The Divine Project - Don't Startle The Murder - Pipeman Interview

0:04 Hey, you love them too? The censure wow for you you. Rise, Rise. 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 and they're from our neighbors to the north, who I love so much.

0:45 They don't love us much anymore because we're a bunch of idiots that are the only one that argue with Canadians, who are the nicest people on the planet and uh, some of the best musicians too. So my question is is the Divine Project one of those best Canadian musicians? Oh? Absolutely, Like I'd like to say that. You know, if you haven't heard of us, well now you now you're about to. I do. I am always amazed at Canadian band, especially when they're three piece bands, Like how they just make so much Like you take a band like Rush, they make so much more music than even a band like Sliptnant.

1:29 As nine people in the band and with only three it's wild to me. Well, I mean I'll say right here and like right here, just nine people, that's a lot of drama and a lot of conflict waiting. To happen, right right. I think you're better off with three people in the band, you're more likely to last. I think, oh absolutely. So what is it about Canada that makes you guys like better musicians? Uh? I'd like to chalk it up to the frigid temperatures in our constant fight to stay warm and fed, but obviously we know that's all a myth. But I don't know.

2:11 I think it's just a lot of the fact that we're a much tighter community up here when it comes to the music scene. Yeah. I think a lot of local scenes are always tight, but here, you know, there's less opportunity in the grand scheme of things to you know, there's not so many festivals and venues in our city, and in a lot of cities right now are kind of shutting down and they're not really you know, putting on local showcases because it's all about DJs and booze sales now. And I think it's that cohesion between us fellow artists, the bands just bans the media. Everything music really in the scene, whether it's metal, rock, hip hop, doesn't matter if you're in that sort of art scene.

3:07 It's about perseverance because it's such a difficult situation. Yeah, one hundred and I still think too. The first thing you said was correct too with the weather, because listen, nobody fucking wants to go out in that weather, so you got nothing else to do but to stay in and practice, you know. And I think it is true because you look at like an Amn's, you look at less Scandinavian bands, and they're just great musicians, because what else are you going to do? I mean, some people like to ski, but hey, I mean here. He got me that was staying inside and practicing all day.

3:49 That was literally me all of high school. Right, that's you. That's how you become good. Though. Listen. I'm originally from Jersey, where I was cold, but then my dad moved me in nineteen eighty to La where it wasn't and I played drums for nine years, sucked, played guitar, sucked, and sang thresh mellow sucked. What was the common denominator? It was too fucking nice out. I was going surfing and shit, you know, like, oh, I sit on the practice all day. I just want to play the song. You know. It was funny because I was interviewing the first interview of the day with Vinnie Apissy and I said to him, I was like, yeah, the first song I ever learned on guitar was Heaven and Hell. You know, most it's like smoke on the water.

4:40 But then that's about as far as I went because there was always something else to do. I mean, that's that's kind of a good thing as well, Like you keep on living right exactly, you pick your path and you know it's not just wasting away in your bedroom in the wood. Nah, I wouldn't say you wasted away, Dave. Yeah, I don't know was away. Like you look at Randy rhodes Man. He practiced eight hours a day and I remember that and I was like, fuck, I'm not gonna practice eight hours a day. But he's awesome, And I think that's why I remember thinking, that's what it takes.

5:20 You know, it's hard to be a musician. I was just talking about this in the last interview. But you know it's also hard because they don't realize what you have to do to actually learn your craft. That's huge. You know, people think, oh, you just pick up a guitar and start playing, pick up a mic and start singing. Just like we were talking the last and I think it was the last interview I was talking about, you know, singing. You know, if you don't if you're singing like death metal, thrash metal or anything like that, if you don't know the technique, you're gonna fry your voice real quick. And that's what happened to me. Like I just fry. Like even now. Sometimes I'll sing a song on my show and if I can make it through one song, it's a lot. And I'm like, and some of these dudes are doing it for two hours or like you take somebody like Courtney from spirit Box and I'm like I look at her in like awe, at her mouth and the movement and I'm like, holy fuck, how does she do that? And then go so easily back and forth to melodic to that or Tatiana from Ginger, you know, it's like I'm just in such awe, Like how do you do that for an hour? Two hours or anything like that? And it's it's practice and training.

