As The Story Grows

Chris Raines has played drums for Spitfire, Norma Jean and now Sunndrug. Chris was nice enough to lay out his timeline and resume for all to hear. We discuss having twins and coaching little league. Chris Raines tells us about getting Stretch Armstrongs' studio time at Trax East, the story of Spitfire, owning a record store, joining Norma Jean, starting Sunndrug with Jimmy, and being a prank call ninja. Check out his new band Sunndrug through the link below. Thank you SO much for making the Zao double-chapter the highest listens I've ever gotten. Onward and upward!

Chapter 52 Links:

https://m.facebook.com/sunndrug

https://m.facebook.com/spitfirenoise/

http://www.normajeannoise.com

Chapter 52 Music:

Fugazi: "Five Corporations"

Spitfire: "The 2:48 Lie"

Spitfire: "Meth Monster"

Norma Jean: "Blood Burner"

Sunndrug: "Psy-Vamp"

Sunndrug: "Denial"

As The Story Grows links:

Dan Weyandt, Jeff Gretz and Scott Mellinger of Zao continue laying out the entire upcoming album "The Well Intentioned Virus" track by track. This chapter will cover tracks six through ten, plus a very special remix of Xenophobe called "Xenophyle" by Joey Milligan of Anberlin. Zao just KEEPS GIVING! Don't forget about that giveaway that ATSG, Skull Toaster and MetalBandCampGiftClub are collaborating on. Listen to the rules and listen closely to the podcast. The answer was revealed in chapter fifty last week. Listen closely, follow Skull Toaster and WIN THAT POSTER!

Chapter 51 Music: all Zao from the upcoming album The Well Intentioned Virus (and working titles)

Never before released: "Xenophyle" remix by Joey of Anberlin. Why? Because Zao loves their fans. Just give us a few minutes to discuss the heroin stronghold on Pittsburgh.

Bonus clip of "Fear Itself" Did you know this song was left over from Awake? This is Dan's self proclaimed anxiety attack song.

We then discuss the recording process at Treelady Studios, our dogs, the song writing process with members who live all over the place, the album artwork, label vs indie release, and Dan's daughter makes her first podcast appearance.

Chapter 51 Notes:

Last week's show: http://www.asthestorygrows.com/episodes/27385-dan-jeff-and-scott-from-zao

Zao Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZAO.Official

Zao Bandcamp: https://officialzao.bandcamp.com

Zao Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialZao

As The Story Grows links:

Fifty is a nice big round number so let's do something big, shall we? How about Dan Weyandt's first podcast?

Dan, Jeff Gretz and Scott Mellinger of Zao are laying out the entire new album "The Well Intentioned Virus" track by track. This chapter will cover the first five tracks. Seth W joins me to let you all in on a contest give away that ATSG, Skull Toaster (and even MetalBandCampGiftClub) will be collaborating on. Listen to the rules and listen closely to the podcast. The answer is in here.

Chapter 50 Music: all Zao from the upcoming album The Well Intentioned Virus

Xenophobe

Xenophobe, again.

Chapter 50 Notes:

Zao Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZAO.Official

Zao Bandcamp: https://officialzao.bandcamp.com

Zao Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialZao

Shoot The Shred Podcast (thanks Eric!!!):https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/shoot-the-shred/id1000314302?mt=2

As The Story Grows links:

Eyal Levi is a well known metal producer and toured the globe with his band Daath. Eyal has a very special Creative Live project starting March 7th called "Recording Metal: A Bootcamp" with the band Monuments. Eyal discusses in great depth how this is all going to work and his PR company Fresno Media chose ATSG as an outlet to discuss it. (Super cool; thanks Brian.) Eyal and I discuss having a more brutal sense of humor and how that helps deal with constant mispronunciations of his name (present company included). We cover the big topics like how we enjoy certain beverages, growing up with a genius orchestra leader father and how the metal bug bit him.

In the intro I thank Jerry Adams for his generous Patreon contribution and I play ya'll a little ditty from the new Slaves BC album.

