Bruiserweight at Warped Tour Montreal: Nostalgia, DIY Ethic, and the Realities of Modern Music

0:04 Hi, you're listening to Adventure on W4CY Radio. This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventure's Pipe Man W4CY Radio and I'm here with Bruiser Wade. Nice, here at Warped Tour in Montreal. How's it feel? I told from the stage it's probably really corny, but When I was like 15, my dream was to play Warped Tour with like my shitty verb to noun, you know, metalcore bands.

0:45 And I always thought it was like unattainable. So to be here is very like surreal 15, 16 years later. Right. I know John also, he's like a.. I never thought I'd ever be here. So it's cool. Did you ever think Warped would even come back? No, definitely. That wasn't something that was even on my mind. And Myspace is coming back too. I saw that. Yeah, yeah. We just have a resurgence of the 90s. I think we're all very nostalgic. Right. We all just miss a simpler time with all the bullshit that's kind of happening globally that we're seeking some escapism.

1:25 No doubt. Get a VHS player, log into Myspace, put on your top six. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I just want to know if Tom's still my friend. I'm sure he's still all of our friends. He's with us in spirit. Right? Yeah. He didn't even have a MySpace. I think he was too young. He was too young for it. Wow. Way before my time. Wow. So MySpace is even before your time. That's pretty wild. You know, and so, like, welcome. You'll be, like, one of the new people to MySpace. It really does feel like it is going to be a whole new world for me now. Right? You've had Instagram try MySpace again. I know, right? And to your point, too, it's like my daughter, one time I was on the phone with her, I'm like, Some days I want to just drive down the road, throw my laptop, my phone, and my iPad out the window and keep driving. She goes, who you came, Dad?

2:21 You're just as addicted as anybody. I'm like, yeah, I admit that. But I remember when we didn't have this shit and life was a lot simpler. It was. My generation created all this shit, Gen X, okay? And what a bunch of fucking idiots we were because yeah, we were like, we thought it was going to make our life easier. Oh my God. My life is 10 times more harder now with all the, and all the work you have to do. And like you guys as artists, man, like I'm from the tape training days and stapling up flyers on telephone poles, man. Fucking the work you guys got to do just to get your music out there is unbelievable.

3:04 I'm, It's like 50% music at this point. Right. There's so much more that goes into it. It's kind of annoying. It totally is. Like finding an organic following in the age of the algorithm is what I'll call it. It's impossible because there's like two routes, you know. There's like you do something viral worthy and you blow up. Or you do the old school hustle. You play shows. You put out music. Like you try to do everything you can in an organic way, which I think in hardcore is much easier. easier, it's still kind of in that DIY is a cherished thing. It's always been. I don't know if that will ever change. Hopefully it never changes. But I see a lot of other bands trying to go the commercial route, and it's just throwing as much shit at the wall as they can to see what catches the algorithm. And I don't know if I would ever want to be in that space, honestly.

3:55 What's weird to me too nowadays... Is I come from the time when if the music got on the radio, I don't want to fucking listen to it anymore. And now there's these bands that I know that are like deathcore bands and shit that are trying to be like the mainstream popular. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, that kind of goes against all that, doesn't it? And it's weird to me. You know, there's some bands that they'll do the festivals and they only want to do interviews with the mainstream stations. And I'm like, Wow, that's like the exact opposite of what I grew up on.

4:36 I never even thought we'd do an interview, to be honest. Right? See? It's true. Exactly. Whenever we got the email, it's like, somebody wants to interview us, or have they ever met us? Like, this is not like something we do. And see, that's something I'm all about. I'm the type, I do lots of festivals all over the U.S., U.K., and Europe, and I'm the one that emails every band on the list because every band needs promotion. A lot of my press friends or colleagues, they like to cherry pick. I get the big bands. I don't need to cherry pick to do that, but You never know who's going to be that. That's who you want to be friends with in the beginning and help them. They need the promotion.

5:27 The big bands don't need the promotion. It's true. So I'd rather help out bands that don't want interviews, but for the reason you don't. Not because you don't want an interview, because you just don't think about it. And that's why it should be like this, too. Just having a conversation. We really are appreciative of.. Bands from our scene that have gotten opportunities to be bigger like despised icon uh bands like beton armé who are playing today as well um even simple plan they're kind of coming back around but i mean despised icon and beton armé both have asked us to play shows with them nice like sold out shows which is uh just like we feel very fortunate to be you know friends with them and Whenever they do get a little bit of a raise, they're eager to pull bands up with them and not just be too cool for everybody else.

