Alrighty folks. Welcome back to our next episode of SDYT, the podcast, where values still hold value.

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I'm really glad you guys stopped by. Let's cover our next episode. Alrighty folks. Welcome back to SDYT the podcast. I'm Porter. I'm your host, and we're talking in 20 22, the character of your character.

First of all, we made it to spring. Congratulations to everybody, COVID may as well be behind us for all intents and purposes, which brings us into our core values for April.

We're talking humor, creativity, and community. Those will be the primary themes, and then we see where the conversation goes. Because again, what we're talking about is different perspectives with real people and shared values.

That brings us into our first episode, guys. If you are a new listener, welcome to the show, and if you're a returning listener, welcome back.

Without further ado, I'm Porter. I'm your host, and this is SD YT the podcast. On this episode of SD YT the podcast, with a good friend, special guest, and lead singer of ancient sins. West Griffin. West, what's up, man? How you doing?

Doing good, brother. How are you today? I'm doing pretty well. I'm I'm pretty excited, actually. I don't think we've actually spoken I don't even remember. 09:10 years, maybe? Yeah. Probably just just roughly almost 9 now.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think at the time, I remember you mentioning something about music, but now it's your jam and your jelly. Right? Like, you've got your own band, signed deals, all kinds of and the military like, Alright.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's let's back up. How about you just take a couple minutes and you tell me what you got going on in your life instead of me guessing. What's going on in the world of West? What's up, man?

Well, as of right now, now I'm active duty on the Navy side and on the flip side of life. I've been putting in all kinds of stuff regarding my music, put out a record back in 20 18. And just been jamming it, you know, ever since then.

Like you're mentioning with COVID, you know, COVID took a big chunk of that time away So we reverted to everything online, livestreams on our personal pages, bands doing live concerts with all kinds of equipment on their pages and whatnot just to keep the feel of music alive with our fans.

Otherwise, nowadays, nowadays, just chilling out here in Le Moore, just plucking away on a on a new studio album.

Just plucking. I feel like that's that doesn't do it justice. Like, I'm I'm picturing you guys on a front porch somewhere, like rocking chairs, just serene and peaceful, like, West Virginia, I I don't think I'm close at all.

No. Yeah. I I usually just sit in solitude and just play guitar for hours on end, just either try to develop something new or just just continue to either sustain or get better.

Well, I imagine it's pretty cathartic, though. Just once it once you start to free form and just flow.

Yeah. Definitely. Because there's moments where, you know, you'll you'll start doing the same thing over and over again, whether it's the same warm up routines, start playing the same riff, 345 different ways, you know.

And and it will absolutely mentally just begin to exhaust you and drain you.

I don't really know how a whole lot of artists do it, but for me, I just put it away for anywhere from, like, a day or 2 to a couple of weeks. And then when I to feel the the juices flowing again -- Sure.

-- you know, I'll I'll pick it back up and see what direction I can go with or just completely go in a a different genre direction, move away from metal, and move into, like, blues or jazz or some in and see what what maybe can spark from there or what what I can learn from it.

So I'm curious because of all of that, What are some of your musical influences? What do what do you pull from? The biggest 1 is Alter Bridge. They're the guys that kinda relit the fire long long ago when they started back in o 4.

He's in a much better place But, yeah, when when Altabridge hit, I was like, you know, I'd I'd, you know, stop playing guitar for about a year and listen to that first song, which is the first song off of that, you know, that album, which the song is called Find The Real.

And as soon as it was over, I was like, man, I gotta play guitar again. So it just it was off to the races from there with them, and they've been my favorite band ever since.

But other bands, you know, disturbed So like newer bands even today, you know, that a lot of people would know, disturbed, fire from the gods, piping to a bunch from ashes to new, non point, sleep signals, the eighties hair metal scene, quiet riot.

Big twisted sister guy.

Yeah. Yeah. Heck yeah. Queensryke, Gunson Roses, Matallica, anthrax, Lair death, you know, all those guys. You know, I I gotta say, I feel like at this point you're just listing bands because that's a lot to pull inspiration from.

Do you do you feel like you get a little bit from from all of these guys, or is it like trends within their music or their lyrics or their instrumentals that you've just sort of collectively identified with groups of these bands?

Kind of a collective of all of that, really. The lyrics, it's more of the vocal melodies. Because, you know, I want to keep what I initially set out to do, which was keep the vocals 80 space, you know -- Oh, okay.

-- to to keep that that high upper scale harmony tempo going, and at the same time mix it with the rock alternative metal sound of today. Sure. You know, so mixing the old and the new, letting it be its own journey.

Even as a creative outlet, I'm sure it takes a fair amount of your time mentally if not actually on the clock, which I'm sure is a factor too. But but you said you're active duty still? Yeah. So how do you even balance the 2?

I go to work and sometimes when I'm at work, you know, I'll think of a couple of things and if time permits or if, especially being at an airbase, the sound permits without, you know, freaking the screaming of jets flying over -- Sure.

