Welcome everyone to episode 430 of Signals from
Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And for this episode,
we have a very special interview with Tony from
the band Condition Critical. They're my paisans.
They're from New Jersey like I am. And you guys
have to thank Ed Ferguson for turning me on to
the band and making me want to do this interview.
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.com to learn more. bringing Ed in to help doing
the album reviews, the monthly reviews that we
do, bi -monthly sometimes, because we're going
to be doing October and November together in
a few weeks. But one of the reasons why I wanted
to bring Ed in is because he's a huge fan of
extreme metal and of different types of metal
that perhaps Jeremy and myself are not. as into.
It is very important to me to keep metal going,
to keep hard rock going, to keep people in the
know of great new bands, great old bands that
are putting out new music. And to me, it's very
important to keep that torch going, you know,
whatever other cliche you want to throw in there.
And to our surprise, ed has been really good
at pointing things out from across the board
and saying hey you know this has this type of
influence you're gonna like it even though it's
maybe a death metal band or a black metal band
or thrash which is something that the three of
us tend to um agree on uh ed has a Long commute
a lot of times. So he gets to listen to a lot
of different things that perhaps Jeremy and I
don't. For example, this Condition Critical album.
And when he reviewed it a few episodes ago, he
instantly said, this is the thrash album of the
year. And he's actually backed that up. I've
interviewed someone else today, actually, for
an upcoming episode. And I mentioned the band
to him. So I kind of returned the favor. And
he says, wow, this is a great year for thrash.
Anyone that kind of doesn't think that, you know,
you're not taking the time out to actually check
some of this great new music that's coming out.
So do yourself a favor. Listen to the interview.
Hopefully you enjoy me and Tony. uh talking back
and forth and uh hopefully it gets you to check
the album out Welcome, everyone, to the latest
episode of Signals from Mars. Joining me today
is Tony from Condition Critical. How are you,
sir? I'm doing well, man. Thank you for having
me. I really appreciate it. Awesome. So, first
of all, you guys are from New Jersey? Okay, well,
we are technically from Jersey, so I live in
Jersey. But our singer lives in Miami. Okay.
Our bass player currently lives in Massachusetts,
but two of the four members are in New Jersey.
So yes. Okay. Whereabouts in Jersey? I live in
North Bergen and the drummer lives somewhere
around like Sayreville area. We're originally
from, so the majority of the members were from
like South Brunswick. So like New Brunswick,
Central Jersey, but I've been in Jersey my whole
life, you know? So you can't get me out of this
state, man. Yeah. The end of the intro video
there has a doc coil of God forbid, who's from
East Brunswick. Um, yeah, I'm wearing a Jersey
metal t -shirt. I'm originally from a town in
North central Jersey called Dover, which, yeah,
which is where, uh, Kirk Hammett played his first
show, uh, with Metallica at a place called the
show place. And, um, It's funny because I've
been living in Europe since the end of 03. And
I went back for the first time in like 14 years
last year. And seeing that specific place, which
was a recording studio and a go -go bar, is now
some type of restaurant. So it was a trip to
see. So again, anytime that I can support fellow...
uh, people from Jersey, I'm more than happy to,
to do so. Oh, we appreciate you, man. Yeah. I
love that. And Dover's an interesting area. I
feel like it's changed a lot. So I could see
why that, you know, venue is no longer there
and it's a restaurant because, you know, it just
kind of seems to be the direction in which they're
going. Like there's a lot of like new, like things
being built up, like in that part of Jersey is
something that I've noticed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Absolutely. So for you today, is it technically
mischief night? I guess so, yeah. The hair's
down, dude. I'm going to be punching walls. Who
knows what I'm going to do? So for people that
are outside of the area, it was always an interesting
debate when I went to college where people were
like, no, this is called Devil's Night where
I'm from. Like, no, man, North Jersey, this has
always been Mischief Night, the day before Halloween.
