Speaker A
[music] Cooking. Check. Check. All right. All right, baby. Keep on rolling. You know what time it is.
Devildriver discusses their new album, band lineup changes, personal stories, and insights on music and life in this Garza Podcast episode.
Key Takeaways
- Devildriver embraces a heavy, groove-oriented sound that respects their musical roots.
- Strong personal relationships and mutual care are vital for band longevity and personal life.
- Reuniting with original members can bring renewed energy and emotional connection.
- Balancing family life with a demanding music career requires honesty, friendship, and prioritization.
- Authenticity and staying true to one’s artistic vision are key to sustained success.
What the video covers
- Devildriver's new album releases on July 10th, featuring a riff-heavy, groove metal style.
- The band reunited with original bassist John Miller after a decade-long absence.
- Discussion on the creative process and the importance of balancing groove and heaviness in their music.
- Personal stories about relocating for family and the impact of environment on raising children.
- Insights into maintaining a long-term marriage as a touring musician with wife Anastasia.
- The origin story of how Dez met his wife at a funeral and later at the House of Blues.
- Reflections on band dynamics, health, and the importance of caring for each other beyond music.
- Mentions of related bands and music industry experiences, including Coal Chamber and Snot.
- The significance of authenticity and staying true to their musical identity over the years.
- Plans for future tours and ongoing engagement with fans through media appearances.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Well, we got Dez and Dobby Double Driver. Thank you for being here, man.
Speaker A
Appreciate it, man. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us.
Speaker A
Yeah, thank you. Dobby runs a band with me, so I call him number one like in Star Trek. So, yeah, Dobby was a pleasant surprise, but I've known Dobby for a while, so cool.
Speaker A
No brainer. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. New records out July 10th. It's sick, man. So, it's very riffy.
Speaker A
Yes, it's very riffy. Strike, strike, and kill. Slammy riffy. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I mean, when we started to write, we normally release a record every two years, and this has been four years.
Speaker A
So, when we started to write, it's been four years, huh? Wow. Yeah. So, when we started to write, everybody was kind because we have Gabe on guitar and producing. So, we have one new guy basically. And,
Speaker A
we were talking about like, well, what’s the direction and this and that. I said, do me a favor, like don’t go back, don’t go forward. Like, listening to the catalog, look at the logo. Like I physically made everybody pull up the
Speaker A
logo. Like pull up the logo. What does it tell you? I said, "I want something volatile, visceral, heavy, violent, riffy, you know, and groovy." Right now, everybody’s using the title groove metal, but they hardly groove. Right. We’ve got
Speaker A
balance, we’ve got groove. So when normally what’s the nickname?
Speaker A
California groove machine. California. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. I mean, you got to kind of take the monikers that people give to you.
Speaker A
It took me a long time to do that. [laughter] Yeah. I asked my wife. I was like, "Groove, groove metal, is that what?" She goes, "Look, man, your favorite artist is James Brown." Like, you love groove, so that’s what you guys are. Uh,
Speaker A
but I normally start to write after the bulk of the material comes in. And when I got three tracks, I called him immediately and I go, "Don’t bother me. I’m going in the studio today." And that was it. I wrote
Speaker A
like probably two or three tracks that first day. Like I couldn’t stay away from the material.
Speaker A
So as I started getting material from these guys, it was unbelievable. They were just playing as a team. Like everybody writing and John Miller back in the band after, you know, so long.
Speaker A
How long was John out?
Speaker A
Well, he was with me for the first five records. I think he was out for a good 10 years at least. Right.
Speaker A
A quick 10 years. Maybe more than that. Flies by, huh? It’s weird. It does. Wow.
Speaker A
It does. I mean, when we first talked, John and I on the phone, I mean, there was laughter, there was tears, there was I was always closer with John. So, it was good to have him back.
Speaker A
It’s good. It’s good to have like the OG back, you know? It’s cool.
Speaker A
It’s cool. You’re also able to mend that relationship because sometimes you can’t mend it, you know?
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we never had a falling out. He had to leave tour. He had to go home to get his stuff together, man. I think if he would have stayed on the road, it wouldn’t have been a good vibe
Speaker A
for him. Yeah. So, we all got together and said in England of all places and said, "Bro, you can’t continue this, right?
Speaker A
You might die." Well, you have to care for people more than the music and more than the band. And that’s certainly how we felt. So true.
Speaker A
But like I said, man, when we got on the phone, it was like we laughed. We talked for like three and a half hours, man.
Speaker A
Wow. And there were tears. There was everything. I was always very, very close to John. Like there’s a famous photo, a photo of us back in the day where I got us all.
Speaker A
We took an RV for the first run and it’s like him and I in the back passed out like holding hands, like just done, like out drinking, you know. I’m glad I quit that. But
Speaker A
great. It was just awesome, man. And you moved to Santa Barbara because of your current wife, Anna, correct? And eventually that’s probably where you met John, right?
Speaker A
Yeah, that’s where I met the whole band. So to go back, yeah, Anastasia was from Santa Barbara and we were looking for a place to raise the kids and she was from there. I went up one
Speaker A
night, I actually hung out with Mikey Dolan from Snot. Oh, hell yeah. And had a great time on State Street and said, "I love this place and I need a change. Let’s go." We lived there for about 10 years until I decided to
Speaker A
buy a house and then you realize it’s $2 million for a 1976 one-bedroom, no garage. Like I’m like, I’m out of here, you know.
Speaker A
Yeah. And we got fortunate. My parents live down in Murrieta. So that’s where I live now. And that’s why you moved there.
Speaker A
Yeah. Well, we bought during the crash, too. So it’s like the house over the golf course. And I mean, it’s like we got very lucky.
Speaker A
So lucky. Unfortunately, that’s when they say to buy houses is during a crash. Yeah. And what had happened is on State Street in the middle of the day there was a stabbing of a 15-year-old kid and I told my wife like I’m not
Speaker A
going to raise my kids in this environment because it’s either the haves or the have nots and I’m from a very blue-collar working-class family [snorts] and I just didn’t want to raise my kids in an area where
Speaker A
shit could happen. Yeah. You know, to them. So where I live now it’s very much like, you know, like the Andy Griffith show or something. I mean, it’s like everybody knows your name, you
Speaker A
know, Mayberry, you know what I mean? It’s like you go to the local Ralphs, it’s like, "Oh, you’re home from tour." And yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. You know, and yeah, it’s a cool place to live, man. Real quick, if you don’t mind, I learned something about your family yesterday. And I personally, because I’m in a six-year
Speaker A
relationship, I’m also a musician like yourself, so I’m always curious how people make it work. Have you guys been married for 29 or have you hit the 30-year mark yet?
Speaker A
We’ll hit the 30-year mark next year.
Speaker A
Next year. Congrats. Yeah. I think the way you work is you be best friends. So, nobody comes before her. I don’t have guys night. And in fact, it’s funny when I do get called on those kinds of things, like the boys are getting together. I show up with Anastasia, you know?
Speaker A
Yeah. And if it’s like you brought your wife, I’m like cool, I’m out, right? Or whatever. I just bring her everywhere.
Speaker A
And the way to do it is to just be honest. [snorts] Don’t open it. And be best friends and raise kids and time goes by.
Speaker A
It’s great because the musician has such a bad stigma when it comes to marriages and relationships. So when I see something work, I’m always curious and kind of ask questions, you know, because also
Speaker A
selfishly, you know, how do you tour full-time? And is it true that Anastasia, your wife, saw you at a funeral?
Speaker A
So and that was, yeah. So, our story is, well, Lynn from Snot passed away, God rest his soul. And it was his funeral.
Speaker A
Yes. Wow. And it was in Santa Barbara and we had taken the tour bus up there with Sharon Osbourne and I was out in the Rose Garden afterwards with my head hanging pretty low, drinking a bottle of wine,
Speaker A
kicking rocks, you know, and she saw me but she didn’t want to approach because obviously she didn’t know me and it was a funeral. But then about two weeks later I was out to dinner with Azie at his house and
Speaker A
then you went to House of Blues, right?
Speaker A
Yeah. And the assistant said, "Hey, I’m going to go to House of Blues. Do you want to go get a cocktail?" And I said, "Yeah, it’s like 9:30. Let’s go." I was
Speaker A
walking in and she was walking out from having dinner. And I said to her, "Hey, don’t go anywhere, right? No.
Speaker A
I'm not staying with you tonight. That's not how I work." And, um, I blew, she had a pager, so to date it a little bit.
Speaker A
And I blew her [ __ ] pager up. And, um, from then on, we've been together uh, solid since then. Yeah.
Speaker A
That is so bizarre. Yeah. We dated for a while and then that is that is bizarre. Yeah. And then as soon as we f we had so much in common, dude. Like just just we have everything in common,
Speaker A
you know? Like there's nothing I like that she doesn't like or that she likes that I don't like. And I think that's that's what you have to look for. You got to look for a best friend. Don't look for like the piece on your arm and
Speaker A
the this and that. Like look for a [ __ ] best friend that'll get you through life and someone you can laugh with, someone you can cry with, someone you can share everything with. Like she there's not there's nothing about me she
Speaker A
doesn't know. Yeah. You know, and I think that's what you got to do to have a long time relationship. Yeah, it's there's no rules. Especially after hearing that, there's no rules how to meet somebody. Seeing someone for the
Speaker A
first because if you if you say it out loud, that story will sound psycho to someone somebody else. Oh, yeah. You guys both knew at that moment.
Speaker A
Yeah. But I we did. We did. And you got to get somebody that that that you take care of and they take care of you. So, for instance, before I came here this morning, I went to the eye doctor. I got
Speaker A
a something going on with my right eye from a old fighting injury or something and they had they had to dilate my right eye. So, I was supposed to drive today and she's like, "Don't worry, honey. I got you. I'll drive." Right. So, but
Speaker A
that's an analogy for how relationship should go. Like, don't worry, I got you. You got me. Thus, the shades today. So, apologies. Yeah.
Speaker A
That's fine. It's fine. Uh, do you and Lynn have m matching tattoos on on your hand?
Speaker A
Yeah. Well, he has a skull and I have a pumpkin and it was done by Paul Booth the same day. Yeah. Me and Lynn, uh, there's a tumultuous beginning there which was awesome. is, you know, we're very protective of Los Angeles. Cole
Speaker A
Chamber was, and um when, you know, it was a dead zone. Uh even Kin was busing people up to Los Angeles to get their shows.
Speaker A
You hear the rumors about about the bus. Yeah. And which is cool, you know, but when Snot first started to come down, um I was outside the Roxy and I actually said to Lynn, "Why don't you get the
Speaker A
[ __ ] and just go back to Santa Barbara?" Mhm. And he's like, "Instead of taking that mode, why don't we go in the car, smoke a joint, then go [ __ ] do a shot inside the Roxy and let's be friends."
Speaker A
And then, yeah, we were friends since then. And I've always I've always respected the band. I mean, um, very much so. I just helped Snot out actually get their new agent. So, yeah. Yeah. I've always had a lot of
Speaker A
respect. And I think far beyond most frontmen, I think he was probably in the top five of all time to be honest with I I I only hear the stories about him. How how he was like a great dude and
Speaker A
great dude. Try to follow him. Have [ __ ] fun with it. And I'm a guy who was who's like, "Bring it on." And but that dude, you know, he had it. Um he just passed away too early, man. Just uh
Speaker A
real sad. So sad, man. So sad, dude. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder where Snot would uh would would be.
Speaker A
Yeah. Unfortunately, I I think I think about about that kind of stuff, too. You know, it's it'll like pop in there. What What if Yeah. You know, Yeah. You can't go back in time. You just got to move forward. And um like
Speaker A
they you know their new singer is badass and so we wish them the best and and I'm actually trying to put them on a Halloween show with me now. I'm always trying to nice trying to help friends out, you know.
Speaker A
So would would you say it was Snot and uh and Cold Chamber that were kind of like spreading chaos in the LA scene because because the hair metal scene kind of killed everything off, right?
Speaker A
Yeah. I mean I would say it was like Fear Factory and Cold Chamber. Snot was a little bit later. Um, I found Static X at a place called the um, uh, Coconut Teaser. I actually walked in and saw
Speaker A
Static in front of about 15 people and brought them to a bunch of people's attention and they got signed. And then later on uh, you had System of a Down and and everybody coming out of there. But the deaf tones were probably before all
Speaker A
of us. I would say that the deaf tones were happening. Defton and Fear Factory first, then Coal Chamber. Um, I mean, cuz Cole Chamber was technically around before K.
Speaker A
Um, and would have been signed before K, but I left the band for like a year. We had a record deal on the table and I said, "Ah, I don't know. Let me think about this. I'm just a guy who puts a
Speaker A
lot of thought into things." So, you know. Yeah. Yo, so you even took a year off and even though you and me committed to getting the tattoo?
Speaker A
Yeah. That's that's that would be considered bad luck. So, so you got the band tattoo prior to Oh, years before we got signed, I got the band tattoo. Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A
But we were running around LA in jumpsuits and stuff with cold chamber everywhere and um t passing out passing out t-shirts and like we weren't even selling our own shirts, right? We were like if you came to a gig, you got a
Speaker A
free shirt. So there was a point in in LA you couldn't go anywhere without seeing a Coal Chamber shirt, you know, that was purposely done. You know, it's got to be on purpose sometimes.
Speaker A
Yeah. He's got he's got to hustle, dude. Still this grind and know I mean the like like the memories of probably you guys up cuz you shared a a bedroom eating Top Ramen, right?
Speaker A
Oh, bro. Yeah. Yeah. I had a onebedroom and uh Raina slept on the floor in the kitchen. Me moved in with me with my pitbull and we traded Top Ramen or stole food. I stole a lot of food from Trader
Speaker A
Joe's. Yeah. A lot of food [laughter] from Trader Joe's. I would go to Trader Joe's and steal food like Wow. you're up. So, I I'm about to combine uh Cold Chamber and Double Driver real real quick because me being
Speaker A
a fan um I mean I I' I've listened to you to your music for a very long time, Dez. And uh so as a fan, I never really knew what like you were singing about.
Speaker A
And then later I would hear you talk about how purposely Cold Chamber is very like uh abst you know uh obscure lyrics.
Speaker A
You really don't know. And then you had with Devil Driver, you had to learn how to be personal and then and then you got that from John Johnny and Cash, correct?
Speaker A
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean listening to I mean I grew up around first of all I love all music.
Speaker A
So um but I grew up on punk rock, psychoy and goth so I'm probably the first heavy metal singer you'll talk to like what's your heavy metal influences and I'm like none you know I mean none really vocally. Um
Speaker A
but I think you know interesting. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot there's a lot of personal lyrics uh within Cole Chamber, but I really wanted to kind of get down to the point of it with Devil Driver. And so, listening to Cash really
Speaker A
really helps out a lot with that kind of stuff, you know. And if you know me, you know I love Outlaw Country. Like, if you've ever been on my bus at 3:00 in the morning, you know, you're listening
Speaker A
to Hank 3 and you know, you're listening to Outlaw Country. The the the the lyrics are so poignant in that scene that it's uh you can learn from it as a writer, I think, you know. He's he he's
Speaker A
had such an up and down career. So it's it's such a great example. Uh exactly. I mean one of the highlights of my life is uh you know Devil Driver did an outlaw country record covered heavy metal called Outlaws Till the End.
Speaker A
And I was actually told by uh a president of a label actually that I know very well. It's like this is going to kill your career. Like you should not do this. And I was like yeah well [ __ ]
Speaker A
you. I do what I want and I'm going to die. Kill your career. Very nice. And I was like I'm going to die trying. So yeah, uh then that record charted very well, did very well, and I actually spent
Speaker A
about 60 grand of my own money because we got a lot of [ __ ] vocalists on that. I mean, Randy from Lama of God, John Carter Cash, uh Leaving from Fear, Hank 3, uh I mean, I could go down the
Speaker A
line with the with the guests. And so working with Leaving from Fear was like one of the highlights of my [ __ ] life. I grew up on Fear. I grew up on punk rock. I grew up with [ __ ] Doc
Speaker A
Martens up to my knees and shaved heads and what have you, right? But the one [clears throat] of the highlights is going to the cash cabin, working with John Carter Cash, recording at the cash cabin, signing the mantle on at at the
Speaker A
cash cabin right next to Willie Nelson and Christopher Christopher uh Chris Christopherson, you know, and working and singing in the booth. I mean, and Johnny built this cabin with his hands, like built it with his [ __ ] hands,
Speaker A
right? So singing in that booth was like one of the highlights of my life and working with John Carter and we we've become great friends and we're great friends with that family. So you kind of got to within the industry you got to do
Speaker A
what you want. A lot of people play the game. I never really have like at all. You know at the top of my career with Cold Chamber I bailed right. Uh with Devil Driver, I've done a lot of
Speaker A
different stuff that that you know may or may not be considered um uh within bounds of metal, right? And uh I I think that's where that's where you make your statement uh is by doing something different. Always be different.
Speaker A
Even when Devil Driver came around, we were very different, you know. And when Cole Chamber certainly when we started, people were like, "What is this?" Like we have no clue what's going on here, you know? I wonder where that comes from because I'm
Speaker A
always like why are some people why are they why are they like that I was I was I like doing some re I was like you know poking around and uh did you have Dez [clears throat] did you have
Speaker A
complications with your birth because you were the first four months of your life you were in an incubator correct yeah I think three months or something in incub what's called premature birth yeah uh but you know back then women
Speaker A
smoked when they were pregnant and then and every and everything else, you know what I mean? So, um, and I've always been, my mom calls me the fighter, you know, my nickname is Peanut. I've got it tattooed on my neck. Yeah. Because I've
Speaker A
just always been like, "Oh, really? Let's go." Like, I've It's written in me. It's like, "Oh, because you're six foot, you don't think I'll fight." Like, let's go. So, I mean, even at my age, I'm still very uh contankerous. So, I
Speaker A
not going to ever lose that. I don't think my wife's over here laughing her ass off because she she knows, you know.
