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Welcome to another episode of 
Metal Mastermind. 

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Co founder and your Co host 
Jason Stallworth. 

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Also Co founder and Co host the 
great Ken Candelas. 

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What's up dude? 
Welcome to Middle mastermind. 

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Love it, man. 
I'm good. 

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I'm very busy. 
As you know, Jason and I, we've 

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been, we've been super busy 
guys. 

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Holy crap. 
There's a lot going on behind 

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the scenes. 
You probably noticed our podcast

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has taken a little bit of a 
slower turn. 

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And that's not because, you 
know, we're just dropping off 

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the face of the earth. 
We're doing a lot of things 

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behind the scenes. 
Jason's working on a whole bunch

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of stuff and so am I. 
So, but we're, we're doing 

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another episode today, which I 
think will be a really fun one, 

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right, Jay? 
This is going to be this is 

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going to be extremely fun one 
guys cuz everybody listening can

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like relate times 100 to what 
we're talking about today. 

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And that's like what's the thing
or the band or the artist or 

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person or maybe the life event 
like what happened? 

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What got you into rock and metal
music? 

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But even going to the next 
level, what made you want to 

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pick up that instrument? 
Whether it's bass guitar, I know

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we got a lot of guitar players 
on here. 

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Maybe you're a vocalist. 
So like what enticed you? 

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So you know, we're going to 
we're going to talk about that 

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and talk about also after we 
share our stories, how going 

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back to that initial passion, 
that initial fire can just 

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reignite that fire today. 
I say that because I've gotten 

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so many comments on my channel 
and in my YouTube channel and 

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even on metal mastermind YouTube
channel where people have gotten

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away from the instrument, like 
20-30 even. 

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I've had somebody say I I played
guitar 40 years ago and I just 

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picked it back up because I saw 
one of you guys videos and 

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that's just like, dude, that's 
just heart melting. 

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I'm like, whoa, OK, so I think 
in today's conversation is going

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to be fun in those two aspects. 
It's going to take you back to 

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memory lane and also reignite 
that fire again because you 

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know, we all our fires all kind 
of like they'll burn hot and 

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then they'll die out sometimes, 
right, dude? 

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So dude, on that note, yeah, 
yeah, they, we're going to 

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rekindle that relationship with 
Meadow some look, some of you 

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are burning strong right now. 
So just let this, let this 

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podcast feel that even more. 
But Ken, I want to start with 

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you, dude, because you and I, we
come from 2 generations. 

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I'm I'm 49 years old. 
So just to be like, so you don't

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have to look at the date we're 
filming this in June of 2024. 

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I just turned 49 years old. 
I'm almost half a freaking 

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century, dude. 
And Ken, how old are you at this

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point? 
I'm 32. 

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Wow dude I suck at math but 
that's almost like 20 years 

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right A. 
Little close to that was at. 17,

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yeah, something like that. 
Yeah. 

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There, there's this, there's 
this kid, He was kind of like, 

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not, not bright, but he was 
loud. 

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This is like way back in high 
school and this is not relevant 

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at all, but the teachers like, 
how many times do I have to tell

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you to sit down and be quiet? 
He's like 17, just some random 

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number. 
Well, you know, when I was born,

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Jason was still a Rascal in high
school. 

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So here we go. 
Yeah, dude, that's probably 

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yeah, because I, I graduated 
high school in 1993, barely 

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grew. 
I think I was like, you know, 

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430 something out of 450 
students. 

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I barely made it out, man. 
But dude, going back, like what?

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What age were you when you got 
into music? 

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I know you got some history with
your dad being being a musician 

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and drummer and just a really, 
really cool dude there, but what

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was the thing that got you into 
music in general even before you

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started playing an instrument? 
Well, that's interesting. 

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Well, my father was, he was very
adamant about keeping music 

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playing in the family all the 
time. 

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And actually a lot of it was 
also my mother because my 

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mother, she would every time she
would clean, she'd always play 

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classical music or new age like 
Enya type stuff. 

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And so I grew up always kind of 
hearing music. 

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And my father, he would take his
Sansui, you know, AV receiver 

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and he would, you know, hook it 
up with his a Newmark CD player 

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and he would just play, you 
know, like Chicago, Boston, he 

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played the classics. 
He he loves classic rock. 

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So I would, I would listen to a 
lot of this stuff all the time. 

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And, you know, I when I was a 
kid living in Jackson Heights, 

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we had an apartment here. 
I was really, really creative. 

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I was always playing either like
a video game. 

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Like I I remember getting Super 
Mario 64 for the first time. 

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I remember getting The Legend of
Zelda for the first time. 

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I remember. 
Growing up and playing NES with 

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my brother, because my cousins 
had an NES and we would go over 

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their house and we would play 
the NES. 

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You know, when I'm like 3-4 
years old, I still have those 

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memories. 
Super Nintendo. 

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Oh my God, I, I grew up with 
video games. 

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That was like my, my childhood. 
But in terms of music, like a 

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lot of the music from video 
games was like really 

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influential on me and I would 
spend a lot of time drawing and,

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you know, making characters just
because like I had, you know, 

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just an interest in that. 
I would even make these sort of,

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I don't know if you were a kid 
doing this kind of stuff, I 

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would make paper dolls out of 
just you like drawings I made 

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and I cut them out and then I 
would totally just like play 

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with them. 
So I always had a large amount 

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of creativity as a child. 
My mother was very, very adamant

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about making sure that I always 
nerd got nurtured in that. 

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And when I was in kindergarten, 
you know, I would build like 

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things like I build the Titanic 
out of like building blocks that

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were in the room. 
It was so impressive that she 

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even had the principal come by 
and just like, see my work. 

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And I was just like, yeah, but 
you know, this is kind of normal

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for me. 
So, yeah, great amount of 

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creativity, to say the least. 
So when I got into music, it was

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actually because, you know, I 
was already doing a lot of art. 

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And in middle school, I took a 
piano lessons and, you know, the

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piano actually was probably the 
most important instrument for me

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because we actually went a step 
further. 

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I actually learned on organ 
with, you know, petals and, you 

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know, two rows of PS. 
So I started, you know, really 

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learning independence with my 
limbs kind of early on in middle

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school. 
And when I got in through high 

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school, I was already at that 
point doing music with a video 

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game that I was really trying to
create, which was just this fan 

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fiction of The Legend of Zelda. 
And at the time I was, you know,

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like I'm anybody who knows me 
knows that I'm like a huge fan 

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of Zelda, so. 
I love Zelda dude. 

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That was an amazing game dude. 
An amazing game, amazing music, 

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amazing art. 
It was like the whole package 

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for me. 
And so when I was trying to 

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create this game, I was using 
like this software called RPG 

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Maker on Windows XP. 
And I was, yeah, I was like, you

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know, learning how to implement 
game characters. 

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And it was an easy program 
because they did already a lot 

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of the coding. 
You didn't have to do coding. 

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It was really just, you know, 
like mix and match, put it on 

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the map, you know, and then you 
kind of build it out and then 

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you can press play and then play
it. 

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So I was using that, and I was 
starting to get creative with 

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some of the characters that you 
can put in dialogue, you can put

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in sounds, you can put in music.
And I was using music from Zelda

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in this fan fiction of Zelda 
that I was making. 

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And after a while, I was like, 
you know, this is kind of cool. 

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It'd be really cool to sort of 
put, you know, my own music in 

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here if I could. 
And so my father, he said, OK, 

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this is 2000. 
What, eight No 2006, 2006 so 

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2006 he got me finale and 
actually it was 2005, but I 

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think at the time 2006 finale 
came out. 

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So they were like ahead of the 
curve. 

