Latest / ATX Metal Podcast / Orodrim: A Musical Reflection on Society
Transcript
- ATX Metal Podcast (00:01.561) What is up everybody? Ryan back again with another episode of ATX Metal Podcast. And to my left, we got my man, Amon Danzig. Danz- okay. Okay, mouth. We had this, we had this conversation before we hit record and here we are anyway. Amon's here. He's got a new album. He's going to tell us about it. He also moved. The show's canceled, but that's okay. We got music now instead of in Halloween. Eamon Danzig (00:12.84) Hahaha! Eamon Danzig (00:19.743) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (00:31.153) Aiman, where are from? Where are you at? I should say. And what do you do in the band? And you know, what's, what's the weather like where you're at today? Eamon Danzig (00:41.966) Oh, the weather, I geez. mean, so I'm in North Houston now as of right now. I'm kind of in a transitionary phase in life right now, but I just got offered a job up in Denver that I'm gonna take. So I'm gonna head up that way pretty quickly. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, I guess I just wanna start by saying like, thanks for having me on show again. I know the last time we spoke, it was to gas up Bat City Black Battle Fest that happened back in 2024, which. ATX Metal Podcast (00:56.639) Denver's nice. Denver's nice. Eamon Danzig (01:12.033) was an absolute bang in success. Thanks to people like you helping us out with that. So yeah, I mean, obviously like this grew out of like the Austin scene and rocking with all the really amazing people there for as long as I did. And the other bands I was in and then like in the early years of doing Oridrum Live for sure. ATX Metal Podcast (01:15.39) Awesome. Eamon Danzig (01:40.717) I mean, specifically, mean, I guess there are like way too many people to name like right now off the top of my head, but I can think of like. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. No, but. ATX Metal Podcast (01:47.583) It's where you're accepting the award and you just pull out this like scroll. You're like, I like first I'd like to thank my mom. And then you just like. ATX Metal Podcast (02:05.791) But I think that's real quick, I think that's great that instead of just naming a handful of people, you have too many people to say, thanks for helping however you did. Eamon Danzig (02:13.889) Yeah. I always have trouble with it and the hardest part for me is always like, if I name these people, I'll forget naming these other people and then I'll feel terrible about it. ATX Metal Podcast (02:23.08) Right. Yeah, some guy named Steve that ran sound that one time is like, I didn't get a shot, are you kidding me? It was the best light show, or is that sound? No, I'm kidding. We don't know Steve. There is no Steve. Eamon Danzig (02:36.491) Yeah, yeah, no, that's funny. Yeah, that's funny. No, but I guess like I've been through, mean, 2025 has been a tumultuous year for, I think everybody right now. But for sure. But it's been more or less very transformational for me personally, in a positive direction for sure, because ATX Metal Podcast (02:50.279) It's been quite the roller coaster. Eamon Danzig (03:05.865) Basically producing this album, Thanatocracy, the new 4Dream album, more or less like kept me alive and kept me going. Because like it's, well, I mean, like, so not to get like too personal about it, but like I was in like a really dark place in my life toward the end of December this past year. And like not even hyperbole, like almost didn't make it. ATX Metal Podcast (03:15.716) wow. Eamon Danzig (03:35.051) I was going through some serious shit mentally and health-wise and shit. But I am tremendously better now. 10 months sober at this point. ATX Metal Podcast (03:48.735) Wait, wait, hold on, I think. Eamon Danzig (03:54.633) Hahaha! ATX Metal Podcast (03:56.991) No! Eamon Danzig (03:59.888) Hahaha! ATX Metal Podcast (04:05.279) haven't used, God, my camera's all out focus. I haven't used, camera, come back. Come back to me. Come back to me. Oh my God. There we go. There we go. Focus, focus, focus. Okay, okay, let me come up here. Let me come up here. Yeah, I haven't used my, I haven't used my laugh track and my sample pad in forever, so I forgot where everything was. It was just. Eamon Danzig (04:12.394) You Eamon Danzig (04:19.129) Hahaha! Eamon Danzig (04:29.042) I love that. I'm glad I... ATX Metal Podcast (04:32.051) That was chaos for a minute there. was like the intro, the air horn, laughys. I mean, my apologies. I should run a more professional show. Eamon Danzig (04:41.107) Glad I gave you an excuse. Glad I gave you an excuse to use it. ATX Metal Podcast (04:44.297) Let me, what is wrong? dude, this is going to absolutely kill me if I can't, Eamon Danzig (04:50.471) Yeah, you're having trouble getting that camera in focus there. ATX Metal Podcast (04:52.945) I'm gonna have a little conversation with it real quick. Hey, I'm sorry, Damn it. there it is. Now I walk away from it. I walk away from it and it's better to get back. Anyway, our apologies, my apologies, everybody. If we don't have, okay, so real quick, I don't want to take away from that moment. Eamon Danzig (04:59.145) Dude, I'm a storm cloud of technical difficulties. I'm telling you. Eamon Danzig (05:12.231) I mean, just shoot it. ATX Metal Podcast (05:22.435) so I, Paul, apologize for that. want to make sure that I'm here, make sure I'm here to hear this. Cause, everybody has, everybody's dealing with something at all times. Right? Like I've, you know, I went to therapy recently to try and be a better dad for my, for my daughter, just trying to help her with schoolwork. was like, I'm trying everything that I know how to do. Maybe I should go to a professional and see if there's something that I'm missing. Sure enough. Sure enough. Eamon Danzig (05:25.191) No, you're fine. Eamon Danzig (05:32.423) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (05:39.624) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (05:47.848) Mm-hmm. ATX Metal Podcast (05:52.456) Literally just talking it out. I come to the conclusion that all my life in my, job jobs, I've had a flow chart on how to fix things because as a mechanic, you, know, engineers build the thing and figure things out. And anyway, long story short, I don't have a flow chart on how to help my daughter. I just have to let it happen. And the fact that I can, I now, and I like, I've internalized that and I'm like, God, that's totally right. Eamon Danzig (06:02.63) Mmm. Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (06:15.527) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (06:21.907) So being able to get the help that you need when you need it, I'm happy for you clean and sober, getting out of that mental space, that physical space, that's huge. Eamon Danzig (06:33.979) Yeah, I was in so deep and circling the drain so hard that I basically had to just get myself out of that context. So I moved closer with, I moved to where my family was here in North Houston. So to like, you know, get myself back in order. But I'm doing tremendously better now. So. ATX Metal Podcast (06:42.463) That's good, man. ATX Metal Podcast (06:53.993) That's great. That's really good to hear, brother. Eamon Danzig (06:56.966) Yeah, I'm glad. I mean, going into that, I mean, with the Thanatocracy, I... That this whole album was basically like the culmination of the riffs I've been putting together for like the past couple years while the old Oradrum stuff had already been written and recorded. I slept on it for a while, like I procrastinated like fuck and it was just... But honestly, I... Originally recorded in a different tuning and like under different circumstances, but I have actually since the old recordings gained more skills and like a little more depth and like how to like engineer sound the way I want it to sound in terms of using DOS and like mixing software and stuff like that. So if you don't know much about my production process, basically I record everything at home, like with like a basic, you know, setup. in my music room that I put an initial investment into the equipment that I needed in terms of an audio interface and headphones and microphones and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. And I use Reaper. I use Reaper. I mean, yeah. then, yeah, so I record and mix everything myself. ATX Metal Podcast (08:10.959) I, Hey, it's free. Why not? Eamon Danzig (08:22.564) because I was just like, look, I have all this shit banging around in my head that I think sounds fucking great. And I wish other people would hear it. And I didn't have the money or the connections to go the avenue of hitting up a record producer and being like, hey, guy off the street has some good ideas, want to hear them? It's like, it's like, yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (08:43.071) You're like you're like the old in New York City the watch guy opens up instead of like watches you got like riffs you're like I got these Eamon Danzig (08:52.013) It's like black melocaspet tapes. Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (08:57.545) Hey man, just, he got these, I got these, I got these tapes right here, guy. Never, never been, never been heard before from the depths of the darkest hell. And you're like, how much for two? Right? Do I get a bulk discount here? And that, holy cow, sorry. I just, I have that image of a guy selling black metal tapes in an overcoat now. I can't get that out of my head. Eamon Danzig (09:21.534) Yeah, it's fantastic. He's got like a rubber pointy nose on and like... ATX Metal Podcast (09:28.212) Like the top hat, not the top hat, but the kind of detective kind of hat. Whatever they wore in the 50s in New York. Eamon Danzig (09:34.262) Yeah, Yeah, so yeah, Thanatocracy was, I mean, like all of our, all of my songwriting up until this point has been like, has had like a political bent to it in the sense of like, well, it's weird because like, especially in this genre, and you have no idea how prominent it actually is dealing with these people. like, like I posted a, I posted a request to find musicians up in Denver from when I moved there. And there were a bunch of these trolls who got on there and we explicitly stated that we're anti-fascists, right? And I these trolls get on there and be like, know, lol, know, like, oh, it's just like, cool, I don't care. But like, it's just like, it's like living in an idiocracy with these people, because you have to draw hard line in the sand on that in this genre, unfortunately. Because the thing is, it's like, You play a show someplace and like you have one of these NSP and Nazi black metal fuckheads there. And then if they're allowed to be there, then their friends will see that they're there and they'll start coming to you. And then suddenly before you realize it, shit, this is a Nazi black metal scene. And when you try to, yeah. And then when you, then when you try to expel them, they become a fucking problem. You know what I mean? Like, so like, that's why I'm like, dude, zero tolerance. ATX Metal Podcast (10:52.617) Yeah. You're like, not one up. Nope. ATX Metal Podcast (11:03.518) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (11:05.823) shit. ATX Metal Podcast (11:06.783) Yeah, you can't, cause like you said, if you allow one, then you allow some. And then when you allow some, then, you know, gets a little fishy. Eamon Danzig (11:14.528) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (11:17.953) Yeah, it's actually a lot more pernicious being an actual facet of the black metal show subgenre because you could have some guy wearing a Pest Noir or a Horne patch or some shit like that and nobody's gonna know that that's a white supremacist symbol because that's what they represent. It just looks like a fucking band patch or some shit. ATX Metal Podcast (11:40.447) I think you, Eamon Danzig (11:44.981) But then like the people who are in the know will see it and then they'll be like, okay, you know what I mean? ATX Metal Podcast (11:45.492) Yeah ATX Metal Podcast (11:53.301) think you walked me through this last time, cause if beg, forgive me for my, for my ignorance, but isn't black metal the style in which you play it or, or, or yeah, play is relatively new, like not nineties eighties, early nine. Okay. Yeah. I remember that, you know, Eamon Danzig (12:09.844) Yeah, early 90s. was like this, that was like the second wave of black metal in Norway, which was like Norwegian black metal, which was like the big scary genre where like they burn churches down and shit. ATX Metal Podcast (12:18.012) Right. Okay. Gotcha. Yes. Yes. I remember we had that. so if you're curious, you can just go to any of the platforms where you subscribe to podcasts and you can hear the original conversation with this young man right here and totally understand what we're talking about and then come back to this one and finish this one out. anyway, dude, look, was, look at this. I