PipemanRadio Interviews Opium Death

0:04 Hey, you have THENTO censure for Wow cra Young. Wake Up America. It's time for the Adventures of pipe Man on W four c Y dot com. West Pompeas is number one internet radio station. Here's your host, the hpe Man. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio. And I'm here with our next guest, who has some badass music that we're gonna share here. So let's welcome to show.

1:02 Opium Death. How are you. I'm doing great. I do have to say right off the bat, I don't normally say anything about a band's name, but I think of Opium Death and I don't think of fast metal When I think of that, I think of like something very different. So people have to listen to your music opposed to just assuming like people do nowadays, because once they do, they are going to hear some badass, fast heavy metal that's like a cool combo of thrash and death. Yeah, it's essentially where our influences lie. So yeah, we've never gotten that sort of compliment or really comparison with our name before. It's always like I'm always one to just kind of laugh before I know when people ask me like, Oh, you're in a band, what's the name. I'm like, oh, I get ready for this, so go ahead. No, I was just I was just gonna say, is that this is great that we get that kind of reaction to because again, the Opium Death wasn't technically the original name.

2:16 But I'm just with name change that we solidified and committed with, it's getting you know, eyebrow raises. And then when you hear the music see us life, I think it just as an extra punch, you know, so no doubt, and I gotta say in the best possible way, I like this name much better. And then and you know, see, I'm old school because I basically I was in the whole metal scene when Thrash first started and Death first started and all that. Like, I went to one of the first Possessed shows ever. I went to the first Slayer show ever, first Metallica show ever. And now I'm really really pumped up because you know, I go on tour and I do festivals, and to at the festivals that I go and do radio coverage at they announced the reunion of Slayer today.

3:14 Yeah yeah, saw that right? Oh my god, Like it was it was cool enough, Kerry King came out with his stuff and it's pretty badass, and he was gonna play at festivals and then, you know, it's pretty funny. I was just reading the other day that him and Tom have been talked since the last show and now now they're going to be playing. It's it's pretty wild past. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I mean, you know, as you said, Carrie announced his solo stuff like what two weeks ago or something like that, right, basically borderline almost slanders Tom saying like, oh, I have told talked to him since twenty nineteen. And then there was another headline saying I played all the bass on the Slayer records. It's just like, okay, we're never seeing these guys again, like a week later. I know. That's why it just totally blew my mind. You know. Part of me likes to say that was all part of it, for to make the surprise, you know.

4:12 And I don't even say that in a bad way, because I'm the type when I pull off a surprise, I'll try to get myself. I don't care if I get myself in trouble as long as I pull off the surprise, you know, and that definitely, like even me who gets the inside information usually, you know, like I promote these festivals that they're like here, here's what's going on, but you can't say anything. I had no clue, Like I knew when everybody else knew it was. It was perfectly executed. And it's pretty wild. And now they need to put you guys on the bill because I mean, you guys could really like it should be like you had Slayers headline one night and you headline the other night. I'd say that was crazy, right right right. RIfS has been pretty cool with adding some you know metal each year. You know, we went to the one right fest versus it was Slayers last time in Chicago and that was just stacked full of thrash bands. So yeah, I was at that one.

5:18 And then you know, one thing I dig about riot Fest is they always come out with this like out of nowhere, you know, like I've left field thing, like when the original Misfits twice they did that, you know, and now with Slayer and then Slayer's going to be playing at Louder than Life and yeah, it was right. The funniest part about that Louder than Life, which I do that every year. Okay, Motley Cruez headline one night, Slayer's headline another night. The first band I ever saw in the club was at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip and was Motley Crue before they had an album, when they were still like horror punk, before they turned all wossy. And then I got into Slayer and all my friends were like, you can you gotta burn all your Bontley cruise ship. You can't listen to Slayer and listen to Motley Crew at the same time. And then now they're both headlining one festival. I just it's kind of funny to me.

