Interview
Interview with Dan Briggs of Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me has been a well-respected band for 20 years. Their sound has gone through many evolutions throughout the years: from death metal, to progressive while throwing in pieces of many other genres along the way. BTBAM was gearing up for their 20-year anniversary as a band, before the Coronavirus shut down the music industry’s touring plans. In the wake of touring the band has also been working on the remaster and reprint of their self-titled debut album. I was fortunate to be able to speak with bassist Dan Briggs about the early times of the band and what they are doing to plan for the future.
GA: When I was approached about setting something up with BTBAM, the conversation sparked with the news of BTBAMs self-titled debut album being rereleased. Which was released 20 years ago, and the band had a tour lined up which has been unfortunately cancelled due to the Coronavirus. You were not a part of the original line up but joined years later. What was it like coming into the band at that time?
DB: It was still early on, the band consisted in some form for two albums. Three of us all joined up around the same time, 2004 to early 2005. It was like hitting the reset button, I think for Tommy and Paul. They have both said, that at the time they would not have been able to do another album with just the two of them, with writing the music and leading the creative charge. They were both exhausted from that idea, after releasing The Silent Circus. They brought in two twenty-years-olds, and a nineteen-year-old and we were all fired up. At that time, it was great. I was still in school for music performance, so when I had an opportunity to leave and join a group, that was my goal. BTBAM was a band I was familiar with. I have known Tommy and Paul for a few years, and it was like everything was lining up just perfectly.
GA: The self-titled album was the introduction of the band to the world. The music had a style of its own, incorporating technique with jazz, metal, and rock to have its own unique hybrid blend of music. What are some songs you like to revisit from the album and play? One of my favorites is ‘Shevanel Cut A Flip.’
DB: What I think is interesting about the 20-year anniversary and looking back, is that we normally do not go that far back in our catalogue. We usually do not go back to the first album, because I think it is such a disconnect from where we are now. I think we have a lot of fans that think it is a nice reminder and homage to that time. The people that have been around for that long look at us like, ‘cool they are playing those songs’ but to look at it realistically most our crowds probably do not know that record. Shevanel is a good song that you mentioned. That song was still working its way into our set as far back as I want to say 2015. That may have been the last time we played it. We have done the song in many different versions over the years.We used to use the first chunk of the song; before it goes into the clean section. We used to use it as a segway track between other points in the set; where we were linking different years and versions of the band and tying that all together. That song is a fun one, because that song has a lot of interesting stuff in it. It has all the dynamics; it has some weird fills, the fills in the swing section with the accents have always been bizarre to me.
GA: Even though it was the early years the band managed to throw the kitchen sink in there. I like to say that was more of BTBAM’s rawer sound, a bit more on the aggressive end, but now I think the band has a balanced feel to it.
DB: That album was also live tracked, which adds to the rawness. That album was born out of the days where they were practicing five days a week.
GA: You came into the band right before I would say the band got its big push in popularity. The music got more intense with the writing style, and we started to see BTBAM become this huge thing. What would you say are things that you would accredit the success to from back then?
DB: In those days it was nice, but no it is a little different scenario since we are all older and in different places in our lives. We used to go out for eight months of the year, we would pack up the van and we would be out there doing support tours. Every couple months, we would be in the same markets doing the same venues, with slightly different crowds based off of who you were supporting. It was a lot like this on the Alaska touring cycle. We really got to gel as a band and a writing unit when we were doing the Colors album. On that touring cycle we opened ourselves up to an entirely new crowd, since we were out with Dream Theatre, Opeth, and Meshuggah. The progressive music universe has expanded widely with these artists. Colors was the album where these ideas were more on the forefront. We have taken that over the years as the palate and ran with it.
I think we have been rather fortunate because I feel a lot of bands do not get the room to grow over the years. Our next full length is going to be our tenth studio album, most bands do not have ten full length albums to develop their sound. Most bands that I loved when growing up only have three or four albums. For instance, bands like Soundgarden and Nirvana only have a handful of albums to their catalogue. I think we are fortunate that our sound is different and has had the opportunity to expand and grow. It started to seem that every time the band was evolving it would get to a point where someone was like this is not my thing anymore, but there were new people interested in what we were doing at that moment to take their place. I think this is continuing as we keep evolving and growing, and it has been really great. I think BTBAM has been able to expose a lot of people to a lot of new artists, just by bringing out our influences in the music and people catching on to those. Peopleare getting interested in the bands from the 70’s we are referencing, and I think our audience has also grown and matured along with us which makes it fun.
GA: To touch on the Colors album, I think that was the start of the BTBAM renaissance period of writing music. The band changed its style, the band added all these different influences that really made you an original sounding band for that time period.
DB: There were bands doing progressive stuff at that time like Mastodon, Opeth, and Mars Volta, but it was not mixing genres like we were. We pulled from things we loved and were passionate about. It made sense for us, and we stuck out in the world that we were playing in. That album allowed us to have these different audiences, and to tour with a lot of different bands. The album also helped change the minds of many people that have heard our name and wrote us off like any other metalcore act and go no, these guys are legit musicians. They have weird arrangements, and there is something different about them, and I think I should dig into it. This was also a time in 2007 where a lot of people still bought physical cds, so I think that album benefitted from that as well.
GA: Personally, when Colors came out and the band I work in heard it, our whole perspective of writing music changed. We went from being, lets write the heaviest things we can come up with to, lets just be the best musicians we could be.
