Before I Wake: Ohio Metal Band's Journey and Mental Health Advocacy

SPEAKER_00: Tonight we're cranking the volume straight out of central Ohio with a fan that throws raw emotion through razor wire riffs and leaves the walls pressed with every wow. If you like your metal heavy, unpolished, and unapologetically alive, you're in the right place. Welcome to G Shreds with Rasan. This is Before I Wake.

SPEAKER_00: What's up, Ohio? Back here with G-Treds with Rasan. And I've got a couple cool dudes here with me. They are with the band Before I Wake. And we're going to talk to them because they are going to be coming here to the mothership in lovely Mansfield, Ohio, on May 30th. They're going to be playing with um a couple other bands. And uh we're just going to talk about their upcoming show and get to know the guys a little bit more. So, guys, thank you so much for being on my show.

SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it. Oh no, thank you, Russian. We appreciate the opportunity. Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. I I love what I do. So um, before we get too much into a lot of my stupid questions, um, we've got Ryan and Ryan, you are the you play the bass, right?

SPEAKER_02: Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_00: And then Brian, you do the drums and backing vocals, right?

SPEAKER_02: Correct.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. And then uh the other two guys, we've got Christian Grillo who does vocals and RJ, is it rightmare?

SPEAKER_03: Rightmeyer.

SPEAKER_00: Rightmeyer, who does the uh guitar. They just couldn't be with us tonight. But if you come to the mothership on May 30th, you'll get to see the full band. Yeah. And everything you have to offer, right? Yes. Oh yeah, we're gonna put you to the test.

SPEAKER_02: Please do.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Will this be your first time coming to the mothership?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. And you guys are based out of Loudonville, Ohio, right?

SPEAKER_03: Yeah. The two of us live here. Our vocalist is from the same area, but he doesn't live here now. Okay. RJ's down by Marion. He's about an hour out.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. All right, sweet. Well, I believe you're the first metal band that I've met out of Loudonville.

SPEAKER_02: Nice. There are there are a couple actually. There's a couple that's like.

SPEAKER_02: They're about two bucks that way.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. The last time I was in Loungeville, it was um maybe three years ago. My daughter was still playing softball. So we'd have, you know, some softball games out there. Nice time.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely. Have you guys been playing a lot in Loungeville or um this is actually the nearest we've ever played.

SPEAKER_02: So that's why we're trying to get as much support and putting local ads up and things like that because this is the closest we've ever come. So if your audience wants to get out for a heck of a medal show, we're happy to provide an uh an opportunity for that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. So where all have you played? We've done recently in the last year.

SPEAKER_03: We played Newark, we play uh Galleon, we've played Mount Vernon.

SPEAKER_02: We played Butler out at Stoke Run. Give them a little plug.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah. Stoke Run, the like the extreme action park out there, skateboarding and BMX and Oh, nice. We did a festival thing out there. That was really cool.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, trying to keep pushing. And for us, what's funny is like even opportunities like this are rare because sometimes people just have this negative connotation for metal, but I'm sure we'll get into it. But a lot of what we do is provide like an outlet for mental health purposes, whether it's for us or the people that enjoy our music, because we would love to have a little bit more local support. And there's some venues that we've had some feelers out to, but you never know if this gets to the right people.

SPEAKER_02: Maybe we can have some more action around here.

SPEAKER_00: Well, absolutely. And you know, May is mental health month. So I mean, um, the importance is uh, you know, breaking down that stigma and realizing that everybody has um issues. We we're not perfect, and um, you know, some might have more, but it doesn't mean that, you know, they're less than.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah. Correct. We love it.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, well, I feel like when you come to the mothership, you can probably make some connections there. And um, I'm happy to spread the word too. Uh, get you guys to play some more gigs around here. I mean, we've got more places that would love to have uh any metal shows come.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're all hearing that. Yeah, yeah. You'll be our agent in no time, right?

SPEAKER_00: Well, and then I mean, the big reason why I'm doing this is because I feel like um, you know, even before COVID, you just didn't hear a whole lot about metal bands. Um, at least I didn't. And I don't know, maybe it's because I was living under a rock, I was raising kids and just, you know, in a different uh time in my life, but my love for metal and hard rock never changed. And, you know, back in the day, um you know, we did have a lot of places where metal bands could play.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was just the thing to do, and then I feel like that kind of changed, you know, um just in the last 20 years.

