Getting Lost In Translation: Fresh Finds Podcast Season 4 Episode 3 W/ Fauxtrot

Hello and welcome back to season four of the Fresh Fines podcast. The show about discovering new music with good people. I'm Ryan and joining me this episode are the guys from Philadelphia Post Hardcore Band Fo Trot. How are you guys doing? We're doing good. I did, I did pronounce the name right, correct? It's okay. I thought it's because it was spelled that way that it was all right. I'm actually leaving because it's kind of funny because it's like what everybody says, so do you guys want to go around and introduce yourselves and kind of give a little bit of background on the band? Sure. My name is Austin, I play guitar in the band and it's how we wrote this. Introducing each other. Yeah, I guess. I'm Robert, I sing in Bed Foxtrot. Hi, I'm Derek, I play drums in Foxtrot. My name is Jared and I play bass for now in Foxtrot. For now, so are you guys looking for another bassist so that you can do two guitars live? Is that the idea? Yeah, we're doing laptop bassist. Yeah, we have bass bassist. He's a little bit different. He's a laptop bassist. At least they would be better than me. Exactly. So you guys just released your first EP back in December. But it says on your Spotify that you guys have been a band since like 2019. Was there any music that you guys recorded before that that just never made it on to streaming or got scrubbed when you went to put this new stuff out? Or is this really like the first thing that you guys have recorded and put into the world? This is the first thing. This is mostly everything that we have written as a band to put out to the world. So yes, these songs have been through a lot of versions and iterations and things, but these are the final, the finale of the our band from the beginning. Right on. So did you guys have like a long time that you guys were playing live and writing stuff at the same time or was it largely just kind of like writing jam and figuring stuff out and then went to record. Now you guys are starting to do the live stuff more. So we originally started as kind of like an internet band. We started writing songs like basically online just sending ideas back and forth. And then once that was during the pandemic right before the pandemic and then during the pandemic and then kind of post pandemic we actually got together to play the songs like in a real setting and then we played a bunch of shows didn't have music out until very recently. So we'd have been just playing rewriting and playing those songs and those playing shows to sort of flesh out all the stuff that doesn't work and yada yada with those songs that you hear on our debut EP. Okay, cool. So how did you guys meet if you like started online where like was it on Twitter, Instagram, something like that or tinder farmer's meat? Well, I'll go first and then we could get trickled down. So I met I was in a band with another person that used to be in this band and I met him online and we kind of started writing stuff together and then we met Austin like a year later. Probably like a year and a half. Yeah, a year and a half later. And he actually started on base live for us but then you could pick it up from there and ask them. Yes, so it was already like sort of a group when I first came in. We already had like a couple of guys. Obviously some of them you know left to do other stuff but at the time it was just playing bass and when the two previous members left I pretty much switched to the guitar and then you were just pretty much like on a search for a drummer for for a little bit and then I had actually Jared I was like hey do you do you want to play bass you know with Foxtra and you know he had a rubber to talk about it and you know got it and Jared joined in and then eventually it took a minute before we found Derek. Well side note so I met Austin on a platform called Band Mix so it's like a day for musicians pretty much. I think somebody has told me about that before on a previous episode actually and I thought that it sounded like a neat deal I haven't checked it out though. Yeah it's cool. The only problem is if you don't pay for it you can't message people but what the hell is the point then? So if you don't like email or learn the thing you can't like communicate so I met him on Band Mix. Austin and Jared are cousins so they met through being related. We met through bar. Yeah and then we there. So we near another minority so we got they got this. We're all minorities here unfortunately. Derek I think you how did I mean you posted an ad on Facebook I think and like a Philly music page or something? I feel like I think so I did both. I posted about me looking for a band but I think you also might have posted about looking for a drummer. I forget that's a really bad member but it worked out. I think I just I think I just mess with Robert and it kind of just went from there. So you guys met like and we're largely an online band. What were you guys doing like initially when you had like a couple of different members and stuff like that? Were these still the same songs that you guys were writing? Were you working on cover? Yes. Just took four years in the incubator to really get it to where you were happy with everything? Well you should have seen or heard yeah you shouldn't seen what the songs were before they came out. Yeah yeah it was basically like very interesting. We're working on these songs for a little bit and then like I said we kind of like had some changes in the band and since those changes happened it was like some people didn't want to. What's the best way to say this? They were like certain songs we were doing where like things weren't working but certain people didn't want to change things so like we were like this song kind of sucks so like I don't want to put this out. So we were like stuck with it and then we had line of changes and stuff and then it was like well can we fix this now? We fixed it and like I know there's just like things that we weren't all stoked on and we didn't want to put out music that we weren't all happy with so. No I totally get that. Until we were kind of all in the same page or they had to write people that's kind of like the short version of that light tips so long. Yeah no I mean it could get definitely longer if we put in all the details but yeah that's basically about it we just you know we would listen to certain things and we would you know try this you know listen to it say you know this this this isn't working let's go back and fix this part and try to make it all work together so that's why you know we're not putting out bullshit just to put out bullshit so just to be honest if you want to if you want a little insight in what we're talking about imagine writing a song where I've rewritten vocals seven times he's rewritten guitar parts six times we remember writing bass or no we were writing bass do right? Yeah just because you know obviously if you change the guitar oh yeah so we changed the bass and the drums for some reason had to stay the same so we all were like hey let's try to make this work and the one person who wasn't allowing the song to change we were trying to work with them and it never worked so that's one example of a few other examples of like something that took a lot of time and a lot of effort to basically get nowhere because it's like if we all are changing our parts or if three out of four of us are changing our parts the last person should change their parts so we can try to rework this song so that we can kind of start fresh to get something that we're happy with that makes sense so you guys are all from Philly is that correct? No I'm the only one from Philly but it's the biggest city so okay so it makes sense where are the where are the rest of you guys from then? I love enough for to ask there which is neither the link up to the area oh yeah where the forces are in the amish right on and then me and Derek are from the Lehigh Valley which is like an hour and some change from him and also Philly it's like an hour and a half north of Philly okay so you guys really do have to plan out quite a bit when you guys are going to meet up and rehearse and everything because it's quite a bit of a commute for you guys to actually get together in person hey yeah yeah make sense as to why everybody's not all in the same room for the recording too because I wouldn't expect you guys to drive an hour and a half just to do this for me I'm curious as to what you guys would consider to be like your musical influences because like you kind of advertise yourselves as post-hard core and instrumentally I definitely feel that but I also feel like a really heavy like kind of funk influence as well like you guys groove so hard and I'm curious as to where you guys get that from. I guess I can go first my musical influences like I'm like the really like heavy person in the band I really like a lot like peripheries of my favorite band so I listen to them a lot like I like much sugar just like a lot of like progressive metal and honestly kind of like like beat down hard core like cave man turkey leg type heavy but yeah but also like a lot of us are like really into like prettier stuff like I really love chan like I love origami button all that type of stuff and I know Austin kind of being like the main songwriter in terms of like you know like guitar wrist and stuff like that I know that he takes a lot of inspiration from like chan and everything but I'll let them talk about it. about their influences. - Sure. - You can go off the stage. - I'm tired. - I'm tired. - Yeah. - Yeah, no, pretty much as Bajaran, I'm a fan of him. Periphery, John, Dan's having dance. And those are been pretty much like, been my influences. But funny enough, a lot of times when I write, I think a lot of people cure a lot of intervals in my writing too, so that's it. - Oh yeah, that's a lot of fun. - That's another interesting thing. But yeah, I heard Periphery in like, eighth grade, and pretty much there's this, yeah. Opening the gates for like everything else. And I think 'Cuz of Periphery' that kind of opened, the horizon for me for bands like John and Dan's got been dancing. 