WEBVTT 00:00:00.650 --> 00:00:05.910 Welcome everyone to episode 441 of Signals from 00:00:05.910 --> 00:00:09.609 Mars. I'm your host Victor and for this episode 00:00:09.609 --> 00:00:13.669 I bring you an interview with Darren, the main 00:00:13.669 --> 00:00:18.570 person and bass player behind the band Greyhawk. 00:00:18.570 --> 00:00:21.210 They have just released the album Warriors of 00:00:21.210 --> 00:00:24.469 Greyhawk and this one's for all those people 00:00:24.469 --> 00:00:27.050 that say there's no good new music coming out. 00:00:30.269 --> 00:00:59.979 I'm ready. Quick reminder that in addition to 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:02.859 hosting Signals from Mars, I've also worked behind 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:05.859 the scenes helping other podcasters. With over 00:01:05.859 --> 00:01:09.420 16 years of experience and more than 1200 episodes 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:13.400 that I've produced or appeared on, I offer podcasting, 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:17.140 editing, ghost hosting interviews, and repurposing 00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:21.079 content into viral clips, show notes, transcripts, 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:24.200 and social media posts. If you've got a podcast 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:26.840 and need help making it sound professional, or 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:30.099 if you want to turn your episodes into content 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:32.920 that actually grows your audience, I can help. 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:36.299 Check out the podcasting services page over at 00:01:36.299 --> 00:01:39.000 signalsfrommars .com. Just go all the way to 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:40.920 the right on the menu. You'll see work with me, 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.500 hover over that, and you'll see podcast services 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:48.400 and sponsorship. Let me help you make your podcast 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:51.700 stand out. Speaking of sponsorships. Signals 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:53.840 from Mars is sponsored by listeners like you 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.560 and also by great sponsors. If you've got a brand, 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:01.000 product, or service that connects with rock and 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.780 metal fans, I'd love to work with you. Our audience 00:02:03.780 --> 00:02:06.799 isn't casual. They're collectors, concert goers, 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:09.840 and gear buyers who support the bands and brands 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.210 they love. Sponsorship packages start at just 00:02:13.210 --> 00:02:16.909 $150 a month and include on -air mentions, social 00:02:16.909 --> 00:02:20.110 media plugs, and even product features. If you 00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:23.310 want to connect with a loyal rock and metal audience, 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:26.830 head on over to the sponsorship page on SignalsFromMars 00:02:26.830 --> 00:02:40.250 .com to learn more. So we recently had the Grammys, 00:02:40.250 --> 00:02:42.150 and I know that there's a lot of people that 00:02:42.150 --> 00:02:45.810 don't care for the Grammys. I mean, I don't get 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:48.310 bent out of shape over who wins or who doesn't 00:02:48.310 --> 00:02:54.629 win. I'm glad that music that we love is being 00:02:54.629 --> 00:02:57.650 represented, and I'll actually take that back. 00:02:57.789 --> 00:03:02.550 I don't understand why Turnstile won a Grammy 00:03:02.550 --> 00:03:06.710 this year, being that that album, most of it, 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:12.699 sounds like an 80s synthwave album. It doesn't 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:15.439 sound like metal at all, but whatever, I get 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:20.580 it. There's parts of what they do that's hardcore, 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:23.719 that's more metal -themed than it has been in 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:26.120 the past, and I don't know if this is like a 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:33.099 case in a sport where a foul isn't called, and 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:36.419 then on the minimal thing, On the next play, 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:39.860 they reward the team that should have gotten 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:42.699 that foul. So I don't know if that's years later 00:03:42.699 --> 00:03:44.740 because maybe they should have been nominated 00:03:44.740 --> 00:03:47.240 and should have won a previous year. They're 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:51.060 giving that to them now. What I was trying to 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:54.300 mention is that people are bent out of shape. 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:57.419 When it was brought up, hey, we finally had a 00:03:57.419 --> 00:03:59.460 medal performance again this year because we 00:03:59.460 --> 00:04:02.479 had Spirit Box doing soft spine, which I thought 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:04.580 was great. That's one of my favorites. songs 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:09.319 tracks that came out last year and that right 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:14.800 away see that's not my kind of metal um because 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.699 we've got purists that instead of being happy 00:04:17.699 --> 00:04:21.839 that we're being represented and saying well 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:25.459 you know that's not my favorite band but it's 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:29.279 cool that there's an a metal act actually up 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:32.199 there playing You know, we're finally getting 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:35.620 bands back up there. So maybe next year they'll 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:39.620 have a band that's more to my liking. What I'm 00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:43.259 getting at is that metal, the metal community 00:04:43.259 --> 00:04:46.639 is so split, is so divided, and that when one 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:48.860 person props something up, there's always somebody 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:54.100 else to kind of shoot it down. Greyhawk has put 00:04:54.100 --> 00:04:57.189 out a great album, Warriors of Greyhawk. I'm 00:04:57.189 --> 00:04:59.490 still going to have people that say, well, there's 00:04:59.490 --> 00:05:05.389 nothing new that's good that's coming out. Bullshit. 