SPEAKER_02: Well, you and I have something in common too, because I've been playing bass for gosh, 15, 20 years, and I had to go through college and not be in bands for a long time. And then me and Brian connected, and as someone that is like a huge deft tones, corn, a lot of the traditional, not to the traditional bands you might expect. Yeah. I'm learning all these new bands and all these like new styles and subgenres, and that's where these guys teach me something all the time. But like you, it's just something where I was not exposed to new music.

SPEAKER_02: So if there's an outlet or a local way that people can come see us and just get exposed to the scene, because we are just a taste of as as you're learning, but there's so much that we just don't know about.

SPEAKER_00: So yeah. Same here. I mean, I'm definitely not a I wouldn't even um think of being a musical connoisseur, but I'm learning a lot of uh new music and genres out there and just the bands and musicians that I'm meeting and doing this. And so um it's it's awesome, it's cool, it's exciting. Um, it puts me out of my comfort zone and learning some of the the different uh forms of metal, because there's all kinds out there that I wasn't really aware of either.

SPEAKER_02: Um, so and you find what's your flavor, like because we all have different like things that we enjoy. And if you listen to some of our songs, like there's not one that's exactly like the next.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah. So our stuff's all over the place.

SPEAKER_02: It's all over the place because it shows our eclectic tastes and the little bit of the recipe that we each put in as band members. So it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah. So tell me, um, how did you guys form as uh Before I Wake?

SPEAKER_02: Well, and I I'll take lead on that one because to give both Brian, Christian, and RJ the accolades they deserve. They had been in bands. Brian was again playing big shows in Cleveland with a filthy sound. Christian was a co-vocalist in that group.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: But again, I was going through college, as I alluded to, getting my degrees, kind of starting my pseudo family at the time. But then we moved to Loudonville, which is where Brian lives. And at the time, it was like you said, through COVID. So, like a lot of live music venues weren't featuring acts. And we just got together because I knew he had a full studio. I knew he had other ventures in the on the in the metal genre. I'm like, hey, let's get together and start playing. And in advance of even this interview or podcast or however we want to call our conversation, we he and I were just going through listening to like old recordings, like, wow, that's how we started, right here in the garage, like just drum and bass.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: But we we're also family. Again, I married his cousin, right? Yeah. So I married his cousin, that's my wife, and now we live two blocks away, and it's easy to come to practice when the drummer's down the street.

SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it works out nice. Nice.

SPEAKER_02: But uh that time, again, not to cut you down there, but uh Christian was an easy addition to the band because he and Brian had worked together for so many years. They are so sympatho when it comes to not only their senses of humor, but their musical sense as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: Go from there if you like about.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah. I mean that that's accurate. Me and our vocalist Christian were in another band. I call it a group. We didn't have live instruments, it was more like rap and hip hop based, but with like screaming metal vocals onto it and like heavy sections, I guess, uh rap metal to generically put it, I guess you could say. Rap with metal influence.

SPEAKER_00: But uh we did that for like a decade and then for a just played around with it.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah. We did it for a long time and then it just we all got kinda older, just kind of fell out of the hip hop thing, COVID happened, couldn't play nowhere. A couple of us had children that were in that group, and um it just kind of unofficially died, I guess. Like just kind of took the back burner, and then kind of didn't do anything but fiddle around in the studio, and then me and Ryan started jamming, and that's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_02: Here we are. A couple years later, got like we we had a guitar player that originally started with the band, but like like we said, family and other priorities, he had to choose other things, and RJ came to the rescue.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Because he was someone at a time that filled the role that we needed, but then has now provided so much more just in kind of balancing the scales, because like I mentioned, it's like a a recipe, and we're all chefs, so everybody wants to put theirs in. So again, adding each one of us has now created the sound that you hear, and it's even changing today, like a song that we're getting ready to put out, probably one of the most experimental, maybe one might say, but definitely a new not a new direction, but one we're excited to get everybody to listen to.

SPEAKER_00: Oh, really? And this is a song that you don't have out yet?

unknown: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Correct. Correct.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. All right, because I wanted to talk with you um about the villain in Vogue.

SPEAKER_02: There we go. Hey, that's the most recent.

SPEAKER_00: First of all, that's a pretty kick-ass uh name for a song.

SPEAKER_02: Thanks.

SPEAKER_00: And it definitely uh intrigued me just in name alone to take a listen to it and see what it was about. So we'll talk about that in a little bit.

