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Classic city podcast,

0:43

conversations, visions, artists,

0:47

creatives and others who make

0:47

Athens, Georgia and the

0:50

community surrounding Athens an

0:50

amazing place to livee learn

0:53

what is going on and one of the

0:53

nation's most famous scenes, the

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new generation of people keeping

0:57

the tradition strong in here how

1:00

the arts are helping build. This

1:00

podcast is put out by the

1:05

vAthens Library system where we

1:05

are committed to helping build

1:07

strong communities and

1:07

celebrating our diversity. If

1:14

you enjoyed the podcast, please

1:14

make sure to give us a rating or

1:17

review on iTunes. Alright, sacred bull we have

1:25

today with this Griffin hands on

1:29

guitar, and Zach cook on

1:29

percussion. And Josh Anderson on

1:34

bass. Thanks for joining us

1:34

today, guys. Thanks for having

1:38

us. All right, so we're gonna

1:38

jump right in and start from the

1:41

beginning. How did sacred bull

1:41

start?

1:45

I'm electing to let you spend

1:45

this narrative. You have full

1:49

100% blank check. Whatever. It

1:49

doesn't have to be the truth.

1:54

Whatever. Yeah, on that case.

1:54

Yeah.

1:58

Now I do like I do, like Zach's

1:58

story. I think he's a better

2:01

storyteller than me, but I will

2:01

set the stage. It started mostly

2:06

on Craigslist, like every good

2:06

relationship. Yeah. So for me

2:12

like it was Yeah, yeah. So. So I

2:12

answered a Craigslist ad for a

2:18

guy named Robin, who is still a

2:18

really good friend of ours. He

2:22

played guitar, I was looking for

2:22

people to play with. He had just

2:27

like a, hey, I'm into these

2:27

bands like looking for people to

2:29

play with. And I was kind of in

2:29

the same boat. So we met up got

2:32

along really well and just

2:32

started playing. And then we put

2:36

up a Craigslist ad looking for

2:36

other people, because neither of

2:39

us knew people looking for a

2:39

drummer. And then Zach answered

2:43

that. He was our only person to

2:43

answer that ad, thankfully. And

2:51

yeah, because of what what

2:51

trials and tribulations would

2:54

follow. Okay, first, what what

2:54

was the wording of this ad? Oh,

2:58

yeah, it was, it was just a

2:58

couple of dudes trying to start

3:02

a stoner rock band. And I

3:02

literally said that title. And I

3:05

was like, Oh, you know, like

3:05

queens of stone age. Yeah.

3:08

That's pretty much it. Yeah. So. So Zach answered our email. We

3:12

got together nucci space, one

3:16

one time, and we all just got

3:16

along and kept playing. And

3:21

that's how you're Yeah, I mean,

3:21

that's, yeah, we got we got

3:25

along for the most part. We've

3:25

taken ad down now. Actually, it

3:32

would be for over another year,

3:32

I like to keep my options open.

3:35

So you know, we we just couldn't

3:36

find a basis after that. Yeah,

3:39

such a huge deal. And there are

3:39

stories that are not appropriate

3:44

for this podcast involving the

3:44

escapades of us trying to find a

3:48

dang basis. That's, that's the

3:48

Patreon content

3:51

right there. And so, yeah, so we were

3:56

playing. And then it was kind of

4:02

one of those things like he

4:02

alluded to where it's just like

4:04

trying to find other people to

4:04

play with, but just not finding

4:07

the right people. And then we

4:07

eventually found a bass player,

4:13

so that we had the four of us.

4:13

And then pretty much shortly

4:16

after that, Robin moved away.

4:16

And so we lost him. Then we

4:22

became a three piece. And then a

4:22

four piece again for like a

4:25

week. Yeah, again, and it was

4:25

just like this. Yeah, we

4:28

couldn't find like, we're like,

4:28

oh, we want a singer. And it was

4:31

like, Oh, well, it's so hard to

4:31

find somebody that you actually

4:34

get along with that you really like what they're doing. And things like that. It's like

4:37

trying to find an identity and

4:40

what you want to be. And we

4:40

seriously wrote at least two,

4:45

probably as much as three

4:45

records before, what we would

4:49

release a subtle face. We wrote

4:49

and wrote and wrote and rewrote

4:52

and rewrote, every time someone

4:52

would leave, or we would start

4:54

something new. And it was just

4:54

like this giant process for

4:57

like, two years. Yeah, it was a long time. And

4:58

yeah, it was just kind of a lot

5:02

of starting over, which was like

5:02

the frustrating thing. But I

5:06

guess that was that basement

5:06

show was our first show as like,

5:11

you mean, Stu the first time that you and I

5:13

played together live? Yes.

5:15

Yeah. And so then we at this

5:15

show at this birthday party

5:20

house show in Royston. Oh, that

5:20

was a second show we got we got

5:24

a show from that. And yeah, as

5:24

that band that we were that was

5:28

kind of like a half a different

5:28

band was gonna skip your shows

5:32

from Craigslist as well or? No.

