Speaker 1: H so good no easy way Out. You might have
heard that song before. A gentleman named Robert Tepper had
to hit with that in the in the eighties. But
that is Dead by Wednesday and that is a brand
new single and we're spinning it here. And we have
two of the members from Dead by Wednesday here with
us live in studio. We've got Mike and Esteban here.
How are you, guys? That damn Hartford Marathon delayed you guys,
but I'm glad you made it because.
Speaker 2: We at the highway. I was like, oh my god, wrong.
Speaker 1: I was gonna I was gonna play the song regardless,
like if if you if for some reason you didn't
get here I was just gonna play it anyway at
the end of the day. But no, that's that's really
really good now. Mike, So we were talking when you
were in the other So you're an original member, You've
you've been here the whole time. How long when did
Dead by Wednesday start?
Speaker 2: Probably?
Speaker 1: Oh, pull pull up, pull up, Mike up. Sorry, sorry,
those Mike's are probably there.
Speaker 2: You go.
Speaker 3: Okay, So wow, I think Opus and I met probably
late three. The idea conjured up around oh four and
made it official two thousand and five.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I thought it had been about twenty years.
Yeah wow wow, yeah, gone in the blink of an eye, right,
it goes, it goes quicker than we then we know
that is true. And Esteban, how long have you been
in the band?
Speaker 2: Now? This January will be five years? Five years, five
years already, Mike, Yeah, I know. Wow.
Speaker 1: Does it seem longer to you or does it seem
quicker like like that?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, in a way, it seems longer, but then when
you think back at it, you're just like it went
by super fast.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no doubt. What went into the decision to
cover this song? It's it's not I don't think I've
ever heard anyone cover No Easy Way Out, but it's
but I was, I always like the song as catchy
as hell, and it's it sounds great, like why did
you guys pick that song?
Speaker 2: You wanta ticket? Uh? So Opus is a big like
uh karate Kid and rocky fan, and I mean who
doesn't like rock? Right?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So yeah, it was I think it originated with
Opus and Dave. Well how did it come about?
Speaker 3: It was Opus presented the idea and usually I say that,
but I do recall when I when I watched Rocky
four as a kid, I heard that song and I
was like, wow, I bet this song could take off
like the previous, like Eye of the Tiger. The previous,
like the Rocky series, always had a hit single. Yes,
So I was like, Okay, this will probably it and
it never. It just kind of fizzled out. So when
he presented the idea, I was like possibly, And then
we just kind of toyed around with it and he
kept pushing it. It's like, hey, you know, try it,
listen to it. So he kept pushing it and it
just morphed, you know.
Speaker 2: Well then we jammed it that one time in the
space and then we were just like, oh it kind
of really good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's excellent, And it's already getting played like
on Serious X.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually been playing there, I think since, uh
it's been a week, third or seventh something that's I
know it's been a week, yeah, at least a week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, excellent. I assume this is part of the live set.
Now you guys playing this.
Speaker 3: Live, we are going to introduce it into the set,
uh in two weeks.
Speaker 1: Nice swarmy fest yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent. Yeah, looking forward
to Swarmy Fest and seeing you guys. It's been a
long time since I've seen you guys live, so really
looking forward to this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's what we The last time we were on
stage was May.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, June. June, Yeah, June too, June. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's been a minute for us.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. And then now you've got a big in
uh well next year, right, there's a big tour.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got to tour that's happening in January. Uh,
starting January seventh in Brooklyn and then ending January twelfth,
I believe in Albany. And we're running with Skin Lab.
Speaker 1: Oh very good, Yeah, very good. Have you toured with
them before?
Speaker 2: No, No, it's exciting. It's the first time. I mean,
we we've hung out with some of those dudes, like
out in California, out in Nam, but this is our
first time actually jamming with them, so yeah, pretty excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So then we've got another run in March with Category
seven that is the new supergroup. I know John Bush
is the vocalist. Oh, it's like who's who of I'm
trying to pull up the members, but Jason Bittner is
Jason Bittner's on drums, John Bush on vocals, and then.
Speaker 2: They're going to former member of Exodus.
Speaker 3: I believe. So yeah, it's a it's a great lineup.
We're doing a few shows in March supporting their tour
with them in ex order exorder Okay, someone who else?
