WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:05.120 Welcome everyone to episode 416 of Signals from 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.660 Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And for this episode, 00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:14.300 it is the return of Xander Demos. He was on the 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:17.440 show way back when, when we were still Mars Attacks 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.899 podcast. Back on the show a dozen years ago. 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:58.560 And he's back to promote his new band, XDB. A 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:02.500 shout out to my patrons real quickly here. Sean 00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:06.159 Richman, Chris Sinzak, Tony Espin, Anthony Mackey, 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:11.180 Ed Ferguson, Johan Edestrom, Metal Dan, Chris 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:15.280 Vaglio, Gabriel Ruiz, Brad Dahl, Mike Jones, 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:20.099 Jeremy Weltman, Steve Hoker, and Steven Saylor. 00:01:20.180 --> 00:01:24.560 Thank you guys all for your unmitigated support. 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:28.230 I love all you guys. And I want to thank anyone 00:01:28.230 --> 00:01:31.489 who is listening to this episode. Give me a part 00:01:31.489 --> 00:01:33.930 of Patreon for as little as two bucks a month. 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:38.209 Get daily videos that we all discuss. Get my 00:01:38.209 --> 00:01:43.030 Victor M. Ruiz podcast. Various questions, polls, 00:01:43.269 --> 00:01:45.790 stuff like that. I like to stay active on there. 00:01:45.950 --> 00:01:49.510 And for those that don't know, Kiss is one of 00:01:49.510 --> 00:01:51.250 my all -time favorite bands. You always hear 00:01:51.250 --> 00:01:54.569 them talk about how they wanted to be the band 00:01:56.590 --> 00:02:00.049 They never got to see on stage with my Patreon. 00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:05.010 I kind of take it on the same way in the sense 00:02:05.010 --> 00:02:09.069 that I want to provide you guys with the Patreon 00:02:09.069 --> 00:02:13.069 group that no one else does. There's a lot of 00:02:13.069 --> 00:02:16.169 Patreon groups out there that are bigger, make 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:20.189 a hell of a lot more money than I do. And they 00:02:20.189 --> 00:02:22.349 give you a 10th of the content. Let's be honest. 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:28.330 You know, anyway, I don't want to bash anyone 00:02:28.330 --> 00:02:34.909 just for my benefit, but I'm open to, you know, 00:02:34.909 --> 00:02:38.409 suggestions, discussions. And we've got, for 00:02:38.409 --> 00:02:41.250 example, a Megadeth album countdown taking place 00:02:41.250 --> 00:02:46.210 tonight. And we have a bunch of patrons that 00:02:46.210 --> 00:02:49.150 will be joining me to discuss this countdown. 00:02:49.689 --> 00:02:53.930 And it's interesting, all 17 Megadeth albums. 00:02:54.689 --> 00:02:58.469 Actually, it's 16 plus an EP have made the list. 00:02:58.569 --> 00:03:01.349 Every album has been voted for at least once. 00:03:01.689 --> 00:03:04.449 And it's going to be a cool discussion. That's 00:03:04.449 --> 00:03:06.530 what I like to do here. I like to discuss music 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:09.469 and bring you interviews whenever I can. In this 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:13.530 case, this interview with Xander. But anyway, 00:03:13.789 --> 00:03:17.330 if you want to keep up with all things Signals 00:03:17.330 --> 00:03:19.550 From Mars, just go to SignalsFromMars .com. You'll 00:03:19.550 --> 00:03:23.469 find links. to the Patreon there, or you can 00:03:23.469 --> 00:03:26.050 just go to patreon .com forward slash signals 00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:29.069 from Mars. In any event from signals from mars 00:03:29.069 --> 00:03:31.569 .com, you can pick up merch. You can check out 00:03:31.569 --> 00:03:35.509 all the social media platforms where you can 00:03:35.509 --> 00:03:38.669 keep up with the show. You can find audio versions 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:42.629 of the show or the video version of each episode. 00:03:43.169 --> 00:03:46.509 So if you, if you start to listen to this and 00:03:46.509 --> 00:03:50.349 you enjoy the episode, Go to YouTube and check 00:03:50.349 --> 00:03:52.430 out the video version, for example. We're also 00:03:52.430 --> 00:03:56.990 up on Rumble and Twitch and a bunch of other 00:03:56.990 --> 00:04:00.430 platforms. Go to, once again, signalsfrommars 00:04:00.430 --> 00:04:05.629 .com to find out where you can keep up with the 00:04:05.629 --> 00:04:08.669 show. This discussion with Xander I thought was 00:04:08.669 --> 00:04:14.300 pretty cool. You go into interviews. And you 00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:16.139 don't know what to expect, especially when you 00:04:16.139 --> 00:04:18.959 haven't spoken to someone in such a long time. 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:23.019 You don't know what they want to talk about. 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:27.399 You don't know how to, you know, take the interview 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:31.819 in the sense that I try to not ask the same old, 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.040 same old questions. Sometimes it's inevitable. 00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:38.699 But, you know, as you're feeling somebody out 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:40.980 during the interview process and you can throw 00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:42.860 in some additional things that maybe come up. 00:04:43.310 --> 00:04:47.149 during the interview it sweetens things up makes 00:04:47.149 --> 00:04:49.050 things a lot cooler i think and that's what i 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:52.250 think the what ended up happening with this interview 00:04:52.250 --> 00:04:55.750 with xander so uh if you enjoy it check out his 00:04:55.750 --> 00:04:59.930 music and um yeah thanks for listening and let's 00:04:59.930 --> 00:05:17.259 get on with the episode Welcome, everyone, to 00:05:17.259 --> 00:05:20.579 the latest episode of Signals from Mars. I'm 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:22.860 your host, Victor. And joining me today for this 00:05:22.860 --> 00:05:26.620 episode is Mr. Xander Demos. Xander, how are 00:05:26.620 --> 00:05:33.939 you, sir? Oh, now I can't. I'm unmuted. Okay, 00:05:34.019 --> 00:05:39.100 cool. So I had Xander on the show a little while 00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:45.220 ago, back in 2013, actually. So practically yesterday. 00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:50.300 At that time, you were working with James Rivera. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:54.379 You were working as a solo artist. Now you're 00:05:54.379 --> 00:06:00.500 back with XDB. Can you tell us a little bit about 00:06:00.500 --> 00:06:03.860 how the band came together? Yeah, absolutely. 00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:14.660 So XDB, it's not so much a mystery on the... 00:06:15.689 --> 00:06:18.069 It stood for the Xander Demas band, you know, 00:06:18.069 --> 00:06:22.310 for a while. But we like we're in a place right 00:06:22.310 --> 00:06:24.589 now where I'm working with people that are really 00:06:24.589 --> 00:06:26.490 good. You know, they're not like hired guns. 00:06:26.610 --> 00:06:28.089 You know, I mean, these are all bandmates, which 00:06:28.089 --> 00:06:33.269 is it makes a big difference. And so we said, 00:06:33.389 --> 00:06:35.970 hey, listen, we already put the marketing in 00:06:35.970 --> 00:06:39.269 for, you know, XDB being, you know, my you know, 00:06:39.269 --> 00:06:42.529 I'm the XD and XDB. Right. I'm Xander Demas. 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.199 But so, but let's just go by XDB moving forward. 00:06:46.259 --> 00:06:47.980 That way when people ask, they say, okay, this 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:50.579 is the origin of it. It was a solo project. It's 00:06:50.579 --> 00:06:52.699 almost like, you know, I don't want to compare 00:06:52.699 --> 00:06:54.660 myself to Yngwie. I mean, you know, I'm not in 00:06:54.660 --> 00:06:56.839 the same class. He's amazing. And, you know, 00:06:56.899 --> 00:06:58.560 I'm just a guitar player in my opinion, you know, 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:01.639 and he's, but Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:04.600 you know, I mean, like Rising Force was sort 00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:07.240 of like the band, but it, you know, it had rotating 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:10.819 members in and out, you know, whoever was, you 00:07:10.819 --> 00:07:12.519 know, some people were there for a long time. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:14.879 Some people were not. This, we look at this as 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.959 like a band. This is a band effort. So that's 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:19.939 pretty much the origin. Was that something that 00:07:19.939 --> 00:07:22.879 you were looking for after working as a solo 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:27.420 artist a while back? Did you want to have other 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:29.339 people that were going to be giving you input 00:07:29.339 --> 00:07:32.959 and maybe, you know, help with what you were 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:35.120 trying to do as a guitarist to kind of push you 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.199 further as an artist? Yeah, I guess subconsciously 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:42.089 I pretty much was. I mean, I think it's fair 00:07:42.089 --> 00:07:47.230 to say that because, honestly, I could only do 00:07:47.230 --> 00:07:50.529 so much as a solo artist, honestly. Because a 00:07:50.529 --> 00:07:53.069 lot of people, like this album that we have coming 00:07:53.069 --> 00:07:57.269 out called Gods of Aliens, this was, when I was 00:07:57.269 --> 00:07:59.569 going to do a second follow -up to Guitar Acadia 00:07:59.569 --> 00:08:02.269 so long ago, I was going to have probably at 00:08:02.269 --> 00:08:04.529 least five or six instrumentals on there again. 