-- pull up my phone and just capture the instance the moment that's in my head, and then on my days off, just review it and see what comes of there are days that I don't play guitar, and the days that I do, I'll play for about an hour roughly just to keep my chops up.

But then you know, on my days off, I'm probably on average playing guitar for about 3 to 4 hours and singing for about 1 to 2 hours.

Work through or or actually arrange or create or whatever. Mhmm. Right? Yeah. Honestly, maybe 1 day, I'll have a track that'll come, like, from the first record, the song arm, the angels, I concepted that back in 20 13.

I guess, initially, you know, sparks regarding the military, but maybe 1 day something will come vocally for that.

Like, for example, you brought up disturbed earlier. Right? And it's like when Dave Draymond started singing 10000 fists, That that's that's more of the direction I was thinking.

As a matter of fact, I saw them static x open to valve played Disturbed came out and they were all dressed in military uniform or some variation of utilities, military utilities for 10000 fists.

But they had redone the entire backdrop of the set to be this sort of rocky outcrop of mountainous terrain, and and they all played from different vantage points on the the stage.

But that's kind of what I was thinking where, you know, it doesn't have to be commemorating the Blue Angels I think there is some sort of metal metal ground, some sort of middle ground.

But yeah, I I get that if the inspiration strikes, you know, you sometimes you really can't force it because then it doesn't come across as genuine.

Right. Yeah. And I I think you can hear it in the music too, even if there's no vocals, and it's instrumental. It just doesn't feel as natural, I guess, as free flowing or stream of consciousness?

Yeah. Yeah. You're absolutely right. It's more of how to convey it across to the audience and, you know, how they can resonate with it currently, the more you try to just to just force it out the more loses its value.

Yeah. It it makes it difficult. So what we're talking about inspirations, I guess, for your music, what about a little bit of your back story. So you obviously mentioned Active Duty and we touched on that a bit, but what else is West?

What other experiences are you guys pulling from? What's the backstory like there? Realistically, just light. Putting it out in a way that, you know, others can reflect on and and resonate it for themselves.

Like you're saying with the military, starting back in the Marine Corps back in o 5, crew training to MCT over to to MOS school all the way to Miramar, which is my first duty station, there's all the different forms of life that you encounter with all the people that you meet learning all other walks of life from these, you know, from everybody that you just, you know, barely met.

Sure. Well, because you joined you said 2005, but Was that out of high school for you, basically?

Yeah. Yeah. It was, like, right after high school that I stepped in, did construction for about 5 and a half months. And then, you know, I went to San Diego in December of o 5.

Okay. So that I mean, that explains a lot. Right? Like, arguably in your late teens, You don't know necessarily what you want and who you are as a person, and you don't really need to.

Like, that's part of the process. So I see what you're getting at, just to life experiences is what either brings you together or gives you ideas.

Who writes the music? I do. And and the music? So yeah. Yep. So I write all the lyrics And then on the first album, I wrote all the guitar parts. Mhmm. Right now, I've been I've been looking around from another guitar player.

So that way, it it helps alleviate all of that pressure to worry about, you know, how certain parts are gonna be, you know, performed live as you would hear them on the record.

And also be able to, you know, step back from some of those leads and let somebody else be able to showcase their talents and whatnot. Of course.

And and also a guitar player that is instead of somebody who's, you know, all about, you know, the heaviness and whatnot, somebody who can play it, but their preferred, we'll say, genre of choice would be blues or jazz, classic rock or something like that.

And be able to mix all of that in there and make it a a more diverse component overall.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That would be pretty cool. For most of your lyrics then, I guess. You pull, would you say, the majority of of your influences then from, like, 2005 to present? Yeah.

Based on experience, yeah, being out on your own and seeing the world for the first time through your own eyes, having them opened up and, you know, learning how to mature properly and all the things that nobody ever taught you as kid, you know, seeing all of that kind of stuff for the first time.

It definitely makes a difference. And all the other things that come in life will say heartbreak and loss things like that.

The the heartbreak and loss, I think, is is more easily recognizable as sort of superficial directive for lyrics in a lot of songs, because it's easy to exemplify and everybody understands.

But I think once you start getting into some depth for lyrics, it's more like poetry instead of writing fiction or nonfiction.

Like, the words are there, and you're still saying those words, but there's a heavier or deeper meaning. We'll never back down for example. That was what?

20 18, you guys came up with that? Yeah. The the concepts came about in 20 12, and all I had was a Lyric sheet, which completely changed to what's now on the album, all I had was just words on paper. I had no riffs. I had nothing.

So that's what I went into the studio with. And when I was in Afghanistan in 20 14, they had a couple of acoustic guitars sitting around, and the opening riff for that song, I when I was in the Afghan, I just started plucking away.

And they eventually came up came up with the entire song, and I think about a couple hours.

Does it actually started acoustic? Yeah. It did. You know, just sitting in the office somewhere, you know, and and just plucking this 1 part, and it stayed with me.

