From Theme Parks to Mosh Pits: Holy Watr at Louder Than Life

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... Holy Water. Holy Water. Holy Water. Who can say it best? We should have a contest who can say it best. Holy Water. No, no, no. No, I'm doing like the word you'll find that. Holy water. I don't have an inflection. Go to Chandler. You got it, brother. Holy water. Ooh. Ooh, now say it like the UFC guy. Holy water.

0:49 No, I did mine. Do it again. What? You watch UFC more than us. Oh, no, no, I'm not. It's too early. Holy water. Nice. I think you were the winner. Yeah. There must be a reason. Where are my flowers? Pick them up at the door. Okay, man. Oh, man, you're here. I renamed this festival. It's louder than life, but it's renamed hotter than life. It's hot as shit. Oh, it's not even hot yet. Oh. I've been doing this for days. This is what happens right now. This is cold. You got sunscreen? No, fuck that. I live in South Florida, and I surf, so I'm like, fuck it. Yeah, right. Okay. True.

1:30 True. I have that base. Except my neck, I don't want to see what my neck... I might be a redneck now. I might have turned into a redneck. Fair enough. So, is this your guys' first time playing louder? It is. Nice. What do you think so far? I know you haven't seen much of it, but from what you know and how you've been treated before getting here. Well, first impressions. They last the longest. Yes. And I was personally impressed by the theme park. Right. Right next door. Right. And apparently we can just go hang out and ride all the rides for free. And that's the first festival. I mean, most festivals will have little carnival rides and shit.

2:11 Yeah, they'll have like the Ferris wheel, maybe something else. Yeah, but I ain't doing the Ferris wheel. I want a roller coaster. Right. And they got that here. They got the whole, it's a whole actual amusement park. Yeah. Yeah. Some of our favorite bands are playing today. And so now we have to choose between roller coasters or seeing some of the most goaded bands of all time. It's not easy, but at least, you know, we won't be bored. All right, well, then let's do a survey here, okay? Of the bands you want to see today, let's list the bands, and then I want to know band or amusement park. Okay. What, am I listing the band? Whatever bands you want to see today. All right. Kill Switch Engage.

2:52 Okay, so.... Animals as leaders. I have to look at the thing. For the record, I woke up like 15 minutes ago. I know. That's why this is more fun. Right. Kill Switch, Animals. I would like to see Jutes. I don't know who else is. Going to tool. All right, so let's just take those four. If you had to pick between the roller coasters or their set, which one would you pick? Between all of those bands or the roller coasters? Each one, each band. I mean, for me, it's going to be the bands every time. I mean, that's just what it is. That's a good answer. Yeah. You really live this shit. No doubt. You're truly a music lover now. Like, I could have given you shit. Like, what do you mean you're going to go to roller coasters and stuff?

3:42 I feel like I have to see all these bands. I've been on roller coasters before. I haven't actually seen any of these bands. So, like, I feel like I have to. There you go. You know? Okay, so let's go with you now. To be fair, there are roller coasters all over the country, but some of these bands I've never had the opportunity to see. Exactly. Like Death Clock. Oh, you have to go to that. Yes, I'm aware. I have to go see them. I love that TV show. Well, that's what they do. That's what I heard. They just do the TV show. You can't even really see them. They don't want it focused on them. And I think I need that. I need that. Um, Animals is leaders. Javi is my boy. Um, so, if we have time after Load In, which, I don't know, you never know with this shit, then I'm definitely going to see them. Um, Gojira, I've never had an opportunity to see them either. Killswitch Engage, like, grew up on them, you know? So, I mean, there's so many great bands playing today, so I, of course, I have to go see the bands.