So you were good for finding... toilet paper
in trees. You were good for finding cars that
were soaked up and eggs, all types of different
shit. So in South Jersey, we used to call it,
we used to call it a mischief night as well.
So yeah, I'm with you there. I'm with you there.
Okay. There you go. How much does being from
Jersey play into what you guys do as a band?
man, I think that's a, it's a big part of it.
I mean, listen, we, this, we live in an industrial
state. Like it's like a, there's a certain vibe
that comes out of here, you know? And you know,
right next door is New York and there's New York
hardcore. Right. And so. with our music it's
obviously it's thrash metal right but we got
some hardcore element in it too and you know
believe it or not like our singer while he is
from miami he's really into like new york and
new jersey hardcore so like he brings that element
and his vocals and certainly and you know some
of the riffs that me and mike mike dreyer the
bass player right it's kind of stems from that
you know i'm a big fan of anthrax and i love
their vibe you know and i think that comes from
like kind of being from this area you know it's
just yeah it's so constraining there's so many
people it's like you know sometimes it can just
feel a little bit uh like claustrophobic right
and it brings out that like inner rage you know
so to speak and you know it comes out in the
riffs and it comes out in the vocals you know
on ryan's behalf Yeah, I think that's definitely
a great point because there's definitely a vibe
or an attitude of being from that general area.
You feel it with a lot of the bands. It's funny
because as we've been talking about your band
on my Patreon and just with different people
on social media and stuff, a lot of things have
been coming up with, oh, well, they sound like
this band or they sound like that band. And I'm
like, man, listen to the bass. it sounds like
overkill to me. There's a definite like Didi
Verney type influence. The bass really sticks
out and stuff. And I'm like, that's definitely
a homegrown sound that people from the area are
proud of. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, so Mike,
like that was a, he's such a stickler for it,
man. And let me tell you, so we worked with a
guy by the name of Mike Lowe, the master of the
album, right? okay he played with the tech death
band called in fury right for years and so like
he has never like i mean maybe he has before
like mixed a couple thrash bands but that's not
what he's known for he's known for tech death
and like that kind of stuff symphonic death metal
black metal whatever right you know i'm good
buddies with him and i tasked him with this i
was like dude We need you to make this bass pop.
And Mike is so specific about his tone. Like
you were just mentioning how important that is,
right? Yeah. You recognize it. You want to hear
that. It's almost like a piano note, like smashing
it, brown, brown, brown, brown, kind of, right?
And so I remember getting the first mix and being
like, oh, this is fine, right? But Mike was like,
no, absolutely not. So he was a pain in the ass,
but in the best way possible, because the way
that it came out is to perfection. But if it
wasn't for him to keep like pushing it and pushing
it, because for me, it was just like, I'm a guitar
player, man. So I'm like, yeah, it all sounds
good. Bass is fine. Yeah. It was him really being
a stickler for that specific type of tone. that
got it to where it was. And I'm so glad he did
because you're right. It does have that kind
of like overkill sound. And, you know, when the
bass needs to be prominent, it's up in the mix.
And then when it, you know, the riffs are really
fast, the bass is a little bit lower because
otherwise it muddies the mix. So Mike Lowe did
a really good job, you know, kind of with the
levels and making sure that it pops when it needs
to. And it also is within the mix when it has
to as well. Yeah. Okay. And you actually worked
engineering the guitar and the bass on the new
album, Degradation Chamber. or did I say that
right? Um, what was it like for you to work on
that side of the recording of the album? So I'm
a little tinkerer, right? I've been doing that
stuff for years. Like I have like my own like
projects and stuff like chaos X or whatever,
like that. I'm always like, uh, I'm always the
one recording them and perhaps not always mixing
them. Sometimes I've mixed and mastered my own
stuff. Just, you know, it depends. I do my own
like solo instrumental stuff, yada, yada. you
know, that side of it has always fascinated me.