00:08:04.610 --> 00:08:09.839 Now I have no interest in even doing that. I 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:12.839 do, but I don't. If I was going to do a solo 00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:14.779 album that was going to be instrumental stuff, 00:08:15.019 --> 00:08:17.079 I would just kind of piecemeal them and probably 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:19.759 just release them as individuals. Guitar Acadia 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:21.579 was sort of like my effort because there were 00:08:21.579 --> 00:08:23.480 songs on there that I'd written so long ago. 00:08:23.899 --> 00:08:26.000 There were some songs that I contributed to a 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:27.600 couple bands I was in. I said, you know what? 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:29.959 I really want to play this. I want to do these 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:32.659 tunes. So it was sort of like stuffing all that 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:36.320 stuff into one record. And then finally, when 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:39.200 it all came down to it, it was like, you know 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:41.200 what, let's just go ahead and, you know, on this 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:43.840 album, let's make this a true vocal album because 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:46.700 we got five people that can sing and three of 00:08:46.700 --> 00:08:48.340 us are lead singers, you know, so it makes a 00:08:48.340 --> 00:08:51.419 big difference. Okay. So that's something that 00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:54.580 we'll expect to see is three different singers 00:08:54.580 --> 00:08:58.820 on what you guys are going to release. Yes. Yeah. 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:01.259 I might sing on one. We have our, we have a bass 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:03.440 player. Her name is Emily Stroop and she is just 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:06.779 ripping bass player, 20 years old and an amazing 00:09:06.779 --> 00:09:10.990 voice. And our keyboard player, Brendan Callahan, 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:14.029 he is 23 and he's just a phenomenal keyboard 00:09:14.029 --> 00:09:17.129 player. A lot of, you know, and then there's 00:09:17.129 --> 00:09:19.309 like myself and two other guys that are closer 00:09:19.309 --> 00:09:21.210 to my age. So there's this big generation in 00:09:21.210 --> 00:09:23.429 between us, right? But what's cool about that 00:09:23.429 --> 00:09:26.409 is that, you know, those two, Brendan and Emily, 00:09:26.570 --> 00:09:30.750 they have like this, they had the benefit of 00:09:30.750 --> 00:09:33.570 like growing up in the digital age and the YouTube 00:09:33.570 --> 00:09:35.250 age and all that stuff. So if they had to learn 00:09:35.250 --> 00:09:37.960 something, I mean, it was just. It was free. 00:09:38.019 --> 00:09:42.279 It was easy to learn. Myself and Rob Kane, which 00:09:42.279 --> 00:09:44.100 is our lead vocalist, another guitar player, 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:47.299 and then Guy Cole, our drummer, we paid our dues 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:49.659 the hard way. We were like, this isn't how this 00:09:49.659 --> 00:09:56.039 song goes. What's going on here? So we did things 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:59.419 the old -fashioned way. It's a really good synergy 00:09:59.419 --> 00:10:03.309 or symbionts, if you want to call it that. But 00:10:03.309 --> 00:10:05.769 yeah, as far as vocals go, we kind of spread 00:10:05.769 --> 00:10:08.370 it out. Rob and Emily are the primaries, though. 00:10:08.450 --> 00:10:12.470 They're the primary singers. Okay. And to date, 00:10:12.490 --> 00:10:16.049 you guys have released a single called When the 00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:20.190 Love is Gone. What stands out to me about the 00:10:20.190 --> 00:10:23.950 track is that it's melodic, but at the same time, 00:10:23.970 --> 00:10:26.929 it's still helping showcase the musicianship. 00:10:27.429 --> 00:10:31.090 of the, uh, of the band, uh, reading the bio 00:10:31.090 --> 00:10:33.169 that was sent to me, it was, it was interesting 00:10:33.169 --> 00:10:37.789 to see the kind of two opposite spectrums being 00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:40.769 mentioned. One was the band TNT and the other 00:10:40.769 --> 00:10:46.090 one was sabotage. Yeah, that's right. So, um, 00:10:46.389 --> 00:10:51.429 again, is, is that conscious that you guys were 00:10:51.429 --> 00:10:53.750 looking to do something like that or with the 00:10:53.750 --> 00:10:57.139 five of you, this is just kind of what. came 00:10:57.139 --> 00:11:00.399 together when each one started throwing their 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.259 uh you know their their their spices into the 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:06.720 uh recipe it's a great question i mean it started 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.860 primarily as one of rob's songs really and then 00:11:09.860 --> 00:11:12.019 he threw it out to us and we all started doing 00:11:12.019 --> 00:11:15.139 our thing with it you know and it's uh so we 00:11:15.139 --> 00:11:18.919 all contributed and um it was pretty cool like 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:21.820 how it came together and yeah there are elements 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:24.700 i mean i think all of us you know have the appreciation 00:11:24.700 --> 00:11:27.909 for Bands like TNT and Sabotage and stuff like 00:11:27.909 --> 00:11:30.809 that. I mean, I grew up around Sabotage in Clearwater, 00:11:30.950 --> 00:11:35.210 Florida throughout the 80s and, you know, knew 00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:38.009 them pretty well. And of course, they, you know, 00:11:38.009 --> 00:11:42.129 knowing them as a much younger player, they shaped 00:11:42.129 --> 00:11:46.950 my musical upbringing. So they're always going 00:11:46.950 --> 00:11:48.730 to be like an influence. It's one of those things 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:51.269 where, you know, a lot of guitar players my age, 00:11:51.309 --> 00:11:53.070 they say that they were influenced by, you know, 00:11:53.110 --> 00:11:55.720 Eddie Van Halen. Randy Rhodes and even Yngwie 00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:57.279 and, you know, guys like that, you know, the 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:00.799 late seventies, early eighties. And for me, it 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.120 was, I mean, there's no doubt it was Eddie Van 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:05.639 Halen and Chris Oliva were two of my biggest 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:08.720 influences. I'd say probably one, one more bigger 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.059 than them was actually Brad Gillis, you know, 00:12:11.059 --> 00:12:13.299 because that that's what really made me want 00:12:13.299 --> 00:12:16.419 to switch from drums back in 1982. Cause my parents 00:12:16.419 --> 00:12:18.659 told me I sucked terribly at playing drums. So 00:12:18.659 --> 00:12:20.740 I think I'm a different instrument for you. I 00:12:20.740 --> 00:12:23.429 was 13, you know, and. So we did guitar and I 00:12:23.429 --> 00:12:25.350 saw Brad Gillis, you know, on the Speak of the 00:12:25.350 --> 00:12:28.509 Devil tour, all the videos. And I'm just like, 00:12:28.590 --> 00:12:31.049 man, this guy's tone and this guy's playing is 00:12:31.049 --> 00:12:33.230 just awesome. And I didn't even know who Randy 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:35.990 Rose was at the time. I had no clue. I had no 00:12:35.990 --> 00:12:37.769 clue that he replaced him because he had passed 00:12:37.769 --> 00:12:41.590 away. You know, I had no idea. I just liked the 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:43.370 tone. And then the Night Ranger video comes on. 00:12:43.409 --> 00:12:44.649 I'm like, wait a second. Is that the same guy? 00:12:45.110 --> 00:12:47.830 You know, it was freaking me out. But then all 00:12:47.830 --> 00:12:49.370 of a sudden I'm like, OK, now this is making 00:12:49.370 --> 00:12:52.500 sense. internet to say hey google who's this 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:56.879 guy you know and but um but anyway yeah so my 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:59.379 so my early influence there like yeah sabotage 00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:02.799 had a big part of that and it was so even in 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:04.679 my songwriting even on some things on guitar 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:07.480 cadia uh there was elements of that in there 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:08.879 even though there's some instrumentals but as 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:11.559 i was writing more vocal tunes in the past like 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.679 10 years i noticed that unavoidable influence 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:18.720 yeah that's uh interesting that you bring up 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:22.019 the whole Brad Gillis thing for, for, for those 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:26.399 that are younger than us. Yeah. Before the internet, 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.100 if you were lucky to catch a blurb in a magazine, 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:33.080 you know, six months after something happened, 00:13:33.179 --> 00:13:36.820 you were able to find out that Brad Gillis and 00:13:36.820 --> 00:13:40.840 Night Ranger and Randy Rhodes and this and that 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:45.840 I'm kind of in the same boat. I mean, I, I think 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:50.500 I found out who Randy Rhodes was. when Ozzy released 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:52.600 the tribute album, you know, and they started 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:54.919 talking about that he had died and this and that. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.100 And I'd heard crazy train a million times on 00:13:58.100 --> 00:14:01.879 the radio. Right. Right. Don't get me wrong. 