From Bass in Abandoned Houses to Headlining Louder Than Life: 200 Stab Wounds

0:04 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. Ray McDonald. Steve Buell. Todd Thompson. Owen. Damn, Owen Pooley. Of. 200 stab wounds. I like when the artist says it better because they usually say it cool. Maybe me, not so much. But yeah, you're here at Louder Than Life, which I've renamed Hotter Than Life because it's brutal.

0:48 I'm from Texas, so this is a fucking nice day. See, there you go. I'm from South Florida, but it's still, for some reason, hot to me because we've been cooler in Florida than all the hot places, which is weird to say. Be like where you are being cool, too. You know, so. Have you guys played Louder Than Life before? This is our first time playing Louder Than Life. Nice. What other Wimmer festivals have you done? We've done Sonic Temple and Welcome to Rockville twice. But this is our first time with this one. So have you had a chance to check things out and see what the vibe is compared to the other Wimmer festivals you've done?

1:33 I've kind of just woke up. Well, not really, but I mean like... That's why I said... Hell of a night last night, but I haven't really explored. Yeah, no, we just got here a little bit ago. But I will say... that as far as the hospitality goes for all the Danny Wimmer Fests, are pretty much always fucking sick. So we kind of scoped out back here a little bit, but we haven't really had a chance to walk through the actual fest yet. But I love hearing that. I love hearing how Danny treats the artists because, like, nothing could be worse but going to a festival and having all kinds of headaches. And nobody seems to ever have that with Wimmer. Yeah, I mean, like he said, we played... Sonic Temple in Rockville twice now. And the hospitality and all that shit, the way they take care of the bands is always really sick.

2:22 Free beers, which is awesome. Green rooms, showers, all that kind of shit, food. So it's cool. And you have another good thing is the stage crew. They're always really helpful. They always tell you where you need to be, what time you need to be there. They're really helpful with moving all your shit, making sure everything's working correctly. So Yeah, I think so far it's a good deal. You know, that's so important, because then it makes your life easier. You don't have to stress out, and then you just go up on stage and give us the best fucking performance ever. Yeah, exactly. You know, you don't have any other things to deal with, so that's cool. For sure, yeah. I love your necklace, by the way, the Slayer one, the fucking Slayer one.

3:02 Yeah, thank you. Because I just saw them at Rock, Oklahoma a couple weeks ago, but I was at their first show ever, and I've seen them like over a thousand times, so... I'm already a fan of you for that necklace right there. But I am a fan of your band. Your band is fucking... Oh, look at that shit. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Brutal. Brutal. See, too bad... I have to show you a picture or something. I have it with me, but I didn't bring it in today. My 80s battle vest. Yeah. Slayer didn't even have a patch yet. So, basically, I just put some, like, velvet... And in L.A., they thought I was a gangbanger because of that.

3:47 They thought that was my gang name. That's pretty fucking sick. Yeah, if you look at the front and back of it, here's a video I drew all over it. It's back in the day when you had to do it DIY on your vest. Dark Angel? Sick. Okay, so, all right, now, since you mentioned Dark Angel, I have a trivia question for you. Okay. He might be more keen on that one, but. Anybody can answer it. Yeah. What does Dark Angel have in common with Louder Than Life?

4:33 Is it Death Clock? Ding, ding, ding. You are the winner. Yes. Gene Hoagland. Yeah. We saw him a little bit. Well, he saw him a little bit ago walking around. Have you guys seen Death Clock before live? I've never seen him, no. That's my favorite show ever. That's maybe part of the reason when I was a kid I wanted to play death metal. There you go. And for all of you, what was it that made you want to play death metal? Slayer. Nice. How about you? Slayer. Death and Death Clock, surprisingly. I didn't even know they had the same drummer. I would say Slayer as well. Nice, look at all this. The funny part is, for me, it was Possessed. Because to me, they were the death metal and Slayer was the thrash. But they always used to say back then in the 80s that Possessed was like a Slayer copycat.

5:30 I never thought they were. Slayer? Yeah. I don't think so. That's what they all used to say. I don't think so at all. I think there's a distinct difference there. Yeah. But I was at the first crossover show ever where punks and metalheads could be in the same room. The punk side was COC pre-pepper, and you had suicidal pre-crossover, and the descendants, the metal side was possessed, Dark Angel and Savage Grace, and so it was mayhem. It was at Elk's Lodge. Elk's Lodge? Yeah, no security at Elk's Lodge. It's fucking sick. Oh, yeah. There was no safe place to hide if you wanted to hide. But I got to tell you, I have a challenge for you guys. Last night, Limp Bizkit had, like, these mosh pits that were, like, the length of the whole crowd. That's my challenge to you, that you got to get out there and get people to fucking go nuts.

6:29 That might be impossible because Fred Durst is a very, very good front man. So, we'll try. But. I think you can do it. I have faith in you. We'll see. We'll see how the crowd is. So how did you all guys start to really like, what was that moment where you knew this is what you had to do playing metal? Well, for me, it was, cause I was already into like hardcore and punk kind of shit. But my friend, uh, actually a guy used to play in a band with, he's our drummer. And, uh, him and his stepdad took me to see Slayer, and that was it for me.

7:09 And I already kind of knew about, like, Morbid Angel and all that kind of shit because my mom's ex-boyfriend had all that shit on his iTunes, like, DSI, all that kind of shit. But I didn't understand it, but when I saw Slayer live, I was like, oh, shit, you know, it's fucking sick. And then dove back into the death metal stuff. And to me, it's just the most fun kind of music you can play, I think, as far as, like, a live setting goes. I played in other kinds of bands, like, They're kind of like emo-ish bands, like whatever you want to call it. And I like the music, but playing that kind of shit live is kind of lame, in my opinion. What makes it different to you? What makes what? What makes it different to you? Oh, because you can fucking headbang. Well, there you go. Headbang, it's fast. It's fucking sick. You know, I mean, like I said, I like a lot of other styles of music.