DB: Yea that is perfect, that was the whole idea. We always have done what we wanted to, and we are thankful for being able to do this. I think at the end of the day it is about not trying to adhere to any one thing. For us, there is no sound that is Between the Buried and Me. There is no one album that is Between the Buried and Me, and this allows us to really play off what is the true progressive idea. Which is you are trying to write music that is advancing your sound, your palate, by not repeating yourself and trying something new. Those are the types of bands that we love.
GA: The band’s last major release was 2017-18’s Automata I ⅈ is the band currently working on follow up material, if so, what can you tell me about the process?
DB: Currently we are trying to wrap up some things. In May, we were supposed to have our 20-year anniversary tour but now that is on hold. We are like everyone else trying to come to terms with this new reality that we are in right now. This hits personally as well, as we all are trying to get by in our daily lives with this change. We wanted to do the 20-year touring cycle and then access where we are at as a band and find a way to move forward. This is what we do every three or so years when we begin to write a new record. The time frame has shifted but we will get to that tour and move forward.
GA: When the band is coming up with new material, what is your writing process like? Do you all share ideas, or is there a primary song writer/ writing team?
DB: It is all different. Some people share short bursts. The way that I write, is more like seeing an idea through. I am usually presenting fuller ideas. Paul kind of writes like this. He strings a lot of stuff together when he presents the material to the band. The other guys may write shorter bursts, but also aid in stitching things together. It is nice when you get to that point where you have a lot of material and just have to fine tune it.
The fine-tuning process is a lot of fun, where we can question pieces and play around with them. They can be subtle things where you won’t lose any sleep on it, and its not going to change the world. It is just that one thing where it may make that one person feel a little more comfortable, and everyone approves. I think about that stuff, and thinking about it now with these little nuances, I can’t hear the songs any other way. Especially now that the songs have been recorded and we have played them over the years. It is like I don’t even remember how the original version of the songs were.
I think with a lot of the older music it was a lot of stitching section by section, we just don’t work that way anymore. It was an exhausting way of trying to create this organic thing. I think back to those albums like Colors, and you could be five to six minutes into a song and be like, “where are we?” It was section by section. You were just living in that section, then wondering how to we get to the next section.
I think one of the important things in songwriting is being able to step back. During demoing, it is taking breaks like car rides or walks, getting away from my desk so I can free my mind outside of the constructs of my instrument. So, I can come back and listen to it fresh, and know this is not working or needs changed. When you are going at it in the heat of the moment you cannot think about it clearly.
Going back to how we write, we don’t write in the practice space. It has been a long, long, time since we have done that. Even with that it was more arranging these parts in the practice space, not necessarily writing new parts. Thankfully because of technology, we don’t have to work this way anymore, because for one we all live spread out from each other now. For two, everyone has a lot going on in their lives, and we can’t commit for months to this getting up four or five days a week to meet up. We used to be able to do this in the past when we were in our twenties and lived close to each other, but now it is just not feasible.
GA: So, do you guys rely more on file sharing these days then?
DB: Absolutely. I have multiple bands with members all over the country, and all over the world. This is the time we live in now. Thankfully, you can sculpt songs easier now. You all canhave the same programs, and work within the same sessions, and share them back and forth. Technology has made it so easy.
GA: You mentioned you are also involved in several other projects musically, what can you tell me about these?
DB: There has been a lot over the years. I have worked with the groups Orbs, Trioscapes, Nova Collective, and I have my own stuff with Nightmare Scenario. My thing has always been music.I just live in the creative space always, regardless if I am working on an album or not. I am always writing or working on something. Since around 2008, I have always had other musicians to bounce stuff off, or they will send me something that will spark an idea. That is one of the great things about music, is through these collaborations, discovering these ideas that may not have existed any other way. No matter how much time I would have spent in my bedroom that idea would never have come, without someone else sending me something to spark that creativity.
Orbs was a group that released a couple records. I was playing guitar in that band and it was more space rock, with some theatrics and other worldly stuff. The sound was influenced by bands like Muse, and Radiohead. Trioscapes was a three piece, with tenor saxophone, bass, and drums, and we put out 2 records. The sound was wild, and free formed, not exactly like jazz per say, just fun wild music. A lot of the music was based off improvisations. Which is so different from a BTBAM performance, where the music has a base and is rigid; playing the songs the same way from start to finish every night. Which playing like that is great, but I also love the energy. Some nights it is not there and other nights it is the highest of highs. I also had a group I started around 2014 called Nova Collective, that consisted of Matt the drummer of Trioscapes and I, with Rich the guitarist of the band Haken, and his buddy Pete on keys. The music was like instrumental meets jazz, rolled in with some fusion. They were some scary players, just out of this world good. It was so fun to play with them. My own stuff I don’tknow how to describe it. I put out an EP last year, and some small singles since then. It is hard to describe the sound, it is like everything I have ever heard and digested comes out in the music, because it is not filtered through any one band. There is nobody else, it is just me.
GA: When you are playing/ practicing on your own what are some pieces of music you like to play through, and what are some pieces that you could say helped attribute to your playing style?
DB: I have never been big on learning songs. I have a video that I did with some friends where I did a version of the Weather Report’s song ‘Teen Town.’ When my buddy Chris who is the drummer approached me about doing the song, I thought about it and it occurred to me that I have never learned a Jaco Pastorius bass line before. I have imitated his phrasing, and his styling, and the way that he plays, but I have never learned any of his bass lines before. So, I learned the lines for this song, and it is fucking insane. It was so cool to dig into the sheet music and learn his thing, and get to play along with this song that I have known. What a trip that was. I usually don’t have the time to do this.