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:04.639 I love that tone. Yeah. You know, it was just 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:06.519 that, like, I, even though I'd heard the song, 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.179 it was, it was the, it was seeing it performed 00:14:09.179 --> 00:14:12.639 live and like how thick that sound was, you know, 00:14:12.659 --> 00:14:15.279 like on that, on just on those videos. And I 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:16.620 mean, that's all it took. I mean, those are the. 00:14:16.990 --> 00:14:19.929 The videos that I would see on repeat would be 00:14:19.929 --> 00:14:21.789 things from Speak of the Devil and then ultimately 00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:24.169 things from Van Halen. You're talking about pre 00:14:24.169 --> 00:14:27.269 -1984, right? So they were showing a lot of the 00:14:27.269 --> 00:14:29.950 Van Halen concerts where they were doing Dance 00:14:29.950 --> 00:14:32.110 the Night Away, Unchained, and So This is Love 00:14:32.110 --> 00:14:34.490 and all that stuff. And you're seeing this wall 00:14:34.490 --> 00:14:37.250 of amplifiers and this gigantic drum set. And 00:14:37.250 --> 00:14:40.710 it's just like, wait a second. And the spectacle 00:14:40.710 --> 00:14:43.960 of it was both of those. presented the same you 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:45.320 know what i mean you had your drummer way up 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:47.419 here on the riser you had your bass player and 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:49.059 your guitar player on the same side of the stage 00:14:49.059 --> 00:14:51.200 singer in the middle i'm like okay this is the 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.919 formula i get it now you know you know but i've 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.220 always i always had the melodic you know part 00:14:57.220 --> 00:14:59.559 of that too because you know one of my favorite 00:14:59.559 --> 00:15:02.019 players growing up was tom schultz as well you 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:05.679 know and just boston in general and today i mean 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.220 i just you know how do you get that power soaked 00:15:08.220 --> 00:15:10.440 sound out of the marshall you know, without, 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:12.539 without modelers, you know what I mean? Like 00:15:12.539 --> 00:15:14.919 if you try to do it the old fashioned way, it's 00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:17.059 going to take a lot of money and a lot of muscle. 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:19.120 And at my age in my mid fifties, I don't want 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.740 to lift that stuff up to go play a gig. Right. 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:28.500 I admit it. Absolutely. I mean, it's, and that's 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:34.940 without getting into a old bass amps or trudging 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:41.590 anything anywhere. So. You already mentioned 00:15:41.590 --> 00:15:45.230 that you guys are working on more material for 00:15:45.230 --> 00:15:50.029 an album. When The Love Is Gone came out in April, 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:53.970 are you spacing the songs out before the album 00:15:53.970 --> 00:15:57.690 comes out? We are. Yeah, we actually over the 00:15:57.690 --> 00:15:59.789 past couple of weeks, though, surprisingly, we 00:15:59.789 --> 00:16:02.009 got asked to do like a bunch of shows. And I 00:16:02.009 --> 00:16:04.769 mean, some of them were like, you know, not gigantic 00:16:04.769 --> 00:16:06.529 spectacle or anything like that. Some opening 00:16:06.529 --> 00:16:09.309 shows and. like even an acoustic show and stuff. 00:16:09.350 --> 00:16:11.190 And we had been spending time like rehearsing, 00:16:11.190 --> 00:16:13.090 like, well, God, if we got to play for two hours, 00:16:13.190 --> 00:16:14.289 you know, what are we going to play? We never 00:16:14.289 --> 00:16:16.970 really scaled down our set. So, you know, we 00:16:16.970 --> 00:16:18.470 wouldn't, you know, we ended up playing like 00:16:18.470 --> 00:16:21.769 all covers just to make it easy. We have been 00:16:21.769 --> 00:16:23.970 asked to, you know, to do it again and stuff 00:16:23.970 --> 00:16:25.809 like that. So we said, yeah, okay, you know, 00:16:25.809 --> 00:16:28.830 we'll go ahead and do it. And, but it also means 00:16:28.830 --> 00:16:32.230 that each week that passes by, we don't get something 00:16:32.230 --> 00:16:36.149 else done on a record. Like Rob, my singer, you 00:16:36.149 --> 00:16:37.850 know, we live right near each other and where 00:16:37.850 --> 00:16:40.350 we live in Pittsburgh. And so it's very easy 00:16:40.350 --> 00:16:42.129 for him and I to get together and do things. 00:16:42.490 --> 00:16:44.809 And it's just been sometimes it's been chaos 00:16:44.809 --> 00:16:48.470 and we just can't get together as much as we 00:16:48.470 --> 00:16:53.389 want. So ultimately, what we end up doing is 00:16:53.389 --> 00:16:56.450 I might like he'll send me a track. I'll pull 00:16:56.450 --> 00:16:58.509 it into Studio One or whatever. I'll record it 00:16:58.509 --> 00:17:00.909 or zero track it, send it back if he needs a 00:17:00.909 --> 00:17:05.480 solo or something like that. Right. We are doing 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:09.460 that and we're and we're making progress. We 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:12.799 just have to actually finish about four other 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.160 songs and we can release the album. But we do 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:18.920 want to release two more songs over like as as 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:22.119 originals or I mean, two more songs as, you know, 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:23.960 cuts. But instead of releasing one, we want to 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:28.539 do like a nice one to punch and. Maybe release 00:17:28.539 --> 00:17:30.880 it a couple weeks apart. That way there's a lot 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.880 for people to talk about. And then we'll go ahead 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:34.220 and release the album because the album's got 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:37.460 a lot of great stuff on it. Okay. Is there an 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:40.660 ETA as to when you guys think the album will 00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:44.980 be coming out? I'm saying late summer. The original 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:48.079 thing was to try to get it in for summer, like 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:50.079 sometime in the summer. So if we get it in late 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:51.740 summer, I think we're good because we're going 00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:54.200 to try and do another big show in Pittsburgh 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:57.650 with Red Beach. from White Snake and Winger and 00:17:57.650 --> 00:18:00.950 then bringing some people in from Guy and Rob's 00:18:00.950 --> 00:18:05.130 other project called Love and Chains. If I'm 00:18:05.130 --> 00:18:06.450 not mistaken, I can't remember if that was the 00:18:06.450 --> 00:18:08.069 one that's on Frontiers, the Frontiers label 00:18:08.069 --> 00:18:10.329 that's overseas and stuff like that. And we're 00:18:10.329 --> 00:18:12.089 going to be shopping ours around too. We have 00:18:12.089 --> 00:18:16.349 some interest in a local, local being Ohio, a 00:18:16.349 --> 00:18:19.210 label out there, but we're just trying to look 00:18:19.210 --> 00:18:23.190 for some different terms on it. And I think the 00:18:23.190 --> 00:18:24.869 material will speak for itself because it's, 00:18:25.180 --> 00:18:27.140 Like I said, it's very, it's very melodic. It's 00:18:27.140 --> 00:18:30.500 very, some people would call it poppy, but it's 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:33.200 hard to describe it that way. You know, it still 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:37.019 has a very heavy edge to it. The solos are melodic, 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:39.000 but I mean, I throw the elements of like shred 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:40.779 guitar in there and all that kind of stuff. I 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:44.000 hate saying that term anymore, but it's still 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.460 a thing, I guess. Right. Okay. When we spoke 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:51.819 way back when at that time. You were coming out 00:18:51.819 --> 00:18:58.380 with a signature model from Esoteric. How has 00:18:58.380 --> 00:19:02.000 your gear changed since then? Pretty dramatically. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.420 So there's been a couple, there's been some big 00:19:04.420 --> 00:19:08.279 developments with that. Esoteric, I don't think 00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:11.140 we ever came to terms on anything. David Thomas 00:19:11.140 --> 00:19:17.380 McNaught makes my signature model. And so it's 00:19:17.380 --> 00:19:20.089 called the XD, you know, imagine that. Uh, it 00:19:20.089 --> 00:19:21.809 comes in, you know, whatever flavor you want, 00:19:21.869 --> 00:19:25.349 six string, seven string. Um, if you, if somebody 00:19:25.349 --> 00:19:27.089 just says, Hey, I just want like one of his guitars, 00:19:27.130 --> 00:19:30.029 the way he plays it, it would be 27 frets, uh, 00:19:30.130 --> 00:19:33.309 bare knuckle pickups, uh, the hip shot, you know, 00:19:33.309 --> 00:19:36.750 tremolo system on it. Um, not a big fan of Floyd 00:19:36.750 --> 00:19:38.849 roses and I haven't been for years just because 00:19:38.849 --> 00:19:41.950 of my fat hands dig into them, you know? So I 00:19:41.950 --> 00:19:45.150 like a low profile trim. Um, they're, they're 00:19:45.150 --> 00:19:47.890 really, I mean, It turned out to be like a really 00:19:47.890 --> 00:19:50.490 cool guitar. And amazingly enough, he sold well 00:19:50.490 --> 00:19:53.450 over 20, I think almost 30 of them so far. And 00:19:53.450 --> 00:19:57.789 then recently I have just joined up with Headless 00:19:57.789 --> 00:20:01.529 USA because I've been a huge, huge Steinberger 00:20:01.529 --> 00:20:06.430 player for, I mean, 30 plus years. And I don't 00:20:06.430 --> 00:20:08.809 play the Headless guitars. That's the irony in 00:20:08.809 --> 00:20:11.190 the whole thing. I played the only one they ever 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:12.750 made with a headstock when they were really trying 00:20:12.750 --> 00:20:16.099 to get into what they call a super strat. back 00:20:16.099 --> 00:20:18.980 in the late eighties and early nineties. So if 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:22.019 you saw like Brett Garson from Nelson and a few 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:24.599 other players, like even Buckethead, they play 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:26.740 like this, this guitar from Steinberger called 00:20:26.740 --> 00:20:29.900 the GS. And that's, I have, I have two of those 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:32.299 and I play them like almost every show. So I 00:20:32.299 --> 00:20:34.000 usually take my signature guitar. I have a seven 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:36.359 string and a six string. And then I, I usually 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:38.819 take, you know, one, one or two, one of the two 00:20:38.819 --> 00:20:41.579 Steinbergers I have. And then the other one I 00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:43.440 usually take is either like over here hanging 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:47.099 on my wall is a, either a Sir or an Anderson, 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:49.220 like a Superstrat, so I can get those tones. 