Field Dispatch
Matt Connarton Unleashed: Sepsiss and the third annual Swarmiefest
Speaker 1: And we have joining us live in studio. Let me
Speaker 1: get these mics up here. We have the band Sepsis
Speaker 1: Is with us. Hello everybody, good morning, good morning, and
Speaker 1: uh okay, let's uh William, let's start with you. Let's
Speaker 1: everyone introduce ourselves.
Speaker 2: I am William and I play guitars and I scream
Speaker 2: and sing in the band.
Speaker 3: There's somebody here.
Speaker 1: Gor bell there is.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, I'm Zachie B and I played BASEB.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 4: My name is Melissa Wolf and I am the vocalist
Speaker 4: for Sepsis.
Speaker 5: Yes, I'm le and I'm the merch girl.
Speaker 1: And you're in the Uh you're on the newest single there, yes, sir, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we we played that. Uh was it a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago?
Speaker 3: Three weeks ago on the show?
Speaker 6: Thank yeah.
Speaker 1: It all blurs together. But yeah, so we should talk
Speaker 1: about Today's a very ashul day. Of course, today is
Speaker 1: swarmy Fest. Swarmy Fest Day. Swarmy Fest will be later,
Speaker 1: but uh, let's let's talk about that. Tell tell everybody
Speaker 1: what that is.
Speaker 4: So swarmy Fest is today'st weekend Theta Music Hall in Lowell, Massa.
Speaker 4: I honestly I think it's Teta.
Speaker 3: We're getting better at this. Everyone's got their own version.
Speaker 1: Right, Feda makes me think of cheese. I like, to
Speaker 1: good point, you really do.
Speaker 4: We've got about eight bands on the bill. We've got
Speaker 4: Dead by Wednesday, Casting Shadows, Hero and The Horror Exception,
Speaker 4: Lone Wolf, James, Diamond Edge, and Joint Damage.
Speaker 1: All right, very good, and uh, now what time does
Speaker 1: that start?
Speaker 3: So they started right now? Oh we started swarmy Fest
Speaker 3: last night.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, it starts when people start getting off the plane.
Speaker 2: It really does, like people start flying in. The cool
Speaker 2: thing about swormy Fest is not just a local event.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's really because we don't have enough gas
Speaker 2: money to go. Oh my god, that there's more people here.
Speaker 4: Doors are technically at five.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the doors for the music event are at five.
Speaker 2: But we really start to show when the planes land,
Speaker 2: when people get off the plane and start hanging out.
Speaker 2: We have a pre party show that we have on
Speaker 2: Friday night, which we had last night with all these
Speaker 2: people here, karaoke and just shenanigans and dubauchery and hotel
Speaker 2: parties and stuff like that. But swormy Fest is really
Speaker 2: cool because it's not just a local event. It's really,
Speaker 2: if we had to gas money, we would be able
Speaker 2: to travel to all of our friends and fans everywhere.
Speaker 2: We just don't not in today's local climate, so we
Speaker 2: can't tour everywhere. And some of our friends, some of
Speaker 2: our fans, and most of these people here are like
Speaker 2: staff members or extended family members to us. They ben
Speaker 2: before and because we can't get out, they come in,
Speaker 2: you know, and we all do the event from within
Speaker 2: and it's all about discovery and sharing music from around
Speaker 2: New England.
Speaker 1: And now this is the third one, So what what
Speaker 1: How is this different from the first two because I
Speaker 1: assume obviously the event has changed, it's evolved.
Speaker 3: The major difference is is we've been able to.
Speaker 2: Have deeper business to business relationships with like n H
Speaker 2: Guitars playing a deeper role. This year we're doing a
Speaker 2: raffle and guitar giveaway with them. Legion of Solace is
Speaker 2: here with us, and we have a new partner, BPS
Speaker 2: Records that is also here with us helping host the event.
Speaker 2: And everybody here, whether it's having music dealerships shops or
Speaker 2: repair shops or podcasts or BPS Records and reader with
Speaker 2: her venue, everyone here is a main contributor to the event.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what's different this year than it
Speaker 2: passes is the amount of interaction that all of my
Speaker 2: partners have contributed directly.
Speaker 1: Right, and this is that Now is this the first
Speaker 1: one at in Lowell?
Speaker 2: This is the first time we've ever done it at Lowell.
Speaker 2: Usually we're across the street at Jewel. And we did
Speaker 2: the two stage thing last year. Uh, but we had
Speaker 2: some changes we had to we had to pivot this
Speaker 2: year and Tifeta's new ground for us, so we're hoping
Speaker 2: to secure a good relationship with them so we can
Speaker 2: come back and do it again. The whole point of
Speaker 2: doing this stuff is so you can do it again.
Speaker 2: Nobody wants a one night stand, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: That would be great when you did the first one.
Speaker 1: Was that the plan all along to make it an
Speaker 1: annual thing? Or was it like, let's see how the
Speaker 1: first one goes.
Speaker 2: I hope we have a swarmy Fest South. I hope
Speaker 2: we have a swarmy Fest California. Yeah, I hope we
Speaker 2: have a swarmy Fest UK. Yeah, someday, you.
Speaker 4: Know, form the world there you go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, why not? So that's the long term plan.
Speaker 1: Do you are there any plans to make it like
Speaker 1: more than once a year, like do it twice a
Speaker 1: year or anything like that?