6:48 Yeah, and also you know, go back to it. It's perseverance, right, It's especially you know as the vocalist, it's something I can touch upon is just you know, it's not even the conditioning to sing, you know, for a while there I studied with actually Shania Twain's vocal coach who he passed away last year, but he taught me so much and it was one thing he always said is, you know, get on the ground and get like put your legs up and be like almost like a plank. You know, you're holding your legs up and you're engaging your core and then do your scales. And there's so much physical conditioning to be able to perform these vocal acrobatics. Right, you can get on stage and sing just fine, but when it comes to heavier music and utilizing all these different techniques, it's physical conditioning. It's also definitely, you know, physical health has a lot to do with it if you have if you have TMJ, then I you know, I have a lot of TMJ issues. I'm using all the alternate therapies I can to just make sure that this is constantly loose, because that's really what's going to at the end of the day, help me create the different sounds from you know, low growls to high fries to even just you know, distorting my voice properly and holding different notes while you know, just holding different notes

8:19 and keeping that kind of that yeah, you know, kind of going on that whole James Hetfield kind of situation. Right, Yeah, yeah, right, I'm not. A vocalist, you know, and there's and and to any aspiring vocalists, and I'm sure there's tens of thousands, you know, and people who are more and more interested in it, especially in like i'd call this renaissance of metal. There's so many online resources out there. But it's also about being careful because it does come easier for some than others. And I think learning to properly condition yourself physically and your is going to be important. And that's what makes you know, Courtney or Tatiana or just a lot of these other vocalists be able to perform for that hour, for those two hours, right, and of course giving yourself the time to rest.

9:13 As well, totally. And like I used as an example of the opposite end, one of my favorite vocalists but definitely had to change was Olie from bringing Awrives. And yeah, he was blowing out his voice, you know, and he was told, if you continue singing like this, you'll be done. And I think you have to know how to pivot, that's for sure. But that's also I think a product of maybe he didn't train properly from the very beginning. You know, yeah, who knows. You see that a lot with you know, a lot of i'd say more underground bands that are touring, and even you see it a lot with the major artists, right like Chad Kroger had to cancel how many tours with how many shows with nickel back because he had vocal I think your cists not even polyps or not? Yes, right, And you know that's something we're always living in fear of, especially you know, when we're blurting it out and and just sending it to the crowd. It's not it's not always uh, it's not always something that we could just not think about, right because one wrong move and that's you know, that's that's it for now, for a little bit into the future and hopefully not forever. But also in the case of Olie, I'd absolutely say that he's way better than he used to be. The first Bring

10:43 Me the Horizon album has a very special place in my heart. However, I think with his vocal transformation, he really managed to bring BMTH to a completely different level than they would have been otherwise. You know what's funny about that because I agree with that, and I'm a little different than the average because they're like one of my favorite bands. Okay, but I didn't get into himntil like around that's the spirit, and then I went back whereas most metal bands, like I was there from the beginning. Like you mentioned Hetfield, I was at Metallica's first show ever. I was at slayers first show ever. So what I'm about to say doesn't hold true for them. Okay, I liked him better now, Like you know, Simpleternal is one of my favorites. That's the spirit is one of my favorites. But just his diversity and his melodic tone. Now, whereas most that would have been me the original bring me fans or like sellout poser blah blah blah, I did that when Metallica it came out with black and like fucking posers sellouts, I'm not listening to your ass anymore. And that that, and you know, it's funny. I was just saying this earlier, but now you take hat Field and he was interviewed recently.

12:13 I've said this a few times because it so blows my mind. You know, they play seek and Destroy at the San Jose Shark Games, but they played the original version, and he goes, I don't get why they played that version. I didn't know how fucking sing man. Now I know I sing played the version. Now I hate that version, and me, I love his voice in the beginning, like that, to me, that's the better hat Field voice. So it just I think it's when you come in with these bands, like when you're a teenager and these bands are like a garage band, you want to stay a garage band. So if they start evolving and becoming better musicians or sell out posers, which is as an adult, is stupid shit, Like why wouldn't you want to get better? Why when an artists want to improve their craft, why would you want to stay a teenage garage quality, you know, type of thing. So I think that's the interesting part right there, you know, And that I think a lot of people that listen don't realize and don't realize what you have to do as artists to pivot to stay relevant.