I enjoy the production side of things. I love
doing it. I also, um, you know, there's, there's
part of me that maybe, I mean, this sounds like
a perfectionist attitude, but it's almost kind
of like, man, I got to do it. I want to do it.
I want to have my hands on it. You know, I want
to make sure the riffs sound the way like that
I wrote them. Right. And, um, you know, part
of that is like being the guy that's like, no,
dude, you got to do that again. You know, and
even to myself, man. I'll play something like
seven or eight or nine times over and over and
over again. I'm like, not good enough. Delete.
You know, it's like, it's part of that. It's,
it's, I like having a little bit of like that
creative say into it because when you're recording
with an engineer, it's like, sometimes they give
creative input. Sometimes they don't. But when
you're recording with me, it's like, I can have
that creative input with the other guitar player
or with the bass player. And then in addition,
there's times where it's like, you know what?
let's change that riff by one note. Cause we're
just in the process of doing it, but you know
what, musically, this would make more sense and
this would sound better and this would resonate
better with the crowd. Right. And so that kind
of stuff doesn't necessarily happen in the studio.
If you're not the one engineering it, right.
You're kind of just coming in with your riffs
and you're all nervous and you're just like,
all right, let's just play it. Right. Versus
this, it's comfortable. It's in my own little
environment. I got my little home studio set
up, you know, and we just kind of get to it.
Yeah, that's cool. And it's. Funny because not
every band can do that. Like you see, or you
hear a lot of bands that produce their own stuff
and they're not good at cutting themselves off.
You know, whether it's just the mix isn't right,
or maybe there's a guitar sound that isn't right,
or maybe there's a riff that you hear and you're
like, wow, you know, given their legacy, I'm
surprised they're putting that on an album. So
it's not always easy to be critical of yourself.
I know what you mean, man. And so. this was the
most important thing for me too in this production
process and this is why I really liked being
a part of it was I didn't want like a very and
what it's tight we were tight players but I didn't
want something like inorganically tight does
that make sense I wanted real performances right
as much as possible and so I feel like sometimes
with like the the the modern engineer and I'm
not downplaying it this this it's this is necessary
in certain types of music like technical death
metal death metal in general like it's got to
be pinpoint accurate but I think sometimes with
like thrash, it's like those naturally organically
type players. It comes across and resonates a
little bit better. You know what I mean? Like
you can almost get a live feel from it. And that's
really what I wanted. I wanted the performances
to kind of have that tonality to it. And I feel
like, again, sometimes in the studio, man, you're
rushing. You got to move quick. Maybe the engineer's
moving too fast. They're editing, chopping, clipping
all the way, right? Versus just allowing the
performance to breathe. Hell, if you got to do
it 10 times, you're doing it 10 times. Like that's
the way to be. Get it tight. guitar track on
your own. And then if you got to like, you know,
clean some stuff in the, in between here and
there, that's okay. But to me, it's like to give
that organic sound, it was so important to me.
And, you know, that's another reason why I wanted
to kind of have my hand in it as well. And yeah,
it worked out. I think it worked out, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's important too, with
a lot of metal that's become homogenized with
just kind of being same Z and too perfect. Like
the essence of thrash was. so not that it was
energy and and there was stuff that was being
messed up and you know it was more of a vibe
and an attitude what we talked about before more
than perfection you know so i think it's important
to keep that and get it across the music as well
absolutely and you know you have to think back
to this as well it's like you know you have like
metallica it's let's see uh we just had some
technical difficulties here so we're picking
things back up um The way that the album was
put together, it sounds like it could have come
out in the mid to late 80s. At the same time,
it sounds fresh to today's scene. Was that something
that you guys purposely did or is that just a
happy byproduct of just putting the material
together? Well, first of all, thank you. Cause
that's awesome to hear that. That's certainly,
you know, what we were going for. We wanted to
have like an old school sound, but with like
a modern presence for sure. When we're writing
riffs, we're not like, Oh, I'm trying to sound
eighties today. Right. We're just writing riffs
that like resonate with us. And like, we feel
are just, you know, bring a certain energy. Right.