Speaker A
Um but I'll only take [ __ ] so far as it'll go, you know, and then then it's like, okay, that's it. Uh then I have a very street vibe about me, you know? I mean, I left home at a relatively young
Speaker A
age. I fought for everything I got. Man, there was a time when I was homeless and uh camping out under a bridge for for a couple days with a friend and we were stealing food from PM. And like
Speaker A
[clears throat] Hollywood back then was very um just in my blood. I was like, well, I'm going to LA, you know what I mean? I was born and raised in LA and the parents moved back and forth and
Speaker A
ended up in Orange County. Um uh elementary school was San Juan Capistrano where I was the only wetto. I was the only white kid in my school, right? It's why I'm covered in like Aztec Inc. and Mexican inks. I was
Speaker A
raised around literally on the other side of the tracks. There's a YouTube of where I was raised in San Juan Capistrono where this guy is driving through and he's like, "You don't want to come here at night, right?" But I was
Speaker A
raised around the culture and uh low riders and stuff like that and learn how to fight at an early age and everything else, you know? So, um then then parents moved uh to a more bluecollar kind of area, which is great for us as kids. Um
Speaker A
and then I had a stepfather that I really didn't get along with. Um, so I had to I bailed out like at a, you know, a couple times at a certain age, you know. So, we just dropped some new
Speaker A
merch. We got a Chug shirt, a pizza shirt, even a hot heat shirt like the one currently on my body. Head over to Garzaodcast.mmyshopify.com.
Speaker A
That's garapod.mmyshopify.com or click the link below. Love you guys. Yeah, I was I was uh trying to uh connect some dates because I know you had like some stepfathers go go in and out and and you got you got the tattoo
Speaker A
of the wolf and then you was Was that why you you ran away? No. Well, I got tattooed. Yeah, I got tattooed when I was 15.
Speaker A
Yeah. Uh with a with a wolf on my arm cuz I was in a psycho band called the Screaming Wolves.
Speaker A
Okay. So, I was actually a drummer. I was actually a standup drummer. What is a standup drummer? I heard you talk about it. What's a standup drummer?
Speaker A
So kick, drum, snare, high hat, two toms, and a crash. Um, think of Slim Jim Phantom from the Stray Cats, basically.
Speaker A
Straight. Oh, the Stray Cats. Yeah. So, think of think of that. You know, when you said stand on Drum, I have no idea what the hell he's talking about.
Speaker A
Yeah. I mean, I got rhythm, man. I got beat and I love And I love the drums.
Speaker A
It's still one of my favorite uh even back in the day uh with John Berkeland on Devil Driver. We used to go rehearse Devil Driver with just the drums and the [ __ ] vocals. like we'd head to the
Speaker A
room and just do, you know, with no guitars, no nothing. So drums have always been probably my favorite instrument. You know, if you see us live, you're going to see a lot of interaction between Yeah, there's a lot of interaction
Speaker A
between and we talk with the eyes. We go Yeah. A lot actually. Like I jump on his kick drums and he's like like standup drummer for double driver Dobby.
Speaker A
Yeah. I mean, like I said, I was I was raised on on punk rock and psycho and goth music. Um, I I found uh Motorhead was on a a mixtape with GBH and a bunch of other bands that I was the Partisans
Speaker A
and a bunch of other bands that I was and I thought they were a punk band and then saw a picture of them and they were long hair, they were a metal band and um I mean obviously rock and roll had
Speaker A
been an influence, right? My parents had vinyl collection so I got into all that.
Speaker A
Doors Zeppelin, Credence Clearwater, all of that. And I was into KISS when I was very young. I had Kiss posters everywhere. So throughout the years meeting, you know, Jean Simmons, uh, and and and all of the guys actually was was
Speaker A
a great [ __ ] pleasure. But heavy heavy metal. I would say it started with Motorhead for me.
Speaker A
Mhm. Yeah. And you started singing at like 15. I started singing about 17. I was in the Psycho Billy band till I was about almost 17.
Speaker A
Was it the Steaming Wolves? Uh, Screaming Wolves. Wolves. Yeah, the Screaming Wolves. And then um which actually my was sick, too.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. My guitar player, Buddy Doogie, is um actually in a band called the Hot Rod Trio. I mean, he's still doing his thing, like in the scene, in the rockabilly scene. And I mean, he's
Speaker A
got old school cars and everything else still. We we still talk, which is awesome. You know, he was quite a bit older than me. I was 15. He was maybe like 20, 21 years old. Um but I was
Speaker A
always hanging out with older cats, you know. It was kind of my thing. Yeah. I mean, you I mean, you were you were already working uh construction like at age nine.
Speaker A
Yeah. Well, my dad my my stepfather ran a construction company as a contractor. So, anytime I could, I would mow lawns, babysit dogs, [ __ ] work with him, you know. Um actually took uh living next door to me was the owner of Oakley.
Speaker A
Are you serious? Uh which I worked in his warehouse when all he had was one bicycle grip and used to clean up the dog [ __ ] in his backyard for money. And the dog [ __ ] was from the
Speaker A
dog Oakley. So that's how Oakley got its name is Oakley his dog. No [ __ ] Yeah. His name was Jim Jard. He was a great dude. I mean I I still wish like [ __ ] I should have just kept working at
Speaker A
that warehouse and and who knows where it would have been now, but um he was a really great guy. It was a Mormon Mormon cat at the time and I used I used to go next door to his family uh have dinner
Speaker A
with his family all the time. Yeah. There's Oakley right there. Yeah. I used to play with that dog daily.
Speaker A
Absolutely. He gave me my first BMX bike. He bought me a torquer for Christmas. He bought me a red torqueer bike with uh gold rims on it and [ __ ] [ __ ] I rode that bike all over Lagona
Speaker A
Niguel and uh Orange County, man. I mean, I would [ __ ] ride 10 20 miles a day on that bike.
Speaker A
Well, Oakley was the name of the dog. Ne never knew that. Yeah. And all he had was one bicycle grip. Uh and it was actually a like a bull grip. Like the sides came up. It was something new that had never been
Speaker A
done. And then he just he just kept going, man. you know, um and obviously sold his company for billions of dollars, you know, really great guy and and um I got a lot of work uh from him when I was
Speaker A
younger, which was awesome, you know, because I loved I wanted money, you know, to go buy down down buy candy or what have you when you were a kid, you know. So, I've always had a real hard work ethic and then started working
Speaker A
with my stepfather uh doing anything, picking up trash on the job site, what have you. Um, and then ended up in masonry and ended up uh doing uh brick lane and stone.
Speaker A
That's when you did the brick laying brick lane and stone. And this is all in my book that's coming next year. It's done. We're just editing. Yeah, we're just editing it right now.
Speaker A
Finally, dude. Yeah. It's called Loco. Um, and it goes really in depth into all of this stuff. But, uh, and it's quite a ride, man. It's quite a ride. There was the other night we were reading some parts of it and I kind of got teary
Speaker A
eyed. My wife's like, "You okay?" I go, "Yeah, this is just crazy, you know." But um I think learning learning lessons from dudes on a job site, you learn to like get the [ __ ] up and work. Shut your
Speaker A
mouth and quit [ __ ] whining. Like it's time to go to work, right?
Speaker A
Brick learning. That's like that's hard labor bro. Yeah. Well, I had to show up at 4:30 a.m. cuz I had to get the mud ready. The cement. I had to get the mud ready and get that all ready and get the bricks
Speaker A
ready and, you know, uh stack, you know, have gloves on and stack the stone walls and everything else. But I fell in love with it as soon as I started was able to start chipping stone and laying brick or
Speaker A
laying stone and it's awesome cuz at 3:00 you're having beers with dudes and you're [ __ ] 17 16 and they're all you know bikers and [ __ ] and you're looking up at something that you've done all day long,
Speaker A
right? I mean I still drive by some of those buildings. It's like there it is.
Speaker A
Like I did that when I was 17, when I was 18, when I was 19, when I was whatever. Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. Wow. And and Dobby, you're you're no stranger to to work either. Where? So, so people don't know about you. Where where were you born and from?
Speaker A
I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. That's where I'm originally from. San Juan.
Speaker A
I I moved to California when I was 24. So, I've been here for 13 years now. 12 13 years.
Speaker A
Yeah. How did you make that move? Cuz I mean, I'm sure people that are from your area, like, how do I even get out of here?
Speaker A
I just played every venue, every local show. I was in like I was trying and trying and grinding and grinding and at one point I was like I I played every place I I need to go out and just
Speaker A
just do it. Just go do it. And I told my I did a last show in Puerto Rico and then I told my parents right there and then, hey, I'm not coming back. I'm going to do a quick run and
Speaker A
then I'm not one way ticket. He's got great parents, man. And like for those who don't know, I call Dobby number one. Like if you watch Star Trek, you'll get it. But I call him number one. like because I I I do a lot. I've
Speaker A
got two bands. I run multiple businesses and like you need someone. I've always ran the band with one other dude. And so he he helps uh run Devil Driver. And when I needed a drummer, he was on tour
Speaker A
with another band. Uh we'll leave them nameless. But I I had heard like, "Oh, this dude's out here right now. He's teching for us. He's such a badass drummer." And the minute I got on the phone with Davi, like him and I just
Speaker A
[ __ ] clicked. I mean, I consider him one of my best friends in the world, man. Like I mean I we talk 40 times a [ __ ] day, you know, and he'll always call me like, "Bro, are you okay? How are you doing?"
Speaker A
I'm like, "Dude, I'm good." Like, you know, let's you know, thanks for asking. It's good to have somebody that gives you [ __ ] you know?
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dobby, you've always had a really great rep around. Thank you. Thank you, Ron. Always had a great work ethic. Oh, you you got to get Dobby. You got to talk to Dobby because he's going to do
Speaker A
everything. [laughter] The things, man, is like I am grateful to be here because a lot of things that you guys get here in the States or in Europe, we we don't get back home. So, every second that I get, even if if it's a bad
Speaker A
moment, I'm I'm grateful cuz people back home don't see any of this. So, yeah, it doesn't I mean, my my whole life, I've never recorded in front of anybody but a producer. Like, I tell my band members, "Get the [ __ ] out of here." And Davi was
Speaker A
with me every single day when I recorded. Wow. And it was awesome to actually I didn't know it would be that cool is to experience like cuz a producer will tell you like, "Oh, great job. Let's keep going." Or whatever, but to hear it from
Speaker A
the guy that's not behind the board going like, "Fuck, you killed it, bro." Like, you know, "Do that again." Or what have you. Like, now I don't know if I'd want to record without without Dobby in the room really. You know, like it was
Speaker A
awesome. It was a It was a [ __ ] great experience. It made my days great. And then I was like, "Are we done for the day? Cool. you want to jump in the pool or Anastasia's got food ready, you know.
Speaker A
Um, man, that had to develop some [ __ ] trust man. That's uh I think part of it cuz you're cuz you're a picky guy.
Speaker A
Yeah. Very very very private noticed. Probably one of the most private I mean guys you've ever met probably. Um, I said to the label, Davi knows the story, but I said to the label when we resigned with Napom, uh, do I have to do press?
Speaker A
And they're like, "Yeah, you [ __ ] absolutely have to do press if we're giving you this money." And and I was like, "Okay, great." You know, but it's, uh, it's it's weird for me. Um, I may seem comfortable, but I'm not. I'm I'm
Speaker A
not I'm absolutely not comfortable even right now. But it is what it is, and I'll be honest with it, you know. I just uh I'd rather just make music, go on stage, go back in the tour bus. And
Speaker A
that's another way that your relationship will work. Great. There's two kinds of musicians, right? There's there is two kinds.
Speaker A
There's a guys who's at the party constantly and the guy who's [ __ ] that, I'm in the back lounge watching Star Wars. I'm done with this [ __ ] Like, I'm I'm done my job today. I don't need to
Speaker A
[ __ ] hang out till 4 in the morning, you know? And then I end up in the back with Dobby kicking back watching [ __ ] movies or whatever, you know? So, but that's a good way for you actually
Speaker A
to to monitor your relationship is, you know just don't be the [ __ ] Yeah. Don't be at the [ __ ] party. Like, I don't give a [ __ ] about the party. Like, it's not my thing, you know? Like, it was back in
Speaker A
the day, don't get me wrong, but as soon as you stop drinking, you realize like this, what am I doing, you know? And then you watch people around you change after their drinks and say stupid [ __ ]
Speaker A
and then someone gets in the fight and some and [laughter] you're just like, what is what is this anyways? None of this [ __ ] mean [ __ ] you know. Um, when when did you stop drinking?
Speaker A
10 years ago. 10 years. Yeah. And I've only had two slips. And not even a slip, but just sip of wine, you know, or sip of a beer. But it changes my head so hard that I'm like, "Wow." Yeah. And what I do is I tell
Speaker A
myself every year on my birthday that I'm going to drink a bottle of Conac.
Speaker A
This is my favorite thing, you know? And uh then my birthday comes and it goes and I don't end up drinking. I'm even now I'm like, "Cool. My next birthday I'm going to get hammered." And then it just never happens.
Speaker A
Never happens. I am low-key asking for advice right now, I think. But so I'm recently, uh, approaching four months and not drinking.
Speaker A
Uh, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I I had said, um, you know, maybe like in 6 months or a year, I might have like a a glass of wine or a couple beers. And I've been
Speaker A
getting DMs from people, which I I really appreciate. You know, don't do it. Yeah. Don't do it.
Speaker A
Don't do it, dude. No. Like there was a actually a cool comment that Randy from Lamb of God made to me one time when uh after COVID I was having heart trouble like a lot of people that got CO
Speaker A
and uh the doctor was like you need to drink wine daily like you need to have a glass or two of wine or you need to have a cocktail like you need to like it'll thin your blood if you don't want to get
Speaker A
on meds and [ __ ] and I said to Randy I said man I might have to start having like a glass of wine he's like don't do it like so I went I went I don't even know eight nine years uh before I even
Speaker A
had a sip of anything. So I if I was you would not think about even having you know alcohol around. Now, what can help you is like what what helped me and probably helped I I'll I'll speak for
Speaker A
someone else as well because we talk about sobriety is uh is is Randy from Lamb of God. Like we like NA beer so love you know like like [ __ ] Corona makes an amazing you know you put a lime
Speaker A
in a NA beer Corona beer and you're cool and I can I'm sitting there I'm hanging with the dudes and doing whatever you know what I mean and I get I love the taste of beer um and I love the taste of
Speaker A
wine. We just found um a couple wines that are non-alcoholic that are absolutely fantastic. So, and you still get that uh it's called reversatl or something within the wine that's really good for your body.
Speaker A
Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. Stay away from it and stay away from the bars and the parties and and the people who used to drag you into the 4:00 in the morning all the time.
Speaker A
Just get them the [ __ ] out of your life for a minute, you know? Like like concentrate on yourself. Like concentrate on yourself, your family, your friends, what you're doing, your job here, like and just focus. And that
Speaker A
that's how you'll get off of off of booze. Four months is a very delicate thing, bro. You're like a newborn. Like you don't even you know you need people still to dress you and [ __ ] You got to
Speaker A
be very [laughter] you know what I mean? Like you got to be very care you got to be very cautious. I mean you hit the three year three four year mark then you'll think you can go out and have a
Speaker A
drink. But then I I I truly I wouldn't. You know that's what I've been getting.
Speaker A
Everyone's been saying that [ __ ] I have a but don't you feel better? But I wake up in the [ __ ] morning I feel great. I go to bed.
Speaker A
Unbelievable. I I go to bed, I don't wonder what I said to somebody. And I was the guy on the bus like funny funny like [ __ ] how. Like you didn't want to drink with me. I would drink Wild
Speaker A
Turkey till 4 in the morning and listen to the same [ __ ] song over and over and and then if you said something wrong to me, I would become 7 foot five. And it's not good. It's just [ __ ] not
Speaker A
good, dude. How did you uh as a fan, Dez, how did you and me just coexist in that era?
Speaker A
uh bro out over alcohol and uh it just we separated because I like to go down.
Speaker A
I like alcohol and weed and I liked a lot of like pills that went down and he like to go up and when that happened when that thing happened he was going up and I was going down.
Speaker A
This separation started to happen. Oh my goodness, dude. So So drugs and alcohol can can combine you bind you for sure. Yeah. But they can also completely separate you and um yeah, terrible. You know, I mean, in hindsight, I you know, I wish we were
Speaker A
sober back in the day, but you would have never gotten what you got. The That's the That's the weird slippery thing.
Speaker A
Never, bro. Never. You' never gotten the crazy shows. Uh you would have never gotten I mean, we wrote Loco and Big Truck in one day and we probably [ __ ] polished off, you know, the 12-pack between the two of us. And
Speaker A
are you serious? in a little tiny downtown [ __ ] rehearsal studio, you know, in in LA, right? Right near Compton. Actually, I almost got killed that day. I went in to get a [ __ ] 40 ounce and I was wearing all blue dickies
Speaker A
with a blue dicky shirt, my hair all braided and [ __ ] And this dude just said to me, you know, you're in the wrong neighborhood and I looked at him and he was wearing all red. He was it
Speaker A
was I was in Pyu country and I didn't [ __ ] know it, which is blood territory for those who don't know. And I was like, [ __ ] I got in the car and immediately got to rehearsal. The
Speaker A
story's in the book and it's much much more in-depth than that. Oh, dude. I can't wait to read it.