got, I got a couple guys here. Like, they're hanging out. Eamon Danzig (12:37.384) Young man, I have more gray hair in my beard than you do. You're growing up, look at you. ATX Metal Podcast (12:47.424) They're hanging out, but I know I know right, ripe old age of 42, but I feel good. I feel good. I'm in a good space, even though, like you said, the world's, uh, world's a little shaky right now. A lot of, uh, a lot of uneasiness, a lot of, uh, lot of vitriol. Eamon Danzig (13:06.912) Well that's uh, that's kinda what I wanted to go back to before we went down a black middle Nazi tangent hole. Um, but um... ATX Metal Podcast (13:15.788) Yeah, turn the bus around, Eamon Danzig (13:19.104) But anyway, yeah, so I did sleep on putting this album out for a while, but honestly, like I re-recorded everything. I started from scratch. I just did the original. And I tuned my guitar down to, I started using baritone tuning, which is like five whole steps below like normal tuning. So it's like super low. And yeah, I re-recorded everything in that tuning and like the new vocals and like. new kind of mixing tricks and stuff. then put that, yeah. Yep, I mean, as of right now, mean, like, obviously, like, I have performers who, you know, if they dig the music and they can play it, they want to, like, I have, that's what we, that's how it was live, you know, like, but yeah, I'm the primary songwriter of everything. But in this case, the album is, I think, probably like my, ATX Metal Podcast (13:52.234) And you're doing it all, right? It's all you? One man band. Eamon Danzig (14:17.715) Like not that the other Warjah music isn't, but this is like the most politically forward album of all of them that I've done so far. And I think honestly it's coming out right at the right moment in history. like, I mean, for example, like Greg Stoker, who's an Austinite who was on the flotilla, he's like a former army ranger guy and like he's a metalhead in the scene here. ATX Metal Podcast (14:30.588) yeah. Eamon Danzig (14:46.642) Like he, ATX Metal Podcast (14:47.476) that it, cause I was paying attention to that. mean, hell it was on NPR. They were talking about him, how he, okay. So for those that have, I know there's a lot coming at you right now. And by the time you see this, this will have been a week ago that a week ago problem, which in, in normal news cycle times, something that happened a week ago, this serious would still be in your face ad nauseum, but we are in the, everything is thrown at the wall category now. Eamon Danzig (14:51.526) Yeah. Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (15:17.216) So you got to sift through everything. so basically what he's talking about is there's a flotilla, which is a shit ton of civilian boats going to try and break the blockade through, into Gaza to help with humanitarian relief. There's, there's lawyers, there's doctors, there's, I mean, help a local Austinite that. Is on the boat. were live streaming it. The Israeli, the IDF jumped on boats and basically we're like, You got to go. It's, it's something to just, it's a lot to take in is a lot to take in. Eamon Danzig (15:52.194) Yeah, they just, they didn't bring any of the baby formula they had with them to a single person. It was... ATX Metal Podcast (15:59.166) Yeah, they just, it's like you can't, man. It's one of those things where, yeah, go ahead. Eamon Danzig (16:05.752) Here's how absurd this is, Ryan, because I mean, like, I've been getting shit for, like, being critical of that for a very long time, but it's literally, I'm just reaching my hand out with some food in it to put it in a starving baby's mouth, and it's being slapped out of my hand, and I'm told, you hate Jews, you know? Like, does that make any sense at all? Like... ATX Metal Podcast (16:25.897) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (16:29.541) No, no, it's, I don't understand how just helping humans, that's it, just helping hu- Eamon Danzig (16:36.538) It's a war crime, plain and simple. like, anybody with a brain and eyes can see that. It's like Orwell even said, like in 1984, they denied the images right before your eyes that you were looking at. ATX Metal Podcast (16:53.247) Yeah. And now Sam Altman just released, what was it? Sona the AI video generator where you literally now the whole, the whole adage of seeing is believing has is fucking gone. Like that's, mean, trust, but verify there's so many, there's so many things now that technology has created that we have created that, that very, very much so blur those lines of, this real? But I could tell you right now, Eamon Danzig (16:58.074) Mm. Yeah. Eamon Danzig (17:05.454) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (17:20.088) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (17:23.251) We're real. You can touch my face. You can see me at a show. You can buy his merch, right? You can listen to his music, but yeah, it's wild, dude. It's wild. Eamon Danzig (17:25.614) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (17:33.025) Well, yeah, I think like with this particular album too, like I didn't see enough bands and I love music, bands from all sorts of different genres and like especially in this genre, there's a lot of great ones and even in Austin too that like aren't necessarily like politics forward but I felt that like this type of music that's so passionate and so like this really, you know, powerful. should be used for something like that, you know. So that's why I have that message. like, basically it's just like, and I posted this on Facebook and Instagram the other day, but it's just like, it's not a weird idea to like believe that we should live in a society where everybody has like a relatively long, healthy life, happiness and good things, you know, and like. We shouldn't have to fuck with each other unless somebody's being fucked with, you know, like it's just leave each other alone and like have a diverse community where we share ideas and stuff. Like that's not a fucking weird idea. It's a weird idea that like three quarters of humanity has to slave away to make the other quarter richer than the rest of us combined and make all the decisions for us. Like that's, that's what's fucked up. That's weird. And like people get caught up on words, know, like it's like, ATX Metal Podcast (18:35.305) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (18:42.92) No. ATX Metal Podcast (18:53.919) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (19:00.925) Is