6:25 But growth is crazy, you know when you start tell stories like that. When you hear stories like that, it's this whole history with just where they started, all these iconic alms that came out at the time, and then now headlining festivals. It's just wow. Yeah, Listen. The first time I went to see Slayer, it was because I was I went to Odds Records in the Valley and used to get to sing called Bam Magazine, and that's where you saw all the gigs and you couldn't listen like you could now and know what they sound like. They did you went to gigs, they looked fucking cool. And and so I saw this picture Slayer and I was like, oh, they look evil as hell. I'm going to that, you know, because they had like the thick, dark black eyeliner before they went to the Bay Area. Like when they went to the Bay Area, bands like Exodus and Possessed and all that all made fun of them and said, you got to take that shit off. We don't wear makeup up here.

7:25 Wow, that's interesting. And they weren't wearing like glam makeup. They were wearing like evil you know. You know. And so there's the death metal connection too, because Slayer was almost like anomaly. They were like death metal, black metal, thrash metal, and punk all combined. Yeah, a healthy mix. I just those obliver everything and then they combined it all, and that's what you get. That's that's them, no doubt. There's a reason why a lot of those classic death metal bands in the eighties and nineties always cite Slayers a massive influence of theirs. You know that a lot of that old school death metal is just doing what Slayer did, but faster, meaner, more aggressive, you know, oh exactly. And I think what happened with death metal too, which is really cool. Which I find in your music now is as it's evolved through the years, it's become more musicianship and technical opposed to something that was just like, you know, and that was what the fine death metal was like, just really fast and and you didn't you didn't understand what they were saying unless you understood yea, unless you were them exactly exactly so. But nowadays and I see it in your music here is like, man, it's just such supreme musicianship. I mean, I'm always in awe. Like I listened to your stuff and I was

8:58 like, I can never play that fast and that good. You know. It's like it's one thing to play good to learn a thing to play fast and good. You know. Like to me, that takes serious talent to make it not just noise but actual musicianship. And I think that's what you guys do. No, Yeah, we appreciate the worst too. It's it's something I like to like pass along with all the members that it's a I want to give it a standard and performance, but we will also have fun with it. So I think that's where like the being good and then fast you know, we want to be balanced on all levels, you know, because then if you're too technical, you're too then the the sort of the music taste the sort of like melodies they might like dissipate, you know, they come not as musical, I guess because there's just two fast it's too much going on, but good and it's like okay, there's you know, I feel like maybe I heard of that melody before. So it's always a kind of a you know, digging through our minds and trying of like, okay, was it that we want to do and like execute it. So I also like to put it like waves. It's like it should be like waves instead of just all at you right right. Yeah. It's also like, you know, I feel like with our music as well, we don't really get into like two technical of ranges where like if you go to CEUs live, you're there the move We all move around pretty much, you know, we're not just standing there focusing on what we have to play, you

10:28 know, like a lot of Tech Death bands do, which you know, no disrespect to Tech Death at all. I love a lot of those bands. It's just you know, I always thought for us, like we need to have that sort of like, you know, we want to move around on stage. We want people to move around and not just like admire what we're doing. So you know, I love you saying that because it's a big thing with me. Like I've gone to thousands of live shows, and sometimes we also talk about backstage, all the press people, and there's like certain that were like, yeah, we're not even gonna go out there and see them, and we may like the band a lot, but if you're playing live, you can't just sit there and not move and stare at everything you're doing, opposed to like what you're saying, moving around making it a show. So yeah, there has to be that even keel between the musicianship but also putting on the live show. Like I don't care how good the band is, if the guys sitting there looking at his guitar the whole time to make sure he hits every note, right, I don't want to see that. I'll just listen to it. Yeah, yeah that's fair, no valid point, So kudos to you for like bringing that up, because yeah, you got to get out there and just blow people's minds, and usually the blowing people's minds is from being active and moving around it and putting on that live show. I can't tell you how many bands that I didn't really like when I listened to him, and then I went to a live shown,

12:00 they became like one of my favorite bands. That's literally how I got into Cannibal Corpse. For the life of me, they were one of the few death metal bands. And it's like it's it's almost a cardinal sin to not like him, but it's just right. Listen to all my record it's just like I I get why they're famous. I get the appeal, but for some reason, it's just not clicking. And then I finally went to go see him live and I was like, I get it. I completely get it now, this right why people love them. You know. You know what I love too is like, okay, when you see him backstage, right before they're about to get on stage, he's like wetting down his hair so he could perfect the whipping. I remember the first time I saw that, I was like, oh shit, look at that, like he's preparing for the headbang. So tell us the listeners that don't know you guys, how would you, as an artist describe your music forget genres for a second, because I hate artists being locked into a genre. And we've talked about genre a little bit. I want to hear what you guys are thinking when you're making your music. I would describe it ourselves as like a brutal concoction of extreme music, you know. I love that cause we are alloud.

13:18 We like to play fast, but not always fast. I think like the music when we're in the room, especially when we're songwriting, there's this sense of intensity they want to bring along because we just have that passion, you know, for that type of style of music. And so I think for us it's just go all out, but be a little fancy here and there. But it's just this is who we are. We just love that that dynamic, you know. So yeah, totally I love it. And go ahead, you were gonna say something too, just yeah, just that and just concocius because we just like to mix other things into it, you know, we don't want to be just one trick pony. I just like to blend, like, hey, I think this can work into this song, Let's bring it in, mix it up, and you know, kind of the cooks in the chef, you know, yeah, cooks in the kitchen so you know, so, so you guys have had you know, you've had multiple line up changes, and do you think that's what's really happens, like that those lineup changes are contributing to the evolving of the band where there's different influences coming in, because I find that with a lot of bands nowadays that I do like is that everybody in the band has some different influences opposed to like, you know, everybody being on the and this is what you find the line death metal and black metal. Everybody's like exactly the same.

14:37 And I think that going back to Slayer, that's what made Slayer Slayers, Like Jeff and Dave were punks, Carrie and Carrie was a metal head and Tom wasn't even a metal head when he first got into Slayer. Yeah, you know so, and like you have all these influences that come in that make a unique sound on that people know it's you. Yeah, it's exactly. You pretty much hit the nail on the head with a lot of our lineup changes. You know, a lot of you know, it's mainly been on the guitar aspect, you know, it's always been you know, me Irvin and then don Our bassis slash vocalist you know, have been kind of the three key members since around twenty sixteen. When we recorded this record, we had our other guitar player. His name is Will and he brought in a lot of our like if you hear if you listen to the record, there's a few songs that sound very like black metal ish, not true cult or not complete black metal, but you hear a lot of the influence.

15:37 And it was all thanks to him and with the new guy we got now our new quote unquote he's been in the band for like what year and a half or some of that. Yeah, he brings a lot of old school death metal to the table with you know, we've already written a couple of songs with him and they're very like OSDM sounding, So I mean, yeah, a lot of these, you know, a lot of different influences come into our music. You know, does come from a lot of the members. You know, Like you know, Irvin is pretty into like progressive metal, whether it be tech death, progressive death metal, or just regular progressive music. You know, he'll add that into the songs. You know, like dead Weight on the records are all written by him. It's our most techie song on there. I've been in like this extreme metal rabbit hole since like twenty eighteen. I got super into Cattle Decapitation and I was already into them, but like seeing them live, I was like, all right, cool, I'm going down this rabbit hole. So I got in the bands like them, got really into Denial Boarded, like all these different extreme metal bands, and that's what helped my playing as well, and learning how to do those kind of blast beats and whatnot. And then don our vocalist is kind of like Tom, not that much of a metal head, but he brings a lot of interesting stuff to the table when it comes to his different luences as well. So yeah, you know, you pretty much hit it right on the head. You know, different members have brought in different you know pieces, and yeah, I think it's more important nowadays than ever

17:11 because you know, back in the day, there were very few bands, but now you have all these bands, and a lot of them will sound exactly the same because they're using this like formula of what death metal is supposed to be, what black metal is supposed to be, what this is supposed to be. I'd rather, you know, to me, metal has always been experimentation, you know, and not this. This is what it has to be. Right now. I do have to say that I'm very excited because your debut album is dropping on April nineteenth, which also happens to be my oldest daughter's birthday. So there you go. So it's a perfect day for that album to drop. The best president she'll get, actually the best president. Know that? About what would you guys want to say to the listeners of that would entice them to pick up that album? Uh, you know, and what you think would be if you were them? What would sell you on going and getting the album? I see, I know, I almost say the album cover itself. I mean, look at it.

18:26 I know it's pretty badass, right Yeah, the album cover, alaun should be enough for a lot of people to be like, what the hell is this and then pick it up and listen to it. But honestly, my sort of sales pitch for this record is if you like almost any type of metal, definitely here. Yeah, really, any type of metal, mainly any type of you know, more harder metal, Definitely pick it up. Because we're not just limiting ourselves to influences of like just Cannibal Corpse or just Catalty Capitation. You know, we have influences from a whole just a whole array of different bands from you know, the two that I just listed, and then there's also a bit of nile Go Jeira death Obituary. You know, there's a bunch of different bands, So there's really sounds on there that everyone will like. Essentially, it's always refreshing, you know, because there's always in the area that could be like an oversaturation of a certain style.

19:21 But I was like, oh, you know this record green Man on the Syringe, Corporate Hate Corporate, I'll pick it up. I'm big about album covers, so I'm glad you mentioned that, because that's how I grew up in metal. Like if the album look cool, the cover looked cool, I bought it and didn't even know what it sounded like. And I would buy this one for sure, just by the look of it. I'd be like, oh shit, I gotta get that album, so go ahead. Sorry, Like you know, it's like it's like great to hear that has that kind of effect on you and hopefully everyone else. Yeah, because you know, it's kind of making a comeback. It's been for a while where a lot of these kids, they don't even know what albums look like like the cover, they don't care or just on this track thing. But I think it's making a big difference now. I think the album covers. The days of artwork on there are being important are back, and I think it's becoming more important. And I think it is because music is a full sensory experience. Like it's not just the music, it's everything that goes along with it, which also goes to what I was saying about a live show.

20:34 You know, I think a metal live show should be brutal, and I think you guys, as the artists, after playing for whatever it is, forty five an hour ninety minutes, should be drenched in sweat because of that, totally, He's more like after the first song for me, So right there you go, you know, just like being in the pit, you know if I'm sweat and you're sweating. Yeah, there you go. So how do people to connect to you guys on socials on the web? Get the album, any anything else you want to tell them to connect with you or check out dates and and all that good stuff. We are on pretty much all socials, you know, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, X whatever you want to call it. I yeah, all dead name Twitter, it's fine, but yeah, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you know, just look for Opium Death you'll find us there. Also pre order the album, so nice. We haven't announced it yet, but we are working on making physical copies as well, and it's really just CDs, so we'll have hopefully a CD pre order up sometime sooner or later, as well as maybe some new merch. That's all sort of TVA. But yeah, really all socials and YouTube and just you know, just with the YouTube, look up Opium Death official if that will help. But there's not really a whole lot of bands called Opium Death, I think, which should be the only one.

22:07 So yeah, how lucky are you guys, man? Because I think about that too, Like, it's so hard to come up with band names nowadays. That's why all these bands use like symbols and all kinds of other crap, because like it seems like every name is taken and this one is like such a cool name. How was it not taken? Right? Do you guys have a final words you want to share with the listeners that they need to know or anything you want to share with them, just really just look up for us. You know. Look, just the name Opium Death is something you guys are never gonna forget when you see USI It's also something a band they're never going to forget. We are committed to the craft. We are you know, willing to provide the best room. Is that that you know that we can ever offer? Expect greatness on this record, Expect greatness on the next DP we're working on. We do have a show for anyone who may be listening in the Chicago area. We are playing Reggies on was that March March twenty ninth, All of a sudd nineteenth March twenty ninth.

23:08 We're opening up for a band called nix Hill nextill NIXI Soil like more of a black metal band. We got the opening slot there. They're touring around the country right now or will be sooner. So yeah, just keep an eye as eye out for us as well. We do plan on taking this outside of the Chicago area too. You know, we're hoping to kind of branch into more Midwestern states, whether it be Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, you know, Minnesota even so yeah, just keep an eye out for our name and if you see it, if you see it, definitely come out to a show. You will not be disappointed at all. Absolutely nice. Love it you guys, rock and thanks for the great music and thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man. Thank you, thank you for your time. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of pipe Man on w for c u I Radio