WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.219 Imagine stepping up to the edge of, well, massive 00:00:04.219 --> 00:00:06.759 life -altering success. Right, like the ultimate 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:09.220 dream. Exactly. You've got the major label record 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:10.980 deal. You're touring with some of the biggest 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:13.599 names in your genre. You've completely conquered 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.100 the notoriously brutal New York club scene. Which 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:18.339 is no small feat, by the way. No, not at all. 00:00:18.699 --> 00:00:22.019 But then, almost overnight, your entire career 00:00:22.019 --> 00:00:24.980 just kind of derails. Your fan base turns on 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:27.280 you, and your momentum completely collapses. 00:00:27.379 --> 00:00:29.960 Just completely falls apart. Yeah. And the wildest 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:32.460 part, it was all because a marketing executive 00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:35.700 decided to delete a single punctuation mark from 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:38.200 your name. It sounds like, you know, a surreal 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:41.700 work of fiction, but it is a very real, incredibly 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:44.100 harsh lesson in how the music industry actually 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:46.340 works. Holy. Because we're looking at a landscape 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:49.939 where the variables governing success and failure 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:52.460 are just terrifyingly fragile. Well, welcome 00:00:52.460 --> 00:00:54.340 to this deep dive. Today we're looking at a really 00:00:54.340 --> 00:00:56.979 fascinating stack of sources, mostly anchored 00:00:56.979 --> 00:01:00.899 by a detailed historical account of a 1990s alternative 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:03.579 gothic metal band from Staten Island called Pissed 00:01:03.579 --> 00:01:07.140 On. Such a great case study. It really is. But 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:08.700 let's set the stakes right out of the gate here 00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:11.439 for you listening. The mission of this deep dive 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:14.420 isn't just to like recite a band's Wikipedia 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:17.599 biography or read off an old tour schedule. Right, 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:19.959 because that wouldn't be very interesting. We're 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:23.540 using this specific band as a lens to understand 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:26.739 a much larger, more universal mechanism. Exactly. 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:29.680 By looking at Piston's journey, we're going to 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.519 explore a really incredible case study on the 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:35.540 fragile nature of hype. the incredibly heavy 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.379 and sometimes fatal cost of corporate polishing. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.040 Yeah, that corporate sheen. Right. And ultimately, 00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:43.280 we're looking at the sheer stubborn resilience 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:46.840 that you need to survive as an artist. So, okay, 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:49.060 let's unpack this. Because to understand how 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:50.819 this band ended up colliding with the corporate 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:53.640 machine, we really have to start in the gritty 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:56.280 grassroots reality of the early 1990s. Yeah, 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:58.500 and the early 90s in the New York metal scene 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:00.900 was just an intensely demanding environment. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.099 I mean, before the internet revolutionized music 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:05.659 distribution, building a following was a purely 00:02:05.659 --> 00:02:07.810 physical endeavor. You had to be there. You had 00:02:07.810 --> 00:02:10.430 to be there. It was a very DIY, prove it in the 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:13.229 clubs culture, you know. Authenticity was really 00:02:13.229 --> 00:02:16.270 the only currency that mattered. And that physical 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:19.030 grind is exactly where we find our core duo. 00:02:19.650 --> 00:02:22.740 So we've got Henry Font. on vocals and guitars. 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.479 Really? And Valium on bass and backing vocals. 00:02:26.060 --> 00:02:29.259 Just two musicians from Staten Island forming 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:32.740 a band in 1993, grinding it out, making this 00:02:32.740 --> 00:02:35.340 heavy alternative gothic metal. Just kind of 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:37.479 paying their dues. Yeah. And to participate in 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:39.780 that scene, you had to record physical demos 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:41.800 and literally hand them to people. Because the 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:44.599 demo tape was like the ultimate grassroots mechanism. 