4:43 There you go. Of course. Alright. Good answer. Can we take the mic from my wrist hurts? I think the hardest decision for me is Gojira or Tool. Oh, yeah. Because they're on at the same time, and that's really hard. I'm just going to say, in my opinion, Gojira 100%. All right. 100%. First of all, they're way more brutal. The pit will be insane, and they just have so much energy. Tool is cool, but Maynard sits in the back. And it's like, it doesn't give me that, I just want to jump into the mosh pit feeling. So that's why for me, Gojira. Like Gojira, the minute I hear that first riff, I'm like, exactly. Totally. Tool, I'll just be like, man, this is good. This is cool. I wish I was doing some drugs right now. It'd be even cooler. So there's my explanation right there. So who do you think you're going to pick?

5:49 Probably Gojira. There. I think I sold you, huh? Sold me. I'll tell you what. One of the best shows I was ever at was Gojira at Hellfest in their home country. Headlining. Oh my god, that was fucking insane. Metallica headlined the year before. Gojira's crowd was bigger. Because it's their home country. You know? So there you go. But I think basically Gojira should go on tour, and, you know, be the warm-up band for you guys. You do a headliner, you invite Gojira to come along. Yeah, maybe first of three, something like that.

6:32 Yeah, exactly. Make a good opener, you're right. Oh, man. So what could you guys tell the listeners about your band that would make them want to come see your set? You know, the first thing that comes to mind is probably from a video I posted a few days ago where I was just scrolling through our mentions, you know, Instagram, TikTok or whatever, or DM requests, and it's very often just entire pole dancing routines. I swear to God, bro.

7:13 I swear to God. Maybe there's a message there. And we got there. There's something deep there. Like, I'm not sure what it is, but I know it's layered. And I remember there was this one story I read. This young lady reached out. She was like, yeah, so, man, I had the best night of my life the other night. I was dancing, doing my routine. And after I finished, this guy that was throwing money got up. He was beaming. He was like, yeah, it's my favorite fucking song. And she was dancing to Nail Polish. And so... Basically, I'm going to break the fourth wall. If you're looking to catch some ass, come see our set. Nice. Or an elbow. One of the two.

7:54 Guaranteed. And both. I'll take both. Right. Best of both worlds. Like, what else could you want? Exactly. You know, to your point, though, it's so funny you brought that up. Because when I was listening to your newest song, I'm thinking, that totally... I could totally imagine being at a strip club and some chick, like, oh my God, she's doing this song perfectly. Yeah, you talking about Green Room? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's cool. It totally has that vibe, though. It does, and then we have Give Me a Show, and that's just aggression front to back, you know? But what else? What else do we have? I mean, we have some shit on the new record we're working on that's very aggressive, too. One of them's something of.

8:38 A diss, but... I like that mix, okay? And I always talk about, I think the artists, like, when people give you shit, like, oh, how come you're not just keep doing this? Nah. Like, I think artists need to have that diversity to not be bored. Like, and, like, why not explore your creativity? Yeah, like, push the needle. Like, if we just did the same thing as everybody else all the time, then we wouldn't be progressing music. No. Today, you know? No. And at the end of the day, we're just... We just want to make shit that we like. And if that's something that's just abrasively heavy, cool, we'll do that. If it's something that mixes some shit in, cool. Or it's just smooth. We got something that's akin to Southern Rock to a degree off these new demos we cut a few weeks ago. I feel like the responsibility of an artist is just to express themselves. And whatever comes from that is... How should it be? You know, don't pander anything.

9:38 Yeah, the best thing you said was basically, you know, like, play and write what you like. Because then you'll attract your tribe, you know? And if you try to appeal to other people, you're not going to be happy. But you're also not going to make everybody happy because somebody else will bitch and complain, you know? So as long as it's for you, who cares who says what? good or bad because you'll gather the good people and the bad they don't like it they don't like it you know I like the diversification too like I love heavy heavy music but some of my favorite songs by the heaviest bands are their mellow songs like Metallica, Nothing Else Matters.

