Matt Connarton Unleashed: Purging Sin

I know a law firm that will represent you anyway, very apropos anyway. That is called the murder. We have two of the guys from Purging Sin here with Jenny and I this morning on Matt Connorton Unleashed on Saturday, July twentieth, twenty twenty four. Welcome guys, Hello, thanks for having us. Man, hey, please introduce ourselves and now tell us who you are and what you do in the band. Hi, this is Anthony Nacastro. I am the lead singer and with them lead guitary player of the band. I am Brian Barkstill.

I am the backing vocals and bass player. And who are we missing? So we are missing our new drummer, Ed Battles, and our other guitar player, Sean Schaeffer, is not with us today. Okay, okay, now neither of them have been murdered. I hope. Oh no, okay, just making sure why you look think you're about to say something about it, but I don't know. Your hand is on the controller. Oh he's getting ready to just shut me down again. You see this law firm, Yes, yes, but that's a yeah. But as uh as evidenced in one of our our ads.

Yeah, just call one of those guys with the really catchy jingles or something. Yeah, that's right, that's right now. Uh, Brian, were you were you here with us? I remember, Anthony you were here? Were you here also, Brian? Yes, I was here last time? Ye? Okay? And is the lineup the same? I know it's been a few years, so it's actually changed since the last time we're here, because I think the last time we were on the show, we had our drummer, Zach King with us. Okay, So yeah, the lineups changed a little bit since the last time we were here.

Okay, Okay. Melanie, Uh, Liberty in the chat room says, I would love to know the inspiration for this one. I think we're all curious. So that actually came as a blend of multiple story movies and one being the h the assassination from John Lennon from Mark David Chapman, and then the assassination attempt from Reagan and the things the two the one thing that they both had in common were both assailants were infatuated by the book Catcher in the Rye. So I took all three and blended that into one song.

So the first verse is all about John Lennon's murder. The second verses about the assassination attempt, and it's an infatuation with Jordie Foster, you know, you know, trying to prove our love to you know, he was trying to prove his love to Jordie Foster. And then the bridge section was about you know, the you know, the catcher in the Rye, you know, and it may actually I referenced in the bridge itself in the Rye. And then at the end, uh is their institutionalized and they have the thoughts they got you know, they wanted fame, is they wanted recognition, but if they got let out, who knows what they'd be capable of again.

So with that repent, I'd kill again. And and it's a little it's a little bittersweet considering the fact in recent years Reagan's attapted a sense assassin has actually been released from like what and like now he's playing and now he's trying to start a record label, like playing acoustic guitar. So it's just like, okay, I know, right, uh, well yeah it's I I was gonna say, I remember a couple of years ago, two or three years ago. I was listening to Howard Stern one morning and they were talking about that and and playing some because uh yeah, John Hinckley Junior, he's like, he's playing shows.

He's got a it was like a live performance that he did, him and an acoustic guitar, and they played some of it, and uh and it wasn't very good, uh for one thing. But uh, but it's it's weird. It's such a weird world that we live in. And you know, here's John Hinckley Junior, who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan playing a show somewhere, and uh, I I think he kind of got shut down. I think his career, his music career has already been kind of shut down because obviously he's a bit of a controversial figure.

Having an attempted to assassins an understatement. But yeah, and uh, you know, I don't know, like, you know, I don't know how anyone in the music industry would want to, you know, attach themselves to him. Yeah, I mean, I mean, considering they've had some colorful, uh characters in the music industry before. I mean, even the guitarist from the former guitarist of Cannibal corpse. He was arrested for having human remains in his house, and it was just like, so he's no longer with cannibal Corpse.

Yeah yeah again, And I guess anything's possible. I don't know how else to say something. I mean, people complain about cancel culture, but there do have to be sublimits in terms of what we'll tolerate, right right, Yeah, I think I think I would draw the line at uh the music of a would be assassin. Yeah sounds about right, yeah, yeah, but yeah, so yeah, I wondered what the uh so that's what what the songs about it is? And Anthony, you wrote the lyrics? Is is everything that you write kind of dark like that or what?

What? I don't think I have much of a happy song, A little bit more doc than O those. And it was fun when I actually wrote the I think the chorus first in that song, I was actually the music, no, just trying out guitars and I was just humming along and I made the chorus FIfF, and I'm like, oh, I like that. So I've took a little video snapshot of me and I'm just humming no no no no no no no no no no no no did the motive for you, you know, so I gotta so this this brings me to the story that I was I was gonna mention now before we came in.