Speaker A
Yeah. The guy was real cool and actually just kind of checked me and kind of said, "Bro, like like two miles that way you're good." Like actually got goosebumps right now. I was like, "Two miles you're good, but right here you
Speaker A
should [ __ ] disappear right now." [snorts] Yeah. I still to this day wear dickies. I had dickies on before I came here and my wife's like, "The dickies are timeless. They are timeless. I got them on right now.
Speaker A
There's timeless, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I try to switch shoes, jackets. It's hard, dude.
Speaker A
Pants. I go right back. [laughter] It's hard. It's like, [ __ ] dude. It's hard.
Speaker A
Real real quick. Um, I was debating if I was going to open with this and I I ultimately decided not to. I um you, Dez, and Cold Chamber, uh, I want to throw Origin in there, too, and a
Speaker A
band called 18 Visions were just ahead of their time as far as style. Yeah. And I I went into Hot Topic, dude.
Speaker A
Freshman year in high school. And I bought a like the one you're wearing right there. A fishnet shirt. I would wear it to high school. Yeah.
Speaker A
Because I was trying to be like Gold Chamber. I love it. We We I always make the joke that that we started Hot Off Topic.
Speaker A
Here's the thing is every [laughter] everything we would wear and that all that stuff is custom made actually by Terry King who made all the Manson stuff in the beginning. God rest her soul. She passed away a couple years ago. She was
Speaker A
still really good friends with us. But everything I would wear, I swear to God, two weeks later, I would [ __ ] go into Hot Top and go, "What?" I mean, everything. All the like everything. Not just Fishnet. Like, it was a trip. Yeah,
Speaker A
it was a trip. [laughter] Like like like even Mig's outfit that he was wearing right there, like they made, you know?
Speaker A
Um, but they were always really cool to us, too. Uh, Hot Topic, like they would come down and grab whatever you want. And dude, I'd walk away with [ __ ] bags of [ __ ] out of their warehouse. I mean, my
Speaker A
wife still to this day like has these cool uh like pink and pink and white uh uh checkered bondage pants that I got her like and they still like [ __ ] hold up, which is killer, you know? So,
Speaker A
Wow. Yeah. Yeah, that was that was a a fun time. Where did that uh why did you guys decide to dress like that?
Speaker A
Um we just to be different. Like that's a very goth thing, right? Like fishnet uh bondage stuff around my neck. Like that's very, you know, but when we first started, we were wearing like Dickies.
Speaker A
Meeks had a bandana over his over his nose over his nose covering it and then the the Vatau hat low and I had my hair all braided. We're very street at that point. Um, but we started to incorporate
Speaker A
creepier, gothier stuff and we were like, we just we got to change it up.
Speaker A
Like everybody looks like us right now in LA. like all the bands, we're like, "We got to change it up." And and we did. And that's, you know, no one had any thought process. It's just like, it just happened.
Speaker A
Put on whatever you got and let's [ __ ] go. So, yeah. And now it's still it's still Well, now it's a style now.
Speaker A
Yep. It's real crazy uh that new metal is so back. I mean, I can remember when a lot of the bands from that era uh were just almost at their lowest point five, six years ago, really, you know. Um, so it's
Speaker A
it's cool to see. I mean, I we're walking in the mall uh the other day to to go to Lens Crafters to pick up uh some some [ __ ] glasses uh for me. And uh yeah, this kid had a cold chamber
Speaker A
shirt on and right next to him, he has kid had a deaf tone shirt on, you know, and um I told my wife, I put my head down, I was like, "Let's go." Like, you know what I mean? And we just kind of
Speaker A
walked out. But I think the kid did see me because then they started trailing us. Um right. So I stopped. I stopped and he's like, "Dez," and I turned around.
Speaker A
Anyways, I end up signing for him and talking to him for a minute, taking photos and stuff, but it's a trip. You know, the kid was 15. He couldn't have been 16, you know, and like, "How'd you get into this stuff?" "Oh, my parents."
Speaker A
And I'm like, "Okay, here we go. Here we go." Yeah. It's a blessing, man. Um, I'm very humbled uh to be here after 30 years and to have anything that's relevant, which right now we're number two on Sirius radio and I think number I
Speaker A
think number one on iTunes, like I'm very humbled and full of gratitude um to to be here after 30 years. And I think if if you don't come humbled uh and you don't come with gratitude and instead you come with attitude, right?
Speaker A
You're going to be like uh you know in Raiders of the Lost Arc when he's trying to the guy's trying to go through the cave and picks up his head and gets his head cut off, right? Like that's what's going to happen if you
Speaker A
don't come humble, especially after this many years of being in it, you know? Oh yeah, I was wearing a cowboy hat in that. I love cowboy hats still to this [ __ ] day.
Speaker A
That that a boy. I got several [ __ ] cowboy hats. I love I made Danny Filth wear one on the Devil Driver Cradle of Filth tour and some of the best photos are him and I in black cowboy hats. I don't know, there's
Speaker A
something about it. We were on an airplane one day and uh this woman look behind me. I was wearing my black cowboy hat and her husband was in front of me.
Speaker A
We were coming from Texas and he was wearing a gray cowboy hat and she looked behind me. She said, "You know, only bad guys wear black cowboy hats. That's why my husband wears a gray cowboy hat." I said, "Yes, ma'am." I like kind of,
Speaker A
"Yes, ma'am." My wife just started laughing. [laughter] Just like just started laughing. So, well, it's it's cool to have everything uh come around full circle for you guys because uh I remember seeing something like eight years ago where you said,
Speaker A
"Yeah, I mean, we'll never do a record or tour again." No, I didn't think so. I mean, it it it it and I'll go into this in the book, so I don't want to give too much away, but
Speaker A
it ended up like him and I in a hallway of a bus, Migs and I fullon fist fighting with me with me screaming, "You [ __ ] ruined my life." I mean, I had kid wife and kids at home and he was
Speaker A
yelling at me blah blah and just we were both it was time to just take a break is what it was and we kept touring. We kept touring. So, I mean I I love Meeks. I love Mike. I love Nadia. Um always wish
Speaker A
the best uh for our first bass player because she's uh there's stuff going on with her we won't go into. Um, but when you don't take time to rest, when all you do is tour the world and just we
Speaker A
didn't come home for I don't even know how many years, you know. I just I mean, we have a song called No Home and that's literal No Home. So, um, yeah, you just you got to take time to
Speaker A
rest, uh, or you can't come back. And we had we had gotten off, you know, a world tour with Black Sabbath and Panta, like multiple Panta runs, multiple Headline runs, going out with Typo Negative again back overseas. And I think I think it
Speaker A
just it just happened that way. And um you know, I remember the first time Cole Chamber got back into rehearsals, Davi was there because he works with us. And um the smiles and the [ __ ] laughter like
Speaker A
we didn't even [ __ ] play a song for like four hours, dude. like it was just nothing but just like old friends hugging and talking. And so when that happens, kind of like when John Miller came back in Devil Driver, when that
Speaker A
thing happens, that's rare in life, right? I'm usually a guy like if you're cut out, you're out. Like I don't want to talk to you again.
Speaker A
Um but you have to also have openness in your heart and givingness uh giving of your soul, right? I I believe. Um and so you have to allow those things to happen if they're going to happen. And certainly uh
Speaker A
when we got back together, Cole Chamber uh it was um a very cool moment. Like I'm trying to search for the words. You can see it in me. I mean I just a very cool moment, you know, cuz Loco made me who I am.
Speaker A
These guys made me who I am. Mig's guitar riff, Mike, Nadia, uh helped me to become who I am. And and uh being back with them is [ __ ] awesome. We we have a great time. I'm glad the stars
Speaker A
align because sometimes a other side won't be ready. Yeah. To come back in and not that could just ruin. So, it's just really cool that every side was just, "Oh, we're just homies." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you take four
Speaker A
hours to even play one song, one note, cuz you're just laughing your ass off and having a good time and reminiscing and [ __ ] It's badass. Plus, I think, you know, they were glad that I went on
Speaker A
with Devil Driver and they were glad that I kept on with what I was doing because I don't know if we would have been relevant, maybe if I had not, you know. Um, but there was a time when when
Speaker A
I I even before we fought, uh, I wanted to leave to do something heavier. Uh there was a time when I would come off the road and I Sharon Osborne would either put me in a hotel in Beverly Hills uh
Speaker A
for a while before I went back out or I would go stay with Ensomo uh with Philillip. So there was a time when I was in New Orleans uh New Orleans staying at Philip's house and speaking with him one afternoon as we probably
Speaker A
were drinking and um he was talking about Super Joint Ritual and how he wanted to do that and a little more and and just like everybody he wanted to branch out and do different [ __ ] like you doing your
Speaker A
podcast, you know, and um I had said, "Oh yeah, I've got Devil Driver." And he had heard a couple songs and he said, "Yeah, well I'm telling you, Super Joint's going to be doing a tour pretty soon." And that was our, you
Speaker A
know, we'll take you. And that was my first run with Devil Driver was Super Joint Ritual Devil Driver in in like four or 500 seaters. I mean, even though it was in SAMO, he got back in and he dove into clubs. And it was it was
Speaker A
[ __ ] awesome cutting my teeth uh with that cuz I I still to this day love that. Love those records. The Super Joint records to me are like the most dirty, ugly [ __ ] stuff ever. Like
Speaker A
it's so unique. Um and his voice is so [ __ ] unique. It's unbelievable, you know. So, it was during the They just dropped that first record, right?
Speaker A
What? Uh they uh Super Joint dropped their first record and they they just went out huh?
Speaker A
Yeah, they dropped their first record, went out and um I mean I remember Devil Driver in Santa Barbara was waiting for them to drop the second record.
Speaker A
Anastasia just nodding her head cuz we had got like cases of beer and waited for Tower Records to open. the the morning it was open, we went in and bought the Super Joint record. The second one, went to the house and drank
Speaker A
all day and listened to it, I don't even know, 50 times probably. Um, but it's if you haven't heard that [ __ ] [ __ ] I love stuff that's different and uh and violent. That [ __ ]
Speaker A
is violent, man. So, how did it feel for you, Dez? Like, uh cuz some of us, we only have like our one our one band. Like, how was it for you? like essentially starting over.
Speaker A
Uh was good question. Uh difficult but I have the uh awareness where I can see the future a little bit and I knew that some foresight.
Speaker A
Yeah. And uh so when I was recording Dark Days in Los Angeles, I would record in the I would say, "Hey, I I'm out of here at 2 o'clock. So the producer, everybody better be there at 9:00 a.m.
Speaker A
in the morning. Let's work and then I'm out." And I would drive back to Santa Barbara two hours and then go another hour up the hill into Sanz on the 154 and uh was recording Devil Driver demos.
Speaker A
Oh wow. At the same time I was doing Dark Days. So the [clears throat] last Dark Days tour that I did, I was in the back of the tour bus. I had to have my own bus.
Speaker A
We had to I it had to be separated or there's just no way that bad I can I I needed sleep. I couldn't stay up for days on end or what have you. And um I would be in the back of the bus
Speaker A
listening to Yeah, I love that photo actually. Um Paul Brown did that photo. Paul Brown was responsible for doing a lot of the early Manson stuff. Um and I had we had found a box of antlers and he
Speaker A
had an old uh [laughter] an old an old couch and we we uh tied all that up and and did that shot. Um and for many many years I I many years I never wore uh shoes on stage so that's why I've got
Speaker A
bare feet in that. Um, but I would be in the back of the the lounge uh on on on the last Dark Days runs and listening to Devil Driver. So, and I had a real camaraderie with those dudes uh
Speaker A
especially too because I was living in Santa Barbara. So were they. And I was kind of an island, you know. I was had no one around me but but them.
Speaker A
So they would be come over to my house daily uh and [ __ ] barbecue. I mean, I remember one of the guy's parents actually saying to me, "Man, thanks for feeding my kid every [ __ ] day." And
Speaker A
I'm like, "Whatever. let's do this, you know, and uh so yeah. So you had you had some foresight.
Speaker A
I did. I did. And I wanted to do something heavier as well, you know. I like like I said, I come from punk rock and so when I was staying with Ensamo, I would hear [ __ ] like Emperor or
Speaker A
uh Venom or like just, you know, just I He's just playing heavy [ __ ] Just heavy just [ __ ] constantly heavy [ __ ] And I was like, God. And it started to influence me in a way too
Speaker A
where I was like, "Yeah, I want to do something with more balls." So, yeah.
Speaker A
So, you just you just had some foresight and like I'm just going to go full on.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. And I knew I wanted something groovy. Like in the beginning, it was really meant to be a heavy metal psycho Billy thing. Like we had a standup We had a standup bass player.
Speaker A
Oh wow. In Devil Driver. And the demos with the standup bass player are [ __ ] balls.
Speaker A
Are those are those out? Uh, no. I No, I have them. No. Yeah, I have them. No.
Speaker A
And when we when we went in to record uh with Ross uh Hogarth, who is very famous uh and a great great ultimately great friend. Taught me a lot about vocals and a lot about myself and in general. Um
Speaker A
yeah, there's Ross right there. Uh great [ __ ] guy. Um he he just he brought out so much in me. It was unbelievable.
Speaker A
So I um yeah, his his father actually um was the guy who drew the first um uh what's the guy Tarzan. Yeah. Yeah, he drew Tarzan first. I've actually got some drawings that his his dad gave me.
Speaker A
Yeah, there he is right there. Burnt. Yeah, I've got a couple I've got a couple of those signed. And I'm a tourist. So Ross actually gave me a a bull that was drawn by him, signed by him, and I have that hanging in my
Speaker A
house. Yeah. So when was this? Um, this was around the first Devil Driver record, the making of the first Devil Driver record in LA. Yeah.
Speaker A
AJ, can can we find a date on this uh photo? Is that this photo?
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What? It had to be He works with the Marley family. Yeah, he does does a lot of like he's he's he's uh uh I guess Grammy award-winning, right?
Speaker A
Yeah. Producer. He's unbelievable, man. You know, he's worked with Ziggy Marley, which I love those records. Ziggy is [ __ ] amazing, man.
Speaker A
I remember uh hearing I could care less. Like we were all like on board.
Speaker A
Yeah. Cool. Oh [ __ ] Sick is back, dude. Yeah. I you know, so that thing was meant to be, you know, it have the standup bass and everything in it. I remember when Monty Connor from Roadrunner Records uh flew out to Santa
Speaker A
Barbara and in this little tiny garage actually uh the video for Nothing's Wrong from Devil Driver is recorded in the vid in the in the where we used to rehearse and Monty coming out there from New York. Uh it took him three songs.
Speaker A
You know, we were planning on playing a whole set of music for him. And after three songs, he stood up and said, "Let's go to lunch." Like, I'm signing this. That's it.
Speaker A
Oh, wow. You know, and I was like, "God, thank God." because I got a wife and kids at home and I don't want to go into my savings and Yeah, there it is right there. What?
Speaker A
Rex Brown came to watch. Oh, yeah. Rex Brown from Panta came and tried it out for bass, too. Really?
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What What a So, while we were recording Stand Up Bass in LA, um the guy couldn't get it.
Speaker A
He just couldn't nail it. And Ross was starting to get real frustrated. And you can't have a guy like that get frustrated because he may walk.
Speaker A
And I wanted him to produce the record. And just so happened, John Miller was asleep in his car in the parking lot of where we were recording because he'd been hanging out with us and he's a bass player. So I said, "John, want to be on
Speaker A
the record?" And he's like, "I do." And he came in and laid his [ __ ] in like three days. And that's how John got in the band. It's like, "John, yeah, John, this standup bass player, I'm kicking
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him out." And um yeah, we had already got him a custom stand-up bass with these eyes that glowed and all this other [ __ ] And um he just couldn't cut it. And um the music was turning out
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really incredible and was like really turning into something fantastic. So I get it where Ross was like, "We need a real bass player in here." And uh it was so killer that John came in, you know, he just happened to be asleep in his
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[ __ ] car hung over and [laughter and clears throat] So yeah. Yeah. I also heard you mention having um a family being like a driving factor.
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Yeah. It's like, whoa, I have like a a wife and kids. I got to [ __ ] do something.
Speaker A
That's it. I got a wife and kids at home. Um, I wear a a pinky ring of with a penny on it. All my sons actually have one. Um, because I saved all my pennies my whole life, right? And so I probably
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at that point I don't even know if I needed to go back into music. I probably could have probably could have just done something else and just chilled. Uh, but I just I wanted to tour and I had music
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in me. So, I just I rolled and I I knew I didn't want to like uh go in that fund, you know, but I had a wife and kids at home. And when you got two young kids at home and a wife, you you you go
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to work, you know what I mean? You get up and you [ __ ] go, if you're a man, you get up and you go to work and you do what you got to do. I mean, I was gone
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for a very long time. Still to this day, breaks my heart. I I missed um he's going to kill me for even mentioning it, but I missed one of my kids graduating high school cuz I was like in Idaho on a [ __ ] Tuesday
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night. And that broke my heart. I actually told my wife, "Okay, that's it. From here on out, family is going to take precedence over this." Um, and from then I made the conscious choice of like, "Do we have anything going on with
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the kids? Do we have anything?" Okay, cool. So, I can run. Yeah. Okay. So, I would book tour, you know.