00:05:05.410 --> 00:05:08.310 This is your perfect example of a good classic 00:05:08.310 --> 00:05:11.790 heavy metal sounding album that you can get into. 00:05:11.949 --> 00:05:14.310 Look, I'm not saying this is going to replace 00:05:14.310 --> 00:05:17.009 Peace of Mind by Iron Maiden or anything like 00:05:17.009 --> 00:05:19.910 that in your playlist. I'm saying that this could 00:05:19.910 --> 00:05:25.829 comfortably go alongside albums. and bands that 00:05:25.829 --> 00:05:29.230 you love in those playlists where, if you like 00:05:29.230 --> 00:05:33.310 Unleash the Archers, Greyhawk isn't that much 00:05:33.310 --> 00:05:36.769 of a stretch. If you like Halloween, this isn't 00:05:36.769 --> 00:05:39.310 that much of a stretch. If you like Maiden, this 00:05:39.310 --> 00:05:41.930 isn't that much of a stretch. Listen to the interview 00:05:41.930 --> 00:05:45.089 with Darren. If you like what you hear, check 00:05:45.089 --> 00:05:47.949 out the album on streaming. And after that, if 00:05:47.949 --> 00:05:51.550 you like it, buy the thing and support the band. 00:05:51.810 --> 00:06:15.149 All right? Welcome everyone to the latest episode 00:06:15.149 --> 00:06:17.790 of Signals from Mars. I'm your host, Victor, 00:06:17.930 --> 00:06:20.550 and joining me today is Darren from the band 00:06:20.550 --> 00:06:23.470 Greyhawk. How are you, sir? I'm doing great, 00:06:23.509 --> 00:06:25.850 Victor. How are you, man? Doing good as well. 00:06:27.209 --> 00:06:29.750 So one of the things that really jumped out at 00:06:29.750 --> 00:06:32.689 me about the band was how prolific you guys are 00:06:32.689 --> 00:06:36.870 with releasing material. Since 2018, you guys 00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:39.829 have released either an album or an EP more or 00:06:39.829 --> 00:06:44.139 less every two years. When you guys start to 00:06:44.139 --> 00:06:47.860 write material, is it for a specific album or 00:06:47.860 --> 00:06:51.120 EP or do you guys just always write and stockpile 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.040 things? It's a good question. It's a little bit 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:58.019 of both, I would say. Generally speaking, I mean, 00:06:58.019 --> 00:07:00.579 our first EP, Ride Out, that was our first songs, 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:02.939 basically. We'd gotten together and written a 00:07:02.939 --> 00:07:05.160 bunch of songs and, you know, didn't have a record 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.300 deal or anything. And I'm a firm believer that 00:07:07.300 --> 00:07:08.660 if you're going to go out and play live, you 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:10.579 should have something to either sell or hand 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:12.639 people. Otherwise, they're going to completely 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:14.779 forget about the band they saw that they never 00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:16.899 heard of at that bar that night. It's those guys 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:18.399 that play those songs. What are they calling 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:21.259 it? I don't know. They didn't have a CD. So that's 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:23.100 where that one came from. And generally speaking, 00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:27.319 our EPs are usually B -sides or kind of like 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:29.800 leftover tracks that we thought were cool, but 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.180 they didn't quite make a full length. But yeah, 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:34.259 when we write and we're sitting down and say, 00:07:34.339 --> 00:07:35.759 okay, we're going to make some new material. 00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:38.480 We've got some ideas. There's generally a full 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:43.500 length concept in mind. Okay. When writing this 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:47.319 album, how much did having a new singer in Anthony 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:50.620 Corso affect how you guys were writing these 00:07:50.620 --> 00:07:55.240 songs? Very much so. If anyone's familiar with 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:58.139 the band, you know, we've had our old singer, 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:00.899 Rev Taylor, was our singer from day one until 00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:04.459 2024 when he left the band. Rev was very much. 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:09.220 a baritone operatic singer. We had Anthony come 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:12.139 along, who is not that. You know, Anthony is 00:08:12.139 --> 00:08:15.079 very much, you know, your Bruce Dickinson, higher 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:19.240 register, Michael Kiske power metal voice. So 00:08:19.240 --> 00:08:21.680 that definitely, and I personally believe that 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:24.980 most individuals, when they listen to music, 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.240 they hear the vocals first. I mean, that's kind 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:29.420 of the first thing that people are going to use 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:31.660 as their judgment point of, do I like this or 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:34.419 do I not? I personally think if you're writing 00:08:34.419 --> 00:08:37.720 melodic music and you're not tailoring your music 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:40.879 to your singer's abilities, then you're kind 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:42.960 of shooting yourself in the foot a little bit. 00:08:43.139 --> 00:08:46.500 So it was tricky because the idea was we had 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:50.200 to pivot to suit Anthony's voice, but we didn't 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:53.320 want to pivot too far. where we're not being 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:55.279 true to what the band is and, you know, all the 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.179 people that have been loyal to us over the years 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:01.860 and bought our records. So, you know, we're definitely, 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:04.980 we appreciate our fans and our fan base and the 00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:06.700 people who have gotten us all over the world, 00:09:06.779 --> 00:09:08.580 you know, and flown and traveled to see us and 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:10.879 whatever. So we don't want to make everyone mad, 00:09:11.059 --> 00:09:13.480 right? But, you know, you definitely have to 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:16.240 think about the style of music you're writing 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:18.860 and the keys you're writing the songs in. They 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:22.259 have to be in your singer's capabilities. Gotcha. 00:09:22.259 --> 00:09:25.960 And was Anthony your first choice or do you guys 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:29.500 have to do a search to come upon the right guy? 