5:36

That was a was that stupid. They

5:36

got a slideshow. I don't even

5:39

remember how to get the basement

5:39

show. Yeah, that was Sam

5:42

Williamson, who plays drums and

5:42

now plays drums in the Cowboys

5:47

was playing in a band called

5:47

strawberry reproductions. But

5:51

anyway, we played this basement

5:51

show and we met two guys at that

5:54

basement show who eventually

5:54

would go on to engineer sulfus.

6:00

And one of them. That's finally

6:00

where Josh comes.

6:02

Yeah. And Stu also worked with

6:02

them at mama's boy. And I guess

6:09

I wasn't at that house show or

6:09

that the basement show. But

6:13

I actually was looking through

6:13

my pictures recently and found

6:16

the first, like, evidence of us

6:16

being together, which was like,

6:21

probably the second day we were

6:21

tracking that record. And it was

6:24

like Griffin in the corner, like

6:24

petting my dog. And then you

6:27

asleep? Yeah. We were, I think

6:27

we were listening back to some

6:32

mixes maybe. Yeah, and my roommate. At the

6:33

time, Michael, who I'm still

6:38

good friends with is good and

6:38

had been in many bands with was

6:43

at the time, sort of the de

6:43

facto producer of the friend

6:46

group. And I guess he offered to

6:46

record there. I think, Michael

6:53

probably, I think he told me it

6:53

was an EP or something. It's

6:56

like, Oh, yeah, I'm gonna try to

6:56

EP and then I came over and I

7:01

started talking to Griff about,

7:01

about his pedal board, which is

7:07

a noted interest of mine. And

7:07

then, I think Stu was moving to,

7:17

like, he literally left. Mississippi,

7:18

he literally left three days

7:23

after we finished packing. like

7:23

It

7:25

Wasn't he rambled to record it

7:25

with him, because we knew he was

7:28

leaving. And we didn't have any

7:28

plans. And then Josh, was there

7:32

on the couch is waiting to

7:32

become a partner. Yeah,

7:36

let's not spend the long call.

7:36

We had we had, well, me, I had

7:41

another guy in mind for bass and

7:41

it didn't work out. And then I

7:44

went to, to Josh his house, at

7:44

some point to jam with him and

7:48

those guys who were running

7:48

that, that collective at the

7:52

time. And I remember you on at

7:52

one point, during this night, we

7:57

were just jammed. Like we would

7:57

swap instruments, everybody swap

7:59

instruments, and I ended up on

7:59

the drum kit. You ended up with

8:02

that Rick in your hand. Yeah, I

8:02

knew I was like, this is the guy

8:06

he has to play in our band. And

8:06

I had already promised it to

8:10

someone else. And I was like,

8:10

Oh, I know in my soul, and I

8:13

remember going to see you and

8:13

being like, I think he's the guy

8:16

remember that guy, Josh? Guy,

8:16

Tim, we got to give this other

8:20

guy. Some other guy if if the

8:20

other dude we'd had in mind

8:25

worked out and you didn't join

8:25

the band, you would have been

8:28

the one that got away. That's

8:28

pretty sweet. We were We were

8:36

like, Okay, so that's how I

8:36

didn't work out. Let's let's see

8:39

if Josh is interested. And then

8:39

like, I think from what the

8:41

first jam, we were like, Oh,

8:41

yeah, this is gonna work.

8:43

Yeah, well, I had been into,

8:43

like the, that style of music.

8:49

We were pretty straightforwardly

8:49

like, Doom Metal at that point.

8:55

And I didn't do that. So I music

8:55

since very early on in high

8:59

school. And I had been like, you

8:59

know, obsessed with the idea of

9:03

being in a band of that style.

9:03

So when I was like, when the

9:06

opportunity presented itself, I

9:06

was like, Yes. I don't care. I

9:10

don't care what I have to do, I

9:10

would love to be in this band.

9:14

It's interesting to me, because

9:14

the other bands that I've seen

9:17

or known of you to play in, are

9:17

like nothing in that in that

9:23

space. But that's like, all we

9:23

talk about is that kind of

9:25

music. And I recognize that just

9:25

because we talk about that kind

9:29

of music, doesn't mean that's

9:29

the only thing you listen to,

9:31

but it really feels like you

9:31

gravitate towards that style. So

9:35

it's always been really interesting to me that like, you're you're always playing in

9:38

these like jangle pop bands,

9:41

post punk dances, or other

9:41

stuff. And it's like, you're

9:43

you're a great musician, and all

9:43

of them. You're like doing

9:46

really well. But it's like, I'm

9:46

like, I know. There's like the

9:48

inner dark. Yes, well, yeah. Well, I've I

9:48

have very little actual Well,

9:57

no, this is intentional. But

9:57

most bands, I'm just like a side

10:02

player. And I very intentionally

10:02

have very little actual, like,

10:06

songwriting input, because it's

10:06

going to end up sounding a

10:10

certain way if I have any input,

10:10

so it's just best. Yeah, it'll

10:14

sound like completely blown out

10:14

and everything is feeding back.

10:19

Yeah. So you're doing something

10:20

completely different. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess the hard part

10:22

is now I find someone who has

10:25

like the same kind of groove and

10:25

musical tastes, but like, also

10:28

someone you can get along with. And yes, actually, I think number one,

10:30

yeah, that's over whether or not

10:33

it's because it's like, you

10:33

either play with a friend that

10:36

you like, are really close with

10:36

and they're not the best

10:39

musician or you play with a

10:39

musician who's good. Like now.