Speaker 3: Or is that the planner is always to survive?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, making it isn't the Sepsist thing because
Speaker 2: if you make it, then you're done. So we're always
Speaker 2: making it. You know, we're working progress and.
Speaker 3: Music.
Speaker 2: Modern music is evolving and live music is evolving, and
Speaker 2: Stepsis is a band that adapts. Sepsis is a band
Speaker 2: that survives and evolves.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: So we have to clean our late check the boxes
Speaker 2: as we go down. But uh, you know, life comes
Speaker 2: in waves, and you know it's about getting on the
Speaker 2: right ferry boat with live entertainment, changing quality over quantity
Speaker 2: for us. But we're cleaning our plate one thing at
Speaker 2: a time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and tell us too about so to kind of
Speaker 1: veer away from that for a moment, because a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago we were talking off here about the new
Speaker 1: single Bathwater from Sepsis that just came out. When when
Speaker 1: was that just just very recently?
Speaker 3: Right? So yeah, we don't we don't come out with
Speaker 3: music anymore. We just make music.
Speaker 2: You know, so many so many artists depend on products
Speaker 2: or gizmos or gadgets or manufacturing or labels or brands
Speaker 2: to release music. We're a band that just makes music.
Speaker 2: We don't we're not a forever band. There's no born
Speaker 2: date or death date. There's just the life date. Right,
Speaker 2: So we're not waiting for iTunes or a record label
Speaker 2: to make music or give us permission to release music.
Speaker 2: So because we don't come out with music anymore, we
Speaker 2: don't wait for Spotify or ask permission for uploads. When
Speaker 2: we finish music, we just ask our fans if they
Speaker 2: want to listen to it, and then we give it
Speaker 2: to the fans, right right, So it goes there's no
Speaker 2: sepsist and then a label, and then a manager, and
Speaker 2: then an A and R guy. It's just we skip everybody,
Speaker 2: including spot We don't even release music on Spotify anymore.
Speaker 3: We just give our music directly to our fans.
Speaker 1: Has that always been the strategy. I'm sure we've talked about.
Speaker 2: This before, but it is it is now because there's
Speaker 2: too many jute boxes, there's too many middlemen before our
Speaker 2: real fl we have authentic fans. I think if you're
Speaker 2: getting into music is something. If you're a modern musician
Speaker 2: and you're you're getting into it, now and you're introduced
Speaker 2: to modern music through technology and through computers. I mean
Speaker 2: people think that that music comes from gadgets. Children think
Speaker 2: that music comes from the internet. They think it comes
Speaker 2: from computers. But music doesn't even come from people.
Speaker 1: What do you mean music was here before?
Speaker 2: Music was here before humanity. Okay, yeah, like whales make music,
Speaker 2: birds make music. Sound and frequency has been here before humans.
Speaker 2: We're just so big headed we think we made it
Speaker 2: up right, right, So, but the truth is music belongs
Speaker 2: to the universe, Matt, not to me.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: So that's why Stepsis gives our music away, because it
Speaker 2: belongs to everybody, yeah, not to not to companies and corporations.
Speaker 1: There's a YouTuber I don't know if anyone might be
Speaker 1: familiar with her, uh miss Crystal, who's top music attorney
Speaker 1: as our YouTube channel, and she talks a lot about,
Speaker 1: you know, releasing music yourself and not using like you
Speaker 1: were saying, and you know, the middleman like a record
Speaker 1: label and everything, because you can. And she's even talked
Speaker 1: recently in videos about how like you're better off putting
Speaker 1: it on your own website than using like you said, Spotify.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean opinions very on that no.
Speaker 2: And you know, if you're being introduced to music today,
Speaker 2: maybe iTunes is the way to go. But we've been
Speaker 2: a band since twenty ten. We do whatever we want
Speaker 2: to do. When we do it, we just do whatever
Speaker 2: we really want to do, you know, whatever makes us happy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you know when the next are you working
Speaker 1: on another single?
Speaker 3: We're working on everything.
Speaker 2: Music is expensive, and because we're trying to make quality music.
Speaker 2: You know, here's the thing with the Spotify stuff and
Speaker 2: the gadgets is me Zach Melissa Lexi. We put in
Speaker 2: a lot of time and effort and investment to make
Speaker 2: quality music high and what I mean by that is
Speaker 2: high resolution music. We mix and master high resolution music,
Speaker 2: but when we upload it to certain streaming sites like Spotify,
Speaker 2: they knock the resolution down. So if your career or
Speaker 2: if your dream depends on quality, that's part of our
Speaker 2: brand is making crystal clear loud music.
Speaker 3: That's part of our brand. So that's why we don't belong.
Speaker 2: Really on those sites because we put in a lot
Speaker 2: of investment money into creating high quality, high resolution music,
Speaker 2: and then we upload it on the websites that reduce
Speaker 2: and fragment and degrade our high resolution music.
Speaker 3: So if you are, we're career entertainers.
Speaker 2: So if your career entertainer and your resume depends on
Speaker 2: presenting quality music, and we showmakers and A and r's right,
Speaker 2: and they go or advertisers and they go, hey, we
Speaker 2: love to hear your quality music, and you go, and
Speaker 2: of course everybody listens to music through Spotify. Now they well,
Speaker 2: send us your Spotify. We go, no, we don't want
Speaker 2: to do that. We'd like to send you our high
Speaker 2: resolution music, and go, well, everybody listens to music on
Speaker 2: iTunes and Spotify.