13:31 There's a lot of maneuvers that you gotta look out for when staying relevant, for sure. So I'd say, like even with our material now, like the we've kind of molded this identity where we don't have a set sonic signature, like you know, it's TDP, but it's always we always try our best to cover like a wide range, like we're trying to set a precedent of unprecedented with each track that we work on. I love that. That's so old school, by the way, because I always talk about now like metal bands they follow this formula like and they exactly literally they all sound the same. And I remember being teenager and like parents saying, oh that that metal shit, it all sounds the same. I'm like, no, it doesn't. And now it does sound the same, like.

14:31 It's it's I think it's also you know, over time, these genres are subgenres of metal, just they kind of identify themselves. And you know, there's a lot of bands that I love and a lot of bands that have played an important role in my life, you know, from Trivium to children about Him and even recently, you know, I love Laurna Shore Right. My god, he's another one. How the hell does he not lose his voice? Ah? Well, you can watch that video where they stick the camera down his throat. That's actually great watch if you haven't seen that. And they actually, yeah, they actually kind of go into it, and you know, definitely he gave his tips out on how he does, you know, how he makes those sounds. Now, everybody's body is different, so don't expect to sound like him. But you know, I've used a lot of those techniques that he put out there, and I've been able to myself create new sounds. Right, it's kind of you're playing with sound and then you know, like David said, we were not setting any particular precedent in our sound. You can hear a song, you can hear another song, and you'll of ours and you'll see, okay, well this is one, this is two. Everything is different because there's different elements. But at the same time you're like, okay, but there it's still them. And even with what we're cooking up now, it's there is no defining you know, subgenre to our I.

16:03 Love that to our sea because I fucking hate genres, the micro genres and subgenres. Like when I go I go on tour, I do coverage at music festivals all over US, UK and Europe. Like one of the things I do is sometimes I'll do as a question, if you were to pick your own genre that was only your band, what would be what would you name it? Because that's pretty much how ridiculous it has gotten, like it's so finite and to your point, before okay, so Metallica, before there was a thrash metal, they were considered power metal for a minute because there was no such thing as thrash metal. You know what it was like. There was metal basically, you know, and it didn't have to be separated like that, and then it did start separating.

16:52 It just became more and more to now there's so many ridiculous genres, subgenres, microgenres, like you can't even name them all. We wouldn't have enough time during this. Lord, no, absolutely not. And you know it's also I think when going back to you know, the whole bring me the Horizon conversation right where there were almost this death core heavy metalcore band at the start, and while they still retained you know, that metal core element, they went definitely more poppy, right or electronic or synthetic or whatever you want to say in their sound. They definitely strayed far from where they were in the beginning. And you know, people are like posers, sellouts, whatever, and that's one thing we wanted to avoid because at the end of the day, every band and all of us musicians were artists, right. We want to create, and I think especially when you have members coming from a variety of different backgrounds musically, in terms of training, in terms of just the bands we like and our inspirations, and even then what we enjoyed to listen to and our guilty pleasures, like I will put on the Back Boys every day if I have the choice, just because I grew up with that, right, Or I'll put on you know, your Riah Heat because it's one of my mom's favorite bands.

18:11 And then you kind of go through this and you go, well, there's no reason to just define yourself. So let's you know, subvert any expectations that anyone has of us. So they can't say we sold out, they can't say, you know, we change. Man, We're not the same divine project that we used to be and we always want and I think as artists we should be allowed to, you know, freely express ourselves. And that's all, you know, one of those whole with the whole micro genre subgenre conversation, I think it's you know, people are imposing limits upon themselves in in an effort originally to be unique, right, because you can categorize your music as X, Y or Z And yes, I said zed, so.

18:59 Please have a good laugh. Okay, but right, But it's one of those things where you know, it's imposing those limitations, I think becomes a bit of a problem. And then that's why you see bands dry up. That's why you see them kind of fade out, uh, break apart, build new projects because one wanted to go in one direction and other people wanted to go in another. Right, and sometimes that band still stays the same, they sound different because the parts that made them special have disappeared, and then they either become bigger or you know, they they don't. But I think it's all about, you know, freedom of artistic expression and not allowing yourself to get categorized as any one particular thing.