SPEAKER_01: Sure.

SPEAKER_00: Um, so you said that when RJ uh joined you, how long ago was that?

SPEAKER_03: Two years. Yeah, maybe about two years ago.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. And how long have you guys been um as before I wake?

SPEAKER_03: We started me and Ryan jamming in 2023. Like August or so? I think so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. All right. So you've got a couple EPs that you've put out since then.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah, a couple EPs and a couple singles. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. And is Villain in Vogue your newest single? It's not on an EP.

SPEAKER_03: Correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. All right. So go ahead and tell me, um, what was your musical influence with um when you guys were in Brain when you said that you were with uh like rap, metal, hip hop?

SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I was always raised like with my parents, it was like classic rock, like Aussie to Skinner, to anything, Pink Floyd, stuff like that. Okay. And then I'm the youngest of three. So both my brothers are older. They listen to like old gangster rap and like Million. Like anything from Dr. Dre to Nine Inch Nails or Pantera, like so that's definitely where I got my roundedness from, is all of that. So Okay. Definitely the way that I write is it it makes sense.

SPEAKER_00: And what about you, Ryan? What kind of musical influences do you have that contribute to your um what you give to the band right now?

SPEAKER_02: And what I would say is it's kind of unique because as I mentioned earlier, I was kind of out of like the scene, so not exposed to a lot of the new and upcoming bands. So every time I send Brian a riff or something I'm working on, he's like, boy, that sounds like corn or something like that. Where I'm like, I'll take a compliment, but I'm learning so much. But the way I would describe my style is I've played bass by myself for like 15 years. So I always say, like, there's a lot of primus in the stuff that I come up with.

SPEAKER_02: Oh, nice. Yeah, with these guys balancing me out, it's like that's where you hear some of the rhythm come from that. Because I just like anything that can get us all going in the same direction.

SPEAKER_00: So all right, sweet. So who um comes up with the lyrics?

SPEAKER_03: Christian. Christian for the most part. I do some writing as well. Um Okay. There's a couple songs I've wrote lyrically, but mostly Christian. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: We all have ideas, we don't stifle anything. So as a group, if someone's like, hey, I think this would sound better that way, even if it's a song that was maybe creatively originated by he or I or anyone else, that's where it's a democracy when we get together and try to have a group vote and see what sounds the best and after a couple rehearsals, see what works and what doesn't, and then we kind of try to put out what we can.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Nice. Do you now you guys self-produce your music as well, right? Okay.

SPEAKER_02: I wish we could give Brian all the credits in the world for that. Because I know when we even introduced ourselves, I'm like, man, he could keep going between all the mixing and time spent sending out material and stuff. So Brian deserves an accolade for that.

SPEAKER_00: All right. Cheers to you, Brian. Thank you. Well, yeah, I mean it it can't be easy. So how do we know spending yeah, trying to do adulting and then you know, music producing and hey, just in what you do to prepare for your podcast, you know, there's a lot of work that goes into it and it's attention that we can't pay him enough. So Yeah. Well, you definitely have to have a uh passion for it.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00: You know, so I guess that's what keeps me going. If I ever feel like this is a job, then I'll have to uh take another look at it. But yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02: This is the hardest part of your day, congratulations. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure. So uh with villain in vogue, I took a listen to that and the lyrics I thought were pretty um pretty cool. I liked where it said, I don't bleed shame, I bleed on core. Did that come from Christian?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he wrote all on that movie. Yeah, he wrote it on that movie.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I thought that was pretty um pretty cool. So, what all went into coming up with the name Villain in Vogue?

SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure how he came up with that lyrically. As far as it's it's a lyric from the core, so we just decided that would be a good song type.

SPEAKER_02: And that's the problem we have because creating is such a unique thing in general. You know, when you meet people that don't exactly create musically or in other senses, they the inspiration behind certain choices can be hard to describe.

SPEAKER_01: Sure.

SPEAKER_02: And when we have ideas, because like if we come up with a a a song, a beat, a rhythm, anything like that, whatever our initial motivation is may change because through Christian's lens, it takes on this whole other vibe. But as a group, when it's something that we could balance each other out, but to speak on my own behalf, I think villain in vogue kind of comes from like whatever's in the style right now, like whatever's in vogue. And certain times there's like a villain in that sense, like who do we all hate, so to speak?

SPEAKER_02: And that can change from time to time. Like, who's the villain in vogue right now? Like you could think of probably two or three people that the media tells us to villain stuff.