And so, you know, I think once the songs were
tied and done together, that's when we decided,
hey, listen, this is kind of the edge that we
have. It's sounding kind of old school, but the
sound that we want from the mix and the mastering
perspective is where we wanted to kind of modernize
it. We wanted to have a fresh sound to it where
it's clear, the guitars, and the drums have a
nice boom to them, and the bass is in the mix.
And the solos are modern, right? Like kind of
like modern shred style. So like all that was
definitely like factored in. But again, you know,
when we're writing riffs, man, we're not thinking
like, hey, I'm trying to sound like, you know,
1985. It's just kind of coming out, you know?
But not all the riffs. I feel like there's certainly
some like modern, like power trip kind of style,
like, you know, slow breakdown sections, of course.
But I think it's like a good mix of different
kind of things going on there, you know? even
still you're bringing up power trip but even
they're heavily influenced with uh or from hardcore
music as well so i think that definitely lends
to what you guys are doing also yeah yeah you
know this is what i was always saying i said
like we were trying to make the slow parts slower
the faster parts faster and the technical parts
even more difficult to play like that's that
was kind of where we're at and i always write
like the like the like those kind of like riffs
where it's just like finger, just like all over
the place kind of stuff. Like, like the, the
cryonic intestinal preservation chorus riff,
for example, it's like, you know, just really
just, I don't know. You get like tongue tied,
like playing it like, Oh, right. And it's like,
those were the kinds of riffs that I wanted to
kind of like elevate. It's like, you know, on,
on extermination plan, which I was a part of
the writing process. Cause I wasn't with the
band for the first album. It was like, I kind
of came in with like those like techie kind of
reps, right? Kind of switching it up. And then
with this album, I wanted to kind of, again,
elevate that experience and make them even more
annoying to play live. Like that's my goal, right?
How can I make this as difficult as possible
just for no reason, you know? And it's fun, you
know, all the triplets and stuff. We even like,
I don't know, it's crazy. Like you have to like
warm up seriously before you play these tracks,
otherwise you're cramping. Gotcha. Okay. And
you just mentioned you weren't an original member
of the band. How did you end up joining the band?
Yes. So I actually, so I've been in the metal
world for quite some time. I've been playing
in bands since I was like 14 years old. I'm 34
now. Okay. Been a long time. And, you know, it
was around 2009, 2010, 2011 -ish. where I was
like playing shows in a band called Legionary.
It's a death metal band. They're still kind of
around now, but I just do like guitar solos for
them. And then it's just like a studio project,
right? It just does it for fun. And back then
we were playing a lot of live shows, but there
was one point where we played with the guys from
Condition Critical, but they were in a different
band at the time called Strip. And so I kind
of met them in that way. And they, so they knew
who I was. They knew I was like the little shredder
kid with long hair because I had long hair at
the time as well. And, you know, when it came
time to them, you know, looking for a lead guitar
player, they're like, what about that guy? Right.
And it just kind of worked out. And it's, it's
been awesome because, you know, me and Mike Dreher
have become best friends, you know, and I'm really
good friends with Ryan Donato, the drummer as
well. And of course, Ryan Taylor, love him as
well. But those two guys were the guys that I
met back then. So we can think about 2009, 2010,
right? So I've known those guys for the better
half of 15 years. And so it's just wonderful
to still be in a band with them for so long and
so consistently. And to be able to release several
albums together has been tremendous, you know?