6:20 See, that's cool, because that is old school, too. I remember when Saxon pulled Metallica, but then Metallica pulled other bands, or Ozzy would pull bands and stuff like that. Metallica's still helping young bands out. No doubt. Knocked loose, which is crazy. How about this? James, side stage for Turnstile, singing all the words. I saw Turnstile in an abandoned church like 15 years ago. To see them in that situation, that's crazy. And I saw Metallica's first show ever. 25 of us. I'm going to stop talking. 25 of us. So that's what I mean. You just never know who's going to be who. But I love the fact, like you're mentioning, Metallica, they still remember where they came from. There's some bands that don't. And it's good to see because, listen, everybody thinks, oh, they were an overnight sensation. Yeah, after 20 years. They worked their fucking ass off. They slept on floors with four other bands. They ate bologna sandwiches with no bread.

7:33 And they remember that. They don't leave that behind. And I think that's the difference. It definitely is. A lot of the bands that uh, I know that have gotten big. It's like a lot of people don't realize they spent 10 years in a 15 passenger with a trailer. So like their first two warp tours were in a 15 passenger in a trailer playing 40 fucking dates across the U S um, with no AC, maybe sleeping in the van. Like that's, that's a hustle. Totally. So they've earned their place. Like they don't, it's not overnight is cool if it works, but I mean, do you truly appreciate.. I don't think anybody really... I always say an overnight success takes like 20 years. But people, they don't look at it that way. Or they look at you as a band. No matter what level you're at, oh, you're living the dream life. And I get it too because I go on tour and I do all these festivals and I'm like, oh, you're living the dream life. Yes, partially.

8:30 The other part is I also did over 170 interviews this month, okay? In brutal heat in Germany and UK and, you know, like, so they don't see that part. You don't show that part. They don't even know what AC. Is out there. Exactly. And it was like, oh my God, I was at Wacken and it was like a heat wave and I was at Bloodstock and it drought for two months. The first day at Bloodstock, I made the mistake of going into a couple mosh pits. Usually I won't do that the first day because I got to do interviews. I didn't realize they had a drought for two months and the dust was so bad that the next morning I was like, fuck. You know, and I had to like, they have this stuff out there called Vocal Zone. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it, oh my God, they don't have it in the United States. This shit, singers swear by it. And like I do too now. Like, I was sucking those things down, tea and honey, just so I could do my interviews the next day. And I was only in a couple pits. And I look at bands, too. I'm like, how the fuck do bands perform? Like, especially singers with that festival dust. And, like, I know how it feels to me. Like, so I like to paint to the audience what you guys really have to go through every day.

9:54 You go through... 99% bullshit for that one hour of fun. Yeah. Right. Less than an hour, or in our case, 20 minutes. Right, exactly. You know, and speaking of fun, Just a little over a week ago, the 14th, you guys dropped a new single. We dropped three songs, but it's a short three-song single, quote-unquote. Nice. So tell the listeners a little bit about that. So it's called Blind Leading the Blind. It's on Unbeaten Records, which is a Troy-based record label, very legendary record label from upstate New York.

10:36 So we're very happy to be working with them. Shout out, Buddy. And it features Alex Arian from Despised Icon on the title track. So it's really cool. It seems like people are liking it a lot. The reception's been good. People know the lyrics. So, yeah. I think the title says it all, too, because I think the world we live in... A bunch of idiots are leaving a bunch of idiots. So I'm actually, I'm from like Georgia. I'm from the States and I've lived in Montreal since 2018. Uh, but like a lot of the lyrics from the new record come from like me just kind of looking at what my family and friends and like the politics of what's happening.

11:21 And I was very. Frustrated, feeling very like powerless, I guess. And, uh, So I kind of came from that place. But, yeah, it's, I mean, the lyrics and the title kind of says it all. I mean, fascism is very alive and well, it seems. Oh, my God. And it should never have a place. It's terrible. I live in South Florida. That's why I'm on tour all the time, man. I don't want me to fuck home. Like, I live on this island, like this island, like a barrier island. I'm like, you crazies stay over there. Like, it is insane. Yeah. Like, what's insane to me is the people I've known my whole life that are stupid now.