19:45 And so I'm one hundred percent for the you know, subgenre nano genre argument, like fuck that, And. You just spoke my language completely because you know, back in the day, I remember when I was playing guitar, my dad would yell from the other room. He's like, you sucks, you should give that up. And he was saying that because I was just experimenting with the sounds, you know, and seeing what I could make as a sound. And I think that's what started metal really was making experimental sounds. And like you mentioned, you're Riyah heat. Okay, that's one of Metallica's influences, you know. And that is a difference is my generation's influence. We didn't have this that we have now. The influences were at heaviest Priests and Maiden, but they were usually UFO, maybe Mountain Zeppelin, you know, and that was the evolution, whereas now you're taking bands like Possessed and Venom being the influences. So I've think that also creates that tighter you have to it has to be just like this, you know type of thing. But I think we all have different tastes in music, you know. It's funny people ask me what type of music I like. I say, I have a

21:16 lot of but my passion is for metal and punk. But I also like this, this, this, this, this, this, this, you know, and it's just music. It's all music. It's a different vibe, you know. I was somebody that as a teenager, I went to Slayer shows on Friday night and Dead shows on Saturday, and you know, it's like, you know, it's I think that's what we're losing now is a love artists nowadays they're not taking those multiple influences where I think bands like you, they're the bands that are going to stick around because that's how you create the unique sound is by blending all these multiple influences to create what you sound like. And then also to your point of what you're saying, going back to Olie, when when I was getting all the shit for the music New music, Allie said something, I thought, what's brilliant?

22:12 He goes, why do I want to write the same song over and over again? And I think about that and like, if I was an artist and I had to do that, it'd be frickin' boring. Oh yeah, yeah. I make it a point to like when we're writing songs, I make sure to like never write the same style twice, or like if we pull like a you know, a specific musical trope out of a bag of tricks, I always make sure, like do we do this last song? Can we try something different? Can we stay fresh? You know? Like that's I love that. That's just like the mindset when we go in. When I go in, so what I want to know is what starred to all for both of you, Like, when did you know that music was your path in life?

22:57 What happened? Oh? I know when I was starting to learn guitar in high school. At some point I started, I stopped learning songs and started messing around on my own. And I remember one. Day I was just looking up for ways to record myself and I discovered Audacity. You know, that free audio editor on the. Which is so robust now and it's still. I haven't I haven't checked it out in a while, but apparently people can really cook with that thing, so kudos to them. I use it here at the radio studio here, actually better at all of them. It's better row tools or any of that shit. And nowadays it's so upgraded that it can do pretty much anything you need to do.

23:44 That's awesome. I'll look into that. But yeah, I remember picking up Audacity like twenty thirteen or something, and I just recorded a couple of tracks for the first time, and I was like, whoa, this is different. Wait a minute, and from very despiraled. To just nice. Yeah, how about you? Oh well, I guess my story is a little bit longer because it goes all the way and goes back i'd say twenty seven years, twenty eight years. I was absolutely obsessed with Hansen when I was three four years old, all right. I even had I even had their like tour vhs and you know, umbob fever was everywhere in the late nineties, and I think the moment it happened was I was at an event with my parents and I just began dancing. The rest of the night beyond that as a blur, but everyone was clapping for me, and so that's when I found out I was the resident ham But it sort of evolved from there because I really wanted to mimic that, and my father being musician as well, you know, it kind of went wow, like all these guitars and whatnot, I have an interest in this, and so they put me on piano. You know, typical Eastern European upbringing. You learn piano, you gole, all right,

25:17 and that was the start of it. And I really enjoyed just playing on piano, and you know, I kind of began experimenting with writing with my rudimentary ideas, and then when I was exposed over time to heavier music, and I really remember, you know, system of a down corn Being and Lincoln Park being my gateway into heavier music. It kind of became this while I started to experiment with writing lyrics, right, just these kind of darker lyrics, these different themes, and even almost ended up getting expelled from my elementary school for them. So that's that's a thing that happened. They thought I was possessed by the devil.