So it's a small world often, and you never know
who you're going to end up being in a band with,
so to speak. And that ends up being successful,
and you're with these guys. Perhaps at that time,
I would never have thought, right, that I would
be doing this. Right. Okay. And Degeneration
Chamber took nine years to come out. Is there
any specific reason why it took so long? Yeah,
of course. So I wrote a lot of the songs back
in like 2016, 2017, 2018 or so. And there was
a point where we kind of like we parted ways
with our singer, Ryan, and we got a new guy in
like 2020 and then COVID happened. And things
just kept kind of like getting pushed off and
pushed off. Right. And so during that time in
between like 2016 and 2019, we're doing a lot
of playing out. Right. We're doing a lot of touring.
We're just we were really promoting the album.
And I had those songs in the back burner just
like kind of like waiting to roll. And again,
when 2020 hit, it seemed like everybody kind
of like paused on the brakes. And, you know,
you start focusing on your career. You start
focusing on other elements in life. And, you
know, the band ends up taking a backseat. Now,
while those songs are still there, you know,
they're sitting on the back burner, you know,
they're kind of not really doing much. And I
think the motivation, you know, in 2021, 2022,
just wasn't there. Right. Like I think collectively.
Okay. And, you know, there was a certain point
where I was like, yo, we got to start doing this
thing. We got these awesome songs written. We
got to get to it. Right. And so we ended up kind
of like slowly getting back into the groove.
And finished writing, I think it was two or three
more songs to make sure that it would be nine.
And we got in the groove when we brought back
our old singer, Ryan, to the band. One of the
things for us is we wanted to have two albums
in a row. with the same you know vocal intensity
vocal style we had this guy michael chavez is
a great dude from out in the bay area he plays
in a band called hematoxin ripped to shreds if
you're familiar with them so great dude's doing
a great thing out there like he's awesome love
the guy he's a great guitar player too would
have been awesome to kind of do dueling shred
solos with him right but you know trying to fly
him out from california was insane like it was
just a logistical nightmare right right and part
of that consistency of having somebody from Album
two on album three, again, also was like something
to kind of think about, you know, we wanted,
we wanted consistency because here's the thing.
I think this is such an important thing. When
you remove a variable, how do you measure it
from what was done previously? Right. Right.
So we wrote these, these songs and we were thinking,
okay, these are the best songs we've ever written.
But if it's not consistent to what was brought
before, like how are people going to know that
it's better? Right. Because potentially they
look at the vocals immediately and they just
turn it off. I hate it. Right. Who knows? Because
sometimes people are like that. I know I'm, I'm
guilty of this. Sometimes people put it on and
I didn't even give it a chance. Right. Right.
That was my biggest concern. And so when we brought
back Ryan, it was kind of like that idea of like,
we're going to keep that consistency and, and
we're going to see how this plays out. We think
these songs are better. We'll see what, you know,
the people think. And hopefully, you know, from
what I've seen, it seems like the response has
been great. Okay. Was it difficult to get Ryan
back into the project? I mean, nine years is
a long time. So I'm assuming, you know, everyone
is grown. Maybe things that separated you guys
at one point seemed trivial. And maybe, I don't
know, the band was more important than the initial
issues. I don't know. Yeah. So we're brothers
at the end of the day, right? And brothers can
squabble. And sometimes brothers might not talk
to each other for years, right? And that happens
in life with your own family, your own flesh
and blood. And again, these are my brothers.
And so I think there's a point, man, you get
a little bit older, you think to yourself, like,
there's not a lot of time on this earth. And
there's no reason to hold any grudges for whatever
it is, right? And so I believe if somebody is
sorry for, like, let's say if they did something
wrong and they're apologizing for it, man, you,
all right, man, that's good. This is great. Come
back into the fold. It doesn't have to be a contentious
thing where you've got a hatred for somebody
for the rest of your life. That makes no sense,
especially somebody that you spent days and days
and days in a band with each other, and you're
so close. You're laughing about the same thing.