About five years ago BTBAM did a recorded and live version of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ When I dug into the piano score, it blew my mind. We all know Bohemian Rhapsody is this epic song, it is almost like a song within a song. When I was going through the music and splitting up the parts amongst our instruments, it was blowing my mind. I could not believe it. It was so cool to dig into that song and digest it, and we got to reinterpret it as the musicians that we are. That was really fun, but honestly, I don’t do that anymore, it has been many years since I have done that.
In my high school years, Dream Theatre’s ‘Scenes from a Memory’ was a record that all my friends and I loved. It was our gateway into progressive rock and metal. I had the song book; I still have it and it has all my markings all over it. I could play it front to back and even some of the songs on guitar. It shaped a lot of my understanding of how to apply a musical way of playing with time signatures and phrasings. They had so many stylistic ideas. There were so many things you don’t think about, but are digested (when you listen to them), and as a composer you start to inheritably do these things. I would never look at BTBAM material and be like that came from Dream Theatre, but if I was really thinking about it I could be like, oh shit in theory, it is a conceptual idea that I may have learned from that time.
GA: When I listen to BTBAM I can hear bits and pieces of other bands, but it is still your style and your creative influence on the song.
DB: I think if we were to do a song purely inspired by the Beatles, it still wouldn’t sound like the Beatles because it is running through our filter. Tommy is still singing that song, Blake is still playing the drums, so it is still not going to be exactly that.
GA: We have time for one more question. You mentioned about the 20-year anniversary tour being postponed earlier, in what ways has the band been trying to recoup since everything has been shut down due to the coronavirus?
DB: Well honestly, stuff like these reissues, which thankfully we already had planned on doing. It is a nice thing because it helps us to have something to push during this time. It gives us a monetary source, but also keeps our name out there. The whole point of the 20-year anniversary, is to be looking back, appreciating all the records during our lifetime. If all of a sudden, we are talking about the first album being remixed, remastered, and reprinted, these are all things we have control over. That is just putting out the idea we had for the whole year anyways.
Who knows maybe by staying home and putting this tour off till whenever, it may boost the profile of everything? Since we are spending all this time up until being able to tour promoting the back catalogue. It is rather interesting. The last three years have been long. We got out of the studio when we recorded Automata in the summer of 2017. That fall, we did the10- year tour for the Colors album. Automata came out I believe January or February of 2018. So, we have been going nonstop since we got out of the studio in 2017. Everyone is bummed because we just want to do this tour, but at the same time I think it’s also the first time we get to relax even if its for a bit. It has been great because we can recharge. We are 20 years in and with all these records, I think everyone is enjoying having a little bit of time to themselves. It is a bit of a forced vacation for a lot of people but in a way, I think it is good. When we do get the thumbs up to return to touring, we will spend a month learning and prepping the set. We already have the set for the tour, so we will work on that and then be back on the road.
Thanks to Craft Recordings
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by Josh Drespling
I was at Preserving Underground to cover Filth and Resistor. I was all set with my photo pass and cameras at the ready. And then this young band exploded onto the stage. No grand entrance, no intro music, no flashy lights—just a wall of noise from the first guitar chord and a guttural growl that seemed to come from somewhere below the floorboards. I was blown away. Thoroughly impressed.
This band was Inferious, out of Dayton, Ohio. If you look up the word “inferious,” most dictionaries will tell you it means something low-status, submissive, or fit for sacrifice. But this Ohio metalcore outfit Inferious has spent the last several years proving that definition couldn’t be more wrong. Tonight in the basement of a converted church, Inferious delivered raw, sweat-soaked fury to all who were smart enough to show up early.
Before their set was even half over, I made up my mind that I had to talk to them and let our readers know about this band. Here is how it went:
Empire: This was the first time I have ever seen you guys. I’ve heard your name before but never had the chance to listen. The show tonight was freaking awesome. I loved it from the first few notes. The vocals and the guitar tone just hit ya right in the chest.
Since I am a new fan, can you give me the nickel tour of how you came together and I understand you are from Dayton, Ohio.
Shaun O’Shaughnessy – Guitarist: I live in Dayton, and the original band members all formed in Dayton, but it was kind of a collage of multiple band folks. People from the southwest Ohio area. Gabe [McQueen – vocals] and I were there at the beginning, and then through some line-up changes, this is our current and most solid touring line-up so far with Cody and Kyle. They also are from the area and have been in several bands. So they were always in the same circles, at the same shows, talking to the same people. It all worked out one day.
Empire: Given that, it seems like there is a healthy music scene in Dayton. Are there any good clubs, any fields to play in?
Shaun: It’s hard to say Dayton, Ohio, specifically so much as just southwest Ohio because of the way that Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati form like a little triangle. You’re only an hour apart from each other. So we can get into that larger music scene pretty easily. So Dayton itself has venues, but the whole collective area has stuff. There’s some house venues, like Gnome House, there’s Bob’s, but then Cincinnati has Madison Live, and Design Collective [DSGN CLLCTV] was doing shows for a while, but I think they got in trouble.
Cody: Yeah, it some code stuff.
Empire: I think there are a couple decent places in Akron, and even across the border is Huntington, WV?
Shaun: Yeah, that area still does have sick stuff. It’s just farther away from our personal local scene. Cleveland is kind of separate from us too.