it socialism called communism or communism called capitalism? Capitalism called it's just. Stop focusing on that. You know, just like. If you're afraid to call it something, just call it being a good human being to other people, you know, and like it's it's it's sad that we live in a world where like you have to scream about that to get your point across. But that's what I'm doing, you know, like and. ATX Metal Podcast (19:09.565) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (19:29.151) Well, I'm here to help get the message out because I have always been a firm believer of just altruism and good karma. If you continuously do good things, just to do good things, not because you're looking for clickbait or you're looking for that affirmation from, that's one of the things that I really hate about social media is that Eamon Danzig (19:50.59) Mm-hmm. ATX Metal Podcast (19:57.161) there's this affirmation aspect that one has to shout into the void to get a couple clicks and this and that and the other. mean, they've got studies on it where it's like ruined, you know, kids' psyche about just the, you know, how social media and real world life scenarios, you know, don't really play out the same way. it's just, I don't know. I don't know what I'm trying to say outside of just, it's not hard to be a good human. Like it's not. Eamon Danzig (20:04.82) I Eamon Danzig (20:16.136) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (20:22.707) I think, yeah, yeah, if you, if, well also it benefits you, right? Actually, like it's really, so it's it's an idea all this time. Like you, you pay into the community and the community pays you back, right? Like, so it's like, um, even Plato, if you read Plato, his book, The Republic, like the whole first dialogue of that book is like him talking to this guy named Trisimachus, who's like basically might is right, right? ATX Metal Podcast (20:26.014) It cost you zero dollars ATX Metal Podcast (20:33.416) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (20:52.933) Like you get justice is, you you beating it into your opponent. That's what justice is. And Plato is like, okay, so what if you had, or in Socrates and the work he's like, okay, well, what if you're like a king and like you make all these decisions for everybody else and don't listen to anybody else and don't take anybody else's opinions seriously or needs seriously. And you make mistakes and make bad decisions that not only negatively affect the people that serve under you who are. You know, liable to rise up against you, but also like your decisions without anybody else's input can hurt yourself too. So like it's actually better of leadership to consider the needs of their constituents. You know, that's so like that in that idea that, you know, he challenged the idea of like might makes right, right? So it's like sometimes, you know, maybe, maybe he couldn't beat you up, but he has better ideas than you, you know, but anyway. ATX Metal Podcast (21:49.694) haha Eamon Danzig (21:51.791) Yeah, I actually have a background in philosophy and anthropology is what my degree was in. ATX Metal Podcast (21:57.727) You sound pretty, god, here goes this camera. Fuck, camera, I'm telling you. Eamon Danzig (22:02.689) Hahaha ATX Metal Podcast (22:05.296) Every time. Anyway, I was going say you sound pretty, sound pretty well versed in, all, all that. Eamon Danzig (22:11.486) yeah, I do a lot of reading. ATX Metal Podcast (22:16.008) I read the books. Hey camera, I'm gonna fight you. Fight you. Here it goes. Here we There we go. All right, we're back. If I didn't have technical difficulties, this would not be the A-TECH's Metal Podcast, period. Eamon Danzig (22:28.413) I actually did have somebody ask me one time while was reading a book, what are you reading for? I was like, excuse me? Anyway, random. ATX Metal Podcast (22:44.126) because there's words, there's words in this book that when, when put together, tell me something that I want to know. It's, it's called reading. It's called learning. It's called education. Eamon Danzig (22:52.808) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (22:59.685) R-E-A-D-A-B-O, okay. ATX Metal Podcast (23:02.687) Okay. Hey, Levar, any coming back? Aren't they bringing the reading rainbow back? I feel like that's a truth. Eamon Danzig (23:09.002) Yeah, they are. Well, think it's, isn't it a different host now? I think it's going to be LeBarber. ATX Metal Podcast (23:15.408) No, but if, man, if they brought him back, whoo son, but, I'll, I'll look, I'll look it up later. I look at it. I'm pretty sure I'm. Eamon Danzig (23:19.274) I mean even I would watch it if he was back. I would even watch that. ATX Metal Podcast (23:28.68) So we got, we got the new album out. It's, it's not, it's not from the ashes of some previously written stuff. It's just new material. Am I getting that right? Okay. So old stuff out, new stuff in, and we're trying to get the message across that the, in political environment that we currently live in, not just political, but the, the fucking. Eamon Danzig (23:40.531) Yep, yep, entirely new material. ATX Metal Podcast (23:56.489) The world that we live in is not a good place. Is that what I'm picking up? Am I putting that down right? Okay. Sorry. Let me back that up. Tell you what, I'll let you, the guy that wrote it, tell me the guy that knows nothing about it. How about that? Eamon Danzig (24:02.015) Not great, no. Eamon Danzig (24:11.349) Well, I think really what I want to do is like try to focus on the idea of class consciousness, right? So it's like, you have these, there's this there's this Overton window in the media of like left and right, right? But it's a very small window and anything outside of that is just like, you know, not, not invisible, right? But like, we actually have a lot more in common with each other than we, than we don't, you know? And I think a large part of like what got me like, ATX Metal Podcast (24:34.568) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (24:40.422) interested in human rights and like equality and all that stuff in the beginning was just like meeting people who were different from me. Who you who I you you grow up in a church in the south and it's like, you know, anybody who's not like you is like Satanist and the devil, you know, and like, and yeah, and then like, you know, just to me, I grew up and like, for example, like being gay was ATX Metal Podcast (25:00.198) I've in those churches. I am from the