00:20:49.539 --> 00:20:51.220 So I always bring three guitars to every gig. 00:20:51.299 --> 00:20:53.039 It's kind of weird like that. It's like an OCD 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:57.180 thing. And it's funny. But anyway, yeah, so I've 00:20:57.180 --> 00:21:00.339 just joined forces with Headless USA, who owns 00:21:00.339 --> 00:21:02.259 the Steinberger. Basically, they don't own the 00:21:02.259 --> 00:21:04.359 Steinberger brand because that's Gibson. They 00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:06.920 own the Steinberger intellectual property or 00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:10.220 IP, if you want to call it that. So if they go 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:12.519 to re -release the GS, I mean, I'll be one of 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:15.920 the players for it, which is really cool. OK. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:20.779 And as far as taking those three guitars out, 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:24.880 do you play all three? Always. Yeah. You know, 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:27.539 if we do a half hour show, I'm more inclined 00:21:27.539 --> 00:21:30.319 to basically stick with one. Tomorrow night we're 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:32.559 playing like a full hour set, like we're headlining 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:35.839 a place called Jurgles here in Pittsburgh. And 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:39.299 I will be playing at least at least two different 00:21:39.299 --> 00:21:40.839 ones because I want to play my seven string on 00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:43.119 two songs. And then I'll be playing, you know, 00:21:43.140 --> 00:21:44.759 one of the other six strings on the other. So 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:46.720 if I start out with a six and I switch to the 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:48.259 seven, I'll play the other six for the rest of 00:21:48.259 --> 00:21:50.519 the night. You know, it's just, it's, it's one 00:21:50.519 --> 00:21:53.460 of those things where whatever, whatever fits, 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:56.519 I mean, it's, and also, it also depends on what 00:21:56.519 --> 00:21:58.779 you're gelling with at that time too. Like I've 00:21:58.779 --> 00:22:01.059 been playing my Steinberger Steinbergers a lot. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:05.119 So I'll probably start the night with them or, 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.400 you know, I'll, I'll, I'll play my signature 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:11.910 guitar. And because. Dave McNaught, he's so good 00:22:11.910 --> 00:22:15.450 at what he does. He's the only one, one of two 00:22:15.450 --> 00:22:19.069 Luthiers I've worked with that when I said, I 00:22:19.069 --> 00:22:22.190 didn't send him a Steinberger to base the neck 00:22:22.190 --> 00:22:27.069 on. I just know that anytime I buy a guitar, 00:22:27.269 --> 00:22:32.029 I always compare it to how those GS guitars play. 00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:36.230 Because I play differently on those necks. It's 00:22:36.230 --> 00:22:38.150 weird. They're not wood. They're made out of 00:22:38.150 --> 00:22:41.980 graphite. if I can really play the way I want 00:22:41.980 --> 00:22:46.640 to play on those instruments or on another instrument, 00:22:46.660 --> 00:22:48.240 then I say, yeah, this guitar is in that same 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:50.720 class, you know, is that graphite. Like I have 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.000 a Brian Moore MC1. It has a Sustaniac I put in 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:55.940 it and stuff like that. It's cool. It's got that 00:22:55.940 --> 00:22:57.619 graphite, you know, fingerboard and it has that 00:22:57.619 --> 00:23:00.380 feel to it, you know? So I like, I like a lot 00:23:00.380 --> 00:23:03.160 of those, you know, it's kind of strange shaped 00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:05.460 guitars like that. At the same time, I'm a traditionalist 00:23:05.460 --> 00:23:09.230 where I like a nice double cutaway. I'm really 00:23:09.230 --> 00:23:12.210 weird. I'm glad my wife never has had to buy 00:23:12.210 --> 00:23:13.970 a guitar for me. She'd be like, yeah, I'm not 00:23:13.970 --> 00:23:20.730 doing this. You mentioned the bare knuckle pickups 00:23:20.730 --> 00:23:25.150 before. Yeah. I'm trying to think. I think I've 00:23:25.150 --> 00:23:27.609 had one or two other people mention them over 00:23:27.609 --> 00:23:32.289 the years to me. Are they active pickups? Are 00:23:32.289 --> 00:23:37.039 they passive? They're passive. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. 00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:39.259 The ones I use are passive. I actually use the, 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:43.740 um, it's a whole, it's called a Holy diver. It's 00:23:43.740 --> 00:23:45.839 in a bridge. And then the, uh, the neck pickup 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:48.980 is called an Emerald. Okay. Um, I actually have 00:23:48.980 --> 00:23:54.460 that in my McNaught signature. Um, in my seven 00:23:54.460 --> 00:23:58.519 strings, I use EMGs and, and, uh, Steinbergers. 00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:02.900 I actually have EMGs in there. Um, but, uh, I 00:24:02.900 --> 00:24:04.759 do have one guitar that a local Luthier built 00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:07.400 for me. His name is Mike Caldwell. And I needed 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.539 a guitar that was going to be in standard tuning 00:24:09.539 --> 00:24:11.160 all the time. Everything we do is an E flat, 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:14.579 like everything. Now we even do some things that 00:24:14.579 --> 00:24:16.259 are like in straight D, which is like, if you 00:24:16.259 --> 00:24:18.779 see the, the wall of ghost stuff, I'm a big ghost 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:21.839 fan over here. And they do everything in straight 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.799 D and stuff. And it's like, I have, I play through 00:24:25.799 --> 00:24:27.839 a quad cortex and I actually have a setting on 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:30.119 their transposer that will, you know, transpose 00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:32.480 up. And I mean, the processor on that thing is 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:36.660 incredible. So there's no issue with like, you 00:24:36.660 --> 00:24:38.440 know, latency and stuff like that, even playing 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:40.539 really fast. And I mean, I like that, but at 00:24:40.539 --> 00:24:42.619 the same time, I do like the organic feel of 00:24:42.619 --> 00:24:44.940 having a different, different tune guitar when 00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:46.660 necessary. So I had Mike build me one that was 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:49.440 a little bit shorter scale and we based it on 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:54.339 sort of like the Ernie Ball Luke and 24 fret 00:24:54.339 --> 00:24:56.099 though, instead of the 22, cause I'm just weird 00:24:56.099 --> 00:25:00.140 like that. Another OCD thing. And then, and then 00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:03.059 on that guitar. He did the neck actually similar 00:25:03.059 --> 00:25:04.759 to the Steinberger too. So, I mean, it's all, 00:25:04.819 --> 00:25:08.119 I mean, it just has that feel to it. And we used 00:25:08.119 --> 00:25:09.900 a Duncan pickups on that one. We actually went 00:25:09.900 --> 00:25:13.220 with like traditional hot rails and a Duncan 00:25:13.220 --> 00:25:15.220 distortion. And man, is the thing just screaming. 00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:17.460 It's just beautiful because if I do a filming 00:25:17.460 --> 00:25:19.119 gig for somebody and I can't convince them to 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:21.619 tune down, I at least I'll grab that guitar and 00:25:21.619 --> 00:25:23.059 say, okay, I've got this. You know, I filled 00:25:23.059 --> 00:25:25.220 in for a friend of mine's band who has a heart 00:25:25.220 --> 00:25:27.480 tribute band. And you know, I just, I already 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:29.880 knew how they were. I'm like, yep, they're going 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:31.299 to be playing everything standard, so I'm going 00:25:31.299 --> 00:25:34.059 to grab that guitar and that's it. But yeah, 00:25:34.420 --> 00:25:38.539 anyway, that's how I roll on that. I don't even 00:25:38.539 --> 00:25:40.539 remember what your first question was. I was 00:25:40.539 --> 00:25:43.980 asking about the bare knuckle pickups, but that 00:25:43.980 --> 00:25:48.220 makes sense. Bringing that up more than anything, 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:51.539 because I've got a few different guitars and 00:25:51.539 --> 00:25:54.619 they've all got different pickups from DiMarzios, 00:25:54.720 --> 00:26:01.069 TMGs. I'm trying to think I've got blackouts 00:26:01.069 --> 00:26:05.470 in something as well. And it's always an interesting 00:26:05.470 --> 00:26:08.829 thing to bring up and, and talk to people about, 00:26:08.869 --> 00:26:14.910 because I don't think a lot of even players, 00:26:15.049 --> 00:26:17.769 I don't think realize that the difference that 00:26:17.769 --> 00:26:20.670 having different types of pickups can offer you 00:26:20.670 --> 00:26:23.650 with sounds and, and different things that. Oh 00:26:23.650 --> 00:26:26.589 yeah. It's huge. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. 00:26:26.910 --> 00:26:30.210 And I do think it does matter for the instrument. 