00:02:44.740 --> 00:02:46.560 You scraped together whatever studio time you 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.300 could afford just to get your sound on tape. 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:50.680 Yeah. And that cassette basically became your 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:52.800 calling card. Exactly. So they put out a first 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.460 demo tape, but it's their second demo, which 00:02:55.460 --> 00:02:58.280 also came out in 1993, that really sets the wheels 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:00.780 in motion. It's called You're in the Money. Wow. 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:03.919 Great title. Right. The title alone tells you 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:07.060 exactly what kind of raw anti -establishment 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:08.979 attitude they were bringing to the table. Oh, 00:03:08.979 --> 00:03:11.840 totally. But the critical mechanism here is actually 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:14.680 the production. because that demo was produced 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:17.379 by Josh Silver. Right, who was a founding member 00:03:17.379 --> 00:03:20.580 of the Brooklyn -based band Typo Negative. Exactly. 00:03:21.020 --> 00:03:23.139 A band that at that exact moment in the early 00:03:23.139 --> 00:03:27.419 90s was rapidly ascending to massive global fame 00:03:27.419 --> 00:03:30.139 in the gothic metal scene. They were huge. Yeah, 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.460 so suddenly these Staten Island kids are getting 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:35.879 like hands -on production help from a major player 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:37.979 right next door in Brooklyn. And what's fascinating 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:41.020 here is the absolute double -edged sword of this 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:43.479 kind of mentorship. It's tricky, right? It is. 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:46.199 The source text actually explicitly notes that 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:48.520 their friendship with typonegative brought them 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:51.060 both help and scorn in the subsequent years. 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:54.360 Scorn is a strong word. It is. But if we analyze 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:57.219 the psychology of a highly insular music scene, 00:03:57.539 --> 00:03:59.379 you know, having a famous benefactor carries 00:03:59.379 --> 00:04:01.900 an immense psychological weight. Professionally, 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:04.400 yeah, it opens doors to venues and press that 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.680 might otherwise remain completely shut. you get 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:08.879 the connections. But socially within the tribe 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:11.460 of the underground scene it immediately invites 00:04:11.460 --> 00:04:14.639 accusations of nepotism. It fundamentally changes 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.899 how people perceive your success. I always think 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:20.180 of it like being the little sibling of the high 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:22.980 school valedictorian. Oh, that's a good comparison. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.560 Right. Like you get invited to all the exclusive 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:27.540 senior parties because your older brother is 00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:29.980 standing right there. But the second you walk 00:04:29.980 --> 00:04:32.879 through the door, you're fighting a massive deficit 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.560 of respect. You haven't earned it in their eyes. 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:38.379 Exactly. You have to work twice as hard to prove 00:04:38.379 --> 00:04:40.980 you actually belong in that room on your own 00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:43.519 merit rather than just writing someone else's 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.759 coattails. I mean, did this connection end up 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:49.459 overshadowing their actual talent? Well, the 00:04:49.459 --> 00:04:52.019 scrutiny definitely becomes magnified to an intense 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:55.000 degree. Every slight mistake on stage is held 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.310 up as proof that you don't belong, right? Yeah. 00:04:57.389 --> 00:04:59.769 Well, every triumph is cynically credited to 00:04:59.769 --> 00:05:02.649 your famous friends' influence. But the timeline 00:05:02.649 --> 00:05:04.790 shows they actually did have the talent to back 00:05:04.790 --> 00:05:07.930 it up. They really did. Because by 1996, they've 00:05:07.930 --> 00:05:10.410 expanded the lineup. They add Paul Poulos on 00:05:10.410 --> 00:05:13.889 guitar and Danny Jam Cavallo on drums. And they 00:05:13.889 --> 00:05:16.350 released their first full -length album, Number 00:05:16.350 --> 00:05:18.889 One, on the independent Mayhem Fierce label. 