Volumes Debut at Louder Than Life: Inside the Band’s Evolution and Festival Adventures

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. Michael Barr and Mike Terry from Volume. Nice. I like it when the artists say it better than me. For sure. Because you say cool. And I don't want to fuck up the band name either. If I fucked up your name, that would be pretty bad. But still, you never know nowadays. Like, but you're here at Laird and Life. How badass is this?

0:48 Except that's fucking hot as hell. It's definitely a metal show because it's so hot. It is an incredible experience. It is insanely hot right now. It's been hot since we got here like 7 a.m. and it was already a million degrees outside. So that's usually a good indication that the show is going to be equally as hot. Yeah, there you go. There you go. And so have you guys ever played louder before? No, this is our first time. Really? Yeah. Nice. What other Wimmer festivals have you played? None. This is your... You're a virgin to Wimmer Festivals. That's cool. Yeah. We've been looking forward to playing his festivals for a while. We got the offer. Couldn't believe it. It was at a very slow time for us at the beginning of the year. So, yeah, we're stoked.

1:34 So, now, did it live up to the hype in your head? Like, how do you find that Wimmer treats artists differently? So far, it's exceeded our expectations, man. The catering has been amazing. I already had breakfast and lunch. The dinner's on the way. There's a lot of people here. Everyone's been super helpful. It's hot. It's the first day of the festival, so, you know, there's obviously going to be some kinks here and there, but everyone's been really professional about, like, you know, keeping it, keeping it level-headed and keeping it cool, so that's really cool to see. See, I love hearing that because it's a hard enough job being an artist, but then when you show up to a festival and there's problems with loading or sound check, that just puts too much stress before you have to do the show. And I can tell you I've done all the Wimmer festivals since the beginning. I've never heard an artist say something bad about how they're treated at a festival that Wimmer puts on.

2:27 No, everyone's been super respectful, super helpful. It's been an amazing experience so far. Nice, nice. And so... Tell us a little bit about your story for the listeners that don't know you. Tell us how this band all started and how your musical journey started. And both of you, too, when was that time where you knew music was what you wanted to do? Yeah, I mean, this band has had quite the run. This band started in 2008. Blows your mind, right? Blows your mind how fast time flies. Yeah, I mean, our story is we started out as a really young band, kind of a crazy, chaotic band.

3:12 Toured a lot, really young. And then along the way, we've had some people go their separate ways. We've had some people pass away. Oh, that's a bummer. And that affected us, and we took some time off. But we've been back since 2023, right? And we're planning to have a big two years ahead. Hopefully get two more albums out here very soon. Yeah. Nice. And what can we expect from the new albums and the new music? Just a much more elevated, leveled up version of volumes. See, I like how you said that, too, because like. You know, as a band, a lot of your old school fans, they want you to stick to what you were in the beginning. But as an artist, you want to, like, evolve and experiment and get better at your craft, not stay a garage band, you know?

4:01 Yeah. And I think a lot of the old school fans, me too, with certain bands, it's like there's that nostalgia there. Yeah. But it's nicer when you can be a lot better at your craft, right? I think we've done a ton of nostalgic things, and it's certainly because our fans. Yeah, that's cool. We care about them a lot, and we've always honored albums like Via, which is one of our albums that people are obsessed with. But I think it's time for the band to jump and take a leap creatively and show a new side. And we'll still always be these nostalgic guys that are always going to cater to the fans since day one, but there's a lot of creativity brewing on the other side of that that we're trying to explode.

4:48 Yeah, well, because as an artist, you don't want to make the same album over and over again. It's not fun for you. And it's already been done. So why not expand on it? Yeah, exactly. If you have the opportunity to explore new things, you should be able to have the freedom to feel like you can do it. No doubt. It's time. It's time for the band to take that route. So when you guys are not doing music, Ben, what's your passion? What are you into when you're not doing music? I like to cook. I do catering on the side, like events and work at festivals, do other kind of festivals back home. Just anything, really. I like anything that involves being in the kitchen. Guess I'm obsessed with heat because it's always hot. I know right so this it feels like at home right now Like you're right in the oven.

5:34 Lacking the grill sizzling behind me. All right, right. We'd be good. What what's your favorite thing to cook? Probably It's pretty basic but spaghetti I really really love spaghetti. I All right. Well, there you go. My kids, they always tell the story to everybody. It's like old dad ever made for us with spaghetti. Hey man. So, Hey, that's not a bad thing. No, exactly. If it's good, it's good. It could be. Yeah. It's never let you down, man. There you go. Yeah. How about you? Oh, I mean, when I'm home, I live by the beach. So surf super into. The water, hang out with my dog. Um, Yeah, I'm just, like, focused for once all on music.