Cody: That’s not necessarily our scene, but there is such a good underground local scene from the Huntington / Athens / Charleston area. Shout to Feverwar.
Shaun: We were just at the Grog Shop [outside Cleveland].
Cody: We were at the New Foundry not too long ago.
Empire: Oh, yeah, like upstairs?
Shaun: No, it is Foundry’s new location.
Empire: I’ve not been there.
Shaun: It looks basically like the old one, but it’s new.
Empire: You mentioned the Grog Shop. Were you guys there with Filth and Resistor?
Shaun: Yeah, we’ve been on tour with Filth and Resistor. The first half of the tour had Two-Piece on it; we missed them, but now Mono’s [Monochromatic Black] on for the second half, and they’re homies.
Gabe and I toured with them in Inferious a couple years ago with band called AMTAE, and Monochromatic Black. So, those are long-time homies as well. So, we’ve known Tanya [Elizabeth (Beickert) – Vocals] and Eddie [DeCesare – Drums] for a long time, and Pierce [Akers – Guitar] is our new best friend as well.
Empire: So, it’s just like a big hang for you guys.
Shaun: Yeah, all the homies are back. We’ve toured with Filth before too; we were out with them on the Oceano tour, and then actually a year ago, I think like right now, like today a year ago, we toured with Filth also. So, it’s Filth and Oceano, and then Filth again.
So, it’s been fun to have a full circle of friend hangs, and every night’s been sick. The show turnouts have been amazing, and then just hanging out with all our friends has been amazing.
Empire: That’s part of what makes it fun. Whether you have 50 people or 1000, you have that camaraderie and shared experience.
Empire: So do you currently have an album out? Where do you guys stand with that?
Gabe: We have music out everywhere, on all music platforms: Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and YouTube Music. Shit, if you even got to rip that shit, YouTube to MP4, do it, man!
Shaun: We got your back. We got three full lengths and an EP. We are working on a new EP with a label we’re signed to that we’ll announce here soon, but that’s going to be really exciting stuff, and just stoked to be able to get that out soon.
Empire: Cool. So don’t say the label name, but your deal is in place, and then the new album in the fall, winter, spring?
Shaun: Yeah, the EP should be coming out sometime this year, if all the schedules align and everything, but that’s in the works.
Empire: Cool. Filth tour, what’s after that?
Shaun: Finishing up the EP. Record release cycle, and then hopefully touring in support of that. Whether it’s co-headlining with somebody or doing some more support stuff, we’re down for whatever. Hopefully we can fill up the rest of the year.
You know, touring is hard financially, so while we’re able to still make ends meet on the road, it’s hard to pay all the bills, so we’ve got to go home, stack our bread back up, and then be ready to go back out again.
Empire: I understand. Is this your first time in Pittsburgh?
Shaun: We’ve actually played Preserving. This is at least the fifth time.
We played the DIY room, we played this room, this orientation, we played this room when it was facing the other direction. AJ, the owner, has been good to us. He is a rad dude.
Empire: AJ is great.
Shaun: The record shop and merch store upstairs is sick, I just bought a shirt, a Never Ending Game shirt, because we have to do a laundry soon, and I bought a shirt to extend one more day to get through.
Empire: Anything you guys want to add, anything going on? Shameless plugs?
Shaun: This has been a kind of sick tour, because I think we’ve all got to see family members. Gabe’s dad dropped him off, so we got to see Gabe’s dad. We got to go get breakfast with my mom and some family, I saw my aunt. Cody’s mom let us stay at her crib, and we got to hang out with her and his family. Kyle’s family came out last night and hung out, and that was pretty sick, so it’s been a good time.
Empire: Kyle hasn’t said anything, so tell me about your family coming out and seeing the show.
Kyle: I mean, it was my sister’s first time seeing us live.
Empire: What did she have to say? I mean, I’m sure she knew the style.
Kyle: Oh, yeah, she’s conditioned to it.
Empire: She’s not like a Britney Spears fan at a hardcore show?
Kyle: No, no, she’s by far not a normie, but close to it.
Empire: Thank you, gentlemen. That’s all I have today. Appreciate it, and thanks for the show. It was great; loved it.
Shaun: See you next time.
Before that night at Preserving Underground, I’ll be honest: Inferious was just a name on a show flyer. Another opening band before the acts I actually came to see.
That’s the thing about this level of heavy music. The headliners get the lights, the longer set, and the crowd that’s already warmed up. But the openers? They get twenty-five minutes, a soundcheck that barely counts, and a room full of people who are mostly looking at their phones. Inferious didn’t just overcome that. They incinerated it.
What struck me most, sitting down with Shaun, Gabe, Cody, and Kyle after the show, was how unpretentious they were. No egos. No rock-star posturing. Just four guys from southwest Ohio who’ve been grinding in the same circles, playing the same basement venues, and slowly building something real. They talked about the small venues with the same reverence other bands reserve for stadiums. They shouted out Feverwar. They bought merch from the shop upstairs to make it through one more day on the road.
That’s the part you don’t see from the crowd. The financial grind. The van trouble. The “stack our bread back up” reality of modern touring. And yet, here they were—genuinely stoked to have seen family members at shows, genuinely grateful for AJ at Preserving keeping the doors open for underground bands, and genuinely excited about an upcoming EP they couldn’t even name the label for yet.
Inferious may have a name that suggests something low-status, something sacrificial. But after watching them level a converted church in New Kensington, and after listening to them talk about their scene with the easy confidence of people who have nothing to prove, I think the definition needs an update.
