Welcome everyone to episode 429 of Signals from
Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And for this episode,
we welcome in the Nashville band, Howling Giant.
Tom, Sebastian, they're here to talk about all
things about the band, new album, so on and so
forth. You know, I'm going to throw some left
field questions at them as well. So that's next.
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Welcome on and on to the latest episode of Signals
from Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And joining
me today are Tom and Sebastian from Howling Giant.
On the day that this is released, their new album,
Crucible in Ruin, will be released. How are you
guys doing? Doing good, man. Thanks for having
us. Excellent. Thanks for coming on. You guys
are from Nashville and have been around for quite
a bit. How has the city changed, the music scene
changed within the city from when you guys started
to what it's like today? You know, the guys moved
down here, I think, in, I believe, in 2008, 2010,
something like that. Or no, I was here before
them. But yeah, the music scene has changed a
little bit. You know, country scene is always
super big here. It's like the main tourist attraction.
So that's kind of what everybody thinks when
they're coming to Nashville. There is a huge
underground scene here, especially in the hard
rock and heavy metal scene. And I'd say over
the past, you know, 10 or so years that we've
been down here. that it's been really growing
and getting really popular. We have our friends
in Friendship Commanders who just put out a record,
and it is awesome. And so they're pretty big
and picking up steam around here for sure. Okay.
Yeah, well, one of the reasons for my question
was... I'm actually watching an old HBO show
called Treme. And part of what's going on in
that show is they're based in New Orleans. And
with the city kind of changing over, more money
coming into the city and whatnot, some of the
music areas are being gentrified. So you have
people that are coming in that don't want music.
I think we're seeing that to a certain degree
in Nashville as well. I know there are a lot
of things that maybe are positive, and Seabass
mentioned a few with our friends. But in reality,
there's a lot of change in Nashville. There's
a lot of money coming in, and a lot of these
neighborhoods have been changing. When we first
moved down here in 2013, Zach and I, there was
a big house show scene, specifically in Murfreesboro,
just outside of Nashville. It's this really cool
underground. like punk and hardcore thing. And
we kind of came in right near the tail end of
that. So we kind of came into this, like, I don't
want to say like the very end, but there was
like, there was a bit of this punk rock kind
of Southern rock, just like everyone bringing
this like basement show. garage band energy to
it there were more dive bars it felt like that
were hosting these like heavy kind of shows um
so so over the years you've had people come in
and like change a lot of these bars when we started
there was a bar called foobar and it was amazing
it was in east nashville it eventually changed
to cobra which is still there today and cobra
is still cool but i think those first few years
there was almost this like wild west kind of
attitude of like just things, you know, anything
could happen at some of these shows. So still
positive. There's still some DIY venues, but
you know, it's, it's kind of changed its face
quite a bit over a decade. Okay. How do you guys
feel the city has influenced you guys as musicians?
Well, I mean, When you're constantly, you know,
when you're in a city that's completely surrounded
by music all the time, you know, that's definitely
going to have an impact on you, no matter what
kind of music it is. For instance, I feel inspired
at the, I work at a venue and I feel inspired
almost every single night that I work there.
And it's mainly. bluegrass or country or rock
and roll or r &b musicians not necessarily anything
heavy or you know metal um but yeah just always
being around uh just music in general is just
going to have that it's going to give you that
inspiration to want to continue to write and
perform yeah i think at least speaking for myself
uh i have a lot of friends who are involved in
like kind of pop music and like writing country
music and hanging out in those circles you learn
about this like art of songwriting for them and
I think that before I moved here I approached
writing music especially for Howling Giant as
this kind of sprawling like through written idea
there wasn't necessarily like a consciousness
about song form in the early days and after hanging
out and kind of learning this craft of like pop
songwriting like where would a verse chorus go
what's the purpose of a bridge when would you
include like a pre -chorus these kind of fundamental
like pop song forms that's something Nashville's
known for and I think that's something we've
been able to use in Howling Giant in like the
heavy scene to kind of infuse some of that I
don't want to say catchiness but I think I've
learned a lot from that. And that's really what
Nashville kind of brought to the table for me.
