ATX Metal Podcast

Ryan Rayle (00:01.715)
Ladies and gentlemen, what's up? Ryan, ATX Metal Podcast back again with another episode. We are counting down the days until the ATX Metal Podcast showcase happening at Come and Take It Live brought to you by Come and Take It Productions and The Sims Foundation is going to be there. Super excited about that. December 6th tickets right now are $15. Actually, I take that back. They've already gone up to 20.

The only way you're going to get it for 15 is if you know any of the guys that I'm talking to right now. I got bridges of blaze, got Brien got Ruben. It's going to be great. I've already introduced them, but I'll let them do it themselves. Tell us who you are, where you're from and what you do in the band. And then we'll go from there.

Brien (00:48.044)
name is Brien. I do lead vocals and lead guitar. I also do a lot of business stuff. I'm from Texas, born and raised, homegrown, and lived in a few different cities, but mostly from Austin at this point. I think that's about that.

Ryan Rayle (01:05.579)
Okay. Ruben?

Ruben Zamora (01:07.053)
What's up everybody? I'm Ruben Zamora. I do lead vocals as well and lead guitar. We switch off. I assist with any business operation needs when the time comes. yeah, born and raised in El Paso, moved over to Austin, Texas. Been loving Austin and here we are.

Ryan Rayle (01:27.083)
Well, I can say for myself and possibly many other people, we are glad you're here and we are glad that you provide us with some sweet, sweet riffage. It's not every day that you see somebody doing, I guess, let me take this back. Brien, I've known you since Call Me King and I saw you just absolutely shred a guitar over nine years ago.

Brien (01:48.704)
Yeah.

Ryan Rayle (01:56.362)
You have just gotten infinitely better. So kudos to you and Ruben, I've only seen your work for a little bit. And I got to say, also kudos to you. I'm sad that I couldn't get to see your journey to Shredville, but you guys really complement each other and the the links that you guys have got. I don't think people understand. I've been trying to get bridges for like

well over a year to play a show. like, just please let me throw you a show. Let me bring people together and let me, let me, you know, provide entertainment. And they're like, we're not ready, Ryan. We're not, dude, we will as soon as we're ready, we'll play. as soon as we're ready, walk us through real quick for those that aren't familiar with bridges and, just give us a quick little rundown. You know, how did it start? Like, was it born of something else? And now we're here.

and just kind of that whole journey.

Brien (03:00.278)
Ruben, always love it when you tell the Guitar Center story.

Ryan Rayle (03:03.563)
Of course, it's either Guitar Center or Craigslist. That's all that's allowed on this. Okay. And sometimes, and sometimes they coincide. They like, you sit out a Craigslist ad and you're like, I'll meet you at Guitar Center. Like it happens.

Ruben Zamora (03:03.565)
Honestly feel food Yeah

Ruben Zamora (03:20.169)
Dang I feel like if it wasn't for Guitar Center we would have met via Craigslist but yeah guys so Summer 2014 decided to just move out here and I just had a gut instinct Came up to Austin and I was with my buddy from El Paso so I just literally packed up my car and I left I was like I need to do something

Ryan Rayle (03:36.241)
I'm sorry if I missed it, where did you move from?

Ruben Zamora (03:46.081)
So I came up here, had my buddy at the time, we were just passing time, I had just finished interviews and I said, dude, let's go to Guitar Center, let's kill some time, right? We're there and as soon as I walk in, Brien over here is looping on a Line 6 Spider amp, he's just shredding and I'm just there like a deer in the headlights, just mesmerized. Just like, fuck, this guy's amazing. So anyways.

We continued with our day, checked out the areas, and finally we went to the other side of the wall amps. This is when Guitar Center had those sections, right? Brien was on the opposite and I went on the other. Next thing you know, he's shredding. Then I start shredding. Before you know it, it becomes like a shred off. He's going, I'm going, we're just trading off. Just insane. And then I don't know where he turns off his amp. Complete silence. I'm like, dude, I was having fun.