26:03 But then again, the Catholic school system, well there you go at its finest and then yeah, I mean I didn't think I could sing people. You know, then my parents would push me. It's like you want this, Like then you have to show that you could do you could do this. So I was forced to go on stage sing found out I had a voice. People were like, well, shit, this kid can actually hold a tune, so let's use him. And I ended up really liking it and then putting everything together in my discovery of just heavy metal. You know, Iron Maiden was a big one. Hammerfall started getting into a lot of that power metal helloween right, Trivium I think was the biggest game changer for me. Just something about and this would have been about two thousand and four, two thousand and five, so right about the time Ascendency was coming out, and I just really liked Matt's voice and I was like, I'm going to forge my voice and my identity around this. And you know, I'd bounced around for several years through different genres, just kind of experimenting and finding myself. And then I think that really it went from just you know, learning to play the piano and dancing and you know, liking music and wanting to be like these people that I idolized to eventually forging my own musical identity through a very non linear path that when you look at it makes no sense,

27:36 right from folk music to opera, traditional you know, performances, all the way to pop punk to metal to pop. I had a solo pop project I was just experimenting with, and you know, I love doing that, and I think that's where that was kind of the key that turned everything where I went. I did everything on my own. I paid for a studio, I paid for musicians, I wrote the songs, they put everything together. We recorded these songs, we put them out and they gained a little bit of traction, and you know, ultimately, well COVID kind of stopped that dead in its tracks because I had the bright idea of releasing these in September twenty nineteen. Needless to say, I think you know, it's it was definitely nonlinear, but it's been like I couldn't be happier with everything that I've experienced and everything that I've seen, and I think you know, as musicians, it's those experiences that mold us right, like it's having a Eureka moment and just realizing, like, you know, this really is what I want to do.

28:48 Your day job beside, you got to pay the bills, but you know, you'd rather pay the bills doing something you love, or as that one interview goes, you know, don't love your job, job your love. Yeah, there you go, there we go. Because listen, we spend most of our life working. If we're not having fun, it really sucks to be blunt, you know. And if you're especially in this business, if you're in the music business and you're not having fun, this is the wrong business because if you're not having fun playing music, the rest of this business really sucks. So like, you better be having fun. And so tell us about rebirth.

29:36 Ah well, four tracks of badassy from stuff that's all you need done? No, no, it was. It was I think a defining moment for us all when we got into the room together. So the band kind of rebuilt from the ashes. Eric, who's not with us here today, he you know, was always he always had this project, the Divine Project, going on and through several you know, I don't want to say failed, you know, versions of the band. Uh. He kind of came across us over time. And rebirth, I think is all of our musical rebirth. We got in that room and we finally wrote the things that we loved, we found a sound, and when we got to the studio and put everything together, finally it's you know, four tracks of pure badass energy, right, and it showcases us.

30:38 And I'd say it's more than the band's rebirth or this project's rebirth. It's our own rebirth as artists and really getting in touch with ourselves and what we can do and what we can create. I think that's what it takes too. I think it's very rare that your junior high school or your high school friends that you put a band together that going to be on the same page after you become like an adult or whatever, you know, and you take any of the bands that really may big a lot of them. There was some transformation. You go back to the Beatles, there was transformation before they really made it. The Metallica perfect example, like had mistained stayed in the band, would we know Metallica today? I don't think so. I think there was too much ego between Laurs, James and Dave to have that long term chemistry that we have now.

31:34 You know. Yet you have somebody like Kirk who doesn't mind not being the head honcho in charge, you know, and I think that works for them, you know. And there was mentioned earlier about you know, your own project needs. The reason Newstead left was because he wasn't allowed to do anything outside of Metallica, you know. And then even that caused James and Lars to think about and go, we were kind of dicks about that. That was stupid, you know. And so I think as you get older, it's just it's a normal thing to evolve. And then that's when you really find your people and you're as I would say, band soulmates, you know, because rarely are you on the same page as your teenage friends after you're a teenager.

32:26 Yeah, no, that's that's a given. I can go back to my high school band and be like, oh, and like, while our drummer from my high school band actually went and did great things. He's a jazz drummer now. Nice. Definitely not on the same page we were back then, but you know, you know, in our own rights, I think, yeah, it's definitely like that personal evolution. And you know, so when you look at those, if you will, those I don't want to say romantic, but romanticize stories that you read about, you know, they were friends in high school and they formed a band and now famous, like you know, I think Green Day for example, right blinkin eighty two to an extent, all right, so when you look at that, it's just like, well, they got they got lucky.

33:11 They also all have one common thing, the drama. Like look at again Metallica. They had to go through therapy, like a band going through therapy to stay together. Like there's a lot of drama that happens when you're not aligned anymore and you either have to do something to get back aligned or things change, and sometimes that's when the best things happen too. It's a relationship right at the end of the day. Hell yeah, I mean listen, if you're in a band, you spend more time with your bandmates than you would to somebody you're married to. But you know you're on the road under the not best of conditions. It's everything like you better really get along because everything else is gonna just make them on a fight.