Oh, I would say that there's definitely catchiness
in what you guys do. I mean, it's funny because
there's the way that it's always set up, you
know, stoner band, doom band, this, that. But
I think what separates you guys is that catchiness
is the melodies to go along with the riffs to
kind of. you know separates you guys from the
rest of the pack man i appreciate that i i think
that there's value in like all these different
ways to write a song you know what i mean and
the right move isn't always to make uh you know
like a pop song form but i do think that it's
powerful and being conscious of like how many
times can you repeat a section and evolve it
how many times can you you know try and really
establish a motif before it's time to move on
and like change that expression. I think it's
just like, you know, it's something you don't
need to do every time, but it's good to be conscious
of that. And it's something we're trying to keep
learning more about, you know what I mean? So,
right. And it also using those tools can help
us, you know, expand our reach a little bit more
within the fan base because, you know, not everybody
is, is going to like, you know, stoner rock or
stoner metal is as much as we do. Or, you know,
not everybody's going to like prog rock or prog
metal, you know, whatever. And so to have those
little instances where we kind of put a touch
of that sort of pop arrangement in can help bring
new listeners in and, you know, help expand their,
you know, what they listen to, really. Yeah,
absolutely. With Crucible and Ruin now being
your third full length. and obviously with all
the other EPs that you guys have released, did
you guys have any set goals before going in to
record the album? Things you wanted to try, maybe
a little different than what you'd done before,
whether that's sonically with how the album sounded,
whether that's with the songwriting, or maybe
as you just said, Sebastian, maybe adding certain
elements that maybe you hadn't in the past to
parts of the album. Yeah, I think that, you know,
with every release that we have, we're always
looking to try something new and try, you know,
to add new parts and add a new element to our
sound. Specifically, the thing that stands out
for me for this record was the fact that we got
to work with Neil Turi at Amish Electric Chair
Studios up in Athens, Ohio. And he just has an
amazing place up there. And really, this was
our first time actually stepping into a full
recording studio because in our past releases,
we've done a lot of DIY stuff. A lot of stuff
has just been done at home. And we've been happy
with the sound that we've been getting, but it's
a total different experience when you're actually
walking into a studio and you have set two weeks
of, hey, I have to get this done. We have to
get this done in two weeks. That's it. So it
kind of puts a pressure on you a little bit.
But the the the quality of gear and just Neil
and his experience that he has is just made the
whole thing really enjoyable. So. Yeah, I think
just to expand on that, you know, we we knew
going into this record, we wanted it to feel
like a step up from a production standpoint.
That was kind of like the main goal. Spinning
off from that, I think we started adding other
elements that we wanted to try differently. Notably,
you know, we leaned more on creating like guitar
layers and a little less on the like organ element
that was on previous records. We still wanted
to have some synth moments, but we wanted to
bring in this fourth member, Adrian. who's been
amazing and being able to lean on him with like
dual guitar parts and lean on him for these kind
of post -rock, you know, tendencies that he has
with some of the synth layers. We thought that
could give kind of a different character to this
record. So it wasn't just another, not, not a
cookie cutter howling giant record, but we wanted
it to just feel. very much like a different flavor.
And I think being able to go to the studio with
both Adrian on board and working with Neil Turi,
like Seabass said, it was just kind of a completely
different environment than we have used in the
past. So from that, it really kind of brought
out some really cool characteristics of our songwriting
that maybe have been there before, but didn't
get the same like attention and spotlight that
they were able to get at Amish Electric Chair
Studios. Yeah, and that makes sense because I
listened to the new album a few times today and
I went back and listened to Glass Future as well.
And it definitely sonically sounds like an upgrade.
Being a wannabe musician and having dabbled in
things like Superior Drummer and stuff like that,
right away when somebody releases an album, I
can tell, all right, well, they're using samples
from this package or that package. And honestly,
with Crucible and Ruin, it sounds like you guys
recorded everything in a studio. Yeah, big time.
It sounds like this could have been released
in any decade without those technological markings.
Man, yeah. So I'll say with Glass Future, I'm
really proud of that record, especially the songwriting.