10:42

Super close with, it's so rare

10:42

for you to find people that

10:45

you're genuinely super close

10:45

with. And you also mesh

10:49

musically that's like a once in a lifetime thing. Like, especially in a small town

10:52

like Athens, where it's like,

10:55

there's a lot of people to play

10:55

music, but you know, might not

10:59

play kind of what we're looking

10:59

to play. And then yeah, it's

11:01

like you said, just like the

11:01

chemistry kind of fit was

11:06

definitely we had a struggle

11:06

with finding the right person

11:09

and getting along with them and

11:09

all that kind of stuff. So,

11:12

yeah, I mean, when I was

11:12

younger, and I am like, and you

11:16

would read about, like, oh, The

11:16

Beatles broke up, because

11:19

there's not really like, why

11:19

didn't they just stay together?

11:21

They made such amazing music,

11:21

like, how do bands even break

11:25

up? And now like, after having

11:25

been in bands, like how on earth

11:29

do bands stay together? It's like, it's pretty amazing.

11:31

This handful of bands like

11:34

steady other 2030 years. Like,

11:34

what do they have? How do they

11:39

do that? Yeah. Yeah,

11:44

I mean, I think I think we were

11:44

talking about this the other

11:47

day, where it's just, like, we

11:47

all genuinely like, want to be

11:52

making music like this. And so

11:52

it's not like a chore for any of

11:56

us. It's like, genuinely what we

11:56

wanted to spend our time doing.

12:01

And I think, do you? I mean,

12:01

especially with, with our show,

12:04

yeah, like ours. Like, we're

12:04

just like, obviously trying to

12:08

make money or anything. Like, we

12:08

just wanna have fun. And, you

12:10

know, yeah, put out put out

12:10

stuff that's fulfilling for us.

12:14

We all genuinely really like it

12:14

and get something out of it. And

12:18

I think if any one of us didn't,

12:18

then it would be a lot harder to

12:22

keep it going for sure. Yeah.

12:24

Well, tell me about ragged

12:24

mountain. So that came out last

12:27

October, November, December,

12:27

December, December. Yeah. So

12:31

what was Tell us about that

12:31

album and a little bit about the

12:34

writing process of it and how it came about, I guess this would it kind of

12:36

coincides with the kind of

12:39

narrative that we were just

12:39

talking about where like, we

12:42

found ourselves, once again,

12:42

just me and Griffin with like,

12:46

Stewart, having left the band.

12:46

And there was this, like, I

12:51

remember, you pulled me into

12:51

flicker in the back table one

12:56

day, and you were like, I have

12:56

two ideas for a record.

12:59

I like that. It's like I lowered

12:59

you there with like, some like

13:02

kind of street you like grab me by the

13:04

collar? No, you like pitch me to

13:09

record ideas. And I think that

13:09

the other record ideas, the one

13:12

we're now working on? Yeah. And

13:12

I opted for the shorter one.

13:17

Because I just want what, yeah,

13:17

shorter air quotes. But it just

13:21

seemed like you're like, I want

13:21

to do this very focused idea

13:25

based on this piece of writing

13:25

that I love that I don't think

13:29

gets enough love from a famous

13:29

author. And I was like, cool.

13:33

What is it like its tail, the

13:33

ragged mountains by Edgar Allan

13:36

Poe, and I was like, Oh, you

13:36

know, I love Edgar Allan Poe. I

13:39

don't know if I'm familiar with

13:39

that one. And I went home, maybe

13:42

not that day, but like, in the

13:42

next few days, I read it and was

13:44

like, wow, yeah, this this one's

13:44

really weird. It's weird, even

13:47

for po and people really should

13:47

be talking about it. So I just

13:50

kept thinking about anything

13:50

about it. I was like, I really

13:53

just wanted to make this gut blue. here about this grows. Talent.

14:04

No, I just like, just that it

14:04

was one of those pieces that

14:07

didn't get enough love. And I was like, you know, be really cool if we actually tried to do

14:09

a big, like, prog concept thing.

14:15

Yeah. What? Yeah, and it just stood

14:16

out to me, I don't even remember

14:19

the first time I read it. It was

14:19

just like, it was creepy, but it

14:23

was kind of like it to nature.

14:23

And there's, you know,

14:27

psychedelics and coffee together

14:27

and just like wandering through

14:33

the woods, and then you start

14:33

just seeing alternate realities

14:37

and past and yeah, and said, you

14:37

know, it's definitely like a

14:43

short story. And I think it gets

14:43

kind of panned from like, the

14:46

reviews I've read of it, because

14:46

it's just kind of pretty sure

14:49

that the reviews that I've read,

14:49

that have panned it are saying

14:55

that, like, the story is going

14:55

somewhere, and they just, yeah,

14:57

it's just, yeah. Yeah, it

14:57

definitely is. Yeah, the end.