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So I was just at the end of, you
know, middle school going into 

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high school and I started 
working with finale and learning

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about notation. 
And I would use, I already had a

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familiarity with notes because I
was playing piano, but then I 

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would now starting to develop an
ear on what note was being 

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played, what instrument that was
going because I started joining 

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a group online. 
It was called Zelda 

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Reorchestrate. 
And if you're a Zelda fan, 

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maybe, you know, you might have 
heard of Zelda Reorchestrated, 

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which was just an online 
community of fans where, you 

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know, a team of people, myself 
included, would remake Zelda 

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music with better samples and, 
you know, reorchestrate stuff. 

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So we, to say the least, like a 
lot of my orchestration skills 

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came from that period of my life
because I learned so much about 

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what kind of instruments I was 
hearing. 

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And then I would incorporate 
those instruments, you know, 

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into the remakes. 
And then eventually I learned, 

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you know, how some of those 
instruments were used. 

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And then I of course, you know, 
later years of my life that of 

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course effects how I write. 
So that was a really interesting

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part of my life. 
And in high school, that was the

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moment where I said I didn't 
know whether I wanted to do art 

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anymore or just go into music 
because I was already so 

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involved. 
And Guitar Hero had come out and

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then Guitar Rock Band came out 
and that's when I really, that's

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when I took up the drums so. 
That was cool. 

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That's kind of that's what 
propelled me into college, 

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wanting to do music. 
So but interestingly enough, 

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like I was full on like wanting 
to compose, wanting to play 

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drums. 
I wasn't an ounce a lick of like

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interest in engineering because 
I was just like, you know, and 

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that's that's a whole other 
thing. 

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I just want to write music. 
And when I got into engineering,

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it was really because I was 
planning on going to Berkeley 

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College of Music. 
Couldn't get in because of 

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finances I actually got. 
In to the school right she. 

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Accepted me, but I couldn't go 
and. 

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We'll accept you if you can pay,
right? 

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Yeah, yeah, exactly. 
So I actually tried out twice 

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and that first semester of going
to college, like my mindset was 

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like, I'm not going to be here 
for long because I'm going to go

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to Berkeley, I'm going to try 
again and I'm going to get a 

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scholarship or whatever. 
I was just like in that mindset.

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And it did it. 
Same thing. 

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I got a little more. 
I got like a small scholarship, 

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but it wasn't enough for me to 
really convince to say, OK, I 

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got to spend 30 grand for this 
term. 

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Yeah. 
So it's like. 

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Yeah. 
It wasn't, it wasn't a good 

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move. 
So I stayed in the Community 

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College, which was Queensboro 
here in New York City. 

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And I said, you know what, OK, 
well, if I'm not going to do 

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music performance at Berkeley 
because I thought that was the 

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end all be all like a 
Conservatory, I said, well, let 

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me take up a trade. 
And I said, OK, maybe the music 

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production thing might be 
something a little bit of a 

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smarter move for me because, you
know, I get more out of it. 

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I didn't expect much from the 
music department and lo and 

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behold, that freaking changed my
life because from that point on,

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you know, the rest is history. 
If you know me in as a, you 

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know, part of a founder of metal
mastermind. 

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My background is a professor in 
audio engineering. 

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So it's, it's really funny how 
things worked out and you know, 

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that's, that's really how it got
started for. 

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Yeah, and you got to add so 
much, you know, you've added so 

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much value can like in even in 
the like the free content. 

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You guys know we have a YouTube 
channel. 

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I mean Metal Masterminds on 
YouTube. 

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Obviously all that's free 
content. 

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We've been Ken and I both, in 
case you guys don't know this 

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Metal mastermind.com our 
website, which you can access 

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all our courses, but we have a 
lot of free stuff while there 

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too. 
You and I can both have been 

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cranking out the blog post. 
Some people would say that 

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blogging is dead. 
I, I strongly disagree. 

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I think it might be dying with 
the whole AI thing. 

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And yeah, I won't go down that 
road. 

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00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,960
Like AI can be used for some, 
some great things, but it can 

224
00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,720
also be detrimental because 
people want authenticity. 

225
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:04,560
You and I aren't using AI or 
any, anything to write our, our 

226
00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:06,920
free guides. 
It we're just writing from our 

227
00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:08,920
experience. 
And just because, you know, 

228
00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,960
dude, you and I both, you have 
one of the greatest hearts of, 

229
00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,640
of a person I've ever met, dude.
And, and you and I both, we just

230
00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:17,440
want to help folks. 
We want to help people and it 

231
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,920
was funny going we'll, we'll 
jump into, you know, how you got

232
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,600
into specifically metal music. 
But I'll, I'll quickly share my 

233
00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,240
story of how I got into music 
because you and I both. 

234
00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:30,360
It's not like we started out 
like it's not like the first 

235
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,920
piece of music we heard was 
like, you know, Slayer or 

236
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,200
metallic or something like that.
It was just something completely

237
00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:37,720
different. 
You know, you were the classical

238
00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,280
with your, with your mom and 
getting into video games, which 

239
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,000
I played. 
You got the Nintendo 64. 

240
00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,760
I had the first original 
Nintendo, but before that of 

241
00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:52,320
course we had Atari and before 
that we had this console called 

242
00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,480
Odyssey 2. 
Now some of my agent up may 

243
00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,720
remember Odyssey 2 and I I never
got into programming, but we 

244
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:03,280
also had my uncle had an old did
you have. 

245
00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,120
Colecovision at all? 
Yeah, we had Colecovision. 

246
00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,800
Yeah, Yeah, we had an old 
Macintosh computer too. 

247
00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,240
And, and I and I copied. 
Yeah, old, old dude. 

248
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:17,120
I copied the program. 
I wrote a little program on how 

249
00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,120
to make a stick man. 
And of course back then a ball 

250
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:21,880
that you would program would be 
a square ball. 

251
00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:24,680
It wasn't a round ball because 
we we weren't that advanced at 

252
00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:27,840
that point in time. 
But a quick note on video games 

253
00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:29,520
though. 
The one role-playing game I 

254
00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,720
loved the most, which was on the
1st generation Nintendo, I'm 

255
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:37,080
sure they had other iterations 
after, but was called Ultima 4, 

256
00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,360
Very much like Zelda, but you 
got to choose four characters 

257
00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,000
and you, and you could choose 
what type out of like, I don't 

258
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,000
know, 10 or 12 characters. 
Like I had a druid, a cleric, a 

259
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,680
barbarian and a wizard or 
something like that. 

260
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,440
So it was really cool, man. 
And like in Zelda, you go in 

261
00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:55,680
these little towns and buy 
stuff, buy supplies, you know, 

262
00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:57,280
and then weapons and food and 
whatever. 

263
00:14:57,280 --> 00:14:59,920
And then you go to caves and 
fight demons and the dunge, just

264
00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:04,720
just like so cool. 
But my as far as music goes, I 

265
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:08,680
was recording songs off the 
radio on a cassette. 

266
00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,560
This is the old school cassette 
players where you had to press 

267
00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,440
play and record at the same time
for it to start recording on a 

268
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,400
tape. 
And of course the DJ's talking 

269
00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:19,520
through the intro. 
I'm like, DJ, shut up, I want to

270
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,280
hear the intro to the freaking 
song. 

271
00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:25,240
But I was just fascinated by 
whatever was on the radio. 

272
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,400
But it was more rock driven. 
I, I was never a country music 

273
00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:30,000
fan. 
I, I kind of grew up in a, a 

274
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,600
small town on the outskirts of 
Pensacola, FL called kind of Ken

275
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,000
Thomas slashed Molino sort of 
the, the border there, if there 

276
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,320
is one. 
And but I was never into like 

277
00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:42,320
the country stuff. 
I I like the rock'n'roll stuff 

278
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:46,200
and, and some of the pop stuff, 
everything from from Genesis to 

279
00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,840
Phil Collins to the Police Van 
Halen. 