00:05:19.230 --> 00:05:22.370 And it actually works. The album gets serious 00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.970 critical acclaim in both the United States and 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:27.189 Europe. So they validated their position. They 00:05:27.189 --> 00:05:29.709 weren't just some studio project propped up by 00:05:29.709 --> 00:05:32.069 a producer. No, they took that critical acclaim 00:05:32.069 --> 00:05:34.209 and backed it up physically. They went out on 00:05:34.209 --> 00:05:37.970 major tours with Marilyn Manson and unsurprisingly 00:05:37.970 --> 00:05:40.670 typo negative. Right, keeping it in the family. 00:05:40.949 --> 00:05:42.670 Yeah, and they proved they were a formidable 00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:45.810 live act. And that transition from a local underground 00:05:45.810 --> 00:05:49.500 act to an independent force with undeniable notoriety 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:52.500 that changes the game. Oh, entirely. In the mid 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:55.279 90s, you have to remember the entire music industry 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:58.079 was still reeling from the explosion of grunge 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.220 and alternative music. Nirvana changed everything. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:03.420 Exactly. Major labels were desperately circling 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:05.360 the independent waters, looking for the next 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:07.279 underground phenomenon they could package for 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:10.079 the mainstream. It was a literal gold rush. The 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.459 corporate music machine was actively hunting 00:06:12.459 --> 00:06:15.480 for that rough, authentic indie credibility. 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:18.240 And which brings Piston straight into the belly 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.100 of the beast. Yep. They pivot from the independent 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:24.060 mayhem label to the massive corporate Atlantic 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:27.480 records. But making that jump to the majors almost 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:30.100 always requires a toll. It was always a price. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:32.980 Always. During this transition period, the band 00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:36.459 fractures. Original guitarist Paul Paulos and 00:06:36.459 --> 00:06:39.339 drummer Danny Cavallo both leave the group. And 00:06:39.339 --> 00:06:41.839 losing half of your founding lineup at the exact 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:45.079 moment you sign a major label contract is massively 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:47.720 destabilizing. I can't even imagine the stress. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.240 Right. It forces a band to rebuild its internal 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:53.579 chemistry while simultaneously dealing with intense 00:06:53.579 --> 00:06:55.899 corporate pressure. So they bring in Burton Gans 00:06:55.899 --> 00:06:58.699 on guitar and Jeff McManus on drums to kind of 00:06:58.699 --> 00:07:01.220 stop the bleeding. And just to highlight how 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:03.420 deeply those old Brooklyn scene roots were still 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:06.040 holding them together. McManus actually had to 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:08.379 take a brief medical leave during this chaotic 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:11.079 era. Right. And who steps in to fill the drum 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:14.660 seat? Johnny Kelly, another member of typo negative. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:16.839 The community safety net was still there for 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:19.540 them. It really was. But Atlantic Records didn't 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:21.879 sign them to be a local indie band. They signed 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:24.319 them to make a profit. So they decide to capitalize 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:27.079 on the existing critical acclaim of the number 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:30.660 one album. by basically re -releasing it through 00:07:30.660 --> 00:07:32.959 their massive distribution channels. Which is 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:35.759 a textbook industry mechanism. You take an indie 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:37.920 hit that already has proven market viability, 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:40.220 you polish the aesthetics, and you shove it through 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:42.699 the major corporate pipelines to reach suburban 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:44.980 malls and mainstream radio. Yeah, so they tweet 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:47.459 the artwork, they shoot shiny new promotional 00:07:47.459 --> 00:07:49.560 photos of the band, but here's where it gets 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:52.540 really interesting. Oh yeah, here we go. They 00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:54.930 change the spelling of the band's name. They 00:07:54.930 --> 00:07:57.730 take the period, the literal dot in the middle 00:07:57.730 --> 00:07:59.910 of pissed on, and they just delete it. Just wipe 00:07:59.910 --> 00:08:02.089 it out. Yeah. They change it to the friendlier, 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:04.610 more streamlined spelling, just P -I -S -T -O 00:08:04.610 --> 00:08:06.449 -N. And this raises an important question about 00:08:06.449 --> 00:08:09.569 the sheer fragility of artistic purity. Because 00:08:09.569 --> 00:08:12.189 the immediate backlash from their fan base over 00:08:12.189 --> 00:08:15.370 this seemingly microscopic change was severe. 