Have you ever just walked away from a sure thing?
Ooh, that's a tough one. Right. I mean, imagine
for a second reaching the absolute pinnacle of
your career. You've got the awards. Yeah, you
have the money, you have the massive mainstream
recognition. And then you just... You just decide
to walk away from that giant corporate machine
to start a scrappy, independent project completely
from scratch. It sounds a bit crazy, to be honest.
It really does. But welcome. to today's custom
tailored deep dive where we are looking at exactly
that kind of leap i'm excited for this we are
exploring a master class in creative reinvention
and uh honestly a fascinating lesson in how to
manage a highly volatile startup Because it is
a massive risk. Usually when people hit the top
of their field, they hold on for dear life. Yeah,
they don't voluntarily go back to the garage
to start over. Exactly. So I'm very curious to
look at the mechanics of someone who actually
makes that choice and how they navigate the inevitable
turbulence that follows. To figure out how this
works, we are pulling from a single, highly detailed
source today. What are we looking at? It's a
Wikipedia article chronicling the history and
the discography of an American rock band from
Los Angeles called... Against All Will. Okay.
Against All Will. Yeah. And our mission for this
deep dive is to explore what happens when veteran
musicians from wildly different musical universes
collide to form a new project. How wildly different
are we talking? We're talking platinum -selling
post -grunge, hardcore punk, heavy metal, and
even Russian pop. Russian pop. Yes, Russian pop.
Okay, let's unpack this. So who is the architect
here? Because a band with that many diverse competing
influences doesn't just spontaneously generate.
Right. There has to be a founder driving the
ship. The founder is a guitarist and songwriter
named Jimmy Allen. Okay. And to really understand
the DNA of Against All Will, you have to understand
Jimmy Allen's pedigree. He didn't start out in
the gritty rock clubs of Los Angeles. Where is
he from? He spent his childhood far away from
all of that in Chanute, Kansas. Oh, wow. Small
town. Very much so. He's actually an alum of
Chanute High School. But... He didn't stay in
that small -town environment. He eventually made
his way out to the coast. And what happened when
he got there? He became the co -founding lead
guitarist for the massive rock band Puddle of
Mud. Let's pause there for a second, because
for anyone listening who might not be deeply
embedded in early 2000s rock history, Puddle
of Mud wasn't just a successful band. They were
huge. They were a cornerstone of the post -grunge
movement. the 1990s and the highly polished radio
friendly rock of the 2000s. Highly polished and
incredibly lucrative. And Jimmy Allen wasn't
just standing in the background playing rhythm
guitar. He was a writer. He was a primary creative
engine. Yeah. The source details some incredibly
heavy hitting accolades that he racked up. Let's
hear them. He is an award winning songwriter
responsible for massive era defining hits. For
instance, he wrote Drift and Die. A huge track.
And he wrote the absolute juggernaut track. Blurry.
Man, Blurry was inescapable. Exactly. It completely
dominated. Blurry won Ace Cap's 2003 Song of
the Year. Wow. It was the Ace Cap Most Performed
Song of 2002. Incredible. And it won a Billboard
Rock Song Award. And just to prove it wasn't
a fluke, he also won the Ace Cap Most Performed
Song of 2004 for the track She Hates Me. For
those who might not know the inner workings of
the music industry, Ace Cap is one of the massive
organizations that tracks performance royalties.
Right. They monitor everything. Winning their
song of the year or holding the title of most
performed song for an entire calendar year means
that track was literally everywhere. Everywhere.
It was playing in every shopping mall, every
car radio, every arena, and every television
promo. It represents the absolute zenith of mainstream
commercial success. Which makes his next move.
move quite puzzling. Yeah, what does a guy who
has conquered the industry do next? Does he just
keep writing hits for other people? You would
think so. But by 2007, after years of writing
for others, Jimmy Allen decided it was time to
start his own band. Which would eventually become
Against All Will. Exactly. And the origin story
for this pivot is incredible cinematic. According
to the source, the genesis of the band happened
in early 2007 on a stormy night in Hollywood.
You can almost picture the rain lashing against
the studio windows. It definitely sets a mood.