Check them out on all the streaming platforms. Catch them when they roll through your town on the next tour. And for the love of God, show up early.
You never know which opening band is going to blow your doors off.
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AESTHETIC PERFECTION CAME INTO PENNSYLVANIA AND BROUGHT WITH THEM JULIEN K AND PRIEST. EMPIRE EXTREME GOT TO SIT DOWN AND TALK TO DANIEL GRAVES OF AESTHETIC PERFECTION BEFORE THE SHOW. CHECK OUT THE INTERVIEW BELOW.
JULIEN K OPENED UP THE SHOW AND ALWAYS PUT ON A HELL OF A SHOW. RYAN AND AMIR AND GALEN ARE JUST REALLY GREAT GUYS AND TRULY APPRECIATE THEIR FANS. ITS ALWAYS GREAT SEEING THEM PLAY LIVE AND ENDING THE SET WITH A THROWBACK TO THE DAYS OF ORGY WITH “BLUE MONDAY”.
PRIEST WAS UP NEXT AND LOVE SEEING MERCURY AND THE GUYS ON AND OFF THE STAGE. WE GOT TO HEAR SOME NEW SONGS AND SOME OLD ONES. I LOVED THEY PLAYED “SIGNAL IN THE NOISE”. SUCH A GREAT BAND TO SEE LIVE.
AESTHETIC WAS UP NEXT AND I WAS EXCITED TO SEE THE BAND ON A HEADLINING TOUR . IT WAS ALSO GREAT TO RUN INTO AND TALK TO JOE AND NOIZITH BEFORE THE SHOW. AESTHETIC PUTS ON A GREAT SHOW AND THE ENERGY FROM THE 3 IS INSANE AND NON STOP. SUCH A GREAT BAND TO SEE LIVE AND SUCH GREAT CATCHY SONGS THAT WAS MAKING THE CROWD DANCE AND ENJOY THEMSELVES. IF THIS TOUR COMES YOUR WAY MAKE SURD TO CHECK IT OUT.
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Interview with Peter Smith, drummer for Resistor
Live photos by: Ron S. of Empire Extreme
Band promo photo credit: Sean Raynor
Long Island’s Resistor have never been content to simply exist within genre lines—they’d rather bulldoze them entirely. The self-described purveyors of “knuckle dragging wika wika core” are poised to unleash their full-length debut BITE THIS on March 27 via Paid Vacation, and if the advance copies circulating are any indication, the 29-minute assault is exactly the kind of no-skip, leave-them-wanting-more experience the quintet has been perfecting since their 2023 So It Begins EP. Built from the ground up with producer Randy LeBoeuf (Kublai Khan TX, The Acacia Strain) and featuring the turntable wizardry of Manhattan’s own Anthony Arce, the album channels the cocky swagger of nu-metal’s heyday through a hardcore filter that’s equal parts brutal and self-aware—a balance that’s become the band’s signature.
Empire Extreme recently caught up with drummer Pete Smith ahead of the album’s release and the band’s upcoming Northeast run with Filth, including a April 30 stop at Pittsburgh’s Preserving Underground. Over the course of the conversation, Smith dove into the story behind the album’s striking clay sculpture artwork, the reality of playing the Gathering of the Juggalos, why cassettes hold a special place in his heart, and how a wrestling ring full of real blood became the setting for one of the band’s most memorable music videos. He also addressed the obvious elephant in the room: whether those Islander jerseys are going to cause problems when the band hits Penguin and Steeler territory.
Empire Extreme – First off to jump right into it. The new album is coming out March 27, and my first question has to be, what is the album artwork?
Pete – Long story short, we’ve been following this theme with our last couple of records. We started with our EPs, so it all began a couple of years ago. We found this cool clown design that just resonated with us. For the last couple of records, we’ve been doing different versions of this clown. For this last one we found a random clown sculpture on Instagram by a local artist. We all saw it, and we fell in love. It’s so cool, it’s off-putting, but like in the best way. We all like it and fit with the music, so we hit the guy up. Initially it wasn’t available, then came to find out he likes our music, and he’s already a fan. Then he was like, “Yeah, you guys can just totally use the artwork” He was super stoked about it. So yeah, it makes a fun story.
Empire Extreme – That’s awesome, I was going to ask you about who the artist was. Can you give us his name, and give him some props?
Pete – Yeah, I believe on Instagram it’s Clay for Brains. His name is Tim. He makes these really cool clay sculptures.
Empire Extreme – Oh, so it’s like a three-dimensional kind of art?
Pete – Yeah, it’s a real sculpture. Our singer [Anthony Grambo] does a lot of graphic design work, so he took the sculpture and made into it what it is on the record.
Empire Extreme – That’s awesome that you are hands-on with that, and plus you got a local guy.
Empire Extreme – Speaking local, you guys are from New York, whereabouts?
Pete – Yeah, so we’re pretty much all based on Long Island, New York, but our DJ [Anthony Arce] lives in Manhattan. We’re all from more western Long Island, and you know. We definitely claim New York. You’ll see us wearing New York stuff, pretty much everywhere you see us. We’re not shy about it, but yeah, Long Island boys for sure.
Empire Extreme – As you know Empire is based in Pittsburgh, and I’ve seen a couple photos of you guys wearing an Islander’s jersey. That’s just not going to go well when the tour hits Pittsburgh. This is deep Penguin and Steelers territory. LOL!