280
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,200
I'd hear that some on the radio,
Def Leppard out here on the 

281
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,000
radio. 
And, but then also like Madonna 

282
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,080
and Prince and then forced 
Tiffany with I think you were 

283
00:15:58,080 --> 00:15:59,960
alone now you know, and all that
stuff. 

284
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:04,520
So you know, then, then Hart you
hear a lot of, so a lot of a lot

285
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:07,920
of the modern stuff at that 
time, which this was around like

286
00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:12,240
probably around like 198586. 
I was probably 10 or 11 years 

287
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,080
old when I was recording songs 
off the radio and I would just 

288
00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,080
make my own tapes. 
And I just, dude, I, I felt in 

289
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,880
love. 
I think mostly it was the 

290
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:22,600
melodies that I fell in love 
with. 

291
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,080
And a lot of people know me is, 
is my love for melodic metal. 

292
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,720
And it's just, I don't know, the
melodies are the hooks for me 

293
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:32,360
and it's just what I think 
about. 

294
00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:34,840
So yeah, that's, that's how I 
first got into music. 

295
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,840
Now of course, Fast forward, I 
got into metal years later, but 

296
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,960
I want to go back to your story.
How you know from getting into 

297
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,520
music what were the metal bands 
like or what is the artist? 

298
00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:46,920
What inspired you to go the 
metal route? 

299
00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:52,360
So my brother was the one who 
brought that forward to me and 

300
00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,320
he would play. 
It started off with things like 

301
00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:06,440
Smash Mouth and we would listen 
to Saliva, we'd listen to Tool. 

302
00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,760
Oh my gosh, we had of course, 
Metallica. 

303
00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:18,920
Disturbed was a big one for me 
with when it came to Metallica. 

304
00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,119
The first thing that I actually 
heard from Metallica was Enter 

305
00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:27,680
Sandman and and then after that 
it was Fuel. 

306
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,720
So those two songs are like 
really like harkening for me 

307
00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:34,720
towards towards my younger 
years. 

308
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,440
But I would also listen to Lamb 
of God. 

309
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,640
That was when Ashes of the Wake 
came out. 

310
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,960
Oh man, I mean, those those 
bands around like the new metal 

311
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:51,840
grunge area, that was what got 
me introduced to metal. 

312
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,400
And my my brother always loved 
that kind of music. 

313
00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:59,720
And Godsmack was another one. 
So yeah, I was, I was growing up

314
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,240
with this kind of stuff. 
And, you know, when I was on 

315
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:07,160
forums, I would listen to metal 
just like that, like typing on a

316
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,080
Legend of Zelda post. 
And I'm like listening to, you 

317
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:12,800
know, saliva in the background 
and. 

318
00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:14,680
Nothing. 
It was like. 

319
00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:19,080
For me, yeah. 
And when it came to playing 

320
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,760
metal, I mean, it was really 
because of those games. 

321
00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:29,720
Guitar Hero 3 and two 
specifically, and Rock Band was 

322
00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,520
the worst one got me into drums.
And I was just like, yeah, I was

323
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,840
adamant. 
I was like, I would always go to

324
00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:37,640
the metal songs and they were 
always the hardest ones to play.

325
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,320
And after a certain point when I
got really good at the game, I 

326
00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,040
was just like, why am I like 
playing on plastic? 

327
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,560
I should play on the real thing.
And my dad was just like, that's

328
00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:49,760
cool, man, but you're not going 
to touch my drum set. 

329
00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,120
You're going to, Nope, you're 
going to, you're going to 

330
00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:55,920
practice first on this like 
wooden pad. 

331
00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,600
It was like, it was real janky, 
man. 

332
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:06,480
It was like a practice set with 
a wood kick drum and a snare. 

333
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:11,800
You know, wooden pad that you 
had to like lock it with wing 

334
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,920
nut bolts. 
And if you didn't lock it tight 

335
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,280
enough, it would constantly tilt
over. 

336
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,360
And the top was layered with 
this special kind of rubber. 

337
00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:25,440
And I remember my father saying 
that that rubber was like magic 

338
00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:29,960
because it just rebounded 
exactly like he wanted in a 

339
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:31,520
drum. 
So he was just like, you're 

340
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,160
going to play on this and you're
going to show me that you're 

341
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,920
seriously, you're going to do a 
couple of rudiments. 

342
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,080
I'm going to show you some of 
those things and I want to see 

343
00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:45,440
what you do with them. 
And so I started doing that and 

344
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:51,360
in high school, of course, I was
going into the practice rooms 

345
00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:54,120
for instrumental majors. 
And this is where in high school

346
00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:57,960
I was kind of getting called 
like an instrument instrumental 

347
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,760
major wannabe because I went to 
a performing arts high school 

348
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,040
and it was. 
So there was 4 majors. 

349
00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:09,480
It was art, vocal, instrumental,
and drama. 

350
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:11,760
Oh, and dance. 
SO55 Majors. 

351
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,880
So very, very creative high 
school and I was in those 

352
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:21,280
practice rooms after hours or 
during lunch period just trying 

353
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,160
to play drums because I didn't 
have the drum set at home. 

354
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,800
So well, we had one, but my dad 
was like, I'm not bringing that 

355
00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,160
out unless you're serious. 
So I would just go into school 

356
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,400
and I would play the drums that 
they had at the school. 

357
00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:40,520
And it would it was funny 
because I would get somebody 

358
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,000
like one of the teachers, his 
name was thing, Mr. Blanc. 

359
00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,040
He would knock on the door. 
He would get pound because he 

360
00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:51,040
next door was a jazz class. 
And here I am in this rehearsal 

361
00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,680
room, like play my heart out to 
like Dream Theater trying to 

362
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,720
like learn Mike Portnoy riffs. 
And he's going like, hey man, 

363
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,320
like it's really cool that, you 
know, you're excited about doing

364
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:04,000
this and he. 
Looked at me like he was. 

365
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,160
So annoyed. 
He was just like, it's really 

366
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,000
cool that you're excited about 
this, but man, like you're 

367
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,000
really disturbing my class. 
No, no, dude. 

368
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,840
So, but I always kept showing up
every day. 

369
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,200
Every day I would keep showing 
up and I I talked to these guys 

370
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,560
and, you know, I felt like over 
time, in the beginning, it was, 

371
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,520
oh, you know, this punk kid 
thinks he's an instrumental 

372
00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:27,680
major or whatever. 
But over time, I actually ended 

373
00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:31,960
up being a part of the, I think 
it was called the Rising Stars 

374
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,560
concert. 
And I got involved in like 

375
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,880
musical concerts at the school 
playing drums. 

376
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,800
They, they, they loved it. 
So that was, that was really 

377
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,160
important for my growth. 
I had a lot of support from some

378
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:51,400
of those teachers and yeah, so. 
That's good, dude. 

379
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:53,920
Now you start out with with a 
lot of rock type stuff, though, 

380
00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:56,920
What what would into the more 
extreme metal? 

381
00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,160
Because as you know, like when I
see Ken, I don't I don't really 

382
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,600
see the bands like saliva and 
disturbed and Smash Mouth. 

383
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:07,360
I I see more like winter sun and
and behemoth and you know. 

384
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,960
Extreme metal It was definitely.
Dream Theater was a big bridge. 

385
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,240
The bridge, yeah. 
It was like such a such a great 

386
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,440
way for me to practice chops. 
The progressiveness of that. 

387
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,520
Yeah, the progressive nature of 
those, those types of songs. 

388
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:28,560
So I went in from Dream Theater 
into playing like Machine Head. 