Speaker 3: But the issue with that is bands like us.
Speaker 2: You know, if you're not a celebrity, they upload your music,
Speaker 2: they knock the resolution down. My resume depends on me
Speaker 2: having high resolution music.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so music.
Speaker 2: The more of the story is is, of course we're
Speaker 2: working on stuff. It's just expensive to be in Sepsis
Speaker 2: because we want to create music that we love forever.
Speaker 3: We're not a fifteen album band. We've got friends of ours.
Speaker 2: They're super talented and they got a thousand songs out
Speaker 2: that no one's ever heard.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: We got friends of mine that are in bands that
Speaker 2: are much more talented than I.
Speaker 3: Will ever be.
Speaker 2: Have a catalog of music that no one will ever hear,
Speaker 2: and people are still listening to black Light Invasion because
Speaker 2: it's yeah interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, most people, I don't think, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: people in the scene, no, people in the industry know,
Speaker 1: But I don't think the average listener knows what you
Speaker 1: were just talking about about. How you know, it is
Speaker 1: a little resolution if you listen to something on YouTube
Speaker 1: or Spotify. Band Camp, from what I've read, is better
Speaker 1: about not like when you post things on band camp.
Speaker 1: It's higher resolution than if you uh been on YouTube
Speaker 1: or Spotify.
Speaker 2: And and of course you have to be on everything. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean if if if you're a band and you
Speaker 2: want to be in a music industry, then you want
Speaker 2: to be in a system, a system of gizmos and
Speaker 2: gadgets that are constantly trying to outdo each other with
Speaker 2: developed with new developers and new apps, and there's a
Speaker 2: subscription fee for everything that. Oh yeah, so the the
Speaker 2: modern day music industry is a game of wannabes man
Speaker 2: that buy and purchase products that manufacture an image of success.
Speaker 1: Well, but people like that. People like the they love
Speaker 1: it image, They love it.
Speaker 3: People like a lot of stuff. Yeah, they like fentanyl too.
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's true. Well some people.
Speaker 4: Do.
Speaker 1: Uh do the rest of you have any thoughts on
Speaker 1: what William was saying or anything to add to that
Speaker 1: or it's an interesting subject, I think.
Speaker 4: Well I can talk a little bit about Bathwater.
Speaker 1: Yes, since we got to talk about this.
Speaker 4: Single coming out yea, yeah. Well, Bathwater is a gripping
Speaker 4: and emotional story about the adult industry, equality and the
Speaker 4: birthright to our minds, our bodies and message. The song
Speaker 4: is about men benefiting from women, people that live private,
Speaker 4: double and triple lives, online, cyberbullying, doxing, It's directly confronting
Speaker 4: people who have spread rumors about me, oh, people who
Speaker 4: mistreat and misuse technology and harassment. Yeah, Bathwater is really
Speaker 4: is a message to men, and that message is that
Speaker 4: we want the full ownership and restoration of our freedoms
Speaker 4: to our brains and our own body parts.
Speaker 1: Very good.
Speaker 4: Bathwater is also a message to young women and human
Speaker 4: beings everywhere, and no matter how you choose to look,
Speaker 4: where you choose to work, or who you choose to
Speaker 4: sleep with, you are the authors and composers of your
Speaker 4: own identity in the story of your own life.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, very good, very good?
Speaker 4: Was that?
Speaker 1: What was that song a long time in the making
Speaker 1: in terms of of the concept and the you know,
Speaker 1: because that's heavy stuff. I mean absolutely, yeah, it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not something you wrote.
Speaker 3: And justin story, our second album is all about sex. Okay,
Speaker 3: it's about getting naked. Well ahead, while we look forward
Speaker 3: to that.
Speaker 1: Are you so tonight?
Speaker 7: Are you?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: Are you playing? Is bathwater one of the songs you're
Speaker 1: playing tonight? Is that on the on the list?
Speaker 3: You have to show up to the show to find out.
Speaker 1: Will be there? Well, we'll be there, so I'll take
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna take that as a yes.
Speaker 3: So no.
Speaker 2: So somebody taught me this trick last night about set lists.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I've been doing this forever and uh, they told me
Speaker 2: stop sharing a set list.
Speaker 3: Really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they say people read the set list and if
Speaker 2: they don't play, if you played the favorite song, they
Speaker 2: don't show up.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm gonna wait to see.
Speaker 3: That's what I did though, Yeah, I said, oh man,
Speaker 3: that's what they do.
Speaker 1: That makes sense.
Speaker 3: You know. There's an angle and a method to everything. Now,
Speaker 3: if you brush your teeth, what's that for playing it tonight?
Speaker 3: My brain, that's the one that's on my repeat on YouTube.
Speaker 3: I watched that video all the time. Guess what that
Speaker 3: song is about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my favorite desiyes of Empathy, which I've played on
Speaker 1: the show many.
Speaker 4: Many great songs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: The song is about breakfast. I'm just kidding. I'm just.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, it's the stomach talking. All right.
Speaker 2: You could know that, yes, yes, No, Empathy is about
Speaker 2: the Mount Vernon murders.
Speaker 1: Oh I didn't know that. Yes, I had no idea.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So in the yeah, in the song, the screaming part
Speaker 2: is the murder. Yes, and Melissa sings.
Speaker 3: The part of the little girl.