You're doing all this. One incident or whatever
it is shouldn't separate you, and I'm a big believer
in that. Again, the older I get, the more I start
realizing and recognizing this. At the end of
the day, you know, this is also a business and
we wanted to keep it consistent, but also this
is a friendship, it's a brotherhood. We wanted
that guy back as well, right? So I'm glad it
worked out. You know, we had a good lengthy discussion
when we were down there for a wedding. Me and
Mike Dreyer were down for one of our buddies
was getting married, you know, somewhere in like
the Fort Lauderdale area and Brian lives in Miami.
So, you know, I think we spent like three or
four hours hashing it out, you know? And it's
like, it's one of those things where it takes
like a case of beer, you know, and you're just
kind of, you know, the moment you just go through
it. And once you go through it, you're like,
that's it. Time to move on. Yeah. Awesome. Glad
you guys were able to, to, to work it out. And
I mean, what you're saying makes sense. I mean,
you want consistency with the band. You want
something that people are familiar with and it's
awesome that you guys were able to work everything
out. Yeah, no, I agree, man. Really is. Yeah.
Tell me a little bit about your gear. I see a
Les Paul behind you. I see a Marshall behind
you. Yes. Yes. Okay. So I'm putting the wrong
way. That Les Paul is the one that I used to
record the album. Okay. And you can see there's
also the, the artwork, the original artwork that
Andre Buzikoff painted. uh back there as well
you know there's the vinyl on the shelf and so
for me it it means a lot like that Les Paul it
signifies something to me right and it's it's
the fact is is that's that's the beast that recorded
this album and I wanted out you know on display
you know for me it's it's um it was instrumental
in creating the album you know it gives it that
chunky tone that I really was looking for because
hell listen on stage I'm using a Jackson And
it sounds great. But there's something about
these Les Pauls that just produce a really crunchy,
thick tone that I really wanted for the album.
And so that's why I have it out there on display,
you know. And that Marshall cab is the one that
I use live, right? And the amp on top of it is,
let me try to move out of the way, is the JSX.
Okay. That is actually the amp that we used to
re -amp all the guitars for Extermination Plan,
so for our second album. Okay. And, you know,
I'm like one of those sentimental guys, you know,
it all means something to me. You know, somebody
who comes over my house is just like, oh, what's
all that crap? But there's a meaning behind it.
Yeah. And it matters to me. But yeah, so in terms
of gear, like, again, I use a Jackson Live. It's
actually got 27 frets of pure madness. And by
the way, I use the 27th fret on the album. You
got to go all the way up. What's the point of
having it if you're not going to use it, you
know? And in terms of live tone now, I actually
use a Kemper. And something I found is the consistency
of it is just gorgeous, man. Like, I don't have
to worry about getting these tubes changed, this
and that. And listen, sometimes beer gets spilled
on that thing. I don't know how many times beer
has gotten spilled on that JSX, but it's more
than I can count on two hands, and I'm not even
kidding. So I don't have to deal with that anymore.
It's, you know, I got just a digital amp with
a consistent tone. And I basically model it directly
off of what we did on the album, which is a PV
6534 plus, I believe is what it is. And I mean,
to me, it sounds really good and replicates what
we did in the studio. And I think that's so imperative,
you know, if you're trying to come to different
audiences and bring that same like anger, that
same sound, it's good to have that consistent
tone, you know? Yeah, cool. What influences that
you have that may surprise people? So what, like
out of left field, if you say, oh, well, I learned
this from this person or that person might catch
some people off guard. I mean, it's not that
it's going to catch people off guard because
people know me as like a solo guitar player.
But, you know, you can think of like Paul Gilbert,
Steve Vai, you know, Joe Satriani. Like, you
know, Joe Satriani is very melodic. So maybe
that's like shocking to people like, oh, he likes
melodic music. Weird, you know? Right. But, um,
I even listened to a lot of the modern guys.
So animals as leaders, I love the, the strange
time signatures, like all that kind of playing.
I got an eight string guitar and I kind of write
some stuff like that as well. So I'm a big fan
of like modern, uh, instrumental solo music.