He pops out of the corner like, Hey, which one of y'all was just shredding? hey, what's up, dude? It's me, Ruben. Nice to meet you. We exchanged numbers and you know, I think Brien, you were, you were busy. I can't remember what you were doing, but I remember just heading home or to the hotel and I'm thinking, I'm never going to talk to this guy again. Right. It's just once in a million chance.

Brien (04:56.299)
Yeah, that's what I thought. was like, nine times out of ten, you get a random guy's number at Guitar Center, you're never gonna

Next thing I knew, I heard from him, you know? And like a couple months later, I was like, this dude has integrity. This dude has follow-up.

Ryan Rayle (05:16.213)
I don't think I've ever heard a more sweeter line spoken on this podcast is you get a guy's number from Guitar Center and maybe he's gonna call back.

Brien (05:28.818)
BWAH!

Brien (05:32.966)
Yeah

Ruben Zamora (05:34.637)
I remember calling my mom, mom I met this guy at guitar center. He's awesome. She's like, okay

Brien (05:36.949)
You

Brien (05:43.422)
We're gonna get married.

Ryan Rayle (05:45.227)
my God, that and what's crazy, I'm going to have to go back. It was just a couple of episodes. man. That I actually mentioned. my God. I'm like all flushed Whoo. OK.

I was trying to explain to someone that in what are called newspapers, there used to be this section called Miss Connections. And if you were out and about and ran into somebody, you could place an ad and hopefully that person would see it. So you'd say like, hey, I met you at Guitar Center. You were jamming this line six and I didn't get a chance to get your number because I had to leave. My name is.

Ruben, here's my number or my email. Please contact me. Like that's it's called Miss Connection. I don't know if it still exists, but that's exactly what you guys kind of just described. And it like it makes makes my heart hole because because there is there's love to be found in Guitar Center. It may not be your next seven string. It may not be your next day, but it could be your next band member. You know what I'm saying? So support your local guitar center because God

Brien (06:57.13)
Amen.

Ruben Zamora (06:59.157)
Yes.

Ryan Rayle (07:00.906)
Plenty of plenty of the people I've talked to actually work there. it's and did you know that Guitar Center has tour leave? Like it's vacate. It's like. It's like time off, but they just call it tour leave and you get up to three months per year. I promise I'm not sponsored by Guitar Center, so this is purely free marketing for promo for you guys, not that you need it, but.

Ruben Zamora (07:11.787)
What? I didn't know they had that.

Brien (07:18.823)
my god.

Ryan Rayle (07:28.178)
One of the guys I was talking to said he worked at Guitar Center and that was one of the perks is that they gave tour leave and they were totally flexible with it. So I thought that was really fucking cool.

Brien (07:37.063)
Yeah.

Ruben Zamora (07:37.165)
That's cool.

Ryan Rayle (07:38.32)
Anyway, enough about Craigslist's Miss Connections and Guitar Center. Let's speed everybody up to what's been happening. How's Bridge has been doing this year, Ruben, in your opinion?

Ruben Zamora (07:51.627)
Fantastic. I'm not even gonna lie, especially with debuting at the beginning or the first quarter of the year. I'd say he's been a pretty good success. Brien, do you feel the same?

Brien (08:06.774)
Yeah, on the live end, it's been the culmination of like a two, three year process of, you know, buying all the equipment, which was a shit ton of money and, you know, just assembling all the equipment and getting it operational and learning it and then, you know, practicing for like nine months, 15 months, you know, just to get to where we are. And so the live end, it's been everything, you know, the culmination of all of that work.

three years of vocal lessons for me, two years of vocal lessons for Ruben and all that stuff. And then on the creative end, the music and all that stuff, Frozen is probably our most successful release since Hellbent on Spotify. And I would say Break is our most successful YouTube video to date. So our two newest songs have been some of our most successful yet, which bodes very well for our coming material.

