Defying Genres with Death Valley Dreams: Authenticity, Passion, and the Power of Performance

0:05 Hey, 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. Nick and Josh of Death Valley Dreams. Nice. I feel like we're in Death Valley right now, man. I think it's a little bit hotter than Death Valley. You know what's funny? I live in South Florida. I was at Bakken, Italy, Bloodstock, Rock, Lahoma, and here, and every one of those places this summer, I'm like, I can't wait to get home to Florida where I can cool off.

0:50 And who ever says that? I feel like it's September. It shouldn't be this hot. Oh, my God. It's ridiculous. And it's just something has blessed us with the all-encompassing heat. Yeah. It's because we wear scarves. Exactly. It's your fault. It is. Thanks a lot. We brought the heat. And, like, if I was an artist, I don't care what my look is normally on stage. I would just take all that crap off. And perform because I have mad respect for you guys performing in this heat, man. I don't think people really can conceive of. It's one thing being out there in the heat. It's another thing giving it your all like you guys do.

1:34 I mean, it's crazy getting into... I feel like what I wear on stage helps me get into a... A zone. Yeah, because I was like, so I have to wear a certain thing because you almost portray a character, well, I do at least on stage, where I'm like, I need these certain things or our vibe is going to be off. It's so true. Even me, as a radio personality, I have a character. And, like, so as soon as the mic turns on, that switch turns on. And so it's the same thing. At least your character wears shorts. I know, right? Exactly. I don't have to be out there showing it to people, you know? Or a sport coat and a scarf. Oh, my God. I feel for you so bad. That's all right.

2:16 I think we just need to, like, create an air conditioner for your scarf and your sport coat. What's your saying about fashion? Fashion over function. I love that. When you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you play good. When you play good, you give your best to yourself. And it is a performance. It's one thing making an album, but a live show is a performance. And I think that's why I do have mad respect, because you get up there and still do your thing the way you would do it, because you're giving us entertainment in that performance. You're not just giving us the music.

2:57 Well, it's honestly part of our experience because we are as much of a part of music as the music is. So if we're off, imagine if we were wearing a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. To me, it doesn't make sense. Maybe it does make sense, but we have that vibe. That's the next album. There you go. I like that. Our Hawaiian record. That would be funny if you did do a Hawaiian record and just freaked people out. We have some Hawaiian sounding things. There you go. To be honest, which is crazy, we finished the first record already, which hasn't come out. And we've already finished the second record. And there is some stuff on there that's like.

3:41 Hawaiian. Hawaiian. We don't live in a box. We go wherever we want. As you shouldn't. Yeah. See, I love that you said that, because that kind of bothers me sometimes today in music, is all the sub-genres and micro-genres, and you can only sound like this. And, like, I think Ollie said it best in an interview from Bring Me to Horizon, when he's catching all that shit for changing up the music. He's like, why do I want to write the same song over and over again? And I could get that. That would make you mad insane. It would be boring. Yeah. You know? We want. I mean, we... You know, you want to feel something in the song, whether it's this or the other thing.

4:24 So it doesn't matter. We didn't build ourselves to be in a formula. We just... are throwing spaghetti at a wall that what we like, which is very wonderful, and the people that have surrounded us have been so welcoming to what, like, a band like us, you know, a band, American Monster went on before us, and then we start with, and they're heavy, thick, like metal. And then we open with a halftime wicked game cover that is like this whole other world. So it's a, it's a weird juxtaposition, but it, well, you should be whoever you want to be and you should be welcomed to at festivals like this or others. That's one thing I always say, like if you, the artists, you just do what makes you happy and what you want and you'll gather your tribe, you'll gather your fans.

5:11 And when you're not doing that, For the audience, like me, it's very apparent. We can tell that you're just doing what we want. I want you to do what you want, and if I like it, I like it. If I don't, I don't. But if I don't, the right people will like it. Yeah, I think we're unapologetically us. That's the only way it should be. I don't know if it's where we're from, but we're just. We know no other way. We're not fake. Not that a lot of people are, but you know what I'm saying. The people that say bless your heart, they are. Bless your heart, yeah.

5:52 We were just. Talking about this the other day because I'm like, I'm brutally honest about stuff, brutally direct. And listen, I'd rather somebody I know where I stand. So don't say bless your heart because you think you're being nice. That ain't being nice. Just say fuck you. You're an asshole. That's my viewpoint. We were just talking to our label inside and I was like, hey, don't. don't sugarcoat it, anything ever to us. Like walk up to me and tell me to go fuck myself or like that you love me. I don't, I want you to wear your real emotions on your sleeve. Cause that's what we're, our music is so heavily emotional, emotionally tied to what we are. And going back to like, we play music for ourselves. Everybody else can go fuck themselves.