00:26:31.069 --> 00:26:33.309 There's a lot of great 7 -string passive pickups 00:26:33.309 --> 00:26:37.069 out there, but for some reason, like in the first 00:26:37.069 --> 00:26:39.069 McNaught signature I ever got, which was the 00:26:39.069 --> 00:26:43.329 7 -string, I've had the EMG 707 and then the 00:26:43.329 --> 00:26:46.609 707TW in there, which a lot of times people just 00:26:46.609 --> 00:26:48.910 say that is like a basic pickup. And you know 00:26:48.910 --> 00:26:51.369 what? It is, but it's always clean. It always 00:26:51.369 --> 00:26:53.950 distorts right and all that kind of stuff. So 00:26:53.950 --> 00:26:55.950 I've never had any weird inconsistency problems 00:26:55.950 --> 00:26:58.700 with it. And I mean, ultimately, it looks really 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:00.319 cool. I hate to say it. I mean, it just looks 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:03.700 nice on a guitar that's got 27 frets. You know, 00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:05.779 I mean, that's what else can you say, you know? 00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:11.680 And so, yeah, I think if you have multiple guitars, 00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:14.960 it does help to actually experiment a little 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:17.559 bit. Yeah. You know, Duncans, DiMarzios, Bare 00:27:17.559 --> 00:27:20.859 Knuckles, Jim Wagner. I think I have a guitar 00:27:20.859 --> 00:27:23.650 that has Wagner pickups in there. Um, I even 00:27:23.650 --> 00:27:27.170 had some, uh, uh, the, uh, what is it? Um, the 00:27:27.170 --> 00:27:30.650 Fishman, uh, guitar player named Greg Koch, uh, 00:27:30.789 --> 00:27:32.990 Telecaster player. He's frighteningly amazing. 00:27:33.910 --> 00:27:36.569 And, um, I actually have a set of his that has 00:27:36.569 --> 00:27:38.670 a little button on there that actually changes 00:27:38.670 --> 00:27:41.750 to the voicing, uh, for like tele pickups and 00:27:41.750 --> 00:27:43.549 stuff like that. So it's really have that flexibility. 00:27:44.190 --> 00:27:49.569 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, When we first started 00:27:49.569 --> 00:27:52.130 the interview, I brought up the name James Rivera. 00:27:52.809 --> 00:27:56.190 You had played with other people in the past 00:27:56.190 --> 00:27:58.950 as well. Do you still get people like that reaching 00:27:58.950 --> 00:28:02.309 out to you, wanting to work on different things 00:28:02.309 --> 00:28:06.390 or maybe just do solos for, you know, maybe for 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:11.349 a song or two here? Yeah, here and there. Honestly, 00:28:11.650 --> 00:28:13.849 it doesn't happen as much as it did in the past. 00:28:14.689 --> 00:28:17.170 I mean, I wouldn't mind, you know, someone to 00:28:17.170 --> 00:28:18.869 come and ace, you know, throw a solo down and 00:28:18.869 --> 00:28:21.230 stuff. And maybe there's just a bigger pool of 00:28:21.230 --> 00:28:23.089 people to choose from. I mean, which I can respect 00:28:23.089 --> 00:28:30.150 that. But it was I think that I'm so wrapped 00:28:30.150 --> 00:28:32.069 up in what we're doing. So I don't know if I'd 00:28:32.069 --> 00:28:35.769 actually have that kind of time. I did. Rob has 00:28:35.769 --> 00:28:38.930 had Rob Kane from XTB. He's actually brought 00:28:38.930 --> 00:28:42.119 up some things for me with a few people. And 00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:43.619 there was somebody who had like an alternative 00:28:43.619 --> 00:28:45.500 metal song that, you know, kind of sounded almost 00:28:45.500 --> 00:28:48.720 like fear factory in a way. And then they, you 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:49.940 know, they said, you know, Hey, can you, can 00:28:49.940 --> 00:28:52.720 you have your guy throw a solo down? And I threw, 00:28:52.779 --> 00:28:55.160 I gave him three and Robbie such a, he's such 00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:57.000 a mastermind in the studio that he actually took 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.539 elements of all three solos and, and, you know, 00:28:59.539 --> 00:29:01.119 put them together, I guess, like almost on the 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:03.440 four, you know, of the beats and stuff. He's 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:04.859 like, I liked the way you started this one, but 00:29:04.859 --> 00:29:07.700 this one ended better and, and all that and stuff. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:10.480 So I guess it's, it's still going on. Yeah. Okay. 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:14.640 Cool. You mentioned that you have a show coming 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:19.299 up with XTB. How many shows do you have planned 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:22.720 out in the in the near future? As of right now, 00:29:22.859 --> 00:29:27.200 we are we have. OK, so it's a great question. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:31.019 Let me let me preface the answer on that. So 00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:34.819 XTB, as the way you're interviewing me right 00:29:34.819 --> 00:29:37.539 now, it's XTB, the original project, you know, 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:40.099 like our original music and. That's what we want 00:29:40.099 --> 00:29:43.299 to play, you know. But we have two other elements 00:29:43.299 --> 00:29:47.880 of the same five people. We have one called Vox 00:29:47.880 --> 00:29:50.940 Acoustic, and that stands for Voices of XTB Acoustic. 00:29:51.019 --> 00:29:53.539 We strip it all down. We play, you know, with 00:29:53.539 --> 00:29:56.039 a cajon kit. And I mean, I can't play acoustic 00:29:56.039 --> 00:29:58.359 guitar because I'm just a sissy and I need my 00:29:58.359 --> 00:30:01.000 electric guitars that have piezos. And I play 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:04.880 the acoustic sound that way. And we just all 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:06.920 five of us sing. So all five of us actually, 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:09.269 you know, sing. you know, some of those tunes, 00:30:09.390 --> 00:30:12.529 you know, mostly covers, of course. And then 00:30:12.529 --> 00:30:15.750 we have what we call XTB under the covers. And 00:30:15.750 --> 00:30:18.670 under the covers is if somebody says, hey, we 00:30:18.670 --> 00:30:20.630 need a cover band for this thing. Sometimes it's 00:30:20.630 --> 00:30:22.809 private parties. Sometimes it's, you know, at 00:30:22.809 --> 00:30:24.529 a club where they say, hey, didn't you used to 00:30:24.529 --> 00:30:26.269 be in this band? And didn't you used to be in 00:30:26.269 --> 00:30:28.869 this band? I mean, like my drummer was in a couple 00:30:28.869 --> 00:30:32.069 of Motley Crue tribute bands and stuff like that. 00:30:32.109 --> 00:30:33.269 And they did really, you know, they played huge 00:30:33.269 --> 00:30:35.509 shows and stuff. And because tributes are, tribute 00:30:35.509 --> 00:30:38.720 bands are still big. For us, it's basically like 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.180 saying, okay, look, we're going to do three sets 00:30:40.180 --> 00:30:43.000 for you. We're going to do 10 songs per set. 00:30:44.099 --> 00:30:45.740 You know, you're going to hear your standards. 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:47.599 You'll hear like an REO Speedwagon. You'll hear 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:49.940 a Boston. You'll hear a Journey song or two. 00:30:50.339 --> 00:30:52.900 Maybe something more modern like Lit or something 00:30:52.900 --> 00:30:55.460 like that, right? Maybe a Poison tune just for 00:30:55.460 --> 00:30:58.420 the hell of it. No backing tracks. I mean, since 00:30:58.420 --> 00:31:00.359 we have such strong vocals and background vocals, 00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:04.700 you know, we do that very well. And then, of 00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:06.140 course, you're going to you're going to have 00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:08.019 to deal with a one or two of our originals. So 00:31:08.019 --> 00:31:11.480 that actually gives us a way to hoe ourselves 00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:16.740 out. But so, yeah, we we definitely have three 00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:19.819 flavors. Tomorrow Night is basically just it's 00:31:19.819 --> 00:31:21.859 original. We're playing a couple of cover tunes, 00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:24.359 but it's our albums. Our album is called Gods 00:31:24.359 --> 00:31:28.359 of Aliens. And we're doing basically six tracks 00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:31.319 off of that, plus two songs from Guitar Acadia. 00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:35.279 And then. three cover tunes, which we've, we've 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:37.460 selected, you know, you know, just for like a 00:31:37.460 --> 00:31:39.119 night, like tomorrow night and we have two openers 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.059 and stuff. So it's going to be fun. Okay. Moving 00:31:42.059 --> 00:31:44.079 on down the road though. Like then we have some 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:46.579 vacation time. Everyone's got some time coming 00:31:46.579 --> 00:31:48.359 up. I think we get back to work probably mid 00:31:48.359 --> 00:31:51.500 July. We have like three shows in July and another 00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:53.880 three in August. And I think that we're trying 00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:56.059 to put something together for the fall. Okay. 00:31:56.500 --> 00:31:59.400 Yeah. What are some of your favorite covers to 00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:05.230 play? Ooh, man. Going to go down that rabbit 00:32:05.230 --> 00:32:09.029 hole. I love playing stone and love from journey. 