So when we he originally pitched the song to our original lineup, when our original guitar player, Matt Harris, god Rest his soul was still alive, We're just like looking at each other, like, wow, I do not like this song. But but then again, we were like in between drummers at the time, and just like the song just sounds just so disorganized so anything. But like once we actually got a drummer back, like the song just like really came together. And then of course it becomes the first single that we released off of our second album, Vindicated.

Yeah, and it became a much bigger hit than I ever thought was ever possible. I know, Hey, I've been wrong before. And it was actually kind of funny because like we after we had recorded it as a single, before we had it completely mastered, we put out a demo on our YouTube channel and some other some other stations in the area actually caught wind of it like before, and they thought it was like us releasing a new single. So we're like looking at each other like, oh no, they're so they're playing the unmastered track on the radio, and it's just like, wow, we uh probably should have thought that went through, But after we had it put on the album, it became one of our more popular songs over the past few years.

So yeah, that's great. And to have an organic catch on like that, you know, like radio stations playing the unmastered version, I mean that's pretty cool. Actually, yeaeah it was. It kind of it took us by surprise, honestly, Yeah, big, big time surprise. Yeah, lets look at the album mastered now. Yeah. Yeah, so this is why. It's just like if we if we have anything new coming out, it's just like we'll release like snippets and teasers and stuff like that. But yeah, if somebody's trying to get on hold of our music, and it's like they're going to just immediately grab it and run with it.

So yeah, yeah, I was really by the way you mentioned Matt Harris. I was really sad about that. It's been a few years now, four years September. Yeah, he had never he had never been on this show, but I knew Matt just from the sea. Yeah, and I forget what band he was in when I first met him. Blackout Frenzy was one of his bands. Yep, it might have been. Might have been the Blackout Frenzy. I remember it was one of his last ones, But I can't remember what the because I remember book yeah, because I remember when I used to promote hid Unreal was the other one that he was with?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, but I think it was Blackout Frenzy he was with when I used to when I used to book them. M m. And uh what one of the genuinely nicest people I've ever without a doubt, you know, it's so and I got to tell you, like, it just shows how much of an impact he had on the local scene. Because as soon as the news resonated that he had passed away, I was actually very amazed. Another show did a segment on him, actually read his obituary on the air, said where his his wake and funeral was going to be.

And we just see, like so many of the other local bands that he's either been with or he's friends with, just that the crowd that he drew to his wake was amazing. It just it really showed how much of an impact he had on this community and it was just it was it was nice to see so many people come out and pay their respects for him. It really was. We were very humbled and you know, very floored honestly about the amount of support that you know, came out and drove. So yeah, you knew a lot of people, not just you know, within the music industry, but you know his work work industry too.

Yep. And he was just a very generally good hearted person. Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah, it was. It was tragic to you know, first to watch it from day one when he got the diagnosis to the very and it was cancer, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it started off as colon cancer but then just mess aside to different organs and yeah, but it was one of those things where he caught it extremely late and like he had all the signs, but he never got checked for it. Oh okay, that was really kind of what did him in Get checked everyone, if you're listening, get checked.

Yeah. And this is why the same thing, like every time I talk to like somebody in the medical industry, this is why they're reducing the age of like a first colonoscopy down to to forty five because now there are more and more signs of like colon cancer that are popping up much earlier on and they it's one of the most preventable that you can get, Like if you catch it quick, it can be it can be cured. And he was he was young, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, unbelievable. How long was he in purging sin? Five years?

Five years? Yeah? Okay, okay, yeah, No, I was very I was very sad to I can't believe it's been four years already that he's been gone. Wow. Yeah, but uh, I mean, did you guys, what was that like for you guys in terms of, you know, very often people deal with grief creatively. Did did did Did any music come out of that? There were two songs that came out of it, and one will be played later on the show is a song called Hell and the Horizon. Oh my god, what a great track. So so that was the last song that he has ever recorded with us.

Oh so, I had no idea. Yeah. So so the second guitar solo in that song during after the clean Bridge breakdown that we have, that's him playing guitar. But we also wrote a song and put it on our second album, Vindicated, which is called Shell of bones, So the riff was actually composed by him, but he had not played on this track. So that was a song that we wrote in as an homage film. Yes, oh I had no idea. Wow. Yeah, it's a great, great song, great song. Yeah, I look forward to sharing that with everybody.

Now, So are you guys, what have you been doing? Have you been playing a lot of shows or have you been We've been very busy and it's I mean so obviously like a lot of stuff has been kind of just it's been slowing down but also picking up and summer now for us has actually gotten very busy. We actually we actually just came off of a show at Tupelo Music Hall. We opened for the the all female eighties metal band Vixen open for Vie. That's cool. So we just got that one, and then of course the big one that we have next Thursdays, we're returning to the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion to play on the hazy little stage before God Smack, Nothing More and Flat Black.