Almost 4 years later, came time to record that song in the studio. And I was like, yeah, this is how I wanna start it. And then I looked at the, you know, at the producer, and I'm like, that's all I have, you know, literally.

And he's like, alright. I'll give you a few minutes, you know, see what see what you wanna do with it. And so when he came back in the booth, I was like, alright. We're just gonna wing it after that part.

He basically hit play, so it wasn't recording, but then I just started you know, I just hit my overdrive and just started playing after that. And then that's the best 1 to be came. That's wow. You know what?

Before we dive more into sort of how you're embodying or identifying these emotions and muses and inspirations and and then turning them into your music, we'll take a break, we'll come back, and we'll get more into some of this creativity and and identifying with yourself and who you are and how to embody these things in your music.

Hey, everyone. It's Stack's here. I just wanted to take a moment and give a shout out to my wife, Julie.

She is a art of sorts, but she has a Facebook page called the B and the Bear creations. And what that page is for is basically you wanted to do a specialized item like a tumbler or a hat or a vinyl or a decal or shirt, you can go there.

You can ask some questions, look through the wares, but then give a DM and try to sort it out and then work at adjust pricing. But if you're interested, something like that, go ahead, like her page.

It's the beat and the bear creation. On Facebook. So go enjoy. Alrighty, folks. Welcome back to SDYT the podcast. Again, I'm Porter. I'm your host, and we're talking humor creativity and community with ancient seeds.

Ancient Sins, Lead Singer and guitarist, West Grissom, where we left off in our first segment, we were talking about sort of the backstory, how your lyrics come about, and how everything gels into your music.

And so I'm curious now as we get into it, talking a bit more about creatively interpreting your emotions and and whatever's going through your head and your perspective, into your lyrics or into your music as a whole.

So I'd like to touch on some of that a little bit.

First, West. Welcome back, man. Absolutely, man. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah. You know, everybody says that and I just don't know if it's true. No. I'm kidding. I I appreciate you being here and blocking out some time, dude.

But but yeah. So the first thing I wanna touch on When we left off, we were talking about never backed down, and you said 20 14 when you were in Afghanistan, that you started it essentially acoustic.

And then at some point, you said, no. We're we're not gonna do this acoustic version anymore, but I'm gonna keep what what I just came up with.

It just didn't feel like it was it was gonna be that kind of song. It just it felt like I wanted to take it in a completely different direction.

But also, like yours, you know, like we've been talking about regarding influences, hearing a similar form of that kind of of melody and just spawning it in a completely different direction And when I told the producer, I was ready to go.

It went in the direction that, you know, I was actually really hoping it would.

So that way the listener or even mainly using it as a as a song during gigs as the opening of the gig getting the crowd ready and then just completely turning the page and going in a play the opposite direction and and getting every you know, everything going, getting everybody amped and pumped for the gig, you know?

Sure. Well, I mean, no. I don't. I've never played 1, but Yeah. I I can imagine, especially with that song, how you're able to generate your set or or the emotion to get your set off the ground.

But then you've got other songs like Riptide, for example, not quite the same. How did it become what it is?

When did all this happen? How'd you manifest it with what were some drivers here? So it started back in 20 11, just sitting kinda like how you're saying earlier, you know, sitting outside on the the white porch. And whatnot. Yeah.

Yeah. I was sitting outside of a part of housing that I was living in at the time. And my old sister-in-law she and my separated spouse were talking, and it was on the regards of music and, you know, my my spouse was telling her, hey.

Yeah. He can literally sit down and write something, like, at the drop of a hat. And I'm just like, oh, god. Yeah. I guess. Kind of doesn't mean it's any good, but kinda. And she's like, she handed me a notepad.

She's like, here, write a song. So I wrote the original Lyric sheet for riptide and it never got used in the sense that it that it was, but the concept of the song stayed sort of the same to the final version that's out now.

And about a year later, actually started working on a 4 song EP, which was gonna be for the songs that are on, never backed down.

And Riptide was gonna be 1 of them. So I started putting actual music to it, then it just sat on the shelf for about 5 years. Until I started actually gearing up to go into the studio.

In 20 16, my mom passed away from Lupus. Oh, so And Now I told myself that I was going to write a song for her in a way that Mark Tremani wrote a song for his mom who also died of lupus.

She was she had lupus for a long time, but she died of a brain tumor when when she actually passed away. But in the similar sense, so the song from the 1 day remains album titled In Loveing Memory is that song they he wrote for his mom.

Mhmm. So I I kinda wanted to do the same thing and wanted it taken in the direction of that track. So that was more of that direction being forced, that that type of melody being forced for the sense of that.

Sure. And nothing every time I tried to write something, absolutely nothing happened. Every single time. Didn't get off the ground. Nope. Nope. But then after I initially separated, from my house. Just living out on my own for a while.

Everything came around to being in the studio, for the for the record never back down, and all the guitar parts and everything, the way it never back down is written today was done but the 1 thing that was not done was the Lyric sheet.

