters and I
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: try not to say, dude to my sisters and my.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Wife, So, okay.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: We're good, dude. On this tour, it's Behemoth, which is
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: a new song. There's a really fast kick part. And
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the thing is, the more you stress out about the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: part and think about it, the worse you play it.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: The more relaxed you are, the better you play it.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: So you have to have this mind game where you
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: just try not to think about it. But here's what
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: helps me. I look around stage at my guys running around,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: jumping around, smiling, goofing off, and that helps me because
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: my brain goes to more performance, to a more performative
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: place of like play perfectly. When I look around at
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: my guys, or I look around at like the crowd,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: people are looking this way in that way. They're having
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a drink, they're banging their head, you know, they're having
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: a good time. Like, oh, they're actually not here for
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: like a perfect performance. They're here to have fun. And
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that's just not my default. My default is like play perfectly. Yeah,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And so that's helpful. It's really helpful.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Lately.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I've been going on a run before I play. That helps.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: That helps like tire me out, which helps because when
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I get on stage. I'm already like a little sweaty.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, I did something already, and I'm not
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not going into this like zero to one hundred,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: like I already did something kind of hard. I can
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: do this too. It's like a little confidence booster.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: That's a really great idea and I think probably gets
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: out some of that energy and nerves as well.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Possibly right exactly.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Crazy, that's awesome, and you're bringing bloom and I promised
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: the world on this tour. What what excites you about
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: those newer bands and the current generation of medicore.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Mm hmm, well, some of made a point earlier I
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: thought was really good that if if what Parkway Drive
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: did for us we can do for other bands. Wouldn't
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: that be really cool if we can elevate bands the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: way that properly Drive elevated us. And I think that's
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the whole goal. I have a drumming with teaching. It's
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: like I'm forty ten years, I'll be fifty, twenty years,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: I'll be sixty, Like I'm going to still be doing this,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: but I want to. I want to help people avoid
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: some of the mistakes or get to a place faster.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Than I did with advice I wish I had, And
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: if I can do that, like why would I hold
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: that in? Plus I have a hard time sitting around
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: and I like working, So I think, like, more broadly speaking,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: if we can do that for bands, that'd be so cool,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: if they can follow along in our our week, you know,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and grow from what I understand. I don't know that
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: much about it, I promise the world, but from what
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I understand, they are very reminiscent of like two thousand
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and five metal core, and I think that's brad because
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: that's when I film love with metal like that. That that
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: era is the air I still love. So I'm gonna
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: have to check them out and listen to them. Yeah,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean for us, it's like if you're
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: drawing a crowd and you're having fun and you're excited
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: to be there on tour, like, Wow, this is going
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: to be a blast. This is going to be fun.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: And I hope that. I hope that all the bands
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: benefit from being in Australia with us, because it's it's
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: a big deal. It's a far away to travel if
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: you're not from there, and the tours don't happen that often,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: you know that regularly.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: No, I think it's a perfect lineup that you guys
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: have with you and the two other bands supporting. It's. Yeah,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: it's going to be so special and just quickly I've
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: been told I'm going to wrap it up. Looking back
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: at everything from Found in Far Away Places through to
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Death Below and now Season of Surrender. What do you
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: hope the legacy of August Burn's read eventually it is?
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Hmm. I hope that it's more than just music to people.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I hope that it helps people in their in their
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: low moments, and it helps people in their make memories
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: in their high moments, and that it's like a it
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: serves as like a a a cool part of your
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: life like it has for us. We wouldn't be here
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: without our fans obviously all around the world, and the
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: fact that we've been doing this for twenty three years
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: is just wild. And I will say of the new record,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Season of Surrender, it's my favorite thing we've done since Leveler,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: which was twenty eleven. So thank you for sticking with us.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: And I think that you're really gonna like this album
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and I hope that it it like I hope it
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: it does something for everybody. You know, it's it's it's heavy,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: and it's to me, it's us. It's like our sound,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and we put a lot of and I'm really proud
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: of everyone's contribution on the album.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well said, I really feel like with this album
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: to you guys, you guys have always had your sound,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: but with this one, it's like we're taking bits from
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: past records and you've really solidified yourselves and this is
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: the one. I'm glad you said you're really proud of
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: this one, too.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Super proud of this one. I put more. I put
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: way more effort into it personally, which when you apply
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: yourself to something, you'll be more proud of it. Like
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: there's more costs, there's more time invested, and so I
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: am more proud of this than I have been of
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: any ABR album that I've done since twenty eleven.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Leveler Yeah, Yeah, fantastic, Matt. It's been an absolute pleasure
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: to speak with you. Thank you so much for your
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: time to thank.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: You for having me.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Of course, we don't wait to see you in September.