Ryan Rayle (09:00.852)
Yeah, I can vouch frozen slaps. Like that's, that's a, that's just a good ass song. So I'm super, I'm super excited that I finally get to, to book you guys. I, and I say this to everybody. Like it really is an honor to be able to reach out to, to members of the, of the music industry and say, Hey, I'm throwing a show.

Brien (09:08.925)
Thank you.

Ryan Rayle (09:29.544)
You guys want to come play and, you know, talk amongst yourself. What's the date? What's the time? Yep. That works out. Cool. Yeah. Ryan, go for it. And then I'm like over here just like, they're actually going to. Okay. Cool. Fuck. Yeah. Let's go. so thank you guys, for, jumping on this. And I really do think that you guys have, you guys have something. And like you said, you guys have been toiling away for two years, taking like vocal lessons, like really, really sinking your teeth into

the band as not only a brand, but also a business. And these days everybody has to have, you know, all of those hats and then, or you're just really good at one of these things, but everybody equally in the band contributes in some shape, form or fashion. How do you guys, since you guys are such riff masters, how do you decide who gets to do a lead? How about that?

Brien (10:24.431)
fuck.

Ryan Rayle (10:25.63)
sorry.

Ruben Zamora (10:26.413)
I'd say it's mainly just in the moment.

Brien (10:27.432)
Ruben, Ruben would you say... Yeah. It kind of comes down to who writes it and it also kind of comes down to daddy.

Ryan Rayle (10:31.475)
Okay.

Ryan Rayle (10:38.45)
Wait... Who's daddy?

Brien (10:41.576)
So basically that's that's our produce yeah Robbie our producer he basically Yeah, yeah, mr. Daddy Yeah

Ruben Zamora (10:44.941)
Robbie.

Ryan Rayle (10:49.77)
Oh, um, um, oh my God, Robbie Joyner? No. Enough said. I don't know that guy personally, but I've heard his name thrown around a lot of good music. And so I'll just take it at face value.

Ruben Zamora (10:56.449)
Yeah.

Brien (11:04.104)
He's amazing and he kind of has that ability just to determine, you know, what's going to be what and what's going to be good. But yeah, if not daddy arbitrating the traffic, it's kind of more just like, hey, Ruben wrote this or I wrote this and if there's harmonies, we'll complement each other as needed, you know.

Ryan Rayle (11:26.042)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So you're saying that like in the moment, is that like in the moment of tracking or in the moment like on stage? Okay, because like, holy shit, that would be wild. Like, because like, what if both of you wanted to do leads or what if one of you was tired and you're like, I'll just take rhythm, but both go rhythm. And it's like, shit.

Brien (11:37.318)
track it.

Brien (11:49.154)
We've actually talked about this Ruben and it's like this is one of the reasons that I, we like to learn like the upper and lower harmonies to every part. It's important to kind of know everything. We talked about this.

Ruben Zamora (11:51.402)
Yeah.

Ryan Rayle (12:02.78)
Actually, that is a good question. So I guess a good thought process is do you guys learn all of the song to include the parts that you're not actually performing?

Brien (12:20.199)
I try to, Ruben, what do you think?

Ryan Rayle (12:22.25)
Well, I think I just spoiled a moment here. He's like, Brien's like, no, I just, I just worry about my stuff, man. Fuck Ruben. I'm sorry. I've been meaning to tell you for like six months.

Ruben Zamora (12:26.219)
Brien (12:30.023)
I definitely I learned all of Ruben's parts other than the solos Anyways, go ahead Ruben

Ruben Zamora (12:31.373)
No,

Ryan Rayle (12:41.46)
Go ahead, Ruben.

Ruben Zamora (12:42.399)
Yeah, I definitely agree. I try to learn as much as I can. I've been able to get better and better because of Brien's crazy guitar solo. Brien, they're fun. They're amazing. Great, great work. And some of the riffage, like apocalypse, for instance, you know, kind of back away and some of the areas I'm singing. So those are areas I still know how to play in time, but

I choose not to because my mind's doing one thing and my body's just kind of just there.