10:20 Perfect example. Would I have liked that as Metallica when I was a teenager? No. But now that I'm not stupid like a teenager, it's like, that's a really good fucking song. And it doesn't matter. And it meant something to James, so I think everybody pulls that. And that's the thing. It's a transfer of emotion. Yeah. Whatever you're feeling is what you should write. Yeah. I mean, we all just have, like, a lot of, like, inspo. Like, obviously, this is a rock festival, and it's a rock band. But, like, all of us love, like, so many different types of music. It isn't just rock music exclusively or metal music exclusively.

11:02 So, yeah. I mean, the goal is just to execute on the highest level at all of those things, you know? And as you grow as an artist, you want to get better and try different things and experiment, right? For sure. Yeah, also just out of boredom, too, because, like. That's what I was saying before, right? I just get... Yeah, it's just... I don't want to get bored. Like, I find there's a lot of bands nowadays that use, like, this formula because they're in this micro-genre that they have to fit into. Sure. And then I'm just imagining if I was the musician, I'd be bored as shit playing the same riffs all the time, basically. Yeah. Or singing the same kind of stuff all the time. Yeah. We all have different vibes to the point of different music, too.

11:44 Yeah. Like, how you're feeling in the moment. There's times I'll be in my car and I'll put on Slayer and then the next song will be Sugar Magnolia by the Grateful Dead. You know, like... Yeah. No, my shuffle is just, like, out of control. It just, like, doesn't... For me, it makes sense to have, like, Knock Loose right next to a pop song and I love that, but, like, it's not... I guess not everyone listens that way, maybe. Yeah. I don't know. I do. Yeah. That's what I'm into. Just whatever mood you're in, and sometimes even just going down the road, your mood changes. For sure. Somebody cuts you off, and now you're going back to the brutal music because you're pissed off. Exactly. So what else you got going on after Louder?

12:26 I'll hand you to my correspondent, Chandler. Yeah. We're just about to start the Deo Gratias tour. Yes. So we're touring our album that came out this year, and we have 40 shows overall. This is show number one. Oh, we're lucky enough to have the best one. The one when you're nice and fresh, got a good sleep, somewhat. But yeah, that's cool. So are you going to be in Florida at all? Yeah. We're going to be in Florida for a couple dates. I know we're doing Tampa. We're doing Warped Orlando. I think Gainesville. We're doing Gainesville. I'm actually not sure.

13:06 I think we are doing Gainesville. Or maybe we're not. I don't know. Tampa for sure. Nice. Yeah. And so what can people expect from you guys from a live show? Why should they come out to your show? You can expect the best show of your life. That's beautiful. Yeah. I'm so fucking moved. There it is. This guy goes crazy. This guy goes crazy. I go crazy. I could definitely see all of you going crazy. And that's why I would go to your set. You better be there, boy. What time is your set today, anyway? I don't even know. If I get out of here, I do like to go to sets of all the bands I interview. I like it when I have the interview after, because then I can go to your set and talk about your set and shit like that. But what I'd like to talk about is how the three of you got together originally. How did that happen? How did this magic come together?

14:08 Sure, yeah, I'll do it again. So, Pat and I have known each other... Since we were six years old. We both grew up in Atlanta together. Wow. Nice. And we've been making music ever since in some way. And then, like, Holy Water sort of started to, like, coalesce. And our other guitarist who's not here, Ice, he's only on the back half of the Stewart because he had some stuff to take care of. But he met Patrick, I think, at a party, right? It was a show. It was a show? I was playing a show with a side character. And then. He joined the project and then right when we were sort of in the process of not having our other drummer that started in Holy Water anymore, we met Daniel and it was sort of like fate because he walked up to me and was like, oh, are you looking for a drummer?

15:00 And like that day we had decided we needed a drummer. Wow. So it's like, oh, this is crazy. That is crazy. So he came and played and absolutely, I was like instant. Absolutely. He was the first one to come in and we were like, well, no one else needs to come in now. See, that's proof like of things I think of, like when you have bad things or what you perceive as bad things happen, maybe they're not. Maybe they're exactly the good thing that's happening. You just don't see it yet because you're looking at the tree instead of the forest. And he was on the other side of the forest. Yeah, that's, yeah. I think there's a Buddhist saying or something or there's like a a story or it's not really much of a story say something good happens right like I don't know you just won a a Grammy or some shit I'm like bro I can't believe we won a Grammy this is like the best thing that could ever happen to us and then really what what it is to your point like well we'll see like we'll see or like the worst thing ever or something I think is terrible like oh fuck like You know, our drummer has to bow out.

16:09 Yeah. What the fuck are we going to do? This is terrible. It's like, we'll see. Because then Danny came around, and this boy, he does not fucking miss. It's hilarious. Because we'll play a show. We'll do rehearsal. At the end of the show, he'll be like, yeah, I played all right. I'm like, you did not miss a single fucking beat. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. You know what I mean? Well, music artists are like their own worst critics all the time anyway. One more time? You guys are your own worst critics all the time anyway. Oh, yeah. Yeah, 100%. And I had something funnier to say, but I've since forgot. It'll come back to me, and I'll interrupt whoever's talking to say it. All right, you'll probably interrupt him because I want to know what made him approach you guys. Okay, yeah, yeah.

16:51 I mean, we all live in L.A., and there was just like a party DJ. What was it? Y'all were doing a DJ set, but I forget what the bigger event was. Whatever. It was an event. They were doing a DJ set. I would sometimes pull up to those events and I just like saw like the like lineup or whatever. Um, and I had seen the band previously, like some of the videos, I just thought the shit was dope. So I just figured I would just like come say hi, uh, and just like meet people and see what happens basically. So yeah. And then it just so happened that we like got along great and we're like super aligned creatively and also just felt like a good fit, like immediately. Yeah.

17:34 That's cool. So, like, if that other drummer didn't bow out, you wouldn't be at Louder Than Life. You can look at it that way. There's a really, really, really good chance. Oh, yeah, there's a really good chance. Right? If Danny had not hopped aboard, you know, we would not be who we are today. I'm confident in that. There you go. Yeah, this boy's the GOAT. I'm telling you. So that makes it even more exciting to see your set. Yeah. Because I like to hear when you have that camaraderie because that, to me, is key. If you're not connected, hmm. You can feel that shit. Oh, totally. You feel it in the studio. You can feel it on stage. We can feel it. We can see it. You know, and God forbid you have something happen like punching out your guitar player or something like that.

18:23 Yeah. We probably bounce back from that, too, to be fair. There you go. Or maybe not, actually. It's never happened. We'll see. Like I said, we'll see. There you go. Is there anything you want the listeners to know we haven't covered already? And tell them how I connect with you on socials, the web, and buy your merch, too, because they can't listen to my show unless they buy your merch. Okay. That's great. We got a paywall for the interview. Man. Man. I don't know, come fuck with us if you like real music, if you like real shit. If you want to listen to songs that come from a real place and from artists who are just making music ultimately for themselves and to honor that creative force that runs through each and every one of us, that's what the fuck we're doing. That's what we're on. Whether you like it or not, just know it comes from a real place.

19:10 And I guarantee you, you come see a show, you're going to walk away a fan. Real is the best word for music anyway. If it ain't real, you shouldn't be doing it. It's bullshit. Exactly. It's bullshit. And you can check us out on any streaming platform. We're on every social media, though we might not be the most consistent at posting. You know, we're around. And we're on tour. We got 40 shows in two months. So there's a good chance if you're in the States, we're going to come to a city near you. So come on. Come check us out. Nice. Well, I'm glad you're here at Louder Than Life. You're going to kill it. Hell yeah. Next year, main stage. Fuck yeah. Let's do it. There it is. Thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man.

19:52 Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man on W4CY radio.