Pete – You know, good thing our singer is not here. He would have a lot of things to say about the Islander’s. For me, it’s the Mets.
Empire Extreme – How about the Jets? We stole Aaron Rodgers now, so…
Pete – Oh, God. Yeah, honestly, my whole family is Jets fans, I haven’t paid attention to football for a long time. It’s very hard as a Jets fan, so you don’t want to pay attention. It’s pretty depressing.
Empire Extreme – All right, back to music stuff. You guys are doing a handful of shows with Filth. Resistor has done some shows with them before, but you seem like kind of buddies. How did that all develop, and are you looking forward to this next handful of shows with them?
Pete – We are all super excited about these shows. We met the guys in Filth. I believe it was summer 2024. That was when we were first gaining any bit of traction. We had finally released our new EP. We were really stoked when we got the first offer with them and it was like an instant connection. We became great friends, and since then, it’s history.
This is going to be our third run together, and this one might be the best one. It has so many good bands on it, a lot of good shows. It’s going to be really awesome.
Empire Extreme – Filth has been one of my favorites in the last couple years. Resistor kind of came onto my radar because of them, plus you were all over my socials. I think it was because of Filth or whatever, but yeah.
Pete – On our second tour together, I actually filled in with Filth on drums, so there’s a bit of it. We’re connected in more ways than one, for sure.
Empire Extreme – Well, your singer, Grambo is a big Limp Bizkit fan. With Filth redoing “Rolling”, is there any chance that you might knock out some type of collaboration or do something silly live?
Pete – We’ve always thrown up the idea of doing some kind of collab, but I’ll leave it at that. I won’t spoil it if we will or we won’t. If it happens, if it happens.
Empire Extreme – All right. Please explain “knuckle dragging wika wika core”.
Pete – “Knuckle dragging wika wika core” at its core, no pun intended is the best way that we can describe what we do. We feel like we’re doing something familiar, but it’s also something that is hard to place into a specific genre because we feel like it can kind of fall under a couple of things. So, we’re like, we got to start thinking of our own thing to call it. And what we landed on was “knuckle dragging wika wika core”. It’s just about crazy, heavy riffs. You know, stuff that makes you want to drag your knuckles across the ground and then you hear the wika, wika, wika, in the background. So, we just put them together.
Empire Extreme – When I first saw that, I just kind of laughed inside. I was like, that nails it right there.
Pete – Yeah, exactly. You know, we’re like, while we are super heavy, with a the “fuck you” [attitude] we also try to be a little goofy and self-aware of where we are. And we’re not taking ourselves too seriously. We are having fun.
Empire Extreme – Can you tell us about working with Randy LeBoeuf (Acacia Stain, Misery Signals, Counterparts, Thy Art is Murder, Every Time I Die, Unity TX, Kublai Khan TX)?
Pete – Randy, I cannot say enough positive things about him? Because he truly is like one of the best at what he does. But yeah, we went to the studio around mid-August last year. And I think up until November, we were writing and recording. We did have a month-long tour in between. But otherwise, we were literally at the studio writing, recording, almost the whole second half of last year. We feel like once it comes out, this record is really going to let people see why we’re taking so long.
Empire Extreme – We got an advance copy here at Empire and I have listened to it probably, I don’t know maybe 10 or 12 times. Just the heaviness of the whole album and it has that groove and a real hip-hop sensibility to it.
Pete – That’s awesome. Do you have a favorite song by any chance? Not to you on the spot first. The one that sticks out to you.
Empire Extreme – I don’t know the names off the top of my head. They all kind of still blend together in my head. But obviously the two singles you put out the videos for. I mean, both of those are slammin’.
Pete – I’m only asking because we are at a weird point where the album’s coming out in two weeks and obviously, we’re going to start playing live and we’re going to start releasing more music videos. So, I just wanted to kind-of get a vibe of what people are enjoying right off the bat.
Empire Extreme – I know exactly what you mean. Let me say this, you know, people say back in the day it used to be albums. How it is now with singles and streaming. We would listen to the whole album without skipping a single track.
Pete – Exactly. That was our main goal with this for sure. We wanted a no skip album. You know, a full listening experience.
Empire Extreme – Yes, it is. Plus, with the entire album clocking in at 29 or 30 minutes long? It’s like, oh, it’s over already.
Pete – Exactly. That’s another thing that we always preached that you never want to overstay your welcome. When it comes to live sets, but also with albums too. We very much want to leave them wanting more. You don’t want to get to the end of an album or a live set and be like, all right, we’ll I wish they were done 10 minutes ago. So, yeah, that’s like our number one thing. We always want to leave people wanting more. That’s a big thing for us.
Empire Extreme – I’ve been in lots of different bands in my life and that was always one of my things. Leave them wanting more because then they’re going to buy the CD, then they’re going to check us out online and even come to another show. We didn’t want to go there and play for an hour and bore them after half an hour.
Pete – I can’t tell you how many bands I’ve watched for the first 20 minutes of the show. Like, this is awesome. I’m so stoked. Even though it could be my favorite band on the planet, I’m watching it for 20, 30 minutes. This is awesome. This rules. And then, you know, minute by minute, you start to feel like, ah, I just wanna go home, this going to go all night.
Empire Extreme – Yeah, you’re looking at your phone and your watch.
Pete – Yes, exactly. I’ve got to speak about it from a showgoer’s perspective or a listener’s perspective, you know? Yeah, that’s a thing that is important to us.