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.759 A little bit of both, man. I would say we put 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:36.059 a search out there to say open auditions. You 00:09:36.059 --> 00:09:38.360 know, Greyhawks needs a singer. He was the first 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:41.299 guy I put. And, you know, they always say it's 00:09:41.299 --> 00:09:43.620 never the first guy. Well, I will say sometimes 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:47.320 it is, you know, because we put the ad up, I 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:50.399 think, on a Tuesday. He got a hold of me on a 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:52.779 Wednesday. And he had an audition in my inbox 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:57.000 on a Friday. So it was, you know, it was a combination 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.940 of, well, first of all, wow, this guy's works. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:02.740 He's, he's a worker. He grinds, he's prolific. 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:05.039 He knows what he's doing, but also has a great 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:06.799 voice. And I kind of was like, Hey guys, like, 00:10:06.820 --> 00:10:08.960 I know this is the first guy, but we got to take 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:11.720 a serious look at this dude. And, you know, we, 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:14.080 we kind of like put him in the let's have him 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.179 audition box and said, okay, well, we'll give 00:10:16.179 --> 00:10:18.639 people some time because you never know. You 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:20.860 know, maybe maybe Rob Halford quits Judas Priest 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:23.200 next week and decides he needs to do gig. Right. 00:10:23.299 --> 00:10:25.379 So you want to you want to you know, you want 00:10:25.379 --> 00:10:26.940 to people or people are working on the song. 00:10:27.019 --> 00:10:29.019 So you want to give them some time. But, you 00:10:29.019 --> 00:10:31.759 know, I think like two weeks in, OK, let's have 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:34.080 this guy out to sing live because we our audition 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:37.360 was, hey, send us a tape. Right. It's very important 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:42.299 in 2025, 26 that you can record your own stuff 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:45.990 in this and work on your own stuff at home. So 00:10:45.990 --> 00:10:47.809 let's have this guy out to sing. And we asked 00:10:47.809 --> 00:10:49.970 him to learn four songs and he looked up our 00:10:49.970 --> 00:10:52.049 live set lists and learned the entire set and 00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:54.870 came to practice with like 10 songs ready. And 00:10:54.870 --> 00:10:58.450 it was like, this is just undeniable. So let's 00:10:58.450 --> 00:11:00.429 just not waste this guy's time or anyone else's 00:11:00.429 --> 00:11:02.269 and hire them. So yeah, it was the first guy, 00:11:02.370 --> 00:11:04.230 it was an open search, but yeah, he was the first 00:11:04.230 --> 00:11:10.129 choice. Okay. And outside of writing for him 00:11:10.129 --> 00:11:13.529 and trying to leverage his skills, what else 00:11:13.529 --> 00:11:16.570 was, kind of plan of action that you guys wanted 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:20.070 when writing and recording warriors of grayhawk 00:11:20.070 --> 00:11:24.610 um wow that's a very good question too um so 00:11:24.610 --> 00:11:26.950 anthony came with a great set of skills that 00:11:26.950 --> 00:11:30.169 we didn't know that he had um it turns it turns 00:11:30.169 --> 00:11:33.210 out he is part of the nail the mix crew like 00:11:33.210 --> 00:11:35.049 he's really heavily involved in those guys and 00:11:35.049 --> 00:11:37.009 he's a very skilled audio engineer you know he 00:11:37.009 --> 00:11:39.960 mixed and mastered lots of lots of things and 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:43.019 we actually recorded the entire album with him 00:11:43.019 --> 00:11:45.799 in his home studio um and and now when i say 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:47.960 home studio i have a home studio behind me i 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:51.220 have like two monitors and a scarlet input thing 00:11:51.220 --> 00:11:54.159 that's my home studio anthony has like a studio 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.659 you know with mixing boards and a drum room and 00:11:57.659 --> 00:12:00.259 all this other stuff and he's recorded many bands 00:12:00.259 --> 00:12:03.559 in there so we tracked everything with him um 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.559 and then we sent it off to henrik good who's 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:09.379 uh quite a big shot you know mix and master guy 00:12:09.379 --> 00:12:11.360 over in sweden and he took care of that in but 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.879 yeah i mean for me i was looking for somebody 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:16.799 who can who can work efficiently you know who 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.139 could who uh i don't have to babysit um you know 00:12:20.139 --> 00:12:23.679 i'm i'm in my 40s now i've done enough of you 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:26.279 know babysitting musicians in my 20s and 30s 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:29.379 so i wanted somebody who can be responsible and 00:12:29.379 --> 00:12:32.919 and handle their business and yeah he's uh he's 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:36.340 been an absolute dynamite addition to this group 00:12:36.340 --> 00:12:40.039 not just in um his singing abilities but in what 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:42.539 he can do behind the scenes and it's just he 00:12:42.539 --> 00:12:46.440 also has like he's not an egomaniac he's really 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:48.899 chill he doesn't have lead singer disease for 00:12:48.899 --> 00:12:51.480 the most part and um you know i don't want to 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:53.860 give him too much credit um but yeah he's uh 00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:56.500 he's a great guy to work with so we couldn't 00:12:56.500 --> 00:13:00.139 be happier okay so who officially produced the 00:13:00.139 --> 00:13:01.879 album because in the press release it said that 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:04.850 henrik did the produce did the production Yeah, 00:13:04.909 --> 00:13:08.190 so he basically, I guess it depends on how you 00:13:08.190 --> 00:13:11.190 define that word, which is kind of a loosely 00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:13.570 thrown around word in the music industry. So 00:13:13.570 --> 00:13:17.490 Anthony engineered it. So we tracked drums, guitars, 00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:22.169 bass, vocals, keyboards, orchestration was all 00:13:22.169 --> 00:13:27.690 done here at his studio. We edited all the tracks 00:13:27.690 --> 00:13:30.049 here and we got everything in a nice package. 