Speaker A
Yeah. You kind of have to have like a calendar like two years out or or or something.
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Yeah. I mean, I try I try to do that. That's hard because festivals will come off her or other bands will come off her and then you're like, I wish I could have done this run with you, but I
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already put my own headline thing on sale, you know. So, I tend now to, you know, I don't do the whole like 18 months upfront at all, you know. You can't.
Speaker A
No, I can't. You said something. I don't think you realize what what you said. You had a savings account.
Speaker A
Yeah. Oh, big back then. Yeah. I still haven't touched that. It's all I was into stocks and everything back then as well. Where did you where did that come from? Like what like that money? Because I mean it's very
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very common. I'm I'm one of them. You get a little bit of money, it's gone. I don't know where my money went back in the first few records. I I don't know.
Speaker A
Yeah. Uh so how how did you how did you do that? Um if you're ever homeless or if you're ever trading Top Ramen or you're ever stealing food from AM or [laughter] Trader Joe's, you learn that a dollar is
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actually uh $10. You know what I mean? A dime is $5, you know, and so I just saved like I'll give you for instance, uh my sons came up to me years and years ago like, "Dad, there's this thing called
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Bitcoin. There's this thing called Dogecoin." Like I'm like, "What is this? It's crypto." And this is back when it was like 000000.1.
Speaker A
Like you couldn't even quantify what it was worth. And I was like, "Cool, let's throw some money into it." And now it's like, "Take a look at it." Right? So, I'm lucky I listen to the kids and uh I just I've just always
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saved my money. Um kept, you know, started retirement accounts like when I was way younger. Um how how old were you when you started your account?
Speaker A
Uh well, I was with Anastasia so I would say I was probably 28 years old, 29 years old.
Speaker A
Congratulations, man. Thanks. I mean, yeah. My father, who I wasn't raised with, is a big actor. His his uh IMDb is incredible, but he was a regular on Leave It to Beaver.
Speaker A
Yeah, I saw that. And he's a very smart business guy. He was responsible for bringing Panasonic to the United States.
Speaker A
Are you serious? Yeah. He was in Vietnam when I was born and then my mom wrote him a Dear John and they were never together. But uh you know, he's always he's always been in and out of my life, but you go to his
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house and the photos are like him and John Wayne and him and I mean it's incredible. But he was always a great businessman. And um when I would go visit him, he would have like he had a house in Westlake and would drive me
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like out to Malibu because I I grew up surfing, you know, if I stayed with him in the summertime or what have you. And just being around him uh and seeing what he had done with his life made me really
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like think about big boy life, right? Like, okay, cool. I'm in this musician thing, but like let's be let's be smart about it, you know? So, so even through all the chaos, you're like, "Uh, oh no, I'm just going to put
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it I'm going to put this in in savings. I'm going to invest this." Well, my rule is always 40%. So, if I have $100 if I have $100, $40 goes to a savings or uh something. Yeah. Or crypto. I love I
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still I woke up this morning early to day trade. So, I'm up at 5:00 a.m. day trading. I love day trading. Like before I came here, I cashed out on a on a call. they call it, uh, quickly and made a grip
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before I even got in the car. So, I I enjoy that. Whoa. Um, and I think, you know, next level, Dez, it's cool.
Speaker A
Well, put yourself in it, you know, like uh right now. Yeah, SpaceX. We got into SpaceX before they right when they launched as well.
Speaker A
And that's doing incredible. But, you know, you you guys like everyone watching this, right? Like has YouTube like I never had a a phone like that, right? Like I had a [ __ ] pager. You know what I'm saying? I was dealing
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weaved and had a pager, you know? So, so like you guys have phones, you got [ __ ] YouTube, you got you can learn about anything. If you want to [ __ ] speak Italian, you could do it in a
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week. It's just all about applying yourself, right? And that was the same pager I had. I used to 911 my girl.
Speaker A
Uh, I'm drunk. 911. [laughter] 911, man. You know, I just fought Mings again. Yeah.
Speaker A
Come get me. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. I would just say like, you know, use the 40% rule with anything you do. like, you know, you get $100, put 40% in a [ __ ] somewhere. You know, I think that's really important for
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people to hear because I don't know if you're aware, but the past six months, it's kind of been like a hot topic.
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Like, how do you make money being uh or even being an artist in general, it's difficult.
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Um, and I'm always like, wolf, I mean, it sucks. I'm I'm 40 and just learning this, but I wish someone like if I was in my 20s, say, you should, you know, not waste your money. Even like I mean
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your your your analogy of a dollar is actually $10. I didn't I never thought about money in that way before because as artists and musicians, we're not trained uh in a business sense at all. So So even when
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there's like a little bit of money coming in, we don't even know what what to do with it. And it's the fact that you are that you naturally had that was just it's just [ __ ] fascinating.
Speaker A
Well, I always say like get a good attorney, which I have two, and get a a great accountant, you know, and they should lead you into that, you know, they should lead you into that. So, and um you never know what tomorrow is going to
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come happen, you know. You never know what's going to happen. So, you never dipped into your savings?
Speaker A
No. Wow. No. No. No. No. Wow. No. And it's why I own a house and everything else. I mean, plus touring, look where it's at now. Like so buses have tripled, crew has doubled, flights have tripled, gas has tripled. Like you
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know we run a management company for a lot of bands and there's many many bands even my own at times is starting in the red which is you know so common which is like you know okay we're down
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we're going to start the tour down five grand down 10 grand down 30 grand but it's okay merch meet and greets this and that we'll be fine by the time we hit the 5 six seven day mark. Like that's
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ridiculous. Like for me, that's ridiculous, but that's where the business is at. And you know, five years ago, you may have drew this many people at a club. So the promoter was like, "Cool. Well, last time they were here, I
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gave them, let's use a number. Last time they were here, I gave them 20 grand." Right? So now they're coming five years later. That's what I'm giving them, right? Like it's like, "No, dude. In five years, everything has tripled."
Speaker A
Um, so it's it's it's rough. I mean, my youngest has a has a record. I'm actually um gonna be singing on two songs on it with him.
Speaker A
Sick. Um, you know, we talk all the time about him leaving his really good job that he's got now and going on the road, getting in a van. Wow.
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You know, trading, you know, eating Del Taco, sleeping on the [ __ ] couch of somebody's house cuz they can't afford a hotel. And I say this, life is short. Go for what your dream is. Always go for your dream.
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Go for broke. Throw throw everything out the [ __ ] window. Oh, there's me and my youngest at uh I'm a mason. He's a mason as well.
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Freemasonry is a big deal to me. Oh, beautiful. It teaches uh teaches a man how to become better. Um we have these things.
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They're called stones. They're called ashlars. And one of them is a rough stone all chipped away and another one in the lodge is a very smooth square stone. And that's what you're supposed to do to yourself through Freemasonry is
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learn how to do charity works. I got into Freemasonry because of my love for charity works. And um I started doing a lot of charity works for the Navajo Nation. M I'm actually put in the coyote pass clan
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on the Navajo Nation on the res via Shaman in a hogan I think one of the first Caucasian males and I don't even know how long because I did I did a lot of charity work with my Navajo family. I
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have a Navajo brother and sister and Navajo mother and father on the res and I started uh seeking more light that we we call it in Freemasonry and more charity works and a friend of mine hit me. I posted a picture of George
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Washington on my Instagram one night because I love the founding fathers. Like I don't know if you really read about George Washington, he was a badass. I mean the guy made his own medals to so he looked important. Like he was just
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Yeah. And um and he was made a mason because we all meet on the level. It doesn't matter. I've got guys in my lodge that are very wealthy and guys that aren't.
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We all meet what's called on the level, right? George was made a mason by his gardener.
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So raised as a mason by his gardener. that uh I had a friend hit me. I posted the picture of George and he said, "Are you a Mason?" I said, "No." And I said, "But I'm I'm into it. I've done a lot of
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research and I love charity works." And he goes, "Then this is the place for you." Like if you want to give back to humanity and the people around you and meet really great people uh and and learn how to be a better man and uh
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that's the way to do it. So all the conspiracy [ __ ] throw it all out the window, you know?
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Is this hard to find accurate information? Yeah, it's so hard because it's a secret society with secrets, but we're not so much a society of secrets.
Speaker A
We're kind of a um well, we're a secret society. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but I will tell you that I've seen more good done in the the the lodges that I've been in and more more things done good for
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humanity and charity than I could possibly imagine. these guys uh the the things they do. They're they're out constantly. Uh we just raised a bunch of money for for another charity that we plus I also am a widow's son which is uh
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a writer's group. You have to be a master mason to be in the writers group.
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And there's I don't even know how many guys 80 100,000 people worldwide. I have no idea. Lot lot of guys.
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And um you know it's just it's something it's something I I love. I I want to be part Yeah. There's the Widow Sons. Yeah.
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I'm part of the Brazen Pillars um in California. We are the premier chapter um of guys and they are they go to lodges every night. They go to ch they do charity works every night. I mean I can't keep up with them like Yeah.
Speaker A
It's unbelievable. Even as a as a child, you were already involved with our rescues, right?
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh well, I kind of got that from my mom. Um when I was younger, she had a lot of uh foster kids coming in and out of the house. M so she liked to help help foster kids
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coming in and out. And I I I must have got some of that from her where I I just I want to you know look when we all die you're going to get a one second rewind.
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Like everything is going to flash in front of you. You're going to feel everything you did to everybody and everything they did to you and hopefully you wrote a good story and you know hopefully you can cross into some kind of a light. You know what
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happened to me is when I almost died from COVID, I watched about 300 near-death experiences on YouTube.
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Are you serious? Yeah. And that will that will fully change your world. Will make you think about what you do in the world, you know? Just don't be some rock guy with ego. That's another thing I can't stand
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at all. [laughter] It's such a tough balance, dude. It kind of gets you there. But also, you need to realize that you're just hand me the microphone and it's [ __ ] on. I will come after you. I don't care
Speaker A
if you're 20, you're going to get some. But but but but other than that, there should be no ego in life, man, at all, you know? Yeah. Near-death experiences, go watch them. It'll change your whole world. Because some people are like, I
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crossed into the light and then came back. And some people are like, "But I didn't want to go back to where I was, and I came back and changed my whole life." And I'm like, "Yeah, cool." Yeah. They say uh it's funny like the
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past year I've been kind of going into like the next realm, you know, and people that have either passed away or uh close to they either they were either a uh atheist and came back and found some kind of like re like religion and that
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kind of like always that kind of like blew blew me away. Yeah. Yeah. I mean organized religion was real touchy with me because I I was raised with it.
Speaker A
Yeah. Because you went to a Baptist school, right? Yeah, I did. Well, because I fought so much in public school, my mom put me the last years of high school in a Baptist school, but I was, you know, my mom was Christian
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Science, my father was Lutheran, my stepfather was Catholic. Like, I mean, it was all around me. And so, prayer has always been a huge thing with me. I've never lost that. Um, but I did delve off into a lot of other things. Um, I can
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read tarot like nobody's business. My wife, uh, you don't want her to read tarot for you if you're around anyone because she'll nail everything. Um, and when you start going into those realms, um, yeah, and I' I've seen spirits and
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I've had ghosts at my house and I've got a lot of stories in my book about that kind of a thing as well. My stepfather, uh, passed away from shooting himself with a shotgun in the head and he came
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to me a week ago when I was uh, fifth grade. He came to my room one night and I ran [ __ ] downstairs, told my mom like, "Fuck, he's in the room." She's like, "No, honey." And I'm like, "Oh,
Speaker A
yeah, yeah, he was." So I I'm an empath. That's another thing. I will walk into a room and be like, I don't want to be here. Or someone will come up and start talking to me and 5 minutes into it,
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I'll look at Anastasia and she'll know the look, which is like, this guy wants something from me. I want out. So, I think that comes with the territory of of of making sure that you keep your life in
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due balance, man, and in due grounds. You know, I'm not I'm not really um keen on this on this world thing, but I'm trying to do my best and trying to do my best by my by my wife and my children
Speaker A
and by other people really, you know. Same. It takes a good partner to make you it makes you look at yourself.
Speaker A
Yes. All like the bad things I'm like trying to change about myself have came from looking at my partner like how how do I how can we be better because I don't want to lose this great person. And learn to listen
Speaker A
without ego, right? So if they're like well you know [laughter] you know yeah no it's not it's not actually like what's tough is if you have ego about like ego is everything right so drop it and then people can say things to you.
Speaker A
Yeah, right. Like, oh, bro, every every time you walk in a room, you know, you still step in [ __ ] It's like, stop. Oh, cool.
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And if you learn to listen, then you come walking in the room, you don't step in [ __ ] So, you just got to you got to listen.
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Now, Anastasia is a mirror of me and I'm a mirror of her. So, um, you know, even on the way over here, we were having some like heavy conversations about just life in general, like we always do, you
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know, and I think if you get to a certain age, you can have start, you know, you start having some pretty heavy conversations.
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And um and I tend to I listen a lot more than I speak. And so even in a room full of like Masons or uh widow sons especially because they're all alphas in my in my writer group like all of them uh
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ex-military and stuff. I tend to just [ __ ] sit there and shut up and listen. You know, you can learn a lot if your mouth isn't running. you know, and if you don't lead with ego in this
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lifetime, I think, you know, there's a power of listening. Uh, for me, I've accepted just walk in a room and be the dumbest person.
Speaker A
Yeah. Don't ever let them know you're dumb because they're going to take advantage of you. So, just what happens if you're silent, they're going to [ __ ] uh, you know, who's real good at that, and I hope he watches this because
Speaker A
I I really do love him a lot. I did a lot of touring with him, is Rob Flynn.
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Like you know when you talk to Rob like and I I do it a lot as well, but you you talk to him, you ask him a question and he'll stop for like three seconds.
Speaker A
Mhm. And then he'll say something. That's to get your [ __ ] attention. And I I I I do the same thing all the time. Yeah.
Speaker A
There's Rob. Good guy. Yeah. We did a lot of touring with him with Cole Chamber and he's taken me out quite a bit with Devil Drivers. So um yeah, he's just always been a fantastic guy anytime I see him.
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Rob Rob's a really good guy. Um Family Guy, too. I love that. You know, I got it from a mic from uh the former guitar player for Spine Shank where uh like the artist part in you will will
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spill over. It only works in this little like songwriting stage, but once it spills over, like the ego, it [ __ ] everything up. And I've learned to really It's kind of made me feel like like a psycho kind of like
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bipolar is not the right word, but knowing when to be psycho with the music. But then when that's over, you literally switch over. You're like a different person then. You're more like no ego listening.
Speaker A
But it's complete opposite of what I just did [laughter] like a half a second ago.
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Yeah. I mean, I always say like 15 minutes, you know, cuz I'm holding the microphone 15 minutes before we go on stage. So, it's like 15 minutes before we go on stage, like just you're [ __ ] done. I'm done. I'm [ __ ] I'm out.
Speaker A
Like I'm dust. Like even my wife is like, "Can you hear me?" I'm like, "No." like I'm going, you know, and then about five minutes, maybe 10 minutes after we come off stage, we kind of all just like, let's take it off, like take take
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the [ __ ] take it off, you know? So, play some music, chill out.
Speaker A
Play some music, chill out, bring it down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What do you guys do after when it's like done food?
Speaker A
Food. And me and hang out in the bus. I'm not I'm like him. I don't Once I'm done I'm Dobby likes to work out, hang out, that's it.
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Uh, watch movie. Like, he's a lot like me actually. is very much like me. So, um I got to have guys like that around me, you know? And it's cool if you want to run in and run into the bar and hang
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out till 3 in the morning. Cool. Have a great time. But like, I'm going to feel so good in the morning. You're not, you know, waking up feels so good, dude. Like, wow.
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I mean, for those who don't know, you want to be on a tour bus hung over.
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Like, first of all, the first thing they do when they pull up to a venue is have to park. That means he's got about 40 [ __ ] moves before he parks.
Speaker A
And you're in a you're in a rack this big by six foot hung over. I've been there so many times.
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It's It's [ __ ] horrible. [laughter] And then you go to a little [ __ ] bathroom in the corner start puking.
Speaker A
It's horrible, dude. All all those jagger bombs just coming out. It's horrible. I've done it. I' Okay, I put my time in with that [ __ ] I learned how to drink from touring with Panta and Dime Bag Daryl and all them. So, you
Speaker A
know, um I did my I did my duty, you know, but it worked for that specific time.
Speaker A
Absolutely. I don't think, you know, I we've had conversations about this, Anastasia, and I don't think I would have been able to do 27 years of touring straight, like 25 years touring straight without, you know, booze to be honest
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with you. You know why? Because it just it just What' you say? You only canceled one show like in Russia when you Yeah. know in Germany I only canceled one show cuz I was [ __ ] up and hung
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over and I was I felt terrible. I'd tell my band like I can't go on stage tonight, you know.
Speaker A
Damn. Yeah. And they it was weird, man, cuz in Germany like [laughter] they sent like two dudes in like these weird orange jumpsuits and like a little pinto like next to me that was supposed to be an ambulance like you need to come
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with us. Yeah. Like you're you're dehydrated. And I'm like bro I'm not getting in that with you wearing those. I would rather die here on this bus than go to a German hospital right now. And they made me
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sign all this [ __ ] off, you know. Yeah. And um Yeah. So I don't I mean I'm done my time, you know, and and I'm not saying that it's not wasn't a great time. It's a [ __ ] great time, you
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know. It's just time to wake up and time to time to smell the coffee.
Speaker A
You've seen you've seen some crazy [ __ ] Didn't you uh didn't you do like a like a a routine gas station stop in like Arizona and then your bus driver died?