7:59 I love country. I love all that kind of shit. But playing that kind of music, for me, is lame. Do you think what it is is because you're headbanging and because of the adrenaline pump that makes it more fun for you to play? Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess it also kind of depends on the setting. Because I think it would actually be pretty sick to play in like a southern rock kind of shit, like cover band or something like that. But it would really kind of depend on the venue or the setting of the crowd or whatever. Like that would be pretty cool. But playing like songs about love and shit like that... For me, kind of lame, I think. I'm with you, bro. That's why metal's sick. Exactly, because music's the best therapy there is. And that's what's great about metal, because you get all that angst out of you. Like, people talk about the pit. Like, that Art Melhead says, oh, it's scary, people get hurt.

8:47 No, man. That's where you get your shit out so you don't hurt anybody in the outside world, because you're all fucking angst and angry. And then you hug each other afterwards. It's like the best therapy there is. And for you guys, the artists, like, if you're going through shit, writing music is, like, some of the most cathartic shit there is. So, like, yeah, if you're writing about fake shit like Pop Des or Love Like You're Saying, is that really doing it for you? That's my opinion. I think it could be cool in a context of, like, if you can make it work for a metal song or whatever. Yeah. But I just mean, like, singing a song about a fucking girl that broke up with you.

9:30 It's not, you know, it doesn't tickle my fancy. Right. I can listen to shit like that, you know, whatever, because there's a lot of bands I like like that or whatever, but I love Green Day. It's like one of my favorite bands. Really? And all they sing about is chicks. Exactly. But to play it, you know, death metal is the only fucking, or metal in general. But I agree with you. It's a different listening to something and actually having to play it. Yeah. So how about the rest of you? What got you into playing music? What got me into playing music? Actually... um. When i was younger about 14 or 15 me and my friends used to hang out in this abandoned house. And i had a guitar in there and then someone stole.

10:13 It and then we cleaned out one of the rooms and there was a bass in there and that's how i started playing bass Found it in an abandoned house. Wow. That's a cool freaking story. And we jammed in there for years after. Wow. It was called The Factory. Where was it? It was called The Factory. But where was it? In Kermit, Texas. Wow. That's pretty cool. Small-ass town. Nice. That's like one of the most unique stories I've heard so far. How about you? Oh, shit. My dad played guitar, so I always had guitars around.

10:53 And since he played, they were, like, pretty good. So I was able to, like, just start playing on really nice guitars growing up. So, yeah, my dad. He played in jazz bands and shit in fucking Port St. Lucie, Florida. Nice. Where I am now. I'm near there. I live on Singer Island. My studios are in Palm Beach Gardens. Yeah, I was born in Port Charlotte. Nice. The West Coast. Pretty much shit. I got a guitar when I was a kid. I kind of sucked at that. I just wanted to play drums, really. Oh, yeah. Played on pots and pans. Everybody does that when they're younger.

11:34 That's pretty cool. And it's funny because it usually goes the opposite. Like I played drums for nine years and then I moved to guitar. I sucked at both, but still, you know, and I find that happens a lot. Like you take Dave Grohl as an example. So it's kind of cool to hear somebody go the other way. Right. You know, it's just what's born in you. Drums is a lot funner for me. There you go. Pretty much. So, the last thing I want to ask you guys is why is it right now the lowest form of 200 stab wounds? What is the lowest form? No, why is it the lowest form now? What is the lowest form?

12:14 That was a hint at the album. I don't know. I think it kind of just fit the songs. There was a lot of shit going on last year for me personally. So, I kind of wrote about some shit that was going on and I figured... Well, this is the fucking lowest form of life. Lowest form. Nice. Shortened it a little bit. And I was really just doing a play on words. Yeah. So we could promote your album. Yeah, a new album. But that's a good answer because, like, again, it goes back to what we were saying. Getting that shit out of you that's going on. Yeah. Yeah, because a lot of the stuff on this record is about real, like, real life happenings. Yeah, yeah. Instead of, you know, whatever. Killing people, which we don't do, obviously. So, yeah, lowest form.

13:02 Can't confirm nor deny, right? He was shaking his head. I'm like, can't confirm nor deny on the killing thing. Yeah. So anything else you want to tell the listeners that we haven't covered already that they need to know. About you guys? Anything they don't know about us already. Well, anything coming up or whatever? We're going to Europe in fucking January with Whitechapel. And who else? Cylosis nice and Tribal Gaze which actually they're on our tour right now and uh we're doing Headbangers Boat next month that'll be fun yeah going to Canada next month to do some shows with the Spies Icon and uh yeah Tribal Gaze did not get drunk with us last night so that's fucked um oh yeah we have another tour coming out in March it's gonna be really sick can't say who's on it yet but it's gonna be fucking really sick and uh new album lowest form.

13:57 February 19th check it out And everybody needs to buy their merch, too, because they can't listen to my show unless they buy your merch. Buy the merch. Eat your vitamins and buy the merch. That's all you got to do. Do it all. Well, you guys fucking rock. I'm glad you're here at Louder Than Life. Now you only have two more Danny Wimmer festivals to go to do all of them. So I'm putting that out there to Danny to put you on Aftershock and Incarceration. And thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Thank you for having us. Fuck-a-luck-a-ding-dong. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man on W4CY radio.