00:13:30.129 --> 00:13:32.009 Then we sent that off to Henrik and Henrik did 00:13:32.009 --> 00:13:34.779 the mixing and mastering. so he uh he took care 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:36.480 of all that as i guess you would call that post 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.220 -production work so that was all henrik and you 00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:41.220 know that's like he's a guy who's just i mean 00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:44.519 he got he's done striker hammerfall architects 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:48.139 like you name it like so many power wolf like 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:49.919 so many cool bands he's worked with over the 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.759 years um so yeah if there's any musicians listening 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.639 like henrik good recordings in sweden is a guy 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:58.059 you should talk to if you want your albums to 00:13:58.059 --> 00:14:02.879 sound awesome okay so And that's interesting 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:07.980 because back in the day, the engineer was the 00:14:07.980 --> 00:14:10.659 producer. I mean, there's some documentaries 00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:13.659 that you, that are out there available that they 00:14:13.659 --> 00:14:15.820 say, well, producer didn't actually, that word 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:18.279 didn't start getting thrown around until like 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:23.120 the early eighties. The engineer is who kind 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.500 of did all that. Or he was a guy who had an engineer 00:14:26.500 --> 00:14:28.840 in the room with them. And I would love to make 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:30.720 a record like that one day. Cause I know like, 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:33.509 all my favorites like all my favorite maiden 00:14:33.509 --> 00:14:36.509 and priest and dio and records and stuff had 00:14:36.509 --> 00:14:38.870 a guy who was the producer who was working from 00:14:38.870 --> 00:14:41.870 the band from like this from like the demo phase 00:14:41.870 --> 00:14:44.789 all the way up to the end you know working with 00:14:44.789 --> 00:14:46.570 them on making the music and i think that that 00:14:46.570 --> 00:14:50.029 would be a cool process to have somebody who 00:14:50.029 --> 00:14:52.190 is just really knowledgeable you know saying 00:14:52.190 --> 00:14:54.009 hey maybe you should shorten this up maybe you 00:14:54.009 --> 00:14:56.149 should change this riff here it'd be interesting 00:14:56.149 --> 00:14:58.250 to do that it would be probably difficult in 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:01.330 some ways having someone to be like no but it 00:15:01.330 --> 00:15:04.549 would be cool to like hear people's expertise 00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:06.990 and different takes. Cause as a musician nowadays, 00:15:07.250 --> 00:15:09.370 most bands don't do that. So you can kind of 00:15:09.370 --> 00:15:11.190 run the risk of getting stuck in an echo chamber 00:15:11.190 --> 00:15:13.149 of just kind of doing whatever you want, whether 00:15:13.149 --> 00:15:16.409 you should or not. Right. Yeah. So, so in other 00:15:16.409 --> 00:15:19.090 words, you want to find your Martin Birch. That 00:15:19.090 --> 00:15:21.149 would be awesome, man. Like I would love to, 00:15:21.169 --> 00:15:23.269 I would love to do that one day, one day. That 00:15:23.269 --> 00:15:25.730 would be really cool. But I think it has to be 00:15:25.730 --> 00:15:27.870 somebody that's a, that's a really special skill. 00:15:27.929 --> 00:15:29.490 I think that those guys have where they can. 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:32.159 have the trust of a band to take their their 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.580 music and their art and you know kind of mold 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:37.059 it and have them almost be like a an additional 00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:39.600 member of the band for a period of time that 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.120 would be that take that takes a really kind of 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:43.799 special individual to be able to do that effectively 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:48.679 i think right on the flip side though um if if 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:52.039 you guys are engineering it internally uh you 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:56.100 guys are essentially doing all the quality checks 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:01.600 You know, there's also a thin line there as well 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:04.519 to know when you need to say, you know what, 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.419 that really wasn't that good. Maybe we need to, 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:10.500 is it difficult for you guys to decide, you know 00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:13.779 what, we need to work on that more or that isn't 00:16:13.779 --> 00:16:15.500 as good as what we initially thought it would 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:18.639 be? I mean, I think that generally, I mean, everybody 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:22.659 here is pretty, egos are not really a thing in 00:16:22.659 --> 00:16:27.350 this band, which is amazing. And everybody is 00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:29.750 definitely about the cause, but I'm kind of the 00:16:29.750 --> 00:16:32.210 guy who has, for lack of a better term, has to 00:16:32.210 --> 00:16:34.509 be a dick sometimes, you know, like sometimes 00:16:34.509 --> 00:16:38.309 I'm just like, Oh, I don't, this is, um, this 00:16:38.309 --> 00:16:40.529 is, and I'm never like, this sucks, you know, 00:16:40.529 --> 00:16:44.129 do this again. Or it's more like, Hey, I don't 00:16:44.129 --> 00:16:45.769 think we should do a, B or C, or I don't think 00:16:45.769 --> 00:16:47.730 this really cuts the mustard because of a, B 00:16:47.730 --> 00:16:49.850 or C. But when it came down to things like track 00:16:49.850 --> 00:16:52.230 selection, that's very much a group group effort. 