Speaker A
Yeah. Right. What what what happened on the way to an Ozfest? Oh, I'll never forget this. Um Richard, I think was his name as well.
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We were riding and uh we had like four hours till we got to Arizona and I said to him, I was rid I was riding the jump seat with the drivers. I always hang with my crew and I always ride with the
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drivers. I'm just raised like that, I guess. And uh I was riding in the jump seat and I said to him, "Man, you ever had an In-N-Out Burger?" And he's like, "No, man." I was like, "Fuck what?" I go, I know for a
Speaker A
fact four exits up from here because we had just stopped and saw his wife and his kid real quick on the bus right before he was leaving with us.
Speaker A
Yeah, I was Yeah, I was. And we stopped. We got a burger and about 2 hours in uh the sun had already set. We were listening to music up front. I was probably drinking whiskey and um he said, "Hey man, like I'm going to stop
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up here. I'm going to go take a shower. Like my arm is hurting me, right?" And I rubbed some Ben Gay. He rubs some Ben Gay and stuff on his arm. And then he's like, "I got I'm going to stop. I'm take
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a shower, get this Ben Gay off my arm." And then you guys go to bed and when you wake up, you know, we'll be in Texas in the morning or whatever, wherever we were going. I think it was Texas. And I
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woke up and the bus wasn't moving. So I was like, "What the fuck?" And I looked out the window and there was like 20 cop cars at this stop. And I went, "Huh, that's weird." And uh as soon as I got
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off the bus and started to walk, this cop goes, "Get back on that [ __ ] bus." And I was like, "Okay." And they came up immediately and go, "Sit down." And I was like, and I immediately was
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like, "Am I in trouble?" And they're like, "No, just sit right there." And they started searching and boom, they pulled a big bag of meth out of the [ __ ] underneath the seat. Apparently, he had gone into the shower and he had
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passed away. And meeting his wife and his kid prior to that, like that ripped me [ __ ] up, bro. And um I called Sharon and I said, "I don't know what we got to do here." And she goes, "Look, we
Speaker A
we're we knew before you guys did. You were asleep. Someone had contacted us. We already have a bus driver coming.
Speaker A
He's going to get on the bus and he's going to take you guys." And I was like, "No." Like, "I want off of this bus. I want another bus. It's no way I'm taking this bus. No, you guys are going to be
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fine." Down the highway, I would say [ __ ] a half an hour into the trip, dude. All the lights were going off and on. TV was going off and on. Stereo was going off and on. Uh siren in the back
Speaker A
for some reason. some kind of like smoke detector things going off. Like I mean the bus was literally flashing everywhere and we had to ride like a couple hours wherever we were going to to get there. Um but that was a
Speaker A
a terrible moment when someone passes away and you you know you meet their wife, their kid and I had so many conversations. The guy was a vet, my dad was a vet. Like we had so many cool conversations, me and this guy, and you
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know, you get past the tears for his family and then you just you got to roll, you know. So that was difficult actually.
Speaker A
Was it a like cardiac arrest, a heart attack or Yeah, I think it was a heart attack. I think, you know, he's doing math. I mean, kids don't do math. Like, don't do speed. Like [ __ ] don't do speed,
Speaker A
period. I never done math. Yeah. I mean, well, nowadays you can't go do cocaine without fentanyl being in it. And you can't go do speed without fentanyl. And you know, a little piece of fentanyl as big as one of these
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buttons is going to kill everybody in this room if we touch it. So, you know, I think things change, drugs change. And that was that was rough, man. Um, I felt for his family, you know, and myself, too. We became friends. I mean, I hung
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out with the guy for eight hours before he died, you know. Man, you've seen a lot. I got two more selfish questions. Why don't you play anything off chamber music?
Speaker A
Uh, what's your beat with that record? Uh, we do actually. Um, yeah, we played Not Living, we've played No Home. Um, I wouldn't say I have a beef with the record. I would say we were staying in Boston writing that
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record and um, every day kind of Westlake. Yes. Okay. And every day or West Lake, what was it called? Uh, what was the place called?
Speaker A
But we would get I would get songs from them, you know, we're all staying in rooms and stuff on this big farm. farms.
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Long View Farms. That's it. And I would be getting songs from them and like I'd be like, "What? Where are we going here?" Like the first record was heavy and ballsy.
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Like where are we going here? It's like well this is what we're writing. It's like okay. And I remember the first song I wrote was No Home and that's exactly how I felt like no home.
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You know this is your trap, your crap. This is not my thing. No home. no heart, no home, no heart.
Speaker A
And I was just like, I was done. I was like, I don't want the music. I'm not hanging out with these people. I'm up in my room by myself. Um Raina at that point was getting like locked in her
Speaker A
room by ghosts and like would and the place was haunted as [ __ ] to be honest with you. I mean, still to this day, no doubt.
Speaker A
Um the people that worked there would tell me stories about it and stuff, but they were all gracious and cool, but Raina would get locked in her room by ghosts. We couldn't get her out. And we would I would hear through the door
Speaker A
people in her room talking to her. While she was saying, "I can't get up off my bed." There's people in Victorian period clothing holding me on my bed. And then we would have to break down the door to
Speaker A
get her out. And she would literally be like in tears, white as a ghost, like, "Thank God you guys got in here." Like, I mean, so there was something, you know, plus she was an empath. She had a
Speaker A
lot of that. So that was a real tumultuous time. So no beef with the record, beef with the time, beef with just what are we doing here? Like So there was already like a disconnect.
Speaker A
But absolutely material like Yeah. 1,000% it was a disconnect. Yeah. It was it was me drinking wine and weed and them doing other stuff. We're separation of church and state completely at that point. Oh, and that's why Dark News is quite a bit
Speaker A
heavier because I said, "I'm not going to do a third record until I get the demo. Don't book a studio. Don't send me any already there because you guys couldn't even get in the same room to write music, so you had to just lock yourself
Speaker A
up with with nothing." With nothing. Um, you know, look, I mean, there's a lot of songs uh on that record that I love. I mean, obviously, we did Shock the Monkey with Aussie, and I don't know how many people
Speaker A
have recorded with Aussie, but there's not a lot. No. So, I blessed to do that. What a [ __ ] guy for doing that. And I still thank Sharon Osborne on a daily basis in my prayers, you know, um for that and for
Speaker A
her managing us for for so long. I mean, Amy Ekko was on it. Uh Elijah Blue from Dead Z was on it. Um which I I spoke to Elijah a couple months ago before he had his his thing go on with him. Um I wish
Speaker A
him all the best, you know. Um but I have no beef with the record. It's just that live it just only some of it works.
Speaker A
Like Tyler's song works, not Living works. We've never to this day played Shock the Monkey live.
Speaker A
I know. Why haven't No Aussie. No Shock the Monkey for me. I'm sorry. I did a song with Aussie. No Aussie. And they were like, "We'll put Aussie on tape." Not Aussie. It's got to be Aussie on or no. You know,
Speaker A
it's like was like the biggest song in record. Just don't you can't play it.
Speaker A
I could They all wanted to and I could sing it. I just couldn't do it. Like Feed My Dreams. That's another one. Like Feed My Dreams works really good live actually. What about like Untrue? Ever tried that?
Speaker A
Totally. Untrue is a badass song. Um, yeah. I don't know. There'll be some revisiting of that, I think.
Speaker A
Tragedy. Tragedy. I love actually. Truth is like a tragedy. Hello. Cuz sometimes it is. Um, yeah.
Speaker A
Anastasia was on that shoot obviously cuz she's on the cover uh on that shoot and um yeah, I fell in love with her that day hard. Like I just fell in love with her walking around in little angel
Speaker A
wings and I was watching all these photographers try to pick up on her and [ __ ] I was like, "Bro, I will [ __ ] punch you." [laughter] That was cool. It's a kind of a cool moment for for me because I've sat here
Speaker A
in this chair with like a I mean, it sounds weird to say, but with the picture of your wife on on my shirt.
Speaker A
Awesome. It was cool. Yay. Yeah. Well, we needed I I feel that it needed kind of an ethereal thing and um it wasn't like I'm putting my wife on. I literally before that all happened, I was actually saying, um,
Speaker A
I've got this idea. Well, I was in the back of this is great. I was in the back lounge of a bus. It was Eddie Money's bus.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah. And it had a picture of like, uh, chamber music, like playing cello and all this stuff, and it said chamber music. So, for [ __ ] six weeks, I'm back there and it said chamber music, the poster. So, I was like, that's going
Speaker A
to be the name of the record and we need someone with a cello. and I picture a girl and by the way I'm dating this hot young thing and uh you know she's she's willing to do it. So um yeah
Speaker A
I mean that was a huge photo shoot. There was they brought in a fake tree and all of this [ __ ] to that photo shoot, you know.
Speaker A
Do you still have those demos that that you first heard you're like what is happening right now?
Speaker A
I do. I do. I have one day you [clears throat] guys got to show me.
Speaker A
You come to the house. I would be honored. Yeah. I've got two bins that I haven't gotten into in 25 years. People always ask me, I say, I don't have time to look back. Like, I just don't like,
Speaker A
why don't you have this framed in the house and that? I'm like, cuz I just I got my mind on going forward. Going forward dude.
Speaker A
But there will be time when when I take a look back, but I have two or three bins. Well, I have about 20 bins, but two or three of them is just that era.
Speaker A
Every magazine cover, every odd disc that was different or what have you. to him.
Speaker A
Yeah. You know, and he's seen my garage and it's all I've seen the boxes. I'm like, "Yeah." Oh, yeah.
Speaker A
I don't know what that is. Me and D are going to come over sober and it's dude. Yeah. There's the first demo right there. I think there's only like three in existence and I have two of them. And
Speaker A
there's my old phone number. Uh, which we used to put up all sorts of um before shows, right? We used to go take a van around with a with a five gallallon bucket full of paste and paste these
Speaker A
huge posters all like, "Oh, there's a Terminator poster, put it over it, like post all over all over [ __ ] uh Sunset Boulevard and stuff, right?" Till one day I got a call on that number from a
Speaker A
cop. And he's like, "You better quit doing this. Like you're covering up all these posters. These people are paying for Sunset Boulevard paying. And now all we see is Coal Chamber all over town. If we see it again, we're going to arrest
Speaker A
you." And I was like, "Ah, [ __ ] you. you don't know where I live, right? And I hung up and he called me back 2 minutes later and he just all he did was read my address to me.
Speaker A
Oh, and I just went I went, "Yeah, sir. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.
Speaker A
I know where you live, dude." Yeah, I appreciate you. Um, but yeah, there I I found that um I got two I got two of those. I don't even think the band has those. I have the original Snot
Speaker A
demo, original System of a Down, Static X, original Defton Tones demo. We were at the Defton Tone show when they got signed by Madonna. That was a great night. We all went to Mark McGrath's house from uh Sugar Ray and all were
Speaker A
partying that night, all of us. And yeah, that's all in the book. There's some cool [ __ ] Oh, there we go.
Speaker A
Unmastered finals. Yeah, real old. Somebody wrote real old school. That's hilarious [ __ ] That was somebody going real old school.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. We didn't know what we were doing. We were just doing something for fun. I mean, it's kind of what Devil Driver did in the beginning, too, man.
Speaker A
Is just like have fun. What do you want to do? I mean, what's the first thing I said to to you, Dobby, when we were doing this record? like write for the logo and fun. Um, have fun.
Speaker A
I I when the process started, I stopped myself and I went back to what did I like when I was 13 years old because right now we're like when you play music for so long, you develop a different taste and you see things from
Speaker A
a different eye. And I was like, yeah, but when I was 13 years old, none of this matter. What did I want? I wanted heavy. I wanted something that caught my attention and I wanted fun. And that's the attitude I
Speaker A
think we all agreed on in the studio. Have fun and make sure to write for the younger you were, the younger you and write for the logo. Like for the logo, you know, I mean, I [clears throat] back all the records
Speaker A
that we've done. Uh, but I've had a couple different writers involved. And it's like, well, they feel like they want to write this or they feel like they want to write that, but you're not writing for the logo. You're not writing
Speaker A
for Devil Driver. This is the first record and many records I think where it's like obviously this is Devil Driver.
Speaker A
Um and I think because it was a lot of fun around it. Everybody had a good time and I I made the comment like give me something where I can sing punk rock vocals almost onto it.
Speaker A
What's like so if someone is like so a lot of people are going to either revisit your band right now or they're going to hear Double Driver for for the first time. What's like a record you think they should start with first?
Speaker A
H God, I don't know. I always start at the beginning. Just start at the beginning, you know?
Speaker A
Start at the beginning because, you know, then you're going to get to like eight, nine, 10 records in be like, man, the maturity level is killer and they're different and but then you're going to get to Strike and Kill and be like,
Speaker A
[ __ ] You know, somebody said to me, man, this is very reminiscent of the first records. Did you guys do this intentionally? I'm like, absolutely not.
Speaker A
If you skew your art, this is I say this all the time. This is the analogy.
Speaker A
You're a painter. If you start painting with red paint, you're going to [ __ ] sell a million dollars in paintings.
Speaker A
Next thing you know, you're using all red paint. You've just blown it. You've just skewed your art. Don't ever write for the crowd. Don't ever write for yourself. Write for the logo. Write for the fun of it. And then if people dig
Speaker A
it, cool. If people didn't dig Strike and Kill, which they apparently are because it's the it's killing right now.
Speaker A
No pun intended. [laughter] Striking. I wouldn't I wouldn't have gave a [ __ ] because I I I love the cover. It's very uh very punk rock that cover. I love the music. I felt punk rock like writing it. Like it was it was
Speaker A
the only time in probably 10 years that I like fell asleep in my studio and my wife would have to come downstairs at 2:00 in the morning like, "Are you coming to bed?" And I was like, "Just pitch me a [ __ ] pillow." And I would
Speaker A
sleep on the floor because I thought I had more coming. Wow. You know, um and I would demo a lot of it by myself. Like I would put on the demos and go in. I have a booth at my
Speaker A
house. I would go in [clears throat] and I would be singing and I'd be like, "That's perfect." I'd go out, I'd write write it down. I mean, I' I physically write. I don't use the computer to [ __ ] write.
Speaker A
Do you still meditate in your booth? Yes. That's sick. It's an isolation space. Yeah.
Speaker A
So, you don't hear anything. Um, you you know, car a siren can go by outside. You don't hear anything. So, I I take 15 minutes of meditate. Anastasia does a half hour of meditation every morning.
Speaker A
We're separate from that. It it gives you a um how do you say it, babe? Like uh it gives you a point of reference for the day, right?
Speaker A
Totally. You know, um and don't think too far in the future and don't think back. Think about right where you're at now. Like first thing I do, especially where I've come from with with all the health stuff that I've gone through and especially
Speaker A
after I ended up in a in a [ __ ] ambulance and having vertigo and in the uh emergency room and stuff a couple years ago, like I wake up and I go, "Oh, killer. Okay, another day to do what I
Speaker A
want to do. I tell my wife I love her. I kiss my dog. I love my dog and take my dog on a walk. I call Dobby like, "How's your day?" "Good, boss. [ __ ] what are you doing?" It's like, "You're getting
Speaker A
coffee?" "Me, too." You know, um try to do try to do something positive with the day and uh and move forward. But yeah, Strike and Kill pre-order now. It's doing very well and I'm so blessed, man.
Speaker A
I the guys I have surrounding me like Dobby and Alex been with me a long time.
Speaker A
Um, and John Miller obviously coming back in the band, but Gabe is a wonderful guy who's great uh producer, funny to work with, great obviously great guitar player, but when he was learning guitar, right, when he he was
Speaker A
he was learning to Devil Driver, like so he knew Devil Driver. Um, but working with him on production, I I was real iffy if he's going to produce the record, too. And Dobby is the one that that knew Gabe, said he was
Speaker A
a cool guy, got me to talk to him. And once I vibed with him on the phone, it was on me. It was on, right? But what I told Gabe is, "Dude, we got to get all this stuff in first, second, third
Speaker A
takes. Like, if we don't get this in two or three takes, like we're not laboring four hours over a three minute song.
Speaker A
Like, we'll call it for the day or we'll go to another song." And I'm very ADHD in the studio. Like, I'm very like, "Go. Did you get it?
Speaker A
Okay, cool. Let's go. Okay, ready? Punch me in." And he was like, "Okay, go.
Speaker A
Okay, go." Like, without that, we would never had this record. The record is very fiery just because of that, you know, just because he was just um yeah, it was great to work with, you know, and he made me try all sorts of different [ __ ]
Speaker A
Well, can you do this? I'm like, I can't go that low, you know. I can't I can't. Well, we we'll try. Okay. Well, that was killer.
Speaker A
Can you go lower? I can't. And I would try. No, you can't. Okay, cool. You know, can you go higher? Screaming. Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. Okay. Um I want to put a clean behind this part and just mix it in. So there's some like ah I feel weird about that. Just try it. Okay. Let me hear it back. Oh man, that's crazy. Like he made
Speaker A
me try a bunch of [ __ ] I think he Gabe said it best. When Gabe sees this, he's going to laugh, right? Cuz he said it best. He said, "Uh, I speak I speak death.
Speaker A
I speak Dez." So So [laughter] I have a note for that. When you were pulling all the pictures Mhm. I was laughing. But the reason why I'm laughing is because there's different eras and personas of Dez and we utilize that in the studio
Speaker A
because whenever we wanted a characteristic or we were going for a characteristic of Des's voice, we wouldn't go like go low, go high, we go like give me this desk or and we would show him pictures and we would
Speaker A
laugh. Yeah. he would do. He'd go, "Give me crazy desper." And then, "Give me gothy Dez." And I would put up a picture because it's that's all him. It's different eras, but it's still all him.