I really love from that record. And I think what
I really dig about Glass Future, was that we
were able to do all of that DIY and get an album
that sounds great. It does sound like it was
done at home with kind of the limited means,
but it almost has a character from that. And
for me, it really feels like a timestamp. We've
always wanted to use real drums since you brought
that up. We aren't a band that wants to use samples
ever. So you're kind of held, not handcuffed,
but what you have to record with the mics in
the room have a huge impact. And going into the
studio with Neil, we were like, man, I want it
to have that bigness without being crazy compressed
or just like punched in with these like drum
samples. So the way that was achieved really
was like taking extra time up front to like,
you know, tune those drums very specifically
so they could cut against the guitars and the
tunings we were in. So we would be playing together
and Neil would be in the room. you know, like
just listening and like tuning so that they were
sitting in kind of different areas where they
weren't going to compete with like some of these
like guitar and bass frequencies. So kind of
taking that care and using the quality of mics
and just his expertise in general, I think achieved
that like bigness you can get from samples without
having that like stamped on the top kind of.
you know, I say fake, but like, you know what
I mean? It was, they really just found their
home. And I think that takes an expert like Neil
to be able to do that with a band like us, you
know? Right. Yeah. I think a lot of times though,
I mean, let's be honest, you're left to your
devices and what you guys really can afford to
work with. I mean, if, if the previous album
needed to be worked on that way. Yeah. Well,
it's, it's like you kind of have to, check the
scale and see how it's, how it's balanced in
the past. You know, we recorded a black hole
space wizard part two. We saved up enough money
to buy like one 12 hour session in a studio in
Nashville. I think it was called Q division or
maybe County Q. One of those two, something Q.
But that took like, we had to save up so much
money for that. one session and really the only
goal was like we just want to capture drums in
this room and i'm really happy with what we got
there too but that was a scramble like one day
trying to get what you needed so i think with
the later records you know space between worlds
and glass future we said okay i think the songs
will be served better if we can be more comfortable
and have the time it takes to get the right part
even if The sound quality is maybe not as good
as like if it was in a studio. So for this time
and crucible and ruin being able to say, Hey,
we have, you know, we have the parts, we have
the time and we have the space. I mean, it was
like, that's the way we want to be doing things
moving forward, I think. And you could really
feel that while tracking. It was like, man, this
is a whole different ballpark, you know? Yeah.
Yeah. And that's not taking anything away from.
from anything that you guys have done in the
past i think you mentioned it already uh you
guys are recording an album so an album is like
a photo album where you're taking a snapshot
in time it's just done sonically and whenever
you guys are hearing this you guys are going
to remember we were here we recorded on this
gear we did that you know so it's always going
to bring you guys back and And I think it's cool
as a listener, too, to be able to experience
that to like if you've been following us from
the beginning, each release has a different flavor.
You know, it's not like a band where it's this
kind of cookie cutter sound every time. And I
mean, that's great if you have super high quality
stuff, but it is kind of cool to be able to hear
the evolution of a band with each record, both
in songwriting style and, you know, the access
that you have from a recording standpoint. So,
yeah, I don't know what that means for the next
release. I'm trying to think, what do we do to
level up? I just got to shred more, maybe. That's
it. Get some more sweet picking on the record,
you know? Is there any gear you guys got to use
on this album that you hadn't used in the past
that really kind of stood out to you guys personally?
Specifically for me, I mean, I didn't. I'm not
too much of a pedal guy. I usually keep things
pretty simple. But I use the Aguilar Tonehammer
DI on this record. Well, you also use that sick
Ampeg that our buddies... Yes, I use the Ampeg
SVT right into an 810 cab. And then I was switching
between... uh, a P bass and a J bass, uh, both
of which, uh, Neil had up there and they just
sounded awesome. Um, but yeah, as far as like
effects, we threw in a couple, I think we tried
some fuzzes here and there for bass. Um, but
really the Aguilar tone hammer just brought that,
that extra crunch that we, uh, we really needed.
Well, it's interesting with like bass tones.