'Cause at the time I really wasn't really listening to that sort of style of music. I was kind of like on like more of like the classic metal core type wave at the time. - Yeah. - So Periphery kind of like, "Hey, you should listen to this." I was like, "Oh yeah, no, this sounds sort of way better." But I'm listening to a lot more eclectic too. They take stuff from like jazz and stuff from like all over the place and kind of like merge it into one thing. So I could definitely see how that could be like the root of getting into a lot of other styles of music. - Yeah, often listening to the same 'Block Dahlia' murders song every day, going to school in the bus apparently. - Oh yes, I had a song called Everything Went To Black. I looked at my, I was like, I looked at an iTunes and I said I had to play it over 2,000 times. I was like, "I didn't know how to play it." That song that much was like, "Okay, it's a good use." - You and Jared had that in common 'cause all he did is to the system of it down, so. - Yeah, seriously. - What about the rest of you guys? - You go there. - Yeah. (laughing) - Sorry, I couldn't hear you. It was like a little bit of a, my style was like all over the place. I listened to just music all day every day from post hardcore stuff, from when I was younger, more into like, not so much post hardcore stuff, like Circa Survive, that's like my favorite band of all time. In the more recent years, I was involved with a math rock band for a couple of years that like, branched me out for a whole different side of stuff. Now I'm getting into more like, still stuff like an ambient or like an ambient. I don't know how to describe it, but I'm just everywhere. But with 'Foxytte', I just, I like to do whatever's good for the song, so that's pretty much where I rest my. - I like that though, I think a lot of musicians should learn to be more in service of the song, 'cause there's definitely a lot of people who are like, I'm just gonna make this riff fit, even if it doesn't at all. (laughing) And so yeah, that definitely makes sense to serve the song a bit more in that way. - So I guess for me, I draw a lot of influence from like, some of my favorite bands are like issues and Dan Scam and Dan's. I grew up like, you know, not a very musical household, but like my mom was really into like, and I think that kind of like, shaped me in a huge way 'cause I love our music, but like, I mean, I'm sure Kalani, Maronite Carey, Janet Jackson, I draw some influence from that, locally too, so. - Yeah, I guess like, I kind of like what Jared said, like, I like, I like heavy music and I like melodic stuff, and I think like marrying the two in a band kind of like, high energy, but still catchy, still groovy. And I like that you mentioned like, you like the funk aspect, so it's like dancing. - Yeah. - That's definitely intentional, so I'm glad that you picked up on that. - To me, that's what makes you guys stand apart from a lot of the other stuff in the genres that it is so danceable, so upbeat. You guys have mentioned, I think like in your bio in a couple of other places, like that your music is for fans of Ameri Annette as well, which is a band that I found like five years ago and that got super into, so I'm super interested in that too, because I didn't know like anybody else who had heard of them before. (laughs) - Yeah, we played with them actually. I think it was last year and a year before. - Nice. - In Pennsylvania, they were super nice, and they're obviously super talented. And they're, it's really cool to see them perform too, 'cause they bring a lot of that funk and that groove, and yeah, they're really cool band. - So is there anything else on like the background of this EP that you guys want to talk about and specifically highlight, because I think it's a really solid batch of what four songs, is that right? - Background, well we wrote two clothes about eight or nine times. - That one was a really big pain in the ass to, right? - Yeah, that one sucked it, it goes through so many variations of it. - What was it that you couldn't get to work? - The intro. - Okay. - It was the intro, it was mainly the intro and there's the verse, honestly, and the pre-chorus, the pre-chorus, the intro, we've had a really like-- - The intro, the verse, the pre-chorus, the chorus, it was all just kind of not real. - The entire song, not the song. - I'll say, I'll say the song. When his vocal teacher heard the song, she said, didn't it get sung? - Yeah, I don't think you should sing the song. - Oh, that's rough, that's not what you wanted me to do. - It wasn't because of him, it wasn't because of him, it was just because the song and it's something really fitting. She said either don't sing the song or sing the chorus from then on, which is just weird, like it. To start the song straight from the chorus, but yeah, we had to change the intro first, first, the pre-chorus, pre-chorus, I like this really repetitive, like one note thing, time of going on, and I remember being on stage, and I'll have to look at a few other people just to like, hey, when are we sliding down into the chorus? 'Cause you would just play the same note, and like in my mind, I'm sitting here, I'm like, all right, I gotta keep it tongue, this is eight, nine times. - Yeah, you ever just play it hard so much that you're like, you're like, okay. - I feel like we're doing this forever, like, this is the moment, this is okay, not yet. - It's like, that was a huge problem in our writing style previously, where we kind of, certain people in the band didn't know when the part needed to end, so that was a huge issue with that song. And I guess, too, I guess, like overall theme of like, the art and like the band and stuff, because it took so long to kind of come out, the album is called "Lost in Translation" because the art is like a representation of like, starting at the beginning of this maze and running into like, all these different musicians and all these different people who are like interested or not interested in like, you meet this person and they leave and like, just like the struggles of being in a band, and I always felt like, you know, it literally felt like it was never gonna come out, so like we were just kind of lost with this music, and that's the whole theme of like, the album are in the name of the record, but then we were able to sort of re-translate the music now to what everyone here is in only the people, only the people who have seen us live from the early days to now know how the songs have evolved, but there's no, there's no public recordings of the stages of these songs. - And you want to keep it that way, right? - Who like us at this moment, yeah. - I also find it interesting, 'cause you guys have the song follow you on there, that's the third of the four songs, and that's the biggest departure. Like the other ones, there's a very clear through line of like post hardcore and kind of like, you know, the funky grooves and rhythms and all that, and then that one goes a lot more acoustic, and there's a lot more stripped back. Was that any one person's idea that you should have like a slower song, or was everybody just kind of on board with like, yeah, we should have something to mix it up so that it doesn't all feel samey. - Well originally, the EQ is something five songs, and someone in our band previously wrote a song that sounded like a K-Mart brand version of a Gichiro song, so it didn't really make sense in the band, and also like the kind of like vocal style that they wanted on the song, I wasn't really going to be able to do, and that was kind of like a left field thing. So like, follow you, actually just kind of came about. We actually had practice one day, and we had an hour for practice, and we sat in a room, and he just showed me like a riff, and we just kind of wrote it in that room, just acoustically, and then it's a little more in depth than just acoustics, just little leads and like bass and stuff. - Oh yeah. - A little more interesting, but yeah, that just kind of, the song kind of wrote itself, and I wasn't like, we planned to write a acoustic song, it just kind of happened, and it wanted to have another song to kind of balance out the EP, but we didn't want to put that really shitty song that we could have had on the EP on it. - Fair enough. - It wasn't going to work, 'cause when I met Robert, Robert at the time, he wasn't really comfortable with trying to do streams, so when I was like, you know, writing these songs out, it was more like, all right, writing these songs out and making sure that he can at least sing over it, it doesn't sound high. The other person that previously wrote that song wanted him to do all streams on there, but he already told him that he wasn't gonna do streams. So that's, so it was like, well, that's, so this is awkward. So basically in the live setting, I would go to the bathroom while they play that song and come back with the songs over while no one sings it. - That's wild. So have you guys like, do, are any of you trying to figure out the screams thing because like for me listening to it that's like the big is thing that like keeps me from like feeling like it's more pure post-hard core is that it doesn't have like the like back and forth between the clean and unclean vocals or whatever, which I'm not saying that you need it, but you know that that's definitely something that is different from most other post-hard core bands. Yeah, in the future I'll be taking over good amount of the screens, but I think Robert is also doing some screens as well. Nice. And potentially awesome, yeah. I like that. So have you guys started like writing for the next record? I know it's only been like, you know, a few months, but you know the internet be moving fast. So I'm curious as to what you guys have coming up the pipe if it's more shows to promote this or if you guys are just working on writing more. Yeah, so I think well the plan that we have right now is we are playing like three more shows, you have a show next week, we have a show next month in March, and then we have a show in April, and then after that we're taking a break to like figure out like our whole like live rig, like we want to get in your monitors, you want to get a laptop basis because I suck at bass. And we are recording stuff currently. I wouldn't say it's the next EP or next full length or anything like that, but we are working on singles right now. Okay, cool. The internet is definitely very much a single based economy right now. There's really not a whole lot of incentive to do like larger projects aside from you know self gratification at this point. And that's the thing that sucks is because like I grew up on albums, I'm pretty sure we all grew up on albums and I really like having or doing stuff like that because I'm the third person where I don't not really like a big fan of like making playlists and listening to playlists. Like I'm a big fan of like today feels like this album kind of day. Like it feels like a periphery too kind of day. It feels like a chon stuff played all day. But yeah, it kind of sucks in that aspect because we are going to focus on singles like in the future, but I know we're going to do we're going to do like ET's and full length just to like do