South. Eamon Danzig (25:10.267) about an abomination basically, you that was like you were you were you're less than human, you know, and then, you know, I started meeting queer people and being like, actually, you're like, not bad. You're like, actually like a cool person, you know, and it's like, once you get I think at this point, it's like, you start realizing, like, after you start meeting these different people that the church is like obsessed with sex. For some reason. ATX Metal Podcast (25:12.67) Yep. I was taught that. Eamon Danzig (25:39.616) Because like and that's why they like want to know what everybody's up to in their bedrooms, you Like It's it's really these people that are perverts not you know, like why do you have ATX Metal Podcast (25:45.074) Tell me, tell me your, tell me your cycle young lady. I need to know when you're, when you're, when you're, yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (25:56.863) I mean, hell, one of the mega church founders from Texas that... Eamon Danzig (26:02.642) yeah, dude, like the Trump's previous spiritual advisor, which is like, why doesn't that strike me, is like, you know, surprising. ATX Metal Podcast (26:06.78) It- it- what- yeah, what- ATX Metal Podcast (26:12.742) I it's, just, boggles my mind that the, the people, the people in the sphere that that dude operates, the trouble that they get in the, even just the accusations are just normal, normal politics is no longer a thing. I mean, it's, it's the landscape has changed so much. And like, like I said, this guy gets, gets busted. Eamon Danzig (26:14.93) Trump's a pedophile, just gotta say that. Trump's a pedophile. Eamon Danzig (26:30.471) Mm-hmm. ATX Metal Podcast (26:42.374) for being a sexual predator as a church leader, as an evangelical, just like, and he's doing four years, doing four years, four fucking years. God. Eamon Danzig (26:51.77) Mm-hmm. Yeah, so if you're unfamiliar with, there's this guy named Guy Debord, who was a French Parisian, and he wrote a book called The Society of the Spectacle. And basically, I think that it's really relevant to today, some of his thoughts, because modern capitalism has created sort of a more or less homeostatic society in terms of fulfilling all of our material needs. Right? Like most people don't starve these days. Most people in America, you know, all that stuff. So we go on to basically create this system beyond that where it's like, we're obsessed with images, right? Like we don't buy things because we necessarily need them, but because it paints a certain picture of us in society, of the kind of person we are. Right? So like, you know, ATX Metal Podcast (27:29.714) Most. Eamon Danzig (27:50.151) lot of politicians now, like they don't even run on, like nobody actually even really listens to or reads all of their actual policy ideas. Right. They just go, they just go with, this guy paints a certain image of the country I want, you know, and so who better to create a bigger spectacle for these people than somebody who was in WWE and on the apprentice. And, you know, so it's, it's, it's really like. ATX Metal Podcast (27:58.27) Correct. ATX Metal Podcast (28:16.179) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (28:19.942) we've lost as a society, the ability to critically think about the images that are portrayed to us, you know? And I think that that's like, I always say too, like I took debate in high school, which was fun, but like, I think they should replace that with logic for kids because like that's like a much better way of like, because like debate is just teaching you how to argue well, right? ATX Metal Podcast (28:49.054) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (28:50.031) It's not really actually teaching you how to like, which there's a word for that in Plato's works called sophism. They're called sophists. They were basically paid to like craft these insane arguments that made them sound right. So yeah, it's pretty interesting stuff. Yeah. I mean, a lot of, there's a lot of that that exists today. You know, like, I mean, I don't want to say the CK name. ATX Metal Podcast (29:05.854) I didn't know that. ATX Metal Podcast (29:17.934) I... Eamon Danzig (29:19.227) for fear of, for fear of, for fear of wrath. But you know, he was a sophist, basically. He would have been like one of Plato's sophistatic when he was. ATX Metal Podcast (29:24.498) Yes. ATX Metal Podcast (29:33.086) a soapist. Is that why they call it a soapbox? Eamon Danzig (29:36.186) No, S-O-P-H-I-S-T, sophist. ATX Metal Podcast (29:41.71) if I could have read that I'd been like, okay, that makes more sense. Sophist. Okay. Interesting. Not a soap. Okay, got it. Eamon Danzig (29:49.062) Yeah, I guess I'm kind of going off all sorts of tangents and stuff here, but ATX Metal Podcast (29:55.903) That's okay. It's like me having a conversation with my wife. She's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, you know what? I don't even know. Let's just start over. Eamon Danzig (30:03.782) I mean, this is just a glimpse of the inside of the mind that created this shit, you know? But yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, and going back to like Greg too, part of the reason I went ahead and like released it was because like, it was like a couple days before they got abducted, I hit him up and I was like, hey man, you're like a huge inspiration to me and I want you to know. thinking about you and then he was like, that's Amin, I love you, thank you so much and all that and then I asked him if he wanted an advance copy of the album and he was like, hell yeah, man, so I gave it to him and I'd like to think that he was jamming it like sailing into Gaza. ATX Metal Podcast (30:52.99) Let's see, I'm trying to look it up right now. Greg Stoker, that's his name. Eamon Danzig (31:03.0) Yeah, that dude's a righteous guy. He really knows his shit and he cuts through a lot of bullshit too. So like, he does a lot of really good reporting in terms of that, like the military industrial conflicts and all that stuff. ATX Metal Podcast (31:15.87) Yeah. So it said, so Greg Stoker, who's a part of the global smooth flotilla attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza into October, 2025, the musician's involvement was a larger part coordinated effort on demand to save passage for the activists on board. And then it breaks down, say he's an Austin native and former U S army ranger. Greg Stoker joined a veterans delegation on one of the