Exorder end of the Tribe, had of the Tribe category seven?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh, very good, very good. I'm curious, Mike, because
you've been you've been there with Opus from the beginning.
Has the has the approach changed all over the years
in terms of the of the live show or even
even recording. Uh, like you like you said, you know,
with no easy way out. He had to kind of
talk you into it. Like has that has that process
changed over the years over twenty.
Speaker 3: Years or not really? I mean you're going to have
some you know, as members change, you're I don't know, ideology,
your approach to writing and performing changes, but again it
kind of evolves. So you know, at the end of
the day, you're three guys, four guys working together. So
once you can gel, once you can communicate and get
along the music part, the composition and the creativity and
all that it's not that hard, right?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it challenging when you know, because you
and Opus have been like I said, from there from
the beginning, the core of it, like having all these
changes over the years, is there ever a point where
you go, well, you know, we've we've had we've had
a lot of changes, and you know, I don't know
if we can keep doing this. I mean, do you
ever kind of second guess at or are you just
so committed to it?
Speaker 2: I think the.
Speaker 3: Maybe the last two we're like, oh man, because we
had written material, we had another album, like we had
we had the timeline laid out for a year, We
had like six songs in the camp like we were
on a roll. And then when you have these lineup changes,
then it's like, okay, well you can't use this song
because you know, once you throw all that stuff into
the mix, then it's like turmoil and then you gotta
so the last one of those it's like, man, you
know that's tough, because but again, when the right personnel
is in play, then you know it you rebound quicker.
But yeah, it can be you know you're building something
then all of a sudden just rpe.
Speaker 1: Sorry, Yeah, yeah, and then it's like again that was again, Yeah, yeah,
absolutely yeah. So Estemon, how did you come to be
in the band? How did you become the singer?
Speaker 2: So it was right before Covid I believe January of
twenty twenty. The band had gotten a call we were
going to go on a thirty day tour and yeah,
it was like four. It was a four or six
weeks it was.
Speaker 3: I think it was slated for six, but realistically there
was no way it was going to be six. I
didn't buy into that, but I think we had at
least a solid at least three or four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was, it was, it was long. I knew
we had to take like a a week and a
half off because they had to break into Canada and
another band was going to hook up, but it was
the band had gotten Slater for that and the vocalist
before me had just picked up a new career.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: So it was like one of those things of like, uh,
what do I do? Do I go on tour? Pass
up the opportunity? So I mean no, he I mean
anybody would have taken the opportunity. He did, so Yeah,
And at that point I was with another band a
smaller local band, and Opus had given me a call
and he was just like, hey, come down an audition,
and uh, I think what was it like to three
days later? I came down and auditioned, and then like
h three days after that, I got the call and
they were just like, hey, come aboard. Yeah, if you
want to come on this tour, I'm like sweet, request
the time off of work and everything, and then done.
Dun dun.
Speaker 1: Yeah when you auditioned, did you know why did you
get because sometimes you know, guys will say, you know,
I auditioned for the span and I just knew it
felt right, like did you did you know it?
Speaker 2: Or for me if it felt really good as soon
as I got there, like just the energy when we
when we jammed and everything it was it felt right.
Yeah fucko.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Did you know Mike right off the bat that
he was the guy?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I know you got he's sitting right
next to on the spot.
Speaker 3: You know, I remember, I don't remember I remember feeling
like all right, this is like a seamless transition. Yeah,
like I don't remember any like, uh, I don't know, yeah,
like we clicked like that. Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: That's nice when that happens too, when you can have
a seam you know, because I've been in bands, not
at the level that you guys are at, but I
know like when this changes and it's like you know,
when someone new comes in and they're just the right
person right away, it's like, oh, thank god, you know
this is gonna.
Speaker 3: Be easier than And prior to him, we had a
couple auditions. We had some you know, and like you
within the first two minutes they're like, all right, I'll
give the guy the benefit of the doubt, and then
five minutes later you're like all right.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, yeah, what like like when others would audition,
like what would be the prop? Like were they just
not up to the the material.
Speaker 3: Or we had well, we had one dude, Like I
want to say, I didn't hear I didn't hear what
he had done before. I think I knew he was
in a band. They told me, all right, he's singing
in this band, and I think I heard a song.