Speaker A
Yeah. And it helped too cuz he's like there there's a couple songs on this record uh like in the moonlight is one of them and summoning shadows where it's like very bow house sisters of mercy in the beginning and then you get the
Speaker A
heaviest balls out devil driver you've ever gotten a minute half in minute in and to go there I didn't know how to go there and David would show me a picture of myself or of whatever like give me this Dez and I'd
Speaker A
be like and I would channel that let's say and then he'd st I'd see him out the corner of I'd see him stand up in the front of me going, "Yeah." I'd be like, "Okay, great. I got it." You know? Um,
Speaker A
it was awesome working with withi with with him in the studio and with Gabe. I would definitely love to do a lot more uh records with with this team. Um, I'm not We're writing already. We've already got three or four maybe more tracks.
Speaker A
Skele I I think we got like four skeletons. Four skeletons. But, you know, while we go into that and start to rise, I I just want to focus on where I'm at at at the moment, right? And really be in the
Speaker A
moment with this record because I think everything about this record, Strike and Kill, is in essence what you would want from Devil Driver. And it's so different from anything that's going on right now.
Speaker A
Like, it just doesn't sound like anybody that's out there right now. And we never really have. I I kind of like that the fact that Cole Chamber didn't really sound like anyone um ever. Uh we got some comparisons at the beginning, but
Speaker A
that was a lot of press people trying to take shots for their bands that they supported like Korn.
Speaker A
Sure. Right. Uh and it's like no, we don't sound like them. Their rap or goth where, you know, it's a whole different thing. But Devil Driver never sounded, you know, we never really sounded like anybody. Um and even now, like I said, a
Speaker A
lot of people use groove metal as their title. And I'm like, I'm not bouncing my head to your [ __ ] but also don't use that. Um you know, don't use that. Now they call us, I guess, the dark
Speaker A
dark groove. The dark groove. Dark groove. Dark groove. Yeah. And I said to my wife, "Why is that?" And they go, "Well, they know your love for for goth and for dark dark shit," basically. And um with monikers, you got to go with it,
Speaker A
right? You got to you're not going to you're not going to go against the grain with that, you know?
Speaker A
You're not going to say like, "Come up with a different hashtag for my band." You know what I mean?
Speaker A
No. Once it's there, once it's there, dark groove. Yeah. There it is. Dark groove. So, actually, I think we just posted that up this year. We said, "Oh, just we'll give it to you. Go ahead. That's what it is.
Speaker A
Um I think when a band is around for so long and not really had a lot of member changes, I mean not a ton at all. Um you know, you look at some bands and it's like there's not one original member,
Speaker A
right? But uh ours is not that way and and a lot of my guys have been with me for a while. I think you have to be very humbled by what is happening. Um, I certainly am very humbled by what is happening with
Speaker A
this record right now. Um, great, man. Congrats. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I got uh There's Davi right there, my guy.
Speaker A
How old How How old are you? I'm 38. 38. Looking great, man. Bro, thank you.
Speaker A
The kid looks like he's 21, bro. That's some of the benefits of being so old.
Speaker A
Every girl that we know, every girl that we know and every girl that's friends with Anastasia always asks about Davi.
Speaker A
Who is Yeah. Who's that? Who's Davi? And Daviy's always by my side. Wherever I'm going anyways. If I'm on a festival doing press or whatever, Davi is always right there. Like, like I said, he's my number one guy, you know? And I run
Speaker A
everything by him. Like people people for some reason like it's like the [ __ ] Dez show in my bands, but it's not. It's beyond democratic. It's like, okay, we recorded these demos. What do you think we should record for the
Speaker A
record? Okay, we'll do it. Uh, what do you guys think should go on the record?
Speaker A
Okay, we'll do it. How do you guys think the order should go? I mean, Davi did the order for the record, not me.
Speaker A
What song should start? What song should end? It's like, okay, cool. Like, you know, Dobby, what do you think the singles should be? And he's like, I think it should be this. Like, cool.
Speaker A
We're done. You know, I don't I don't make any of those decisions. I don't think you should. I mean, to have a team around you and of great guys. Um, Alex speaks up. I mean, he's very quiet, but
Speaker A
when he speaks up, you tend to listen. Yeah. Um, Gabe has a lot to say because he's [ __ ] knowledgeable um about stuff. And uh John is just so stoked to be back in the band. And yeah, it's a
Speaker A
really cool time to be in Devil Driver. We've got a lot of a lot of stuff coming up. Um we we leave for Australia July 5th. I fly July 5th. We start like on the 9th, something like that.
Speaker A
You guys fly on the se I'm going out early because I got a AJ, the big promoter out there is a great great friend of mine.
Speaker A
Um and I just gave him just to give him a hug and a kiss for two [ __ ] days before everybody gets there. It's like that's worth it to me, you know? like um he has my family's uh picture on his
Speaker A
mantle above his fireplace. Like that's how close Oh wow. We are. Um and then after that we do the the states in August and September with Upon a Burning Body of Sulfur and Cultist Black, which we just added Cultist
Speaker A
Black. They're killer. Um and I love Upon a Burning Body and of Sulfur is [ __ ] heavy as balls. I mean, I can't sing that low, you know?
Speaker A
You know, heavy as heavon of Burning Body is heavy as [ __ ] right? And and and all great guys like I can't wait. Like I'm one of those guys that first day of the tour I'm just like what's up everybody? Like
Speaker A
if you guys need anything come up on the bus like don't come up with a handle of whiskey and you'll be fine, you know?
Speaker A
[laughter] So starts uh August 14th in San Diego at the Observatory and ends September 5th in Anaheim at the House of Blues. Great great venue.
Speaker A
Yeah, huge venue. So buy tickets cuz we're we're far along right now. But that's a massive venue, you know, to to to sell. But um yeah, to I mean and it's kind of a short run. I think it's like 16 shows,
Speaker A
something like that. Kind of dipping our feet in, you know, but we're putting something together right now that I think is going to happen probably March next year. I'm we're going to probably end up doing a seven, eight week run and just like
Speaker A
let's get it done. Like let's go everywhere we possibly can go because people are why no Florida or why no Canada? And I I'm like I don't know. Like talk to the agent, you know? I don't book, you
Speaker A
know? I just said take take the best offers, run us run us a short time. I've got to be home by this certain time, you know, and then let's let's go. So, um, and I wanted to be out certainly I
Speaker A
wanted to be out uh when we released the record. So, we'll be in uh Australia when we release Strike and Kill. And the last time we were in Australia when we released a record, we we charted so high
Speaker A
we knocked Kanye West down like one or two slots. Sick. Like I got a call from my manager at the time uh before Anastasia took everything on and it was like 3:00 in the morning and I just remember myself
Speaker A
bouncing on the bed like with the phone in my hand going [ __ ] Like so we charted really high. So that was kind of a good luck thing with me. So I was like ah let's let's go down to Australia when
Speaker A
we when we release you know it's hard to get down there. It's [ __ ] far dude.
Speaker A
Yeah dude it's a you know it's a long flight for me. I had to make sure that everything was was cool health-wise for me. Uh the vertigo thing really [ __ ] threw me off dude cuz it was a great
Speaker A
Saturday afternoon. And I'd been running miles and miles on the treadmill every day and all of a sudden I had vertigo out of nowhere. And that took me out for almost a year. They had to do all sorts
Speaker A
of MRIs and all sorts of crazy [ __ ] uh to me to figure out what the [ __ ] was going on. Um and is now anesthesia maybe a good time or no?
Speaker A
Yeah. So, um, you know, you don't want to say this stuff like before you book tours or before you're doing deals or before you're, uh, going out, but, uh, you know, for, I would say over a year, maybe almost two years now, uh, we've
Speaker A
been dealing with a situation where they found a tumor in my head. So, uh, they want me back in every six months. Um, it's got to actually grow a little bit to be safe to go in because it's very unsafe. If they go to get it
Speaker A
now, uh, I could lose speech and a lot of other stuff. [sighs] So, [clears throat] uh, yeah, it's hard.
Speaker A
It's the first time I've ever said anything about this, by the way. And so, um, I go in every six months and, uh, because I I I fast and, uh, I I, uh, do intermittent fasting and like right now
Speaker A
I'm on a 4-day fast. you feel you never feel better than when you're like just drinking juices and stuff. Yeah. I I feel like I can look through walls. And I think that has kept it uh not growing.
Speaker A
So the last time I went in was a couple months ago, Anastasia. And he said, "Hey, look, it's actually gotten a little little bit smaller, which is we've never seen." And I said, "Well, part of that is probably prayer, a lot
Speaker A
of it." Uh and also um uh just eating well and fasting. and I don't do high carb and I don't do a ton of sugar and obviously no alcohol, but that that's what I've been dealing with.
Speaker A
So, I wanted to really make sure that like I could take long flights. Um because I don't know if anybody's ever experienced vertigo, but I mean it happened on a Saturday afternoon. I ran upstairs and next thing I knew I was out
Speaker A
cold on my floor. My wife was slapping my face to wake me up. I woke up spinning. Then I next thing you know I'm in an ambulance. Um which is hilarious cuz the kid is like, you know, Dez, it
Speaker A
was awesome being in your house. So, I'm a huge fan cuz they had to come in to wheel me out on a gurnie. And I'm like, "Bro, I'm so glad you're a fan. Do me a favor. Give me something to stop the
Speaker A
[ __ ] spinning." And he gave me something in my IV that did not. And he's like, "You still spinning?" And I was like, "Yeah, give me a bucket." You know, and and he was like, "Bro, I I
Speaker A
don't know. Let's get you to the emergency room." And my vitals were all over the place. And they they did a head scan with me. And I came into the dock and he's like, "Hey, good news. was like, "I think you got the vertigo thing
Speaker A
under control. I don't think that's really going to happen anymore, but I want to show you something." Uh, and it was a picture in my head and you know, you saw a tumor, you know, and I'm like, "What is that?" He's like, "You got a
Speaker A
tumor in your head." And the next thing was the cancer test to find out if it was cancerous. And um, that was on Christmas Eve.
Speaker A
Christmas Eve, dude. So Christmas Eve um yeah, sorry, but Christmas Eve, uh uh my my wife goes, "Hey, let's get in the car. We got to go." You know, and I went in and they [snorts] did the test
Speaker A
and I'll never forget it was this little Chinese lady. She's maybe 5 foot and uh she goes, "I'll be back in like 15 minutes and I'll know." And I'm sitting in the chair. I'm like, "You'll know?" Like awesome. And when she left the
Speaker A
room, I told Anastasia, "Don't talk. Like, don't talk to me right now. Like, bow your head right now. Like, we need to pray hard." So, um, then she came in and she was like, "Uh, you know, hey, I got good
Speaker A
news. It's non-cancerous." Dude, I [ __ ] jumped up like I scared the [ __ ] out of this woman. I jumped up and hugged her and lifted her in the air.
Speaker A
She was just like, "Oh my god." She And I was like, "I'm so sorry." And Aan Anastasia was like, "I'm so sorry for him. He's just, you know, emotional right now." And I was like, I'm [ __ ]
Speaker A
emotional. Hell yeah, I'm emotional. You know, I got a tumor in my head and it's not cancerous. Cool. We can beat this [ __ ] thing, you know. And um next thing I know, a lot of doctor's appointments and [ __ ] And that's what
Speaker A
put me on hold for a year and a half now. Dobby has known the whole time and keeping kept my secret. So that's that's a that's a true friend.
Speaker A
I've been I've been around him. He's never once brought up. Yeah, that's my [ __ ] And he's the only other guy that knew. Um so uh but I I feel great. Like I mean this morning I was on the treadmill running before this
Speaker A
and uh I'm just going to deal with it, right? Um and keep booking stuff and and then and then take my take my looks inside. Everything's good. Okay, cool.
Speaker A
Book it. You know what I mean? And uh and just and run, you know?
Speaker A
Okay. So they're are they still waiting for it to get bigger so they could take Yes.
Speaker A
Okay. Yes. So it's um it's in my jawline a little bit higher, right? And it's Yeah.
Speaker A
And it's um saliva. What? On your saliva. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. On my saliva gland.
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And uh they're like this we you know it's got to be bigger for us to [ __ ] with this because this could you know this is not blinking.
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Yeah. It could affect my blinking, my smiling, my speaking. And so I'm I'm of the what, babe?
Speaker A
They actually told you to take video of yourself smiling now. Yeah. They told me to take we want to take some video of you smiling and blinking right now to make sure that you know that it doesn't change.
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Right. So, yes, I'm of the mindset and this will give you a little power into me here is that um I'm going to make it go away.
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I'm personally going to make it go away with dieting, fasting, and positive thought. Like, it's going to go away.
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So, the next time I go in is uh February or March, I think. Um, and it's going to shrink more. It's going to go away. So, period. End of story.
Speaker A
You know, this can I share a little bit of Summoning Shadows? Yes, you can share. So, there's a song on Strike and Kill called Summoning Shadows and I'll let Dobby share. Yeah.
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So, it is about how Tess felt when he was going through that. And one of the moments that I never forget recording the records and being in the next to him in the booth, there's a certain part that he sings on the song that he goes
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emotional and you can you can hear it clearly when he starts screaming. It's it's like a mix of relief but also uncertainty, pain. It it I'm glad we got it in one take. That's a one take thing. That's
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one of the things that are magical. And like I love the song, but for me it has a different meaning because I watched my friend go through it and now it's the sentiment is on tape.
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But I [clears throat] was there in that moment and it it was dude it was really powerful and I still like it give me goosebumps because I was there and I I felt it.
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Yeah. So that's why I'm glad I did have him there because I've never shared that stuff with anybody. But I approach this record as if it was my first record and my last record. Yep.
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Oh my goodness. So now I will approach everything as if it's my first or my last because then you're going to give it what you gave it. But Summoning Shadows lyrically as well is about me in the studio at like
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2:00 in the morning writing by myself knowing my wife was upstairs with the dog. And uh I felt swear to God like I had hands on my shoulders like I had someone in there writing with me because the songs were coming out so quickly
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that I would send him voice notes going, "Am I just being lazy? Cuz I just wrote three songs this afternoon in like two hours." And he's like, and I would send him voice notes to the songs, right? not
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just talking, like singing it, screaming it, whatever. And he would hit me back like, "Fucking don't change a thing." Yep. Just leave it.
Speaker A
Like, just leave it. Don't you dare. And I was like, "Well, should I go back over it?" He's like, "Don't don't overthink it.
Speaker A
Don't overthink it." And um so Summoning Shadows has some pretty emotional moments in it because it's u you know, I I was on the phone with my doctor that morning and [ __ ] So um which this guy's
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hilarious. He's [ __ ] he's cool. Anyways, you know, when I go into his office like, "How are we?" I'm like, "I don't know. you [ __ ] tell me. You know, you know, um, and when you're sitting in
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an MRA machine, I don't know if you've ever done it, but it's like it makes these, you know, you got to lay in this whole thing and they put you in a tube and I kind of go out of body. I feel like
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I'm watching myself. Like at times I did feel like I was outside watching myself getting an MRI. I told my wife that. She goes, "Well, clearly you weren't." But I was like, "I was." And uh, this guy's hilarious. Yeah, there's a machine right
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there. I lived in that thing and then uh for the last year and um I came back out at this the second or third time Anastasia I think the third time and he's like this is crazy but this thing
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is getting a little bit smaller and I'm like well have you had these go away and he's like no and I get rid of a lot of these you know when I can when it's okay to operate. And I go, "Well, this
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thing's going to go away." And he's like, "Uh, okay." And I said, 'You'll see this. This will be a new one for your little medical booklet, [laughter] you know. Um, but if you don't think that way about life, uh, you know, um,
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and the crazy thing is when I was going through all this, um, and in the emergency room and everything else is that's when I had, uh, parted ways with my longtime guitar player, and so I still haven't spoke to him. Um, and I
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was going through all this at the time, too. So, well, keeping it a secret.
Speaker A
Yeah. Keeping it secret from everybody but Davi, my wife. I mean, I called Davi the [ __ ] hour I found out, you know, on the way home. And he said, "I don't give a [ __ ] boss. I'm here. Like, let's
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whatever you need to do. Like, we'll put it on hold." We had the record on hold for a big year and a half. Record was done for two years.
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Half of the record was Well, no, we had all almost all the songs. Yeah. Yeah. So, I just said, "Look, man.
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Just, you know, let's let's chill. Let's see where we're at." Um I I'm a very positive person, man.
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That's the thing. You can't get me down, bro. Like, if you kick me in the face, I'll just be like, "Oh, that felt good.
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What did I learn from that? Awesome." You know, where most people will [ __ ] cry about it. Oh, my face hurts. It's like, "Bitch, shut up.
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You've learned from that, didn't you?" So, um, yeah, the record is very special because the guys that I recorded with, I mean, by the time I got into recording, the band knew what was going on with me.
Speaker A
I mean, especially Gabe and he is hilarious. He [ __ ] between Gabe and Dobby, like I couldn't, I was like, "Guys, if you keep me [ __ ] in stitches and laughing, like, I'll never be able to [ __ ] lay these vocals,
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right?" Like, can we talk about We got to talk about a little core memory I've got or some [ __ ] that's going to make me get in there and get nuts, you know? Um, and that's why Davi, part of him was
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like would show me, you know, myself on on a [ __ ] phone, you know, give me this guy, give me that guy, you know, it worked well. Yeah. I wanted to share that with you because I've I haven't
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shared anything. I think people need to know and obviously this is going to go out on the wire and people are going to go, "Oh, [ __ ] That's what he's dealing with." But no, I'm not going to cancel
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tours. I'm coming to tours. I'm showing up in Australia. I'm showing up in August. Nothing's going to stop that.