15:03

Yeah, it definitely does, then

15:03

it could have gone a lot

15:05

further, but I kind of like that, where you're just kind of left thinking, uh, you know,

15:07

it's like, oh, man, I could have

15:10

read, you know, however many

15:10

more pages of this, but at the

15:13

same time, it's like you're

15:13

creating those pages, you know,

15:16

in your head, and kind of like

15:16

thinking about the, you know,

15:19

mesmerism and kind of just all

15:19

this kind of weird kind of

15:24

psychedelic stuff that's going on. And yeah, so that was super cool.

15:26

right around the time that we

15:29

brought Josh on board. And yeah,

15:29

the first thing we jammed on for

15:33

that record became treaties of

15:33

leeches. And we just had that

15:39

crescendoing jam and we had that

15:39

and we did it like Once we were

15:43

like, sweet put that on the back

15:43

burner, and then we like wrote

15:45

the entirety of the rest of the

15:45

record. We came back to that

15:48

song. Yeah, we How many? Because I

15:48

know like there is that one that

15:54

existed before and then the

15:54

first one No, never before Tron

16:02

Did you have that before we

16:02

started cuz I know like creeping

16:07

serpent vehicle was sent and

16:07

then he sent it in there was one

16:18

that was galvanic battery and yeah Bhutan

16:19

in their Varanasi which is a

16:22

nice piece Yeah. But I think

16:22

that's like all the law he had

16:26

just like with the thing that

16:26

we're working on now he had that

16:29

first riff which became some

16:29

Nanci. Oh, yeah. You give us

16:37

any, because you kind of when

16:37

you bring us material, it's

16:41

usually like here is a motif,

16:41

yeah, that I have a riff a

16:44

melody of something. And then

16:44

we're like, cool, we'll string

16:47

it along from this part, put it

16:47

in here, bring it back here. And

16:49

we kind of reference them

16:49

through songs and throughout the

16:52

record. And I think like, you know,

16:53

going back to like, kind of how

16:55

short the story is, and like how

16:55

it just kind of dies, like, just

17:00

kind of ends. It's, I think that

17:00

kind of made it appealing to me

17:05

to like, want to expand upon

17:05

that, like, in a musical way. It

17:10

was like, okay, it's not like

17:10

this fully fleshed out novel,

17:13

where it's like, really intricate, and it's like, Okay, well, what, there's not much

17:15

left for me to say about this,

17:18

it is like, Okay, well, there's

17:18

this really cool vibe, and like

17:21

this weird kind of mysterious

17:21

thing. And it's just like really

17:24

interpretive, and you can, it's

17:24

really easy to take those

17:27

themes, and then make another

17:27

piece of art out of it. And so

17:30

that's, you know, definitely

17:30

stood out to me to kind of take

17:35

that and like, be be an

17:35

influence for something that we

17:39

were weren't, like, knew that we

17:39

were working on and kind of a

17:41

new direction that we were going

17:41

in, like Zack said, it was just

17:44

us too at the time. And we were

17:44

kind of starting over again,

17:47

like we were just doing that

17:47

same old thing. But thankfully,

17:50

this time, you know, we found

17:50

the right person we had, you

17:53

know, kind of the right. All the

17:53

things fall into place at the

17:56

right time. Yeah, we retrospective. Like, in

17:57

retrospect, we were very lucky.

18:04

Everything came together the way

18:04

that it did. Yeah, absolutely.