Mhmm. And it was, like, I think the the last or the sec to last 1 that I had to finish up, and I just had absolutely 0 nothing to write down So I was like, alright, I'm gonna take a break for today. Just take the day off.

I don't have to go to the studio for another couple of days. Went and spent some time with my kids. I ended up going to a double feature, and I saw a Pacific Room uprising. Mhmm. And then after that watched I can only imagine.

I can only imagine this probably my favorite Christian song of all time. Sure. And after I got done at that movie, the card right home was maybe about 10:15 minutes, and I was just in awe, like, in complete silence.

All the way home, got back satin, you know, in my little camping chair that I had, and was just reflecting on what I had just seen for riptide, and then it clicked.

And I was like, okay, god. I I see what you're doing there. Mhmm. So I took a fresh sheet of paper and just started plucking around in in different spots. Now we have the finished version of Work 10 that we have. Crazy. Mhmm.

Man, tell me movies and popcorn aren't good for something. I'll tell you what. Alright. It is crazy how sometimes things just happen. I don't know if it's a cosmic influence or divine inspiration or something in the middle or both.

But it's it's kinda like when we're writing for different topics and show topics or or video clips or or whatever that Sometimes, you just brain did. Like, there's just no creative anything flowing.

It's just not working and you can't force it. And then other times, unequivocally not prepared to get anything done, it just happens. It's like when that 1 base node hits and everybody goes crazy, but you didn't think it was coming.

Felt maybe it would. I don't know why I didn't see this 2 years ago or whatever applies. And then it just moves too. It's not like you really hit a stuck spot. You just do it, and it it comes out awesome.

Well, like Riptide, for example. For everybody listening, There are links in the description to this episode as well so that you can get to ancient sins everything, media, merchandise, lyric videos on YouTube.

All of those links will be in the description as well, and we'll get to some of that towards the end of the episode.

Give you chance to bring up all that stuff as well. But before we even get closer to that direction, Riptide is not your only song, obviously.

What are some of your other favorites? Definitely cause of mine to stress is probably our our most popular song. It's the 1 that that I absolutely resonate with the most other than riptide. We'll dive in there.

Why is that? So cause of my distress, was initially written back in 2007, and that was right after my appendix surgery. Okay. The only thing I didn't have for, I'd say, about 9 or 10 months was the bridge guitar riff.

Otherwise, you know, that song stayed exactly the way you hear it minus, like, 1 or 2 little things, it stayed exactly the way that it was written from o 7 to this day.

Like, it absolutely really didn't change at all. For me, it was a reflection on on life because I guess you could say a a near death experience.

You know, the docs when I got to Alboa were like, yeah, we we know we need to get you into o r. Now x, y, and z, 1 of the nurses I was talking to afterwards was like, yeah.

If you hadn't been here for, like, another I think she said, like, another couple hours then it just would have been too late because my appendix basically completely just exploded roughly around I'd say about 11 or midnight, and I didn't get to the hospital until about 06:30.

Whoa. Mhmm. Wow. Yeah.

Good thing you don't have to wait too long. Yeah. We were we were waiting on the ambulance for about 5 hours, about 4 or 5 hours. Oh. Yeah. So, yeah, afterwards, And this was right before the release of Alta Bridget's Blackbird record.

And after I got out, a couple of the songs were available. And I was just listening to him and listening to songs from, you know, from the first record and just sat there and started just strumming away on my guitar.

Next thing you know, after a couple of trials without the music playing, it finally stuck. That's when I wrote the intro the verse, the chorus, like, everything just basically progressed, like like right then and there.

And then the lyrics, you know, I was I was still in shock of still being around. That was that retrospective, if you will, for me, if things went the other way.

That's kind of a cool perspective too though, writing sort of about the negative space, you know, the things that didn't happen. Down. Yeah. Sometimes, not every time.

I think that almost takes more creativity than writing about things that have happened because there's inspiration in fact or or fiction that applies, feelings, emotions, whatever, as opposed to formulating these thoughts or lyrics or even instrumentals in some cases that based on things that haven't happened.

Uh-huh. Right? I imagine it gives you some more freedom, but what are some other songs that that just do it for you that really stand out and and resonate?

And that was 1 kind of a tie into the song on the edge. So beneath the surface had the old 1 of the oldest actually, like, the oldest rift on on the album overall, it was the the middle baseline after the second chorus.

I wrote that back when I was in high school. You know, just sitting around plucking, learning how to play bass.

And the the bass riff that's in that song is what came out a long long time ago, overall, you know, for me, it's it's a song that has different directions and and tempo and everything.

Definitely a crowd getter. I absolutely absolutely love that 1.

Kirst the rain. That 1 is my first attempt at a a type of musical journey to have multiple different perspectives of music in 1 song which is why it's so long. It's like a little over 7 minutes long. That is long. Yeah.

And it goes it starts off, it goes from metal to a swing jazz type feel to a soft alternative rock feel, back to the swing, back to the to the alternative, then goes into the metal field again, and then just hits this high point kinda like like a bell curve or something.