00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:18.730 Over a dot. Over a single dot. The removal of 00:08:18.730 --> 00:08:21.389 that punctuation mark led to heavy, pervasive 00:08:21.389 --> 00:08:23.910 criticism that the band had sold out. It's wild. 00:08:24.129 --> 00:08:26.790 We really need to unpack why a period mattered 00:08:26.790 --> 00:08:30.529 so much. In the 1990s underground, your grit 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:34.049 and your rough edges were your credentials. Absolutely. 00:08:34.090 --> 00:08:38.929 provocative non -standard name with weird punctuation 00:08:38.929 --> 00:08:43.110 was like a shibboleth. It signaled to the audience 00:08:43.110 --> 00:08:45.330 that you were anti -establishment. Yeah, that 00:08:45.330 --> 00:08:47.950 you belong to the underground. Exactly. So when 00:08:47.950 --> 00:08:50.429 a corporate marketing department steps in and 00:08:50.429 --> 00:08:52.929 smooths out even one of those rough edges to 00:08:52.929 --> 00:08:55.110 make the product friendlier for mass consumption, 00:08:55.830 --> 00:08:58.330 the original audience feels a deep sense of betrayal. 00:08:58.950 --> 00:09:01.549 It's entirely about tribal signaling. Let's push 00:09:01.549 --> 00:09:04.809 this into a different context. Imagine a beloved, 00:09:05.309 --> 00:09:08.690 sticky floored, local dive bar. A few of those. 00:09:08.850 --> 00:09:11.009 Right, we all do. It's dimly lit, it's a little 00:09:11.009 --> 00:09:13.250 dangerous, and the regulars love it because it's 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:15.870 theirs. It feels like a secret. Then a new landlord 00:09:15.870 --> 00:09:18.350 buys the building, they don't change the drinks, 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:20.250 they don't change the bartender, they don't even 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:22.149 change the music on the jukebox. Everything's 00:09:22.149 --> 00:09:24.879 the same. Everything inside is the same. But 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:28.419 they do hang a massive, bright, expensive neon 00:09:28.419 --> 00:09:31.919 sign out front. Suddenly, all the regulars cross 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.100 their arms, refuse to go inside, and say the 00:09:34.100 --> 00:09:37.000 place sold out. Yep. The product inside the building 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.120 is identical, but the neon sign stripped away 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:43.379 the secret handshake. The audience perceives 00:09:43.379 --> 00:09:46.019 the bar is compromised, simply because the packaging 00:09:46.019 --> 00:09:48.360 is suddenly inviting to outsiders. That is the 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:51.230 exact psychological mechanism at play. The distinction 00:09:51.230 --> 00:09:53.309 between whether the music actually changed or 00:09:53.309 --> 00:09:56.090 just the packaging changed is completely irrelevant 00:09:56.090 --> 00:09:58.590 in consumer culture. Because perception is reality. 00:09:58.889 --> 00:10:01.450 Perception dictates reality. The audience perceived 00:10:01.450 --> 00:10:04.570 a loss of authenticity, and that perception just 00:10:04.570 --> 00:10:06.830 poisoned the well. And the tragedy here is that 00:10:06.830 --> 00:10:09.649 they had all the ingredients for a massive mainstream 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:11.230 breakthrough. I mean, they had the major label 00:10:11.230 --> 00:10:14.009 funding. They were touring exhaustively. The 00:10:14.009 --> 00:10:15.950 sources note they were on the road with massive 00:10:15.950 --> 00:10:18.309 legacy acts like the misfits in Queensryche. 00:10:18.620 --> 00:10:20.580 They were doing the work. Once the narrative 00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:23.019 of selling out takes root in the press and the 00:10:23.019 --> 00:10:25.100 fan base, it just becomes a self -fulfilling 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:27.899 problem. The virus. Exactly. The momentum breaks. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.960 The promises of the major label era completely 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.399 collapsed under the weight of that negative perception. 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:36.139 Which triggers a brutal corporate reality check. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.620 Because after enduring the exhaustive tours and 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:41.899 facing down negative reviews that were almost 00:10:41.899 --> 00:10:44.379 certainly colored by the missing punctuation 00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:47.799 mark, Atlantic Records unceremoniously drops 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:50.720 them. Wow. Yeah. The machine chewed them up, 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:52.539 tried to sanitize them, failed to sell them, 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:54.759 and then just spit them out. And being discarded 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:57.240 by the industry after compromising your own identity 00:10:57.240 --> 00:11:00.340 breeds a very specific volatile kind of resentment. 