SPEAKER_00: Correct.

SPEAKER_02: Whether it's that cancel culture or things like that, like people we once loved are now like so somebody we totally didn't expect. So it's just kind of funny.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Well, it'll be cool to uh hear you guys play that live too.

SPEAKER_02: We'll plug you for that one for sure.

SPEAKER_03: It's on the set list.

SPEAKER_02: And you're not the villain, so congratulations.

SPEAKER_00: So, how did you um how did you guys come about to getting booked with the mothership? Did somebody there from the mothership reach out to you?

SPEAKER_02: Well, I will give Jack Bogner all the credit in the world because he and I met uh in in our private lives. We'll keep it at that. And he just shared that he had this connection. And I'm like, hey, you know, I'm in this band. And as the at the time I was like 39 years old, the funniest part for me is being like, hey, check us out on Facebook, you know, because it's in in my daylight life, it's not something I get to do. But he ended up coming back telling me, like, hey, this band Venom of Virtue put on its great show last time.

SPEAKER_02: We'd love to have you guys come in in support of them. So the chance to do that, again, juxtaposed with us being as close as we have been, an opportunity we couldn't pass up, but we got to give Jack all the thanks in the world. He's gonna assist, I believe it's Nate or Nathan that does the sound.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: So again, he's helping him, but he was able to connect us, so we got to thank him. Because hopefully, like you said, if we can get more shows at the mothership, we'd love to again revive what we can around this neck of the woods.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we've heard good things. It seems like a cool venue for a lot of energy coming out of there.

SPEAKER_02: So we can't get our going through it.

SPEAKER_00: And the cool thing is, is uh they're they're very open. So they have all kinds of genres that come through and you know, even out of town. So that's a cool thing about it. I mean, it's something different every weekend. Um that's awesome. It's a lot for me in Spield. I feel like it's been been long overdue. Nice.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I noticed that they have like hip hop, they'll have like indie rock, and then there's like a metal band, and then it's could be bluesy alternative. Like that's awesome. I think multi-genres is always cool.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they're um they do things throughout the week too, um, you know, just for the community. So you can go in and you know, do open mic night. I believe they have uh poetry night for that. I might be thinking of another place, but um, I mean, yeah, and what place can you go and get free hot dogs? Oh, hey, I didn't know that. Not nice.

SPEAKER_00: So it's just yeah, it's just a cool vibe. It really is. They they do a good job there. Um, so what else do you have going on for 2026?

SPEAKER_03: Writing, recording.

unknown: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: In about a month, we've got the Rock Out Camp Out. Happy to give that show a little early publicity. We don't like uh alluding too much with the mothership right around the corner, but we got a show coming up in about a month after it.

SPEAKER_00: Okay, and where's this located?

SPEAKER_02: This is down at I I would hate to get anything wrong, but it's a campground down near Newark.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's okay down south, about an hour away from us, but um it's like a Friday, Saturday event, I believe, and then a bunch of bands. Same thing, pretty multiple multi-genre, rock and roll, metal. There's some other stuff on there, I believe, but mostly rock and metal from what I've seen.

SPEAKER_00: Hey, I just got an idea. So since you guys are in Loungeville, I mean, do you ever just, you know, go and uh play where people are at, you know, going down the river?

SPEAKER_02: Not a bad idea. But uh, it'd be cool. I've always seen those videos where they set up shop in like a back of a U-Haul and you just lift up the back and you're in there slamming out. I I always said that'd be a good idea, but probably not legal in the in the truest sense to do that, but we'd love to get some viral videos.

SPEAKER_00: You probably have friends that are there at the campground. Just, you know, tell them, hey, you're gonna come by, and as long as they uh, you know, you can plug in and well shit. If you can't do it acoustic.

SPEAKER_01: There you go.

SPEAKER_02: Hey, yeah, a lot of work.

unknown: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Hey, we'll take it. We'll take any good ideas you got, Rosan.

SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know if I have a whole lot of good ones, but I've got my notes going.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah. Or not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So where is it that you do your um your recording? Do you one of you guys have a studio?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Yeah, I got a home studio. We're here right now.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. Nice. Is it a s like a homemade studio that you put together?

SPEAKER_03: Yeah. So right out of high school, I went to recording school down in Chilakothy. Uh, it's called the recording workshop. So I learned a lot down there. And then pretty much since I've always just kind of self-recorded and built the gear collection and knowledge and all that and keep expanding.