6:18 I've had. Me and Mike used to work at the same pizza company for years. Nice. We've had plenty of jobs like that. And I think for once it's nice just to, you know, devote myself and focus on music, something I haven't been able to do in 15 years. So I'm trying to give that a chance for a little bit. See, that's pretty cool. And I was just talking before with Ty from Suicidal, and we were talking about, like, I go on tour and I do festivals all over North America, UK, and Europe. And then when I'm done and I'm like home, I'm like, I want to escape from the world. So I go to Costa Rica surfing. Yep, yep. I saw that when I sat down. I said, my guy.

6:59 There you go. I haven't been to Costa Rica. Oh, you gotta go. I live in Ventura. C Street. Nice. So in the 80s, I lived in LA. So I lived in Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Agora, you know. The Strand, C Street. Yep, yep, yep. Oil Piers. It's not even, well, it's not even there anymore, but you go further north. Yeah. And see, I live in South Florida now. So that's why I have to go to Costa Rica because like during the summer, I get back and I look out my window. I'm like, fuck, it's flat again. There's waves in Pensacola, dude. Gulf breeze. Oh, dude. My daughter lives in the panhandle at Navarre Beach. Yeah. And there were killer waves there. But the thing there, too, is ignorance is bliss when you're surfing. I'm standing on the pier. I'm looking down, and there were hammerheads and tigers everywhere. I'm like, I don't want to know they're there.

7:50 I know they're there. I don't want to see them. Say where I live now. I live at a high-rise on an island in Florida. And we have the migration. There'll be like thousands of sharks. I'm like, I don't want to see that shit because I'm in the water. I don't see it. So it's cool. I don't know you're there. It's your home. I'm just a visitor. But I don't want to see you. You know? But yeah, I... I tend to, like, wherever I go in the world, I want to find the surf spots. Oh, yeah. You remember after COVID, Hellfest had those two weekends long, the 360 band. I do, yeah. So I covered that. And so I rented a place right near Hellfest. It's a, like, popular spot. I can't ever pronounce the name right. It's, like, in French. But during the weekends, I'd be at the festival moshing. And during the week. I'd be in the water surfing. It's like, it's killer, you know? So that's why I love to hear what you guys' passions are outside of music, because I think people don't realize, you know, you're just human beings. You have other things you do besides music, you know? This is pay-at-the-office.

9:00 Yeah, exactly. Don't take this the wrong way, but the last thing I thought would be, like, you surf. Well, there you go. It's fucking sick to talk to you. So it's a better air of you too, right? Because you got to answer the same stupid questions all the time. That's why I want to hear what you're passionate about so I can talk about something different, you know? All right, let's just talk about surfing now. Let's do it. Let's do it. Where's your favorite place to surf. In the world? I mean, I have not done any surfing trips like that, but I would say Mexico is very different than the waves in South California. Yeah, yeah. I went to San Pancho and what's the other one? Fuck, I can't believe I'm drawing a blank.

9:47 Not Sausalito, that's California. I forget the name, but there's two really popular surfing towns in Mexico that are considered the gem towns. that I've gone to there. And you're right, it is very different. I've been at Pipeline when they canceled the Pipeline competition because the waves were 35 feet and brutal. Literally, I didn't even go in the water. I was standing at the edge, ankle deep in the water. And in like 10 seconds, my knees were under the sand and it flipped me on my ass. I wasn't even in the water yet. It was so bad. Dude, my uncle used to body surf pipeline in the 70s.

10:29 That's sick. That's how I started. His toes are literally inverted. I'm sure. Because that is sick. so that's pretty cool sorry. To bore everyone about all this. Nobody's bored by that man and if you're going to surf you should surf in LA except it's nice to not have a wetsuit that's what I like about Costa Rica there's no sharks there either I only worry about the crocodiles there so what else do you want to tell the listeners we haven't covered yet they got coming up that they need to know. About We have a pretty solid year next year in touring.

11:11 We already have a lot of confirms on stuff. I can't really talk about it, but next year's going to be a lot of fun. More fly-ins and less club touring for us, so bigger shows, more excitement. And we're pretty hell-bent on making two records here with the next two years. Volumes has a tendency to take some time off in between the records, and we're trying to avoid that and make them. within two to three months. I love that. That's so old school too because it's like used to be back in the day you always put out an album every year no matter what band you were and now it's like they wait three, four years or drop a song and that's it. We have a lot of ideas floating around and stuff that we didn't put on the last album and just stuff that We need where we can pick up off of.

11:54 So it's time, man. We got a lot of stuff to get with. And why not strike while the iron's hot, you know? Do it. Well, that means everybody's got to check your socials and your website and everything to know what's up and what's coming up. And they got to buy your fucking merch because otherwise they can't listen to my show. Yeah, for sure. It's the only way you get to the next gig. Exactly. Well, you guys rock. I'm glad you're here at Louder Than Life. You brought a little cooler weather now. Looks like it's now getting cooler. We have a breeze. Feels nice. So maybe stick around. And thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Thank you for having us. You got it. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man. On W4CY Radio.