Okay, so that's that's really the big one. But Vixen did they play Obviously they played Edge of a Broken Heart. That was the closer, closer yet did they play how Much Love? We were watching the most unfortunately. And it's funny because like the only original member of Vixen is is Rocky Patrucci, the drummer. But and they just debuted their their new lead singer, I can't remember what her name was, but very nice group of girls and they put out a new album just with him last year. I think yes. And funny thing is is, uh, they actually had a lead singer, Lorraine Lewis, and they recorded that album with her.

I think there's this single was called Red. But it's it's funny because like I had a situation with my Uh so, my aunt actually met Lorraine Lewis a few months ago. She's actually recorded my aunt has recorded backing tracks on a Lorraine Lewis track. So I was thinking to myself, I'm like, so my aunt is talking up uh Lorraine Lewis about us, And I was thinking, man, this would come full circle if like we got the show we're opening for Vixen, but then Lorraine Lewis leaves Vixen months before we're supposed to open for this, So it was like it was this close to becoming full circle.

Like yeah, the fact that like they were talking us up and then the next thing, you know, we're playing with Vixen. So that's pretty wild. Yeah, I think too, like her leaving it was it was there's some kind of issue, right, I think legally or something like. If I'm not mistaken, it was not. I think it was like a creative thing. But I really can't remember what the reason was. I saw something about it, but there was there was some sort of a disagreement, as so often happens, Yeah, in the music industry.

Yeah, so the drummers, she's the only original member, correct, Yeah, and they were all nice people. We got to hang out after the show with them, they all out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we have a couple of pictures on our Instagram of us, I mean, both me and Anthony with our respective players. So I'm with the bass player, he's with the lead singer. So it was it was a night. It was a good night. We had we had fun. Now what is so in a scenario like that though, So how do you, I mean, what is your mindset?

Because you have to know going into that, this is you guys don't sound like Vixen, and and you know, and and the typical I don't want to say typical, but you know, I mean Vixen. If for anyone who doesn't know, for youngins who might be listening, you know, they were you could call them hair metal. Some people don't like that term, but yeah, you know from the eighties. You know, they had a couple of big hits and but very much that sound, and you guys are very much not that sound. So how do you like going into that?

Do you worry about that? Do you? It depends on who we're playing with. I mean, I was amazed that we actually got the show with Vixen. Obviously there's other like bands from the eighties that are a little bit more attuned to our music. I mean Metal Church. When we played with them last year, they were definitely a lot closer to our sound. But I think it's also a matter of like, because our sound is so unique, it's kind of hard for us to pair with other similar types of artists. But as I said, they've they've been booking some really great shows at Tupelo, And as soon as I caught win that Vixen was coming, I was just like, you know what I'm gonna I was gonna take a gamble on it.

See if they needed it. I was amazed they write they reached out and they said yes, and we just hopped on it as quickly as we could. And then so what what happens like is the crowd is there kind of a process of winning them over? Is there sometimes is in these situations. I mean it didn't like they were loving it from the first, you know, no, there were people there was the first table in front of us, they like all head bang and good now, I mean we one thing we started doing more more is that how gets closer to us close enough you can start like you can start playing like candema guitar, I pick admids stroke and go grab another one.

Yeah, And it's stuff like that. The interaction so you're not like, you know, ten twenty feet away from them, you can you know get you know, you know, there's no mosh pit in front of you. There's still a lot of engagement and interaction right as well. And that the crowd reaction was phenomenal. Who play like clean parts of a song they had the cell phones up. Was when I was doing the hey hey hey is they would chance on it back. Yeah. So I mean that that's really it's still always comes like as a shock to me every time I do something on you know, vocal wise, and they respond back to me, I'm like, wow, I'm like but it command and at the same time, with us being like an opening act for a lot of these guys, this our job is to just get the crowd fired up, getting them ready, and like, if we have the crowd excited and enjoying our music at the same time, I know we've done our job and we're very lively on stage.

We're not statues by any stretches. No, right, right. Oh, by the way, I missed comment or do you guys know Bruce from Legion of Solace. I do not know. He's in Massachusetts, but does a ton of a ton of work with musicians from all over New England and promotional wise, and we had him on the show. A great guy and someone you should definitely meet. But he he mentioned this, you know, we were talking earlier about the murder song. He said, don't forget Manson wrote a guns N' Roses song, which one was that I can't remember.