SPEAKER_00: Um do you feel like it seems crazy compared like looking at now compared to even 20 years ago with just the tools of technology and you know, being able to put together your own music, you know, record and produce it. Um, and just also being able to get it out there. What would you say has is been more beneficial in the tools and technology that we have now compared to, say, 20 years ago?

SPEAKER_03: I definitely think it's beneficial for the most part. I think it's great that you can have five hundred bucks and start recording with a microphone and either a cheap or a free program and and you can go online and distribute for cheap nowadays. Like it never used to be like that. It used to be you had to know somebody with a studio and pay hundreds or thousands of dollars. Granted, like I have thousands of dollars in equipment now, but it's like I can do more than just record with it, of course, you know.

SPEAKER_02: So I would say, as like more of an old timer, so to speak, there's blessings and curses to it. Because you used to be able to just like get your recording out, go play some live shows and see it, but even events like what we're having now, it's just such a multifaceted approach with everybody on their phones. It's a content game, it's putting out this or that. It's no longer albums, it's more like these singles and things. So, someone that's more of an old head, it's not like you're looking to get eight to ten tracks and put out an album.

SPEAKER_02: You have to put out one or two, and then there's a lot of content that goes with it. But to the speak to speak to the technology side, it's again a blessing and a curse because thanks to Brian, he's so good at mixing, but the added ear and the tools that you have, you want to put out as perfectly as you can. Where back then you just didn't have that ability, so you put out what you couldn't hit the road. Yeah. So it's just kind of a different ballgame.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah. And with with everybody, you know, theoretically able to self-produce nowadays or whatever, whether it's good or not, everything's oversaturated because of it. Like you know, it used to be 20 years ago, oh, we're gonna go play these shows and we'll get a record deal. That's not a thing nowadays.

SPEAKER_01: You need 5,000 followers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of curse.

SPEAKER_00: With um the oversaturation.

SPEAKER_03: I think it's just hard to get noticed, but you know, there's there's no reason there can't be a slice of the pie for everybody.

SPEAKER_02: So and I think it's just the genres that we talked about, like you have certain, I wouldn't say elitists, but like if you're into death metal and you only like death metal, or if you're into new metal and you don't like anything else, or vice versa, and then finding, like we said earlier, clubs to support it, because a lot of what's winning now is country or or things like sell a lot of tickets when there's a lot of metal fans, but it's so like staggered just in terms of what they're into. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: And it's almost like we've all heard of those metal snobs where it's like, you like who? So, like having to have something like that is one, enough to reach enough people, but two, to be of the genre that maybe is in vogue in the time or however you want to view that.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah. I feel like um with you know with things being very saturated, um, you know, you've got all those platforms out there. So some people do better on one compared to another and um what have you, but um I feel like there's more opportunity for people to be open to more genres than what maybe they would have been in the past.

SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah. Cause again my my old ass listening to my Walkman had my corn and Def Cone CD for 30 years. These guys are showing me bring me the horizon for the first time and stuff like wow where have I been? And getting to catch up to a lot of the new stuff is like no longer like oh I'm I'm in tear and that's it. Like now there's just so much more out there that there is.

SPEAKER_00: There's a lot and um you know like I said too and just you know with the um bands that I've met, you know, I'm getting introduced to uh new different types of music too. Nice just you know it's not just hard rock or metal there's this like you said the sub genres you know yeah so um what were some of your influences when you were younger what got you interested in being a musician?

SPEAKER_03: Yeah for me my my dad was um a guitar player he was a musician and really good like super good um he's very well known locally like he played in bands pretty much his whole life since he was a teenager so definitely that's where I get it from was my dad.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

SPEAKER_03: Cool I didn't go play he passed away when I was uh fifteen so oh I'm sorry to hear that oh that's okay rest in peace um yeah he passed away when I was fifteen uh I started playing guitar when I was like eight kind of dabbled with it for a couple years got bored okay did you learn from your dad? Yeah I learned learned a decent bit from him and then a lot of self-taught and whatnot. Okay kind of got tired of that wanted to drum started that never did nothing with it always wanted to do vocals so that's how that started and that was primarily my focus for years but I I pretty much anything that makes a noise I can dabble with it and I'd ditto.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah I'm pretty sure what got you back on drums then um so after the our last group that me and Christian were in ended just kinda gravitated.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah just kinda gravitated toward it and wanted to do something different and and thank God he did because as it birthed our natural rhythm section like me playing bass forever I found this drummer that was my cousin down the street had this studio liked metal like we can keep going. So it was like wow this should be a thing. Yeah so that was a lot of it like yeah then it worked out perfectly we came up with a couple drum and bass songs and the rest is history so then everything kind of fell into place from there.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah being able to just jam with other people I think was a lot of it like in I feel like in most areas it's hard to find a drummer versus like not that guitar players or bass players are a dime a dozen but it's like it's always people looking for a drummer I feel like a drummer or a vocalist.