Empire Extreme – You mentioned the videos. Currently there’s the “Dead Soul” and “Petty Fuck” videos. You kind of mentioned there’s more in the works. What’s the story?
Pete – Yeah, I won’t spoil what song it’s for. We did just shoot a video yesterday. That should be coming out the day of the record. It’s going to be really cool. It’s a really funny video. It’s not like the ones we’ve done before. It’s pretty much all a story. It’s very juicy. It’s so ridiculous that you’ll laugh when you see it. It’s not like any video you’ve ever seen before. I can promise you that.
Empire Extreme – I’m looking forward to it.
You guys played the Gathering of the Juggalos this past summer. I’m very familiar with the Juggalo family and have been involved with Psychopathic off and on over the year. It can be intimidating going in knowing that some bands get up there and they are pelted with bottles and booed off stage.
Pete – I want to be as positive as possible, but I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t a great experience. It’s one of those things where I’m happy, we did it. I’m glad to say that we did it. The community, we love the community. The people that were there to see us were super stoked. We love the community and the fans. The time was just weird. We just had to play early, and we also were in the middle of the studio. So, we had to drive from New York to Ohio for one day at a festival and then we drove right back. And things just didn’t line up for us.
Empire Extreme – So it was more of a logistics thing?
Pete – Yeah, I don’t want to say it was a totally bad experience. Just walking around the festival was crazy. You know what I mean? It is certainly site to see. It was a lot of fun. Everybody there was super cool and super nice. I love all the fans. Everyone who we talked to were the coolest people ever. I highly recommend that if you could go you should go once in your life. I would recommend going because it’s so ridiculous. It’s awesome.
Empire Extreme – That moment you walk in the gates of the Gathering. You’re just like, Oh my.
Pete – You know, it’s unlike anything you could truly do on the planet. So, in that sense, it rules. Our guitar player [Anthony Conti] did a Faygo launch competition, which is pretty funny. That probably was the highlight for me. I wish I could say it was like the best thing ever. And there were 5,000 people watching us, but yeah, we can’t win them all.
Empire Extreme – Well, the way they have it set up with the multiple stages and some of them are playing at four o’clock in the morning or whatever.
Pete – That’s the thing. The stage that we played was the second stage out of three. We thought it was like it’s like this big stage near everybody. It was a pretty big stage, but the problem is it’s not near anybody or anything. It was a 10-minute walk away from the main stage and then down a huge hill. If you weren’t near the hill, you couldn’t even see the stage at all. So, no one even knew where we were playing.
Empire Extreme – How was the load into that stage?
Pete – Surprisingly that was the easiest part. I think the only real issue was how early we had to play. Our set time was around four o’clock. We were like “Oh, that’s perfect.” We are right in the middle of day, everyone’s going to be like hanging out. But I think the reality is with the Gathering people aren’t really getting active until a bit later, you know what I mean? It takes until six or seven o’clock and then people start to come out and party. We realized that after the fact, but you know, you live and learn.
That’s why I said it’s like a lot of, a lot of little things. But overall, it was a fun experience, something I’m glad that we did for sure. We just had a couple little of hiccups.
Empire Extreme – To rewind back to the album, I forgot to ask you about the blue vinyl version coming out.
Pete – Yeah, this is our first time doing a vinyl for a full record. We have vinyl up for pre-order now on our website; weareresistor.com. If anyone wants a pre-order vinyl, we got them there. It’s a pretty short run. I think it’s only 300 copies. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. And we will also have them on tour too.
If anyone sees us in person, we’ll have tour vinyls as well.
Empire Extreme – You guys have a date here in Pittsburgh, I think it’s at the end of April or something like that? (Thursday, April 30 at Preserving Underground with Filth, Monochromatic Black, and Inferious)
Pete – Yeah. We’re hitting the Northeast towards the end of the month.
Empire Extreme – What does this band mean to you? I mean, is it a release or therapy, an escape, or a way to pick up chicks or an attempt to get rich?
Pete – Well, I would say if getting rich was my main priority I would have been out of this a long, long time ago. The real reason I’m here is just to make really, really cool music.
My parents are musicians. They’re lifelong musicians. So, it’s something I felt that I was meant to do from a very young age. It’s literally in my blood. My dad is a drummer and my mom’s a singer. That happens to be the two things that I do. You know, it’s a predictable path I went down. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Empire Extreme – Did you start out playing drums when you were a kid or did you start out on another instrument?
Pete – My first real instrument was upright bass. I played that all through elementary, middle, and high school. I played drums here and there as a kid, but I didn’t really have a passion for it. Until maybe when I was starting high school. I joined the band. Well, the original reason was because of this girl. I guess you could say that. It was like she was in the band, and I liked her, so I started playing drums more, and then it all went from there.
Empire Extreme – That’s funny and cool. So, who was your drum idol?
Pete – That’s a tough one. I have a few of them. Do you know the band called Periphery?
Empire Extreme – Yeah, I’m familiar with them.
Pete – Their drummer, his name is Matt Halpern. He was a big, big inspiration. I mean, just his style of playing. It’s a very progressive, very smooth style, very loose, and a lot of ghost notes and cymbals. You know cool little flourishes here and there. I really love that. And the obvious one Joey Jordison of Slipknot. They are one of my favorite bands of all time and hearing his drumming in the band. He had some of the first crazy drumming I’ve heard in my life. That’s an easy one. So, yeah, those two would be the ones if I had to [give] credit to me starting
Empire Extreme – Those are two very prolific drummers. You mentioned Slipknot, and I can hear some of that influence in the new album. The Slipknot rhythm kind of thing. I have it right here in my notes. Limp Bizkit mixed with Slipknot and some punk rock and some newer bands too.