You know, I'm such a guitar head where like when
I'm going into a studio and we as a band are
trying to listen for like, what should the bass
sound like? It's one of those things where it's
like, man, this isn't my usual element. But also
we don't have the usual biases. So we were able
to kind of like listen with kind of like a very
fresh set of ears. And even though it's a simple
combination with like the SVT and the 810. It's
like having access to a live room sound and be
able to pair that with, you know, I usually hate
DI bass, but the tone hammer really did like
sound sick. I was like, man, honestly, this blended
with that room sound created that perfect balance
of like the clarity we needed out of sea bass
while still having some of that like actual feel
and thump. So it's not just like this kind of
thin. you know, limp noodle kind of sound. You
know what I mean? It was the right balance. And
yeah, it sounded sick. From a guitar standpoint,
I just used all the stuff that I brought. I tracked
most of it with my Rocker Verb 100 paired with
my PV 5150, which was a cool kind of blend of
those two. I guess this was kind of the record
where I discovered Splawn amplification. Adrian
brought his Splawn. uh competition which is like
a 50 watt like hot routed marshall kind of sound
okay and man it was it was sick it was so sick
that i was like i bought my own about a hundred
watt version of that amp which is now kind of
the amp i'm using uh mostly um but really it
was like those three amps which are just three
different flavors of kind of a high gain thing
and you know Not a huge difference maybe on the
record, but a huge difference in feel and response
while tracking these things. Okay. As far as
other recording gear, I don't really know exactly
what Neil was using, to be honest with you. The
mics were nice. I don't really know what they
were, to be honest with you. Yeah. As far as
your personal gear to go out and play shows,
what's your go -to gear? man for me it was always
in the past my orange rocker verb uh that was
an easy one because it was so available for backlining
and i do love that amp it's kind of a standard
but lately there's been a big shift especially
between me and adrian using like hot rotted marshall
tones he's using a friedman be 100 which is so
sick and i'm using the splawn qr 100 which is
you know just a very slightly different kind
of flavor of that same like you know hot rotted
way over the top gain if you want it a lot of
punch and clarity i think with two guitars it
gives you that like bite and that chunk that
just feels awesome so that's for me that's that's
mainly what i'm using right now okay yeah and
then um i've been rocking with uh i just got
a new uh bass from vintage they are a company
based in the uk It's pretty much a P bass style
with a PJ pickups in it. And thing just sounds
awesome. And I've been playing it through a Orange
OB -1 500 rack mount amp. That thing is killer.
And then just using that through a Ampeg 610.
And yeah, man, that thing just sounds killer.
I used to have the, you know, the full SVT and
the 810 rig. And, you know, we'd lug that around
and do the live shows, but it just gets to be
too much. It's just way too heavy and too much,
you know, takes up too much space in the end.
But it's amazing how switching down to a 610,
just like in the van. Awesome. Still sounds big,
and it makes a lot of room, especially with Adrian
on board now. We're both playing 412 half stacks,
right? So I'm bringing my Mesa oversized 412.
I think he just got a Friedman 412 he's about
to use. So it's a lot of amps. I would double
it if I could, though. Get the full stacks out
there, you know? Someday. Got to get the trailer
first. Yeah. it's funny you say it's heavy i
wasn't sure if you meant heavy in that it weighed
a lot or if it was giving you the exact well
both really it's both for sure it's tone per
pound you know yeah look the thing that those
810s sound so great but when you're at the tail
end of a tour and then the next venue you have
to climb up you know two flights of steps It's
just not, you know, it's just not worth it. Yeah,
I've had my fair share of carrying drums in the
rain, so I hear you. Dude, it's a thing. Sebastian,
you weren't the original bass player in the band.
What drew you to the band? So I actually wasn't,
and I hope this doesn't come across as bad, but
I wasn't super familiar with the band before
I joined. I had heard the name before and I know
that they did a few shows around Nashville and
just, you know, just I just heard it through
the heard them through the grapevine, really.
But then it just happened by chance that I was
at a specific time I had left a previous band
and I was just kind of looking for, you know,
for something, for anything. Tom showed up to
the bar that I worked at and, you know, just
kind of randomly by chance, he said, Hey man,
we're looking for a bass player. Why don't you
just come and, you know, try it out and just
check it out. And I was at that kind of point
where, you know, after not being a band for about
a month, I was kind of itching to get back into
it. And so I just immediately said, yeah, without
even really checking out the music, you know?
And then I, of course, from there, I checked
out the music and I was like, okay, this is the
right. decision this is the you know the right
way to go this is where i was impressed with
sea bass i don't know it was one of two things
either a our music is like super easy to just
like wing it or sea bass did his homework and
knew all the parts because you showed up to the
first practice and sounded sick and i'm like
man i don't know which one it is maybe our music's
too easy we got to make this tough but yeah i'll
be completely i'll be completely honest I was
listening to the songs as I was driving over
there. And that was enough. That was all you
needed. That was enough. That was enough, man.