SPEAKER_00: That reminds one of those things I talked to a band um out of Cincinnati and these guys they're really kick ass. They have influences of like um Metallica and Megadeth and um they needed a drummer and found a drummer from California. Wow crazy join their band yeah he hasn't moved here he's come here um you know he still lives in California and uh they're gonna be going to the UK for a tour here in July.

SPEAKER_02: Oh my word that's awesome yeah and again like like you said the pros and cons of modern technology.

SPEAKER_00: Right right you can find anybody these days and yeah before it's like oh my God I another guy was talking to um Dan Gates he was telling me that um you know back in the day to get known you know you would record and you know try like mail your tape or you thought it was really cool if you're mailing it off to somewhere like Japan or something like that. You know, you had no idea how long it would take but you just kind of hope and and wait and pray that you know you would be contacted or you might not hear anything at all.

SPEAKER_00: But these days there's like you know you can send something uh you can see where it's going in route in transit and everything like that.

SPEAKER_02: You know everything's date and timestamps good but also the curse too because then you're like why isn't anybody returning it? Like when you when you're able to track it and it's like oh shit. I thought the song was awesome. Apparently it sucks.

SPEAKER_00: I haven't heard back from Japan in weeks yeah so totally different in that that aspect too Ryan what were some of your um what got you involved in music?

SPEAKER_02: And I'll have to plug my parents too because uh as a kid my parents bought me a bass guitar, my brother an electric guitar and my brother drums like all within a two year period and we had to sound like shit for years. But whether it's through college or like I was in a band early in high school but then I went to college and had to again like other band members have different priorities went and got my degree. So I just played bass in my like dorm room and apartments and things like that for years.

SPEAKER_02: I'll have to plug my wife because I used to lug around a bass cab, bass guitars, all the gear I needed for years and she never asked why. And then when we were given this opportunity a gentleman asked me like well what are you in this band for now? Like after all the years you spent apart I said I want my wife to come see me play dive bars. So I like to think we've made it so that that was always my goal and now that our sound's evolving and we're getting out to more people and sharing some of again the mental health side of it for us is just so enlightening to see some of the people that come to our shows and like hey like I listened to your music or read your lyrics and it speaks to people.

SPEAKER_02: So getting to share that is something awesome for us now.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Was there anything in particular that made you um you know want to have a have that out there for a mental health aspect with your music?

SPEAKER_02: It helps us, you know, because to share what was an outlet for us because and not to steer into the May as Mental Health Awareness Month gentlemen find it harder to seek attention for stuff. So every week the four of us get together for rehearsal and yeah the music's a big cornerstone of that but being there for each other is the basis. So if we could share like hey this is good this is bad this is what's working for me this isn't like some of the lyrical content that you see is our struggles put to paper.

SPEAKER_02: Because I know Christian deserves all the accolades in the world but some of the things we go through kind of shape that conversation and he's in there getting his lyrics down where we're just kind of getting the sound together. So it's such an outlet for us that getting to share that with especially the community at large but showing people that it's okay to not be okay and sometimes getting the anger out and the music's the easiest way to get it out there.

SPEAKER_00: So absolutely yeah it's a it's a good uh stress relief for sure yeah very in the crowd too when everybody feels it you know it's it's a good vibe definitely yeah we got to play our first encore at one of our our first headliner show yeah so being able to even have a local crowd ask for just one more like just getting that extra push because everyone's got to go home at the end of the night.