389
00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:31,040
I really like Machine Head 
stuff. 

390
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:36,920
I would play some Enfey Mound 
scene and then I would then 

391
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:42,040
start diving into a job for a 
cowboy That was that was like 

392
00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:44,320
really pushing my limits. 
I was like, oh man, this is like

393
00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,240
really hard. 
I try to play White Chapel, you 

394
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,920
know, some of the really 
hardcore type of stuff and 

395
00:22:53,360 --> 00:22:56,640
playing that kind of music, you 
know, it was like I was maybe 

396
00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:01,080
already like a year or two in 
and that's what I wanted to like

397
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,040
really get my chops to be as 
good as. 

398
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:09,160
But then I started to really get
into the symphonic stuff again 

399
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:13,400
because I was already in the 
nature of reorchestrating Zelda 

400
00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:14,840
music. 
So I was like, I wanted to 

401
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,960
revisit some of that because at 
the time Zelda reorchestrated 

402
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:24,960
kind of like took a hiatus. 
And they were, they had just 

403
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:29,120
released at that time an album 
called Twilight Symphony, which 

404
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:33,840
was like a big endeavor of 
recreating, you know, an entire 

405
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:39,520
video game. 
And when that was over, I really

406
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,360
just had no other outlet for 
orchestrating stuff. 

407
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:54,080
So I went into doing Homeric in 
maybe I want to say 20/14/20, 

408
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,280
end of 2013 to 2014, and I 
started reigniting some of those

409
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,760
symphonic characteristics. 
And yeah, that was the birth. 

410
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:03,760
That was the birth of Palmeric. 
I was already in college. 

411
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,040
I was, I went through already a 
couple of recording engineering 

412
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:08,480
classes. 
I was experimenting, I was 

413
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:16,040
interning at studios already. 
I wanted to see if my skills as 

414
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:18,600
an engineer could be something 
that I could grow into, 

415
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:24,280
something that was bigger and 
that led the path back into my 

416
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,360
creativity. 
Yeah, kind of interesting. 

417
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:27,960
That's cool, man. 
Yeah. 

418
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:29,640
You know, I'm a lover of 
symphonic metal. 

419
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:30,880
I mean, I'm wearing a Nightwish 
shirt. 

420
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,880
That's one of my favorite bands.
Oh, yeah. 

421
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,200
It was funny going our stories 
going into metal, like how we 

422
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,320
didn't really start with metal. 
I mean, I could start up with 

423
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,560
rock listening. 
But me, I'll never forget. 

424
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:47,440
And I got told this story more 
than once on air, but I never 

425
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,760
forget seeing this dude on the 
bus in middle school. 

426
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:53,160
He had long hair and I like my 
upbringing was, was very 

427
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,160
conservative and which I nothing
wrong with that. 

428
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,120
I just want to preface that. 
But you just, you know, a person

429
00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:02,320
that listened to heavy metal 
back in those days, back in this

430
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,400
was like, you know, late 80s, 
they were kind of considered 

431
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:07,240
like, oh, you listen to that 
devil music. 

432
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,720
OK, stay away from you. 
There's one kid on the bus. 

433
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,080
Oh, man. 
And I didn't know he lived down 

434
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,280
the road from me until later. 
His name was Kevin. 

435
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,880
I don't recall his last name. 
I think he might even be a ghost

436
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:20,040
dude. 
I was trying to look him up in 

437
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,400
one of my old yearbooks and I 
couldn't find him in any of the 

438
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,200
yearbooks. 
I'm like, was was this guy just 

439
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,360
a like an Angel that came from 
above or something like the 

440
00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:30,160
school metal Angel? 
But maybe not because the other 

441
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,800
kids were kind of a scared of 
him like, oh, they didn't mess 

442
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:34,560
with him because he was he was 
kind of tall. 

443
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,160
So you know, if you were tall 
and nobody messed with you, 

444
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,600
right? 
But and I was AI was a skittish 

445
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:39,680
kid. 
I got picked on a lot. 

446
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,480
So I was, I was sort of scared 
to talk to him, but he was just 

447
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,720
happy, dude, he had the Jean 
jacket with all the patches, 

448
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:50,120
Slayer, Testament, Anthrax, you 
know, Mega Death Venom, all that

449
00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:53,280
stuff, right, Metallica. 
And he was just jamming away man

450
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,240
on his Walkman, just air 
drumming. 

451
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,160
And I just look over at him. 
I wanted to ask him a question 

452
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:01,600
and he knew exactly what I was 
going to ask. 

453
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,880
And so he pulled one of his his 
headphones, his earphones away. 

454
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,400
And I said, dude, what are you 
listening to? 

455
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,480
He said Metallica and just went 
back to air drumming, just happy

456
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,440
as could be. 
So I took 20 bucks from cutting 

457
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,720
grass that week because I, you 
know, we, we started work in my 

458
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,320
era early, man, I was cutting 
grass at 14 years old, right? 

459
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:25,080
Doing yard work or whatever. 
But yeah, I bought Justice and 

460
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,520
the Puppets cassettes. 
And back then I was freestyling 

461
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,120
bikes too. 
So I would take the radio out. 

462
00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:31,480
Kind of grew up out in the 
countryside. 

463
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,000
I'd blast the radio out there, 
blast Metallica, and I tell 

464
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,680
everybody else, oh, this is the 
new Christian metal album, you 

465
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,280
know, so it's not, it's not 
devil music. 

466
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:43,720
Controversial. 
Yeah, yeah. 

467
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,760
But that was my, that was my 
intro into metal man. 

468
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:48,840
And I fell in love. 
Now, I, I did get into some 

469
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:50,080
Christian metal after that. 
Yeah. 

470
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,280
I grew up in church. 
Some of, you know, my background

471
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,440
or whatever, but you know, I did
listen to a lot of like White 

472
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:57,960
Cross and Guardian and, and 
there's this, there's this 

473
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,080
Christian death metal band 
called Mortification, which 

474
00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:03,760
actually, if you were to go back
and listen to their album 

475
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,400
scrolls of the Mega loft, it's 
pretty brutal, man. 

476
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,440
It's a, it's, I mean, they, they
were good at what they did, you 

477
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,920
know, granted Christian death 
pedal, but yeah, but then that 

478
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,920
just kind of like spiraled, you 
know, into, into more Hard Rock 

479
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,800
and heavy metal, man. 
I, I later picked up the guitar 

480
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:25,200
about a year or two after that, 
you know, funny by the, the 

481
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,520
church guitarist who he was the 
son of, of, of the pastor's 

482
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,120
family, Ronnie Goodman. 
He passed many years ago, but he

483
00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:35,560
was sort of my mentor. 
He was kind of a jazzy Blues 

484
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,320
guy. 
He had a Fender Stratocaster, 

485
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,120
different guitars. 
And he had this role in chorus 

486
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:43,400
camp. 
And even though his style wasn't

487
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,720
what I would ever want to play, 
I admire just playing. 

488
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,320
And he was just a cool dude. 
So he took me under his wing 

489
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,360
and, and this other guy, Alex 
Green, who, who I grew up as a 

490
00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:56,280
guitar buddy with and him and I,
of course, we were into heavy 

491
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,720
metal band, everything from 
Tesla to Metallica, right? 

492
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,360
And the hair band stuff to, to, 
you know, G&R all that. 

493
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,120
And we used to jam all the time.
I hadn't spoken to Alex in a 

494
00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:07,160
while. 
Need to reach out to him. 

495
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,680
But in any case, you know, that 
that was my, that was my start 

496
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,920
and playing metal guitar, man, I
was into all the hair bands back

497
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:19,400
then to, you know, even even 
some of the poppier stuff. 

498
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,080
I like Bon Jovi. 
I still do. 