Thought he worked with the Beach Beach Boys. Manson, oh less Charles Manson, Yeah, I thought he's with the Beach Boys. The Monkeys. I have to look that up. I appreciate it. He worked with one of those bands in the sixties. Yeah, I know he was inspired by Helter Skelter by the Beatles, I know that. Yeah. I mean it's funny, much much like any modern horror movie, like the best inspiration comes from the worst of society. That was a quote I remember watching from a celebrity graveyard channel that I follow, and yeah, they actually when I was watching that same channel, I remember they highlighted the grave of head ed Gean, which was the inspiration of like Sounds of the Lambs, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and was actually the premises for Slayers Deadskin Mask.

Oh okay, so because he was the plainfield butcher, the guy who would tear off people skin and use it for clothing or lampshades or furniture stuff like that. So that that's what I mean. It's just like some of the most horrific things like in songs and media come from like reality. So it's it's strange, but it really is. Now, what was opening for you guys? Opened for Metal Church. Yes, that was fun, awesome, much fun. So those guys, I actually I met those guys back in twenty nineteen on board the inaugural Megadeth Crews that I happened to just win a free cabin to.

And it's funny because uh stet Holland, who is formerly of the band Wasp, he's now playing drums for Medal Church. He's from Onset, Massachusetts, so he's a fellow mass native like me. So we started talking over over the past few years. Really nice guy, and we've just stayed in context over the years. And I heard they were coming to town and I was just like, can we play with you guys? And we worked it out, we got a hold of it. And then of course the new lead singer, Mark Lopes, who was in Ross the Boss from Man of War, he actually took over for Mike how after he passed away in twenty twenty one.

And it's funny because I talked to Mark all the time. He's once again a fellow Massachusetts native. He actually went to high school with a friend of my dad's, so and then we finally like actually met each other playing the show together. And it's just like half the half the band is like based out of Seattle, and half the band is based out of Boston. It's just like it was such such a cool mix. But those guys they're just they're they're hot tickets. They are they're great guys all around. That crowd must have been really into what you oh oh yeah, yeah.

That was probably one of our more lively air crowds we've had, even though they had they had the dining room table thing all across the stage and like, I that was the thing We've heard from all the fans was like, oh, it should have been standing room. We should have had much pisses. It was quite funny. Bruce just put this in the chat room. Uh So. The song Charles Manson wrote that Guns N' Roses recorded was called look at Your Game. Oh, look at your Game Girl. It was on the album The Spaghetti Incident.

Oh okay, okay, And those of us who are old enough may remember the album being pulled from the shelves as a fourteen track album and being re released as a thirteen track album. This is why social back Oh, this is why social backlash against the single. I don't remember that. Thank you Bruce for sharing that. I actually don't remember that, but I mean I do remember there being some sort of controversy around the spaghetti incident, but I didn't remember that it was that. That's interesting. That was a cover album, right begin Yeah, yeah, yeah, very interesting.

But certainly not the first time that there's been controversy around a Guns n' Roses song and it and a song being pulled because I remember at one point, what was uh one in a million on song? One in a million? No, it was it was before that there might be no appetite definitely wasn't on that. I think it's on lives and our lives might be, but you use your el I'm sorry. One in a million. I remember, uh, they they reissued that at one point because there's a couple of words in there that you really can't say.

But yeah, so not the not the first time, but also Guns n' Roses one of those bands that you know, made any kind of controversy kind of work for them. Certainly the whole no no probility is bad publicity, right right, which does have its limits. I mean it's not literally true, but but it is true in a lot of I mean, even look at the album that was released by Slayer back in twenty twenty one. It just like it coincided just

terribly. But perfectly with like the days and the events of it. But it's just like, I mean, they advertise themselves as like an as like an anti religion band anyway. But that really caused the controversy because it happened to be released on nine to eleven was the album God Hates Us All. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, So obviously that really kind of like that that's gonna leave some negative backlash, but yet funny enough, it's like one of the most popular albums they've ever released. Yeah. Yeah, well that was always a little the dynamics in that band too, a little bit complicated creatively because Tom Area is actually a devout Catholic, yes, and carry King is the one who's actually the Satanist Yeah, and very much an atheist carry King, yeah, very much.

Yeah. And I remember reading an interview once. I was always kind of fascinated by this where you know, somebody asked Tom Area about that, you know, and you know, you got to sing these lyrics, but but you're a Christian and you know he said something like, you know, and you know, I I agreed with this point of view. It made sense to me. He just said, well, look, I mean they're they're songs. You know, I'm not necessarily these aren't necessarily my thoughts and ideas. You know, when you're singing a song, you're kind of playing a character in a sense, right, You're you know, like the murder song.