flotilla ships. man, there's a whole thing here. Open letter. Austin musicians were among. The nearly 100 signatures on the open letter to the call for the protection of Stoker and the other float, flotilla participants. wow, man, that's crazy. I have to put a, I'll put a link to this. I'll put a link. didn't even, that's crazy. Look at that Austin. We're out. We're, doing stuff. I mean, good for us. Eamon Danzig (31:53.542) Yeah, he's a metalhead in the scene. He's a metalhead in the scene. Yeah, Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I really hope that all the entire group of people is okay. I think you think of what they're probably having to go through right now. But yeah, I mean, I think I guess one thing I do want to pose as a question to anybody who is listening is that, you know, even in spite of the the ICC and the UN all openly declaring that there is a genocide happening. Like this entire direct action, this act of civil disobedience of the flotilla, like, is so powerful because it suddenly makes people have to ask the question, even in spite of all that information from those people. Like they claim, the Israeli media claim that this hotel is part of the H word. if that's so, then why aren't they letting them in to record themselves giving humanitarian aid and food and baby formula to these people to show that Israel is not trying to starve them? Because that's their whole thing right now is that no, we're not. ATX Metal Podcast (33:25.297) Yeah. Eamon Danzig (33:32.515) You know, uh-uh. Like, let them through. Yeah. Like, just let them keep babies alive. You know, it's just, and that's why you're seeing all this like pushback from the entire world right now, just from that one action, because it was just like, it posed so powerful a question in this face of this gigantic lie, you know? And it's like, yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (33:35.325) Yeah, just like let, let them through. Like they're live streaming. Eamon Danzig (34:03.04) Anyway, it's a crazy, like everything going on is like crazy, but it's just like also at the same time, have these like powerful moments where of like tremendous human behavior, know, like just sheer bravery in the face of evil, you know, and like, you know, it's like the, it's like Aragorn going up to the black gates of Mordor and being like, not this day, right? You know, it's like, That's what it looks, that's what it feels like watching that happen, you know? ATX Metal Podcast (34:39.284) I switched from Guy in Trench Crow with black metal tapes to that image now. Now I can't get that one out of my head. Not today. Eamon Danzig (34:45.272) Mmm. Eamon Danzig (34:50.017) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (34:50.824) man, so hey, so what, in your opinion on the album, what would have been the song that Greg should have wrote into? Eamon Danzig (34:59.587) Oh, shit. Probably Perdition's Gaping Mall, the last track. Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (35:07.879) The last track. Okay. Whoa. And why I'm curious. Eamon Danzig (35:12.259) Well, because, so like I wrote that song to transition from a more like DSBM, like really sad feel, like kind of like droney feel into something triumphant. And like it has that moment in between like the really sad, sorrowful part in the beginning, which is like the first half of the song. And then you have that like pretty instrumental in the middle with like George Orwell talking over it. You know, he does that famous thing. ATX Metal Podcast (35:40.881) Okay. Eamon Danzig (35:42.018) does that famous speech of like, you know, don't let it happen. It depends on you. And then like the drums and the tremolo can come in like super heavy. And it's like very, it's very triumphant after that. It's like, no, like there is an answer. We're going to fucking fight. like, yeah. Anyway. ATX Metal Podcast (35:52.679) Summit. Ahem. ATX Metal Podcast (36:01.136) So like the, I'm just gonna read, I'm gonna read the first four lines off of this, a, perditious, gaping, okay, mouth, work, Jesus, here we go. Alone within a world of wounds to watch the way we've built this tomb, relentless death, our prophets of madness, crushing bodies in the jaws of sadness. Whoo, man, that's just a. Eamon Danzig (36:10.743) Hahaha ATX Metal Podcast (36:30.166) That's a man. That's a, that's pretty powerful right there. Eamon Danzig (36:32.255) Isn't that a good metaphor? I thought of that as like, man, I need a therapist. ATX Metal Podcast (36:38.077) Rivers of blood streaming down, flowing from ones who bear crowns. Our lives are but a pawn in their game. Expendable humanity became. ATX Metal Podcast (36:55.431) Man, that's good. That's good. I like it. Man. so are all the lyrics, available somewhere where people can dig into them? Eamon Danzig (36:55.957) Not bad. Not bad. Eamon Danzig (37:04.927) Yeah, mean, the Bandcamp, well right now, like I did upload the lyrics through DistroKid. You should probably be able to Google them soon-ish. But like, if all of them, all the lyrics are on Bandcamp, would they come with a digital copy on Bandcamp? ATX Metal Podcast (37:14.332) Okay. ATX Metal Podcast (37:21.629) Okay. Okay. And they're still in, are they, I haven't, I haven't a Peru's bandcamp in a while, but they're still in, I think I saw your post on Bandcamp Friday, right? They still do that. Eamon Danzig (37:30.837) Yeah, Banking Friday. I actually specifically chose not to release it on Spotify, like as a sort of statement, because like, I don't like their business model in terms of being very like forward with like AI curation and like operation and also because they pay artists absolute crumbs compared to like the amount of cash that they rake in. ATX Metal Podcast (37:58.269) Yeah, it's like. Eamon Danzig (38:00.769) Yeah, dude, I've had over 80, I've had over 81,000 streams on my music so far and I've gotten like 15 bucks on Spotify. So I actually have been encouraging people if they want to use the streaming service to use Tidal, T-I-D-A-L. It's actually like. ATX Metal Podcast (38:01.022) 0.003 ATX Metal Podcast (38:19.505) Yeah, I've heard they pay, they pay really, they pay better or best. Yeah. Eamon Danzig (38:23.474) much better than Spotify for stream. they, I don't think they do podcasts yet or like, but yeah, it actually has better sound quality too. So like you're getting better, you're paying for better sound quality also. ATX Metal Podcast (38:42.717) I did not know that. Eamon