Yeah. Yeah. Basically tried to take it like that. And then after the solo, which I think curse of the rain is probably my favorite guitar solo on the entire record and probably my favorite to play live.

It just reaches that climax, and then everything is just it hits the calm and and just resonates out before the final chorus before the ending.

Definitely would say those ones. Arm arm the angels is a a good keep the crowd going. Not necessarily fast, but medium tempo, just heavy driven song to, you know, just just to keep the energy of the flow of the show going.

Speaking about the flow of shows, I don't wanna derail your train of thought here, but since you since you basically brought it up.

This was just a few months ago. I think it was January nineteenth or something like this. You played whiskey a Gogo. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Open for the main act that night was revelry gang. Yep.

Buddy of mine is the the band booker down there and now being back in the states has been you know, trying to plug me into shows down in Sokau and was like, hey, you know, we got a slot open down here at the whiskey if you wanna come play.

I was like, yes. Yeah. That's a huge thing. Let's do it. That that was that was an experience on its own. And especially, so with such historic, you know, venue.

Yeah. And it was it was absolutely amazing amazing opportunity. Oh, yeah. I remember hearing about it or at least I think it was almost over 20 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. I I wanna say they started back in the sixties or the seventies.

Actually, yeah, I think it was back in the sixties when whiskey opened and, yeah, a lot of bands, you know, either just, you know, a lot of big acts that that have played there or have gotten their start there.

I know the doors. I think it was the doors that got their start over there. The States. But guns and roses, freaking, Rolling Stones, just so many famous acts have have definitely been been through there.

That's pretty cool then, dude. I guess, technically, over the course of time, have shared a stage with some of these groups, you know. Mhmm. What is the real kind of feeling it must have been?

It absolutely was. And, like, I wasn't speechless on the outside, but on the inside, absolutely just you could say scared, like scared to death, you know, Yeah. Yeah. On on the outside, it didn't even look like it.

But on the inside, yeah, it was just man. I was ready to freak just tuck in the corner. And then, obviously, in hindsight, whatever that turns into, I'm sure, eventually, will be some sort of inspiration for something.

But hopefully, other gigs back there would be pretty cool too. Actually, yes. Right right around the start of summer. Oh, man. Congratulations.

Yeah. So, yeah, the beginning of beginning of June, I'm gonna be opening for quiet riot. Hey. That's gonna be sick. There you go. Yeah. There you go. That's gonna carry us another 20 minutes. Before we get into that, Let's take a break.

Let me compose my 14 year old girl self, and we'll talk a bit more about that experience here soon. West If you're looking for high quality locally sourced groceries, The Keystone farmer's market is the place to be.

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Alrighty, folks. Welcome back to SDYT the podcast. Again, if you're just joining us welcome if you're a returning listener. Welcome back. I'm here with Ancient Sin's Lead Singer, Lead guitarist.

West Grism. We're talking about community, creativity, and a little bit of humor in this episode here in April of SD YT the podcast. West. Welcome back, brother. Thanks for waiting. Absolutely, man.

What we left off on, prior to the break, we were talking about essentially how to transition your emotions and your creativity into anything, identifying your emotions, I guess, as a starting point, And then opportunities that that's open for you most recently, or even notably, I guess, over time, being whiskey a go go back in January, which is super sick.

So congratulations. And then basically, starting your lyrics, let alone the band, what, 15 years running, 16 years running, greatness takes time.

That's you know what? That's a perfect transition. Let's talk about outlets for creativity. And and how you temper that, how you express that, and deal with your emotions and music.

Obviously, that's your preferred outlet, I assume it's not something like rugby or ballet. Ballet. Yeah. You know, there's other things I like to do.

You know? III know I probably got a maybe a year or 2 at max left in me, but I still love to play, you know, full contact football. Sure. You know, so I'll now being back in say it's gonna do that, you know, when when available.

But, yeah, music for me is is is that outlet. Mainly lyrics, you know, with anything that has happened, you know, throughout life, that that's where I try to capture it.

And whether it's it's the guitar melody and how I want the flow of that song to to go, that's where I'll you know, leave that emotion. Because initially, I used to write all the lyrics first and then tried to write a song on top of it.

Mhmm. But now I just write everything in parts. So I'll just write and and pulling that from Mark, you know, Mark and Miles, you know, I'll write it in parts.

So I'll specifically only write a bridge, a chorus, a verse, and that's it. And then with the the direction I wanna take that song, I'll take whatever I wrote at the time and see where it'll flow in with that, and then go from there.

In regards to capturing the emotions and whatnot of the topic that I wanna cover. That just depends on what I have experienced or how I can reach it across to the audience in ways that they can relate to with things they've experienced.

Which, obviously, you can't forecast. So how do you best identify that? That is the million dollar question, you know. That is the hard part. And that's also 1 of the the great mysteries and beauties of of music is how to do it.

And, you know, it it's it's really kinda throwing a dartboard at a at a spinning wheel, except the spinning wheel is going I don't know, my a miles now. You know?