You know you're not you're not advocating for murder. You're putting yourself in the in the mind of the headspace. And this is there's a difference between like and much like, much like acting, there's a difference between what an actor plays and how the actor actually acts in reality. Now you look at like any of like the black metal bands you see out there, like Dark Funeral, they practice what they preach, so they are they are the true Satanists, like the blood drinking whatever. So is that true?

Really? Yeah? Like that's what That's what I mean. Same thing with what was the other one Behemoth, the lead singer Nergal, same thing. He's a he's a div Satanist. And there's a difference between actionsus advocated, right Yeah, yeah, of course. But even some of these guys who call themselves Satanists, I mean there's I mean, because Satanism isn't literally I don't think for most people, they don't actually worship satan it's just you know, like there's leave and yeah Satanism, So basically there is a difference between it, like the actual Satanism actually believes in human sacrifice, drinking blood, all that kind of stuff, whereas like the the Lavaine Satanisms and the Temple of Satan, they are basically just glorified atheists using Satan as their kind of centerpiece of focus because it's supposed to be about the worship of the self as opposed to like, you know, actual practicing rituals that are combined within the faith.

Yeah. Yeah, we had Jenny probably remembers this. We had a running joke. This was a number of years ago, but we had a running joke on the show, and we don't we don't really talk about politics anymore on this iteration of the program. But there was Brandon Finney who was a New Hampshire State rep. There was some controversy around him because he had come out as a Satanist, and he's a Republican, so he is expected to be a Christian, but he had come out as a Satanist and a lot of people were mad at him, and apparently he's not even really a Satanist.

He was just kind of trolling. But so we had a running joke on the show though for a long time that we wanted to have him on the show to discuss this with him and explore the subject. But he had some very specific demands and that exactly he wouldn't come on unless exactly thirteen days before his appearance on the show, we sacrificed a goat in the studio and then he demanded that we This was when we were in our old studio on Elm Street on the third floor. We had to then after sacrificing the goat, push the goat out the window and onto Elm Street and then retrieve some of the blood at that point and so forth.

So he had this whole thing he wanted us to do, or he used to come on the show. To this day, I don't know, And I'm Facebook friends with him and we've talked and he's been on the show, but I don't know if he to this day, if he has any idea that that was a running joke on the program that is really funny. I don't know if he even knows, and I've never asked him if he knows, because in my twisted mind, him not knowing makes it even funnier. Yes, it's just just to me. But anyway, Yeah, we had a we had a running joke about that further went on for a couple of years.

You know, whenever his name would come up, I guess I need to go, you know, opened up. I mean, I moonlight as a butcher. Yes, well, I I just uh, you know, I used to say too, I I because I said, I remember saying on the air that I told Brandon. I said, look, dude, we're not zoned for that, and you know that. Yeah, we can't risk uh staining the carpets and things, getting on equipment and whatnot. So he just I mean that's valuable. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, and there's a fine line for this kind of stuff.

It's just like, I mean, if it's if it's a ritualistic, as long as it's not really harming anybody, then I don't it is what it is. But like when you start causing like bodily harm and ending life, it's just okay, you're drawing a very very quick line right there. And that's really where like a lot of these these these people who practice these rituals, it's just like Okay, human sacrifice, You're you're basically taking the life of another It's that's well, of course, yeah, so or harming animals or harming any any other thing I object to, of course, but it's it's like, that's basically just like crossing the line and jumping off a cliff.

Oh of course, yeah, of course. How did we get onto that? I don't even remember? Oh oh yeah, because we were talking about themes of the song. Yeah. Yeah. But is Vixen the most unusual show you guys have done as far as a match with other bands or if you if you don't any any others that are really I mean, Kicks was boy here. I think you guys opened for Kid. Yeah, that was another one we did last year or two. Yeah, that one I think was a little bit more of a an odtern match as far as that goes, because I mean they are definitely a lot more glam metal than than Vixen is.

I mean, Vixen's a little bit more edgier than Kicks is. But yeah, because it was funny, like Anthony had mentioned, because this is the first time we ever played at the Vault in New Bedford, and they're they're very famous for bringing in a lot of like the eighties uh metal bands and stuff. And I was just like, because I knew the Vault. I've been to multiple shows at the Vault. It's a great venue. And uh, he mentioned who we were playing with, and I'm actually the one who was like super influenced by the the glam metal scene back in college and I loved Kicks when I was in college.

So as soon as he said that we were opening for Kicks, I just like immediately start freaking out when I miss, like, Hey, Brian, we go off with a show for this band called to do it, And I'm just like, I didn't know anything. I really didn't know much about Kicks, and I didn't know if it was a fan of Kicks. So he came off like as like a matter of fact, I do like nonchalant, like we offered to show for Kicks, want to do it? Yeah, that one really got me excited. But but the thing is, it's just like, and this is where I kind of wish like the headliners could be a little bit more respectful to the local openers because we arrived on the scene, like right at the sound check, but they just took right off and so we we were on scene, we were interacting with everybody saying hey, And the only time we ever got to interact with them was like a couple of fans stuck around after the show.