34:03 Or abandon your fellow bandmates at a gas station. That too, or like they did the Dave. You know. So it's good that you have this rebirth. It sounds like you're on the path now that this is what the divine project is and. Will be oh amen to that. M So tell everybody how they reach out to you. Guys on socials on the web, check out all your stuff, buy your merch. They can't listen to my show unless say, buy your merch, because they're fucking assholes. If they don't, well, okay, you got it, all right me?

34:46 Oh I I talk too much, David. It's only all right, all right, all right, right. You can find us on our website ATDPP whatever that thing is. Www. There's like seven ws in there, probably tdpdofficial, dot calm. You can find all of our upcoming shows there. We will have a merch page up soon, but that's in the works. The only way to get merched is to show up to our shows right now. Which they should do anyway, which they should do anyway. Please drop by. We'd love to have you. We love to have tons of fun during our shows. It's going to be a riot. Yeah, it's gonna be. I don't know. I don't know how much we can announce. We are we allowed to say.

35:27 Like future shows here, Well, we can mention north By Northeast. Yeah, we're part of the North By Northeast showcase this year. So that that's cool. Yeah, that was That was a big announcement for us to be able to make. Uh. The other one we can't announce just yet because we haven't gotten the resources to do. So you don't have to go ahead from like. The Yeah, yeah, we haven't gotten we haven't gotten to go ahead yet. But if you follow us at the Divine Project on most social media, whether that's TikTok, Instagram, Facebook threads, even on our website, if that's how you want to go about it, you'll be able to see.

36:13 Our new, very exciting announcement. And while we may not be coming south of the border to you very soon, it's a very exciting opportunity, I think, and I think there will be a crowd. It'll be an absolute riot, new place for us to tear up and kind of show. Who we are. Nice. Well, we all need to escape the States to you guys anyway. Well come on buy you know, north by Northeast. We'll show you some good old Canadian hospitality. Eh, nice, nice and so yeah, I love it, and I love that they have to follow your socials so that they can find out the new stuff for sure.

37:00 Oh yeah, and is there anything else you want the listeners to know that we haven't covered already. Even though we don't know you, we love each and every one of you from the very bottom of our hearts. That's not sarcasm, just because as as a band, as an artistic entity, it's your support at the end of the day that gets us through it all and drives us to do what we do. So that I think, you know, give yourselves a big pat on the back for supporting even your very own local artists, because it means so much more than I think anyone listening could even realize. Sometimes, right just being part of that crowd.

37:40 And even participating, you know, there's five of you in the crowd and I ask you to go hey, and you do, like you know, that means so much more, you know than anyone could ever think, right it kind of it is that driving force, whether you're playing for two people and that's your parents, or your playing for you know, a sold out a sold out club, you know, of two hundred people, it's or even you know, ten thousand people. It's exactly that. And that's why those moments matter so much. And I think it lends itself to the energy because, like you said, like, why do it if you're not having fun? And I think part of the fun is interacting with everybody that we get to meet. Right, There's no there's no the stage shouldn't be some sort of pedestal, some sort of you know, elevated position physically.

38:35 Not much we could do about that. But it never was that way either back in the eighties. You know it's Sunset Strip, Troubado or places like that. Like you were right there and everybody got up on the stage kind of like when Penny Wise does a show, Oh yeah, throw him everybody that was Every show was like that. Now, Like and stage dive, okay, how do people even stage dive? Off? Of a stage. Now, first of all, they don't let you on a second of all, you have to like dive like ten feet forward to get to the crowd. Yeah. Yeah, No, I don't think I've actually really seen a stage dive in any shows I've been to as of late. I think the last one was shutout of intent, Like you know, I think that's the last time I saw somebody stage dive, and even then security had to like basically push them off the stage.

39:27 So yeah, well that's what used to happen to. You would just get up on stage and run from security. It's hard for the audience to reach the band that way, but we make it a point to jump into the crowd during every seat. So I see. I love when bands do that because that's how you get those loyal fans, because they realize you're just one of them. And that's the one thing about metal that's better than anything is metal musicians are metal heads, you know. And you know, so there's plenty of musicians and other genres that aren't even into their music, okay, but metal heads are normally true to the music and they're a fan first musician. Second.