00:32:09.089 --> 00:32:11.150 Cause I love doing the solos. There's a lot of 00:32:11.150 --> 00:32:18.230 fun. I man cover tunes. Wow. We actually had 00:32:18.230 --> 00:32:19.869 taken some liberties and done some other crazy 00:32:19.869 --> 00:32:21.710 cover tunes. Like we've done, we've done rising 00:32:21.710 --> 00:32:24.950 force from Ming Bay. We've done pull me under 00:32:24.950 --> 00:32:26.690 from dream theater, which is a blast to play. 00:32:27.210 --> 00:32:32.880 Okay. Yeah. And then we've, like Square Hammer 00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:35.599 from Ghost is a fun tune to play because a lot 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:38.119 of people, they dismiss them because they look 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:40.579 all goofy and stuff like that. And that's fine 00:32:40.579 --> 00:32:42.799 if you think that, but there's no doubt that 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:44.619 Square Hammer is a banger of a tune. You know 00:32:44.619 --> 00:32:46.460 what I mean? It's just really, it kind of fits 00:32:46.460 --> 00:32:49.460 with all those classics, you know? So that one's 00:32:49.460 --> 00:32:54.440 fun to play. I probably would, I mean, I like 00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:56.359 the challenges, you know what I mean? I like 00:32:56.359 --> 00:32:57.660 some of the ones that, you know, have challenges 00:32:57.660 --> 00:33:00.289 to them. We'll do carry on wayward son, you know, 00:33:00.289 --> 00:33:03.349 we got the vocals nailed down, you know, and 00:33:03.349 --> 00:33:05.690 I mean, we do more than a feeling between Rob 00:33:05.690 --> 00:33:08.130 and Emily and their range. Oh my God. I mean, 00:33:08.130 --> 00:33:10.490 they get, they, they get that like effortless 00:33:10.490 --> 00:33:12.730 and it's, I mean, I'm looking at him saying, 00:33:12.769 --> 00:33:14.349 why aren't we doing a Boston tribute band? Would 00:33:14.349 --> 00:33:16.690 we clean the house with that? You know? And you 00:33:16.690 --> 00:33:18.809 know, my only thing is I won't play a gold top 00:33:18.809 --> 00:33:25.250 less ball. Nope. Sorry, Tom. Is, is there any 00:33:25.250 --> 00:33:28.279 cover tune that you've brought? to the rest of 00:33:28.279 --> 00:33:34.960 the band that has gotten vetoed? Um, not really. 00:33:35.019 --> 00:33:37.440 I, that was probably more of a thing back in 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:39.519 the day when, when, when I was just in cover 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:42.059 bands, we had a, we had a cover band called into 00:33:42.059 --> 00:33:44.579 the arena and it was a lot of fun. I mean, we, 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:47.279 you know, it was, you know, arena rock stuff, 00:33:47.319 --> 00:33:51.619 you know, and the ones that probably they, they 00:33:51.619 --> 00:33:54.319 pushed back on were the ones that were our biggest 00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:57.960 successes live. And I'll give you an example. 00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:01.220 Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. OK, I play there like, 00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:03.099 dude, you're crazy. We're not playing a Lady 00:34:03.099 --> 00:34:06.319 Gaga song. I said, hear me out. All right. And 00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:09.119 we just started playing it. I actually sang it. 00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:11.880 And I got it kind of like a high raspy voice 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:14.320 when I sing. So I was able to kind of nail like 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:16.380 some of her, you know, inflections and stuff 00:34:16.380 --> 00:34:19.079 like that. And we did it. And of course, you 00:34:19.079 --> 00:34:21.199 know, I did it with, you know, like heavy guitar 00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:23.639 and stuff like that. And then we all looked at 00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:25.320 each other like, oh, this is going to kill. And 00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:27.670 we played it. We ended up playing it like a week 00:34:27.670 --> 00:34:30.190 or two later, and it was one of our best tunes 00:34:30.190 --> 00:34:33.269 live. And we kept it under rotation. So there 00:34:33.269 --> 00:34:35.469 were other songs that kind of got shot down. 00:34:35.630 --> 00:34:37.610 I do know that our old bass player, he brought 00:34:37.610 --> 00:34:40.010 Footloose to us, and we all vetoed that one. 00:34:41.110 --> 00:34:42.969 It's like, dude, I'm not playing Footloose. I'm 00:34:42.969 --> 00:34:46.230 not playing that song. Because I told him I was 00:34:46.230 --> 00:34:47.809 going to break into an 80s dance in the middle 00:34:47.809 --> 00:34:49.269 of it, and I said, you don't want to see me doing 00:34:49.269 --> 00:34:52.429 that dance. And he started cracking up. But I 00:34:52.429 --> 00:34:54.980 gave it a college try. We all played it. And 00:34:54.980 --> 00:34:57.579 our drummer, he just stopped, he stopped halfway 00:34:57.579 --> 00:34:59.320 through and he pulled his hat down and he's like, 00:34:59.460 --> 00:35:04.199 no, it's just like stuff like that. So, I mean, 00:35:04.219 --> 00:35:07.420 I try to, you know, bring songs, you know, that 00:35:07.420 --> 00:35:11.280 were, that'll work. I think in our acoustic, 00:35:11.360 --> 00:35:14.360 our acoustic set that we're trying to do, I think 00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:17.659 I did, I pulled up Ed Sheeran, Thinking About 00:35:17.659 --> 00:35:21.679 You, or no, Thinking Out Loud. Okay. Easy song 00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:24.079 to sing, you know, like I, you know, saying through 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:26.260 it but we kind of like left it off of our list 00:35:26.260 --> 00:35:28.440 because i know they weren't crazy about it i 00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:30.360 mean i do play with like some people that are 00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:33.039 more rockers and stuff like that but we end up 00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:34.980 playing like pink houses from john cougar you 00:35:34.980 --> 00:35:37.539 know and right i mean i was okay with that i 00:35:37.539 --> 00:35:39.579 just it's kind of a to me it's kind of boring 00:35:39.579 --> 00:35:42.519 but i mean it's that's okay i mean people that 00:35:42.519 --> 00:35:43.940 were there they liked it and that's all that 00:35:43.940 --> 00:35:47.480 matters you know so i'm very flexible like that 00:35:47.480 --> 00:35:51.099 yeah well it seems like With all the different 00:35:51.099 --> 00:35:53.719 songs that you're throwing out there from Ed 00:35:53.719 --> 00:35:56.920 Sheeran to Lady Gaga and stuff like that. Oh, 00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:59.699 yeah. And Dream Theater. I mean, you're pretty 00:35:59.699 --> 00:36:02.699 open to pretty much doing anything. Pretty much. 00:36:02.739 --> 00:36:05.059 Yeah. It's kind of funny. I mean, well, you know, 00:36:05.079 --> 00:36:09.820 there's very little that like we won't kind of 00:36:09.820 --> 00:36:12.539 get into just in case. You know, there's very 00:36:12.539 --> 00:36:14.559 little that we won't get into because we do like 00:36:14.559 --> 00:36:18.960 between the five of us and the difference in 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:21.380 ages. And difference in experiences and stuff 00:36:21.380 --> 00:36:24.519 like that. We have all five unique tastes. Right. 00:36:24.760 --> 00:36:26.420 It's really cool though. Like my singer and I, 00:36:26.460 --> 00:36:29.159 we're both huge TNT fans. So there's, you know, 00:36:29.179 --> 00:36:30.519 there's things in there that we like, you know, 00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:32.179 there's elements you'll hear even in the new 00:36:32.179 --> 00:36:34.619 songs that we have coming out that actually have 00:36:34.619 --> 00:36:36.559 elements of TNT in there. But mostly I would 00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:39.800 say the TNT probably from intuition is probably 00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:42.699 our favorite. Okay. So if you're familiar with 00:36:42.699 --> 00:36:44.539 that album, like our songs have more of that 00:36:44.539 --> 00:36:47.300 vibe than maybe like the, you know, night to 00:36:47.300 --> 00:36:48.900 the new thunder, which is like the early stuff. 00:36:50.469 --> 00:36:53.010 Um, as far as sabotage, you know, kind of things 00:36:53.010 --> 00:36:55.469 go, I mean, more, more later leaning almost towards 00:36:55.469 --> 00:36:58.489 the TSO stuff, you know, is kind of like, you 00:36:58.489 --> 00:37:00.750 know, where, where I've approached that. Um, 00:37:00.949 --> 00:37:03.550 they've been timeless though, for so long. They're 00:37:03.550 --> 00:37:06.210 one of those bands that are just completely timeless 00:37:06.210 --> 00:37:12.889 in my eyes. So would you be more, um, willing 00:37:12.889 --> 00:37:16.929 to cover handful of rain as opposed to gutter 00:37:16.929 --> 00:37:21.420 ballet? I'd have to go gutter ballet. Okay. I 00:37:21.420 --> 00:37:23.400 love handful of rain. Don't get me wrong, but 00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:26.000 I, I would want to be able to play that nasty 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:30.420 drop the riff, you know, God, I love it. I was 00:37:30.420 --> 00:37:32.340 playing it the other night, just messing around 00:37:32.340 --> 00:37:34.500 with it. And I hadn't played it in a long time. 00:37:34.579 --> 00:37:36.519 And I, I actually, I think it was sitting in 00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:39.559 my living room and I, I had that, that, that 00:37:39.559 --> 00:37:41.860 standard tune guitar I was telling you about. 00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:43.909 And I. drop deed it. And I was playing along 00:37:43.909 --> 00:37:45.610 with some stuff and I said, Hey, I'm going to 00:37:45.610 --> 00:37:46.949 grab, you know, I'm going to sabotage. So I go 00:37:46.949 --> 00:37:49.369 on YouTube on my TV and I started playing along 00:37:49.369 --> 00:37:51.329 with the video. So I'm playing like, you know, 00:37:51.349 --> 00:37:54.690 Jesus saves and gutter ballet and believe, and 00:37:54.690 --> 00:37:56.809 you know, like a bunch of, a bunch of classic 00:37:56.809 --> 00:37:58.670 power of the night. I mean, you know, that song 00:37:58.670 --> 00:38:01.190 is way too much fun. And some of those are actually 00:38:01.190 --> 00:38:03.929 in a half step down. So I just, I usually have 00:38:03.929 --> 00:38:05.929 both of those guitars like sitting next to me. 00:38:05.969 --> 00:38:10.530 So if I've got to change that, nobody can ever 00:38:10.530 --> 00:38:13.639 agree on the tunings. Right. That's the one. 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:15.179 That's the only thing I was really just kind 00:38:15.179 --> 00:38:17.159 of like a pain in the butt about, you know, like 00:38:17.159 --> 00:38:20.860 whenever anybody's ever joined our band, I've 00:38:20.860 --> 00:38:23.760 always said we are any flat. And I had one bass 00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:26.380 player. His name was Ben. Amazing bass player. 00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:29.179 But he just all he did was he tuned his lowest. 