So on this stormy night, a drummer named Mark
Bistany, who goes by Moak, reaches out to a good
friend of his. Who is that? A vocalist named
Mizzy Pacheco. Now, Moak had actually toured
with Jimmy Allen in Puddle of Mud. So there's
an existing working relationship there, a level
of trust. Yes, but Mizzy's situation is what
really stands out. The source specifically notes
that Mizzy was a recently departed solo artist
from Virgin Records. Okay, major label background.
Right. And at the time Moak called him, Mizzy
was working on a new solo record in a dark and
lonely part of Hollywood. What's fascinating
here is the psychological landscape of that specific
moment. You have Moak bringing together two guys
who are at very strange crossroads in their careers.
They both have East Coast roots too, right? Mizzy
and Moak are both from the East Coast. Yes, and
they've both experienced the highs and lows of
the business. Jimmy Allen has reached the absolute
peak of rock radio success and is stepping away
to start fresh. And Mizzy. Mizzy Pacheco has
just come off a major label deal with Virgin
Records, a massive corporate entity, and is now
toiling away in a dark, lonely corner of the
city trying to figure out his next move. They've
both been chewed up. or pass through the major
label machine. They know exactly how the sausage
is made. Yeah, they do. To experience that level
of the industry, the massive tours, the major
label contracts, the corporate expectations,
and then to have the sheer hunger to start completely
over from scratch on a rainy night in a dark
studio. It's wild. That requires a very specific
kind of drive. It's not about chasing the initial
fame anymore. It's about a pure need to create
something new on your own terms. That hunger
is exactly what launches the project. But as
anyone who has ever worked in a startup or a
band knows, the initial team that launches the
project is rarely the exact same team that brings
the product to market. That is almost a universal
rule. So fast forward to the spring of 2009.
The band is gearing up to release their debut
album, but the lineup has shifted. Okay. And
it has shifted into a roster of industry veterans
with pedigrees that, on paper, make absolutely
no sense together. I'm looking at this 2009 roster,
and it is a massive departure from the original
trio. Let's run through this quartet. You still
have Jimmy Allen on lead guitar, anchoring the
project. Right. But now, stepping in on vocals,
you have Jeff Current. He was formerly the lead
singer of the alternative rock band Seven Story
Drop. Okay, alternative rock, that fits. But
on bass guitar, you have Cello Dias. He comes
from the veteran heavy metal band Soulfly. Let
me just jump in there because the leap from Jimmy
Allen's mainstream post -grunge background to
the aggressive, tribal, rhythmic intensity of
a band like Soulfly is a massive stylistic gap
to bridge. It's totally different. Those are
entirely different musical languages. Here's
where it gets really interesting because the
rhythm section gets even more complex. How so?
On drums, you have Steve Wilson, who goes by
the nickname Boomstick. Boobsick's resume is
just incredible. What's his background? He previously
drummed for the legendary punk band Dead Kennedys.
Wow. And he drummed for the Russian pop duo T
.A .T .U. Wait, but does that actually work?
That sounds chaotic, right? On paper, throwing
a heavy metal bassist and a drummer who fluctuates
between hardcore punk and Russian synth pop into
an alternative rock band sounds less like a creative
melting pot and more like a total train wreck.
It does. How do they avoid sounding completely
disjointed? That's a fair question because the
contrast is extreme. Think about the pure mechanical
demands of Boomstick's resume alone. Playing
for the Dead Kennedys requires blistering, chaotic,
politically charged, hardcore punk speed. It's
very raw and aggressive. Exactly. Then, playing
for TATU, which is driven by heavily produced,
precise synth -pop beats, requires an entirely
different kind of discipline. Playing strictly
to a grid. Yes, matching electronic sequences.
To bring a drummer with that exact background
into a room with a bassist from a legendary heavy
metal band, a vocalist from alternative rock,
and a guitarist who writes massive radio anthems,
the technical versatility required from every
person in that room is immense. It really makes
you wonder what the initial jam session sounded
like. They had to strip away their default settings
and find a brand new sonic middle ground that
honored all those backgrounds. And they don't
have the luxury of faking it. Not at all. When
you have that much varied high -level experience
in a single room, you either find a common language
immediately or the project collapses under the
weight of competing egos and styles. Well, they
actually did find that common language. This
Frankenstein -like lineup produced tangible results.