12:03 Oh, yeah. Family members. Like, I'm thinking we could easily elect.. I blame the internet. Like, as you said earlier, it's social media. 100%. And you know what? I think if he was alive today, Charles Manson could get elected president of the United States. It's that bad, I think. Yeah. I'm not going to say anything. Tinfoil hat. I got a tinfoil hat theory about that. But yeah, it's, it's, it's truly like there, there are, it's not every track, but it's definitely Nepo elite. I mean, we can all gather what that means when you've got trillionaires in the U S that are able to go without paying basically any taxes.

12:48 Yeah. The middle class is completely disappearing in the weight of all of the financial burden is being placed upon them. People can't afford health care. They're cutting schools. Like, where's all that money going? And we know. I'll tell you where it's going. The airport I got to go home to tomorrow. Spent $ 6 million of taxpayers' money to change the name of our airport. That's beautiful. Like, while people can't eat. Yeah. Or pay rent. Yeah. It's, like, ridiculous. And you know what? It's funny. It's people that I know, literally, who are saying, he deserves it. Like, you don't think people deserve to eat or have health care?

13:29 That's what I'm saying. Like, that's the thing. It would cost these people a fraction of their wealth to pay livable wages and to have universal health care. But for the sake of them having that wealth and being able to be a trillionaire, like, they're not penalized for anything. Oh, Elon could cure homelessness in the United States. Yeah, and still be a billionaire. Easily. Still. Exactly. So the EP comes from a lot of frustration when I'm seeing that. And a lot of people are having a hard time. There's also some shit talking about people on that record. I like shit-talking. They know who they are when they hear the tracks.

14:10 Exactly. So I have to even give them a shout-out. And that's what's beautiful about Warped Tour, because we get to escape all that bullshit here. We're one big community with no hate, all love. I was even so impressed when I read something about the protocol for attendees, and they are so anti-hate at this festival. Yeah. And I love that because you know what you find out traveling the world? Is that we're all one race to human race and we're all pretty much the same. And we need to start uniting and loving each other instead of laying the powers that be divide us. The oldest trick in the book. Divide and conquer.

14:50 That's what it is. Totally. Keeping the people manipulated over very petty ideas so that they're able to basically snatch up. Wealth and power. No doubt. No doubt. And I have a solution to all the world's problems. Would you like to hear it? Mosh? What is it? You're there. Yes. One big festival for the whole world has to attend. Accept the political leaders. Security has very strict orders that they are to be banned from coming into the festival. And we just put everybody in one big wall of death mosh pit. And we all work it out. Because after that, we'll all be hugging each other and we can get all our shit out in the pit without the influence of the idiots.

15:36 It's true. So there we go. I'll make sure you guys are playing at that festival. I would love that. Anything else you want to tell the listeners we haven't covered yet? Yeah. I'm going to give a shout out to our friends that are playing today. Scorching Tomb, Desecrate... Spite House played yesterday. I talked to them yesterday. They were cool. They're great. Despised Icon are playing today. Betona Mae are playing today. I'm missing somebody. Crosscheck are playing today. I don't know if I've missed anybody, but if I did, I'm sorry. But shout out to all of our local friends that are on the fest.

16:18 That's what's cool, too, is like, I found more than any other that this Montreal Warped Tour gathers local bands, which is way cool. That's a huge thank you to Gabe and Fred from Eventco and Dave Boucher from Extensive Enterprise. They did a phenomenal job putting a list of all the locals to be on the fest and getting. Everybody a space. That's amazing. That's the Montreal way we put on for the city. I do love this city. It's beautiful. And that makes it even cooler right there, you know, because local talent needs to be exposed here. That's what these festivals are for.

16:59 That's what Warped Tour was always about, so you could find your favorite new band. Yep. You know? And so now I have one of mine. Oh, thank you. Right here. And tell everybody how they can reach out to you on socials, buy your merch, because they can't listen to my show unless they buy your merch. I did see one t-shirt that was really badass on your merch store. Yeah, so our merch is through the Unbeaten Merch Now web store. So if you go to unbeatenrecords.com, you can find our merch, which ships globally. You can also follow us on Instagram at bruiserweight _ _ hc. Yeah, that sounds correct. Nice. We're on all streaming platforms, Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, YouTube Music as.

17:45 Bruiserweight, all one word. And stay tuned for MySpace music. Yeah, we'll be on MySpace soon. Yeah, put us on your top six. And you can catch us in Europe next year. We'll be probably in the spring probably. Nice. Yeah, so we're setting that up now. So keep an eye out. Cool. Well, I'm glad you guys are here at Warped Tour Montreal. And thanks a lot for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Thank you. Thanks for giving us a chance to do this. Yeah, thank you so much. My pleasure. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man. On W4CY Radio.