Pete – Yeah, I kind of bring a modern style mixed with some old school style, you know what I mean?
Empire Extreme – Yeah, not to say that it’s all over the place, but it’s pulling from lots of different areas.
Pete – For what it’s worth, it is kind of is all over the place, but in a good way. We wanted it to be a little all over the place. We wanted to be something that, while it’s familiar, it’s something that people haven’t heard before.
Empire Extreme – I have kind of a handful of oddball weird questions, and you can answer them as you like.
Pete – Yeah, sure.
Empire Extreme – When you guys are driving in the van from show to show, who controls the music in the vehicle?
Pete – My personal rule is whoever is driving. When I’m driving, I will not break that rule. Otherwise, it depends on who’s driving. Some of the people in the van are more anal about their music being played. For me I won’t have it any other way. I gotta focus, you know what I mean? I need to have my own music or a podcast or something like that to keep me focused on the road, you know.
Empire Extreme – OK next one. Are you prepared for a zombie apocalypse or AI becoming aware? And is there a difference between the two?
Pete – I think I would take a zombie apocalypse over AI to be honest. But I think the second one is unfortunately way more likely one that happens. I’m probably not prepared for that. I don’t think any of us are. I think I’m probably completely fucked when that drops. At least with AI, I’m kind of already mentally prepared for that one.
Empire Extreme – Here is another silly one. If a cartoon character was to join Resistor, what cartoon character would it be?
Pete – Oh, that’s, a really good question. Mm-hmm. Maybe Beavis and Butt-Head, well one of those two.
Empire Extreme – That’s a great answer.
Pete – I feel like they would like sitting in our van, I feel like it would work. You know? The conversations are all over the place.
Empire Extreme – They’d fit right in, is what you’re saying?
Pete – Yeah, exactly.
Empire Extreme – Here’s another stupid one. Every time you walk into a room and a song plays, what would that song be?
Pete – It’s probably The Rock theme song. That is completely it. Or something really goofy or cheesy. I can’t take myself too seriously, to be honest, something along those lines.
Empire Extreme – You mentioned The Rock. One of my questions that I kind of skipped over was I’ve seen several of your social media posts and whoever is responding from your band has used wrestler memes several times. There was Stone Cold one and a Rock one. So, are you guys wrestling fans and who, what, why, where?
Pete – I would say our singer. He was the most into it out of any of us. I know he was into the old-school early 2000s era. We have a Resistor 3:16 shirt, like the classic Stone Cold shirt. I don’t know if you’ve seen the Come Mierda video, but we literally did it inside a wrestling ring with the real wrestlers. They were just beating the shit out of each other while we’re playing. There is a scene where one of the guys breaks a full light tube over to the other guy’s head and there’s blood everywhere. It’s all real. Nothing was faked. Its all real blood. We had to tarp off the whole thing, it was ridiculous, but a lot of fun. It is my favorite music video we have shot. The actual act of shooting it was so fun because we had a bunch of people literally pretending it was an actual wrestling event. The wrestlers had to do their walk-ins while we were playing and beat the shit out of each other. I also didn’t realize how bouncy a wrestling ring is. When you’re trying to play drums, you bounce and it is all over the place while smashing each other on the floor. It’s no wonder they are jumping from 10 feet off the ground. Makes sense. It was literally like going into a bounce house, but it had a metal floor.
Empire Extreme – I got a couple more stupid ones here. Have you ever gone to spring break?
Pete – No no. I’m not a party person. I’m very much more of a sit at home and play video games guy.
Empire Extreme – Last one, and I’ll get out of here and let you get back to your life. What is your preference. Vinyl, cassette, CDs, 8-tracks, download, stream?
Pete – Okay, so for obvious convenience’s sake streaming is great. But I don’t think it’s the best way to listen to music by any means. Nor do I think it’s good for artists, you know, Spotify and all that. You know the problems in the streaming industry. But honestly, I would love to go back to more cassettes. There’s a certain nostalgia that comes with listening to a tape. Listening to a CD still feels modern. But there is just something I like about it. I remember riding around in the car with my dad as a kid, and he’d always listen to cassettes, and he’d put me onto different bands. He had Rage Against The Machine tapes, and all these different bands. So, I think cassettes would probably be my number one, just for nostalgia purposes.
Empire Extreme – With the cassettes it kind of forces you to listen to the whole album. Skipping was kinda difficult trying to figure out where the next song starts.
Pete – Yeah, exactly. And similar, at least with vinyl you can lift it, but you’re more encouraged to listen to it from front to back, rather than just skipping through.
Empire Extreme – To wrap up is there anything you want to add? Any self-promotion?
Pete – Well, I’ll just end it by shouting out the band.
WeAreResistor on all platforms. Our new album, Bite This, drops on March 27, which I believe is less than two weeks away now, so that’s pretty crazy. But yeah, we’re streaming on all the platforms. We’ve got pre-orders on our website, weareresistor.com.
Empire Extreme – Awesome, great. Thank you for your time. Hopefully I get to check you guys out when you come through Pittsburgh here next month.
Pete – Yeah, I’m so looking forward to it.
Resistor is:
Anthony Grambo [vocals]
Anthony Conti [guitar]
Ian Schneider [bass]
Anthony Arce [turntables]
Peter Smith [drums]
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