I was like, Okay, sounds great. He comes in and
I don't know, maybe he just doesn't audition well, but
he was nervous. Is I don't know if I can
on this? He was nervous as anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 3: He to compensate for that, he had been drinking. So
he shows up like freaking about alcohol, nervous. Now that
combination you can't sing right, you know. And then it
was like, look, guys like so we said, look, go home,
let's try this again.
Speaker 1: Oh it's nice of you to say let's yeah, yeah,
that's pretty generous.
Speaker 3: He came back still, you know, better, but no, you know,
so we had like stuff like that, or people who
tell you they're going to come down and then they don't. Yeah,
you know, stuff like that. Usually the best I've found
is through word of mouth or like bands who know
other bands or approach other people. The way I met
Opus Site. I approached him and I was like, look, dude,
you and I should start a band. I never met him,
no kiddering.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm a better bass player than the
guy that you're playing with right now, and we need
to start a band. You know. So sometimes you got
to just like, you know, talk to people.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly exactly. Was that intimidating because he's an intense guy,
I think, I mean, from when I've met him, he's.
Speaker 3: I was at a point, yes, you're right, and it was.
But I was at a point at the time where
I was looking for something serious and all the bands
that I auditioned for at the time they were not
They weren't serious, they weren't on it, and he was yeah.
So I was like, you know, I've got I've got
nothing to lose.
Speaker 1: Exactly exactly. Yeah, yeah, you got.
Speaker 3: To take though, but yeah, you're right, Yeah, it's you know,
he had a big mohawk, he said, so you know
he you know, you know oaus everyone.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it was like this, who is this guy?
Larger than life like personality? But you know, but yeah
you are.
Speaker 1: You did you sban like other bands that you've played
in were they similar in terms of the you know,
your vocal approach. You know, obviously it's it's intense, and
did you sing that way and other bands prior.
Speaker 2: To this or yeah, I mean, my it was. I
think that was probably the I mean, it was still
difficult to transition, but the easiest point of the transition
was the vocal style was still the same way. I
went from you know, scream singing to scream singing. Yeah,
so it was pretty accommodating in those terms.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh, it's fascinated by that by singers who can
do that. Do you do you have to do anything
to kind of protect your throat, Like, do you do
you have any kind of a regimen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, just like any other vocalists, you have
to you have to watch what you do, you know,
prior and posts, you know, performances. You have to make
sure you're hydrated, you know, tease things like that. I
normally steam my face and my I take like the
normal vapo steamer use like when you're sick. So I
use that and it's like an instant hydrated or my
voice and like these old passages and stuff. So I
do that, and I normally drink some tea beforehand, I
do some warm ups and then get into it, and
then afterwards, I normally try to steam my voice, like
when we're on tour, especially, I try to steam my
face before I go to sleep. Oh okay, sure, So.
Speaker 1: If you do that before you go to sleep when
you wake up.
Speaker 2: Your yeah, a little little bit, because I mean it
all depends on the atmosphere of the club too, because
they may be using steam machine fog machines. Like when
we were in Europe, smoking was allowed in clubs. So
that was really that was man, Oh that was rough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The thing is we haven't been used to it here
in the US for twenty plus years. Right, going over there,
you're just like, oh, I forgot about that.
Speaker 3: They stuck us in the back the smoking room as
our right, keep your gear and all your cases and everything,
and you can hang out here in the smoking room.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, mentally maybe a window. Horrendous rutal.
Speaker 2: I mean, no fault to them. Culturely culture the culture.
We weren't prepared. Yeah, it's like, oh my god, I'm
gonna die.
Speaker 1: By the way, where do you guys record? Does Opus?
Does he have a recording studio or.
Speaker 2: So he did? Depending Like during COVID, we were we were
all able to individually record on our own so we
can be able to record tracks like at home. But
during COVID we did that, and then we still went
in a little bit and did some in studio stuff
with Nikki bellmore with Dexter's lab down in Milford, Connecticut.
Oh okay, yeah, and we worked with him and most
of the time we cut our tracks at home.
Speaker 3: O COVID it forced us to you know, utilize this
technology that was already there. But a lot of the
tracks on our last album were done like I would
record my base tracks on my computer, like while I
was on the case to one by family or something,
and I'd send in bass tracks for a couple of songs.