Speaker 2: Oh rys, that's out the bag. Oh it'll be damned
Speaker 2: yeah right now. Now, now when you listen to it,
Speaker 2: you'd be like, oh man, totally different. So in the end,
Speaker 2: you know, when we go just don't ask Jamie. This
Speaker 2: is like a big gang vocal. Oh Jamie's the girl.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, all right, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: You're playing that tonight.
Speaker 3: If you come to the show, how long are you playing?
Speaker 1: Can you tell us the length of your.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be snappy SATs tonight. We want to you know,
Speaker 2: we wanna want to keep the music going. Yeah, because
Speaker 2: we've never done this before. We don't want the let's
Speaker 2: go have a cigarette moment.
Speaker 1: What do you mean you've never done this this before?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Mean it's eight it's it's eight bands. We don't do
Speaker 2: eight bands anymore. It's two thousand and twenty four.
Speaker 1: I really feel like it's tafaa. I really really feel
Speaker 1: like it's taffa. Like I'm almost positive and.
Speaker 4: Bets now we're definitely gonna have to ask them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I said, I think it's.
Speaker 1: Every time you say, you're making me crave a Greek
Speaker 1: I want a Greek salad now.
Speaker 2: Thinking about in the beginning when we when we had
Speaker 2: the venue change, I'm like, it's at.
Speaker 1: Your yeah, see you knows, yeah.
Speaker 2: And everybody's like, oh, it's at the fet Music Hall.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, it'sta like fet music Hall. I said, no,
Speaker 2: Feta cheese. That's right to ask somebody the chat. Somebody's
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 3: How do you say this?
Speaker 1: Because taffa means something right, it's is it a color?
Speaker 1: What is taffaa? Or I don't I don't know.
Speaker 4: It sounds like.
Speaker 1: It sounds like yeah, but it looks like a cool
Speaker 1: room from what I saw online. It looks like a
Speaker 1: nice place.
Speaker 2: It does, and it doesn't look like anybody will be shanked.
Speaker 2: I mean we have these shows.
Speaker 1: Well that's that's a positive too. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you got to do your research. We
Speaker 2: google earth everything now, but we go there. We've driven
Speaker 2: all over the country, so some of the places we
Speaker 2: play at are you know yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of my favorite things about going to a
Speaker 1: show is not getting shanked, right. I love that, Like,
Speaker 1: at the end of the night, if I haven't been shanked.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, it's a good show.
Speaker 4: That's important.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a win.
Speaker 1: What time is the first fan going?
Speaker 3: Five thirty? Yeah, five thirty.
Speaker 2: Doors will be at five okay, and then we'll start
Speaker 2: music at five thirty. I think the incredible Diamond Edge
Speaker 2: I think is kicking it off. And I'll wait until
Speaker 2: they've been on here before I believe, right, di'mond Edge,
Speaker 2: I don't think, So let's get Diamond Edge on. He
Speaker 2: I love them school name Diamond Edge.
Speaker 3: That they're fantastic and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know it's that you can never get people
Speaker 2: to set these No one ever wants to go last, right,
Speaker 2: and nobody wants to go first.
Speaker 3: I'm like, who wants to go first, you know, Diamond
Speaker 3: Edge stepped up.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, now who's who's from the area and who
Speaker 1: who traveled? Because not not all these bands are from
Speaker 1: around here.
Speaker 3: Right, I mean from here is New England, you know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, anybody from outside of New England.
Speaker 2: Oh obviously what you're saying. No, No, they're all New
Speaker 2: England bands.
Speaker 1: Because I think I think last last year we.
Speaker 3: Do that though something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I you know, it's tough because the way that
Speaker 2: the venues work now, it's all pre sale tickets. So
Speaker 2: it's like post pandemic. If you don't sell pre sale tickets,
Speaker 2: your band is trash. Because if you're if you're a musician,
Speaker 2: your venue, your show, your dream is all downstage center, Okay,
Speaker 2: But in twenty and twenty four, if you're a talent buyer,
Speaker 2: your dream is on your cell phone and and and
Speaker 2: chasing tickets and algorithms and demographics, and we don't even
Speaker 2: talk I don't even even talk about music anymore when
Speaker 2: we book shows. It's not even about music. It's just
Speaker 2: about metrics and pre sale tickets. And even if you're
Speaker 2: a massive band, as you see a lot now, these
Speaker 2: massive bands are canceling. You go, why these huge bands canceling, Yeah,
Speaker 2: because they can't sell enough predictable audience members. They want
Speaker 2: to be able to predict how many audience members you're
Speaker 2: going to have before soundcheck. So you know, if steps's
Speaker 2: books a show, I'm talking pre sale tickets, I'm not
Speaker 2: nobody cares about who physically shows up. If nobody physically
Speaker 2: shows up to Stormy Fest, nobody cares. The only thing
Speaker 2: that that talent buyers and venues are interested now, as
Speaker 2: far as you know, booking bands like us is if
Speaker 2: you're drawing, if you're not, If you can't draw a
Speaker 2: crowd and you can't sell pre sale tickets, it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter what bands you're in, you're out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's and it's going to continue to be
Speaker 3: that way. It's going to be tough for some people.
Speaker 1: We had John MacArthur. I don't know if any of
Speaker 1: you know John MacArthur. He's a promoter. He's with uh
Speaker 1: I forget now, Jenny, Do you remember John MacArthur is
Speaker 1: something musical music collective, New Amster Music Collective. He was
Speaker 1: talking about how they they promote a lot of shows
Speaker 1: and conquered and he was talking about the challenge of
Speaker 1: people waiting until the last minute whether to decide whether
Speaker 1: or not they're going to go to go to the show.