So you really don't know what you're gonna hit. Yeah. I I imagine it'd be the same for comedians or anybody except for probably movie actors because it's prerecorded and jazzed up in Hollywood and on a screen, but but live stuff.

I imagine it's all pretty similar to that. And I'm curious. You said Mark now twice, but Mark and Miles, who are these people? Bandmates or No.

No. So Marceremony and Miles Kennedy of Altabridge. I see you've met them. Yeah. My 1 ever guitar lesson that I took, was from Mark Tremani on the last hero tour back in 20 17 right before him went in the studio for Never back down.

And I learned so much that day other than just the regular stuff that that he, you know, that he teaches whether it was from his instructional DVD, or just everything he had prepared.

He went, you know, it was an hour long lesson, but he'll go a little off topic and he'll go around the room and ask people what they wanna learn by just saying, okay, let's play this note, this note, this note, this note, this note.

Right? That that's how he does it, and that's kind of how I you know, referring to myself and and how I've been, you know, teaching the students that I've had.

And then with miles, pretty much the best damn singer that there is today and such a humble human being.

You know, I've try to you know, I don't wanna say emulate myself in the regards of his type of singing, but he's shown me that you can take your music in that direction as regards to those type of vocals and the heavier more solid guitars, you know, that that we hear in a lot of songs today.

Sure. In in regards to the writing process, you know, yeah, I've I've definitely taken the majority of how I do it now in in reference to to how they, you know, write their tracks as as far as just the music itself.

That's crazy, man. And and just because like the amount of progress that you've been able to make sounds like basically since 20 17 to now compared to 2005 to 2017.

Yeah. You know, where you sort of feeling your way out, who you are, who you wanna be, or your stage presence, let alone lyrics, and your style, or your own art form, let alone as a band.

And so basically 5 years then, since 20 17, it seems like you've had exponential growth in your ability to either cope with whatever's happening in your life, or turn it into music, find ways to empathize it with your audience, or draw emotion from your audience, I I can't even imagine what that must feel like for you now, being able to do that successfully, and proven being able to do that successfully.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's it it is hard, but, you know, at the same time, it it's a mindset the mentality, you know, that that you gotta have in order to tell yourself that, you know, for example, back in, like, the majority of the world, you know, in 20 20, you know, was was being affected by everything regarding COVID.

Right?

So, you know, I was getting ready to to gear up for starting preproduction on the new record that I'm writing, and in in respect to how everyone the way of everything was going and and what everybody dealing with and how it was affecting them.

For me, personally, it it wasn't COVID. Yeah. COVID took away from music, But on the flip side, there was everything else that I had going.

You know, there was somebody that I was with and that somebody that I was with at the time, pretty much became a song, and like you're saying regarding mental health, you know, that that took it out of me.

Now, so I was pretty much out of the game for about 3 or 4 months. You know, didn't play guitar, didn't sing, didn't do anything except go to work, and come home.

Yeah. That's like a low point shell of your former self kinda moment. Yeah. Yeah. So when it came time to begin preproduction, I was paying attention to the calendar, but kinda wasn't at the same time mentally.

And, you know, February of 21 hit, and I was like, Okay? Yeah. We gotta start pre production soon. Crap. I haven't played guitar in 4 months. Yeah. This is not gonna be good.

I know, I took 12. I think it was, like, 12 days of leave and just did nothing but play guitar for 12 days straight. Just to get back into a routine and fill out Just to get just to get back in the game of of playing guitar.

Yeah. And with that, I had already been journeying down different rabbit holes of other music. Death core, metal core, those deeper, darker forms of music, and that's all I listen to probably for about 3 months.

And then the songs that literally hit you, and it's like, this is where right where I'm at in life, and that's that's all you wanna do.

You know, is is just be trapped in in that void. So then when I finally started pulling myself out of it, knowing that I had you know, things to do in another record to write or to at least fully begin the production process on.

I started taking those areas and saying, how can I in incorporate that mentally, not not necessarily musically, but just mentally incorporating those into my day into my daily routine?

What do you mean? So, like, my daily routine for music, I would do different exercises to get my my right arm warmed up, and to get my left my left hand warmed up.

Because for me, I like to mentally, you know, you gotta take your hands and and sync them together. Right? Right. For Dick's stereo or whatever.

Yeah. Instead of doing what I would normally do, I would just go into those, you know, deeper darker songs or even like instrumental versions of them, and there were already things I was gonna be playing anyway.

So I just put it on and just let it flow. That turned into a few of the riffs that are gonna be on the new record.

A lot of the the lyrics, I was able to actually start conveying some of those messages across as well and with 1 of the songs which will, I guess, kind of be the light acoustic, almost, you know, melodic song of the record came from that that experience in life.

That's how because that song was initially concepted back in 20 20 17, early 20 18 when I was recording the first album -- Uh-huh. -- and it was just a chorus, you know, line set of lines that it's stuck because of somebody else.