it for us because I mean that is in the end really what like matters. Like we want to put stuff out for people, yes, sure, because that's like the smart thing to do, but we don't do stuff for ourselves. It's kind of like well then why are we doing this? Oh 100%. Yeah, I'm definitely an album guy myself as well. So it's kind of disappointing to me to see a lot of bands moving in that more single based direction, but I definitely understand with how fast the internet works and that being you know the main place that people are promoting music that you kind of have to just have a constant stream of things coming out or else it's really easy to get left behind. Well, the part that sucks the most in my opinion with singles and all that is that like a band will put out a record and like a full length or something and then like literally four months, five months, six months later to put out a new song and it's like oh my god, how the fuck did they write a new song and record it and put it out and pay for it and they just dropped this thing. It's like yeah, that was cool, but like let's move on now. It's like Jesus, it's changed so much because like you put out a full length, put on EP, whatever, you milked that for like a year, two years maybe and then you were coming music and now the turnaround is so insane and I kind of hate that to be honest. No, for real, like everybody it used to be like you would spend like a year writing and recording a record, you would put it out and then you would spend a year playing shows and promoting it and doing all of that and then you would spend the next year like writing and recording again or you would be writing and recording like on the road or whatever and so it was definitely a lot more lenient because less music was coming out on such a quick basis, but like now yeah literally like even the biggest bands have maybe a year between records it feels like. I blame Doom scrolling. For real, yeah. It's all TikTok. I mean like there's just artists that I listen to now it's like a folk artist, I don't know how to say the last name, it's like Noah Khan or something like that. That dude is sick, he's so good but like the reason he blew up is because of TikTok and it's literally just like that's how people blow up now is like TikTok, so we could probably do that. It was hard for me to get into. I largely just do like clips from podcast episodes at this point, but like there was probably a year where I was trying to do like a TikTok every single day and eat so much more work than people think it is. Yeah, I'm good. I don't want to do that. I like hardly ever go on it. Like I only ever go on it like when like my friends will send me like TikToks and I'm like alright this is cool. Exit out. Get me the fuck out of this place because I'm not with it. This is going to be the first clip I upload to TikTok because everybody's just talking shit. I got I got my new. I think it's just sure and I had TikTok installed on this. I'm not I think we're just a we're a product of our like generation like we're all kind of close in age. I'm the oldest in the group. I'm 33 but like I don't know I'm from I'm definitely a 90s paid where like you bought a speedy right you listen to it you played it out to death and then you move on to the pump and out like you know I think month later not like I think consuming. Yeah. It's like today's generation of kids want to consume when we just go into stores and look at album art and get like down looks cool and then buy it and then listen to it in the car. There is so much music I've discovered through just it having like a cool ass like cover and then just being like all right I need to listen to this now. Yeah. So you guys worked with a producer or recording engineer or something to to make this record correct. Yep. Okay. Do any of you guys have any background in like trying to record yourself or anything or was it largely just we wrote the songs we're just going to let somebody who knows what the hell they're doing handle it. Yeah. Like I've tried to before but yeah like my stuff isn't good. So like it's a lot better than yeah good. It's a lot better than some people but like there's no point in putting something out that's like this is trying to good we might as well just pay somebody that actually knows how to like quantize guitar and all that stuff because that gives me a headache and the guy that you want to it didn't give him a headache. He's actually really good at stuff. Navro studios. I got to shout them out because I love Eric with the burning passion. Oh for sure. Yeah we're homie sexuals. God. We can all kind of demo like ideas and stuff to get across to each other so it's like we can have like a rough like if we go to like a rehearsal for a show or something we want to like practice a new song that we're not playing yet but just to like do it. We can send ideas around to be like okay cool and then like trial it out live or whatever um so it's kind of like the process of like writing a lot of times because we're not we're not close so we write a lot independently um and we just send each other stuff and then we meet up and kind of run through it live to see like okay this part doesn't work or like can we work on this part just kind of worked out some of the kinks. Is there anything else that you guys specifically wanted to mention before we move on to the next part of the episode here? Yeah I'm putting the band now I'm getting big announcements. Big announcement laptop taking over. Well this is our first interview with is a verse interview with Derek he's the new drummer the band it's unofficially announced but he's he's the new drummer in this band and um is a verse interview with him so fast for him um it's unofficial because I'm a fucking douchebag and I have fucking 3000 things going on and I haven't fucking edited the video together that we made for him to announce him so this all falls on me for being a fucking lazy putt of recon. Oh boy. It's not even mad. I'm not even mad because there's been going to be one more stuff more often anyways. Besides that um I mean check out the EP loss and translation and uh we have we're going to new music and anyone else have anything they want to add to about the band about the album anything else that you want to say oh do you want to cut out the uh the drummer or the oh yeah yeah yeah so uh Derek is not featured on the EP but our drummer for the uh recording of loss and translation his name is Nick Marinelli shout out to Nick he lives in New Jersey uh he is was like a friend of mine who um was gonna fill in for a show for us a couple years back couldn't end up doing it he had like two days learned the songs he couldn't make a word hit him up to record for us he absolutely crushed it um so if you like the drums on that record uh that was Nick but um if you're not because Derek is writing some really cool stuff on our future stuff that we have uh that we're working on right now so yeah Nick's band is called a via Rupa that was what I was just about to add via Rupa yeah it's like it's it's V-I-A and then R-I-P-A because I'm just like semi-technically challenged yeah totally strong really strong rock album was our thing so like he never did it like that but he was so excited to like get his toes in it and I mean we love what he's done on the record drop myself we also got on like a little documentary that we put out a couple weeks ago right yeah so he's in there tearing it up in that video you're really curious to see yeah here's on how we made the songs like how with the recording process is like on our youtube uh if you just look up Foxtra F-A-U-X-T-R-O-T band on youtube you can find that The documentary shows us tracking our EP and all the shenanigans that ensued with doing that. That's really cool. You guys are all big periphery fans, and so I'm sure you guys are all familiar with the documentaries about the making of those albums, which I always find super interesting. That's literally why I wanted to do it. I kind of figured. Those documentaries are so cool though. I always like just seeing the creative process. No matter what band it is, I just think it's cool to get in the headspace of the people who wrote some cool ass music. Everyone's process is a different, and also it's cool to see their process, and you might even find some things that are similar and be like, "Oh, I would have never thought to write a song in that way or do that in this song, but it's cool to see actually what it's like or what people do that aren't busy in your own band." Oh yeah, for sure. All right. Well, I think it's time to move on to the second part of the episode here where we're going to talk about some new music that we've been listening to, some stuff from independent artists or up-and-coming artists that we just feel like deserve a bigger platform than what they're getting. I'm going to start out with my song, and then we'll just go around, so we each have two songs to choose from. That song good for everybody? Yeah. All right, wonderful. So, my first song is one that actually came out like, I think it was a week ago, maybe less than a week ago, as of recording this, and it's really interesting. It's a band called Mutiny, and they are a Scott Korband. They're like a super group, basically. Members of a bunch of other Scott Korband, so hardcore mixed with Scott type stuff. They are on a Scott Punk international records, who I follow and M Mutuals with on Twitter and stuff like that, and it's a really neat project because it's like super heavy, but also it clearly has that Scott influence. This is the first single of theirs from their self-titled EP that's going to be coming out February 20th, so by the time this is out, it'll already be out. The thing that I think is really cool to me is the fact that they specifically brand themselves as being narrative music, and so it sounds like this EP is going to be telling like one long story, and they even have a manga that is coming with the deluxe edition of the album or something like that that tells the full story of the record. So I think that that's really neat. Yeah, no, literally, it's like it's got this entire universe, I think it's super cool. Yeah, that's like the Japanese comic books that most anime are based off of, and so this song is called This is a Eulogy by Mutiny, and it's kind of cool. There's also a version of it that features a Japanese artist, and they're singing in Japanese, which is very cool, but this is the English version, so that we can all understand the lyrics. The music is really amazing, and the music is really amazing, and it's really cool. The music is really amazing, and I think that that's really cool. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] familiar with their genre and I haven't heard it in so long and I'm like feeling nostalgic almost There's some new stuff in here. It's so cool. Yeah, I would love to see it. That would be awesome I like I did like I what I personally aside from the nostalgia trip that I just went on I really liked kind of how Diverse the track itself was because like I kind of like thought it would go in a certain directions at certain points Whether it was more scout more heavy and then the things that they did were kind of different than I was anticipating and It's cool that they're kind of doing like a concept album because I feel like in this song You can kind of like you can kind of feel that with like how I don't know where this falls in the storyline of whatever the Things that they're talking about but like I think because it's more of a concept album the writing in the song feels a little more Less conventional. Yeah, it's like a longer song too. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so those cool Yeah, I love the looking forward to checking out this whole whole project. I love the use of the rototom Like the random rototom to just rings out. It reminds me of this band on the law This super heavy jazz brine core they're called cleric. I think they're from like during the year whatever They're reminds me of that rototom like I don't know that just stood out to me was like anything that like picked out That not that it didn't be there, but just like oh, hey, that's a rototom like I love that Yeah, it's just very different for the genre. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, um I'm super looking forward to hearing this entire project like I mentioned too I think it's really neat when bands go multi-media for these concept records like you were talking about with like a like co-heed and like Other bands like that. I think it's really cool being able to like experience the story of the record in multiple different ways And like exploring it in that way. So I'm really excited to see how this whole thing pans out because I think it's gonna be really neat So what do we have up next? Oh, let's go first. Let's go first the most giddy about their track Oh, I know I don't actually it makes sense that Derek is going first because I know how He loves one of the bands that's on this list Oh, yeah, I was like man. I got to pick two It's so hard because I was gonna throw much music But uh, I'll start with this one that dance because I only knew I like found out about them Well, like two months, no, no, not even two months. Maybe like a month ago. Robert really like Promoted them. It's like an conversation. Sorry. Let me check them out and I'm I fell in love with this whole album A lot of the albums the method I get is like it deals with a lot of like anxiety and mental health issues So like it's just something I can relate to a little bit. But this song is like oh, I got handsome. I guess I mean, I've been like really like the last past month though Let me just and what's it called? I don't think you ever gave us the title of the song So the band is called death dance and the Stong is called season of growth. I don't know if it's my favorite song in the album. It might be my favorite I don't know the whole thing is phenomenal though Tether's a thing of the past You're moving to go to fast You want to be swallowed in waves We've golden and lovely remains The limous face The binary switch The licks at the edges and face Nine of your eyes find twistin' on Maybe you're all right, just dread to choose who you are To find In your season I'll get out of your way I'll get away from I'll get out of your way Bending and breaking your bones Losing the people you know The tragedy in life The grinding of tape This is your season You're grown You want to take this higher Or I Or You want to push yourself to the edge Or You must still like it Or else Just fall It's over I never liked you anyway You can live in behind I never wanted you anyway You can live in behind You can lie to the many ways You can lie anyway You can fall with all the things I've never wanted you anyway In your season I'll get out of your way I'll get away from I'll get out of your way I'll get out of your way Fuck it You don't need that Fuck it In your season Fuck it You don't need that Fuck it You're in your season Fuck it You don't need that Oh that's so good I must have found them before Because I actually already have the song Saved on Spotify But I don't remember it Probably came out when I was like listening to Radio or something like that Yeah I've listened to them before I listen to their entire Is it an EP that they have or an album? It's an album It's a cool link Okay, I listened to it before I don't know why I don't remember that song The song is good as well Oh yeah Do they have any other music out like Did they put any EP user anything out That are like on Bandcamp or something Or is this their first release too I think that's the first one First and only They accidentally put out their full album And not any single It was like a It was an error with uploading their album to Streaming and they Fucked up and Uploaded the whole thing instead of one song That's so funny It's looking That's agonizing Also these guys are Detroit based It looks like from Looking on their Instagram So uh I wonder if maybe I would have heard Them around Because I'm actually I'm Based in Detroit right now So I'm wondering if maybe I would like Seen them on a bill or something like that And like listen to them after the fact And then forgot about it or something Because he Did you go to Actually, I don't know if it was I think If that was in Detroit or not But there was a With sales ahead And pulses show That I think that dance had played But I forget if that was in Detroit or not Uh, I saw the flyer for that When I was browsing through their Instagram While listening And I was looking at the line up And going Damn, I wish I would have gone To this because the line up looks Killer but I didn't know any of those Bands when that happened because that was Yeah, when was that Yeah, that was like Shows before That was like just before I found pulses When they're new They're new record Yeah Good Well, we are not sure What you guys think? I was gonna say now I'm kicking myself For not having gone to that show But I didn't know any of these bans at the time They're all ones that I've found in the last couple months If we're ever in Detroit We will let you know Yeah, absolutely I tell everybody that I like Get to know through the podcast Like, hey, if you come through Detroit I will definitely pull up if you let me know Yeah, we might come through Detroit That would be sick Maybe Yeah, but it might be happening I'm curious Have you guys like uh Like done any weekenders Or little tours Or anything like that Or have you guys mostly been playing In like the kind of like New England uh Kind of area Yeah, we did a we did a week under We mostly played in like the tri-state area Mostly like Philly But we've been to like New York And in Jersey and stuff But we did a week under Hitting Virginia Maryland New Jersey And Philly So we have brushed out a bit And we will continue to branch out To some other places This year Potentially Detroit That's definitely a big thing As a new band is like Expanding where you actually play Because you know, everybody starts out You just play like your local scene Or whatever And then Finally getting to do like those weekenders And stuff Even though they're not You know huge shows It feels like such a big step Like For sure What's what's really, I don't know if people, everyone knows this or whatever, but I'm just gonna say this like, I think that I don't think people are aware of is like, now how important networking is. So like, I'm friends with that dance, and I have never met them in real life, but I was just a fan of their music, and they were nice guys, and they were fan of ours. So like, it was just cool to kind of just talk with them and stuff, but yeah, things are possible if you can network with other, more possible if you network with other people in other bands. Oh yeah, 100%. I think that's one of the biggest things that I found is like a little less than a year ago, I joined Twitter and started using it like, you know, actually using it as opposed to just like, oh, a new episode, announcement, you know, whatever. I actually started like, you know, having conversations with people and stuff like that. And that really was when like, I started seeing the most growth with the podcast and everything. It really is just who you know and getting to, you know, make those connections, connections in this industry or everything. For sure. So what do we have up next? I guess I'll go next. Next song that I guess we'll play, it's a band called The Sales Ahead, they just released a single. I think it was like a couple weeks ago called A Swear Words, and I know that personally, they are in my opinion. I really think that there's pretty good friends and I know the vocalists Sierra had mentioned that I've seen them play the song a bunch of times and she mentions every time that this song is a song that she wrote about somebody that she would spend the rest of her life with. And recently, I just kind of got out of like an eight year relationship with somebody that I thought was going to spend the rest of my life with. So not only is the song good as hell, it has that extra connection for me. So yeah, let me put this thing on. I'm in that one day, you're wired and raised, you'll finally be enough to say. What do you see when I shift to my skin? When I can't break, I will feel you again. Honey, I always know how to make it right, but this every song is low. Later I will be fine. Every single time you believe it at time, but how did you find the key to my head? But I destroyed the light to begin with. Keep telling stories of a place where all the games they have no shame. Keep telling ever money, some will end at least they will end. Don't ever forget what you've been wanting. Everyone likes salvation. And I promise myself, I'll be free. I thought these words had been in the days. How did you find the key to my head? Yeah, I've been rocking with that one since it came out too. It's so good. Yeah, they're sick. I love them. They're such genuine people. And anytime they get to see them hang out with them and talk with them, I love it. They're always so cool to be with. Where are they based out of? I actually never thought to look that up. They're based out of Jersey. They're like as very park based, but they're like a little dispersed. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, we actually play the last day of our weekend or we played with them in Jersey in Island Park, New Jersey. That's so rad. Both of the singles from this most recent release, what you call it, release cycle. This one and then also darting eyes are both so good, so incredibly catchy too. Do you know if they're working towards a new album or EP? They announced a full length. I think it's, I could be wrong, but I think it's April. I think I'm wrong, though, but it's caught on infinite word. What is it? Infinite void is what the album is going to be called. I'm so stoked. I can't wait. I can't believe I'm attracted to 13 13 13. Yeah, I was just looking through their through their discography. And I was like, I can't believe they haven't released a full length yet. The closes that they did was the 2018 EP, but that was even only six songs. Again, going back to the like, you know, it's just hard to do a full album or anything if you're not established at all. It's crazy that they've been an active band for like eight years and are only just getting around to doing their first full length. Like, that's just insane and just another tribute to like the internet era and how different music culture is now. It's funny because Robert dropped the info made that he told us supposed to do like two albums this year. And Andrew Wells is supposed to do a soul album all in this year. Oh, damn. So we were like, we were really out of this conversation today in the car. He was like, he's like, you know, I'm expensive. It is to do full like albums and these guys are just, yeah, we got like three albums coming. It's here essentially. He was like, yeah, it's about like 36 songs. Yeah, no, that's insane. I mean, at least if you like self-produce, that makes like the cost like significantly less. But you know, if you're working with a producer and booking, you know, studio time and all that, that shit gets expensive so fast. And they're working with Chris Cromwell, who's like top of the food chain in the post-war core world. And my god, I can't imagine those bills. And I know Cromwell does different versions of recording. Like there's like the most expensive version is like the middle tier and the caliber tier. I know they're at the top of the food chain with all the sprinkles and cherries and whipped cream and shit. Oh yeah. Yeah, I mean, when you get to a certain level, you're just like, fuck it. Throw in all the production we can get. Just make this thing sound amazing. Yeah, but what your label is paying for it too, it probably helps. Oh yeah, instead of paying for it out of your pocket or having to do like a kickstarter or something like that. Yeah, yeah, that's also one of the reasons we played so many shows for so long. The sound which is basically saving money. Do you guys have like a band fund that you were like every show that we play that we get paid for goes in the band fund and that's going to be the recording that's going to pay for the recordings? Or was it just very out of pocket? Everything that we make through the band goes back into the band and then after we use that money then we use out of our. That makes sense. So what's the next tune going to be? You want me to go? You want me to go? I think you put it in there, right? Yeah, the song I put in there was a fan called "Modern Day Machines". We played with them. We went to Staten Island. Was that our first time in Staten Island? Yeah, they were the main, they were the headliner because they went last year. And I haven't had the chance to listen to this EP yet. So remember we're going to live? It was like very ambient, heavy and still catchy. The main guy's name was Patrick, right? Patrick's a really cool dude. And then he plays in his band with his wife too. So it's like it's really cool. She shreds on guitar. They are amazing. I was blown away. Alright, let's check it out. [MUSIC] ♪ ♪ Words I've no way will they come from my mouth ♪ ♪ A burning confession of the tip of my tongue ♪ ♪ I've no mistakes, more times than I can count ♪ ♪ It cuts and it splinters all the way down ♪ ♪ I'm swallowing these unmarked views ♪ ♪ The whole thing one way I'll do the trick ♪ ♪ I'm counting down the assignment days ♪ ♪ To lie and feel better ♪ ♪ Don't tell me to wait 'cause the sun can come out ♪ ♪ With the cycling and seasons ♪ ♪ I've heard it all before ♪ ♪ And I'm stuck in this place ♪ ♪ More times than I can count ♪ ♪ 'Cause it seems they ain't deeper ♪ ♪ 'Cause the only way out ♪ ♪ I'm swallowing these unmarked views ♪ ♪ The whole thing one way I'll do the trick ♪ ♪ I'm counting down the assignment days ♪ ♪ To lie and feel better ♪ ♪ I'm swallowing these unmarked views ♪ ♪ The whole thing one way I'll do the trick ♪ ♪ I'm swallowing these unmarked views ♪ That was really cool. Yeah, now I really like those guys a lot. When we played with them live, they saw all around cool people. Was that on that same weekender? No, this is a little at the beginning of the year. It was beginning of January, yeah. Yeah. It was like my last month. Nice. I don't know why it feels like long trips. It was actually so long ago. It was like when I fucking broke my neck on stage. It was fucking horrible. Oh, yeah, that was tragic. We actually had a little weekender with them. But there was some like held stuff with their band, and they actually weren't even supposed to play the show that we ended up playing with them. But they were able to pull it together and actually play with us, which was really cool. But yeah, they're really, really awesome. Yeah, I really like some of the more like atmospheric kind of like stuff that they've got going on with like some synths and like a couple of things there in those couple of sections. It's really a cool addition to this style of music. It's interesting because it almost reminds me of like I think Alt Rock is like a general genre, but I don't even want to do something in that. But like when I first started getting to like, I don't know if you know the band like thousand foot crutch and like goodness. Oh, yeah. Dude, that was my like middle school high school days. Hell yeah. Yeah. So like that realm of bands that their band kind of reminds me of, which is kind of interesting because they haven't listened to like that. Those kind of bands in a while. And they kind of remind me of them, which is really cool. But they throw a different twist on their band, which is kind of cool. So yeah, I can't say anything bad about them. They're super nice, super talented. And Staten Island famous modern images. That nice. You brought a thousand foot crutch. I remember when I looked that band up way on their middle school. That band for some reason I think had like 10 albums out or whatever. You have to look it up. It's like it was some absurd amount. And I was like, why are you guys are so many albums? I remember in middle school. I almost saw them with skillet. I think it was. Oh, yes. Skillet too. That's the other band. Yeah. I almost saw them on like this tour date. And then something ended up getting in the way. And I couldn't go. I remember. I always remember that as being like the first concert that got away. Oh, damn. That would have been sick though. Yeah, no. I have seen skillet a couple of other times. And they put on a good show. But with you talking about them and having so many albums. It's crazy to me now. Like looking through modern day machines. Discography on Spotify. It's crazy to me that we're far enough into the 2020s now. That bands that started this decade actually have like a few solid sized projects under their belt at this point. It still feels like it was just yesterday that like the decade started and we're almost halfway through it. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. That's nuts. The movement of time is scary. That fuck thing up so bad. But like, yeah. You look at like some of some of my favorite bands right now are bands that have only been active for like four years or something like that. It's crazy. Yeah. I just want to look at thousands of crunch just to see. The albums and I saw at least 10. They haven't made anything. Yeah. They haven't made anything past 2016 yet. So it's just crazy because that would meant if they can't help out with the same consistency. Probably will have at least 13 right now. Oh, yeah. Easily. I don't know. Does it happen? Yeah. It's still crazy to me. You look at like King Gizzard and just bands like that. Putting out like fucking three records a year. I think they've been active for like 15 years now, maybe. And they've got like 27 records or some shit. That's insane. I can't even imagine how productive you have to be to put that together. Let alone creative output is one thing. You have to be insanely creative to be constantly coming up with stuff like that. But also just like, you know, working with getting the recording done and putting it out and getting art and all that. Like, that's so much work to put out that many records. Yeah. I don't know where these guys are getting this kind of money. That's what I don't think non-musician people understand with like when they're begging for more music. And it's like, yo, you don't even understand how difficult it is to write a song first of all. And then like, if your band doesn't live close to each other, it's so much more annoying to write a song. Well, and exactly what we were talking about earlier with, you know, the move to singles and stuff like that is it's, you know, crazy to think that a band can constantly be putting out stuff like that and that it'll be quality. Really, the only way to do that is to essentially write an album and then just be like, but it's actually just going to be 10 releases. Yeah, exactly. That's like really the only way to do it, I feel like if you're constantly just trying to write and just putting out the newest thing as soon as it's done, like that feels really unsustainable. For sure. So what do we have coming up next? The last one in the rotation before we get back around me. Oh, wait, I think it's me and also on the same thing where I didn't go and Derek didn't go, yeah. Yeah, who you saying you said you go first and then. Okay. So wait, no, you didn't you didn't share a song yet. Yeah, you didn't go, Rob. Oh, Derek went. No, sorry. I was thinking of the other song that he shared. No, no, no. Oh, bye, bad. I'm going to I'm going to live it in the past. Okay, here. Why don't you do us it a little bit, man. No, what the hell? I just put it in there. I didn't know it was going to play right away. So this is this is a blight sound. They're from the UK. They're like a math, mathy post hard core band. I found them like it was last year or the year before or something and like felt like they were doing something really interesting and really cool in that. Ground and I've realized because I'm not overly familiar with math rock kind of music and that's Derek's like bread and butter. So like hearing a math rock post hard core band was really interesting for me. And I really like a lot of the things that they're doing in their band and they're good friends of mine. I'm literally just a fan of them and we've talked over like the past year or so and we became like good friends. a runner. Nice. So very, very cool dudes, very awesome band and brother. All right, let's check it out. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Man, I love that like sing along gang vocal thing at the very end there. That's such a cool way to end this track. [Music] [Music] Yeah, I was like, what is this? I think it's my hearing is gone. It pulls the music video from YouTube so that must have been what that was. Yeah, I was curious if that was the part of the song or not. Yeah, it's interesting too because if you listen to this song and they're other single they put out earlier this year or earlier at the end of last year they're very different and I think it's just cool because I like to see bands like experimenting with different sounds. Oh yeah. And this one has a very dark like undertone. It feels like like a very like ominous dark song and the other song was very like bright and happy and like on and it's just cool to hear like the dichotomy of like their styles. It's just a just songwriting and like different effects they use and stuff it's just very interesting. Yeah, I'm definitely into that too. Do they have two different vocalists? I was just thinking that when I was listening to this I was like, well no, sorry they do have two different vocalists in general. Yeah, I couldn't tell if it was like a just a slightly different delivery or if it was just like different processing or if it was a different person but yeah like just in like the singing I felt like there were two different people. It's maybe. What's what's funny? I feel like this the band name unfortunately my trigger a lot of PTSD for a lot of people who play dark souls. It's so fucking crazy. Cause we were like, it's a blank town. I was like, what did you say to me? Um, it told everything that fucking town ever again to get that fucking spot in dark souls one. I swear I heard somebody talking about this band like a couple of weeks ago because I remember having that same thought being like blight like the dark souls thing and then I never looked into it. So I'm kind of glad that you that you brought this band back up because it was something that I had forgotten about that now I can look into again. I'd be very honest. I haven't like I've seen Robert Post about them a lot. I haven't listened to them solely because I've been fucking triggered every time I see their name. But um, yeah, hearing that like I'm actually listening to them now. Yeah, no, that was super cool. I also really like the delivery of the vocals on the second verse. I need to listen to it again. But I remember like when I when I was listening to it in this first time being just being like this is a really unique like vocal delivery for the style. For sure. Yeah, they're doing some cool stuff. I told it all. It's like if you guys ever come to the US man come to come to our area. And I said if we ever come to the UK, we're going to come to your area. Dude, that would that would be rad. Yeah, this is super nice. They'll like send me like little fucking demos of stuff they're working out. So I think I heard like a part of the song early on, but yeah, they're really cool dudes. That's one of the most fun things about being like online friends with people in like other bands or other groups and stuff like that is getting to hear stuff like a little bit early and it's unfinished form and being like, oh yeah, this is neat. You're like, I feel like I know I'm special. Yeah, it's cool and like just like getting feedback from other people in the genre and like what their thoughts are and like it's just cool to have a mutual respect for other people doing the same thing as you put in a context or you know, obviously completely different band. It's very it's very like I don't want to say family oriented, but like the people that a lot of us have met in doing this have been very kind and very welcoming and very like just cool to just pick it or just talk music or even. Just get like constructive like feedback on oh yeah, and I think that that's great to is when people will actually give you like like take the time sit down and analyze what you sent them and give you like constructive feedback because like in my opinion, I hate when you send a like unreleased track to somebody to get feedback and they're just like. Yep sounds cool thumbs up and you're just like alright that doesn't actually help me at all. All right, so my next song is by a band called farseek and it's kind of interesting the way that I found this one I made a post probably about a week ago on Twitter and I was saying kind of jokingly but also kind of not that like. Modern emo music should use more banjos because I was like a lot of the like tapy twinkly like emo guitar parts that a lot of people are playing kind of sound like banjo parts anyway if you think about it. And like a lot of the people who play in open tunings there are several people that I know who play in like emo bands and play a guitar in banjo tuning so like it wouldn't actually be that hard. Like it blew up way more than I was anticipating for like a like kind of half joking you know a little tweet but the coolest thing that came from it was a bunch of people who just started commenting cool emo bands who have banjos and their songs and this was like probably one of my favorite ones that I found like I said the band is called farseek they're from Georgia and North Carolina. I guess they're kind of like a spread out but this song is called pride from their most recent EP intent which came out back in May of 2023. To crave the shot, to eat, to eat the shot to eat Use the violin, size the right music, to eat our history We live in a state of wild fish, while it takes been a cold match It was more important places, automation makes the killer as faceless Weep and show this in racism in his hand, that's destiny Conditions of mass incarceration, new retardant, endemic If only it won't make these batches go away Brainwashed to paint fire, then it's just the only way Destruction of schools, construction of prisons Tighten their grip, give death by instructions There's more authority, desire, control Inflective talking, voice up, whistle, and choke One more eye, all will be proud One more eye, all will be proud To be from a country whose hatred is so wild Weep, all will be proud to keep you in our eyes For a state, from beginner lies Very cool, very cool Yeah, I think that it works really well Having that banjo in there, I really like it as just a little auxiliary element Playing like, you know, arpeggio type stuff It works extremely well Do you know this song "Kiss Me?" It's like an early 2000s song It's like "Biamond" Probably Is it a female singer? Yes Yeah What are you talking about? There's a rhythm in this song I think the rhythm of the chorus, maybe you're one of the verses Where it sounds very much like that song Huh, interesting I always find it funny when people make like, you know, comparisons to stuff that you just haven't thought of And like, forever, you just listen to it Wait, hold on, this unlocked a memory (Laughter) Yeah, we did that too We would like sometimes post snippets of our EP before it was out Different songs and see like what people thought and like some of the feedback I'm like, "Oh, this sounds like this" It's like, like, what was our song "Retrie" It sounded like that song so bizarre by whoever the fuck is saying it I know, we put it on Reddit and there's a league of tarp part and I never heard of this song It's by artist, I think he passed away, I don't know when There's called "How bizarre" I think it was called A really popular song with an older song Yeah, I could see how bizarre Okay And there's a league of tarp part like a retrace, second chorus type of thing And they're like, "Oh yeah, part sounds like the half is our part" And literally, as soon as I go look at the song, the very first thing is like Holy shit, that actually, exactly, it exactly sounds like that But I've never heard of this song, but it's huge, apparently Yeah, he's a fucking liar, he played right that shit I was gonna say, I don't think it's the song that I've ever gone out of my way to listen to But I've definitely heard it in like commercials and like, you know, at Walmart or something 100% I also just like the message of this song Just, you know, it's a very revolutionary type of message Talking about how, you know, you really have to organize in order to do anything in the current Like, you know, political landscape with people, you know, everybody looking for power and everything I don't know, I think that I really, I just really enjoy the message a lot Yeah, not the, like Robert said the band just was a really cool part of the song Honestly, because I was like waiting for it and then when I heard, I was like, "Oh, I hear it" Yeah, no, I think that it makes for like great auxiliary parts And I'd like to see a lot more rock bands look for instruments outside of the genre to use as like auxiliary parts Like, I have a song on my EP that's gonna be coming out soon It'll be out by the time of this episode drops, but I have a part of a song where I used a mandolin on it And I just thought that that was just like such a neat texture that like nobody's doing And I think that these folk instruments are great to use as like auxiliary parts and songs What's your artist name? Oh, it's just my name Ryan Nicholas and I CK, I'll definitely put a link to it in the. I'll put a link to it under this episode too if you guys want to check it out So, what do we have next? Is it me? Yeah, I think it is me Yeah, I thought it was me then Derek I mean, it was me then Derek I don't know if you guys want to go older or not I was gonna say, it doesn't really matter, you've each got one song I know, yeah, it was Derek, yeah, Derek go Alright, cool Alright, so I mentioned before, it's really hard to like narrow down It was too Yeah This band is on a split with multiple artists, but this band is called "Fampane Color Cars" They're on a split with one of my favorite bands of all time, "Narrow Arrow" But this song stuck out to me just because of the "Fampane Color Cars" approach to the songwriting It's so out of the box, but still catchy in a way, it's there a math wrong fan Okay I trade, what is the name of this split? More friends, the kids Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it