Speaker 1: So he runs into a situation where because they have
Speaker 1: two rooms that they have a smaller room and a
Speaker 1: bigger room that they work with, and sometimes they'll have
Speaker 1: someone playing in the smaller room and and there'll be
Speaker 1: a lot of walk up and they'll be going. He
Speaker 1: gave me a specific example too. I can't remember who
Speaker 1: it was, but where all these people show up at
Speaker 1: the last minute, and they could have put this artist
Speaker 1: in the bigger room if they'd known precise all these
Speaker 1: people were coming. But you know, weise we kind of
Speaker 1: live in an era where people will wait for the
Speaker 1: last minute.
Speaker 2: And terrible people have been taking advantage of this for years.
Speaker 2: Zack will explain it to you, But they've been terrible
Speaker 2: people have been taking advantage of this, uh for years
Speaker 2: by having the most privileged people and the richest kids.
Speaker 3: Just buy the tickets.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just buy the pre sale tickets, show up with
Speaker 2: nobody and pray and play at a boutique spot. You know,
Speaker 2: have the White Glove nine thirty ten o'clock slot. Sure, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know when you know it should go to the
Speaker 2: most qualified, drawing hard working, talented people. So you know,
Speaker 2: talent buyers will see that and go, hey, I know
Speaker 2: the rich kids will buy.
Speaker 3: The pre sale tickets. Who cares who shows up? So
Speaker 3: now you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: You got rich people playing empty shows and that's why
Speaker 2: you got guys that can play violin with their teeth
Speaker 2: living in the subway.
Speaker 1: Oh I haven't seen that, Zach, You're gonna Williams said
Speaker 1: you had something to say on that.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, So like I've seen in other bands where
Speaker 6: we've been on you know, the pay to play shows
Speaker 6: where you know they essentially give you a stack of tickets,
Speaker 6: and you know, your time slot is based on how
Speaker 6: many tickets you sell. So if you sell all fifty,
Speaker 6: you're the direct support right before the touring headline and
Speaker 6: the national act. But you know, if you don't sell ten,
Speaker 6: they're kicking you out of the room tonight, right. And
Speaker 6: then you know, in my experience, you know my old bands,
Speaker 6: we would get ten people. We'd hustle and you know,
Speaker 6: sell ten tickets and get ten people right in the door,
Speaker 6: and you know, hand the promoter the money and they're like, well,
Speaker 6: you only sold the minimum, so you're going on first.
Speaker 6: And then you know, so this band is you know,
Speaker 6: headlining tonight because they sold the most tickets. And after
Speaker 6: our band went, our people left because I don't know
Speaker 6: these other bands.
Speaker 3: We don't care about.
Speaker 6: Them, right, especially since you know, your merits only based
Speaker 6: on how many tickets you sold. So we're gonna go
Speaker 6: to the bar down the road, right. So then the
Speaker 6: rest of the night, that promoter had to look us
Speaker 6: in the eye as every you know, every other band
Speaker 6: was playing to an empty, empty room except for the
Speaker 6: other band.
Speaker 2: And now people wonder why if it's just sometimes the
Speaker 2: climate feels so competitive. It is because like every part
Speaker 2: about music has been like monetized or like in an algorithm,
Speaker 2: or it's.
Speaker 3: It's competitive or as a competition.
Speaker 2: So it's hard, you know, And and truthfully, Swarmy Fest
Speaker 2: for sure is a great example. Great shows, like really
Speaker 2: successful shows. It's not just one band that does that.
Speaker 2: It's not just it's it's true, but it's it's the
Speaker 2: staff members, it's the band members. It's for stepsist shows.
Speaker 2: Our audience makes up the show. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 2: don't know if bands really understand that that that it
Speaker 2: takes all the bands that are part of the showcase,
Speaker 2: and it takes the audience and everybody together to make
Speaker 2: a great room, to make a great night.
Speaker 5: Yeah, what's different, like like he's saying, like with Swarmy Fest,
Speaker 5: you know, we have talented bands, They put in the effort,
Speaker 5: they put on a phenomenal performance, like you know, your
Speaker 5: standard showcase where it's no longer if you are good
Speaker 5: or can even play, it's just how many tickets to
Speaker 5: be sold?
Speaker 3: You know, what are your numbers looking?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 3: How many likes do you have on Facebook?
Speaker 6: How many comments did you last?
Speaker 3: Pick? Bands at Swarmy Fests actually like each other.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know that's that's a good thing to
Speaker 2: point out as a big difference in contrast to things
Speaker 2: that we've done before. Is I think we've really made
Speaker 2: sure this time around that everybody knows each other, everybody
Speaker 2: likes each other, everyone's been vetted, the fans really like
Speaker 2: the music, and this time it is a matter of
Speaker 2: like going around and saying, who really wants to play
Speaker 2: with us and who wants to play with each other?
Speaker 3: So much we're seeing bands and multi genres.
Speaker 2: You know, I can't be effective sometimes, but when you
Speaker 2: have everybody kind of striving for the same goal and
Speaker 2: rooting and cheering for each other. Yeah, and everyone's kind
Speaker 2: of out of the same understanding that we all want
Speaker 2: to see each other play and do well. Right, then
Speaker 2: everybody stays for the show and it's not competitive, right
Speaker 2: And if there and if it is competitive, it's.