Ryan Rayle (13:16.82)
Yeah, I will say that the dynamic that you guys have, not only on the guitars, but vocally, is really good. Brien, who did you work with and for how long to kind of get to where you're at now?

Brien (13:34.422)
Vocally or with guitars or...

Ryan Rayle (13:36.826)
We'll go vocally.

Brien (13:38.65)
Vocally, me and Ruben have been training with same person. Her name's Alice. Yeah, it's her stage name and she's like, sort of like, Ruben, would you say it's like sort of diva singer? Like, like a strong female lead like Lady Gaga sort of or Celine Dion?

Ruben Zamora (13:55.143)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, dude, she's she's pretty strong on those fronts and teaching as well.

Brien (14:00.814)
Yeah. Yeah, Belter, like sings Lady Gaga style. And she's been with us for together, if you add our time, five years. Yeah, Ruben's been with her for about two, two and a half. I've been with her about three, three and a half.

Ryan Rayle (14:13.968)
wow.

Ryan Rayle (14:21.258)
So how did you find Miss Alice?

Brien (14:24.935)
Reuben, that's you.

Ruben Zamora (14:26.601)
Yeah, funny story. I went to NAMM with Altramine, Doug and Cam. Brien wasn't able to go unfortunately.

Ryan Rayle (14:36.276)
Man, shout out, shout out my boy Doug and Cam, those also wizards of their craft.

Brien (14:42.854)
The Alter Bros.

Ruben Zamora (14:43.149)
Monsters, dude.

Ryan Rayle (14:45.002)
Alter bro, cheers to the alter. Hey, if you didn't get to see alter mind play, you fucking missed out. Sheesh.

Brien (14:52.614)
We've been talking about a reunion by the way anyways just like a Reunion show but But but we'll we can't confirm it deny until later

Ruben Zamora (14:53.023)
yeah.

Ryan Rayle (14:55.647)
Mm.

Ruben Zamora (14:55.693)
Oh, the beans are The beans are spilled.

Ryan Rayle (14:59.498)
I'm sorry what

Ruben Zamora (15:07.01)
Ha ha ha!

Ryan Rayle (15:08.106)
If I'm not in on that, I will cry a tear. Like one.

Brien (15:11.685)
You'll be you'll be the you honestly you two will be the only ends on that

Ruben Zamora (15:13.997)
You

Ruben Zamora (15:20.949)
Awesome, I love it.

Ryan Rayle (15:21.514)
I can keep secrets. I've known to keep secrets. you know, keep me posted. Wink, wink. Yeah, sorry. So, NAMM, Altramine.

Ruben Zamora (15:29.101)
And No, no, you're good Yeah, so we went in dude, I really can't remember how it happened But one point we walk in the building next thing. I know it's like I see Ben there with his buddies I really can't remember too much about them. I just remember Ben

We're talking guitar. Then I don't know where I see Alice. I think she comes up and she introduces herself as, I'm Alice. sing, I'm Ben's husband. And immediately I thought of Brien. I'm like, Brien's been wanting a coach. So Ben LeChuga is this amazing guitar player as well. This is her husband, Alice's husband, our vocal teacher. And he's fantastic, man. They also do their own work together and

Ryan Rayle (16:02.667)
I'm sorry, who's Ben?

Ryan Rayle (16:12.213)
Gotcha.

Ruben Zamora (16:17.727)
You know, when she said that she's a vocal coach, she does singing. I immediately thought of Brien. He wasn't with me. So I was like, Hey, I want to connect you with Brien. He's been looking for a vocal coach. I think you'd be perfect. And, you know, one thing led to the other. They end up messing each other on Instagram. Brien is, is that how it went? Do you want to take the rest?