Danzig (38:43.711) Yeah, Spotify sucks. ATX Metal Podcast (38:45.629) Is that the one Jay-Z started? Title? Eamon Danzig (38:48.263) Maybe, I don't know. I've been using it, I like it. But I always encourage people, I mean you can see with my record wall year, but I always try to, and I always encourage people that if you're more than just a casual listener for a band, you should be buying their merch in physical copies. If you can afford them, if you can afford it. It doesn't mean you have to buy everybody's. ATX Metal Podcast (38:50.407) Sounds familiar. there you go. User experience. ATX Metal Podcast (39:01.565) That was cool. ATX Metal Podcast (39:09.693) 100%, 100%. Eamon Danzig (39:15.155) but the bands you listen to the most and you want to support them, like you should buy their stuff. Because that's how people are going to get by these days, you know. ATX Metal Podcast (39:25.487) I definitely, that was one of the very first questions that I've asked if anybody listening has been here for a long time. I've always said it when it finally hit and it's like, how do you support bands the most? And the answer overwhelmingly is buy their merch. That's the easiest way. mean, from shirts like this to hats to, I mean. Physical CD dude, I've I've been on a tear. I'm I'm gobbling up all the vinyls that I see when they come through and and they're pretty pretty fairly priced 30 35 40 bucks and Yeah, I've got a I mean the collection grows every time but now I'm in this I'm in this this drum head phase where I've got like snares and toms and kick drums all signed or just something kind of one-off like Eamon Danzig (40:04.406) I'm Eamon Danzig (40:19.217) Yeah. Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (40:20.177) you'll never have another piece of this again. So it's like, wow, I want to support 50 bucks, 40 bucks, whatever. yeah, I did spend a lot of money in September on merge. So I need to tone it down a little bit. Eamon Danzig (40:27.431) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (40:32.469) I would say too, like I have actually have like a two way rule for whenever I'm, you know, you you get excited when you're on public and like you see somebody else with like a black metal shirt on and you're like, yeah, yeah. But like I have a two way gauge on that, you know, cause like if it's like, if it's like a, like a big band shirt, like it's like a metallic, I'm like, whatever, you know, but like, but if it's like, but if it's like a throat piss shirt or like an Austin band shirt, I'm just like, oh, okay. ATX Metal Podcast (40:53.341) Yeah. ATX Metal Podcast (40:58.329) Hell yeah! Eamon Danzig (40:59.835) Not only are you a metalhead, but you support local metal and that's important. ATX Metal Podcast (41:04.189) That's it. I mean, it says it right here on the wristband. I fucking, give these away, but it just, it's a constant reminder, just support local music. It's not, you know, it's just, the culture that a city creates, you know, or the culture that a city has is, you know, the music industry and Austin is, claims to be the live music capital of the world. Eamon Danzig (41:14.897) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (41:27.645) Mm. ATX Metal Podcast (41:31.463) There are some contenders out there, but there are a lot of talented people here, that have come through here that have, you know, stopped in for a few years and then move somewhere else. And, I mean, every, every little bit helps and being able to be a part of it is, cool. Eamon Danzig (41:37.219) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (41:45.305) I mean, honestly, I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful for everybody I met and played with in the Austin scene while I was really there and doing things. Because doing that gave me the confidence I have now as a songwriter. Because if I can make Oradrim nominally successful in the few years I was performing it in Austin, then I know that I can make it successful pretty much anywhere. I mean, if I could create enough of like a culture around the music and art that I'm producing, like to organize something like Bat City Black Metal Fest back in 2024, you know, then I've got what it takes to take it anywhere, you know? So I'm I'm I couldn't be more grateful. I just wanted to say specifically shout out to Bobbi Kleeman from Hellfury, because I'm wearing a wearing the shirt right now. But she was like, I was in a ATX Metal Podcast (42:30.428) There you go, ATX Metal Podcast (42:41.372) There you go. Eamon Danzig (42:44.269) I was a lead guitar player in a band called Hijo de Puta, which is like a sort of Mexican thrash metal band many years ago. And we played with Hellfury. We opened for them at Mohawk one time. And she was the first person in that scene to really kind of reach out to me and be like, hey, man, the stuff you make is cool and like, friendly and stuff. at the time I was like, dude, I feel like I'm not even. Eamon Danzig (43:16.697) And she was like, shut up, you're fucking red. she was a big inspiration for me to get this project up off the ground. One of many inspirations, but I just wanted to point her out because I she's probably going through a lot right now herself. So yeah, I guess what kind of time we got right now? ATX Metal Podcast (43:34.236) Cool, man. ATX Metal Podcast (43:40.253) I got about four minutes left. Yep. Eamon Danzig (43:42.398) Okay, cool. I think I've kind of given my spiel an explanation of what's been going on with me and the new album and stuff pretty succinctly, but is there anything else you would like to ask me or you think the fans want to know? ATX Metal Podcast (43:55.657) I just wanted to ask two questions. One, what was your favorite, even though the album is about, like you said, the class system and there's like injustices, but what was your favorite song to write or play? I mean, I know that since you're doing it all, mean, there may be this song, I like the guitars, this song, I like the drums, but what was your favorite one to write? And then, Eamon Danzig (44:20.365) Mmm. ATX Metal Podcast (44:24.486) We'll finish up with all the ads where people can help support you the most. obviously all the links will be in the comments, but just all the social media stuff so they can stay up to date with you. Eamon Danzig (44:37.303) Yeah, think probably, I mean, the reason I made Bodies Upon the Gear the first track was because I think it's really the most hard-hitting and best example of what I'm