Speaker A
Uh, the vertigo thing won't come back. The doctor's like, "You only with this, you only have that once. Your body won't allow that to happen.
Speaker A
Oh wow. Which is odd but true. And and um and you had the vertigo, you'd never find out about the Yeah. And that's another thing, right?
Speaker A
If I never had the vertigo, I would never find out I had the tumor until it was too late.
Speaker A
Until it was maybe too late. Is that uh is vertigo is that like a typical uh symptom?
Speaker A
Yeah. Anytime you get something like that going on with your head, tumor in your head, like your body is going to send you into a spin just to get you to like go check that, bro. like, you know, your your your foot
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may start hurting if you got something going on inside your foot. So, you'll go get an X-ray and then you can go, "Oh [ __ ] that's what's going on. I got a bone that's broken or whatever." So,
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same thing, you know. Um, but I would have never found out about it. That was a hell of a punch in the gut cuz I'm in I'm in the doctor and he's like, "Hey, look, and everything's cool with the
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vertigo and this and that, you know, I want to show you this though." And I'm like, "Okay, cool. Show me whatever." You know, and he's and I'm like, "That's my head, right?" I'm like, "What's that?" And he's like, "Oh, that." And
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he's like, "That's a tumor. What does it look like? Is it like a I'll probably now after I do when this comes out, I'll probably put a picture on Instagram so people can see it.
Speaker A
Oh wow. But it's like if this is my head, this is the tumor. So it looks almost like the size of a quarter, but it's more like the size of a dime. And now it's shrunk a little bit. And um it's going to go away. Like
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I'm going to make it go away. So, we should talk in a year because I'm telling you, and I told this dude, "Prepare your practitioners, bro. Get your book out because this one is this one is done. It's going to go away." And
Speaker A
with fasting, by the way, you can do that. Yeah. I was I was going to ask you how how's uh how's the 4-day fast been?
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I'm into holistic health. And I fasted for 24 days. I probably dropped I don't know 30 pounds, maybe. Maybe more.
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Maybe. I was research as well on what to Yeah, I did research as well. what to clear my arteries. So, I was drinking like um uh every morning on an empty stomach apple cider vinegar with turmeric turmeric and garlic and and
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cinnamon and honey uh and lemon lemon and you boil the stuff and you make it into little shots and you put it in your refrigerator and every morning on an empty stomach I was drinking that. Well, I went in a month later and this guy's
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like, "Well, first of all, when you came in here, you were heavy." I go, "Yeah, my wife had gone through cancer for for, you know, twice in three years. We had COVID. I laid around and [ __ ] ate Del
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Taco and chilled. So, I was probably maybe I would say like 25 pounds heavier than I am. And I'm a small guy. I'm 5'7.
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So, 57 and a half. I'll give myself that. And uh you know, and like I said, if I if I drink whiskey, I've been 7 foot five. So, uh [laughter] but I came back in and he was a Indian guy like um
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like from India and he's like, "Bo." And I did all these crazy tests and he's like, "Dude, you you [ __ ] look great.
Speaker A
You ran all the tests. You've got no problems with your heart. You got no nothing. I said, "So, you would have given me stints in my heart for nothing." He goes, "Not for nothing. At that point, you needed them. You don't
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need [ __ ] right now. You just ran five miles as fast as you could in front of me and went in all these machines and everything. You're good to go. What did you do?" And I said, "I fasted and I
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drank this turmeric drink and all this shit." And um he actually said to me, "Yeah, my wife and my my grandma or my mother drink that stuff." And I said to him, because he's a doctor, I said, "You
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couldn't tell me that." He goes, "No, I've lost my license." Wow. So fasting, what happens is when you fast, you're uh getting metabolic switches on and your your cells go after anything that's bad. They go after cancer, they go after this, they go
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after that, they go after tumors. So I tend to only eat maybe three, four days a week. Really, you know?
Speaker A
Whoa. Yeah. And you feel amazing, let me tell you. Like go on a 7-day fast and you will you will look right through these walls dude.
Speaker A
I know. I I fasted for like a day before and like your focus is like you're like you you like like hear different like smell different everything is different just like something primal kind of everything is different everything is
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different so anyway so that's uh that's what's that's that's the announcement at the end of this thing try to leave it on a positive note well uh unfortunately thank you for that yeah well I figured that this is
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probably I mean I needed to say something eventually you did and I'm not just going to go out on Instagram. By the way, for the last two years I've been dealing with a tumor in my head. It's like just come to Garza.
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We know each other. I respect what you do. And um I was like, look, this is a perfect opportunity to tell people what I'm dealing with. And please do me a favor and don't ever approach me. Like I'm sorry with what you're doing with
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like don't don't do any of that. Like just come to a [ __ ] show and I'm a show, dude.
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Come to a show and [ __ ] get in the pit and get nuts. And I don't know if it'll be my last tour ever or my last record ever. And we none of us know that, right? Especially driving on the
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[ __ ] freeway over here, you know what I mean? I was like, whoa, what is, you know?
Speaker A
Yeah. Fatty one, dog. Yeah. Yeah. And especially I own three Harley-Davidsons, so, you know, and I like to go fast. So, you just never know when your time is up. But, um, I think that, you know, I needed to kind of let
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that out. And I appreciate you giving me the the the grounds to do that here. Um because now this record people will I think understand understand how [ __ ] vital and special this thing is to me, you know, and and we'll come out to
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shows too and be like, "Yeah, we're going to go see Dez now, right?" Because what happens if they do say like, "Hey, we need to get an operation." Well, that's probably a year to two off, I think. You know, but like I said, I've
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been in several times now and he's like, "Dude, this thing is shrinking. It's [ __ ] crazy." And I'm like, "Well, no, it's not crazy." Like, you need to have a more positive thought doc.
Speaker A
Yeah. Right. Well, Dez, uh, we will be praying for you. Good. Prayer is good. I grew up with prayer and prayer works if you talk to the universe. I mean, you know, I'm not talking organized religion here for
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everybody listening, but if you have prayer in your life and you you think positively and you tell the universe what you want, uh, it doesn't know what you want till you script it out, right? So, you got to script it out. You
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know, I want to get to this place safe. I want to do this podcast and be able to discuss these things. I want to see my bro. He's bringing good coffee for me.
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Um, we got uh we got two more quick quick questions. Sure, man. I'm here.
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So, uh there's there's there's a lot of history that's not really out there, especially me being like the new metal guy. It's just not really out there. Why did you why did you and Cold Chamber go to NRG
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which it seems like everyone after you guys went there and made these uh Incubis make yourself corn follow the leader uh first spine chain and I think maybe like the second spine chain pop uh Limpiscus and other like what
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exploded a saint but you guys were like the first band that went there why so so people don't know but but uh Jay Gordon the singer of org like he started as a producer and he's great friends with Jay Bombgardner. Jay Bombgardner's
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mom loaned him the money to open NRG and NRG was just opening. And that was back in a time when like everybody get together at 2:30 in the morning and cut different songs. I remember that Chino and and Jay and all these different guys
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cut this song uh that wasn't the deeston called Blacklight. Just everyone would get together and cut tracks like how you hear about like the Pearl Jam and Sound Garden and all those guys like cutting tracks and showing it to each other to
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up everybody's game. That's what was going on. And so we met Jay. I I love Jay Bombgardner to this [ __ ] day. And when I met Jay and saw the studio he was putting together, I think the only other
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person was in there that came in was um Dead Z was Elijah Blue. And Deadse came in at the same time they they recorded there for I don't know. They had money to be there for like 6 months. We only
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had money to be there for a couple months or what have you. But I loved the studio and I loved the vibe. Jay had never really produced anything and Jay Bombgardner hadn't really produced anything. Um, and I was, of course, now
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that you know me, I'm into that. Like, let's do something different. Let's do something with people that have never been in it. Um, and certainly we had great times there, man. It was some [ __ ] fantastic times. Reggie from K
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came by and loaned us a bass amp because our bass amp crack crapped out. So, gave us a bass amp for that. And I remember, you know, Ross Robinson and all sorts of people stopping by and uh people
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drinking drugs and porn stars and I mean, it was [ __ ] nuts. It was uh as rock and roll as you can possibly imagine. It's all in my book. Uh but at 3:00 in the morning, that was the place
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you wanted to be. So So if you were if you were at a club in Hollywood, you would eventually come out to to to uh to NRG and hang out with Cole Chamber while we tried to record [laughter]
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tried to record the first record. Yeah. With all the people there. Yeah. And we got some very unique, you know, that was when you recorded on tape and you know, you'd have to splice the tape uh and put the tape together and
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everything. There was no [ __ ] Pro Tools and and [ __ ] Um, so a lot of that was just kind of off the cuff and and um yeah, it was a an interesting time for me for sure. Yeah.
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I mean, you had no there's no like road map. No, no road map. No. Um, no road map. I uh I will tell several stories in the book about that and uh is no road map.
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And so when you when you first heard I mean I've always wanted to go there. I mean it formed me. I mean, what have you have you never been?
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Never been there. Just call me. I'll call Jay and you can go and hang out and do you should do a [ __ ] have him on the podcast. I've been trying and he won't come.
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Uh I think I asked two years ago. I haven't been I can call him. I mean he he should come. His stories are incredible. Well, I remember when I did go back after years seeing all the gold records up and you know our gold record
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obviously there and um gave him just the the hug between him and I lasted [ __ ] five minutes when I when I came back to the place after launching the career kind of thing. Wow.
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Yeah. Uh he had incredible gear. Incredible gear. Incredible rooms. All the rooms were kind of like Indian.
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There was always candles and dark lights. I'm not a guy like even in my house there's no white lights. like Davi is really if I'm cooking there's white lights on in the kitchen but otherwise there's never white lights on in my
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house. It's all dimmed lighting blue red lighting what have you. I mean that's how that studio is. It's very like um it looks beautiful and ethereal and cool. I mean now it's probably a million dollars a [ __ ]
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minute but back then um we barely had money to make the record, you know.
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Wow. Beautiful, man. I've always wanted to go there. Yeah, I had many That's the room actually. And I had many nights in that room. Uh this one right here.
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Yes. Many crazy crazy. My wife is over here shaking her head cuz she's very familiar. That was the at the bar there.
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They had coffee and uh also drinks, of course, which was fantastic. Um I was like, they're not going to serve coffee at that at that bar.
Speaker A
I sat I sat at that couch and rolled, you know, probably two pounds of weed during that session.
Speaker A
How many joints did you roll there, man? Oh, man. I can't smoke flour during the day anymore, but uh back then I was just [ __ ] I have ADHD, right? So my parents had me on rin when I was a kid,
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which is just [ __ ] speed. Uh but what I realized in and halfway through school is if I smoked weed, history was interesting.
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You know, all of a sudden it was like social studies. Oo, I can do this.
Speaker A
Right. So I started to excel actually in school after I found marijuana. Interesting. I'm not telling all you kids out there.
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We're not we're not advocating, but it is happening. Yeah. I'm just saying it it rewired my brain and made me chill out cuz you know you have teachers that are like and today and I'm just like get to it
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[ __ ] come on tell me. Yeah, but that place is fantastic. You should get Jay for sure to come.
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I'll be honored, man. There's so much history that's like and me being like the [ __ ] research geek. There's so much that's not even out there.
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I mean, what you should do is go and try to record there. Try to even do a song there. You know, we could all do a song together. I mean, you play guitar. Like that's a great idea. You know, I love I
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love tracking. Like I'm always hitting him up like, "Dude, we should track some other stuff besides Devil Drive, right?" You know what, dude? That's been on my mind. It's It's literally on my calendar for like uh first quarter next year. You
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know what, dude? I'm not going to do anything anything else. I'm just going to hit up people. Just jam. Maybe like track some songs for like no one else.
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Just like this has some [ __ ] songs. Just jam. You'll find the love of it more. Um, I don't want to say I lost the love of being in Devil Driver, but really in the last couple years I had just been like I
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told my wife I said, "Man, I don't know. I'm just I think I'm just going to [ __ ] surf, you know." And uh, Davi and sorry here, bro, but [laughter] but Davi is what actually excited me to
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be in this band again. Um, and then obviously having Gabe and like and all of a sudden John Miller came back and then it was like, well, we need a guitar player, you know, and I need someone who understands like what to
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write and um, Davi is the one who kind of made me feel the love for my own [ __ ] again. Really beautiful.
Speaker A
Yeah. You got to remember this. I um, earlier you were talking about you found demos and you found uh, Motorhead.
Speaker A
Yeah. Well, the same thing happened to me with Devil Driver. Oh [ __ ] Because I had that remember what they used to do in I think in like 2005 I think is the the multiple bands that you
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buy on Hot Topic. [clears throat] That's how I found Devil Driver. Yeah. And it caught my attention right away.
Speaker A
So that experience that you had with Motorhead I had with Devil Driver. So I I bring that with me all the I mean I have the fortunate uh thing in my life where a muse will bring me in. Right.
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Like so Miges was my muse. Mhm. To come in to to do Cold Chamber and Anastasia was my muse and my family was my muse to leave Cole Chamber and do Devil Driver.
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Right. Same thing now with Davi has been my m been my muse to now I want to record 10 more [ __ ] records. I was like I'm 11 records in.
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What do I got to prove? I could tour forever on these records, you know? We don't need another record. And uh certainly though, people will [ __ ] hear this record and be like, "We are so glad that you did record because I think
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what we've come up with is something that's uh going to stand the test of time." I think it's up with the first couple records for sure. Um and has reminiscence of some of the the later records as well. For sure. Uh but it's
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it's fantastic and I think you need that, right? You need a like you know, you're in a new relationship after six years, you said, or what have you, right? or your six six years you get like dating. Yeah,
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she'll be your You're still dating after 6 years. Well, she's my girlfriend. Yeah. Put a ring on that [ __ ] Bo.
Speaker A
Yeah, I know. I put a ring on my [ __ ] so quick. Me and Anesian were dating I think two years and I was like, "No, that's it. We're getting married. Like, [ __ ] this." Like, you're right.
Speaker A
Yeah. You I mean, you should because like if you know, like you already know, go home tonight and just be like, "It's on. What do you want to wear? Is it gold? Is it titanium? Is it silver? Is
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it onx? uh what have you. You know, I knew after the second day, I'm like, "Yeah we're then why wait six years?" Yeah.
Speaker A
You know what it is? You want to give her your last name. She's got Fafara tattooed as big as I do on on her stomach. So, at the beach, we're both sitting there with Fafara and she's got Fafara on her arm, you know? I
Speaker A
mean, talk about it's and you want to get you want to give somebody that like that's that's what you'll give her. It's like, "Hey, man. [ __ ] take my last name, you know?" Beautiful, man.
Speaker A
Yeah, bro. Yeah. Uh, Dez and uh, Dobby, anything that I might I missed that you went out there? I think I think we covered a lot.
Speaker A
No, I want to thank the Widow Sons uh, for being in Dig Your Own Grave. They came out and spent a [ __ ] 11-hour day, rode their motorcycles and and did fake fighting and all this. Well, not
Speaker A
Yeah, it was fake, but [ __ ] I would not want to I would not want to uh I would not want to get down with my guys uh, in the in the [ __ ] ring. Especially Pike, the the leader here. He's a
Speaker A
[ __ ] He's what's called a berserker. He's a badass. But these men will uh reach down and help you out and do more charity works than you'll ever [ __ ] see in your lifetime. They're really honorable, great, great men. I look up
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to u especially my president Tank uh my bro Pres we call him. I look up to him a great deal. He's led me through some stuff in my life. Um and Brian uh who I'm patching with. We've patched
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together. Uh he's a call him bottle cap. My nickname is Rumblebee. Um because I rolled up on a gold bike with a black and gold. I love the old school uh biker look where they wear stripes. So I had
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yellow and black stripes and a gold bike and my vice president uh actually they call him six sense because he he sees ghosts like and this is a military guy. Like you don't question it, right? Like I fully
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believe that. But he says Rumblebee. I thought he said Bumblebee. And I said I said Bumblebee. I said that's a name. I [ __ ] I'll get laid with that. He goes, "No, no, no. Rumblebee cuz your bike is loud." I said, "Oh, killer. I'll
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take it." But I want to thank uh these guys for coming out and doing this. And and then Davi helped edit the second video. Uh because the film the film footage was great, but I thought it was a a waste the way that it came back
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edited. And so he got me an editor and worked I should say worked with the worked with a new editor and turned that video into like I think it's at 200,000 views in two weeks, two and a half weeks
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right now. Sick, right? So um I want to thank everybody around us, man. I want to thank all the players. I've been very blessed to thank Napal Records for ressigning. Uh they did a great deal with us where we got an
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imprint, an Oracle Records imprint. Um they did a really different kind of deal from what they do because I I know the business and I'm like, "Nah, let's do something that's good for both of us, right? Record companies normally do
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something that's good for them, not good for the artist." Uh but they did not.