Brien (16:39.301)
Yeah, I remember we ended up doing a year of lessons, just me and her. And then I was like, I remember stepping into the studio and that's when we started recording Apocalypse and Heartless. And I remember the first line I did, the bleeding outline of Apocalypse. Robbie just looked over and was like, what the hell? And I was like, that was a year with Alice. And then I remember like Ruben was tracking his vocals in Apocalypse. And I remember being able to like actually identify like, hey, like,

breathe on this part a little more, like take a deeper breath or like use your diaphragm and that's when Ruben was like, all right, I'll get with Alice. But it came down to, I was sick with COVID so I didn't go to NAMM that year or maybe I didn't have COVID, I can't even remember, I was sick. And so Ruben went in my stead and it's just crazy how it all just did this thing.

Ryan Rayle (17:30.709)
band. So by you getting sick or not being able to go, however that worked out, you picked Ruben because you guys met in guitar center and then you're like, yep, this is it. And so you're like, here, take my spot, go with the altar bros. You meet Alice and then you give the information to Brien and then he starts really fucking making progress. And then you're like, check this out. I've been with that. Remember that lady you met? Yeah. Same lady.

You can do this too. Is that about it?

Brien (18:03.012)
Mario and Luigi all the way.

Ruben Zamora (18:04.199)
Yeah, yup, yeah. Dude, every- yeah, that's all I can say about that experience. It was fantastic and yeah, I remember just hearing Brien just tracking just as he said. Me and Robbie were like, dude, you sound sick. What? And I remember struggling in Apocalypse. Those chorus parts were just killer,

Ryan Rayle (18:06.751)
Hahaha

Ruben Zamora (18:29.377)
Remember I was terrified of that song for so long and you know, doing lessons with Alice, we actually rehearsed it. Yeah, literally, bend it over, own it, and I'm not gonna lie, Ryan, so full disclosure, that debut show, I was terrified. Terrified for... Yeah. The second verse, it leads into that big belt I'm burning out and then right into the chorus I'm like, I hope I don't crack. We nailed it.

Brien (18:34.19)
Now you bend it over.

Ryan Rayle (18:45.321)
Really? Well, of course. Of course.

Ruben Zamora (18:59.307)
We nailed it.

Ryan Rayle (19:00.841)
Nice. I remember, it's now a blur for me, but for you guys, obviously those moments are burned in, know, core memories. And I guess, yeah, what was your preparation into playing the first set live this year, 2025?

Brien (19:01.7)
You do so well,

Ruben Zamora (19:04.087)
Yeah, you did too.

Brien (19:27.108)
Ooh, fuck. was... We started practicing, what was it, the end of May of 2024? And so it was like nine months of practice. And I'll never forget that first rig practice was just a dumpster fireman. I thought I ruined my life. It was so bad. Our knowledge was so poor. Oh. Just we didn't know the equipment. We couldn't perform the parts together. Like, it was just a wreck.

Ryan Rayle (19:36.075)
Wow.

Ruben Zamora (19:42.573)
Yeah.

Ryan Rayle (19:45.833)
What? What happened? Why was it a dumpster fire?

Ruben Zamora (19:50.081)
Dude.

Ruben Zamora (19:57.587)
It was pretty bad, Ryan. I'm not gonna lie.

Ryan Rayle (19:59.434)
Okay, Ruben, full disclosure, full transparency. What was the worst part of that session?

Ruben Zamora (20:11.477)
That session honestly was probably hearing myself singing back and playing the guitar. was so bad, It was, off time. I'm trying to speed up. I'm singing, cracking the vocal, I mean, sorry, the mic placement as well. I was either too close. It pop my ears listening to the playback or I was too far. It was just, it was bad.

Ryan Rayle (20:39.893)
Hey, dude, I mean, that's, that's where the rubber meets the road, right? I mean, you practice, you think, you know what you're doing and then you start to do the thing. And then you're like, I have no idea what I'm doing. And, and you just take a step back and you breathe and then you listen back. like, I think that, I think that really shows, you know, the dedication of,

musicians. It's not, mean, yeah, we've got all the software that we can throw money at, but it really doesn't matter until you hit the stage, right? Or until you hit that practice session that's like that real, like, man, got the set lists, we're dialed in, we've played, you know, and then you get in there and you're just having like an off night, right? You're just like, what am I doing? Like Brien said, like I ruined my life.