6:34 I love that. And it's great. And the people that are on for the ride, they'll get it and they'll understand. And it's, it's something special. And, you know, with this whole new turn of, I feel like that post-punk era is coming back with bands like the ulcers and even like weird core with like hot and Freddie. It's, you know, there's, there's a thing opening where people are just doing whatever the fuck they want. And it's wonderful. It creates uniqueness of bands. Like, there's so many bands in these sub-genres that I always say it's like they're using an algebraic equation to make their music and that's not what music is about. It's the antithesis of that. And like, I want to hear uniqueness. You know, you even take, okay, so you had Anthrax playing here and Megadeth playing here, part of the Big Four of Thrash, but they don't sound anything alike.

7:24 That's true. And that's the way it should be. Like, And then I hear other bands and it's like, I can't tell the difference between these bands here. It's the same exact riffs, same exact tone, everything. It's like, why do I need that? Because it, unfortunately, there's an avenue where it works. Yeah. And it's like, that's what we, we never thought we would be in the position that we are based on what we play because there is, we don't have an avenue. We don't have a genre. We don't have, everyone always asks like, what do you guys sound like? And I'm like, we sound like we're driving down Route 66 and you pull over and you see that seedy motel and you see that ice machine sitting there making a humming noise and that light is just flashing right there. I was like, that's what we sound like. We sound like a feeling.

8:07 I love that. Because if I ask a question like that, I'm like, if you were to describe yourself as an artist, what your music's like, but don't use a genre, what would it be? And you just did that. That's exactly what you did. We want to feel it. And I can get that visual too when you're painting that picture. And to me, music is all about feeling. So why not? You know? And I love that. Now I have the craziest question for you that you won't even expect at a left field. What made you decide to get a Sheetz tattoo? So when I first started touring when I was in a different band, it was like, because I'm from Northeast Pennsylvania, we're from Northeast Pennsylvania, and we're very much home of Sheetz.

8:55 And it's so wonderful to see, they support bands and they make it very affordable. So when we would start tour, we would stop at Sheetz and I'd get two hot dogs. a bag of uh fries and a red bull to start every single tour for a decade for a decade so it became such a part of my life that because it was like this was like your um what does it call when you keep doing things over and over again insanity routine insanity yeah and uh and then what it grew into this thing where like we started having these conversations online with with sheets i started and then we like built a relationship which is also crazy that like we've we swim in the same world as this $ 9 billion company that loves, loves to support music.

9:44 And they were trying to figure out how to, how to dive in. And they, they connected with me and they connected with some other stuff. And I, I think over the next couple of years, I think you're going to see a lot more in the music space from Sheez, which is so weird. Now music festivals, that's sponsored by Monster, but sponsored by Sheez. It's going to happen. Well, American Rejects played at Sheetz, right? Part of their little house party tour thing. That's cool. See, I didn't know this. Like, of course I know Sheetz. Yeah. But I didn't know they were so supportive of music. Who follows Sheetz on social media? You know what I mean? You don't follow a gas station. Right. But they're trying to make that brand awareness of like, hey, we are, we're band friendly. We can come and you can get your food. You can get fuel. You can do the things. You can do the stuff. And there needs to be more places.

10:29 This is almost like he's a spokesperson. I know, right? You're going to be in the next commercial. Is he getting paid by them? I wish. I love anybody that supports music without a monetary idea of what's going to happen. You know what I mean? They do it for the love of music, not for whatever. So any brands that do that, they have my support. I love it. I love that attitude. I love that you gave me new knowledge today. Now I will support Sheetz even more. Fuck yeah. Because anybody that supports music, I'm all for. And anybody that supports your band, I'm even more for. So they need to go and buy your merch or they can't listen to my show anymore.

11:11 I love that. Right? I love that. I don't think. I didn't say it all the time because people don't realize that's the way you get to the gigs nowadays. Like, you could have 10 million plays... That don't mean shit. Fuel's expensive. It was $ 4. 60 a gallon to get here. Even at Sheetz. Even at Sheetz. Give us a free gas card. There you go. They're your official sponsor. It's got more space left. We can get... What other have we got? Turkey Hill? Is that a national one? Yeah. No. No. I'm just throwing local things around.

11:51 Okay. Hello. So anyway, anything else you want to say before we go? Follow for an experience and something that is unique and special. And I don't even know how to say, we're just, we're passionate about what we do. And I think that's fallen out in music. And I think it's, if you follow our journey and, It's following the great Gothic Americana journey, and I love that. I love it, too, because music is all passion and emotion, so how could you not be passionate and be in music? Simple. Yeah, I agree. I agree.

12:33 Thanks for being passionate, and thanks for being here on The Adventures of Pipe Man. Thanks for having us. My pleasure. Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pipe Man. On W4CUI Radio.