is Okay, yeah So, let me see And which song is this? This song is called "Microfilm" ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, that was really neat. It was funny. I forgot that you would introduce this as being a math rock band and I heard it and I was like, "Ooh, this is really Matthew!" Yeah, a lot of math rock bands can be like super avant-garde or like kind of like against the grain, but like they kind of balance things very well. Yeah, it's definitely not something where I like struggled to follow it ever. It was just like I was listening to the rhythm and I was like, "Ooh, this is different. This is kind of cool." The drums were like the biggest like all over the place part. Yeah, it's as well as like so hard like not going crazy with like kind of signatures with a box track. Like, let's stop here, right? Because I'm like, "Mm." Well, this puts down cool, but I'm like, "Uh." [Laughs] "Uh, these guys are staying." You guys suck. No, it's not that. [Laughs] It's not that. It's not that. It's not that. It's like, "What would I want to listen to if I didn't know this band?" Okay. It was too much at once. You know what I mean? It's good to sprinkle it in every once in a while, but-- You feel like you have to build like that. good faith to be able to go full on craziness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Derek's been introducing me slowly to Matt Frog. We like sent each other a playlist every once in a while of like stuff. And this is one of the bands that stuck out to me on that list that he sent me. Um, I think what you said is pretty accurate about like every unique, roach songwriting and also like, it's not hard to follow, but there's moments where you're bobbin and then you're like, wait, let's go. I saw Jared doing math in his head. He was like, I was, I fucking didn't formula the calculations correctly because it's all fucking ended. And I was like, carry the one. No, I was expecting that little like rhythmic burst that they were doing at the end at least one more time. And then it just stopped. I'm like, Oh, all right. That was a really neat song though. Is the rest of this comp, uh, largely more like math rock artists? Yeah. So the other band, which I so desperately wanted to play, but I was like, let me just play this song because it's, I mean, it's an amazing song. But the other band are really like narrow. I think it's a three piece. And the guitarist plays two guitars I want. He, he tapped on two guitars at once. And that's insane. Yeah, he's, when you get a chance, look him up, but they are more, I don't want to say Midwesty, but like, it's more of like the tapy tap stuff. Yeah, their songwriting's really good. The other two bands that are featured are Midwest females as well. So yeah, it's a, it's a mix of more mathy bands, but a bit different style for me. Oh, so looking, uh, looking at some of their pictures on Spotify, he has like, uh, it looks like a stand for the second guitar. And so he is tapping on it while it's okay. I was imagining this dude with two guitars strapped to him. I'm like, that is so, uh, Michael Angelo, uh, Betty or whatever. Uh, where he's got one on board. He just goes like that. Yeah. He's got like a guitar. He's like straight like a taxi. He could play up here, flip it over. Oh, yeah. And some plain upside down and whatnot. Yeah. I can't hardly tap on one guitar. They're pretty crazy. Like, let me show you what and the textures on steroids. Yeah. No kidding. Holy shit. They're like wizards and druids out just playing. They're hiding among us. Um, so what do we have up next? Yeah. So there's this really small band called slipknot. I'm going to show you their song. There's a band from Philly. I always, I always fuck up their name, but um, they're like a pop punk, punkish band. Um, I just saw them last night when I saw them. First of them I saw them. They were playing a show with pulses and I was still the head. They're called a long friend time friend. And I always fuck it up and say long time friend time, but they're super cool. They just put out this song. I think it was last month. It's called Axis. So yeah, let me drop it in here. It's really cool. They're all super good people. I love them. And they have like a really catchy like lead in the song that's kind of like throughout the entire song. So there you go. We will not freeze in the winter. We will not leave for the sun. We will stay warm until it's over. We will not come undone. The dogs are so far down, can I stand? Don't bend the dog in the heart. I'll teach others for the first time. Since the first time that we told each other's heart. We'll not drown if we dive in. We have to learn how to swim. We will not live to regret it. Just all the time we did it. So go on, please, for accessibility. So go on while we're calling our new names. We've only experienced those to be afraid of. And I've done my best to get in my way. So go on, please. We will not drown if we dive in. We will not be in the future. Oh, I'm so into that. Yeah, their vocals are so fucking sick. Like it's insane. Like when I heard them sing for the first time, I was like, this shit is actually fucking insane. And typically that band, they have a lot of group vocals. And I think this is the first time where they're just singing. It's so awesome. Are you talking more like harmonies or like gang vocals? They typically do gang vocals. Okay. And harmonies too. But yeah, this is like the first time we're just then doing the one vocalist. It's really, really, really sick. They've got a really powerful voice. It sounds great. Yeah. I always really like that kind of like half-shouty kind of like singing vocal style. Like there's just, there's so much power and like raw, aggressive energy to it. Yeah. I generally don't know how people do that because that's something that I've always wanted to be able to do. But like, I just can't. And like every time somebody is able to do that, it's just so cool to listen because it's like, think you said that you just capture so much like raw power and emotion and so cool. I think it's also like way more technique than most people would assume. It has to be like that in a way that's not. Yeah, definitely technique if you're sustaining that over long period of time. I think what's cool about that band that I'm realizing my head, I recently had Mathrock and Midwest and Emo very confused. But I think also I heard a lot of kind of mash them. But this band is kind of like Midwestern Emo and pop punk, which is interesting. I just made that connection rather than just that. Yeah, it feels like there's like kind of like a new wave of like pop punk slash Emo bands where it's like they're not exactly in one lane or the other, which is kind of like take aspects of both. And I tend to really like that sort of crossover. I think it works really well. Oh wait, are you next or is it also this? Also, this album art is so sick. Like just like the like cartoon like characters and stuff like that. Yeah, I think that that single art is going to be their album art. Like they're releasing a new album. I'm terrible. I know it's soon. I think it's like March. It's either March or April. But yeah, it's some called it's that here that's whatever that like banner thing on their Spotify is here's to not feeling worse. That's what it's called. Okay. Yeah. And they looks like just released another single as of recording this last Friday. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to checking that out too because I am definitely like definitely into what they're doing with this one. Oh, yeah. All right. What do we got up next? I'm going to throw in this band called Spirit Leaves. They are a band from Florida. And they are like a I don't know how I explain it like they're like aggressive metal, but like they lean. They kind of like dip their toes and like heavier, but also more ambient melodic and kind of go around that space. But I feel like they're doing something really unique. And her genre that has kind of been more so brought up recently is this genre called like heavy pop, which is like kind of like the home team and kind of like issues like mad at myself, drink about, drink about it, like that kind of vibes of this song is kind of in that even though there's so many places you can go within that genre. So just as a pre-emptive thing about this song, this is beautiful. I've been really into that like heavy pop stuff recently, you know, like I would categorize like modern bear tooth as like heavy pop as opposed to metal or as well as like like like Bill Murray and what was fucking bad omens and stuff like that too, which is that's almost more like like heavy R&B practically in some aspects, but I do think that new like wave of that like heavy pop stuff is really interesting. So I'm looking forward to this. [Music] like I was out of love she came with that extra touch body moving back get it up take this one you get on top of me I can feel your heartbeat rise me too baby it's just us tell me baby fuck me up you're the missing substance that I need after all it's risky thinking that we're filled for they call the cards and you need something to wake up I can't let this be for nothing I get too ugly I'm capable so I'm doing all I'm realizing at that moment your words were frozen can't save us can't save you from all the debris I made just love the loss was for me it's for my town it's by your eye that cause of thought that I'm drowning it's a thing on your side and seeing and dreams [Music] I can't save you from all the debris I made just love the loss was for me it's for my town it's by your eye that cause of thought that I'm drowning it's a thing on your side and seeing and dreams yeah man that's the stuff that's really cool it's like it's catchy and it's like heavy but it's like really groovy I don't know I just it's like it reminds me kind of of like the more popular side of volumes but it's still kind of different yeah it's just cool I know it feels it feels like very unique it's really funny the very like first part where it's more of just like the atmospheric sense and then the vocals come in my first thought was like this sounds like a song by the weekend oh yeah that's one of the senior's inspirations actually so that makes that makes so much sense because yeah when I was listening to it I was like this is very much like the weekend esque in like the delivery vindication I feel so smart I like the uh they smoothly transif and brought like the the time signature feel from like four to six and it didn't feel like it was crazy like it feels very like fluid really cool yeah it is so cool yeah it was definitely something that like I don't know sometimes those transitions can feel kind of