And Yeah. It it just that portion stuck and wasn't sure how it's gonna, you know, be able to incorporate that 1 and actually, literally make it a song.

But then, you know, with that experience in life, that made that 1 come full circle. So overall, you know. And, yeah, I think it'll can it be a a definitely a heavy hitter on the record? I admire what you're doing.

I first off, I can't play guitar or really any sort of musical instrument. But more specifically, as far as just mental well-being is concerned, and finding ways for yourself to help yourself. That's not even for you to help yourself.

And get out of that spot. Being able to find ways to process whatever's bothering you, call them issues, demons, problems, whatever, But finding ways that work for you and your own art form and style to address those problems is huge.

Huge. So III admire you for being able to do it, man.

Congratulations, first of all. I I picture it like, you remember those hot wheels cars where either you push them and they go on their own or you pull back on the rubber band of the car, and then it goes on at some right? I know.

It's that it's just a rubber band, and the only way you can go further higher faster, I serve whatever, is to actually have some sort of a setback to have some sort of a resistance so you can breed resilience and then just grow beyond it.

Yeah. That's that's a really good way to put it. Absolutely. I guess what I'm saying is, yeah, I'm I'm I'm proud of you, man. Good for you.

And if anything else too, like, who really got the upper hand? You got a record deal and played it to whiskey, like, sorry. Who really lost? But you you had talked about 1 thing I wanna hit on real quick before we get out of here.

You had talked about that moment before you went out on stage, what we're talking about, the whiskey. And I guess you could call it anxiety or or fear or apprehension or mixture maybe of all of them.

But that pressure, I think what we see mass media on the news all over the Internet. Over time, is it really takes a toll on I hate to trivialize this, but I don't know a better way to phrase it as artsy type people.

You know, people that can exhibit their emotions and express themselves in different art forms and mediums like music or theater, whatever applies.

But people that are able to identify and align better with their emotions and communicate their emotions to an audience, like in your case music does for you, that that pressure, I think, comes from the identification of those emotions and then communicating them because it seems like it's usually not always, sometimes there's paparazzi and other factors, but it seems like usually it's more self imposed or self induced as a way to process those emotions, and eventually it just becomes too much.

Whether it's because of drugs or alcohol or other devices or just mentally, chemical imbalances things get difficult. Right? So what's what's your take on it?

As a musician, self experienced or otherwise, but as a musician, in that community surrounded by those types of people that are able to communicate that way and be a little bit more creative in in how they exhibit their emotions.

Yeah. You know, there's been plenty of people throughout history, you know, in regards to the music scene that, you know, self treat themselves, you know, like you're saying with drugs, alcohol, and whatnot, especially being on stage.

You know?

That's that's their form of calming the nerds. Right? And, you know, it for some, you know, at first, maybe we'll say it, you know, it it got him through and and they felt great enough to where that that was the outlet that they needed.

There are some that have taken it obviously way too far that we've seen either in the media or we've seen in front of our own eyes.

Sure. On the stage of the world. Yeah. On stage. Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, for me, I I don't drink before a show.

I'll absolutely have a beer or 2 after. You know, nothing wrong with that. The performance is there. Uh-huh. It's natural. You know, it's it's done. Right. Right. You can't go back and change it, but it it's done.

Yeah. But, yeah, I don't drink at all before a show. You know, I I mainly just slugs some water to kinda try and keep my throat. We'll say moist. Yeah. Sure. But, you know, try try and keep, you know, try and keep my throat good.

But, yeah, I don't I don't drink before a show. I'll I'll definitely have a, you know, a a dip here in there. But I usually cut it away about like 2 hours before, so my throat doesn't really dry up or anything.

Yeah. Yes. You got time to recover with them. Yeah. And I'll I'll just after sound check, I'll sit and play guitar probably all the way till about, you know, right about the time to go on stage.

So that way, I'm still going over and over you know, everything that I am about to perform and also don't freeze up or lose that dexterity. Before going on stage. I've had that happen a couple of times.

I imagine Once adrenaline creeps in, everything changes a little bit you know, and you go from these these killer playing each string, each chord, each fret to just slap at a base because you can't do anything.

That that absolutely happens. Think of, like, holding a guitar right now, and you're going, like, from the second fret to the sixth fret stretching your index and your pink fingers.

Right? Mhmm. And you're like, yep. I can sit there and I can hold this and I can grip and vibrato and x y and z. Everything's fine.

Then you get on stage and you mentally clam up, and the most you can do is like a 2 to 4 stretch with your pinky, and that's all your your mentally your your brain tells your hands to do -- Yeah. -- because you're just yeah.

Your adrenaline's just running, and it's, like, you know, you play faster on some parts who play slower when you know that during a a lead or a guitar solo and you're like, you know, there's 1 part where I play triplets, but you try and play those triplets as additional triplets and and you're just, you know, going and going, it it it doesn't, like, resonate at all.

People will watch this and be like, well, we hear what he has played on the album, and sounds, you know, fast, and now he's trying to play it faster.