I went inside because I wanted to say thank you for having us, and I was able to talk to Brian ForSight, the guitar player, just and say thank you, and it was just like who's this guy? So it was but I don't know, I mean with Metal Church, they hung out with us. We were very so our merchan tables side by side, so we were interacting. I share it was open on Cooks. Yeah, he was having some hip troubles. I got gom chair and stuff. He's at hip surgery. Yeah, because originally they were supposed to play once again at at Tupelo this year, but because he had to have that emergency surgery, they had to cancel all their dates this year.

Yeah. But yeah, so and we we've interacted with them, We talked with them backstage, they hung with us. They were actually like willing to just like sit and talk with us the whole time. So they were they were what we we hope, like anybody we play with would be just down to earth and just social, you know, I mean, you're playing with bands that are trying to be in the shoes of the people that are putting these shows together. So and this is what we love, is like we love to learn about the industry.

We want to learn how to be better. And what a better way to learn from somebody than the people who are actually in the industry. It's yeah, exactly exactly. I'm trying to remember Kicks, like they had ad a few hits. That's the big one, that was the big one, big power ballad, but obviously like they had the long stripe and strip of songs from cold Blood to Girl Money. Girl Money is the one. I was just thinking about it because that one stands out to me because I remember the first time I heard it, I thought it was a CDC YEP, and then obviously like the whole Don't Blow, the whole Blow My Fuse album was like it was like the biggest thing.

But obviously Midnight Dynamite was another great album. I think those were like the two best albums for those guys. But when they came out with their final album, Rock Your Face Off, I think back in twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, something like that they had two singles off of that, one which was love Me with Your Top Down and the other one that they worked into their final set list, which was Wheels in Motion. Okay, so that one was the one that kind of did. But when they played the the setless live, a lot of the stuff came off of Midnight Dynamite and Don't and blow My Fears.

Yeah, those were that was really kind of what helped you got to play the hits? Yeah? Did they did? They close with uh, don't close their Eyes. They actually closed with blow my fuse. Oh ok. Yeah. And it's funny because we had no idea that they were actually gonna plan on hanging it up after uh, after last year. So it was like second the last show, I think, oh, something along that lature, because they did a they did their final show in their home state of Maryland and uh and back in September twenty twenty three, they they called it quits good.

Oh wow. So they were on a farewell tour basically basically didn't tell anyone. Yeah, they didn't tell anyone. Wow. Oh good for them, I guess for not going for the cash crab, right Molly, But I know, oh, I know it was like Vince, I mean, I feel worse for John five. I mean I just saw him on Valentine's Day this year and he's he's amazing. But for me, it just baffles me that he's working with those guys in like Motley Crue and like they've got everybody in Motley Crue is just like so out there. I mean, Nikki six, he's he's a bright dude, but like Vince and and Tommy, they are just wow, oh my god, gosh.

The last time I saw Motley Crue, this must have been ten years ago. They were on the co headlining tour they did with Kiss and during Don't Go Away, Matt. Now, everyone knows Vince sounds terrible live, but you don't, you know, like with a lot of bands, though you don't necessarily notice it when you're if you're actually seeing them live, you don't realize until later when you go find the YouTube video. Yep, because when you're live, you know you're in the moment, everything's loud, and you just don't notice.

But Vince during Don't Go Away Mad, you know, the fast part at the end, he at one point he hits a note that was so like, what is that that my friend Dan WMNH listeners know him as Dan Randall of Dan Randall and the Randlets. Dan and I actually looked at each other like what was that, Like he just was so And then recently I saw a video of them from recently playing. They opened a set with Primal Scream, which happens to be my favorite Miley cru song. I was like, oh cool, I play it, and as soon as Vince starts, it's like he's not even singing, He's just kind of blurting out the words.

Yeah. It was like it sounded so bad. Yeah, because I think the last time I saw them, they were doing a headlining tour with Hinder as their opener. Oh yeah, this was at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion The Lips of an Angel guy, Yeah, exactly and hit Wonder and but and I still remember like, as soon as they go into doctor feel Good, I'm just listening to him He's not even singing half the words. Yeah. But I mean that was also a tough concert for me because some more on behind me as I was sitting watching the show, headbanging too hard accidentally head butts me in the back of the head and gives me a concussion really, so I'm literally like I felt like somebody had driven like a railroad stake through my head.