18:07

So do you all three kind of

18:07

collaborate on each song? In the

18:12

writing process, or the structure? Well, I would say

18:13

a lot of the time, the basis of

18:20

the song, like, whether it be a

18:20

riff or a melody or, or

18:25

progression, or whatever, comes

18:25

from Griff. And then we'll sort

18:29

of jam on that, and work out the

18:29

entire structure. And there,

18:33

there are songs that will come

18:33

out of a drum part or come out

18:37

of something that I brought, but

18:37

I would say in general, it

18:40

usually stems from a riff that

18:40

Griff has written but like, the,

18:46

the other two on that album,

18:46

creeping serpent and vehicle,

18:52

the sin were very much written

18:52

like, as as a full band and not

19:00

out of something that that sort

19:00

of existed before that writing

19:04

process because I specifically,

19:04

creeping serpent, I remember

19:10

like, because that sort of came

19:10

out of that, like delayed face

19:14

intro. Yeah, yeah. It's like,

19:14

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it just

19:17

came from the book. Yeah, yeah. We've gotten a lot more

19:19

collaborative as we've gone

19:22

along. And I think a lot of

19:22

that's like me not being a

19:26

control freak, as much as I've

19:26

probably used to be. And you

19:29

know, each other better, right? Yeah. I think for now and have these

19:31

like legendary 20 minute jams

19:35

where Yeah, where the file will

19:35

be, will literally be named

19:38

three long jams. Yeah, lose it

19:38

for two months, find it, mix the

19:41

second one and be like, this is

19:41

amazing. That literally just

19:46

happened. And I think it's been like, we're

19:48

always, like, re energized. I

19:54

feel like when we start writing

19:54

new stuff, because it does

19:56

become more collaborative every

19:56

time or at least I perceive it

19:59

to be more collaborative every

19:59

time and it's like, I think it's

20:03

become more of like, an

20:03

amalgamation of our three

20:07

personalities rather than me is

20:07

coming in and being like, here's

20:11

a chord progression or a riff

20:11

and like, you know, maybe you

20:14

should do that. It's definitely

20:14

a lot more like yeah, so as a

20:18

group, you know, putting

20:18

something out which I think is

20:21

great. And I think that's really evident from

20:22

listening. If you go and you

20:25

listen to subtle phase and you

20:25

go, do they sound like two

20:29

different bands, because they

20:29

are essentially two different

20:32

bands. Yeah. But I feel like we

20:32

we haven't we haven't put out

20:36

this EP yet but we're coming up

20:36

on it and I feel like I hope

20:40

that people will listen to it

20:40

and and he All the things we

20:43

were like experimenting with on

20:43

ragged mountain and then see

20:47

them come together in like a

20:47

much more realized way. Yeah,

20:51

yeah. So we alluded a little bit to

20:53

kind of guys have it's all it's

20:56

similar interest in music What

20:56

are some of your musical

20:59

influences are some? I knew this

20:59

question is I want you to go for

21:06

the weirdest one other than st anger. The drum sound out saying anger

21:11

I would say is my biggest

21:13

influence. Now I'm all right. For the noise bits

21:16

that you do specifically

21:19

channel, Lars All right. Yeah,

21:19

and you're just like the ugliest

21:24

sound. Okay, you gotta take that

21:24

sample on stretching. Yeah.

21:30

Well, there isn't like specific

21:30

bands, I guess. Well, while

21:38

there there's a band that we've

21:38

really been into lately called

21:41

Big brave. That is like, just so

21:41

good. Saturday metal band there.

21:48

Yeah, their doom voice.

21:51

They're like the most

21:51

interesting Doom band because

21:54

yeah, they play they they have

21:54

like Doom tones, but they don't

21:57

play like a doom. Yeah. And they're and they're

21:58

vocalist sounds like Bjork.

22:02

Which, yeah, it's got these angelic,

22:02

like, like, yodeling on top of

22:07

this. Like the head. Yeah.

22:07

guitar is very interesting. It's

22:10

like, it's like, yeah, Bjork is

22:10

like,

22:13

yeah, it's like very droning

22:13

guitars with driving drums that

22:18

are more or less revolving

22:18

around like the same chord with

22:22

like, really? Sounds like My

22:22

Bloody Valentine. Yeah, it's,

22:28

it's, it's, it's, it's like, why

22:28

are you asking us our

22:31

influences? Yeah, there's,

22:31

there's definitely some shoe

22:37

gaze and big brave and, and my

22:37

body Valentine is a good segue.

22:41

Cuz, because we're, we also

22:41

like, shoegaze. When we were on

22:46

tour, the couple years ago, we

22:46

were like, semi jokingly trying

22:53

to pin down what genre we are in

22:53

the, like, on on a ride. But we

22:59

were like, oh, we're heavy.