abrupt and then other times you're just like all right I'm I'm still grooving we're we're good it was funny when we were talking about metal core heavy pop because I was telling him that metal core has become a weird like broad genre because every time we have like the Spotify rap every year my most listened to genre is metal but it's not like your typical metal core it's it's it's it's so broad now you know um yeah especially like day seeker day seeker's considered metal core but I'm like that's like a completely different type of metal core what's going there and it's it's weird because like the song and Robert just put in for us by spirit leaves the Spotify yeah it is a metal core but like this is this is way different though this isn't like your typical I don't I kind of wish there was another term for like this kind of stuff I almost feel like it's like as as much as I hate to just continue to add amalgamations and other genre names together but like I feel like this type of stuff would very much like fall into a category of like post metal core where it's like it very clearly has like the metal core elements in the uh the instrumentation and like in spirit but it's definitely taking a much more pop edge as opposed to you know a lot of the earlier waves of metal core which were because it's obviously a lot more inspired by hardcore which like this is clearly not inspired by hardcore anymore you know it's it's it's it's it's different than you know typical metal core but it's just weird that there's so many bands you know with this sort of style obviously with their own flair to it and it's just kind of like it's also funny because this stuff is like tailor made to like take off on TikTok too like like with uh sleep token last year like it was the exact same thing where it was like it was accessible enough that like anybody who stumbles upon it just like scrolling on their phone can probably get into it but it's also got some of that like really heavy stuff that's gonna keep the people who are fans of metal happy as well so I I do think that this entire like whatever you want to call it this new wave of heavy pop style metal core is really interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing what like the future of that style is gonna be. Yeah for real show so uh the next band and I'm gonna go ahead and put in is uh Jared had mentioned it earlier it's pretty much where we go to track most of our stuff at the band that I'm talking about is so much hope berry I'm not sure if you already heard of them but um I have not. We base. So yeah the drummer he has his own studio he's all those guys are real cool dudes they get really good to us especially Eric the drummer he gave us a lot of guidance he also helped us you know flesh out a lot of stuff on the EP as well kind of gave us you know solid direction you know how to go about far as like writing and all the other stuff so uh I think it makes sense to you know bring up his band just a shot and there's guys out so for sure and there's an updated style hold in my fragile heart send my memories fade I've come so far and I can't afford to lose by the sea constantly play through misery what I need is a will to breathe fear starts to solving there's an updated style hold in my fragile heart I've come through foreign, I can't afford to lose If I had the chance to speak for you I shamelessly trust you far away There's no much hope, buried beneath the floor Killing one of the wrong things we. I guess I couldn't bring myself to face I just didn't think I'd hurt you anymore There's an emptiness I hold in my fragile heart Then my memories fade I've come through foreign, I can't afford to lose Okay, yeah, I'm into that I'm really. Go ahead, I'm sorry I was going to say I really like the use of the piano as like a main instrument Because it really isn't like that common for that style of music to feature the piano so heavily It's like the fact that it's like a main instrument throughout the entire song I think is like really cool Yeah, they're supposed to. If I think this year too, they're supposed to have a full-length LP coming out as well If you really like this, I'm telling you you should definitely check them out They've been put like bits and pieces up on the story and the piano just makes them like stupid versus how And they got some really interesting things going on with that record that they're making And I think that you really like them The piano is like that as long as the vocalist is in that pen which I think he's there to say I don't think he's ever going to leave That piano is going to be like that main instrument essentially That's really neat because like, you know, this is very much like it feels like hard rock bordering on kind of metal core type of stuff But yeah, with the piano is like a main instrument it definitely has like a very different tonal feeling than a lot of other stuff that I would like say it kind of sounds like It helps with like, dynamics too, like you can really give a really dynamic with a piano, like it really just opens up the gates for so much It's also kind of interesting that vocalist reminds me a lot of, and they're actually the band that kind of set this entire podcast in motion Kind of reminds me of a cast cadence clean vocalist a little bit I had the mind a few months ago and that was when we first started talking about doing this was you You were like, oh yeah, we're kind of like in the same vein you would probably be interested in this That's right, yeah, because when he said cast cadence, I was like, cast cadence What you were saying, like, they're vocalist, I was like, wait, cast Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, those are awesome Now, what's also cool, you probably heard a slightly different vocals that came on, which was the guitar player, what's interesting too with his voice, he kind of opens up for like a more like a punk feel almost essentially Which is kind of interesting, so he also helps when I want to write some like little punky stuff a little bit, his voice really meshes well for that sort of stuff I bet, yeah, I'm really looking forward to checking out more of these guys stuff because it's like such a unique sound but also feels like so familiar Yeah, no, it's really solid I also want to say it is very clear that this was produced by a drummer Just listening to it, like the drums sound really good, but they're also like extremely present in the mix, like more than like most people probably would do So I was like, yeah, that tracks, this guy's definitely a drummer They had a way bigger song, I wanted to put this song in here because I was like, this song definitely needs more love But they had another song that's like, it's almost got a hundred thousand and it really blew off for them, so they got it, I think I mixed it mastered by a different guy What was it at at HVM Studios in Lancaster? I don't know if it did error, they did errors Oh really? Damn Yeah, so it's all apparition, so like on your free time, you're curious you want to hear that, that one's actually probably a little well balanced where you could probably hear everything It's got a lot And don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not saying that it's like a bad mix, I'm just noting that the drums are certainly more present than most people would probably do It's a stylistic thing, there's the joke of never let the guitarist mix the song because you won't hear anything except the guitars, right? I think it was right to shout those guys out because the drummers helped us out so much Yeah, that's so rad, it's so important to build those connections with people who can help you along the way with learning more about your, how to write well I think even more than writing is learning how to put together a song in terms of dynamics and parts and stuff like that Well it was always interesting when we recorded with him like he is an outside perspective and like us from our perspective going into a studio, we didn't want someone to tell us everything that we should do, we didn't want to tell us anything So he does a really good job at bound back and forth of like, here's what we're doing, what do you think, what's your input? And we kind of like do this a lot of like weighing like, oh, here, this is his input, what do you guys think, and just going back ideas and concepts and writing and stuff like that Yeah, I can definitely be important to have that outside perspective Well, I think that this has been a good episode guys, is there anything specifically that you want to mention aside from obviously listen to the EP lost in translation? Is there anything else that you guys want to mention before we sign off? We've mentioned the shows, we've got the EP out, more music coming Make sure you follow for more information Yeah, we've been working in some new places this year and we've never been, I agree with your thought But yeah, I think that covers a lot of what we have going on right now Awesome, pretty much covers everything Awesome, thanks so much for coming on the show guys, this has been a good time Thanks for having us, yeah man, thank you, I appreciate it Of course, this has been the Fresh Fines podcast, the show about discovering new music with good people Fresh All the work we're on our way down Flying out, blurring all my differences now We're getting to the part where the song's from of course Fighting to bed, but I'll never break Jump to get blue jumps, and there's so much I stay in the song So pure and unexpected, turned in on, stretching that I can't help but feel though Disowned into one, you think would work Take a time straight, you can't beat, I swear it won't hurt If that makes this put your hands, look at the right prescription Put your trust in, doctor fix it, guarantee to make it feel Like something strokes around, 'cause you're gonna have to feel So just stop me, dead in my tracks, there's no way I'm coming back But you can devise a plan on how to be back In original confusion, the delusion you've been using Take it through the hard times of time So just. (gentle music) ♪ So every impact I see ♪ ♪ I know I found the place for me ♪ ♪ And I don't ♪ ♪ To this ♪ ♪ Of time in love ♪ ♪ I've got this good-moshin' going on in my head ♪ ♪ I don't know if I can pick up the pieces again ♪ ♪ So stop me dead in my tracks ♪ ♪ There's no way I'm coming back ♪ ♪ If you keep the rise of the brain ♪ ♪ I'll help you with me back ♪ ♪ So stop me dead in my tracks ♪ ♪ There's no way there's no way I'm coming back ♪ - Wow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Then I'll take a step together ♪ ♪ And I'll take a step together ♪ ♪ And I'll push from there ♪ ♪ And I'll try for you to try again ♪ (upbeat music)