00:11:00.419 --> 00:11:03.379 Oh, I bet. And that resentment exploded in 1999 00:11:03.379 --> 00:11:06.480 because the band retreats back to their old independent 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:09.460 label, Mayhem Records, and releases their second 00:11:09.460 --> 00:11:11.659 full -length album. Right. And they title it 00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:14.809 with incredibly heavy irony, sell out, but spelled 00:11:14.809 --> 00:11:16.809 with a dollar sign. Right, so they weaponized 00:11:16.809 --> 00:11:19.009 the exact insult that had just derailed their 00:11:19.009 --> 00:11:21.350 entire career. Exactly. The source text describes 00:11:21.350 --> 00:11:24.309 this album as being rife with cricket and spiteful 00:11:24.309 --> 00:11:26.730 poking. Huh, that's a good way to put it. They 00:11:26.730 --> 00:11:28.909 are taking shots at the music industry as a whole. 00:11:29.129 --> 00:11:31.070 They're taking shots at their former label executives 00:11:31.070 --> 00:11:33.450 at Atlantic. They're lashing out at the music 00:11:33.450 --> 00:11:35.750 press who turned on them. And they're even taking 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:38.490 shots at themselves. Nobody is safe. No one. 00:11:38.730 --> 00:11:42.440 It is a musical burn book, just a pure unfiltered 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:45.879 venting of absolute frustration recorded to tape. 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:48.980 Yeah. But I have a theory about this. I'd argue 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:51.820 that spiked makes for terrible commercial art 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:55.000 because it turns an album into an inside joke 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.399 that the audience isn't invited to. If we connect 00:11:57.399 --> 00:12:00.200 this to the bigger picture, your theory is entirely 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:03.190 supported by the data. Really? Oh yeah. Spite 00:12:03.190 --> 00:12:05.669 is an incredibly potent fuel for getting a band 00:12:05.669 --> 00:12:08.490 into the recording studio. It can drive very 00:12:08.490 --> 00:12:11.350 aggressive, hard -hitting performances, but it 00:12:11.350 --> 00:12:13.590 rarely translates to commercial success because 00:12:13.590 --> 00:12:16.350 audiences fundamentally look to music for an 00:12:16.350 --> 00:12:18.090 emotional connection. Right, they want to see 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:20.600 themselves in the art. Listeners want songs that 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:23.340 reflect their own lives, their own heartbreak, 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:26.480 their own struggles. When an entire album is 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:29.279 dedicated to insider industry grievances complaining 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.759 about record contracts, journalists, and marketing 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.039 executives, the average person simply cannot 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:38.279 relate to it. It's too inside baseball. It completely 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:40.399 alienates the listener. It's kind of the equivalent 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.879 of throwing a massive party, charging at the 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.340 door, and then spending the entire night complaining 00:12:45.340 --> 00:12:48.399 about your boss to the guests. Exactly. Eventually 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:50.679 the room is going to empty out. And the sources 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:54.120 confirm this. Sellout met with completely lukewarm 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:56.960 reviews and stagnant sales. The audience just 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:58.820 didn't connect with the bitterness. And when 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:01.679 the revenge record fails to vindicate the band... 00:13:01.710 --> 00:13:04.350 the internal structure finally buckles. Yeah. 00:13:04.350 --> 00:13:06.769 Breakup rumors start swirling heavily. Their 00:13:06.769 --> 00:13:10.110 drummer, Jeff McManus, departs. There's a brief 00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:12.850 flash of optimism when McManus actually returns 00:13:12.850 --> 00:13:15.269 to record a three -song independent EP called 00:13:15.269 --> 00:13:18.450 Saves in the spring of 2001. A little glimmer 00:13:18.450 --> 00:13:20.370 of hope. It's just a little one. Uh -huh. But 00:13:20.370 --> 00:13:22.909 it's a temporary patch on a sinking ship. Yeah. 00:13:23.169 --> 00:13:27.330 Because in late August of 2001, the fatal blow 00:13:27.330 --> 00:13:30.870 lands. Bassist Veliam decides to leave the band. 00:13:30.990 --> 00:13:33.610 Basically shattering the core duo that started 00:13:33.610 --> 00:13:36.389 the entire journey back in 1993 on Staten Island. 