So Is that why live shows seem to be different aside from instrumental sounds and acoustics and things, but seem to be different than how things are recorded because of knowing of the band or vocals or dehydration or adrenaline or whatever?

Just physiological responses to this? Oh, definitely. Yeah. Especially with guitar players and drummers. We'll say drummers too because, you know, on on an album, the drums could seem like they're going in this certain tempo.

And live, there's certain drummers that play like. Dang near, like, twice as fast. You know, like, especially with the double kick pedal. Yeah.

It'll sound like like almost like twice as fast because their adrenaline is just going so they're just, you know, you know, just And then they have vocally, there are some guys that, you know, they they train themselves and whatnot.

And on the record, they put everything out nice, and and we'll say, you know, just wonderful on the album. And then when it's live, especially with, like, fog machines, vocally fog machines are killer -- Really?

-- because they can dry out your voice, and you'll go from a, like, you know, an upper register to sounding like you're singing bass for Johnny Cash just like that. Jeez. And, yep, that's happened to me.

And I was like, Holy crap. Now what do I do? Yeah. So instead of trying to kill your vocals and try to force everything, now you have to sing everything like a whole octave down so that way you don't destroy your vocal chords.

And I imagine it's either that or it just totally degrades your range. It does.

It absolutely does over time. Yeah. Regarding just how people handle their emotions. Like for me, like I said, I just, you know, I I just try to stay focused on the show. Most of the time playing a show, I don't even open my eyes.

My eyes are closed. And it's not to like say that I don't wanna look at the crowd or anything, but, you know, for me mentally, I know if I get caught up or dirt and during some songs.

There's parts where, you know, walk around and and what I'm not singing and whatnot.

And now try and interact with everybody. But there's parts where I know that, you know, if I wanna sing correctly, that I just have to focus that there's nobody in the room but me.

Yeah. And just channel it a bit better. Yeah. Yeah. And so that way, I don't sound, you know, like a freaking playing pterodactyl or something else. But yeah.

Well, I imagine though that being on stage in a band or solo artist or whatever, but as a musician, being on stage, there's just a natural even physical separation from the audience, but but you're not 1 of the few separated from the audience because now your group is other musicians that are on stage.

Equally separated from those.

Right? So, like, you still have a sense of community you can fall back on or or help to cope through, process different emotions, problems, issues, dependencies, vices, whatever, where where community is still a factor.

Feel like we could talk about this for a lot longer, but for the sake of time, I wanna make sure you have an opportunity to talk about your material, upcoming websites, obviously, coming up here in June.

Quiet riot, which if I could squeal higher, I would.

It's getting pretty cool. And, you know, merchandise, whatever, everything else. So tell everybody, where do we find websites, merch, show schedules, buy whatever the floor is yours, man.

What do you got? Yeah. Absolutely. You know, the the big platform where everything is posted is on Facebook. You know, so Facebook dot com slash ancient sins is the official band page.

I update the page myself personally and then I share it with my personal Facebook page as well. Merch is dizzy jam dot com, and the the link for that is the pinned post that's on the Facebook page.

So when you go on the Facebook page and you scroll down to the the first pinned post, it'll be right there. So, you know, you can get, you know, shirts, hoodies, and ball caps. Both men's and women's teas are also available.

Nice. And then the music is everywhere. Everywhere you can get music, Spotify, iHeart Radio, ITunes, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon, the some of the the smaller websites that think it's like these are entitled.

They're on there as well. But, yeah, every anywhere that you listen or generally get music, it's is definitely out there.

Yeah. With upcoming, the new record is gonna be titled Destiny, and I'm looking for a summer hopefully by mid summer to to have it, you know, fully recorded and out.

And as soon as the first single is ready to go, you know. I'll have a teaser for it up on the YouTube channel. And in which for that is, you know, youtube dot com slash ancient sins official.

Okay. And I'll have a a teaser up for that as soon as I can. That's gonna be legit, man. And, obviously, you just got on your new label. That's circus of the dark records, I think you said.

Right? Yep. Yep. Circus of the dark record. You guys have a super busy basically 20 22 now. Congratulations to that also. I'm really glad, again, you made some time to come in and talk for a little bit.

And and really just get down with some probably different conversational topics concerning values than maybe what your daily grind is used to, but But I appreciate it, man, and we've got a lot of listeners in the audience as well here that I'm sure can empathize to 1 degree or another with what you've been through and what you've described.

So On their behalf, thank you very much.

Absolutely, man. It is I've been in a wonderful time. Yeah. And hopefully, we can jump back on maybe towards the tail end of the year, out everything went as a recap or early 23 even. We'll see where it goes. You got it, man.

Just let me know. Yeah. No problem at all. And everybody listening, I appreciate you for coming in to listen as well. And if you have anything you want to add as a topic for coverage, as a cameo if you want to be on an episode.

Feel free to send an email out to survival dad y t at gmail dot com. Hit us up on Facebook or Instagram survival dad y t check out any of our video series episodes as well up on TikTok and YouTube. With that, for this episode,