499
00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:23,480
But you know, I can turn over 
and listen to Aman Amar. 

500
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:29,280
It wasn't until it wasn't known 
until probably, I don't know, 

501
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:36,320
it's probably 2000 and 2008, 
2009, something like that. 

502
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,200
When I started getting into more
of the European metal. 

503
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:44,480
And I know that's a broad range 
there, but bands like Sonata 

504
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,040
Arctica and Nightwish and and 
Sabaton, all that. 

505
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,400
A good friend of mine, one of my
close friends, Eddie Gray, 

506
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,360
introduced me to Sonata Arctica 
and then him and my other good 

507
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,640
friend Tom, they they came to 
Tampa. 

508
00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,440
This is way back, I think O 
seven O 8, something like that. 

509
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:01,880
And we went to see them. 
They were in Tampa and I just 

510
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,320
fell in love with that style of 
music. 

511
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,080
I'm like, Oh my God, man, this 
is and just opened up a new 

512
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:07,760
world to me. 
I'm like why didn't I know about

513
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,000
these being before? 
Sonata Arctica was I was 

514
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,320
introduced to them about that 
time too. 

515
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,720
I think it was White Pearls. 
Black Oceans was like a great 

516
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,960
song that that I, I totally 
loved from them. 

517
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:24,920
That was also the time when I 
was getting into like Children 

518
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,560
Of Bodom and, you know, melodic 
death metal kind of stuff like 

519
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:30,640
that. 
Were you, were you into that 

520
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,720
kind of stuff like Children Of 
Bodom? 

521
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:35,560
Not early on man. 
You know, funny thing is when 

522
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,240
when I heard Metallica puppets 
and and Injustice, you know, 

523
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:44,840
back in probably 8089, there was
a specific sound I was looking 

524
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:46,200
for. 
Like I, I didn't even really get

525
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,200
into Megadeth or Slayer or any 
of that. 

526
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,520
I I was into Metallica, but I 
also liked Guns and Roses a lot.

527
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,120
I love the Scorpions. 
I listen to Scorpions a lot. 

528
00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:00,240
And I was, I was really, it was 
kind of bad about venturing out.

529
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,240
I kind of had like a small 
little subset of, of bands that 

530
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:06,840
I like and I just happened to 
like the hair band stuff. 

531
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,240
Dude, I love Winger and Warrant 
and all those bands and as 

532
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,320
cheesy as the hair and makeup 
was right, I mean, but if you 

533
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,120
just if you stripped everything 
away and just listen to the 

534
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:17,600
guitar playing and some of that 
stuff. 

535
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,640
Red Beach for winger Beavis and 
but had really ruined winger man

536
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:23,760
because they made they made 
Stewart wear the winger shirt, 

537
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,280
you know. 
Oh my gosh. 

538
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:28,960
Oh, Warren had great guitar 
playing, man. 

539
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,320
Yeah, Warren Winger, those guys 
are great man. 

540
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,040
And even the vocalist of that 
time, I mean, you know, this is 

541
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,680
before auto tune and all that 
stuff was around to perfect 

542
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:39,280
everything. 
These guys had to go and suit 

543
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,240
video and just nail it, dude. 
And you've had and not that you 

544
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,160
don't have phenomenal singers, 
Musicians day. 

545
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,840
There are plenty out there. 
But I don't know, man. 

546
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:51,560
It was just a, you know, and I 
guess the folks my age, maybe a 

547
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:53,560
little older. 
I, I always told people I was 

548
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,720
born 10 years too late because I
would have loved to have been, I

549
00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,560
would have loved to have been 
just a no name band opening for 

550
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:01,680
some of those bands. 
Just being on the scene back 

551
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,360
then. 
Of course, my mentality, I don't

552
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:05,560
think I would have lived through
that. 

553
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,040
I think I would have probably 
gone down a dark path back and 

554
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,240
then do you know the person I 
was at that time? 

555
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,600
But in anyway, we're, we're born
at the time we're supposed to be

556
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:15,520
born, right? 
But I don't know, man. 

557
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,000
It was just, there are people 
and I, I don't want to be that 

558
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,320
old guy just like, well, it's 
not like it used to be. 

559
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:24,880
It's not. 
And really it shouldn't be, but 

560
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:29,400
you can't not say that that 
wasn't a very special time. 

561
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,560
I mean, the era of the 70s, 
which I didn't really get into 

562
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,240
that, but the 70s and 80s were 
just AI don't know, man, just a 

563
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,040
monumental time for music. 
And again, I just not that today

564
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,080
is not it's different and I 
don't I don't. 

565
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,120
I was having this conversation 
with somebody on YouTube a long 

566
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,320
time ago. 
He was just kind of griping and 

567
00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:50,120
complaining about about 
whatever. 

568
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:53,640
And I'm like, you know, I never 
want to be that old person that 

569
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:59,280
is just stuck living in the past
and anybody that's my agent up 

570
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,760
or no matter what age you are, 
just know that today's the day, 

571
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:04,800
you know. 
Yeah, I love the old stuff and I

572
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,800
still listen to it to this day. 
But, you know, there are a lot 

573
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,840
of times I'll just force myself 
to listen to some new stuff out 

574
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:13,320
there, you know, or, or or at 
least new to me stuff I haven't 

575
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:16,040
heard yet, you know. 
So I encourage everybody to 

576
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:17,640
branch out. 
You might like it, you might 

577
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:19,360
not. 
But I mean, you don't know until

578
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:23,200
you listen and, and all and all 
that said, if you know if 

579
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,240
there's something you don't 
like, well, maybe it's time for 

580
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,880
you to create something that you
like. 

581
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,880
It's another angle, right? 
No, totally. 

582
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,800
When I was, I should also 
mention, you know, like you 

583
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,800
mentioned the the Macintosh and 
that was like such a 

584
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,960
revolutionary product. 
And when I was like growing up, 

585
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,120
I think like the first computer 
we had was a Windows 98. 

586
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:53,520
My dad actually even had the 
model before that where it was 

587
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,040
just like Emma's Doss and he was
just like he was. 

588
00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:59,040
My dad actually was writing a 
book himself. 

589
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:01,840
He never released it, but it 
was, it was called the Chimera 

590
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,400
Project. 
I remember it was, it was like 

591
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,520
he always told me it was like 
this, you know, secret 

592
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,280
governmental conspiracy type of 
novel. 

593
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:14,520
It was a fiction. 
And he always told me, you know,

594
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:18,080
I, I pictured Tom Cruise playing
like the main character in this 

595
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:19,520
thing. 
I was just like, OK, you'll 

596
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,720
watch a little bit too much 
Mission Impossible. 

597
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,480
But. 
During those eras of like these 

598
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:29,240
computers, what's what's really 
interesting to me, which I, I, I

599
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:33,200
value now, you know, obviously 
then we didn't realize what was 

600
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,080
going to come with the wave of 
the Internet and all that kind 

601
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,120
of stuff. 
But you know, we're never going 

602
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:43,800
back to those old analog days. 
I mean, even having the ability 

603
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:49,280
to say like, I remember like as 
a kid still having around analog

604
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:54,040
stuff in the house. 
I'm probably the last generation

605
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:58,000
that can say that. 
So it's, it's very, it's very 

606
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,040
interesting to me to, to, to see
this kind of stuff change over 

607
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:04,560
the course of time. 
And I remember that when my, my,

608
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:11,320
my uncle, he, he got to the 
first iMac, it was like the one 

609
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:19,120
with the multi colored shells. 
And after that he got this, the 

610
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,520
new iMac, which was supposed to 
be like almost like a bubble on 

611
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,679
your table. 
And then it was a, a movable 

612
00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:28,920
screen. 
And everybody flipped out when 

613
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:30,840
they saw that it was a movable 
screen. 