I'm glad to hear it didn't just implode. On October
20th, 2009, against all will, released their
debut extended play, or EP, titled A Rhyme and
Reason. Okay, A Rhyme and Reason. The source
notes, it was recorded at Korn Studios, it was
produced by Tim Harkins, and released under the
label Subsonic Industries. And looking at the
specs of the release, it's a very lean, focused
project. Highly focused. It features exactly
seven tracks, clocking in at 25 minutes and 13
seconds. They weren't indulging in long, wandering
jam sessions. No, they got right to the point.
and that discipline paid off. The tracks All
About You and The Drug I Need from this debut
release actually ranked in the National Rock
Radio Top 50 in 2010. Hitting the National Top
50 as an independent release, especially while
trying to blend all those diverse musical backgrounds,
is a serious validation. It really is. It proves
that the chemistry they found in the studio actually
translated to the listeners. But I have to ask...
With Jeff Current stepping in on vocals for this
2009 release, what happened to Mizzy Pachoco?
The original singer from The Stormy Night in
2007. Yeah. Did his contributions just vanish?
Not at all. In fact, there is a phantom element
to this success, and Mizzy is right at the center
of it. Oh, really? Even though he parted ways
with the band as their frontman, Mizzy left a
massive fingerprint all over A Rhyme and Reason.
How so, if he wasn't singing? Even though Jeff
Curran is the one singing on the 2009 EP, Mizzy
actually wrote the song The Drug I Need, which
was one of those top 50 hits. So he is still
fundamentally shaping the sound of the band.
He is heavily woven into the DNA. He also wrote
the track Nothing Good Anymore, and he co -wrote
the songs Swept Away in the Blue. That's a significant
chunk of the writing. Plus, if you look back
at their earlier single releases. Mizzy's actual
voice can be heard on the 2007 track, You Can't
Change Me, and the 2008 track, Tomorrow and Today.
So his presence is definitely still felt. But
his contribution to Against All Will didn't stop
at songwriting and laying down early vocal tracks.
He had another skill set he brought to the table.
A completely different skill set. Mizzy isn't
just a musician. He's a visual artist. How interesting.
He is a photographer and a video director based
in Los Angeles. He actually owns his own fine
art gallery called Pacheco Fine Art Photography.
That's a huge pivot. It's located right on the
Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. So applying
those visual skills to his former band, Mizzy
became their visual architect. He shot their
videos? Yes. He is responsible for directing
and shooting the music videos for Love the Way
You Hate Me, The Drug I Need, and So Wept Away.
Wow. He even steps out from behind the camera
to make a cameo appearance in the 2012 video
for Love the Way You Hate Me. If we connect this
to the bigger picture, Mizzy's multifaceted role
highlights something crucial about survival in
the modern independent music industry. What's
that? having a visionary who understands your
core identity and can control your visual aesthetic
is incredibly valuable think about it he helped
write the song so he inherently understands the
emotional core of the music better than a hired
director ever could he lived it exactly he then
translates that exact emotional core into the
music videos That creates a level of artistic
consistency that independent bands usually cannot
afford to buy. It's a massive competitive advantage.
It's like having an in -house creative director
who also just happened to co -write your biggest
hit. It's brilliant. But while their visual identity
remained remarkably consistent thanks to Mizzy,
the internal lineup of the band, well, it continued
to be incredibly volatile. More changes. Specifically,
the drummer position seemed to be on a constantly
revolving stool. The rhythm section is the heartbeat
of a rock band. If the drummer keeps changing,
the entire foundation of the music is constantly
shifting. How many drummers did they actually
go through? It's a dizzying timeline, so let's
trace it carefully. It started in 2007 with Moke
Bistany. The guy from the Stormy Night. Right.