SPEAKER_02: So being able to take something home with you, whether it's in your heart or the sweat on your shirt, we love being able to provide. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: That also makes me think too um and thank you for you know having that angle with your music and and seeing that with the fans and um but noticing that within yourselves too because it can be hard for guys um you know to say when they might need help or you know to talk to somebody. Not to sound sexist but it it does seem like um it it's harder for guys. And I think it's just you know again stigma in you know past generations, the weight that they've always placed on the male versus the female and we're trying to get away from that these days but there's still you know a long way to go uh when it comes to mental health um but what I was gonna um ask is the artwork that I saw on your t-shirts who designed those so the first couple t-shirts we got designed it was uh an artist I found online yeah from overseas he was out of the UK I think Brian is like on some artist forum or something yeah I was in like a band forum musician forum thing and there's a lot of artists that like sweet okay we got designs for sale or who needs this or whatever.

SPEAKER_02: So because in the world of AI we're quickly learning that as convenient as AI is anything that's artist driven that you're creating through AI robs someone of that opportunity the genuine nature and that's where to plug the mothership even in some of their promotional material they don't like that because again it takes it out of the real artist's hands, you know?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah right yeah the the most recent post that they had I I loved it it was so creative and it was just you know putting a couple different pictures together that they probably clipped from somewhere you know out of print not because it was AI. It was really cool. It's just you know it's like damn it's been forever since I've seen something like this clip art style I feel like you know we're gonna be we're getting faced with so much fucking AI bullshit that you know starving imagine what the Terminator would say if he saw the AI head now.

SPEAKER_00: Right terrible but yeah the first couple you found a dude that was able to to do that and bring your vision to life and we have two different um t-shirts I saw too.

SPEAKER_03: The first one can I tell you the the one with like the skeleton guy on it do you can I tell you who he reminded me of oh yeah the Hasbro skeletor nice and we've got kids too so we we know right where you're at with the yeah yeah I know our kids probably wouldn't know if what the hell I meant if I said Hasbro true yeah yeah so there's a couple of artists we we've worked with we've done three different artists now for merch uh the first two designs we had there's one that's like a a big white and red eyeball and it's kind of crazy looking.

SPEAKER_03: That was our first design. That was a guy from the UK what was the second one? The lantern. Oh yeah yeah we got a lantern t-shirt where it's almost almost has like an oriental vibe or something like the style of lantern that it is but it's cool it's it's just kind of simple but it's eye catching and it was like in line with the creative process before our song Guiding Light.

SPEAKER_02: So like having a light in the imagery was nice. Yeah so so that was the same designer uh the skeleton one was somebody here in the US and then we always have input on that because again to bring up the democracy sometimes there's designs he likes or designs someone else likes and I know Brian had a couple that he likes that he went and purchased on his own so we even talked about that and those are the ones everybody likes now so we gotta order them so we got them now.

SPEAKER_00: So what do we just like what you guys have in the way of merch?

SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh. So we have a closet full five designs now five designs four or five different beanies because I know when the weather was cold we like having the warm up crowd.

SPEAKER_00: That's our highlands definitely need some beanies.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah so we got five t-shirts designs lanyards lanyards okay we have decals.

SPEAKER_02: More to come no I'm kidding yeah always willing to expand that because if people have things they'd want that's why we are in a back in the day when you could buy bottle cap openers or lighters Brian's band used to say like they used to get all kinds of that stuff but whether it's the mental health or like the physical health that the world is leaning into lighters and bottle openers aren't exactly saying the message that we support as a group because we're not anti that in any way but it's not exactly something that's like hey like oh you're having mental problems have a beer.

SPEAKER_02: So so we like shy away from some of that like so just kind of unique.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah I I've always been like I've just been going to shows since I was a kid and I remember being like you know 15 like oh I have six dollars I can't buy a t-shirt what's at the merch to I'm always like anything you can sell for five bucks and less is great. So like lanyards, decals, stickers buttons, whatever so yeah that's cool. Our old band we had shot glasses we had big lighters that were like legit printed that were they were cool but I feel like not really many people smoke nowadays. Like it's not the not the thing it was in the 90s.

SPEAKER_03: Doing a bunch of big lighters are probably just not enough when they sit on the shelf.

SPEAKER_02: So yeah so in the 90s when you went to a restaurant did you ask for the smoking or the non-smoking section right exactly but now we're like the old men when you tell people that they were like what are like don't just be able to smoke in places like that like crazy. It is crazy.