614
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,679
And I remember on those 
computers, because I was always 

615
00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:36,520
on the Windows side of things as
a kid. 

616
00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:39,600
And I think it was just a little
bit more affordable for me and 

617
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,120
my folks. 
And my uncle, he was a lawyer, 

618
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,159
so he was okay. 
Yeah, the Mac. 

619
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,880
And so I was like, wow, I go 
over in my cousins house and was

620
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:50,960
just like, man, let's check out 
the Mac. 

621
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,080
And we would play like these, 
these kids games. 

622
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,600
And then one of those games, my,
my uncle comes over and he says,

623
00:34:56,639 --> 00:34:57,600
yeah, I want to show you 
something. 

624
00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,200
You're not supposed to see this,
but I want to show you. 

625
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:04,040
And he showed us Duke Nukem 3. 
DI was like, Oh my God, like, 

626
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:09,800
and it's all like metal. 
And it's like, you know, he's 

627
00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:12,560
like, it's like basically like 
Bruce Willis in a video game. 

628
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,840
So oh, man. 
And Duke Nukem like kind of 

629
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,600
changed so much for me as far as
like my interest in this kind of

630
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:22,840
music because it was just, it 
was exciting. 

631
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:28,000
And I just, I remember the rush 
of playing that game and going 

632
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,240
to, you know, do things 
nowadays. 

633
00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:32,920
I mean, I, I still feel like 
sometimes I'm like that little 

634
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:35,880
kid who's just discovered Duke 
Nukem for the first time. 

635
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,880
And, you know, when I'm, I'm in 
the middle of actually, you 

636
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,640
know, on my off days, when I 
have a chance, I'd like to try 

637
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:46,360
and keep writing new material. 
Like I, I have quite a bit of 

638
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,280
material already written for, 
you know, even another Homerica 

639
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,720
album, I think. 
But it's, it's very interesting 

640
00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:56,880
because like that kind of energy
of striking when it's hot and 

641
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,880
it's inspiration. 
And you know, there was a lot of

642
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:04,120
that going on as growing up 
because it's always something 

643
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,640
new, right? 
When you grow older, things 

644
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:11,400
don't become very new anymore 
because you've seen a lot of you

645
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,840
have experienced, which are 
valuable in ways. 

646
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:20,080
But looking back, that's why I 
feel like when we first start 

647
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,280
out, everything's so exciting. 
We have so much energy. 

648
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,240
We're young, right? 
You can stay up till 4:00 in the

649
00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:30,480
morning and still wake up at 8, 
like those kinds of things. 

650
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:34,640
Those days are gone, dude, 
that's a long time ago. 

651
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:37,760
Yeah, we. 
Do not, we do not forget and 

652
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,040
it's it's super important that 
anything that you do moving 

653
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:44,520
forward, like you try to retain 
that that exciting energy 

654
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,600
because like that's what makes 
fun. 

655
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,600
Music is supposed to be fun. 
It's not supposed to be just an 

656
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,440
arduous thing. 
Even though it's tough, you 

657
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:57,520
know, getting better at guitar 
or getting better at, you know, 

658
00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,520
theory and understanding the 
stuff. 

659
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:04,120
Those are all tools that 
eventually they still add up to 

660
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,200
the whole. 
And what is the whole? 

661
00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:09,800
It's your ideas, it's your 
experimentation. 

662
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:13,040
It's you like just digging in 
and doing something different. 

663
00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,480
And like you said, if you're 
listening to music and you're 

664
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:19,120
like, man, I don't like the way 
this this song sounds. 

665
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:22,360
And you're just like, OK, well, 
time for you to make something 

666
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,920
different. 
What's your, what's your version

667
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:26,520
of it? 
You know, I, I think about that 

668
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:29,880
when I'm, when I'm doing my 
little riff lessons on YouTube 

669
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,440
and even creating courses, you 
know, I, I always encourage 

670
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,440
people like I don't show people 
how to play some other riff 

671
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,680
because I, dude, I don't have 
the time to go learn other 

672
00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:39,440
guitar riffs. 
I, I learned a bunch of riffs 

673
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:41,680
back in the day and, and I was 
one of those people. 

674
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:45,400
I never, I never ever learned a 
full song just because I would 

675
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:47,320
kind of get bored with it. 
You know, it's like, OK. 

676
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,960
And I just, I would shift away. 
I'd start playing lead and just 

677
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:54,520
start making up stuff, you know,
even even my life solo gigs. 

678
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:56,920
I do these acoustic shows. 
I should have 1:00 tonight. 

679
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:00,120
Bootleggers Brewing in Tampa got
a couple this weekend. 

680
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,640
I don't learn the entire song. 
I just learned the chord 

681
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:06,240
progression and then I transpose
it so it's in a key that it fits

682
00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:10,960
my vocal range or whatever. 
And then I just, sometimes even 

683
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,120
the phrasing of the words I 
don't quite get right. 

684
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,800
Because when you're playing and 
singing at the same time, there 

685
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,800
are certain ways that I have to 
sing certain parts of the verse,

686
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,360
for example, so that I can play 
that in time. 

687
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,040
It's kind of weird. 
It's like, it's like a 

688
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:28,560
deficiency, I guess you could 
say that I, that I have, yeah, I

689
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,240
could work on it or I could just
keep doing it the way I do it. 

690
00:38:31,240 --> 00:38:33,560
And I just prefer to do that 
because it's, it's my own 

691
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:35,720
version. 
That said, I encourage people 

692
00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:38,960
to, even if you're learning a 
riff that's one of mine that I'm

693
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,520
sharing with you or learning a 
new Megadeth riff or whatever, 

694
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,920
right? 
Think about how you can make 

695
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,720
that riff your own. 
Like, OK, you got it down, but 

696
00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:50,840
what if you did this instead? 
What if you played it and, well,

697
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,200
what if you played a different 
key? 

698
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:54,160
Since we're talking about theory
here, I'm a dude. 

699
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,560
I'm a huge fan of playing in 
different keys. 

700
00:38:57,560 --> 00:38:59,880
And I'm not talking about down 
tuning or drop tuning. 

701
00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:02,720
You can do that, That's fine. 
I'm talking about playing in a 

702
00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:05,240
different place on the fret 
board than where you're used to 

703
00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:07,840
playing at, right. 
You know, we're talking about 

704
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:11,480
playing in the key of C# minor 
on guitar, for example, even on 

705
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:15,880
even on keys, Ken, you probably 
people probably have a tendency 

706
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:19,160
to play in a certain in a 
certain area on the keyboard as 

707
00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:21,120
they're playing even with 
orchestration. 

708
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:25,000
And and I think that's the 
reason that a lot of bands that 

709
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:28,320
albums that you hear, not all, 
but a lot of them are written 

710
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:32,840
and really in the same key. 
You know, I remember all all the

711
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,440
Metallica albums. 
I mean, they're most of them are

712
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,200
practically in E minors. 
Not all of them, but most of the

713
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:40,920
majority are and just kind of 
have the same thing. 

714
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:45,080
I remember I never could get 
into the band Godsmack, but I 

715
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,160
remember and like every song 
that they wrote just started out

716
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,520
with that first lowest note and 
it's like, OK, they can. 

717
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:52,920
All the songs kind of sound the 
same. 

718
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:54,760
And I'm not knocking that 
particular band. 

719
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:55,960
It's just something that I 
noticed. 

720
00:39:56,280 --> 00:40:01,240
So I encourage you guys to to 
branch out even as a vocalist, 

721
00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:04,440
maybe seeing in a little bit 
different key sometimes to, to 

722
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,760
just kind of shake things up a 
little bit, you know, make it 

723
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,880
your own. 
And you know, going back to also

724
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,760
what you said here with, you 
know, even learning like a 

725
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:15,400
different riff, like something 
from Megadeth or whatever. 