So after after Doctor Field Good, me and my dad looked at each other because like I was about ready to throw up because I had a migraine so bad, and me and my dad looked at was like that we need to get out of here, like I'm in a lot of pain. This show is absolutely terrible and it's just making my headache worse at this point. Yeah. So, but yeah, that was I have to say that would probably be the one of the one of the worst, if not the absolute worst show I've ever seen in my life. And I've been to hundreds of shows.

Yeah, I think that one has to take the cake. Is the worst show I've ever been to? Yeah? Yeah, Wow. Now do you guys have a fav for it? In terms of shows that you've played, Is there one that uh maybe the Metal Church show. I don't know, is the Metal Church is definitely high up there. But I think when we played Yeah, Corn and Stained, I think is definitely the one that when we played at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion back in twenty twenty one, we opened for corn and stain on the on the hazy little stage.

Oh wow, and that one was wild. It was, I mean, so it was it was very hot outside. Oh wait, no that oh it was raining. I'm sorry, I'm confusing the other one from twenty nineteen. But yeah, it was rainy. It was cold because this was in the beginning of October because they had to ropon because John did They've just got COVID. Oh okay, but yeah it was cold and rainy. We played great the first set and then back before they have all the new stuff at the Bank of Newmshire Pavilion. They had to change up because there was a lot of noise complaints coming in, so the local artists would play a second set after the main show.

People were walking out. Yeah, and they didn't walk out, they just stayed and they were on They were jumped up on stage as we were playing. Yeah, security I had to start pulling people like they pulled Scrill. They pulled security from the main stage to our stage because we had people who were like rushing on our stage, like like jumping off the stage and stuff like that. Like security actually had to pull them off. It was very wild. It was probably one of the most lively st crowds, if not the liveliest crowd we've ever played too.

But it was just so great. Oh wow, that was the energy we try to strive for it at our shows. It was so perfect. Is there any video of that? Do you have any We have the video from like more of the front of the stage where like there's like the mosh pit going on. There's like guys Shirtly's fifty degrees in raining out. These guys are shirt Let's do like a mosh pit stuff. That's what. Yeah, in the background, and you can see probably a little bit more Brian than me, but I remember like looking back, if you guys, don't hit my amplifier.

Yeah no, And this is what I mean. It's just like it's like I'm looking at him like this is great, but I think we should probably get this guy off of here. It's funny because it's like it's a pleasant excitement, but obviously history, history of reliability and huge Yeah, yeah, no doubt, no doubt. Wow. Now, so what is the

songs that were playing today? We played the murder song and we're gonna We're gonna close in a few minutes with the other one that I absolutely love But are these on are these part of an album that? Yeah, I've been second album Vindicated Vindicated. Okay, when did that come out? So we released that back in July twenty ninth of twenty twenty two. Yeah, that was we actually took advantage of the pandemic and we still got together. We took it. We took the time when we weren't playing. We wrote the album, we recorded it, and that was when we ended up releasing it.

So we stayed productive during that whole time. Okay. Yeah. Oh by the way, Bruce from Legion of Sola says, I remember that show. I was in your mash no I love it. He was there. Yeah, yes, that's awesome. Yeah, that's very cool, very cool. Are you working on new materials? We're debuting a brand new song from the next album. Well, two new songs. Well, we've played. We played one of the new songs that we had at porch Fest in Rochester last year a two year ago. Okay, so we haven't like actually put it on an album.

But yeah, we have a brand new song that we have never played live before that we are debuting next Thursday at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion. So if you guys this Thursday right next, well, I mean we're still in the current week, so I sailed caught next Thursday one Sunday comes around, then I say this, so yeah, next Thursday we'll be debuting. I don't forget the words. It's always an interesting to take, Like the first time singing a song, I sing and play at the same time. It's always a matter of like walking in chewing gum at the same time, you know, playing and keeping track of everything all together.

And why does that ever happen live where you forget the words on occasion? Yeah, yeah, as long as I mean. So my thing at banfractice and it drives fine, No, it's actually drives my wife not too fine. And so I do one ons when I can't remember what when,

Yeah, and I'll do an entire song. And if you can imagine hearing you have six minute song with that wanas going through it, and that's all right, that's how you're you're scattered. And with that, I mean, I mean, this is why I always look at the drummer. I'm like, I hope you got enough sticks so you can huck one at her. Right. There's been a lot of projectiles. It's quite quite hilarious. But I've never done a one on, not at a show. I've always okay, if anything, I would just like repeat a vose or something I can.

