An interview with Justin Longshore and Danny Rodriguez of Through the Eyes of The Dead

Interview by: George Archibald

Photos by: Andrew Bastion

Through the Eyes of the Dead have been forging the way with their own brand of death metal meets deathcore since 2003. The band has dropped three major albums during their tenure, with the latest Disomus, dropping in 2017. The band has been sporadic with its shows playing throughout 2018, with Pittsburgh being the last stop of 2018. I got to speak with guitarist and founder Justin Longshore, and vocalist Danny Rodriguez, at the Pittsburgh Brewtal Beerfest; to find out more on what the band has been up to.

GA: Let’s start with a small introduction, can tell me a little about the band, a brief summary of its beginnings, current lineup, what the band has been doing currently?

JL: TTEOTD started in 2003, out of Florence, South Carolina. We started with an Ep and a split album around 2003… 2004. In 2005, we signed to Prosthetic Records and did three full length albums with them. After extensive touring and several member changes here we are now, signed to eOne Music and Good Fight Music.

GA: Your last album release was 2017’s Disomus, this album is nasty as all hell, just plain out angry. What are your favorite songs to perform live from the album?

JL: I like playing Hate the Living, and Obitual, those are my two favorites for performing live.

DR: I really like Vortices in the Stygian Maelstrom, because it’s a stupid name. Personally, I do like doing that song.

GA: The last album, Disomus, was fucking amazing. I feel like it came out at a time where it was a low point for metal, when things were stagnant with new releases.

DR: I am really proud of that album, we wrote it in different states.

JL: We recorded it in different states as well. It was crazy with all the different studios.

DR:  My schedule was crazy when I had to record. I was at it for sixteen hours a day for an entire week, with work and then recording. At the time, I really hoped it was going to come out good, because there was a lot of effort put into that album.

GA: Is the band currently working on any follow up material to Disomus?

JL: We have been talking about it. I have some riffs here and there. Steven (Funderbunk), our other guitar player is in another band, Wretched. He started touring with us in 2014, and he has some stuff on the last record, so we want to get him more involved on the new record for song writing.

GA: When you are writing material what do you look to for inspiration for songs, this can be lyrics, moods, tones?

DR: Lyrically, I like shit that has to do with the paranormal, ghosts, and stuff that we don’t see. I draw most of my inspiration from movies, and stuff. That is where most of my lyrics come from. Also, I will write about real life experiences.

GA: How did you guys get to be a part of today’s BrewtalBeerfest, and are there any beers you look forward to sampling while here?

JL: I want to sample as many as I can. We also have our own collaboration with Spoonwood Brewing, the Annihilation of Expectation – Hazy Mango IPA (7.1%). So, I am very excited to try that.

DR: So far, I tried one of the beers, it had blood orange in it. It’s called the Falling Void, it is really good, and I have had about 6 of them already.

JL: As for getting on the show, I think our booking agent got us hooked up with it. We got asked to do the show and we looked at the line up, and being it was a beer fest we were all about it. Death metal and beer what more can you ask for?

GA: Having been around for 15 years, what do you think of the newer metal bands that are emerging? Do you have any opinions about the newer genres that have been popping up such as Slam, and downtempo/beatdown?

DR: It seems like these genres are becoming a bit more popular. We played with this band called Bodysnatcher when we were in Austin. I didn’t know what they were about, I didn’t know what they sounded like or anything. I watched them and thought it was awesome. I thought they pulled it off well.

JL: There are so many different genres and variations from over the years it is so hard to keep up. We just do our own thing but, with any new group there is some really good stuff that comes out of it, and then there is some really bad stuff that comes out too.

GA: I spoke to Matt Harvey of Exhumed, last weekend and asked him this question. His response was,” I am starting to have old man syndrome. I like what I like, but I understand that it may not be for me but at least the genre keeps going. “

JL: That is definitely true. We started somewhere, and old heads were probably like these guys suck. We are like the old guys now, so now we do what we do.

DR: I was nineteen when I joined the band, and now I am about to turn thirty. I am starting to get the old man syndrome as well. I still swear by a lot of albums that came out around 2004/2005.

GA: What do you guys enjoy doing in your downtime?

JL: Drinking beer.

DR: A lot of beer drinking, I also like sports. I do a lot of fantasy stuff, so fantasy football, and fantasy basketball. It’s sad but very fun.

GA: What gear is the band currently using for their live set up?

JL: TTEOTD uses Mesa Boogie, Steven is using a Dual Rectifier and both of us are using Mesa Cabinets. I am using some Positive Grid stuff, and some Fractal Audio stuff. We also use Keisel and Ibanez Guitars.

GA: What is next for the band after this show?

JL: We don’t have anything lined up right now, which is very odd because throughout this whole year we had something to plan for. We are taking the rest of the year off, this is the last show of 2018, so we will see what happens in 2019.

DR: We get to be home for Thanksgiving dinner and to celebrate the holidays.

GA: Where can people go to keep up to date on the band and if they want to support you by buying merch where is your online store located?

JL: Our online store is through Benchmark. We are on Facebook, Instagram, and all that good stuff.

DR: We mostly use Instagram these days, our guitarist Steven is always active on there.

JL: We try to post as much as possible, because we are not as active as we used to be. It is kind of hard to get us all together because the band is scattered across the US. Dan is in Chicago, I am in New Jersey, Mike is in New York, Jake is in Virginia, and Steven is in North Carolina.

GA: So how do you guys make that all work? Use a lot of Dropbox and Youtube?

JL: We will send videos of riffs before we are going to get together. As far as writing, I have a recording set up at home, and the band will share ideas that way. Once we get something together that sounds cool, we will send it over to Danny. It has to be somewhat complete for him to write lyrics to the music.

GA: Since it is close to Halloween, if you and your bandmates were stuck in a horror movie, what movie would it be, and who would live and die from the band?

DR: Personally, I am not a huge slasher film kind of guy, this is more up our bassist Jacob’s alley.  I did just see the movie Hereditary, and that was pretty cool.  I think the last person to survive if we were in that movie would probably be me, because I am all about ghosts and the paranormal. I think the first person that would die would probably be Steve, for no particular reason.

GA: Anything else you would like to add?

DR: Thankyou to all the fans that have stuck around, we haven’t been to active the last eight years, but to those who still give a shit it is greatly appreciated.

(Merchandise):https://www.shopbenchmark.com/tteotd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tteotd/

Instagram: @TTEOTD

Twitter: @TTEOTD

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George Archibald

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