Speaker 3: The kind of competition that we can all appreciate.
Speaker 1: Well, this healthy competition.
Speaker 3: It's called good sportsmanship.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Everybody wants to wants to do
Speaker 1: better than everybody else.
Speaker 3: Competition is great in the scene when you have good sportsmanship.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely.
Speaker 7: One.
Speaker 1: By the way, Salvator Pan is in the Facebook live
Speaker 1: chat and says, love you guys, and good morning.
Speaker 3: So we're coming over. We're going over his house right
Speaker 3: after this.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, all right, and uh, Brandon Morrissette says, hey, y'all,
Speaker 1: welcome morning.
Speaker 6: Sleep ahead.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, he's in the hotel sleeping. Oh, everybody's
Speaker 2: sleeping right now.
Speaker 1: Apparently he apparently he woke up.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Good.
Speaker 1: So the event So the event actually, so Swarmyfest really
Speaker 1: started last night, right, you had your yeah kind of
Speaker 1: the thing going on?
Speaker 3: Really?
Speaker 2: Yes, So yeah, I was gonna say, so we have
Speaker 2: a we have a gaming community and this is the
Speaker 2: president of our gaming community.
Speaker 3: It's called Immaculate Connection.
Speaker 2: Gaming Steps has created a long time ago with Melissa,
Speaker 2: So it's kind of crazy. A bunch of these folks
Speaker 2: here are from all over the country. But this is
Speaker 2: my friend Sean and he's also known as I CG
Speaker 2: for Life, and he is the president of our gaming community.
Speaker 3: Melissa founded our community.
Speaker 2: So really the party started Thursday when we picked when
Speaker 2: we picked up Sean from from Logan. But on Friday,
Speaker 2: you know, partners, fans, the band, everybody that's that's helped
Speaker 2: building the event, we all get together before the event
Speaker 2: because it's hard to hang out. We figured out doing
Speaker 2: this years before that. If we all try to hang
Speaker 2: out on show day, it's kind of like how you
Speaker 2: doing and we're all pushing gear around.
Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, you're you're all busy.
Speaker 3: So we all as we get better at this every year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've made adjustments and we've all figured out we
Speaker 2: need a couple more days, Yeah, to hang out and rest.
Speaker 3: And be together. It's a great idea, you know, collect
Speaker 3: the value.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what what is a game? For those who don't know,
Speaker 1: what is a gaming community? What does what does that mean?
Speaker 3: Exactly do you want?
Speaker 7: You want?
Speaker 3: Gaming community is Mike get.
Speaker 1: You got to lean right in.
Speaker 7: Being a part of a gaming community is like having
Speaker 7: some of your greatest teammates and the most impactful action
Speaker 7: that you can have. It's entertainment that you can have
Speaker 7: right at home and you don't have to travel very far.
Speaker 7: We prefer to play on Xbox and we gather up
Speaker 7: say every Wednesday and Friday, and then we have a
Speaker 7: lot of pickup games on Saturday too, and it's just
Speaker 7: absolutely wild. The same excitement that we have in the room,
Speaker 7: we get to share that together running in our living rooms.
Speaker 7: Some Xbox Live customer, but I hang out with stepsuspand
Speaker 7: I prefer to play with entertainers.
Speaker 3: Oh all right, thank you, thank you. It's ICG for life.
Speaker 3: Very good.
Speaker 2: So we do games giveaways events just like in Sepsis.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have merch and actually, like this in one
Speaker 2: of the shirts he's got on. Now, some of these
Speaker 2: guys have as you can see, High is a gaming
Speaker 2: community person. Okay, all right, if you like, I go
Speaker 2: to a Macca connection gaming dot com.
Speaker 1: There you go. Now, how long has that been a thing?
Speaker 3: H wow?
Speaker 1: Now not not longer than the band y.
Speaker 2: No, well so we we we learned it in another
Speaker 2: gaming community. I think we've I think that this will
Speaker 2: be our seventh year doing it.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, been quite some time. And how many like,
Speaker 1: how many people are in it?
Speaker 2: You know, it's a revolving door. It's it's gaming, so
Speaker 2: it's easy to quit.
Speaker 1: So people come and go, yeah, yeah, no, it makes sense,
Speaker 1: that makes sense. No, that's cool. That's cool if you
Speaker 1: are just joining us. Sepsis is here, of course, talking
Speaker 1: about Swarmy Fest tonight at did we agree it's Taffia?
Speaker 1: Did we all agree?
Speaker 3: Another one? We can agree?
Speaker 4: I'll try and remember.
Speaker 1: That we want we want, we want people to be
Speaker 1: able to find it.
Speaker 2: We do and right right they can't you but that's okay.
Speaker 1: And and and we have no idea what Sepsis is playing.
Speaker 1: They won't tell us, so you have to show up
Speaker 1: for that.
Speaker 3: We're playing music. We're gonna play all. We're gonna play
Speaker 3: all by Wednesday song.
Speaker 1: If you have I've been I've been playing. I opened
Speaker 1: the show today with because they were on last week
Speaker 1: that their cover of No Easy Way Out. If you
Speaker 1: listen to that.
Speaker 3: I'm addicted to it. I am.
Speaker 2: I'm addicted to it, and I've been hassling them all week.
Speaker 2: I've been doing what people are doing to me. You know,
Speaker 2: are you gonna play Bathwater? I've been doing that to them.