I'm never doing this long enough. I can kind of catch myself. I know when I've messed up, but uh, you know I've recovered pretty quick. Yeah, say when playing guitoy it's like you learned to recover pretty quick. And this is where like I try to stay focused on my playing as far as and like, because like if I'm looking out next thing, you know, I'm spacing out and I'm hitting the wrong note, I'm like, oh wait a minute, I got to recenter myself. So this is why every time I'm playing, I'm literally looking at my finger so I don't get lost.

Because lead singer and you'll never space out, trust me. There's too many things going on time. You got a lot to keep track of. Oh yeah, absolutely, you know it's we Also, the one song would be one of our cover songs, actually one of the few songs I can sing and actually play guitars soul at the same time. What what what song? What do you uh? Pells? By Megadeth? Oh? Nice? Well, I mean, I take the most of the lead vocals on that one, so oh okay, but yeah, we're gonna try to do that when we've done that one before live, but it's been a while, so we'll be playing that one again live as well.

But that's it's funny because like I know, Anthony does a lot of like he does all the original vocals and stuff like that. But obviously, like if we're playing multiple shows in a row, there's gonna be a lot of like vocal exhaustion. Yeah, I've been able to step up to the plate. It helps. It gives my throat a little bit of a break when you're playing sixty minutes ninety minutes the Yeah, you know, we don't sing laid back just like at all. Yeah, I would. I would say as far as as our as our repertoire goes, Like I know Anthony sings all of the originals, I would say I probably sing like maybe ninety five percent of the covers.

Okay, just it just it helps give him a break, and because I know how the stuff goes. Yeah, fun it last. Yeah, And I mean, obviously me a little biased because it has one of the most iconic based openings ever recorded. Yes, and I get to start the song with that one, so oh that's really cool. And it's timeless, you know, of course the song is just timeless. What should people know? We're gonna we're gonna play this other track in a moment when we when we wrap up, the time goes quickly. But what should people know about?

Where to find you guys online? How to keep up with everything that you're doing, and and and plug that show that you've got coming up again to all right, so you can find us online. We we have our own website, Perging Sin dot com. Uh are. Both of our albums are available on all streaming services YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, Follow us on Facebook, we have a we have an Instagram. We're trying to grow at Purging Underscore Sin, and we will be in Our next show is going to be at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion on the Hazy Little Stage, which is the side stage as you walk through the front entrance before God Smack, Nothing More and Flat Black.

We go on at six pm. Excellent. Yeah, that's that's a big deal. Congratulations on that. That's very cool. We'll also on Bands in Town and Viva Nation that also gives a list of upcoming shows in sequential order in locations. Okay, okay, excellent, and before we play this, Hell on the Horizon. And by the way, like I said, I love this song, but just just quickly give us the backstory for people who are just joining us, give us a backstory one more time on this. So I saw it, started writing it prior to Brian entering in the band.

I knew the original title was from Triumph to Tragedy. It was about someone trying to come from another country to America to get a better life. And I kind of twist things up. They see the Statue of Liberty and their boats things for whatever reason, and they round. Yeah, so like you're getting so closed. But then you know Hell's on the horizon, you just don't know it yet. Yeah, And unfortunately became like symbolic for Matt Harrisk that Hell was on the horizon. We just didn't know we had cancer either.

Yeah, And that was the first song Brian ever contributed. You know. I showed him that the little bridge section and he's like, well, I made this can I fitted in and we ended up fitting it and he sorted you know, that was like the first four A into him, you know, contributing to Purge and Sin. Yes, so it's so it's the first song I was actually featured on is and so the the clean part of the Little Basin Elude. It was something I was just messing around with. I thought it was kind of neat, and uh, we were able to work it in and then obviously too, as we mentioned previously in the show, it's the last song that Matt Harris actually ever recorded with us before he passed away.

The It's funny because like I was trying to suggest a little bit more of a shorter kind of title for the whole thing. I was just like, because we're going along with the theme, I was just like, well, why don't we just say something like Hell's Hell's on the horizon or something like that. And then that eventually became the title of the song. So, and it actually was a little bit more of a catcher thing. We actually recorded that song as a single with a friend of mine from college who runs his own independent studio I don't know if it still exists, Audio Pond Studios in Francis Down and he recorded it for us as a favor, and that was kind of like the first single to actually come off of Vindicated before the murder became the other single that we released.

Oh okay, okay, very good. So we're gonna play this and Anthony and Brian thank you guys so much.

We love absolutely wonderful to have you here. I love what you're doing, love the sound, and like I said, I absolutely love this song. If you are listening live on Saturday morning, sick around. We've got Tom Russo coming up next in the third hour, but we'll finish off this hour with this. This is Hell on the Horizon Purgings Zen

Matt Connarton Unleashed: Purging Sin

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