Did you record yours?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, no, I mean I only recorded a few live,
but most of the time I recorded them at home.
Speaker 3: Dave did some tracks at home, yea. So we just
sent him sent the stems to Nikki. He'd mixed them
together and that would be the track. But this last
one no easy weigh out. He and I recorded the
bass like I recorded at his place, okay, okay, and
then we sent at least for the bass, and then
we sent that in.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, we've been It's like, I don't know,
there isn't really a There doesn't need to be a
central location for everything, you know.
Speaker 1: So it's amazing, isn't it to live in a time
where we have all these technology to do all this
stuff easy? You know? We It comes up a lot
on the show too, about how you know, the pandemic
was terrible, but you have to find these silver linings
where you can and once big silver lining is I
did kind of force people, yeah, to be creative in
terms of how they do things and find ways to
be creative they maybe hadn't considered before.
Speaker 3: It created a new industry. You know, it's amazing, like
and people, unless you grew up in an era where
that was not possible. It's just to me, it's it's
crazy that I can record a track that can literally
like no easy way out. Like when I was recording
it and when I was coming up with my base parts,
you're not thinking of that. You're thinking an end process,
but you're not thinking of But it's just crazy to
me to record this in a house or a basement,
have it broadcast globally and sound pristine.
Speaker 2: Mike and I have talked about that many times on tour.
It's like, I love it. We have the ability to
be able to record anywhere we want. Back in the day,
man the locks away or.
Speaker 3: Like the big, big artists that could afford the equipment
to you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, having an in home studio was like a
super privilege at that point.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, available to anyone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Oh the time goes quick. I wish
we had more, but I want to make sure so
uh November two, it's the event is at Tafaa and Lowell.
It was originally supposed to be a Jewel but for
anyone who doesn't know, it's at Taffa and loll Swarmy Fest.
Jenny and I will be there. Really looking forward to
seeing you guys.
Speaker 2: I am so excited, yea, super excited. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, It's gonna be a bunch of great bands there.
What should people anything you want people to know about?
Obviously you want them to know that the new single
is out, your cover of No Easy Way Out? And
what should people know else about?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: About what you guys are doing?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 3: Check us out on our our social media feeds. We've
got some shows coming up that the uh you got
a couple.
Speaker 2: Of tours coming yeah, yeah, the tours with skin Lab.
Speaker 3: The skin Lab, Yeah yeah, that's going to be a Northeast.
Speaker 2: Show January seventh.
Speaker 3: Northeast region in our final date is January twelfth. Is
that the one in Albany.
Speaker 2: That's all one in Albany. We start in Brookland on
the seventh, We go Brooklyn, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut
and then back up to Albany. So Hopefully listeners out
there can be able to link up with us at
some point in one of those shows that I'd love
to have you guys come out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, excellent, excellent, and we'll close out with Wasteland and
this you say you were saying off there too. This
was this one an award or was nominated for.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, we were actually we got nominated for two categories.
We got nominated for New England Best Metal Band and
also Best Music Video in Wasteland. This is the one
we filmed out in the Mojave Desert, California for Wasteland Weekend.
Speaker 1: Oh the video is wild. It looks like that was it?
I mean, was that as big a production as it
looks like? I mean, it's like it's like watching a
mini movie.
Speaker 2: We were we had hooked up with another festival that
was happening. We're playing that. Yeah, and yeah, our videographer
she you know, happened to be there. We got the
permissions and the rights to be able to film and wow,
everybody was with it, and it was kind of like
it was the last minute, spur of the moment thing
and everybody was on board. So we just ran with it.
And oh that's good. It just it was a per
It was a happy accident. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's that's amazing. That's amazing, great job. Yeah,
I recommend people check it out the video for Wasteland.
All right, we gotta go, guys, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much again. Sorry for being a little bit late,
but we love you guys, and check us out.
Speaker 1: And we will see you on November two, Yes, at
Tafia and lolat Swarmyfest. All right, very good, and uh,
if you miss any part of today's show, it'll be
up in just a little bit. But we will leave
you with this. Check this out. This is wasteland. This
is dead by Wednesday.