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:38.750 Right. And the source notes that while there 00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:40.429 was never an official press release announcing 00:13:40.429 --> 00:13:43.309 a breakup at that exact moment, the band pieced 00:13:43.309 --> 00:13:46.909 on. effectively ceased to exist. They wouldn't 00:13:46.909 --> 00:13:49.850 release any new material as a unit for over two 00:13:49.850 --> 00:13:52.309 decades. Which is a 20 -year period of complete 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:55.370 silence from the entity known as P -STON. For 00:13:55.370 --> 00:13:57.389 most GANs, I mean that is the definitive end 00:13:57.389 --> 00:14:00.450 of the biography. Game over. But the creative 00:14:00.450 --> 00:14:02.870 drive of the individuals involved did not die, 00:14:03.070 --> 00:14:05.090 it just went underground. Right. Think about 00:14:05.090 --> 00:14:07.149 the sheer psychological endurance required to 00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:09.350 keep making art. when the industry has basically 00:14:09.350 --> 00:14:11.809 told you your story is over. It's intense. Let's 00:14:11.809 --> 00:14:13.649 look at how they spent those 20 years, because 00:14:13.649 --> 00:14:15.990 it proves they were lifers. Henry Fontz starts 00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:18.450 a solo project called Summer Flu. Jeff McManus 00:14:18.450 --> 00:14:21.110 creates a project called Weekends with Dan, and 00:14:21.110 --> 00:14:24.009 he actually scores genuine critical acclaim in 00:14:24.009 --> 00:14:27.490 punk rock publications with a 2006 single called 00:14:27.490 --> 00:14:30.610 Anorexia. Proving that the underlying songwriting 00:14:30.610 --> 00:14:33.429 talent was always there, completely independent 00:14:33.429 --> 00:14:35.909 of the Atlantic Records marketing machine. Exactly 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:38.830 that. And Burton Gans stays active too, forming 00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:41.549 two separate projects, American Popular and The 00:14:41.549 --> 00:14:44.970 Dead Liz, releasing full albums in 2009 and 2011. 00:14:45.169 --> 00:14:47.490 So they never stopped? Never. They're all still 00:14:47.490 --> 00:14:49.350 writing, still recording, still pushing forward. 00:14:49.629 --> 00:14:51.450 They just aren't doing it under the banner that 00:14:51.450 --> 00:14:53.629 the corporate world tried to sanitize. Right. 00:14:53.889 --> 00:14:56.370 And all of that quiet, persistent, underground 00:14:56.370 --> 00:15:00.389 work sets the stage for a genuinely unexpected 00:15:00.389 --> 00:15:03.549 final act. Because in March of 2015, out of nowhere, 00:15:03.950 --> 00:15:06.259 the band announces a reformation. bringing in 00:15:06.259 --> 00:15:08.679 Jack Hanley to step in on bass. And notice the 00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:11.399 pacing of this comeback. They don't rush it to 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:13.940 capitalize on cheap nostalgia. It is a slow, 00:15:14.659 --> 00:15:16.379 deliberate build. Very deliberate. They make 00:15:16.379 --> 00:15:19.460 a formal official announcement in October 2017. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.320 Then they crossed the Atlantic to do a 7 -8 UK 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:25.259 tour in June 2018, physically reconnecting with 00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:28.320 the fan base. Right. And then finally, in March 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:32.019 2022, they released the Cold World EP. It is 00:15:32.019 --> 00:15:34.399 their first brand new studio recording since 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:37.379 2001. Incredible. And they later expanded into 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:40.980 a release called Cold World Plus Jones. And the 00:15:40.980 --> 00:15:43.639 mechanics of that release are brilliant. How 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:47.299 so? Well, they include the new 2022 tracks, they 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:50.480 include the Saves EP from 2001, and they include 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.460 several unreleased demos recorded in the year 00:15:52.460 --> 00:15:55.700 2000. Wow. So they literally stitched the past 00:15:55.700 --> 00:15:57.720 and the present together into a single document, 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.799 effectively erasing the 20 -year gap. Yeah. So 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.259 what does this all mean? I look at a two -decade 00:16:03.259 --> 00:16:06.000 hiatus, and I see two ways to interpret it. On 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:07.940 one hand, you could argue the 20 -year gap is 00:16:07.940 --> 00:16:10.700 proof that the music industry essentially defeated 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:13.419 them back in 2001. Sure, you can read it that 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:15.539 way. But I'd argue that the fact they came back 00:16:15.539 --> 00:16:18.159 at all completely on their own terms, stitching 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:20.940 their old demos to their new art, proves that 00:16:20.940 --> 00:16:23.659 authentic artistry eventually outlasts the corporate 00:16:23.659 --> 00:16:25.820 machines. I think your second interpretation 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:28.500 is the correct one. The story of Pisson's return 00:16:28.500 --> 00:16:30.779 illustrates a fundamental truth for anyone listening. 