Chapter 49 Links:

Eyal's "Nail The Mix" site: http://nailthemix.com

Eyal's Creative Live catalog: https://www.creativelive.com/catalog/audio?q=eyal%20levi

Jerry's band Ourfathers: https://ourfathersnoise.bandcamp.com

Slaves BC: https://slavesbc.bandcamp.com

Chapter 49 Music:

Slaves BC: Everything Is Meaningless

Daath: "Silenced"

Monuments: "I, The Creator"

Daath: "Accelerant"

Daath: "Subterfuge"

As The Story Grows links:

We are joined by Bill Meis of eOne. Bill is the former guitarist of the Long Island Facedown band Alove For Enemies...so he's been there. Now, he works with the likes of Black Crown Initiate, Zakk Wylde, Ace Frehley, and St. Louis' Black Fast. Bill and I discuss Cornerstone generator stages, the drive in the weekend warrior tour stories and how we would change nothing. We get to reflecting on being a part of the Christian music scene which was a LOT of fun to discuss. Bill ain't no dummy neither; he has taught english in Prauge. He articulates how working at a record label doesn't make you the enemy...something we all need to be reminded of. Bill is one half of the workbench podcast with our beloved Seth W. We close it out with a little baseball talkies and Bill Meis introduces me to the "baseball player name game".

This chapter is dedicated to Brad Barber. Thanks.

Chapter 48 Notes:

eOne: http://www.entertainmentone.com/home

The Workbench Podcast: http://www.workbenchpodcast.com

follow Billiam on twitter: https://twitter.com/billmeis

Chapter 48 Music:

As The Story Grows links:

Nope. Not kidding. Adam Robinson of the hilarious Portlandia shares his chapter with us...phone issues and all. (Gotta love technology.) Adam was influenced by his musician father who is still in three bands in his mid-70s! He tells us about his new teenage mutant turtles guitar, his mom fighting cancer, his first bands and earliest gigs, his love of the band jellyfish. Adam tells us how Portlandia came to be. It all came from a strange opportunity because "some dude broke his foot"...hey, ya never know. His story of the FIRST time he met Fred Armisen is hilarious and how he's still a fanboy of Steve Buscemi.

I am joined in the intro by Mister Werkheiser and I get to tell you all about the awesome experience I had at an Umphrey's McGee show. This has been a great week.

Chapter 47 Notes:

Robinson/Moncrieffe "Rorschach Happy Love Skull" youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjmiraBshAY&list=PLUSRfoOcUe4YMnGwjYV34VgAyJSSnqSTU

Portlandia IFC site: http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia

I remember now! Fred performed "Police On My Back" by The Damned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgm4Gucf3kQ

Chapter 47 Music:

As The Story Grows links:

Kelsey "Chapstick" Zimmerman joins the story. Kelsey tells us how she went from a West Virginia drummer/rock fan to a New York City metal industry artists' spouse. She is part of the metal twitter family and is actually kinda hilarious. Kelsey works for Blast Beat Network and gives some insight on what metal advertising is all about. She is an accomplished drummer having won awards in her past; she now plays in the band Manutara. Kelsey's first spin was Zeppelin which CLEARLY leads a metal fan to Incubus...I know just listen. She reveals how she meets her husband (artist Aaron Zimmerman) but she still loves this one dude named Jasper even more. She also teaches my old ass about "mean mugging"...which I had to look up. Ugh. I suck. Another fun chapter from awesome industry folk who are worth the listen.

Seth W of the Skull Toasting W's joins me on the intro to tell us about a new podcast that I want everyone to subscribe to because it's hilarious. The new METAL MINUTE is exactly up the alley of all of this growing online community and #metalbandcampgiftclub supporters. It's made by Seth and Petkau, the guy helping support the #metalbandcampgiftclub birthday lists. Check. It. Out. Support.

Chapter 46 Links:

Seth and Petkau's new Metal Minute podcast: https://metalminute.simplecast.fm SUBSCRIBE!