SPEAKER_00: I know it it's it's funny to kind of look back on that you know and and just think that that was regular for us you know yep you know you could go to the no smoking section of the restaurant and uh smoke away and the booth next to you would be non-smoking yeah yeah like like you're not equally affected all you know you're right there you're 10 feet from them.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah and smoke still thing at our shows we have loud and not loud no it's all loud yeah right yeah draw a line down the middle correct yeah where do you end that so um what is something that you you hope that your fans take away from your music I think just honesty and openness and like back to beyond the mental health thing like it's okay to reach out for help and not to feel alone because you know I I feel like most people nowadays have lost somebody due to whether it's suicide or drugs or whatever the case may be like not only does that affect that person it affects everyone around.

SPEAKER_03: So you know to to have an off day can turn into depression. One bad day can be a downward spiral for somebody.

SPEAKER_02: So I feel like that's very relatable and and if our music can give them an outlet or a show they can go to to like you said just like literally mosh into somebody that's having the same problems and and share that and know it's not out of anger because sometimes I think we yearn for that connection whether it's me slamming into him or like again sometimes what we share as people is what we like to bring in our music because we all have down times but some of the songs we're coming up with now I tell him like hey we're happy people too because it's not like it's all rain or it's all sadness all the time.

SPEAKER_02: So being able to share that joy with each other come May 30th at the mothership with Rasan we we can't wait for that because that's where we're at our best in sharing our energy with Venom of virtue breakaway all the good people down there at the mothership we are elated for that chance. Yeah yeah it'll definitely be a good time well thank you for this this was a good time too so thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00: Well you're very welcome I I'm very happy to have you guys on and get to meet you and uh excited I'll get to see you guys in person. Hey looking forward to that yeah we're excited so one thing that I always like to mention for my audience too is for parents or guardians if you've got young kids um and if they show an interest in uh music or the arts help them pursue that be be the leader shepherd them do whatever you have to do if it means going to run a musical instrument uh joining the band taking music lessons if they want to or if they just want to learn on their own still support them in in whatever way that works for the family and how what you can do for them.

SPEAKER_00: But as long as you're supporting them because we definitely want to continue bringing up some awesome musicians. Music touches the heart and soul does so many things I think more things than what we can even uh fathom um as humans at times so I agree um that's really important to me and um to just continue to bring up the young kids and the generations because we all like to have awesome music to listen to uh let's keep the metal and the rock alive.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah amen hell yeah appreciate too yeah absolutely were any of you guys in the band um in your school years actually no I was in a rock band so chasing girls rather than marching around the field but not exactly the same thing. No I wish I would have I really wish I would have taken like percussion in high school but but to your point what you were just describing sometimes when given the chance if we have downtime or if Christian needs a drink I bring that up because what this band has provided for me is an outlet.

SPEAKER_02: And if more people can just pick up a guitar or a ukulele or just sing their song because just having an outlet for that and that's where the local bars and venues that we've have been given this chance deserve a the biggest promotion we can because they give voices like ours a chance. And whether it's your podcast or a local venue or anything any opportunity like you said to have this sort of art flourish is what we love.

SPEAKER_00: Awesome. Well we're definitely uh excited to have you here um when you guys come through in Mansfield partnership Mansfield is gonna be excited to have you guys we're we're excited and um in meeting Venom of Virtue those guys are pretty cool too they're coming from Michigan so it'll be their second time here. It's the first time I will see them live. I didn't see them when they were here last year.

SPEAKER_02: Nice. Hey well again we can't wait to to show you what we have to offer but being on the bill with those guys is an accomplishment even of our own. So a band coming to offer us to support them we we're looking forward to that too because again it's these partnerships that we're forming too because you never know when you could pick up and play with another group again. So we're always happy to extend that.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah. All right well Mansfield's definitely gonna get a good introduction to you guys before I wake and uh hear some good growls and all of that good stuff. Some awesome riffs. There you go is there anything else that you want to tell us before you head out up to you.

SPEAKER_03: Nothing specific.

SPEAKER_02: Oh May 30th yeah May 30th and happy to keep the plugs going for that we do have some new new new music coming out over the next couple months so hope to have the premiere of the first song the one we talked about earlier we're gonna play that live hopefully at the mothership okay again there'll be one that nobody's heard before so if we could bust that out for Rassanne we'd love to yeah all right new new unreleased music coming for the show so that'll be fun.

SPEAKER_00: Okay. Well Ohio you heard it here first from Ryan and Brian with Before I wake and uh we'll keep you updated as they come out with some new singles and uh it's so been so awesome to have you guys on the show. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having us. Oh no thank you we absolutely appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00: All right Ohio you heard it first until then keep it loud

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