So with guitar music, rather, uh, intervals,
cleaning, you know, I don't think people realize
that I'm listening to that guy kind of stuff
too, you know? And I'm actually a fan and believe
it or not, like of like old school, like, pop
punk even so like even like a blick 182 and so
for me it's their their melodies are so like
it's like almost like i'm not gonna call it corny
but it's like so like happy and so major mostly
like a lot of it and so like for me it's a good
way to like listen listen through and like come
up with ideas for melodies when it comes to solo
guitar playing like you know a lot of that stuff
it applies like you're not going to just shred
all over the place because that's going to bore
people you want to create like a story and you
want to create something with melodic tension
and listen and stuff like that like it's even
i know it's so simple but you know it has a lot
of that even like green day like old school green
day has that kind of stuff as well and so you
take that and you apply the guitar and you think
to yourself okay how can i apply that sort of
melody and try to like put it in the thrash metal
and not necessarily it's not always happening
right But, you know, you find a way to kind of
like incorporate a little bit of melody to create
a story as you're soloing. Because for me, I
don't want people to be like, dude, what is this?
Like, none of it makes sense or like Carrie King,
you know. The goal is to kind of like craft like
a nice story, nice melodic piece that, you know,
kind of goes and ebbs and flows from like some
speed stuff, some melodic stuff. And then, you
know, maybe some not so melodic stuff. Right.
So that's kind of where I'm at. Okay. Could you
see yourself recording an instrumental guitar
album at some point in the future? I'm so glad
you asked that. I already recorded one. It's
already mixed and mastered. Okay. Ready to go.
I just am waiting for, uh, I'm going to condition
critical to get its love because condition critical
deserves its love. You know, I put so much work
into this. This has been nine years in the making.
that solo stuff the majority of it i wrote in
like you know 2023 onwards right so it's relatively
all new stuff but uh very melodic the opposite
of this there's no metal really there's like
perhaps just a few metal sections where there's
like chugs here and there but it's it's very
melodic and probably not what people are going
to be anticipating is what i'll say but i can't
wait to to you know unleash that but i'll definitely
start like you know throwing out some more teasers
and stuff every once in a while like my instagram
story i'll put like a video of me like playing
something and somebody's like what is that you
know it's just like a random like jazz fusion
section on like my solo album or something so
to come it's it's to come soon okay thanks for
asking though yeah yeah yeah that's that's cool
um The other thing that I noticed on your Facebook,
you guys posted a picture of Ace Fraley who just
recently passed away. Yeah. What's your favorite
Ace Fraley moment? Do you have a favorite album
or song or anything like that you can share?
Shock me. That's that's I know that's what everyone
says, you know, but that's that's dude as a kid,
like as a young kid in his teens, like that was
the dude for me. Right. And so I used to look
up, like, I remember scouring the internet for
clips of him, you know, of course, like Eddie
Van Halen, guys like that. Ace Frehley is like
a, I mean, to me, he was a legend because as
a, you know, nine, 10 year old, like you start
with Kiss. And as I was getting my teenage years,
when I started playing guitar, I was like, I
want to be like that guy. Dude, I thought he
was the coolest freaking dude on the planet.
And of course I'm bummed that he passed away.
And I don't know, man, you just, it makes you
remember like those things when it sucks because
he had to pass away for me to get those memories
back. Right. And you don't think about that stuff
daily because you're moving on. You got other
things going on in your life. And then you see
that and you're like, Holy shit. That's the,
that was my dude. Yeah. That's a guy that are
really, truly was inspired by looked up to and
was one of the reasons why I. play guitar the
way that i do you know so you know rest in peace
ace really man cool and um if people want to
check out degeneration chamber i got it right
this time um uh where can they go to pick the
album up and get the most amount of money into
your pockets into the band's pockets okay so
we have a merch websites with uh set up with
indie merch um you can also buy the tracks off
of band camp okay and honestly man streaming
services are free you stream the album i don't
care just listen to it right i don't even care
if you're i mean i it's great if you pay for
the album we really appreciate it but at the
same time i'd rather you listen to it if it's
the difference of paying 10 bucks and not listening
to it i'd rather you just listen to it okay So
check it out. You know, it's on Spotify. It's
also, you can find it on Apple music and all
those other streaming platforms as well. And
yeah, man, I just, I'm just excited about this
thing. Cause we, again, it took nine years. You
just, you know, you were just eloquently stating
that earlier. And it's one of those things where
I just want as many people who can't hear it
to hear it. Cool. Yeah. And, and so they should,
like I said, before we started the interview,
uh, with our September albums review, um, Ed
Ferguson highly touted the album and said, in
his opinion, it's the thrash album of the year.
