Matt Connarton Unleashed: Dead By Wednesday

0:00 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.

0:26 Speaker 2: We at the highway. I was like, oh my god, wrong.

0:29 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?

0:45 Speaker 2: Probably?

0:46 Speaker 1: Oh, pull pull up, pull up, Mike up. Sorry, sorry, those Mike's are probably there.

0:50 Speaker 2: You go.

0:50 Speaker 3: Okay, So wow, I think Opus and I met probably

1:01 Speaker 3: late three. The idea conjured up around oh four and made it official two thousand and five.

1:08 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?

1:20 Speaker 2: Now? This January will be five years? Five years, five years already, Mike, Yeah, I know. Wow.

1:25 Speaker 1: Does it seem longer to you or does it seem quicker like like that?

1:28 Speaker 3: Yeah?

1:29 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.

1:35 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?

1:51 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?

2:00 Speaker 1: Right?

2:00 Speaker 2: Yeah? So yeah, it was I think it originated with Opus and Dave. Well how did it come about?

2:10 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.

2:55 Speaker 3: It's like, hey, you know, try it, listen to it. So he kept pushing it and it just morphed, you know.

3:02 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.

3:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's excellent, And it's already getting played like on Serious X.

3:14 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.

3:24 Speaker 1: Yeah, excellent. I assume this is part of the live set. Now you guys playing this.

3:27 Speaker 3: Live, we are going to introduce it into the set, uh in two weeks.

3:32 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.

3:42 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's what we The last time we were on stage was May.

3:46 Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, June. June, Yeah, June too, June. Yeah. Yeah.

3:51 Speaker 3: So yeah, it's been a minute for us.

3:53 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. And then now you've got a big in uh well next year, right, there's a big tour.

3:59 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.

4:11 Speaker 1: Oh very good, Yeah, very good. Have you toured with them before?

4:14 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.

4:24 Speaker 1: Yeah.

4:25 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.

4:48 Speaker 2: They're going to former member of Exodus.

4:50 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?

5:06 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.

5:27 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?

6:02 Speaker 2: Right?

6:04 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?

6:24 Speaker 2: I think the.

6:27 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.

7:11 Speaker 3: But yeah, it can be you know you're building something then all of a sudden just rpe.

7:18 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?

7:29 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.

7:45 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.

7:56 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

8:08 Speaker 2: the band had gotten Slater for that and the vocalist before me had just picked up a new career.

8:15 Speaker 1: Oh.

8:16 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.

8:46 Speaker 2: 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.

8:54 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?

9:05 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.

9:16 Speaker 1: Yeah. Did you know Mike right off the bat that he was the guy?

9:19 Speaker 2: Yeah?

9:19 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I know you got he's sitting right next to on the spot.

9:25 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.

9:40 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.

9:53 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.

10:07 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.

10:15 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.

10:45 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and.

10:48 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.

11:08 Speaker 1: Oh it's nice of you to say let's yeah, yeah, that's pretty generous.

11:13 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.

11:42 Speaker 1: Yeah.

11:43 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.

11:54 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.

12:02 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.

12:26 Speaker 1: Exactly exactly. Yeah, yeah, you got.

12:28 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.

12:38 Speaker 2: Yeah.

12:38 Speaker 3: So yeah, it was like this, who is this guy? Larger than life like personality? But you know, but yeah you are.

12:47 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

13:02 Speaker 1: did you sing that way and other bands prior.

13:04 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.

13:26 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.

13:34 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.

14:14 Speaker 2: Oh okay, sure, So.

14:15 Speaker 1: If you do that before you go to sleep when you wake up.

14:17 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.

14:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah.

14:33 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.

14:40 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.

14:52 Speaker 2: Yeah.

14:52 Speaker 3: No, mentally maybe a window. Horrendous rutal.

14:58 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.

15:09 Speaker 1: By the way, where do you guys record? Does Opus? Does he have a recording studio or.

15:14 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.

15:41 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?

16:08 Speaker 2: Yeah? No, no, I mean I only recorded a few live, but most of the time I recorded them at home.

16:13 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.

16:34 Speaker 1: Yeah.

16:35 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.

16:45 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.

17:07 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.

17:44 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.

17:55 Speaker 3: Like the big, big artists that could afford the equipment to you know.

18:00 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, having an in home studio was like a super privilege at that point.

18:04 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, available to anyone.

18:06 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.

18:27 Speaker 2: I am so excited, yea, super excited. Yeah.

18:30 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?

18:43 Speaker 2: Uh?

18:45 Speaker 1: About what you guys are doing?

18:47 Speaker 2: Wow?

18:48 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.

18:57 Speaker 2: Of tours coming yeah, yeah, the tours with skin Lab.

18:59 Speaker 3: The skin Lab, Yeah yeah, that's going to be a Northeast.

19:04 Speaker 2: Show January seventh.

19:06 Speaker 3: Northeast region in our final date is January twelfth. Is that the one in Albany.

19:12 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.

19:29 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.

19:38 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.

19:52 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.

20:00 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.

20:25 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.

20:34 Speaker 2: Thanks so much again. Sorry for being a little bit late, but we love you guys, and check us out.

20:38 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.