But now, but now look, you guys are, I personally think you guys are doing very well, very well for, for a quote unquote, you know, first year live band. even though you guys have been in the kitchen for a while cooking something up, I think that you guys made a really good splash. how many, how many, how many shows have you guys played, to, to date?

Brien (21:37.046)
Yes.

Brien (22:01.049)
Just two.

Ruben Zamora (22:02.143)
Just two.

Ryan Rayle (22:02.175)
Yeah, see, so I, for some reason I had the number three in my head, but I was like, I don't think that's right. I think it's just two and I've been to both of them. So, and now I get to be at the third and I get, and I get to host the third show last one of the year. Super excited. I'm glad to be able to, like I said earlier, just honored that, you know, talented folks like yourself and all the other bands that are on the lineup.

Ruben Zamora (22:11.818)
You

Ruben Zamora (22:15.832)
Yes!

Ryan Rayle (22:31.891)
Super pumped. We got darkness divided coming back. They're only Austin show of the year. This is it. So if you're listening to this, if you're watching this, if you're doom scrolling, please stop because it is darkness divided from San Antonio. If you jam their shit from, I don't know, mid 20 teens till, you know, they took a little break and now they're back telling you tickets are cheap.

Brien (22:38.988)
too.

Ryan Rayle (22:59.531)
25 day of show, but you can talk to one of these two guys At the checkout you can put bridges ablaze and that'll get you a little discount What do you guys what are you guys doing as far as preparation for the show is it kind of? More of the same just kind of getting the reps in or do we have anything special in store? No pressure. No no pressure

Brien (23:27.945)
I mean Ruben, we've just been practicing, right? Just getting the reps in, man. Dusting off the rust, making sure we don't suck.

Ryan Rayle (23:29.756)
Yeah.

Ruben Zamora (23:32.301)
Yeah, honestly, that's pretty much what we've been doing. I know we've been practicing weekly and you know in our own individual time, know, we practice as well, know, solo things in vocal warmups, all that good stuff. So we're just getting the reps in.

Ryan Rayle (23:53.259)
Speaking of getting the reps in, I went to the gym for the first time yesterday in three months. And I am a proud of myself and B hate myself. So I inadvertently pulled some fucking neck back muscle. Something hurts behind me and I don't, I don't like it. what are, what are some

Brien (23:59.563)
Dude.

Brien (24:05.729)
Yeah

Ryan Rayle (24:23.082)
of it or is there a routine that guitarists do to make sure that, know, you're, you're like, I don't know, does working out at the gym equate to better riffage or, or, you know, is it literally just 10,000 hour rule?

Brien (24:41.6)
I would say 10,000 hour roll. What would you say Ruben?

Ruben Zamora (24:44.679)
about 10,000 an hour honestly it just comes down to the muscle memory after that.

Brien (24:50.88)
Maybe having that muscular build can help you with like, performance endurance, because I noticed like, it can hurt after and so like the more like muscle you have to support your frame, like you'll have more endurance and especially as a drummer, but as a guitar player, it's more about the fine motor stuff.

Ryan Rayle (25:05.066)
Yeah.

Ryan Rayle (25:14.804)
Yeah, yeah, all your fucking Wheatley-Deedley's and arpeggios and whatever other Latin word I don't know that describes scale and tone. It's all there. They're a complete package. Speaking of the package, drums. Who's on drums?

Brien (25:34.216)
Ruben, should tell him.

Ruben Zamora (25:36.087)
Josh, Josh Salinas.

Brien (25:39.316)
Yeah

Ryan Rayle (25:40.914)
Wait, Josh who?

Ruben Zamora (25:46.817)
He's the one that was there the last show, Josh. He's the one on the drummer.

Ryan Rayle (25:51.658)
Oh, oh, okay, sorry, there's a slight delay on my side. I was like, fuck, we lost Reuben, come back.

Ruben Zamora (25:56.275)
sorry.

Brien (25:58.4)
This is...