Speaker 2: Are you guys gonna play no easy way out?
Speaker 3: I assume, I hope. So they have to. I so
Speaker 3: this this. I didn't know that they could do this
Speaker 3: whole clean singing thing. Yeah. You know, I've been listening
Speaker 3: to Dead by Wednesday for a long time, and this
Speaker 3: whole clean singing thing is I'm looking forward to hearing
Speaker 3: them do more of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I've been. I've been trying to get a
Speaker 2: feature with them for years and years. I said, we
Speaker 2: should really do a collaboration.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, wouldn't Yeah yeah, yeah, Well I'm when they
Speaker 1: used to have the two singers. I think they were
Speaker 1: cousins back in the day, like when they did Pawns
Speaker 1: and everything.
Speaker 2: He did have two singers. Although I love this line up.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, this is it for me. Yeah, I love
Speaker 2: you see the Wasteland video. Yes, I'm a video guy.
Speaker 1: We talked about that during the interview because they look well,
Speaker 1: oh no, I'm sorry, Actually no, that was off air.
Speaker 1: I was talking with them about the video afterward. That's right,
Speaker 1: because I was saying, how like it looks like they.
Speaker 2: I don't know if they went to Burning Man or
Speaker 2: whatever they did, but it is the video they were at.
Speaker 1: It Apparently it was like a happy accident. They were
Speaker 1: at a festival and they decided they were going to
Speaker 1: shoot this video and they got everybody participating, and they
Speaker 1: made it looks like it looks like a trailer for
Speaker 1: a Mad Max movie.
Speaker 3: Can do that.
Speaker 1: It looks like it was it was really expensive. And
Speaker 1: they said no, it just it just came together and
Speaker 1: and everyone kind of participated in it and it was
Speaker 1: almost so planned. It does right, It does. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, unless they were just telling me that to
Speaker 1: feed the Lord, I'll go.
Speaker 3: With it either way. I know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's it seems. It seemed true when
Speaker 1: they when they were telling me about it, they were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: just kind of came together.
Speaker 2: I was like, Wow, I discovered a lot of music
Speaker 2: through MTV.
Speaker 3: Some of you guys don't know.
Speaker 2: What that is, but that but that that's why I.
Speaker 3: Love the music videos. That's why we still do the
Speaker 3: music video stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, some people think that. Some people think there
Speaker 1: are no videos anymore. And and there's actually a lot
Speaker 1: of people who say, you know, you artists should skip it,
Speaker 1: but we don't.
Speaker 3: We don't.
Speaker 1: I love video.
Speaker 5: Story.
Speaker 1: And yeah, there's not one for Bathwater yet, right, is
Speaker 1: there gonna be?
Speaker 3: There's gonna be. We're thinking about porn Hub.
Speaker 2: Oh all right, we're thinking about releasing it on adult networks.
Speaker 2: Uh huh, okay, no, I'm kidding, but but we we
Speaker 2: we do think it will be what we want to
Speaker 2: do with it won't be Facebook friendly. Yeah, it's really
Speaker 2: difficult cult now. It's getting harder on YouTube.
Speaker 3: You know. We do all the podcasts and stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just got a terrible mouth and we're always
Speaker 2: talking about naked stuff and like, oh, it's getting difficult.
Speaker 1: You should plug that the podcast or podcasts.
Speaker 2: So so, honeycomb hide Out will be returning in some
Speaker 2: form along with Swarm TV, but they will probably be
Speaker 2: combined and we won't get to it probably till next year. Okay,
Speaker 2: so we're all taking a break from podcasting for a while. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you can catch my show.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, yeah, because I know you're you've been.
Speaker 3: Yes, William Versus the World?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, every weekday at seven I'll be angry, and
Speaker 2: I'll have plenty of coffee.
Speaker 1: You do that five days a week, every week five.
Speaker 3: I do it every single day. Oh, I didn't realize. Yes,
Speaker 3: I'm so.
Speaker 2: I'm kind of trapped right now because I'm doing the
Speaker 2: hundredth episode. But the hundredth episode is special, and I've
Speaker 2: got to have all kinds of people on it. So
Speaker 2: I have to have all the right some kind of
Speaker 2: frozen right now because I have to have all these
Speaker 2: people one with me special one hundredth episodes.
Speaker 3: You got to go crazy. I'm trying to break the
Speaker 3: law and you don't.
Speaker 1: Just to clarify too, you don't just talk about music
Speaker 1: on that.
Speaker 2: No, it's William versus the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, seriously,
Speaker 2: so it's me versus everybody.
Speaker 4: Yeah, music, technology, yet the police, I go off on everybody.
Speaker 6: Yeah, horrible restaurant review.
Speaker 1: One time, I think, oh really, oh no kidding.
Speaker 3: You've given me a shout out a few times. I've
Speaker 3: gotten in there and seen you.
Speaker 2: I'm really, I'm, I'm I'm. It's pretty much nothing without
Speaker 2: you guys showing up. A lot of the people here
Speaker 2: show up, yeah, just to help me, uh, to encourage me. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: so you know really again, like without uh, without the
Speaker 2: people in the chat, it would be impossible to do it.
Speaker 3: So I appreciate all y'all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. Well we are. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: kind of getting to the top of the hour, so
Speaker 1: I'm thinking maybe we'll we'll wrap up this segment and
Speaker 1: get some other folks on on the mic. But yes,
Speaker 1: remind us what should we what do you want to
Speaker 1: make sure we know about tonight?