40:16 Yeah, it's definitely I've seen a lot of like pop or like just audiences that aren't really metal, and you see people just standing there watching and if you do any kind of moving you sometimes get dirty looks. But in metal shows you can have as much fun as you want, which is so nice to see. I was at a show recently that wasn't metal, and I was trying to get to the front and I wasn't even trying to do it for the normal reason I would do it. I was trying to do it so I could get to the photo pit as media, and these assholes would not let me through. And when I say these assholes, it wasn't a couple. It was like all these people and like, I don't subscribe to the I've been standing here all day for my spot thing. Okay, well then you're a loser if you're missing all the other bands because you want to get your spot, especially at metal show. And I see people that start getting mad because they're at a Slipknot show and they're at the very front and people are shoving them, like, where do you think you are the samet fucking Peter Pan man, it's Slipknot. You don't want to get bashed, get out of the way. Just my viewpoint. Okay, but it's like it's but at metal, it's like people aren't uncool like that, like it's metal gets a bad name. Metal Heads are the nicest people, one big family. Nobody's out to maim each other, nobody's out to hurt each other. You pick people up, and you know what if somebody, if I'm

41:48 going through a crowd, all I have to do is say I'm heading to a pit, and the people will move out of my way and like, have at it respect. Go ahead, you say that at a country show and some redneck drinking Jack Daniels gonna want to punch you out. Okay, that's if. It's he can even afford Jack Daniels. Well here I'll give you my final story that you'll absolutely love. That's related to bring me the horizon. All right. So one one year, several years ago, I had to cover two festivals on the same weekend. Obviously I couldn't do that. So one of my engineers here in the studio, I was having her go do and cover this one festival.

42:33 She had never been to a rock show ever, much less a metal show. She was a country girl, and so I said to her, I'm like listen, and she was really scared, and I'm like, listen, you're gonna have the best time of your life. This isn't like going on your one of your country shows where a bunch of redneck idiots are being macho and drinking Jack Daniels and kicking the shit out of each other. There actually isn't normally even a fight at metal shows. No, amash bit is not a fight. And I said, you're gonna go to this show and you're probably gonna make a bunch of new friends, you'll probably have a new boyfriend, and you'll see we're one big, happy family, and you'll have the best time of your life. So she comes back after the weekend she goes, oh my god, you are so right. I tea bag some dude as my boyfriend now and I have all these people was hanging out with, I was friends with, and I have this new favorite band I don't know if you know who they are there called bring Me the Horizon. Then, and I think that you know, that is the point. I think if people experienced it, they would realize it's not as scary as they think. But then I interview a bunch of bands at festivals. I'm like, let's let them.

43:54 Let's let them the bands will be Let's let them keep thinking we're a bunch of scary people so we can keep the assholes out because it is true, that is what keeps the assholes out. But you know, and. I did. There was Oh I got another bring Me a quick one. I was doing download and bring Me was headlining, and there was this dude. He must have been like six foot seven, five hundred pounds, big fucking dude. He came into the pit and he started doing what those people do, like showing how big and tough. He was like, those are the people. I'm a little dude. I let I'll come around the pit like and then like Mike Tyson, lunge up from underneath you and I'll be on the other side of pit before he even saw who it was.

44:41 Type of thing, you know, but they always like want to show how tough they are. And then everybody just teamed up and pushed this dude out of the pit. He was picking on the little dudes and try and act all tough, and then one dude that was bigger than him walked up to him and he's like, yeah, why don't you push me around? And he took him a pit, and the dude was sitting outside the pit the rest of the time just looking in because he was being watched, and he wasn't allowed back in the pit again. So that's our metal family. That's our metal family. That's the way it should do. I have a solution to all the world's problems. We just need one big music festival everybody in the world is required to attend and throw everybody into a mash pit. We'll all work it out and we'll all come out friends. The war and.

45:33 They just needed to hop into a wash pit too. Exactly, that's all. That's what they should have done. They spent all that money on therapy, just go to They should have got into like a Slayer show and jumped in. The back better than a worm hug anyways. Exactly. You could throw Dave in there too, you know, you know, you guys, wash it out, Dave, you and laws wash it out, okay, and get it out of your system. Yeah, I mean absolutely, why not? Right? But that's and that's definitely i'd say the magic of the metal community. I think there are other you know, when you look at similar communities, or communities that are like in tandem.