22:59

shoegaze That's it. We figured

23:03

it out. Which is like sort of

23:03

true. But you know. But yeah, we

23:11

sort of shoegaze is a big one. Every band hates that question

23:14

too. Right? Like, what's your

23:16

genre? I mean, it's, it's so

23:16

because

23:20

I swear, literally every time

23:20

I've seen someone try to

23:23

describe our genre. It's

23:23

different. Like I remember

23:26

seeing on a Reddit post Joyce

23:26

made about us in the Athens

23:31

subreddit. They would like

23:31

described us with like eight

23:35

adjectives in a row, and then

23:35

putting metal on the ambient

23:39

noise prog Doom Metal Yeah. Like, and then I

23:42

guess as far as more

23:48

straightforward and cleanses,

23:48

like, the band's ISIS and

23:53

Russian circles have always been

23:53

like big. Big touchstones. Do

23:58

you feel that way? Still about

23:58

Russian circles. I've, um, I've

24:04

never really thought we suffered

24:04

Russian circles to be honest. So

24:07

we kept getting but but but

24:07

yeah, well, we actually, we have

24:11

like a chalkboard in our

24:11

practice base. With like, shows

24:16

since we've been compared to

24:16

Russian circles, zero. They

24:19

literally never get it. It's

24:19

zero because we wrote that right

24:23

after our last show before

24:23

before, like COVID head and show

24:27

stuff happening. And we had a we had like a string of show

24:28

so I was gonna be like, Oh, how

24:31

many Can we go in a row? Yeah,

24:31

yeah. And then we just didn't

24:34

play the band that I want to

24:34

plug that I've been listening to

24:38

a lot I know Griffin as is born

24:38

in club of Gore. We're listening

24:43

to a lot of dark jazz. And like

24:43

Doom jazz and kind of thinking

24:47

about how we can stretch it out

24:47

and slow it down. Instead of

24:52

doing what I kind of think a lot

24:52

of people think about our sound

24:57

is like prog metal or like

24:57

thinking about bands like elder

25:01

and it's like, we don't really I

25:01

love older but we don't really

25:05

sound like older without really

25:05

thinking about that more writing

25:07

this. So I think that, like

25:07

musical mode, I guess where it's

25:15

just like the really on ambient

25:15

like,

25:17

yeah, I think it's good because

25:17

it's not like we're trying to

25:20

play that kind of music. It's

25:20

more like the vibe and like the

25:25

atmosphere, creating the

25:25

atmosphere. And I think that's

25:27

kind of like, at least for me,

25:27

like, you know, always been in

25:33

stuff like that and like kind of

25:33

orchestral music and kind of

25:38

post rock and whatever. But you

25:38

know, I feel like We've been

25:43

listening you know collectively

25:43

like a lot. Yeah. Yeah. To bands

25:54

like Grails and oh yeah you

25:54

know, Godspeed. Oh yeah Godspeed

25:59

you black Emperor is wearing

25:59

it's like Pete Godspeed Yeah,

26:04

Gods where you can never like

26:04

play like those bands but you

26:08

can be influenced by them and

26:08

the more I feel like genuine way

26:12

where you're just it's like I

26:12

said the vibe or the atmosphere

26:15

and you're like, Okay, I'm

26:15

absorbing that and then I'm kind

26:18

of free and I think that's kind of why people

26:19

have a hard time like talking

26:24

about our band genres, because

26:24

when most metal bands like metal

26:28

can be kind of incestuous with

26:28

like, influences and, and tones

26:32

and just general style. But we

26:32

we love, you know, like, you

26:37

couldn't find three bigger Black

26:37

Sabbath fans than the dude

26:40

sitting in front of you. But we

26:40

also still listen to stuff like,

26:43

this will destroy you. Yeah,

26:43

this will destroy us another one

26:46

I was going to, and just

26:46

thinking about those kinds of

26:49

like, how can we take these

26:49

instruments that we're playing

26:51

and stretch them to the max?

26:51

Right? I mean, our if, when you

26:55

see us live that I think that's

26:55

pretty evident with like, all

26:58

the equipment that we just like,

26:58

how much how much can three

27:03

people do? Yeah, well, that was very much a

27:04

thing that we consciously talked

27:09

about when especially when we

27:09

realized how many guitar pedals

27:14

we would be bringing between the

27:14

two of us is like, like, like,

27:18

how much can you how much noise

27:18

can you get out of as you

27:22

instruments and we have really

27:22

stretched that but as many

27:26

pedals like not being able to find

27:29

people are having like the

27:32

chemistry it's like, we would

27:32

rather just figure out how to do

27:36

it ourselves. Because we all

27:36

know you know that we're happy

27:39

with each other instead of being

27:39

like we need another guitar

27:41

player. It's like that would be

27:41

such a pain to go find somebody

27:45

Yeah, um well I'll do a little tiny

27:46

chin tangent like to move on.

27:50

Tiny I've been talking to chase

27:50

from the sundering sees and he

27:54

literally sent me a text

27:54

yesterday with like no prior

27:57

context to it that just said so

27:57

what does the metal casing of

28:01

your drum kit afford you other

28:01

than you hadn't making you play

28:04

like a caveman? Like just out of

28:04

context just just that the cop

28:12

just oh I love that. I love that

28:12

people think that my favorite

28:18

wonder what he's thinking about?

28:18

What's this? I

28:21

mean, what's the metal scene

28:21

like in Athens right now?