726
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,040
I'll even say like even on this 
upcoming album that Jason and I 

727
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:24,960
worked on for Homeric, we have 
we have two covers on that album

728
00:40:25,720 --> 00:40:31,400
and they're from Lamb of God, 
It's Laid to Rest and from Arch 

729
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:34,640
Enemy, Snowbound. 
And both of those songs, like 

730
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:39,000
Jason did not play at all like 
what the original is. 

731
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,240
He totally adapted it in his own
way. 

732
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:44,920
He actually made late to Rest, 
oddly enough. 

733
00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:47,720
You think, oh, man, he's gonna 
like do it up. 

734
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:50,240
And he's like, no, he actually 
kept it really simple. 

735
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:54,080
He said, you know, Ken, the the 
orchestration that you were 

736
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:57,440
doing, I kind of like that being
in the forefront. 

737
00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:00,520
I'm just going to keep the 
guitars as a supporting act. 

738
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,400
I said, OK, you know, let's see 
what it doesn't. 

739
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:07,040
I I love it. 
It sounds amazing and even with 

740
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:11,280
snowbound, we we switched it up.
I we instead of like having it 

741
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:15,160
exactly like it was on the 
original wages of sin album from

742
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:17,720
March enemy. 
It's like, dude, like we're 

743
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:21,040
playing this our own way, our 
own solo. 

744
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:23,760
Yes, it's it's reminiscent of 
the solo that was there, but 

745
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:28,760
it's it's Jason's solo and I 
love that because it it makes it

746
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:30,640
feel like an entirely different 
song. 

747
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:35,640
And it's a refreshing take. 
And seeing that on this album, 

748
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:37,800
I'm very proud of of those two 
covers. 

749
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:40,880
I probably won't do another 
cover after this, but it's it's 

750
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,480
just one of those things where 
it's like when you hear it and 

751
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:48,880
it's, and it's done in a way 
that's tasteful. 

752
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,680
I think it it's very refreshing 
to see that so. 

753
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:55,840
Well, here's kind of the sad 
part or not sad part, but just I

754
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:59,920
guess a little humorous. 
I didn't know any of those songs

755
00:41:59,920 --> 00:42:04,720
were covers when I did them. 
I, I, I, I haven't really 

756
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:06,720
listened to a whole lot of Lamb 
of God, So I wouldn't, I would 

757
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:08,960
have never known the song. 
I do love Arch Enemy. 

758
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:11,760
I listen, I listen to a lot of 
stuff, but I didn't even put two

759
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:13,920
and two together with a song 
with a, with a name. 

760
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:15,920
So I didn't even know there were
covers. 

761
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:19,920
Dude, I was, you know, at the 
until you told me later, at the 

762
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,200
time of recording that, well, 
you know, we talked about this. 

763
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:25,640
You, you just, I think, or you 
were, you're either writing A 

764
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:27,800
blog post or, or, or, or doing a
video. 

765
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:30,200
I can't remember if we've done 
it yet, but we're talking about 

766
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,680
orchestration, fitting guitars 
with orchestration. 

767
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,520
I wasn't, I had no clue they 
were cover songs. 

768
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:40,880
I was just listening to the 
orchestration and I wanted to 

769
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:46,560
make guitar parts that fit, not 
necessarily the overpowered 

770
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:49,280
everything else, you know? 
And that's just. 

771
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:51,920
Very true. 
I think guitar players have a 

772
00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:55,680
tough time with that, especially
if you, if you're, if you're an 

773
00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:58,080
accomplished guitar player and 
you, you can shred and all that 

774
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,760
stuff and it, and it's great. 
I mean, I, I admire that, right?

775
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,800
But I think if, if you've got 
the ability to do that stuff, 

776
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:08,120
sometimes it's really difficult 
to hold back and do something 

777
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:12,920
else that really complements the
song and doesn't necessarily put

778
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:14,880
you in the forefront. 
You know, I think a lot of 

779
00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:18,240
guitar players and even singers,
they're like, it kind of becomes

780
00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:21,200
like a bet you can't do this or 
look at me, me, me, me type of 

781
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:23,800
thing. 
And I would much rather it. 

782
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:25,280
Again, I appreciate the 
shredding. 

783
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,440
I appreciate people that can hit
the high notes or whatever. 

784
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:33,280
But I never, never once have I 
loved a song for a guitar solo 

785
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:37,760
or for someone's vocals. 
I love the song because of the 

786
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:41,960
song and it's everything within.
It's not just one part. 

787
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:44,840
So that's just kind of a take 
away. 

788
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:47,600
You, you guys may feel, some of 
you may feel differently about 

789
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:50,480
that you, you might just be in 
love with someone's voice. 

790
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,880
Look, I love Doug Pennock's 
voice from King's XI love that 

791
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,600
man's voice. 
He's got just a, an amazing, an 

792
00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:00,120
amazing, beautiful voice. 
With that said, I don't, I don't

793
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,880
there are a lot of King's X song
that I just don't care for. 

794
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:04,520
They they get a little too 
proggy for me. 

795
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:06,000
You know, it's like, OK, you 
lost me. 

796
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:09,120
But the songs I do love, I 
absolutely love and I love his 

797
00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:12,560
voice. 
But all that said to say that I 

798
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:16,320
think people fall in love more 
so with the song itself, not 

799
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:19,000
just because the guitar player 
can play a great solo or the 

800
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:20,840
singer can sing a high note or 
whatever, right. 

801
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:24,440
So it's something to think about
when you're you guys that do 

802
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,480
write your own music. 
And guys, I'll say this real 

803
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,680
quick, even if you're a 
hobbyist, and which is nothing 

804
00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:33,480
wrong with that, it's a 
beautiful hobby to have, man. 

805
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:36,760
You come home, you, you crank 
out the bass or the guitar or, 

806
00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:38,240
or you just working on your 
vocals. 

807
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:42,040
You know, we, we challenge you 
to maybe take it to the next 

808
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:44,120
level, go to an open mic, at 
least get out there and you 

809
00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:46,080
know, you know, and showcase it 
because that's a cool thing to 

810
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,920
do, you know? 
But I still encourage you, even 

811
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:52,480
if even if you're not planning 
to release anything, still, 

812
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:56,600
still practice writing your own 
stuff because that's you and 

813
00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,480
nobody can take that away. 
You know, practice writing your 

814
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:03,320
own stuff, write your own stuff 
and and think about the song 

815
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,120
more so than the actual guitar 
part, if that makes sense. 

816
00:45:06,240 --> 00:45:10,520
Yeah, we, Jason and I come from 
the background of we feel like 

817
00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:12,680
music belongs to the world in a 
way. 

818
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,880
So we, we always found that when
we created something, we had the

819
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:21,640
urge to always release it and, 
and, you know, and share it with

820
00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:23,720
people. 
Because when I think about it, 

821
00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:28,520
it's like we are unique already 
by having a gift to do what we 

822
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:32,680
do. 
And you know, I, I think, you 

823
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:37,320
know, in my, in my life, I try 
not to be selfish to just keep 

824
00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:39,880
it all for myself. 
I, I feel like it's, I always 

825
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:42,200
talk about Homeric being like a 
sacred duty to me. 

826
00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:46,440
And like, I just kind of have to
share not just the music, but 

827
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:50,000
like the story, the meaning 
behind what I'm doing it with, 

828
00:45:50,240 --> 00:45:53,720
you know, So I always have those
thoughts, but that's, that's 

829
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:56,400
always how I've, I've been about
making music. 

