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