You stepped in, and I think at the time you were
playing that five -string blue Warwick bass or
whatever that was. Yeah, I had a Warwick. Which
was kind of a hilarious vibe, but it also was
like, sick, dude. That's a flex. Guy shows up
to the first practice with the big old five -string
blue bass. Yeah. It was dope as hell. And then
I started using a Sandberg. They are a German
company. It was pretty much, again, a P -Bass
style. But yeah, man, really, it just happened
by chance. Luck of the stars that I was looking
for a band to join, and they needed a bass player.
Gotcha. Obviously, you have a legacy behind you.
some people like talking about these things.
Other people get pissed off when I bring it up.
But my only question regarding this is how young
were you when you realized you wanted to continue
that legacy? I believe I was probably 10 years
old. Okay. And you know, for, for, Most of my
life growing up, my dad was at home. He wasn't
on the road or anything. So I wasn't used to
seeing road life. But when I was 10 years old,
I remember my dad sat me down and taught me some
ACDC. And that was the very first moment where
I knew like, hey, I want to do something like
this. I want to be like those guys. And then
a few years after that. We went on a, my dad
did a reunion tour with Accept. I think this
was in 05. And that was a tour that I got to
jump on with him. And, you know, me and the rest
of the family went with him over the summer.
And seeing that kind of change within my dad,
you know, seeing him go from just a... Hey, he's
the guy who mows the lawn. Now he's the guy up
there on center, you know, center of the stage
in front of a packed out crowd. Right. Seeing
that I was like, okay, this is really now what
I want to do. Gotcha. Wow. That's, that's awesome.
And it's funny because a lot of people won't
get into that detail. Like they won't tell you,
you know, dad rockstar, right. You know, it's.
You bring some of these topics up and for some
people, they want to be too cool to kind of explain
that other side of it. So I appreciate that.
Yeah, of course. Yeah. But I've never, you know,
while other people sometimes do, I've never seen
him really as a rock star. He's always just going
to be my dad. Right. So, you know. Gotcha. You
guys have done covers over the years. And you
guys have always managed to make covers howling
giant songs. I'm assuming that's always purposefully
done. Are there ever times where a cover is,
I mean, first of all, I don't know if the covers
are suggested to you guys or you guys just come
up with them or decide to do them or, and my
other question is. Has there ever been a case
where someone has wanted you guys to cover something
but wanted you guys to be 100 % faithful to the
original as opposed to what you normally do with
covers? I mean, when we've approached covers,
I guess to answer that second question first,
usually we're asked to do a cover of a band off
a certain record. Really, it's been through Magnetic
Eye Records doing their Redux program stuff.
Right. So they might say, like, what are three
potential songs you'd like to do off this? Like,
what are your top three you'd be open to doing?
And sometimes, you know, one of the guys from
the label, Jad, might suggest one that he thinks
we would be good for. So typically that's how
it comes about. I mean, each one, I guess, kind
of has its own story. The first cover we ever
did for Redux was Matilda Mother. Pink Floyd
kind of a deep cut they were doing like I forget
was it the wall that they were originally doing
but then they wanted to like include a companion
like greatest hits of Pink Floyd right and they
just wanted bands to suggest anything so for
that one I don't think CBass you weren't in the
band yet for that cover I was not no me and Zach
I think sat down and said well we want to pick
a more obscure track. One that we can kind of
drastically alter, I would say. When you're trying
to decide what to do with a cover, in my opinion,
it's always good to look at the song and try
to find out the identity of the song. What's
the most important part? Sometimes that's going
to be a vocal melody. Sometimes it's an iconic
riff. Sometimes it's the... I mean, the lyrics
are going to stay the same, but I think it's
like, if we're going to keep the vocal melody
the same, what can we do to the chords and the
like actual arrangement underneath it to change
it? Like I want to change an element and I want
to retain an element. And then I want to put
our own tone and like amps and kind of flavor.
So to me, that's the way you contribute something.
without being so drastically different that it
doesn't sound anything like it. I guess the best
example of that would probably be Rooster. The
vocal melodies are going to stay the same, but
I came up with that guitar riff over the chorus,
which was just completely my creation at the
time, and us as a band saying, okay, well, this
is something we would write for Howling Giant.