Blast Beat Network: http://www.blastbeatnetwork.com

Kelsey's band Manutara: https://manutara.bandcamp.com

Kelsey's Husband Aaron's webite: http://aaronzeem.com

Aaron's interview with Ian MacKaye: http://www.ducts.org/12_05/html/art_gallery/mackaye.html

Chapter 46 Music:

As The Story Grows links:

Megan Osztrosits of Couch Slut hangs with special guest co-host Seth W and I (during the great 2016 blizzard) to talk about early Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania life, a little bit about her band Couch Slut, murder, our love for dogs and conspiracy theories. We absolutely fall apart at the end; SUCH a fun hang.

I talk a bit about #metalbandcampgift club and hitting 20,000 listens in the intro. Thank you everyone!

Chapter 45 Notes:

Latest #metalbandcampgiftclub google hangout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SavkBrUAiO0

Couch Slut Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/couchslut/

Decibel Magazine article about the Couch Slut Cover Conundrum: http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/featured/nsfw-couch-sluts-cover-conundrum

Chapter 45 Music:

As The Story Grows links:

This snow-covered chapter is all about Kris Myers of Umphrey's McGee. Kris tells us about his first drumset at eight years old all the way up to the upcoming Umphrey's tour. Kris Myers talks about his college days of studying jazz, touring with his school jazz ensemble and playing weddings on the weekends. He covers the transition from his band Kick The Cat to coming into the UM fold. Then come the stories...Chris Poland (formerly of Megadeth), Buckethead, Les Claypool, Huey Lewis (!!!), Adrian Belew of King Crimson...a truly amazing list. But for as big of a band as Umphrey's McGee is there is a lot of diy to be discussed. Umphrey's McGee have started their own label and Kris has started his own production company called Good Night Nurse. This is good inspirational stuff.

The raw footage of this chapter is available on the youtube channel and you can get extra unedited footage that was edited out of the podcast. (Link is below)

In the intro I talk a little bit about this beautiful phenomenon called metal band camp gift club. We had our first google hangout. The website looks beautiful. The birthday thing is taking off. Things are well. Check the links below and join the "spread metal joy" movement. We love you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Chapter 44 Notes:

Video of this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fo2nsUlO3g

Umphrey's McGee Website: http://umphreys.com

Kris' "The Floor" drums video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CYmPKVOqC0

Metal Band Camp Gift Club Official Website: http://metalbandcampgiftclub.com

MBCGC Hangout Episode One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5rY2S79Leo

Chapter 44 Music:

As The Story Grows links:

It's been said there are only two constants in this life and they are death and taxes. I found that to be a perfect title for this weeks chapter considering the two main topics.

Death: I hate to start off with a sad solomn note but I had to tip my hat to the late David Bowie. You will be missed, Starman. I wanted you all to hear Iggy Pop talk about him from 1990 and the famous clip from 1983 when Bowie calls out MTV for not playing black artists. We wrap up with Jimmy Fallon mentioning Bowie and we have a small moment of silence before moving on.

Taxes: Ok. More bad news. Taxes are due in about three months. NEVER FEAR! Onward to Tessa Allen of Destroy Nate Allen. We talk about how her and her husband met and started a punk rock revolution one unamplified show at a time. Tessa happens to be wicked smart at taxes and I thought a discussion on how a current DIY musician could learn a few things might be a good idea. Now that avenues such as Patreon and Kickstarter exist, folks need to learn how to deal. Who better than a folk punk rocker?

Chapter 43 Notes, from Tessa herself:

Here's my website: http://tessatax.com

Destroy Nate Allen: http://destroynateallen.com/

Destroy Nate Allen Bandcamp page: http://destroynateallen.com/music/

This is me actually explaining tax stuff: http://tessatax.com/videos/

This is my affiliate link for people to do their own taxes online. I get 80% of the fee!

Chapter 43 Music:

As The Story Grows links: