Tantric’s Louder Than Life Experience: Touring Tales, Anthem Performances, and Fan Appreciation

0:04 Hey, you're listening to The Adventure of Pumlin on W4CY. For you. This is Pipe Man here on the Adventures of Pipe Man W4CY radio, and I'm here with. Hugo from Tantric. Nice. Your second favorite band after Subhumans, you were saying. Well, no. You didn't hear the rest of it. Okay. Maybe top punk band. Punk bands. Old school punk band. I'll even get that specific. All right. Okay. But as far as bands in general, you might be number one. All right. I'll take it. I'll take it.

0:45 All right, here's the $ 20 part. I know, right? There you go. It's just because you're here at Louder Than Life because if you're at Louder Than Life, you've got to be one of the top bands in the fucking universe. I'm so grateful to be here again. It's super cool. Like I was telling them before, I was like, it's great because it's the best... concert experience you can go to. If you can go to one concert a year, this is the one I get, right? But I've done it a few years ago. It was fun there. And I'm from, you know, our band originated in the city, so there's like a lot of hometown thing. So it's cool, man. We're happy to be here. We drove all night to get here. So we're good. Nice.

1:27 So you're all fresh and ready. Yeah, I mean, when I say we drove, I meant none of us drove. Right? It was funny the other night. The dude from Star Set was back here and I'm talking to him and he's like, yeah, the driver's fucking up so I'm the one driving. I'm like, that sucks. Right, yeah. I actually, I don't mind driving, you know, like for like yesterday was like a nine hour drive. So we had to like, just go after I get off stage yesterday, we just basically went to bed and everybody like slept, got in their bunks and slept. But like, you know, I don't mind the drive, you know, it's better than not doing, you know, those things are kind of fun to drive, you know? Yeah.

2:07 But you don't want to have to drive all night and then play. No, I can do that. Like, you know, when my band first started right now, I'm just like, nah, that's, that's horrible. So what do you. Guys all think about being at Lowriden Life? Let's see what anybody else has to say. I think it's absolutely amazing. I can't wait to play today. Nice. Well, I'm originally from Lexington, Kentucky, so Louisville has always been a bucket list for me. So for me, it's amazing. I love being here. It's going to be outstanding. And you know how to say the town name properly. Louisville. Yeah, exactly. I could translate the rest of the stuff that she said if you guys don't understand it. She said that she's from Lexington originally, right? So that Louisville is kind of like her sister city, you know?

2:50 And there's some banjo sounds in the middle. Right? And then something at the end. But good job. Good job. All right. There you go. Anybody else want to say anything? I'm excited to be here. Ready to play. It's absolutely surreal. First time being here and playing it. Nice. He was just born like three years ago. I was thinking like, shit, how is he old enough to even get in the joint? I don't know. See, what we're doing is we're making rock star babies now. We're cloning in all the things. We're like, you must be subservient to the singer. Right, right. So we've been. And he just got ripe a couple years ago.

3:33 I just plucked him and now he's fully indoctrinated. Well, everybody has to have their own. Token, Gen Z, Token Millennial, and Token Alpha in their bands nowadays. Yeah, well, I mean, to me it's this. We all get along pretty well, and that's a good thing. But there's so many, you know, these days there's so many different people doing music at different times in their life. So it all comes together, you know. Well, that is what's cool about nowadays is Like I remember in the 80s, there was no fucking way that I would be in a band with somebody my age.

4:14 Okay? There was no way I would even go to a concert. With somebody my age. Which is good. I mean, I think that it's evolved in that way where it's not like anything goes. It's about the music. It's about, if you've never seen it before, we're welcoming it. You know what I'm saying? And we can all share, multi-share racial. I mean, there's people that do it wrong. You know what I'm saying? Where you're just like, you swung, but you're like, you know. Whoa, you might want to sit this one out. Right, right, right. But like, yeah, man, it's cool. I think we're not all inclusive. You know what I'm saying? Like all ages, you know, all good people, you know, sharing a same journey. Exactly. So what kind of fun have you been doing since the last time we talked?

5:00 Man. Our life is fun. Not just music, just anything. Well, I just recently got to sing the Star Spangled Banner. Really? Well, I'll tell you a quick story. Evan Longoria, who's like a huge baseball player for Tampa Rays, if you don't know about sports, which I don't, okay? I like Eva Longoria. Right, right. Right. She doesn't use my songs, so I don't like her as much. I mean, unless I'm just looking at her. I only like her looks. Right, right. Right, me too. But she can't swing a bat. Right. Anyways, I'm not getting any royalties from her. But this guy, this guy, like, used my song forever. And he was, like, MVP. Like, this guy's, like, you know, the real deal.

5:42 So he retired, and Tampa Bay invited me to go, me and the band to go out there and play his, like, walkout song for his last time as to a retiring summer. And I sang the Star Spangled Banner, which I didn't butcher. By the way. You mean you didn't sing taps? No. No, I didn't butcher it because I've seen a lot of people butcher it and I was nervous that I was going to. Do you remember when Roseanne did it? Yeah, but like she... Yeah, she was horrible. But, like, right after, who is the lady who just did it right after? I don't know, but she was all over the Instagram. She was, like, an old, like, R & B legend, but she was singing it with, like, two other, like, girls who were, like... It was, like, three drunk girls on a karaoke night.

6:32 It was crazy. And, like, even, like, George Washington was like, no! And his tooth came out. It was crazy. But, uh. So, like, me and my girl, we were like... I was like, okay, they asked me to sing the Starspan event. I was psyched at first. And then I got super terrified, you know? Because you're like, yeah, I'm used to singing my songs and being a badass with my shit. But, like... Do I actually know everything? You know, like, you start questioning if you know the words to the Star Spangled Banner. When's the last time you sang Star Spangled Banner? You guys just sing along. That means if you forget one word, it's all right. You've got 14,000 other people covering you, right? Yeah, if you forget a word in Star Spangled Banner, like, nobody's ever forgetting that.

7:14 Right, right. Especially, you know, like, you know. And there's, like, they use the old English, you know. It's all the land of the free. Cheerio and Chipmate and all that. You know, so like. Meanwhile, I remember Ozzy fucking it up one time, like way back. Right, but I can understand that. But he can fuck it up. Yeah, I can understand it. Nobody can understand him anyway. Right, right. We're like. It's Ozzy, you know, he's got like a hall pass for life, bro. For everything. But listen, like me and my girl, I'm just driving down the road. I'm like, oh, say, can you see by the dawn? So, you know, like I was just saying the words, like rapping them just to get the words like sunk into my head over and over and not.

7:54 Mess them up. I'd be afraid that when I got up there, I would start rapping it because I programmed my head. Oh, say, can you see what... No, that would have been, like, worse, I think. You know, I didn't Mariah Carey. I didn't Whitney Houston. I just sang it like a lawnmower would sing it. And it sounded great. I got a little two-stroke. You just put a great visual in my head. Like, we got the creator over there of Bob's Burger and Sanjay and Craig. Yeah, yeah. We could have him create, like, a cartoon of a lawnmower. Singing the Star Wars. With a Tantrum T-shirt. Like, that's me. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's like, hey, man, they come to our shows, right?

8:35 And people who have never been to our shows, sometimes they'll just meet me before because I'll be doing whatever. And they're like, hey, are you Hugo from Tension? I'm like, yeah, I'm Hugo from Tension. Like, oh, oh, what's wrong with your voice? I'm like, what do you mean, what's wrong? Are you going to be able to sing? Should I get my money back for these tickets? And I'm like, no, man, that's my voice, man. Chill out. You give it a time, it warms up, dude. You know? Well, that's kind of like back in the day in the 80s when I would see Slayer all the time when they were young and we would hang out. Yeah. And I remember talking to Tom and I'm like, how does he have the most brutal voice in metal? Like, his voice was like.

9:20 It's crazy. Hi, how are you? And they're like, hi, can I help you with your groceries? Right. And then he gets on stage and it's like... Hi, how are you? Right. I mean, I don't know how they do that. You would think that I would be a screamo guy. I'd be like, what the hell? But I'm not. I'm a very, very crooner type guy. But I love those guys, by the way. When I was first starting my career, we did one of the late shows with them. And that was fun. You know, I was just like, you know. Well, yeah, there you go. The fucking Slayer. Yeah, exactly. You have to almost say fucking before it. You have to. It's a requirement for sure. Right, yeah, yeah. So, what else you got going on that you want to talk about that you want the listeners to know about?

10:04 I mean, we're working on a new record that hopefully the single will come out at least at the end of this year. But, dude, we tour all the time. We've been doing this for 30 years. We're happy to be here. We appreciate all the fans that are going to come see you. We appreciate you. How have you been, bro? You've been doing good? Fucking great. Right on, dude. We're here at Louder Than Life with Tantric. Thank you for perpetuating our career. And all these other artists by talking about them and educating people about the music. We couldn't be here without you and the fans. This is like a family event, and we're just grateful to be here, man. Well, thank you for giving us the best therapy you could give us in a time when we need it most. Because I'm here, I'm going to be at Tantric Set, and I don't give a fuck if the.

10:46 World blows up. I appreciate that. Because I don't even know. Hell yeah, man. I appreciate it. And that's what it's all about. And I'll part with saying this, that it's more than just the bands. The bands only exist because of the fans, and the fans only exist because of the people in between that introduced the music to. Them, which is you guys. So. Everybody here should take a bow for themselves because it takes a village to do this. And I'm really just happy to be a part of it. And it's our family and community that you're a part of. We're all part of. That's right. And we're going to take over the world and teach people how to be human beings. Yeah. Yeah. I'll tell you one thing, you know. People come to these type of festivals, and they see a lot of people gothed out and just meddled out, and they think that these people are going to be aggressive, or they're going to be rude or mean. These are the nicest people. If you are out there, you've never been to a rock festival, do something new. Come out to a rock festival. These are the nicest people. They will help you. They are not... I mean, if you don't want to get hurt, don't go to the mosh pit.

11:53 But you know what I'm saying? This is a lot different than a lot of people perceive it to be that have never been in it. The nicest people on earth. I was in a pit for Chad Gray last night. Because we're all nerds. Growing up, we're all nerds. We're just like nerds doing it together. You fall in the pit, somebody picks you up. I showed her a video when I was in the pit for Chad Gray. She's like, oh, look, somebody just was picking somebody up. Yeah, that's what it's about. It's not about knocking them down. No, it's not. It's about picking them up, elevating them. And we all just love each other. And the world can take notes from us. Yeah, nobody wants to hurt somebody in the pit for real. But also, if you don't want to get wet, don't get in the water. You know what I'm saying? No doubt.

12:35 No doubt. Well, thanks a lot for being here. Man, thank you for having us, bro. You're the best, man. You too, man. I know you've been in this for a long time, and I appreciate you, and I know who you are, and. We love you. Hey, without you, there's no me either, so thank you for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Say thank you, guys. Pipe Man. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man on W4CY Radio. Thank you.