actually capable of as a guitar player. I think, yeah, when I finished writing that song, I was like, what have I done? This is a fucking monster. ATX Metal Podcast (44:59.676) It is it's like 15 minutes long. I'll be honest with you. Like I said earlier on, I, uh, um, a couple, a couple of friends, it's, it's, uh, cause like, yeah, that song is like 15. The next one's like eight or nine. And then the third one's like two minutes is just like, whoop shifting gears. But yeah, I remember, uh, I, I was on the way home yesterday and I w and I started playing the album. Eamon Danzig (45:08.822) Yeah, it is gonna be 15 minutes long. ATX Metal Podcast (45:28.57) And by the time I got home, I was like, is this song over? And I look and it still had like four minutes to go. was like, holy crap. So I sat, so I sat in the driveway, just listening to the rest of it, you know, cause it's just, you can't get out. mean, I've, I've already invested that much time, right? I want to, I want to hear the, I want to hear the crescendo. want to hear the end. so it's, it's definitely, it's, it's, it is a wild song. And who's the, who's the sample in there? Eamon Danzig (45:35.274) Hahaha! Eamon Danzig (45:55.136) Part of the in- Eamon Danzig (45:58.934) Oh, you mean the bodies upon the gears speech thing in there? Yeah, that's guy named Mario Savio. It was a speech he gave at Berkeley back in the 60s during the civil rights ATX Metal Podcast (46:02.321) Yeah ATX Metal Podcast (46:11.705) okay. Eamon Danzig (46:12.691) Yeah. But yeah, I mean, also the intentionality of like the long songs is that like, this isn't the type of music you just like listen to casually on the radio. You know, like it's a story that you're trying to understand. You know, like it's process. So like, you you want to sit down and actually take time to listen to it. You know, anyway, I wanted to encourage people, like set aside space to like ATX Metal Podcast (46:38.588) No, I mean that- Eamon Danzig (46:42.14) invite it, you ATX Metal Podcast (46:43.804) Yeah, that's, I've, and I've asked, you know, I've had other people that'll specifically say, Hey Ryan, I want you to listen to this with like in ears, not over ears. Or I want you to listen to this in the car or with a surround sound or, you know what I mean? They've told me how to consume it, but no one's ever really kind of like how you said like, Hey dude, you're going to have to make time for this and like really, you know, sit down, literally sit down with it. And Eamon Danzig (46:53.224) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (46:56.685) Mm. Eamon Danzig (47:08.084) Mm. Mm. ATX Metal Podcast (47:11.792) That's cool. That's cool. So I'll redo that and put it on the speakers here. You know, one day while I'm here just chilling and just kind of like let it soak in. Eamon Danzig (47:22.068) Mmm. Cool man. I don't know if we ran over it all. ATX Metal Podcast (47:26.48) But, on, on, yeah, yeah, all, all we need are the, the final shout outs and the ets where people can support you and people that you want to recognize kind of like a Bobby or anybody else. Eamon Danzig (47:39.662) shoot, here, this is, have this problem like I told you before. bad for some people. off, man. No, I mean, specifically, I think, Hara from Parasiticide and Mason and Garrett, and, fucking... ATX Metal Podcast (47:43.718) yeah, let me get the scroll out. All right, so we'll just stick with the socials then. Eamon Danzig (48:02.708) G and Kieran from Bondbreaker and Thad and all those guys and all the people from Throat Piss for being friends with me. All sorts of great people, man. Like, I'm sorry if I forgot anybody off the top of my head, but yeah, I had a great time playing with everybody there when I was there. ATX Metal Podcast (48:17.66) It's all good. ATX Metal Podcast (48:25.862) So when the what's the I know that the album is already out. But is there anything else to look forward to? Eamon Danzig (48:35.067) Yes, the physical releases will be ready for sale as well soon. So it's through the label FIAD Productions, which is F-I-A-D-H Productions out of New York. They operate on Bandcamp, so you just go to their page on Bandcamp and they will have cassettes and CDs that you can buy whenever I know they're ready. I'll let everybody know, but it should be soon. ATX Metal Podcast (48:39.804) Perfect. And where can people pick those up at? ATX Metal Podcast (49:03.88) And I'll have a link in the show to where they can just go straight to it. We'll make it easy for you. Eamon Danzig (49:09.319) Yeah, check out, also check out, I also want to pitch to you productions because like they're great. They're women owned and run label. It's like Doom, Dungeon Synth and Black Metal. And a lot of their proceeds will go to an animal sanctuary actually. So yeah, yeah, for sure. But they have, they also have some great bands. They have some great bands on their label too. Sorry, just me. ATX Metal Podcast (49:29.532) Hey, we love the animals here at the podcast. Speaking of animals. ATX Metal Podcast (49:41.112) There's other cool people, promise. It's a great label. Don't worry about it. all right, man. Well, dude, I greatly appreciate your time. I'm glad that you are in a better space physically and mentally. I'm glad that your album has been released a little bit earlier to kind of help, you know, bring attention to the times that we're in. And, you know, it's not hard to be, like I said, we talked about earlier, it's not hard to be a good human. Eamon Danzig (49:55.047) Thanks man. ATX Metal Podcast (50:10.032) And it's not hard to want things for other people that, you know, make sense. there's a lot of shitty people out there in the world. A lot of shitty people. So don't be one of them. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. That'll, there we go. That'll be the headline. Be good or be good at it with, with Amen. Perfect. I love it. Way to end it, dude. all right. I'm gonna just hit stop. It'll finish doing his thing. So just hang around. everybody else. Thank you for, joining us here for another episode of the ATX Metal Podcast. Eamon Danzig (50:15.355) Mm-hmm. Eamon Danzig (50:18.673) Don't be one of them. Be good or be good at it. Be good or be good at it. ATX Metal Podcast (50:40.028) You can go get all of his stuff on Bandcamp. We will have all the links in the description. you know, again, thanks for supporting local music wherever we are, wherever you are. All right. Cool deal. See you all later.