46:17 If you look at like the punk community, the emo community or whatnot, there's definitely less of that camaraderie, a lot more drama even attending no effects shows. You know, I was at the you know, the Gray Star City with the twenty five years of Fat Wrecked, which absolutely fantastic, you know festival that it was, But the amount of drama I saw just around the pit, right just in the crowd because you did have you know, those guys show up that think they're bigger than everybody else and just start wind milling in the middle of the pit and it's just like no one's going near there. But then leave it to like the five foot nothing like chick with blue hair to fucking just knock him out.

47:02 Oh yeah, I love it. Are the biggest badasses in the pit, Like I love. Sing that shit. Man. Oh yeah, wait, Like I'm six four, so I'm you know, it's like seeing another tall dude in the pit, it's like whatever, like you know, we're we're gonna bump, but like whatever, I'm scared of the five foot nothing, four foot eleven girl with like five different colors in her hair and like twenty different piercings, like just sending it because she's launching like all one hundred pounds of her body weight at like maximum velocity at you. And it's just like, I'm gonna stay away. From that, no doubt. Like that. Listen, I'm five foot seven and you know I don't weigh much of anything.

47:45 Don't get near me in the pit and try to fuck with me. You know. And it is like that, Like I even remember being younger, and it's like people would approach me, these big dudes and shit, and I would just look at him. I'm like, I'll kill you right where you stand. And they look down at me and they're like, I'm not fucking with him. He must be crazy, you know. So, and that is why I think you find that most metal heads are similarly my size, because that is the place we can be to get away from the buoys, you know, and those bullys that try to come in the pit, You're coming in our pit is kind of how it comes down to, and that's how you take care of them.

48:36 There you go. So let's just solve all the world's problems. We should put like your Prime Minister and Trump into a mosh pit. Like a wall of death. Well, oh, man, do I want to be playing that show? Or do I want to be in the crowd for that? I don't know, I want to be. Want to be playing that show? Are you kidding me? The insane? That would be Uh, you know, we'll just take We'll take Carnie, We'll take uh, we'll take Trump, We'll take Putin, We'll take uh, what's that. The guy from Korea? North Korea?

49:20 Yeah, yeah, we'll take uh, what's what's the leader from Belarus? What's his name? Hope and call any political leaders watching right now, we invite you. Come to a TDP show. We'll get you set up. Yeah, easy, and. Uh. The first one is secure world Peace gets free, gets a free hoodie. There you go. And and they can only get on the guest list if they're willing to go into the moshpit. Amen. That well, you guys fucking rock and everybody should check you out. And I hope to see a lot more of you, and I hope to see you at the States, that is, if we have the States before long.

50:01 To see you at a show man, yeah, for sure. Definitely you have to. You guys got to hit up some of the Danny Wimmer festivals here or just meet me over in like download Bloodstock. Actually, you guys would probably be good at Bloodstock. That's a great festival. You know that festival. Check it out. Bloodstock. It's a killer it's a killer festival. Small community, you know, really decade metal people, the people that run into real dedicated to the music. It's not like you know, corporate America where it's all about the money and transactional. It's it's it's a real metal festival and they do cool shit. Like a couple of years ago, they have a surprise band every year that will play in like the small tent.

50:46 A couple of years ago it was a machine Head. Oh what whoa. Last year? Uh? That was it there? I think it was there. I can't remember if it was their or hell Fest. I saw a nail like their first performance and since the beginning and what's supposed to be the last one, But then they did more after that because it's like, hey, everybody came out for this, you know, so next we'll see the Divine Project. You'll be the special surprise band. You know, we're not a band to turn away from opportunities. So yeah, whatever you put in front of us, whatever obstacles, whatever, whatever is in our way.

51:27 Well, you know. Yeah, And if you guys watching and listening, if you want us to come down to where you are, follow us on socials, let us know you want to see us. We are down to tear up your town. Just give us a ring and they won't be sorry about it either. Absolutely not. Pas always we'll always make sure to have a special line emerge to commemorate the moment. I mean, I had to throw that in because you're Canadian and you guys always say sorry. Oh sorry, you're good. Yeah, let's girl friends with I was walking down the road in Costa Rica and she's on the phone with me and she heard somebody say sorry to me and she goes, were they Canadian? They were so all right? Well, you guys rock and thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man.

52:22 Thanks for having us on this one man. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipemin on w for CUI Radio.