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:33.980 True creative passion is not tethered to a corporate 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:36.559 contract. It is not dependent on a marketing 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:39.080 budget, and it certainly is not dictated by the 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:42.100 spelling of a name. Exactly. The industry absolutely 00:16:42.100 --> 00:16:45.019 battered them. It derailed their momentum, fractured 00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:47.700 their founding lineup, and rejected their retaliation. 00:16:47.950 --> 00:16:51.330 but to return after two decades of silence to 00:16:51.330 --> 00:16:54.190 finish a narrative that a label executive tried 00:16:54.190 --> 00:16:58.570 to end in 1997. It's wild. That is the absolute 00:16:58.570 --> 00:17:01.129 definition of resilience. It is the ultimate 00:17:01.129 --> 00:17:03.470 proof that the art outlives the commerce. The 00:17:03.470 --> 00:17:06.299 art outlived the commerce. I love that. When 00:17:06.299 --> 00:17:08.420 you zoom out and look at Piston's Wild Ride, 00:17:08.599 --> 00:17:11.279 it reads like a master class in the chaotic realities 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.140 of making art. It really does. I mean, they go 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:16.319 from being gritty underground indie darlings 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.160 grinding it out with goth metal royalty in Brooklyn. 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:21.440 Then they make the jump to the majors and are 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:23.559 immediately branded as sellouts simply because 00:17:23.559 --> 00:17:25.900 a marketing team removed a single punctuation 00:17:25.900 --> 00:17:28.630 mark from their logo to make them friendly. They 00:17:28.630 --> 00:17:31.529 endure a bitter collapse, air all their grievances 00:17:31.529 --> 00:17:34.309 on a commercially doomed revenge record, disappear 00:17:34.309 --> 00:17:37.390 into creative hibernation for 20 years, and finally 00:17:37.390 --> 00:17:40.609 engineer a triumphant return entirely on their 00:17:40.609 --> 00:17:43.109 own terms. It's a comprehensive narrative of 00:17:43.109 --> 00:17:45.069 survival against the mechanics of an industry 00:17:45.069 --> 00:17:47.789 that treats artists as, basically, disposable 00:17:47.789 --> 00:17:50.250 products. It truly is. And for you listening, 00:17:50.670 --> 00:17:53.180 whether you are an artist making music in your 00:17:53.180 --> 00:17:55.599 garage, a professional navigating the highly 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:58.319 sanitized politics of a corporate job, or just 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.599 someone trying to stay true to your own values 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:04.559 when external pressure demands you change. Pisaan's 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.460 story is a powerful reminder to fiercely guard 00:18:07.460 --> 00:18:09.880 your own authenticity. Definitely. Keep your 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:12.339 rough edges. Keep your weird punctuation marks. 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:14.400 Because the people who try to smooth you out 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:16.000 and make you friendlier usually aren't the ones 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:17.640 who will stick around when things fall apart. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:20.799 So true. And that leaves us with one final, provocative 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:23.259 thought to mull over today. Let's hear it. We've 00:18:23.259 --> 00:18:25.900 spent a lot of time analyzing how a major label 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:28.279 thought deleting a period would make a band more 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:32.700 palpable and how an entire 1990s fan base rioted 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:34.859 and turned their backs on that band because of 00:18:34.859 --> 00:18:37.779 that single deletion. Right. It shows how fiercely 00:18:37.779 --> 00:18:40.059 people used to defend the concept of artistic 00:18:40.059 --> 00:18:42.980 purity. But consider the world you are navigating 00:18:42.980 --> 00:18:46.079 today. Oh, man. If a 90s band's entire career 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.279 could be destroyed because a label tweaked their 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:51.200 packaging, how authentic is the media landscape 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:53.849 now? That's a good point. Today we routinely 00:18:53.849 --> 00:18:57.009 let the invisible opaque algorithms of massive 00:18:57.009 --> 00:19:00.230 tech platforms dictate the exact sound, length, 00:19:00.430 --> 00:19:02.569 and structure of the music and art we consume. 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:05.680 Are we still desperately fighting over the packaging 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:08.160 and the punctuation while completely ignoring 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.180 the fact that the machine is now actively writing 00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:13.039 the music? As you navigate the world today, how 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.339 much do superficial branding choices dictate 00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:17.559 your own perception of the art you choose to 00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:19.900 support? A terrifying shift in perspective to 00:19:19.900 --> 00:19:22.000 think about next time you hit play. Thanks for 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:23.220 taking this deep dive with us.