00:38:29.260 --> 00:38:30.880 He had played a five string. He tuned his lowest 00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:34.539 string down a half step. And I said, what about 00:38:34.539 --> 00:38:36.780 like if you have to like ride the E? He's like, 00:38:36.860 --> 00:38:38.800 no, no, I'll just hold it down. I'm thinking 00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:40.679 to myself, that doesn't sound the same. It doesn't 00:38:40.679 --> 00:38:43.199 look the same. But I'm not worried about that. 00:38:43.260 --> 00:38:46.320 But he was so good at it. He was just like, you 00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:49.059 know, if I was playing an open E, he knew that, 00:38:49.099 --> 00:38:51.579 you know, he would be like on the F or not the 00:38:51.579 --> 00:38:54.280 F, but yeah, the F on his, you know, on his, 00:38:54.340 --> 00:38:56.019 he'd be on the first fret. I'm like, okay, wow, 00:38:56.139 --> 00:38:58.980 that's crazy. He has no problem with that. Right. 00:38:59.099 --> 00:39:01.320 You know, he had no problem. He never missed 00:39:01.320 --> 00:39:03.719 a single note live. I'm like, wow, how do you 00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:06.539 do it? And he filled in for us a couple of years 00:39:06.539 --> 00:39:10.300 ago when we did a solo show opening for a friend 00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:11.739 of mine who came in from California. We did a 00:39:11.739 --> 00:39:15.260 weekend with him. And it was funny because he 00:39:15.260 --> 00:39:18.119 said at the time, he's like, yeah, I'm getting 00:39:18.119 --> 00:39:19.800 a little bit older. He's like, I'll tune down 00:39:19.800 --> 00:39:22.099 a half step, you know, because he likes his strings 00:39:22.099 --> 00:39:24.019 really tight. And he's got these giant, you know, 00:39:24.019 --> 00:39:26.760 scary hands that, you know, it looked like he 00:39:26.760 --> 00:39:28.760 was strangling his base and it looked, it was 00:39:28.760 --> 00:39:30.380 really cool. I mean, I just, I couldn't pull 00:39:30.380 --> 00:39:32.469 that off. You know, I like. I like my light string 00:39:32.469 --> 00:39:39.829 tension and all that stuff. Gotcha. Okay. Looking 00:39:39.829 --> 00:39:43.550 forward to the new album. Are you guys looking 00:39:43.550 --> 00:39:45.750 to just release that digitally? Are you looking 00:39:45.750 --> 00:39:49.110 to release it in a physical format, CD or vinyl? 00:39:49.570 --> 00:39:51.849 Yeah. But like all three, we want to go digital. 00:39:51.909 --> 00:39:55.230 We want to go CD and we want to go vinyl. We 00:39:55.230 --> 00:39:57.150 just, I mean, I know vials made us come back 00:39:57.150 --> 00:39:59.530 and we, you know, we've been negotiating some 00:39:59.530 --> 00:40:02.039 deals to get. some vinyl pressing so they're 00:40:02.039 --> 00:40:04.380 going to be of course you know limited um if 00:40:04.380 --> 00:40:06.139 we you know it also depends on you know whatever 00:40:06.139 --> 00:40:09.260 whatever deal we end up striking up with uh you 00:40:09.260 --> 00:40:10.739 know somebody says hey look we'll give you distribution 00:40:10.739 --> 00:40:12.420 you guys can do whatever you want with the physical 00:40:12.420 --> 00:40:15.280 you know a lot of those rules have changed and 00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.739 sometimes i don't understand them but rob um 00:40:17.739 --> 00:40:20.739 our singer he's got much better handle handle 00:40:20.739 --> 00:40:22.920 on that stuff so i i leave it i leave it to him 00:40:22.920 --> 00:40:28.170 i just stroke the check that's all What would 00:40:28.170 --> 00:40:30.949 you like to see with, with the vinyl? Anything 00:40:30.949 --> 00:40:34.090 specific you're looking at? I don't know. It's 00:40:34.090 --> 00:40:36.869 a good question. Yeah. I mean, I would be kind 00:40:36.869 --> 00:40:40.030 of cool to do like, I mean, a lot of, a lot of 00:40:40.030 --> 00:40:41.329 what I have, but Scott, I have a couple of guitars. 00:40:41.670 --> 00:40:43.909 Let's see. I've got my sir. I have my Anderson. 00:40:44.090 --> 00:40:46.289 I have a Conklin. I have my signature guitar 00:40:46.289 --> 00:40:48.650 sitting right there, my seven string. And they 00:40:48.650 --> 00:40:51.130 all have like a, and everybody in my band will 00:40:51.130 --> 00:40:54.510 completely agree with me on this. I have a green 00:40:54.510 --> 00:40:57.159 and blue fetish, you know? It's gotta be like 00:40:57.159 --> 00:40:59.039 some form of green and blue or teal or something 00:40:59.039 --> 00:41:02.920 like that in between. And, um, uh, it'd be really 00:41:02.920 --> 00:41:05.360 cool to have kind of like a burst, you know, 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:07.380 like a, kind of like a starburst on the, on the 00:41:07.380 --> 00:41:09.079 vinyl itself. Like there'll be like blue and 00:41:09.079 --> 00:41:11.719 green, you know, and I'm sure everybody in, you 00:41:11.719 --> 00:41:14.119 know, if they, they go to watch this video, they're 00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:15.460 going to watch this interview later on. They're 00:41:15.460 --> 00:41:17.400 like, of course you had to say that, didn't you? 00:41:18.300 --> 00:41:21.139 Um, it'd be cool to see that. I mean, just, it'd 00:41:21.139 --> 00:41:23.500 also be cool. Like, I mean, I, you know, you 00:41:23.500 --> 00:41:25.699 know what it was like growing up and, You know, 00:41:25.699 --> 00:41:26.880 when you get that vinyl, you're like looking 00:41:26.880 --> 00:41:28.780 at every detail, especially like on an Iron Maiden 00:41:28.780 --> 00:41:31.780 album. Remember that? You're like all the small, 00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:34.440 like, you know, the details that the artist, 00:41:34.539 --> 00:41:36.480 you know, put on there and stuff like that. It 00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:38.440 was always cool to look at. It just, you know, 00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:40.320 CD was almost, you know, I mean, I'm like, I 00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:42.019 got my readers on here, but I'm like, oh, my 00:41:42.019 --> 00:41:44.460 God, I can't see that at all. So I'd like to 00:41:44.460 --> 00:41:46.119 see like, you know, some cool artwork possibly 00:41:46.119 --> 00:41:49.039 on that, you know, to make people like want to 00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:51.500 buy it just to say, hey, I've got this. And hey, 00:41:51.579 --> 00:41:53.280 would you guys sign it and all that kind of stuff, 00:41:53.300 --> 00:41:55.480 you know? So it'd be pretty cool. Do you have 00:41:55.480 --> 00:41:59.340 something in mind for the graphic design of, 00:41:59.380 --> 00:42:01.440 of the album cover? Have you guys gotten that 00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:06.219 far? We have an idea. Um, we have an idea for 00:42:06.219 --> 00:42:10.579 the cover or maybe, uh, a lead in from the cover 00:42:10.579 --> 00:42:14.800 to the back of the, um, of the, of the vinyl 00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:17.079 itself or the, the, the cover of the record itself. 00:42:17.360 --> 00:42:22.139 Um, because we have a promo pick that we really 00:42:22.139 --> 00:42:25.599 like, we wanted to also do a, um, you know, so 00:42:25.599 --> 00:42:27.599 it's called gods of aliens. We wanted to basically 00:42:27.599 --> 00:42:29.760 have the same picture, but on the back, have 00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:32.380 it kind of like, you know, cartoonified or AI 00:42:32.380 --> 00:42:34.199 generator, not AI generator. I'd like to actually 00:42:34.199 --> 00:42:37.019 see an artist do it, but where each of us has 00:42:37.019 --> 00:42:39.019 like a different alien head kind of thing, but 00:42:39.019 --> 00:42:40.940 in the same exact pose that we're in kind of, 00:42:40.940 --> 00:42:44.639 you know, so it just depends. We're, we're kicking 00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:46.699 some ideas around. I think right now, once we 00:42:46.699 --> 00:42:47.980 get the music done, we're going to be like, okay, 00:42:48.019 --> 00:42:50.420 cool. Now let's design an album cover, you know? 00:42:50.699 --> 00:42:53.119 So I might put that out there for somebody to 00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:55.269 do. Like, I mean, I'd be happy to, you know, 00:42:55.269 --> 00:42:56.829 pay them for their time and stuff like that. 00:42:56.889 --> 00:42:59.349 But, um, I would definitely want it to be, you 00:42:59.349 --> 00:43:04.130 know, unique, you know? Gotcha. Okay. Uh, where 00:43:04.130 --> 00:43:08.250 should people go to keep up with, uh, XTB? So 00:43:08.250 --> 00:43:11.010 right now the best place is, um, XTB music .com. 00:43:11.409 --> 00:43:14.829 Uh, so we old school website, you know, we, uh, 00:43:14.849 --> 00:43:17.550 we do update it as much as we can. Um, you follow 00:43:17.550 --> 00:43:19.969 us on Instagram and Facebook. So under Facebook, 00:43:20.010 --> 00:43:23.389 it's just, um, facebook .com slash Xander Demas 00:43:23.389 --> 00:43:27.340 music. And then, um, at Xander Demas on, uh, 00:43:27.519 --> 00:43:32.280 on Instagram, we are setting up a, a new XTB 00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:35.300 profile on Instagram. We get, we ran into an 00:43:35.300 --> 00:43:37.679 issue with that before they, we got locked out 00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:39.079 for some reason. I don't know what that is, but 00:43:39.079 --> 00:43:41.300 anyway, um, we're still, we're still kind of 00:43:41.300 --> 00:43:43.059 old school on the, on the website thing. We would, 00:43:43.079 --> 00:43:44.980 we would like to be able to embed videos and, 00:43:45.019 --> 00:43:47.500 you know, and do that stuff linked to YouTube 00:43:47.500 --> 00:43:49.260 and everything on YouTube. It's the same thing. 00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:52.360 It's, you know, Xander Demas. Um, we just, we 00:43:52.360 --> 00:43:53.760 kept all that stuff alive. Cause that's where 00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:56.000 it was, you know, like when we talked even what, 00:43:56.039 --> 00:43:58.820 2013, I was like, you know, 12 years ago. So, 00:43:58.820 --> 00:44:01.460 um, a lot of that stuff is, you know, it's still 00:44:01.460 --> 00:44:02.780 the same where, you know, we want to get new, 00:44:02.800 --> 00:44:05.019 new subscribers, new fans and stuff like that. 00:44:05.559 --> 00:44:07.519 Um, this is going to have a better outreach. 00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:10.679 I think, um, these next two songs that are coming 00:44:10.679 --> 00:44:14.420 out, I think are going to be, uh, I would say 00:44:14.420 --> 00:44:17.320 a little bit more universal and they should, 00:44:17.320 --> 00:44:19.760 they should be pretty easy for people to, you 00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:22.510 know, if they like this type of music, Um, we, 00:44:22.610 --> 00:44:24.829 you know, I think if somebody really had to put, 00:44:24.869 --> 00:44:28.449 you know, kind of pigeonhole it, say, look, you 00:44:28.449 --> 00:44:30.530 want to, you can say you're, you're, you know, 00:44:30.570 --> 00:44:32.550 you're unique all day long, but where are you 00:44:32.550 --> 00:44:35.829 really drawing it from? Um, I mean, it would, 00:44:35.869 --> 00:44:37.750 are you familiar with a lot of Swedish bands 00:44:37.750 --> 00:44:40.610 out there? With the what? I'm sorry. Uh, Swedish 00:44:40.610 --> 00:44:45.010 bands. Yeah. Okay. Uh, heat and eclipse. Have 00:44:45.010 --> 00:44:47.050 you heard of those guys? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. 00:44:47.489 --> 00:44:49.710 We are kind of like this new album is sort of 00:44:49.710 --> 00:44:56.010 like eclipse. Okay. Sabotage. Maybe a little 00:44:56.010 --> 00:45:00.369 bit of racer X, tiny bit, you know, and maybe 00:45:00.369 --> 00:45:03.889 an element or two of white snake. Okay. But I'd 00:45:03.889 --> 00:45:05.750 say like those, you know, those first two and 00:45:05.750 --> 00:45:08.170 then, yeah. And then, you know, TNT. So they're 00:45:08.170 --> 00:45:10.110 definitely the melodic sense of it. You know, 00:45:10.130 --> 00:45:13.329 the high energy guitar, the big vocals, you know, 00:45:13.329 --> 00:45:15.690 like eclipse and heat have gigantic vocals, you 00:45:15.690 --> 00:45:17.550 know, in their songs. Right. Stuff like that. 00:45:17.610 --> 00:45:21.639 So we, we have those elements in there. Yet the 00:45:21.639 --> 00:45:23.579 simplicity of like bands like Ghost, you know, 00:45:23.579 --> 00:45:25.179 there's nothing from Ghost that's really complex. 00:45:25.719 --> 00:45:28.139 But we don't have like the early album doom metal 00:45:28.139 --> 00:45:31.320 sound. We kind of like more from Raquel onward, 00:45:31.340 --> 00:45:33.679 you know, like with Rats and, you know, Dance 00:45:33.679 --> 00:45:35.619 Macabre. There's real melodic, you know, poppier 00:45:35.619 --> 00:45:37.780 tunes and stuff. Right, right. Gotcha. A little 00:45:37.780 --> 00:45:40.000 bit of, you know, a pretty big stew of everything, 00:45:40.199 --> 00:45:42.659 you know, but so it's old and new. It's not just, 00:45:42.739 --> 00:45:44.400 you know, oh, we're, you know, we sound like, 00:45:44.400 --> 00:45:46.880 you know, Whitesnake on steroids or we sound 00:45:46.880 --> 00:45:49.500 like, you know, this band from the 80s. No, we 00:45:49.500 --> 00:45:51.960 don't sound like them at all. have a very much 00:45:51.960 --> 00:45:53.900 of a modern edge i've embraced you know like 00:45:53.900 --> 00:45:56.780 a lot of those modern bands and stuff yeah yeah 00:45:56.780 --> 00:45:59.500 i mean even i think a lot of people talk about 00:45:59.500 --> 00:46:01.840 heat and eclipse and and they just talk about 00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:05.199 oh well they sound like bands from this era and 00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:07.480 if you actually listen to them sure they've got 00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:11.139 elements yeah tuning differently they're playing 00:46:11.139 --> 00:46:14.179 stuff a little different as well and you know 00:46:14.179 --> 00:46:17.179 i've got followers who are who are big into both 00:46:17.179 --> 00:46:20.059 of those bands and Yeah. Videos by them all the 00:46:20.059 --> 00:46:22.559 time. So yeah, they're, they're great bands. 00:46:22.659 --> 00:46:24.739 And I mean, my wife and I have seen them on a 00:46:24.739 --> 00:46:26.619 bunch of the monsters of rock cruises and stuff 00:46:26.619 --> 00:46:28.320 like that. And I mean, they're just so much fun 00:46:28.320 --> 00:46:30.739 to watch because it's just, you know, I'm not 00:46:30.739 --> 00:46:33.099 trying to, you know, dis on bands. Like for example, 00:46:33.099 --> 00:46:35.500 kicks, we saw them a couple of years ago. They're 00:46:35.500 --> 00:46:39.059 great band. I mean, they're, you know, classic 00:46:39.059 --> 00:46:42.880 hard rock from the eighties. And I mean, they 00:46:42.880 --> 00:46:45.000 still kept it going. I mean, I give them credit 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:47.619 for as long, but they finally said, okay, guys, 00:46:47.929 --> 00:46:51.010 We've had enough. We're done. Right. Direct end 00:46:51.010 --> 00:46:53.070 scene. You know what I mean? And it was just 00:46:53.070 --> 00:46:54.730 one of those things where it's like, Hey, look, 00:46:54.789 --> 00:46:57.510 age has caught up with them. And a lot of the 00:46:57.510 --> 00:46:59.409 guys in like in heat and eclipse are much younger. 00:46:59.969 --> 00:47:02.829 They bring like, you know, another, another level 00:47:02.829 --> 00:47:05.570 or another element. And I love it. I mean, I'm 00:47:05.570 --> 00:47:07.510 glad that, you know, that no one's trying to 00:47:07.510 --> 00:47:09.369 beat the dead horse. You know what I mean? Right. 00:47:09.449 --> 00:47:11.650 And you know, if kicks wants to come back, Hey, 00:47:11.750 --> 00:47:14.369 you know, and I'm just using them as an example. 00:47:14.389 --> 00:47:16.739 I've seen them live. what, four or five times, 00:47:16.760 --> 00:47:18.960 I think a couple of times on those cruises, they 00:47:18.960 --> 00:47:20.659 always, they bring the energy, they bring, you 00:47:20.659 --> 00:47:22.500 know, they bring a good show, but ultimately 00:47:22.500 --> 00:47:26.360 it's, it does come down to, you know, they were 00:47:26.360 --> 00:47:28.659 around at that time when some of these guys, 00:47:28.699 --> 00:47:31.500 maybe an eclipse weren't even born yet, you know? 00:47:31.579 --> 00:47:35.059 So it's, it's, it's good to see that I embrace 00:47:35.059 --> 00:47:37.340 the new, I, cause I do see a lot of stuff on 00:47:37.340 --> 00:47:38.880 Facebook where people are like ripping those 00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:41.400 new bands apart. It's like, how can you do that? 00:47:41.500 --> 00:47:43.630 I mean, don't you want to like, keep this going 00:47:43.630 --> 00:47:45.650 because eventually if you just follow the ones 00:47:45.650 --> 00:47:47.769 we grew up on, they're going to die out. I hate 00:47:47.769 --> 00:47:53.090 to say that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We do, um, 00:47:53.170 --> 00:47:58.369 a monthly new releases show just of that. And 00:47:58.369 --> 00:48:02.650 I, I like to call the people that are stuck in 00:48:02.650 --> 00:48:06.409 89 lazy listeners because I think there's good 00:48:06.409 --> 00:48:10.489 music coming out all the time. I mean, I don't 00:48:10.489 --> 00:48:15.400 think, I personally, I'm never looking for something 00:48:15.400 --> 00:48:19.199 to replace my favorite album or my favorite this 00:48:19.199 --> 00:48:22.019 or that, but I'm looking to add to the menu. 00:48:22.139 --> 00:48:24.239 You know, it doesn't mean that you can't add 00:48:24.239 --> 00:48:26.920 different things to a playlist that are going 00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:29.099 to accompany, you know, a classic that you've 00:48:29.099 --> 00:48:31.699 always loved. Exactly. That's, that's always 00:48:31.699 --> 00:48:34.420 been my attitude about that. And I'm, I, I stick 00:48:34.420 --> 00:48:38.119 with it. I mean, I, I'm very passionate, you 00:48:38.119 --> 00:48:41.360 know, about, you know, about that, about that 00:48:41.360 --> 00:48:43.780 thought, which is why, Right. You know, I got 00:48:43.780 --> 00:48:45.900 into bands like ghost or I got into eclipse and 00:48:45.900 --> 00:48:47.840 I got into some of the, you know, like even like 00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:50.260 the heavier ones that were more prominent in 00:48:50.260 --> 00:48:52.539 the, in the two thousands, like trivium and bullet 00:48:52.539 --> 00:48:54.400 for my Valentine. I mean, I saw both of those 00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:56.599 bands live and they put on a great show. Right. 00:48:56.679 --> 00:48:58.199 You know, I mean, they're, they're a little bit 00:48:58.199 --> 00:49:00.840 more like a more melodic and slick version of 00:49:00.840 --> 00:49:04.960 like Metallica, less thrashy, but you know, more 00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:08.460 flashy. I mean, I guess you could say, but they 00:49:08.460 --> 00:49:10.539 still, they, they really did have like a nice 00:49:10.539 --> 00:49:12.780 heavy edge to them, but they, retain that you 00:49:12.780 --> 00:49:15.340 know melodic memorable you know uh sound like 00:49:15.340 --> 00:49:17.699 that what was that song from trivium uh dying 00:49:17.699 --> 00:49:20.500 in your arms or whatever or a great tune still 00:49:20.500 --> 00:49:23.179 to this day it's it you know if you just start 00:49:23.179 --> 00:49:24.719 you know building you like you said your menu 00:49:24.719 --> 00:49:27.219 you meant if you're if your menu started with 00:49:27.219 --> 00:49:30.440 you know the trooper right and ace is high and 00:49:30.440 --> 00:49:34.139 maybe you know um i don't know love bites or 00:49:34.139 --> 00:49:35.880 turbo lover or something like that your menu 00:49:35.880 --> 00:49:39.210 started there and it just kept expanding I mean, 00:49:39.230 --> 00:49:41.329 you'd see, you know, Master of Puppets on there 00:49:41.329 --> 00:49:44.090 and you might see, you know, Rising Forest from 00:49:44.090 --> 00:49:45.909 Yngwie or you'd see Pull Me Under from Dream 00:49:45.909 --> 00:49:47.670 Theater. And eventually, as time goes on, you'd 00:49:47.670 --> 00:49:49.789 see, you know, what's the Tears Don't Fall from 00:49:49.789 --> 00:49:52.530 Bullet for My Valentine and so on. And you get 00:49:52.530 --> 00:49:55.429 all these great songs that it's OK to say, hey, 00:49:55.530 --> 00:49:57.769 I put this tune on. It's from 1982. And hey, 00:49:57.829 --> 00:50:00.489 I put this song on. It's from 2008 or whatever. 00:50:00.630 --> 00:50:03.210 You know, it's I love that. I mean, I love that 00:50:03.210 --> 00:50:06.449 evolution. Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you 00:50:06.449 --> 00:50:11.159 100 percent. Cool. Yeah. Xander, it's been a 00:50:11.159 --> 00:50:13.579 blast talking to you again. Same here. Same here. 00:50:13.739 --> 00:50:16.300 Pleasure. Hopefully it doesn't take another 13 00:50:16.300 --> 00:50:21.159 years for us to hook up again. Yeah, I hope not. 00:50:21.500 --> 00:50:24.639 Yeah. So around the time the album is out, you 00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:27.159 know, hit me up again and hopefully we can talk 00:50:27.159 --> 00:50:29.260 about the full album. Definitely. And you'll 00:50:29.260 --> 00:50:32.360 get a copy. Awesome. I appreciate your time, 00:50:32.440 --> 00:50:34.280 sir. All right. Thank you, Victor. It's been 00:50:34.280 --> 00:50:36.980 great talking to you. All right. See you. All 00:50:36.980 --> 00:50:50.800 right. Have a good one. You can subscribe to 00:50:50.800 --> 00:50:52.900 the show on all your favorite podcast platforms 00:50:52.900 --> 00:50:56.659 like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, 00:50:56.659 --> 00:51:00.340 Amazon and more. Go to signalsfrommars .com for 00:51:00.340 --> 00:51:02.440 more information. This concludes our show.