Speaker 3: I mean, geez to show up five.
Speaker 4: We're gonna have some cool grab bags and giveaways too.
Speaker 2: There's a guitar raffle and giveaway through NH Guitars that
Speaker 2: Legion to Solace is presenting again. BPS Records will be
Speaker 2: opening the show and announcing bands. Excellent, They'll be running
Speaker 2: around the venue. We've got a grab bag at the end.
Speaker 2: Uh a killer after party. I'm not gonna speak for
Speaker 2: everybody because they're gonna come on and and there's there's
Speaker 2: other features and different things happening.
Speaker 3: So I'll let them talk about it, but just show
Speaker 3: up and be pleasant.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, outstanding, outstanding and uh yeah, come say hi
Speaker 1: to you know. Jenny and I will be there of
Speaker 1: course and looking forward to that and uh I think
Speaker 1: what we'll do is, since we talked about it and
Speaker 1: it's your newest single, we'll close with Bathwater. We'll close
Speaker 1: the segment with bath water.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and hear you on the radio.
Speaker 1: Oh, we should we should plug the website. We should
Speaker 1: plug the website too. I don't think we did that.
Speaker 4: Dot com dot com spelled the S E P S
Speaker 4: I S S dot com.
Speaker 1: By the way. I'm sure now that's you're spelling. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I've asked you this before, but I can't remember.
Speaker 1: Has anyone ever gotten, like, spelled your name wrong on
Speaker 1: a flyer?
Speaker 3: Or are the we are the most Yeah? I mean,
Speaker 3: I mean I feel.
Speaker 4: Like it happens to everybody, though, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Especially us.
Speaker 2: We get called and mispronounced every weird name and you
Speaker 2: step kids.
Speaker 3: Are you kidding? We've gotten everything?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Every Yeah.
Speaker 2: The only reason why and we were talking about earlier
Speaker 2: you said something about titles or we didn't name the
Speaker 2: band for any reason. It's just just just what it's called. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's just so it's searchable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, we I remember in the previous conversion we
Speaker 1: talked about.
Speaker 3: That disappoint anybody else? Oh?
Speaker 1: I remember why we talked about that before because I
Speaker 1: mentioned my dad is a big fan of you, except
Speaker 1: except the name. And I think, and I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think the name bothers him. I think he's
Speaker 1: just being funny about it. But he but he tells me,
Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, Maddie, you know, I don't know about
Speaker 1: the name, but I really will have.
Speaker 2: A problem with and then and then they'll and then
Speaker 2: they'll go play Cannibal Corpse.
Speaker 3: And slip not. I said, we've got a problem, and
Speaker 3: you slipknot right right, come on?
Speaker 1: And and I'm like a lot of those uh, And
Speaker 1: unlike a lot of those bands, your logo is decipherable
Speaker 1: and everything, you know, because a lot of those bands,
Speaker 1: we can't even you can't even read the logo.
Speaker 3: People don't like that about us Cannibal Corpse.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 1: When I when I used to work at years ago
Speaker 1: for those who remember Strawberries and then eventually oh wow,
Speaker 1: but but I.
Speaker 3: Just got all everybody over a thirty five. But I
Speaker 3: know that's because you are.
Speaker 7: I just.
Speaker 1: I just remember the nightmares I would have on like
Speaker 1: after shipment day but away the Cannibal Corpse CDs and
Speaker 1: seeing some of those album covers.
Speaker 2: Remember when they were like crushing iced tea tapes and
Speaker 2: stuff and nw A.
Speaker 1: You guys don't remember that way back, Yeah, yeah, when
Speaker 1: everybody was mad at I see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just played with them, Zach's favorite band. We
Speaker 2: just played with them at rock Fest Two Live Crew from.
Speaker 3: The US A. You know, yeah, yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 2: They were all the booty shaken and all of that
Speaker 2: back then, and they banned.
Speaker 6: You want to talk about a band that has like
Speaker 6: more experience with First Amendment, you know, there's yeah, a
Speaker 6: band that have been censored by a court.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember, yeah, yeah, I didn't know they were
Speaker 1: even still doing anything.
Speaker 3: We played with those guys a couple of months ago
Speaker 3: in Rockfest.
Speaker 2: They had a bigger crowd than any rock and roll
Speaker 2: band in the entire venue.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, made Jelly Roll look like Swiss role.
Speaker 2: No, it was crazy to Live Crew is a it
Speaker 2: was a rock and roll, a heavy metal FESTIV. Two
Speaker 2: Live Crew had the biggest crowd I think we saw
Speaker 2: at the entire festival.
Speaker 1: What's his name, Luther, Uncle Luke, Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 3: They got mad at the guy because he likes bums, so.
Speaker 1: Did sir mix a lot. Nobody got mad at him.
Speaker 3: He likes big butts and he can't lie. That's right,
Speaker 3: that's right.
Speaker 1: Nobody got mad at him, not right, Yeah, yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: So we'll end with bathwater and then we're gonna get
Speaker 1: some other folks on the mic. But really looking forward
Speaker 1: to tonight. I have no idea what you're playing because
Speaker 1: you wouldn't tell me, but no, looking forward to it,
Speaker 1: looking forward to it.
Speaker 3: All right, here it is.
Speaker 1: This is the newest single from Stepsis. This is Bathwater.
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