28:25

Well, you cannot you simply

28:25

can't talk about the medicine in

28:29

Athens without talking about

28:29

shade based shade based is like

28:34

the for the audio listeners I dabbed

28:35

cuz I knew that was I knew Josh

28:40

was laying up for shade bees oh

28:40

yeah it's it it's a paid blog

28:48

yeah this this podcast would not

28:48

be possible that our sponsors

28:55

shape um but yeah, I mean

28:55

they're Yeah, I don't know. They

29:06

just they know everybody they're

29:06

kind of the center of gravity

29:08

there Yeah, Joe Joe runs the store or soon

29:09

to be not store it's like moving

29:13

to like a lifestyle brand or

29:13

whenever he wants to call or

29:16

whatever he's doing the same

29:16

thing. But you know Mark is the

29:23

same thing Marcus and Daniel the

29:23

the two guys who do shade these

29:26

presents there was the do the

29:26

booking. know everybody Daniel

29:31

used to play bass in the

29:31

savages. And they toured for

29:33

like 10 straight years. He knows

29:33

people in metal bands all across

29:38

the country is very close. A lot

29:38

of people like that. Marcus, I

29:42

think used to run a venue in New

29:42

York at some point. And he's

29:46

played St vitus for so it's

29:46

like, he knows people they both

29:50

do. So they're really good about

29:50

getting touring bands to come

29:54

through and then also they just

29:54

do the research because that's

29:57

how we got turned on to them in

29:57

the first place. He just like

29:59

found subtle phase on Bandcamp

29:59

and then emailed us or Instagram

30:03

messages. He is like dm this out

30:03

of the blue. He was like Do I

30:07

know you? Like why don't why

30:07

haven't we talked and so it's

30:11

like well, I think that's

30:13

like you know, the big thing for

30:13

them and I think just in general

30:18

that we've benefited from like

30:18

we had a really hard time like

30:24

figuring out where we fit in and

30:24

where we would play and like

30:28

setting up shows and you know,

30:28

go var was pretty much the only

30:34

place that we can get shows for

30:34

a while because it was just like

30:38

Tom there was just super

30:38

flexible and like yeah Like if

30:43

we've got an open night Sure,

30:43

yeah, it's yours. And I'm like,

30:45

cool. You don't care what we're

30:45

doing or anything like no, like

30:48

governments, whatever, like,

30:48

don't. This is this is just this

30:52

is the place where weird stuff

30:52

happens. It's great to have a

30:55

place. Oh, it was awesome. And

30:55

then, you know, it definitely

30:58

got us like comfortable playing

30:58

live music, I think in kind of a

31:03

low stakes kind of atmosphere,

31:03

which was nice, like a friend

31:07

like the friendly confines of

31:07

that venue. Like capacity. Yeah,

31:12

or however small it is. Yeah.

31:12

And then so I think with like

31:17

the shade bees present stuff,

31:17

it's just the access for bands

31:23

and local bands to have shows to

31:23

even play

31:28

in to have shows with an actual

31:28

audience of people. Promotion

31:33

behind them and like, I knew who

31:33

she was before I even knew

31:37

they're from Athens. Like, when

31:37

I had Instagram I would like I

31:41

just follow chaidh beast because

31:41

they they had a presence in the

31:46

in the metal community. And at

31:46

some point I was like, what,

31:48

what on earth they're from

31:48

Athens and now I'm involved with

31:53

an island now I'm a band

31:53

involved with their their sort

31:55

of seen and I'm in with the mafia. Yeah. And

31:57

the crazy thing about that is

32:01

there a lot of these bands that

32:01

were playing, whether that are

32:04

on shade, these shows have been

32:04

around in Athens for a long

32:07

time, like beastmode

32:07

specifically, I know. I've been

32:10

seeing flyers from them ever

32:10

since I moved here. And I've

32:14

been in town like five or six

32:14

years now. But the shade beast

32:18

presents thing only really

32:18

started like 2018 maybe. So,

32:24

Athens for me, I think and I

32:24

think for a lot of people

32:28

looking at it from like an

32:28

artists perspective. Like, it's

32:30

got to be on some ley lines or

32:30

something, because people just

32:33

like, come here. And it doesn't.

32:33

It doesn't even have to be

32:37

people who are interested in

32:37

playing what is famous from

32:39

Athens, right? Like psych or

32:39

like Django popper, any of those

32:44

old country are all country

32:44

Yeah, like, none of that. They

32:48

don't have to be from those

32:48

genres, that people just come

32:51

here to play music. And I think

32:51

they just know that Athens, no

32:54

matter what, you know, God

32:54

willing, will always have a

32:58

scene. And so right now the

32:58

scenes candidate, because you

33:03

know, pandemic, but we're

33:03

working on some stuff. And a lot

33:06

of those bands, even though in

33:06

the past year and a half has

33:09

been a rough are still around

33:09

people working at the breweries

33:14

and me working in the library,

33:14

or working at UGA. There's like

33:18

people working day jobs who

33:18

weren't displaced, even though a

33:23

lot of the infrastructure for

33:23

the venues where I know a lot of

33:26

people who worked at 40 watt and

33:26

some of the other venues who

33:30

just straight up moved, like,

33:30

immediately after the pandemic,

33:34

but the the good news is shade

33:34

beast is still here. A lot of

33:38

the bands are still here, and

33:38

we're all pretty close. Talking

33:42

about you know, making stuff

33:42

happen in the near future. Yeah.

33:46

See, thing is really growing?

33:46

Oh, yeah. For where it was?

33:50

Sure. Sure. And shade is

33:50

definitely that's the reason,

33:54

though. Yeah, sure. For sure. I mean, I, there were when I,

33:55

before I knew these guys, I was,

34:01

you know, just you know, as one

34:01

does, just daydreaming about

34:07

starting a band or something.

34:07

And, and, you know, since dream

34:12

come true, yes. Like, you know,

34:12

just, whatever small band, I

34:17

was, like, Oh, yeah, let's,

34:17

let's start a man I'm in this

34:19

style of, of heavy music. And

34:19

I've, you know, I just had no

34:26

idea that there was even a heavy

34:26

scene in Athens. But with a

34:31

resource, like shade beast, you

34:31

know, you can have people like

34:36

that, who who have something to

34:36

offer musically, who might not

34:40

otherwise, even be aware that

34:40

there's a scene for that being

34:44

connected with, with like minded

34:44

people and sort of finding an

34:47

audience and then, you know, if,

34:47

like, you know, like, we're

34:52

having us, you know, we'll open

34:52

for like a, an actual,

34:57

nationally touring band, thanks

34:57

to shade beast, which is an

35:00

opportunity that we never would

35:00

have even gotten, you know,

35:05

otherwise. And it was so casual the way they

35:05

were like, yo, you want to do

35:07

this, like, Yeah, why? Why

35:07

wouldn't we? You're not going to

35:12

turn that one down. No, yeah.

35:12

No, it's pretty, pretty well.