Moke is another guy with a massive resume. The
source knows he was a former drummer for O -Tep.
cellophane and head pe and he may have also played
with puddle of mud between 2005 and 2007. okay
so that's drummer number one then as we discussed
boomstick wilson the punk and russian pop veteran
took over for the 2009 debut ep drummer number
two but then in march 2011 a drummer named philip
gagne briefly steps in to replace wilson and
gagne brings yet another distinct flavor to the
table The source mentions he comes from instinctive
aggression and later served as the percussionist
for the L .A. heavy metal band Before the Morning.
So we're pulling back into heavy metal territory
again. Drummer number three. Exactly. But Gagne's
tenure was incredibly brief because by 2012,
Boomstick Wilson returns to reclaim the drumstole.
So that's four different drummer shifts, counting
Boomstick coming back. Despite all this shuffling,
all these different players moving in and out,
the band's output strategy remained surprisingly
aggressive. They kept putting stuff out. Yes.
According to their discography, between 2007
and 2013, Against All Will released a total of
10 singles. 10 singles is a lot of material.
This steady drip of music concluded with the
tracks Sunset Jupiter and Another Nail in the
Coffin in 2013. Okay. But here is the critical
detail. Throughout all of those single releases
across six years, their full -length debut studio
album remained listed entirely as TBD to be determined.
Ten singles over six years, national top 50 radio
placement, multiple music videos, but no official
full -length studio album to anchor it all. None
at all. That is a very deliberate or perhaps
necessary approach to releasing music when your
internal team is constantly in flux. So what
does this all mean? It's a great question. For
you listening. Think about your own collaborative
projects or businesses. We are really looking
at a master class in project management here.
Absolutely. How do you keep a creative vision
moving forward? How do you keep releasing a consistent
product when key team members like your lead
singer or your drummer continuously change? It's
a fundamental challenge that applies far beyond
the music industry. It applies to everything.
Whether you are putting together an office presentation,
trying to get a tech startup off the ground,
or playing in an independent rock band, success
relies entirely on the core founder maintaining
the mission despite external turbulence. And
Jimmy Allen did that. Jimmy Allen started this
project with a specific vision. Even when his
original singer left to focus on a photography
gallery in Malibu, even when he had to recruit
a bassist from a metal band and a drummer from
a Russian pop duo. Even when that drumstole became
a revolving door. Jimmy kept the machine moving
forward. He didn't let the turbulence stop the
output. The fact that they just kept putting
out singles instead of waiting for the perfect
moment to record a full album shows a high level
of adaptability. It truly is a testament to the
relentless hustle required to make it in the
independent arts. You can't wait for perfect
conditions. No, you really can't. Just to recap
the incredible journey of Against All Will that
we've explored today. Let's hear it. This was
a project born on a stormy Hollywood night. out
of a desire to start over it was fueled by the
proven songwriting chops of a rock veteran who
had already conquered the billboard charts with
puddle of mud A true veteran. It was powered
by an eclectic, Frankenstein -like mix of industry
heavyweights who had to figure out how to bring
punk, metal, and pop sensibilities into a single
cohesive room. Which is still mind -blowing.
And it was ultimately defined by a relentless
hustle to get on the radio and keep putting out
music no matter who was sitting behind the drum
kit. It's a brilliant case study in reinvention
and endurance. But looking at the sheer diversity
of the musicians involved in this project, this
raises an important question for you to consider.
I love these questions. What should we be thinking
about? Jimmy Allen essentially built a musical
Frankenstein, pulling human parts from heavy
metal, hardcore punk, alternative rock, and synth
pop. Right. The band released a steady stream
of singles until 2013, while their official debut
studio album remained TBD. So ask yourself to
consider the evolution of media. In a fast -paced,
digital -first world, is the traditional full
-length album even necessary anymore to leave
a lasting creative legacy? Or is a steady drip
of high -quality singles actually the smarter
way to adapt to modern attention spans? That
is a phenomenal question to chew on, especially
as the tools we use to consume and create art
continue to evolve so rapidly. Things are moving
faster than ever. There is something truly special
about the human friction. that creates a band
like Against All Will. We want to enthusiastically
thank you for joining us on this custom -tailored
deep dive into their unpredictable history. It's
been a great ride. We hope it gave you some fresh
perspective on the chaos, the adaptability, and
the magic of creative collaboration. Until next
time, keep exploring, keep asking questions,
and always stay curious.