That's, I mean, that's awesome to hear that,
you know, and when we were making it, it's not
like we're thinking like, can't wait to get,
you know, louded with the album of the year,
right? It's, you're just, you're just trying
to create awesome music. And an awesome experience
for the listener. And something where it's like,
hey, this will translate to fun live. Like I
said, thinking that you're going to die and that
your forearms are going to freeze is an awesome
live. You're like, oh my God, what is going on,
right? Who doesn't want to do that, right? And
so that's why we do this, man, because we love
to play music. We love to play this stuff live.
We want people to hear it. We're not thinking
about album of the year, but to hear stuff like
that and the positive. you know reviews the eight
the nines the whatever out of tens like this
is this has been awesome dude it's like exactly
what you look for and i'll tell you what it's
motivation to write the next album i already
started writing songs we already i'm i'm personally
two songs in and i'm sure the other guys are
going to start you know kind of doing their thing
as well and um definitely excited for what's
to come you know we're going to keep trucking
along i'm not saying it's coming anytime soon
i'm just saying right starting to work on it
because you know, you get this kind of positive
feedback and I'm in the year and this is so awesome
and this and that, like, it's wonderful. And
it gets you just like jazzed up, man. It's like,
all right, onto the next one. Right. Yeah, absolutely.
Uh, where can people go to keep up with you guys
online? So we're on Instagram. We're on Facebook.
Um, we also have a YouTube page where, you know,
we'll have the, you know, certain like things
being posted on there every once in a while,
like our music videos are on there. Um, And then
you can also follow us all on like Instagram
as well. So like I have a personal Instagram,
uh, baseball player does as well. Mike Dreher,
uh, Ryan Donato also does. And so does Ryan Taylor.
So you can find us all on the internet. If you
want to find us, we're on there and we're friendly
too. So if you, if you shoot me a message, I'll
answer. There's actually, you know, this one
awesome, this young kid, dude, he's like, Hey
man, I'm trying to figure out how to play the
solo to post mortal simulation. And I'm like,
I got you. So like I just real quickly like recorded
like a video and kind of just like explaining
it, right? Because it's like, yeah, they're like
the diminished seventh chords and this and that.
And so I do like a little weird like sliding
technique and it's something that maybe he hadn't
like come across before. So I was like, but if
somebody wants to try to like figure out how
to play a riff or something or ask me how to
play a solo, like I am more than willing. You
can reach out to me on my Instagram at Tony Barham.
I love like educating stuff on like music. Like
that's my shtick, man. My life. I love that's
my passion. I love to do this thing. And, you
know, when people ask me questions like that,
I'm like, I got you. Awesome. Well, I'm sure
that more than one of my followers will be hitting
you up with stuff like that. So I'd love to,
but the answer. Awesome. Tony, thank you so much
for your time. Thank you. Appreciate you, man.
Yeah. I appreciate you coming on and. Wish nothing
but luck to you and the band. Yeah, enjoy the
rest of your day. Awesome. On that note, we end
the interview with Tony. Check out Condition
Critical, and we will see you next time right
here on Signals from Mars. See you, folks. Thank
you for listening to the Signals from Mars podcast.
You can subscribe to the show on all your favorite
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