00:16:52.940 --> 00:16:57.179 for this one we demoed about 20 songs 20 25 songs 00:16:57.179 --> 00:17:00.440 i think and we all kind of sat down at my house 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:03.960 and we uh just listened to all of them and we 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:06.259 debated and we talked and we went back and forth 00:17:06.259 --> 00:17:09.339 and you know had it took it took all night we 00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:12.380 basically were there all night and um yeah we 00:17:12.380 --> 00:17:15.599 just basically narrowed it down to uh the group 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.079 of songs that you see there um on the record 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:21.059 so yeah it was uh it's always a process and it 00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:23.339 is difficult because everybody gets attached 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:25.680 to certain songs. You know, they, everyone will 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:27.240 say, everyone in Greyhawk will be like, I'm not 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:30.480 attached to this song, but they are, you know, 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:33.839 they, they, they, they are. So it, it, it, it 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.519 comes down to a lot of, a lot of debate, but 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:39.259 sometimes I, a lot of times I wound up being 00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:42.400 the guy, but you know, I, I, I manage, I run 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:44.579 my own company on the side, so I'm used to having 00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:47.619 to manage people. So it's kind of the kind of 00:17:47.619 --> 00:17:51.470 part of my still set. Gotcha. Okay. Is there 00:17:51.470 --> 00:17:54.329 anything that turned out better than what you 00:17:54.329 --> 00:18:01.009 had expected when, before shipping the album 00:18:01.009 --> 00:18:03.549 off to Henrik or even after when hearing the 00:18:03.549 --> 00:18:07.269 mixes? Yeah. I mean, there's a song on the record 00:18:07.269 --> 00:18:10.190 called hyperspace that, you know, I was not as 00:18:10.190 --> 00:18:12.529 high on when we finished it, but when we got 00:18:12.529 --> 00:18:14.970 it back, I was like, Oh man, this is like, this 00:18:14.970 --> 00:18:17.940 is actually a really cool song. And there was, 00:18:17.940 --> 00:18:21.660 there's a lot of when Anthony track is vocals, 00:18:21.740 --> 00:18:24.599 there was a lot of surprises for me. Like there's 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:27.500 a certain note in a song called rise above where 00:18:27.500 --> 00:18:29.640 he kind of hits this really almost desperate 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:32.259 sounding raspy scream that I was like, Oh wow. 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:34.460 Like never heard you make that noise before. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:37.880 Right. Yeah. I mean, with, with, with Henrik, 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:41.259 we kind of, he was an intentional pick. He, he 00:18:41.259 --> 00:18:43.539 did our last album thunder hard as well. And 00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:46.720 what I did. with that one is i basically cherry 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.319 picked 15 or 16 albums in our genre by bands 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:52.640 who i mean not by like made like because a lot 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:55.000 of times you know you'll the producers will say 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:56.779 like hey everybody picked three of their favorite 00:18:56.779 --> 00:18:58.960 albums everyone's like heaven and hell by sabbath 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.160 you know or or somewhere in time by our maiden 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.240 and it's like okay those are masterpieces from 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.559 40 years ago not necessarily so applicable today 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:10.740 so i basically picked like 15 or 20 albums from 00:19:10.740 --> 00:19:14.029 now who were done by our contemporaries you know 00:19:14.029 --> 00:19:18.450 bands like you know uh unto others and eternal 00:19:18.450 --> 00:19:21.730 champion and go go on go down the line and just 00:19:21.730 --> 00:19:24.549 think we it was it was a wide variety but everybody 00:19:24.549 --> 00:19:27.470 landed on the album play to win by striker which 00:19:27.470 --> 00:19:29.789 was one of the ones i picked and i think that 00:19:29.789 --> 00:19:33.369 i think the striker are one of if not the best 00:19:33.369 --> 00:19:35.730 band on like the indie trad metal circuit they 00:19:35.730 --> 00:19:38.670 have been for 20 years um and i love that record 00:19:38.670 --> 00:19:41.079 and everybody basically was like this guy We 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:44.160 all like this one. So we basically went to Henrik 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:45.980 and said, Hey, this is our reference point. It's 00:19:45.980 --> 00:19:48.740 an album you made. We'd like you to take this 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:51.279 kind of treatment and then give it to our album. 00:19:51.339 --> 00:19:54.339 So that's another thing I felt was a very intentional 00:19:54.339 --> 00:19:56.619 move. Like everybody kind of let's pick an album 00:19:56.619 --> 00:19:58.480 that we all agree. We like what this sounds like. 00:19:58.539 --> 00:20:00.880 It's new. Here's the guy that did it. Let's ask 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:02.440 the guy that did it to do it. Cause he knows 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:04.279 how it's done. Right. He made the sausage. He 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:08.119 knows how the sausage is made. Yeah. Yeah. Makes 00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:12.059 sense. As a bass player, is there anything that 00:20:12.059 --> 00:20:16.319 you tried differently outside of just the overall 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.160 sound that we're talking about? Is there anything 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:20.319 in your playing that you did differently? Is 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:24.799 there anything from a gear standpoint that you 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:28.779 used differently on this album? Definitely. This 00:20:28.779 --> 00:20:34.160 one, I used a very nice high -end Spectre bass 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:37.339 that Spectre made for me. It's a beautiful piece 00:20:37.339 --> 00:20:42.759 of gear. It's actually right behind me. This 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:47.920 is my custom Spectre base. It's made out of old 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.059 growth redwood, nice quilted maple top, abalone 00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:54.180 inlays. It costs a lot of money probably, but 00:20:54.180 --> 00:20:56.339 they hooked me up with it, so I don't know. But 00:20:56.339 --> 00:20:59.819 it sounds like a million dollars. So that was 00:20:59.819 --> 00:21:04.619 one of them. The other one was I used dark glass 00:21:04.619 --> 00:21:11.569 electronics to... get my tone um henrik of course 00:21:11.569 --> 00:21:15.009 re -amp it and added a bunch of eq and and mess 00:21:15.009 --> 00:21:17.690 with it so gear wise that's what that was definitely 00:21:17.690 --> 00:21:20.170 a change for me to use uh some really nice high 00:21:20.170 --> 00:21:22.309 -end specter gear you know plug for my guys inspector 00:21:22.309 --> 00:21:26.589 i love them so much i got their tattoo um but 00:21:26.589 --> 00:21:31.069 playing wise um anthony really pushed me in the 00:21:31.069 --> 00:21:34.200 studio to try some different things um you know, 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:36.339 try a fill here or there, try this here or there. 