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They treated me very well. John being back in the band. Um, yeah. I just I got a lot of uh a lot of grateful uh feelings towards towards everybody in the last couple years of my life for sure, man. For for backing what we're
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doing, you know, my wife for for putting up with me being gone in the studio writing because I just but like, you know, no, I can't do this, I can't do that. I got to go I got to go write, you
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know. Um, and Davi for like just having my back every [ __ ] day. I mean, I I hit him every day and would, like I said, would send him lyrics and send him voice notes like, "Bro, this how did
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this come out in 5 minutes? Am I lazy?" And he's like, "Fuck no, this is [ __ ] incredible. Keep it." So, there was there was something going on with this record. Yeah. Yeah. You didn't really miss anything. I mean, we went into a
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lot of Cole Chamber and a lot of early stuff and there's certainly a lot of Devil Driver stories as well, but um we got a two-book deal. So, the first one is Loco and then the second book is
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going to be when I am living at Ensemble's house and decide to leave Cole Chamber and go into Devil Driver World. Wow. And that is a [ __ ] run of a book, bro. That is some stories that
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are just balls out. Um, so I'm fortunate um to be able to still be here and tell those stories and man.
Speaker A
So, is there like a So, you said it's next year. Is there like a a tenative date yet? Uh, it's going to come out around um, uh, if you're a Coal Chamber fan, you may want to hold on to your [ __ ]
Speaker A
britches here and just get into next year. I think you'd be happy. Sick. Yeah, we're looking forward to it, man.
Speaker A
Yeah. Cool. Well, uh, Dez and Dobby, we uh, we close out every podcast the same. Uh, there's there's no rules, but but but since there's two two of you guys, no rules. I love it.
Speaker A
It fits me perfect. What are uh what are three records people to to check out?
Speaker A
Three records to check out? Yeah. Uh just other bands or Yeah. It could be uh old, new, it's no metal. I mean, it's anything that that you choose.
Speaker A
I'll give you the floor first. You go. Cuz you listen to all sorts of stuff, too. You're not just a metal guy.
Speaker A
Yeah. Um well, discography wise, I'm very influenced by salsa. It is a lot of that in my keep it to me.
Speaker A
Yeah, there's a lot of that [laughter] in my playing. I just keep it like very Yeah.
Speaker A
hidden. Um I'm very influenced not by a record but by a player called Richi Gate.
Speaker A
Oh yeah. So everything he is involved musically I like it's pretty much in my playlist.
Speaker A
Percussionist over there. Uh Richie Gate is an amazing percussionist. So Okay. So, does he have his own records or or uh he he's basically a musician that participates on a bunch of records, but you can tell the same because he have a
Speaker A
certain style of playing. Okay. And then another one is El Gran combo. That's like a big like a big deal in Puerto Rico. Look it up. El Gran combo.
Speaker A
Like I got to go to Puerto Rico, man. I'm tell you just got back from a great job, man. I'm like I don't know how to spell that. And you just [ __ ] just nailed it, bro. It's like, yeah,
Speaker A
that's like Puerto Rico and Davi sending me pictures and I'm like, that's water. Like, that is so clear. I'm going to go.
Speaker A
But yeah, that's that's usually in my playlist. And the non-metal side, uh, that's where the groove comes from.
Speaker A
Um metalwise. Oh, we went deep. Appreciate that, man. You're welcome. Metal because metal guys want to like they just want to share metal, so they're metal. And it's like everything on my battle vest is what I'm in, you know?
Speaker A
It's like, bro, please. You don't go home and listen to [ __ ] Frank Sinatra when you're eating or some [ __ ] Like, come on, bro. Like, and then metalwise, man, I got to give it to I know it's not a new record, but
Speaker A
it's always in my playlist. Iowa. Like, that record changed my life, you know? I've never heard a whole Slipnot record. And I took them on tour for their first tour.
Speaker A
You never front to back? No, never. So, I want And I love And I love That is so Dez.
Speaker A
And I love And I love I [laughter] love And I love Corey. I mean, he's one of the sweetest.
Speaker A
That is so Dez, dude. You know, you're responsible for giving a tour opportunity to my f one of my most influential.
Speaker A
Yeah, we took them out for their first run and I remember seeing them going, "Fuck, we're in hell." Like, we got seven weeks with these guys. This [ __ ] guy in a clown mask is throwing [ __ ] kegs in the audience. I go,
Speaker A
"We're screwed." You know? Um I'm so glad who they what they became. And I love I love Cory Taylor. Every time I run into him, he couldn't be he has no [ __ ] ego about him or at least around
Speaker A
me, I got to say, you know. But no, I never listen to a whole record. Um, but a lot of my friends that I even guested with and stuff that are in metal bands, I've never really I'm just not I'm not
Speaker A
If I listen to metal, it's it's uh it's it's going to be odd, right? Like I listen to Iron Monkey from the 90s. If you had never heard Iron Monkey, it's about the ugliest, dirtiest [ __ ] you'll
Speaker A
ever hear. Very punk rock almost. Um, very influenced by like Black Flag, obviously and the Germs, Dead Kennedy's. Um, uh, I love a band called Kavakon. K A V K O N.
Speaker A
Um, they are top of their [ __ ] I I have got about 300 Tiki records. I love Tiki music and Hawaiian Strings. Uh, uh, Slack Slack guitar, you know. I love that [ __ ] Um, Kavocon. Uh, the record
Speaker A
that I like. Yeah. The record I like is Atomic um, Tiki for the Atomic Age. [laughter] Yeah. That's Yeah.
Speaker A
This is Chile music, huh? Yeah. Uh, but they're very cool. It's almost like uh Pink Floyd meets Tiki meets uh it's it's just out there, you know. Um, and then I listen to a lot of the stuff that I'm getting ready to tour
Speaker A
with, too, you know. Like the other night I listened to a couple Burning Burning, you know, Upon a Burning Body songs and some of Sulfur stuff. And I'm actually heading now to go to Sirius Radio to meet Jose to do a takeover and
Speaker A
I'm going to be playing those guys as well because they're getting ready to tour with us and stuff. Um, but I like heavy. If I'm going to listen to heavy [ __ ] I like Heavy [ __ ] And
Speaker A
then of course like there's always Panta, dude. Like so anytime I'm in a mood where I don't know what I'm going to [ __ ] put on, reinventing the steel was my favorite because I was living with Philip when he was writing that
Speaker A
record. So I remember him having having conversations with Dimeag over the lyrics and uh so it's a very special time in my life. Like everybody will say I don't know if that's my favorite record, but for me that's my favorite
Speaker A
record, Reinventing the Steel. I could I can listen to that in its entirety. When I got ADHD, I can't listen to anything in its entirety ever. I could barely finish a [ __ ] TV show. My wife is, if
Speaker A
we're going to watch a movie, my wife's got to give me like a two week notice, like, you know, so I'd be like, "Okay, I guess I'm in for it. [ __ ] two hours. I can't." What did you think when when when you
Speaker A
saw the lyrics? You're like, "Holy [ __ ] this is it. It was incredible." I mean, I heard conversations with him and Dime going back and forth about lyric lyrics and uh you know, I mean, Philip for me is, you
Speaker A
know, I would say the top front man in the world, period. End of story. Um I I love Azie, but I put him above Aussie.
Speaker A
That's just cuz [ __ ] I don't know, man. You know, that's just Yeah, he has something, bro. He's, you know, plus he'll beat your [ __ ] ass. Like, he's real. Like, he's a real [ __ ] deal. Holyfield.
Speaker A
Like, he's [ __ ] uh he's a amazing front man, an amazing writer, and um you know, obviously one of the biggest bands in in the world, you know, and influenced everybody. I mean, I don't think there's anybody not influenced by
Speaker A
Panta, you know. I wish I would have found him earlier. I would have got influence vocally, but I just, you know, it just never happened. I had a crazy story when I was in Cole Chamber, if we have time. I I was walking down Melro I
Speaker A
was walking down Melrose Avenue and uh uh Cole Chamber was just got just about to get signed and I saw Philillip and I said, "Hey man, [ __ ] you know, I love your [ __ ] I'm listening to your
Speaker A
[ __ ] you know." And he's like, he put his bags down. He's like, "Cool, man." He signed something for me. I go, "One day I'm going to [ __ ] tour with you." And he goes, "You know what? Badass,
Speaker A
man. I hope you will." [ __ ] a year year later, we pull up to a panter tour in my bus. Nobody's on the bus but me.
Speaker A
He [ __ ] knocks on the door and it's [ __ ] I hear the door knock and I answer it and it's in Somo and he goes, "Get your shit." I go, "What?" I thought I was getting kicked off the tour. He's
Speaker A
like, "Get your shit." I'm like, "Okay, I got my bag." And I go up on his bus and he's like, "This is my bunk. That's your bunk below me. Throw your [ __ ] in.
Speaker A
You're living with me." And that's how we became friends. Whoa. What? No one. No one. That's that's that's unheard of.
Speaker A
Yeah. Unheard of. But the one of the coolest [ __ ] guys you'll you'll ever meet. He's wrote the forward for my book and it's very short. It's not this big paragraph. It's just one of the best things about Dez is his heart. And I was
Speaker A
like, bro, that is so [ __ ] killer. You didn't need to go into my music, my this, my that.
Speaker A
Just, you know, he gets me for who I am. And I I you know, I stayed with him for for a long time off and on. So yeah, when we start talking about, you know, him, it gets deep for me. There's him
Speaker A
and I and Hank 3. That's probably 4 in the morning, and I'm trying to light a joint, but I'm laughing so [ __ ] hard.
Speaker A
And if you look to the right and to the left, Philip has like a million tapes and a million CDs and a million records.
Speaker A
And you know, he's a music guy. Like [ __ ] he loves music. So yeah.
Speaker A
Well, when the when when when the book comes out, we got we got to hear some more stories, man.
Speaker A
Yeah. Well, we can book it. I'll come in. We can book it. [laughter] We can book the book.
Speaker A
Yeah. When the book comes out, I'll come in and I'll I'll I'll read some of the stuff for you if you want because there's some there's some crazy ass [ __ ] stories, man. You know, uh Huh.
Speaker A
Our first date was Yeah. Our first date, my wife and I. Well, I was living at a hotel in Beverly Hills and she kept asking me if I was a drug dealer because I didn't tell her I was in a band.
Speaker A
A little goth girl. I had no idea. She's a little goth girl. She had no clue what I did and you know and um I was like I'm not you know no I'm not a drug dealer you know and so our first
Speaker A
date was I go hey come downstairs you know are you ready and she was in my hotel room getting ready and I said come on and we got on to Panta's bus and it pulled underneath the forum to play with
Speaker A
Black Sabbath and Panta and she goes what is this and I go I'm in a band this and that we're going to see Black Sabbath and Panta which she was like okay right and uh Sharon Osborne took her away for like [ __ ] three hours
Speaker A
man I didn't see her and then Sharon came back and goes she's going to be your wife and I Oh, yeah. She is. So, unbelievable.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. So, that story is in the book, but that story's in the book, but it goes it goes more into it. Yeah. I'm blessed, man. I mean, I'm still alive.
Speaker A
Still alive, man. And um and got a record that's [ __ ] hitting right now. Let's go. And now I go to Sirius Radio to talk to my guy Jose and [ __ ] do a takeover. It's going to be fun.
Speaker A
Beautiful, man. And I uh I appreciate the uh the words about uh sobriety. Yeah.
Speaker A
Thank you. My I might have changed my mind. Well, if here here's what I think about.
Speaker A
If you're thinking about getting sober, it means you need to. That's all. If you wake up and go, I think maybe then you should.
Speaker A
Um, and just, you know, you you won't feel changes until about a year. Like you you'll say to everybody, I feel so [ __ ] good. But no, not really. A year in, you're going to feel amazing, but just stay away from the people who
Speaker A
used to drag you down. Stay away from the places that used to drag you down.
Speaker A
Uh, you know, I mean, I now I have a bar at my house fully [ __ ] stocked. I have actually the bar from the uh the Mayan theater in LA from the 1970s, the VIP bar. It's I had a guy find it in a
Speaker A
[ __ ] place and I go, "Bro, bring that to my house right now." And and it's fully stocked for people that come in and I'm a hell of a bartender, you know?
Speaker A
I mean, now I can do that thing without without going back. But before that, you couldn't have a bottle of whiskey in my house because I would [ __ ] drink that [ __ ] right now.
Speaker A
Damn. I'm for sure going to smoke at some point. For sure. Because I because to me smoking isn't a it isn't a escape. I don't like smoking. It makes me really think deeply about things. So it's it's scary for me, but I like what it brings.
Speaker A
Yeah. I can only smoke flour if I'm writing during the day. I don't smoke flour during the day and very rarely at night, too. I mean, I just I hit a CBD pen because I have a bad knee. I got a
Speaker A
[ __ ] up knee and it helps. But I just I just feel like um you know, a lot of people will say, "Well, do you're not really sober." It's like, "Well, I never did the AA. Got a chip, got a this, got
Speaker A
a sponsor. I just like walked off the bus, went and got the date tattooed on me. 10 9 10 10 916. The guy's like, "What am I tattooing this date for?" I said, "Cuz I'm getting sober today." And
Speaker A
he just laughing. [laughter] He says, "Bike riding, this is this is awesome. Hold on 10." He's like, I go, "Am I done?" He goes, "Oh yeah, you're [laughter] done." You know, I don't even know if he charged me. Actually, he may
Speaker A
have just said, "Fucking get out of here." Right. And but I but I I I puked for the first four shows because I was on the road when I got sober.
Speaker A
Um and I remember the first four shows were like this is terrible. I don't know if I can do this. Like I remember it. It was like yesterday I was in El Paso the first show and I was puking in a bucket five
Speaker A
minutes before I went on stage, you know? Um now I couldn't imagine being [ __ ] drunk on stage. I can't even [ __ ] fathom it having to remember lyrics and everything, but I did back then. I mean, I was like obviously on
Speaker A
autopilot. You know, your body goes on autopilot. You're going to do fine, man. You're going to do great. Thank you.
Speaker A
You know, keep yourself in the gym. Keep yourself positive. Keep yourself happy. Um, stay away from [ __ ] the idiots that used to drag. I cut a lot of people out. I mean, I have a very small circle
Speaker A
anyways. I'm extremely private. Uh, but I cut a lot of people out that that uh every time we went out, we was like, "All right, where are we going to go? We got to get drinks." It's like, bro, come
Speaker A
on. like, you know, let's [ __ ] sit and chill, dude, and talk and talk about life.
Speaker A
Yeah. I mean, that's what we've been doing here, you know. So, uh, you know, I'm fortunate. I don't know if I would have made it through without sobriety, to be honest with you, you know.
Speaker A
But it was never a point where like, "Bro, you said so much [ __ ] last night to people." Or, "Bro, you told your wife to [ __ ] off." Or none of that. It was just, you know, two cocktails before the show,
Speaker A
three cocktails after the show, 250, 280 shows a year. Holy [ __ ] How many bottles am I running? And you only have one liver and one kidney.
Speaker A
Yeah. Or or two kidneys really. And one liver. How is that? I don't know that.
Speaker A
Yeah. Two kidneys, one liver. I'd like to keep them. I'd like to keep all the relationships around myself. You know, Davy's sober, so him and I, that that works real well with him and I, you know. Mhm.
Speaker A
Something I wanted to add is not just your body is um when you are past a certain point, you lose memories. You and like for me, money comes and goes.
Speaker A
There's a lot of things that come and go, but your memories and your existing in this world is forever. You can relate this, right? I mean, you two were drunk.
Speaker A
Mhm. Oh, yeah. And you forgot a lot of it. Yeah. It's sad. And you said stuff and people said stuff and you forgot it. Yeah. And it sucks.
Speaker A
And you've been to places that you won't remember. And you've, you know, dude, I met you five years ago. And I'm like, I, you know, I met you, you know, met you 15 years ago. And I'm like, I'm so
Speaker A
sorry, bro. Like, I drank. I don't remember. Well, I'm so and so. Well, hi.
Speaker A
How dude? We hung out all night. How do you not [ __ ] remember? I was up on your bus with my friends. I'm the one that brought the [ __ ] this and that. Like, yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. No, I don't remember, bro. Like, I'm so sorry. You know, so that moment is never coming back. Yeah, that moment is never coming back for me now. It's like, "Bro, I met you, you know, five years ago." I'm like, "Yeah,
Speaker A
you were the kid down in the hotel. You brought me gummy bears or what, [laughter] which is Meek's favorite. That's why I bring up Gummy Bear. He got to have gummy bears on the ride or he's [ __ ]
Speaker A
out, which is I I can relate to. I love that shit." Wow. You kind of blew me away, man.
Speaker A
You're going to be good, man. You're going to be fine. Thank you for that.
Speaker A
Yeah. All right. New record out now. Tour starts in uh August through se September. Three weeks in uh the US. And you have an Australia tour.
Speaker A
Yeah, we did the Australia tour. It went incredible. It went it went absolutely incredible. Yeah.
Speaker A
Well, well, David Dez, thank you for for your time. And Dez, we we will be praying for you, man.
Speaker A
Thank you, bro. Thank you. Yeah. I figured this is the time to let people know what the [ __ ] I'm dealing with. You may want to come to a show. Let's go.
Speaker A
Let's go, dude. Yeah. Every day I'm living every day like it's the last, man. You know, last night I was on a skateboard until 11 o' I think you called me and Anastasia said, "I don't know. He's out on his
Speaker A
longboard." I [ __ ] I told my wife when I somewhere Yeah. when I can't skate and when I can't surf, I'm out. So, yeah.
Speaker A
Thank you guys. Appreciate it. All right. All right. One, that's it. Later. I don't know what [music] [music]
Topics:Devildrivernew albumgroove metalJohn Millerband reunionmusic interviewGarza Podcasttouring musicianmarriage and musicSanta Barbara