35:17

So how about other forms of arts

35:17

like novels and films, because

35:21

you mentioned earlier that your

35:21

last album was inspired by Edgar

35:28

Allan Poe. What other forms of

35:28

art kind of inspire your music?

35:36

Or is it just music you know?

35:36

Nothing

35:41

real world. Very into reading.

35:41

That's kind of a weird way to

35:48

say that. We're into reading.

35:48

Yeah, we're in. We're in a

35:54

library. what's what's funny

35:54

about that? reading section

36:02

second grade. Yeah. We have we actually had a like a

36:04

dog here, like two dog eared

36:07

copies of post collected works

36:07

in the studio when we were

36:11

making that record. And we were

36:11

like going through lines. And

36:14

if, you know, some more astutely

36:14

listened like, people, well,

36:20

we'll have other years. Yeah.

36:20

around there, bro. Well, we'll

36:30

hear like references in that and

36:30

on the record, but like, even

36:34

around practice, I mean, I

36:34

literally last practice was just

36:38

like standing there. Josh is

36:38

back. And we were in the middle

36:41

of having a serious

36:41

conversation. And I was like, No

36:43

shit, Holmes, you got parent AC,

36:43

and he, like, pulled it out.

36:46

Yeah. I'm Susanna Clark. And I

36:46

was like, I'm reading this,

36:48

like, my boss is reading this,

36:48

like, this is awesome. So it's

36:51

like, we're always definitely

36:51

reading. Yeah. But um, it was

36:55

recommending one of the last

36:55

shows that I saw before.

36:59

Everything closed down was

36:59

Joshua's like, experimental film

37:02

thing that he did, which was

37:02

like one of the coolest things

37:04

I've seen happen in Athens.

37:04

Yeah, that's cool. So it's like,

37:07

obviously, we're in the visual

37:07

arts, too. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of

37:11

our show posters Josh has done

37:11

and almost all of the No, I

37:16

think I think straight up all of

37:16

the artwork we've used for

37:18

anything. I've come from you

37:18

guys. Either photograph that

37:21

Griffin's taken and distorted or

37:21

painting the Josh is on the

37:25

cover of ragged mountain is

37:25

graphite and ink.

37:28

Yeah, it's like in graphite,

37:28

it's a painting it's in his

37:31

house. He won't give me I just

37:31

need to frame it. They're,

37:35

they're a real pain to frame

37:35

because the, the graphite like

37:39

sticks out from the surface of

37:39

the paper. And then if you it'll

37:43

just fall off because and just

37:43

like leave graphite.

37:47

But other than like, I guess,

37:47

literature directly relevant to

37:52

the thing we're making. I was

37:52

reading Dune when we were

37:55

recording ragged mountain, then

37:55

what were you reading? Um, I

38:05

remember I would like when they

38:05

when he started tracking bass,

38:08

like went up into the loft of

38:08

full moon, and like, cracked

38:10

open Dune. And it was it was

38:10

very appropriate because it was

38:13

just like, the whole building

38:13

was shaking. reading about the

38:16

world. Yeah. The sandworms was

38:16

everything that's gonna drive me

38:22

and then when we recorded our

38:22

last thing I like was reading

38:24

book of the new song. I mean,

38:24

you saw the era thing. For

38:27

button? Yeah, definitely. So

38:27

listen, by the way guys reading

38:32

now. Are you still or are we

38:32

giving up reading? anymore? Oh,

38:40

streaming. Yeah. postrock post

38:40

reading. That's Yeah, new genre.

38:45

Post reading. Yeah, well, it's

38:45

like I think that we used to

38:47

joke about like, no Gods no

38:47

masters. No pauses no brakes.

38:50

Oh, yeah. No reading no reading

38:50

added to the list. Yes. be one

38:54

of the shirts is just like,

38:54

like, a list of the things yeah,

38:57

going around negative. Yeah, we

38:57

really are.

39:01

I just started reading parent

39:01

AZ. But previously to that I

39:07

sort of tried to read multiple

39:07

things at once in case one of

39:11

them gets too intimidating, or

39:11

I, you know, need a break. But I

39:17

I'm reading a Libra by Don

39:17

delillo, which is about it's

39:21

like a speculative fiction on

39:21

JFK assassination. Which delillo

39:28

is amazing. Who are underworld

39:28

and white noise and Mao to a

39:33

really great Amash, new world.

39:33

underworld is and then I I'm

39:42

also on the third book of the

39:42

valus trilogy by Philip K. Dick,

39:51

which I forgot to bring you by

39:51

the way. Like, I don't have

39:56

enough. Yeah. But Philip K. Dick

39:56

is definitely one of the best

40:03

science fiction authors in my

40:03

opinion, but

40:09

the valid that is not a band

40:09

opinion that is Josh is

40:12

personal. Yeah. Yeah,

40:12

collectively. Yes. I think Nick

40:19

is a little over reader. A

40:19

little bit. Alright, whatever.

40:26

Yeah, no fighting. Yeah, but I

40:26

love Blade Runner. Blade Runner.

40:34

sheep. Electric. Yeah,

40:36

no. Ranger blade runners though. Yeah.

40:40

But yeah, so I'm ready. I'm also

40:40

reading up parent az, which I

40:47

have yet to make heads or tails of