00:21:36.420 --> 00:21:38.299 He's like, you really, there's one part in warriors 00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:40.599 of gray Hawk where there's this, you know, really 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:43.119 cool tapping arpeggiated part. He's like, try, 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:44.779 you're good at tapping, try something there. 00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:50.400 And there's one song in particular that our guitar 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:52.619 player, Rob Steinway wrote called the endless 00:21:52.619 --> 00:21:56.839 race. And it's a song he wrote for a band him 00:21:56.839 --> 00:21:59.960 and me used to be in called Skeletor. And I know 00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:01.640 that song, I know that song meant a lot to him. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:06.240 And I really wanted to come up to honor the original 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:10.140 demo, which the original demo was made by, had 00:22:10.140 --> 00:22:12.680 a bass player called a bass player who is a much 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:15.519 better bass player than me. So there was some 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:17.680 pretty crazy bass lines like originally arranged 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:20.279 for it. And I really wanted to honor the, the 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:22.460 original arrangement. So I really had to push 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:24.339 myself on that one. If you listen to the endless 00:22:24.339 --> 00:22:26.480 race, the base on that is really, really wacky. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:29.579 So, but I'm very proud of how it came out and 00:22:29.579 --> 00:22:34.440 now I have to play it live. So we'll, we'll see 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:39.940 how that goes. Okay. And the cover of Warriors 00:22:39.940 --> 00:22:46.480 of Greyhawk was worked on by Daniel Porta. How 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:50.920 obviously you guys, I'm assuming had a ton of 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:55.619 input on that. What was the original idea behind 00:22:55.619 --> 00:22:59.039 it? And then ultimately how difficult was it 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:02.380 to get to the vision that you guys uh wanted 00:23:02.380 --> 00:23:06.119 for the cover um so when i do album covers i 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:10.880 uh i basically try to make things um i view the 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:13.700 album cover one is obviously a piece of art but 00:23:13.700 --> 00:23:17.099 i also view it as an advertising piece so um 00:23:17.099 --> 00:23:21.160 i try to make album covers that stand out um 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:24.920 that if you see it on a on a screen if you see 00:23:24.920 --> 00:23:28.460 it on a rack at a record store and we go i need 00:23:28.460 --> 00:23:30.500 to know what that sounds like because that looks 00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:34.069 insane So basically our inspiration was old, 00:23:34.089 --> 00:23:37.130 the old dungeons and dragons books, you know, 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:40.789 or nineties, like RPG games, that kind of stuff. 00:23:41.990 --> 00:23:44.170 Cause we're really trying to hearken back to 00:23:44.170 --> 00:23:47.190 some of the power metal from that time. You know, 00:23:47.190 --> 00:23:49.549 back in the two, the nineties and two thousands, 00:23:49.609 --> 00:23:52.269 that's my favorite power metal. So we kind of 00:23:52.269 --> 00:23:54.009 wanted something that was a little retro in that 00:23:54.009 --> 00:23:56.829 way. And the idea was to kind of have all the 00:23:56.829 --> 00:23:59.779 band members in like a D and D party with. big 00:23:59.779 --> 00:24:04.200 wizard behind us. And yeah, it came together 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.420 pretty quick. It just kind of, once I started, 00:24:07.420 --> 00:24:08.759 once we started just kind of having a little 00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:10.759 fun with it and like laughing, you know, having 00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:12.839 a good time, like coming up with this thing that 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:14.640 we wanted to make that was over the top and, 00:24:14.660 --> 00:24:19.079 you know, kind of crazy looking. And Daniel did, 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.380 I'm in another band called Glyph. And Daniel 00:24:22.380 --> 00:24:26.299 did the artwork for our last EP called Invictus. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.220 And I really liked it. And he was, Really easy 00:24:30.220 --> 00:24:32.079 to work with. He seemed to understand assignments 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.019 really quick. You know, he doesn't, he didn't 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:37.279 really have trouble. He doesn't really have any 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:41.500 trouble visualizing what, what the band wants. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:43.380 Like when you give him an idea, he can kind of 00:24:43.380 --> 00:24:45.039 spin it and start sketching it right away. So 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.359 he's really easy to work with and he's his Instagram 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:49.519 handle. Just plug him real quick. He's at the 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:52.539 pit forge. So if any bands are looking for quality 00:24:52.539 --> 00:24:54.680 artwork, hit him up. He does a lot of great stuff 00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:57.759 for a lot of bands. Yeah, that was kind of just 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.559 it. Like if you look at the album cover Keepers 00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:02.539 of the Flame, which is our debut, it's like it's 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:04.819 almost it's like it's kind of ugly in some ways, 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:06.640 but it's really like eye catching. Right. Like 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:09.119 that's kind of my idea for album covers is always 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:11.359 to make them be eye catching. Like I love Riot's 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.799 album covers, even though they're hideous. But 00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:16.119 like the steel makes you go, oh, I need to know 00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:20.960 what's going on here. Right. Yeah, I get that. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:24.200 We've had many a discussion on Riot album covers. 00:25:24.359 --> 00:25:28.400 Yeah, for sure. Actually, I saw a vinyl version 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:30.819 of Naruto in the wild the other day, and I was 00:25:30.819 --> 00:25:32.940 showing a friend of mine who's not a metalhead 00:25:32.940 --> 00:25:35.880 this cover, and I was like, you know, this probably 00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:37.859 looks like shit to you, but to me, this is gorgeous. 