If you took the melody away, we could use this
as a chorus for something. You know what I mean?
Kind of loosely follows the chords, but distinctly
has a Howling Giant kind of flavor. So I guess
that's kind of the quote unquote formula. If
you try to just stay true to a song, there's
almost like, why did you cover it? Especially
when it's, you know, a lot of these iconic tracks.
It's like, what can you contribute? You know
what I mean? It's, you know, you got to do something
weird with it. I also don't feel like we've ever
been, you know, pressured by anybody in any way
to cover something and keep it super, super faithful.
I feel like when people are asking us for covers,
they kind of know that we're going to put our
own spin on it and they respect that. And so,
yeah, we've never really got that question of
like, hey, I want you guys to do this song, but
like do it exactly like the original. I think
there was one moment. that like when we did that
cover of balls or not balls to the wall uh what
did we do what did we do with your dad thrill
thrill when we did shoot to thrill i remember
what was what was that was a blabbermouth where
they were like kind of like there were these
old heads that were like upset that we had like
changed the song and to me it was like to be
that i was like dude you guys already have shoot
to thrill like you already have the acdc version
this this is like the This is the spin on it
and you don't have to like it, but like, there's
no point if we just tried to copy it exactly,
you know? Right. Yeah. Yeah. I, I agree with
you guys. I mean, you've got on the, on the one
side, or as you said, Tom, where a band covers
a track and you're like, really, no one's ever
going to listen to that because the original
is so iconic, man. And then. If they do it exactly
like the original, it's like you've just shot
yourself twice in the foot. Man, I think another
great example is like Johnny Cash covering Hurt.
It's like being able to take that song and retain
the melody and the lyrics, obviously, but to
put it in such a completely different setting
and tone. Where all of a sudden, like it's the
message changes because the speaker has changed.
The delivery is completely changed. That's a
perfect example of, you know, you have to retain
something and you have to alter something or
else there's no point to having done the cover,
you know. To the point where you have concert
reviewers saying. For some reason, Trent Reznor
decided to cover Johnny Cash's Hurt. No, it's
his song. Yeah, man. That's going to happen.
It's an iconic cover. It's going to happen. Have
there been any covers that have been or bands
that have been suggested that you guys cover
that you guys just weren't into and decided not
to? Go after it? I mean, you don't have to name
the band. Yeah. Sorry, Bass, go on. No, I was
just going to say we passed up the NSYNC and
Backstreet Boys covers. That's not true. I would
have said yes. I would have said we're doing
it. No, we were offered a Nine Inch Nails cover,
I think, at some point. And we were considering
doing it because we had a different member at
the time who was a big fan. But I think ultimately
we decided not to do it just because we had done
so many covers and at least for me, you know,
there wasn't as much of like the personal connection.
Right. I mean, all the respect in the world for
the band, but there is a certain amount of like
connection I think you want to have to something
to be able to put your spin on it. And so I think
that one was, was passed, but not for any real
strong reason. It was just kind of that really,
I'm trying to think if there's anything else
we were like, there was never a moment where
we put our foot down and said, no, like we're
not doing this. We're drawing the line here.
It was always kind of like a soft, no, we've
done too many covers, but if you really push
us, we will do one, you know? Yeah. Yeah. But
that makes sense. I mean, if you're going to
record something, It should speak to you. You
should have some sort of a connection. You know,
if down the road, you guys decide, Hey, let's
pull this one out of the show or let's do this
for this tour, you know? All right. Well, we've
already covered this band on this album or, you
know, whatever. So it wouldn't be that difficult
to just rehearse it and do it for this tour,
you know, as opposed to, ah, okay. Yeah, we'll
do it. You want to enjoy it. You want to feel
pulled to do something. It's still a contribution
to art. You don't want to just phone it in. You
want to be stoked about it. One that we were
working on just for us for fun that we used to
do Working Man by Rush just in our practice room
for these live streams. We never tracked it for
anything. I don't think we really changed that
much. It was a distinctly different flavor because
we were using... quite a bit more gain at the
time you know than like rush would have been
using but um that's a song it's just fun to play
you know and almost i think we wouldn't necessarily
record a version unless we were able to come
up with something different enough where it felt
like we were contributing something but it was
still worth covering because it was fun and the
riff was sick and sometimes in a live setting
that's all you need so there's kind of a distinction
between like recording something and just playing
something live because familiarity is good at
a show. You know, we, we play Godzilla and we
cut out the bridge. We changed the bridge section
quite a bit, but realistically it's like, man,
that riff is just fun to play and being able
to like give the audience kind of a lifeline
to say, like, if you're new to us and you don't
know anything about us, having at least one moment
where it's like, this is a good reference point.