830
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:01,520
If you're if you feel like music
is a personal journey for you to

831
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:05,280
just either it's a it's a way 
for you to heal, or that's 

832
00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,240
perfectly valid reason to. 
It's a great reason to Yeah, 

833
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:10,160
it's. 
A great reason I, I, you know, 

834
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:15,960
my, every time I come home, I 
love having a studio that I 

835
00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:20,360
built that I can enjoy music in 
high fidelity for, you know, 

836
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:24,560
that's, that's, that's a unique 
thing that I have and I don't 

837
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:27,080
take it for granted. 
I, I try to count my blessings 

838
00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:32,080
whenever I can because it, it 
keeps you humble and keeps you 

839
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:35,200
remembering where you come from.
And of course, conversations 

840
00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:36,960
like this, these are really 
nostalgic. 

841
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:44,880
Jason, I'm wondering though, you
know, you were talking about 

842
00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:47,240
any, some new bands or something
like that. 

843
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:50,720
Do you have something perhaps 
that you'd like to share? 

844
00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:52,600
Have you been listening to 
anything new? 

845
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:54,360
What? 
What? 

846
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,160
What's on your radar? 
Well, not really knew. 

847
00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:02,120
So we and we'll, we'll get to 
our metal song of the week here 

848
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:03,840
of the day or week or month? 
No week. 

849
00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:05,320
We're trying to do this podcast 
thing weekly. 

850
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,320
So I know we skipped a couple 
weeks, but you know, I haven't 

851
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:10,080
really listened to anything new 
lately. 

852
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:14,640
I SiriusXM had like a freebie 
for for like a week and 1/2. 

853
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,600
So I was listening to that in 
the car a lot and I was just 

854
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:19,680
listening to hair nation and 
Ozzie's bone yard. 

855
00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:22,480
But they and I loved it at 
first, but they kept playing the

856
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:23,800
same stuff over and over and 
like, OK. 

857
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:27,560
And I had no intention on 
subscribe subscribing to them. 

858
00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:29,600
But as far as the song of the 
week, I'm just going to choose 

859
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:31,920
an album because we were talking
about Sonata Arctica. 

860
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,200
And I had I had listened to 
Nightwish before that and I'd 

861
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:36,720
fell in love a Nightwish before 
that. 

862
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:41,840
But the first like that style, 
overall theme of music. 

863
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:44,120
My first live concert was seeing
Sonata. 

864
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:47,360
I can't remember the band that 
opened for them, but I'm going 

865
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:51,240
to go back to their 1999 
release, which I I think it 

866
00:47:51,240 --> 00:47:53,520
might be the first album called 
Ecliptica. 

867
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:57,400
And that's got the songs on 
their blank file. 

868
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:02,640
My land 8th Commandment replica 
full yeah, full moon. 

869
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:07,800
And that was now the date Sonata
took like kind of A twist here 

870
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:11,280
over the past and several maybe 
even over the past decade. 

871
00:48:11,280 --> 00:48:13,160
I don't know. 
And I just really haven't been 

872
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:15,600
into anything else they 
released. 

873
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:18,000
And this is not me saying, well,
they don't make them like they 

874
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:22,600
used to the old man syndrome, 
but it, it changed in a way that

875
00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:26,760
doesn't captivate me as much. 
Metallica did the same thing, 

876
00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:27,920
you know, they're, they're newer
stuff. 

877
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,320
I, I can appreciate it for what 
it is, but it doesn't, it 

878
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:35,000
doesn't captivate me the same 
way as let's say the new Aman 

879
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,360
Amarth album or, or the latest 
Aman Amarth album. 

880
00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:40,720
I was captivated by that. 
So I, that's proof that I'm not 

881
00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:43,360
being the old man to say it's 
only the old stuff that's great.

882
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:45,160
No, there are a lot of new 
things I like out there. 

883
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:48,840
Nightwish actually just released
a new single there. 

884
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:51,320
I think they're getting ready to
release their or pre release a 

885
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:53,080
single off their upcoming album 
in August. 

886
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:54,920
And I thought that was well put 
together. 

887
00:48:54,920 --> 00:49:00,280
So, but I haven't really 
listened to any new band or or 

888
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:02,800
an extreme amount of new music. 
But I did want to highlight Son 

889
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:07,200
of Arca's Ecliptic album 1999. 
And of course I was, I was heavy

890
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:08,960
into that. 
And Winter Hearts Guild, which I

891
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:13,040
believe was released in 2003. 
So those two albums were very 

892
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:14,720
cool. 
My favorite Sonata albums, yeah.

893
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,880
I, I, I guess, well, when I'm, 
when we're talking about stuff 

894
00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:21,560
that that was influential for us
back in the day, I think 

895
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:24,920
definitely like something like 
Symphony X Paradise Lost. 

896
00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:29,640
Was a great. 
Album, You know, for me, Dream 

897
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:32,720
Theater Octavarium at that time 
when I was learning how to play 

898
00:49:32,720 --> 00:49:37,760
drums was a huge inspiration and
six degrees of inter turbulence 

899
00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:42,240
from them. 
But yesterday or the day before,

900
00:49:42,240 --> 00:49:47,280
actually the day before, I was 
at a rehearsal and one of the 

901
00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:50,400
one of the guys shared 
Roadmaster. 

902
00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:52,520
I don't know if you've ever 
listened to Roadmaster. 

903
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:57,760
It was they are, they are 
somewhat a little bit of an 

904
00:49:57,760 --> 00:49:59,760
older band. 
I think they were like really 

905
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:03,000
inspired by like 70s type stuff.
But I think they were in the 

906
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:05,120
90s. 
If I remember correctly. 

907
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:12,680
The album is called Sweet Music 
and it's Doesn't Mean a Thing. 

908
00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:14,160
Was the first thing that they 
played. 

909
00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:16,280
We just kind of rolled from the 
top of the album and I thought 

910
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:18,080
it was great. 
Roadmaster. 

911
00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:20,520
Man, check it out. 
We'll check that out, dude. 

912
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:23,640
Yeah, give me something new to 
listen to there. 

913
00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:28,720
Well, guys, that wraps it up for
another Metal Mastermind podcast

914
00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:30,920
show. 
I hope you guys have got some 

915
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:34,440
entertainment out to today's 
podcast and more. 

916
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:38,080
So I hope that what Ken and I 
talked about, I hope that really

917
00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:40,720
ignited your fire. 
Just think for a moment before 

918
00:50:40,720 --> 00:50:44,120
you sign off here, just kind of 
allow yourself to go back to 

919
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:46,240
that first time you got into 
music and started, you know, 

920
00:50:46,240 --> 00:50:48,520
playing whatever instrument, 
whether it's guitar, singing, 

921
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:50,720
drums, whatever, and got into 
metal. 

922
00:50:50,720 --> 00:50:54,520
And just I want you guys to try 
to recapture that today, 

923
00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:58,720
recapture that moment, but also 
make that be a new moment for 

924
00:50:58,720 --> 00:51:01,520
today and going forward. 
So that's something that you can

925
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:03,760
lean on guys. 
Thank you again. 

926
00:51:04,000 --> 00:51:07,880
Check out our educational 
resources for all rock and metal

927
00:51:07,880 --> 00:51:09,800
musicians at 
metalmastermind.com. 

928
00:51:09,800 --> 00:51:11,960
We've got a lot of cool stuff 
out there for you guys. 

929
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:15,840
We'll see you or we'll listen to
you or you'll listen to us on 

930
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:19,360
the next podcast and you'll also
see us on YouTube and social 

931
00:51:19,360 --> 00:51:20,880
media. 
We we keep up to date with all 

932
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,520
that good stuff. 
So guys, have an awesome rest of

933
00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:24,920
the week. 
See you next time. 

934
00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:26,800
As always, create your own 
sound.