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:45.420 So the album is coming out on CD, vinyl, and 00:25:45.420 --> 00:25:49.019 cassette. Yeah. How closely did you work with 00:25:49.019 --> 00:25:52.839 your label on getting the album out on all those 00:25:52.839 --> 00:25:57.720 formats? Very closely. Cruz del Sur is one of 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:01.319 my favorite labels. It has been for a long time. 00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:03.460 I've known about Cruz del Sur actually first 00:26:03.460 --> 00:26:06.420 hit my radar in the 2000s when I was playing 00:26:06.420 --> 00:26:09.980 shows up in Vancouver, B .C., Canada. I was playing 00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:12.700 with a band called Antiquists who were signed 00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:15.420 to Cruz at the time. And I was like. oh, wow, 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:17.700 like I didn't know too many bands back then who 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:19.859 were on a label, let alone a European label. 00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:22.259 So I, of course, started following them and I 00:26:22.259 --> 00:26:25.480 found bands like Slough Fag and countless other 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:28.440 underground bands at the time. So I always wanted 00:26:28.440 --> 00:26:31.920 to, I was like, man, I'd love to get an album 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:35.960 out on that label one day. So we tried a couple 00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:37.960 of times. The timing just wasn't right. And then 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:41.549 we wind up meeting Enrico. at uh keep it true 00:26:41.549 --> 00:26:44.710 festival in germany in 2024 when we played there 00:26:44.710 --> 00:26:46.970 and we just hit it off with him he's a great 00:26:46.970 --> 00:26:51.390 guy he's really smart he's he's funny he's personable 00:26:51.390 --> 00:26:54.710 um yeah he's one of the best guys in in the there's 00:26:54.710 --> 00:26:58.190 a lot of really good people in like the new traditional 00:26:58.190 --> 00:27:00.869 uh metal scene and he's but he's one of the tops 00:27:00.869 --> 00:27:03.430 and he's just a really good guy so yeah when 00:27:03.430 --> 00:27:05.769 we were when we agreed to do this album you know 00:27:05.769 --> 00:27:07.430 we kind of talked about certain things and i 00:27:07.430 --> 00:27:09.960 was like yeah like these People love cassettes. 00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:12.880 I don't understand it, but they love them. I 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:15.440 remember when I was a kid getting cassettes as 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.160 CDs came out, I was like, Oh man, you mean I 00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:19.180 don't have to press rewind and fast forward to 00:27:19.180 --> 00:27:21.380 get to the song I want to hear. I'm a happy man, 00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:24.200 but some people seem to love them. And you know, 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:26.819 I, I get the nostalgia. I think it's very cool 00:27:26.819 --> 00:27:30.079 having, I have a cassette. We had Thunderheart 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:31.720 and Keepers of the Flame come out on cassette. 00:27:31.859 --> 00:27:36.119 And I still have one of each on, you know, in 00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:38.180 my collection and I love having them. And I never 00:27:38.180 --> 00:27:40.319 had a, problem selling them at all it's crazy 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:44.299 but i do now find that cds are resurging like 00:27:44.299 --> 00:27:46.619 we're selling a lot of cds on the pre -order 00:27:46.619 --> 00:27:49.720 and i'm and last time we were in europe like 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:52.579 every we didn't bring enough we i brought a lot 00:27:52.579 --> 00:27:54.599 of vinyl thinking yeah everyone's gonna want 00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:57.660 the vinyl of thunderheart and the germans just 00:27:57.660 --> 00:28:00.339 wanted cds we sold out real quick and then after 00:28:00.339 --> 00:28:02.319 keep it true our club shows we didn't have any 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:04.759 cds left and people were upset they're like i 00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:07.400 wanted the cd i was like oh man i'm sorry i had 00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:11.500 no idea Yeah. It's interesting. Every time that 00:28:11.500 --> 00:28:15.400 different sources online seem to say, well, the 00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:19.059 CD is dead and I'll see people comment. No, I 00:28:19.059 --> 00:28:22.960 still collect them. Yeah. They collect them. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.619 And I think they sound the best. Like, you know, 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:27.680 I love my vinyl. Don't get me wrong. I love one 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:29.140 of my favorite things to do is when I, while 00:28:29.140 --> 00:28:31.039 I work, I work from home. So I'll basically put 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:34.180 on a record side, a side B and just, you know, 00:28:34.589 --> 00:28:37.009 I'll just let her, let her rip. And I love doing 00:28:37.009 --> 00:28:39.210 that. But I do think that as far as like sound 00:28:39.210 --> 00:28:41.470 quality, that the CD is still the best, the best 00:28:41.470 --> 00:28:45.670 quality format. Okay. And you guys are obviously 00:28:45.670 --> 00:28:50.130 from the Seattle area. There have been many different 00:28:50.130 --> 00:28:52.809 waves of music that have come out from Seattle. 00:28:53.450 --> 00:28:58.089 Certainly. Yeah. Is there any local influence 00:28:58.089 --> 00:29:01.190 that would surprise people that you think has 00:29:01.190 --> 00:29:05.480 influenced you or the band? It's possible. I 00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:08.960 mean, obviously, Queensryche is a big one for 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:11.160 all of us. I mean, a lot of people don't realize 00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:13.400 that Queensryche is from Bellevue, which is not 00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:17.559 too far from Seattle. We like a lot of the there's 00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:20.059 a lot of classic underground metal bands here 00:29:20.059 --> 00:29:26.960 like Q5, Rail, Fifth Angel. bands like really 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:29.099 cool bands like that and of course metal church 00:29:29.099 --> 00:29:32.259 also you know kind of from the area we got to 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:35.519 play a show with them a couple years ago um out 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:38.059 actually out uh on the on the on the olympic 00:29:38.059 --> 00:29:40.559 peninsula and that was really cool for all of 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:43.380 us because we're all huge metal church fans um 00:29:43.380 --> 00:29:45.619 i don't know if there's any was surprising we're 00:29:45.619 --> 00:29:47.339 not none of us are real big grunge heads but 00:29:47.339 --> 00:29:49.400 you know sanctuary of course you know they're 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:52.539 they're they're from around here i believe um 00:29:52.539 --> 00:29:56.359 so There's a rich history of melodic metal out 00:29:56.359 --> 00:29:59.500 here. Bear Apparent, another one. We've run into 00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:02.700 those cats every once in a while. So, yeah, it's 00:30:02.700 --> 00:30:07.779 a very cool history. And it's cool to still see 00:30:07.779 --> 00:30:09.759 a lot of those guys doing the thing out here. 00:30:09.859 --> 00:30:11.680 And it's fun to play shows with them once in 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:14.980 a while. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting that a 00:30:14.980 --> 00:30:17.640 lot of people forget that a lot of the bands 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:21.440 that you mentioned are from the area. Uh, you 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:24.160 know, when everything went down in the nineties, 00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:27.319 it was funny that people all of a sudden forgot 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:29.200 that Queen Drake was from Seattle, you know, 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:33.160 the general area. And to me, it was always interesting. 00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:36.920 Well, the, you know, this big band from, uh, 00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:39.640 or, you know, when, when some of the other bands 00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:42.019 were coming up, uh, they were saying, well, the 00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:44.019 first big band from the area, and I don't know 00:30:44.019 --> 00:30:45.980 how long since heart. And I'm like, wait a second, 00:30:46.019 --> 00:30:50.500 you just had a band that's from the area. So, 00:30:50.930 --> 00:30:53.650 Yeah. I mean, Operation Mindcrime is such a side, 00:30:53.690 --> 00:30:56.170 like, you know, Empire was huge. Like Silent 00:30:56.170 --> 00:30:59.069 Lucidity was a mainstream hit and all those, 00:30:59.130 --> 00:31:00.890 like that was a really big album for those guys. 00:31:01.009 --> 00:31:03.809 So yeah, it is funny that people kind of forget 00:31:03.809 --> 00:31:05.589 that they're, they're from around here, but we're 00:31:05.589 --> 00:31:07.690 lucky they are. Cause they play, they're still 00:31:07.690 --> 00:31:09.369 hitting, they hit, I mean, I don't love casino 00:31:09.369 --> 00:31:10.970 shows very much. That's the only tough thing. 00:31:11.049 --> 00:31:12.630 They play a lot around here, but it's a lot of 00:31:12.630 --> 00:31:15.450 times in a casino and those shows are always 00:31:15.450 --> 00:31:18.589 a little weird, but you know, I prefer, I much 00:31:18.589 --> 00:31:21.460 prefer. I did see them at the Neptune in town 00:31:21.460 --> 00:31:24.200 not too long ago, so that was pretty neat. But 00:31:24.200 --> 00:31:27.059 yeah, there's a lot of melodic metal and stuff 00:31:27.059 --> 00:31:28.700 that's come out of here over the years. It's 00:31:28.700 --> 00:31:33.180 pretty cool. The old guard here are super supportive, 00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:35.619 and they're really, really stoked on some of 00:31:35.619 --> 00:31:37.119 the new bands that are coming up. It's very neat. 00:31:37.940 --> 00:31:41.400 Okay. The album officially drops on what day? 00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:47.470 February 13th. It'll be dropping. Okay. Where 00:31:47.470 --> 00:31:50.349 can people go to pick up the album and make sure 00:31:50.349 --> 00:31:53.009 that the most amount of money ends up back in 00:31:53.009 --> 00:31:55.230 the band's pockets? Well, if you're in North 00:31:55.230 --> 00:31:57.230 America, you're going to want to head to our 00:31:57.230 --> 00:32:02.049 band camp. That's where we're going to get the 00:32:02.049 --> 00:32:04.789 biggest cut. And look out for things called band 00:32:04.789 --> 00:32:06.670 camp Fridays, because when they do a band camp 00:32:06.670 --> 00:32:09.430 Friday, the band camp doesn't take anything. 00:32:09.549 --> 00:32:11.670 I do actually believe that the 13th, when the 00:32:11.670 --> 00:32:14.670 album drops, is a band camp Friday. But we are 00:32:14.670 --> 00:32:18.250 getting low. on our, on our stock. Like the pre 00:32:18.250 --> 00:32:20.230 -orders have been going really well. So some 00:32:20.230 --> 00:32:22.210 things are going low, like the blue vinyls already 00:32:22.210 --> 00:32:24.849 sold out. The cassettes already sold out. So 00:32:24.849 --> 00:32:27.829 if you want to get a CD or a black vinyl, the 00:32:27.829 --> 00:32:30.630 time is now. So you can head to our band camp, 00:32:30.829 --> 00:32:34.730 greyhawkmetal .bandcamp .com and you can secure 00:32:34.730 --> 00:32:37.329 your copy. If you're in Europe, you can find 00:32:37.329 --> 00:32:41.049 it there too. There's a link to order it from 00:32:41.049 --> 00:32:42.970 the Europe, from Europe, in Europe. And we have 00:32:42.970 --> 00:32:45.089 distribution over in Europe. So don't worry. 00:32:45.529 --> 00:32:49.650 Your fees for shipping are not going to be horrendous 00:32:49.650 --> 00:32:52.190 because we have a distributor over there and 00:32:52.190 --> 00:32:54.150 they're going to ship it to you at normal shipping 00:32:54.150 --> 00:32:57.230 costs. So don't be afraid to order it if you're 00:32:57.230 --> 00:33:01.029 in Europe right now. For my friends back in Canada, 00:33:01.170 --> 00:33:03.069 there's nothing I can do. It costs a million 00:33:03.069 --> 00:33:05.849 dollars to ship stuff over the border. I'm really 00:33:05.849 --> 00:33:09.950 sorry. It costs $18 for me to ship a CD from 00:33:09.950 --> 00:33:12.789 Seattle to Vancouver. I don't know why. I'm not 00:33:12.789 --> 00:33:14.789 the post office and I'm not customs. I can't 00:33:14.789 --> 00:33:19.109 help you. I'm sorry. But yeah, band camp is the 00:33:19.109 --> 00:33:21.930 spot or you can head to Cruz del Sur's website 00:33:21.930 --> 00:33:25.609 too. Okay. And where should people go to keep 00:33:25.609 --> 00:33:29.589 up with the band? Oh, our Instagram, our Facebook. 00:33:30.539 --> 00:33:35.420 Those are the two most current sites. The handle 00:33:35.420 --> 00:33:37.799 is Greyhawk Metal at each one. So if you just 00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:40.279 search Greyhawk Metal on social media, you'll 00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:42.859 find that. We're very responsive. Send us a message. 00:33:42.900 --> 00:33:45.359 Let us know what's going on. Check out our posts, 00:33:45.460 --> 00:33:47.140 comment, interact. We love talking to our fans. 00:33:47.339 --> 00:33:52.160 So please don't be shy. Awesome. I want to thank 00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:55.750 you for your time today. It was awesome talking 00:33:55.750 --> 00:33:59.130 to you and the album for anyone who's remotely 00:33:59.130 --> 00:34:03.049 into any classic heavy metal or power metal. 00:34:03.210 --> 00:34:05.869 I definitely recommend it. So I do thank you 00:34:05.869 --> 00:34:07.849 for your time, Darren. Thank you, my brother. 00:34:07.869 --> 00:34:09.349 Thank you so much. I appreciate your time as 00:34:09.349 --> 00:34:12.469 well. All right. Cheers. Have a good one. You 00:34:12.469 --> 00:34:38.309 too. Take care. This concludes our show.