If you like this and if you like this spin on
it. That's a good lens through which to look
at Howling Giant's catalog. Gotcha. Cool. One
of the other tracks that you guys have covered
is Lord of This World from Black Sabbath. Obviously,
we lost Ozzy earlier this year. Can you guys
give me a favorite Ozzy or Sabbath moment? Man,
that's so tough for me. because there are so
many different moments where really Ozzy, I guess
Black Sabbath, but like Ozzy has popped in kind
of as like a vocal influence in a way. My voice
isn't necessarily Ozzy -ish, but it is like this
guy who's singing about kind of just whatever
he wants. I don't know. It's like some songs
are goofy, but some songs are like heavy. Some
songs are dark. He manages to turn on this like.
these heart pull moments of like, mama, I'm coming
home and stuff like that. And there's just this,
like, I don't, I don't know. He really felt like
he pursued the things he wanted to do. You can
write Iron Man, you can write, you know, Lord
of this world and just explore whatever whim
you want to. And people are going to respect
you as like this honest kind of that's Ozzy.
That's what Ozzy is going to do. Right. maybe
that was a rambling response, but there's just
like so much respect for, I guess his image and
his approach to his work throughout his career.
That's just like, man, I hope someday to have
an impact, even like a fraction of what Ozzy
had, you know, it was amazing. I think that,
uh, you know, Ozzy is, uh, while still being
a celebrity and, and, and whatnot, you know,
in the end, he always stayed true to his guns
and, you know, loved you know it lived and loved
rock and roll and uh and yeah he was just so
influential and his energy that he had was so
uh amazing but i mean even up to his very last
day with him basically saying that he was holding
on for that last concert that just goes to show
you what that music and the fans really meant
to him uh and for me that that's really inspirational
I remember in like middle school, I had a friend
who learned the crazy train riff. And that was
like a moment of like this hybrid kind of somewhere
in between rock and metal kind of flavor that
I was like, man, that's like what a riff is supposed
to be. So like almost from less Ozzy, I guess,
but more the guitar side of that. I was like.
it can have major moments. You know what I mean?
It can have this riff that is just so impactful.
And then to have his vocals come in over the
top, it's like that mix of major and minor kind
of approach is something that I love. I just
distinctly remember that, that my buddy coming
in and being like, check this riff out. And that's
just like changed me, man. It was awesome. Cool.
All right. So Crucible and Ruin will be coming
out. on the day this interview is released, where
can people go to pick up the album? Not stream
it, but pick it up to ensure that the most amount
of money gets back into you guys' pockets. Yeah,
man, Bandcamp is the best way. If you look up
Howling Giant on Bandcamp, we will package that
and ship it out to you. And if you ask us, we're
happy to... Sign the top if you want. We'll include
these. We have some lyric books we've been printing
at home, which are really cool. We might make
a few more of those. We'll see. Those were for
the deluxe, I think, the pre -orders. But yeah,
Bandcamp is the best way. Otherwise, come out
to a show. If we're coming through near you,
we're going to be out on the road all November.
So check the dates and come on out. We'll hook
it up. Okay. As far as checking out the dates,
where should people go to keep up with you guys?
You can hit all of our social media. We're on
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, you know, pretty
much, you know, YouTube, anything you think of,
we're on it. So yeah, we keep that updated pretty
much every single day. And so yeah, we're always
posting dates on there. So go ahead and check
them out. Awesome. I want to thank the two of
you guys for spending some time with me today
to discuss the album and discuss the band and
really look forward to having people check the
album out. Like I said, I've gotten a chance
to listen to it and really enjoyed it. So I hope
everyone else does as well. Awesome. Thank you,
Victor. Thanks for having us, man. I appreciate
you. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you
guys. See you. Cheers. Go to signalsfrommars
.com for more information. This concludes our
show.