Ryan Rayle (26:01.002)
No, no, no, because I'm just sitting over here like Josh 1, 1,000, 2, 1,000, 3, 1,000, 4, 1,000. like, well, we've lost them guys. Par for the course, technical difficulties. Shout out racerX. Go look that song up. Oh, man.

Brien (26:12.18)
Yeah

You

Ruben Zamora (26:16.493)
Exactly. yeah, it's gonna be

Brien (26:19.072)
you

Ruben Zamora (26:23.202)
Got you.

Brien (26:27.904)
I was like, did we lose him?

Ryan Rayle (26:32.178)
Okay. Okay. The bourbon setting in the Delty Celtys flying. Brien's just a cool guy. Let's wrap it up here. We're reaching our limit. We're being focused tonight. Want to get you guys the important information out, you know, as soon as we can. We got December 6th is creeping up on us. What is that? Like about five weeks, six weeks, five weeks. So your

News Feed is going to be inundated for a very long time, for at least a day. I get to throw one show a year. And so I'm going to tell my AI agent to abuse your timeline with people like this, with music like they make, frozen slaps. Oh, let's talk about some new stuff real quick before we get out of here. Anything on the horizon?

Brien (27:26.849)
man, Reuben?

Ruben Zamora (27:28.863)
Yeah, dude, yeah, I know everybody says this, but I'm gonna say it anyways. Y'all aren't ready.

Ryan Rayle (27:37.35)
Mm, mm, mm.

Brien (27:40.179)
Hahaha

Ruben Zamora (27:42.817)
Did I say the forbidden thing like stairway to heaven a guitar center?

Ryan Rayle (27:46.064)
Is it gonna be even heavier than the last album?

Brien (27:50.418)
Yeah.

Ruben Zamora (27:51.498)
Yes.

Brien (27:53.799)
It's fucking filthy man, honestly.

Ryan Rayle (27:55.371)
That phrase, well, I wish I could do like the more you know, it's like heavier is now or whatever, but.

Brien (28:02.771)
Yeah. it's, man, it's like animals as leaders had a bastard child with Meshuggah, had a bastard child with like sleep token. And then they, yeah, it's just fucked up, man.

Ruben Zamora (28:03.383)
but.

Ryan Rayle (28:20.308)
So we've got a lot of kids with no daddies.

Brien (28:23.783)
Yeah, a lot of fatherless children.

Ryan Rayle (28:26.26)
But we got the Robbie joiners to help us out. You know what I'm saying? Hell yeah.

Brien (28:28.507)
Yeah.

Ruben Zamora (28:29.901)
Hey, there we go! Hey, that's the only daddy we need.

Ryan Rayle (28:33.726)
That's all.

Brien (28:33.961)
Honestly. The only daddy.

Ryan Rayle (28:38.41)
He's the only daddy we need. I gotta get Robbie on the show. I don't even know the guy. Sounds like the salt of the earth.

Ruben Zamora (28:42.519)
to it would be.

Brien (28:42.815)
Well, dude, you should.

Ruben Zamora (28:46.443)
Dude, he's the best man. Such a unique soul. Robbie, if you're hearing this and seeing this, dude, we love you, man. Thank you. Seriously.

Brien (28:47.027)
He really is, man. Robbie's the G, dude.

Brien (28:57.791)
We fucking love you Robbie, we owe you everything.

Ryan Rayle (29:00.906)
Robbie, I don't know you, but I love you for working with these guys, making these sweet, sweet sounds. Oh, before we get out of here, let's take a U-turn. Whenever you guys were tracking, I always like to ask this, does Robbie produce for you? Or does the masters?

Brien (29:19.74)
yeah.

Ryan Rayle (29:20.936)
Okay. Was there ever a point in time where you thought something was good and he thought something was bad? And then how did that conflict work out?

Brien (29:31.0)
Huh? What do think, Reuben?

Ryan Rayle (29:35.146)
I mean, not like in a bad way, but like from a constructive criticism kind of way.

Ruben Zamora (29:35.264)
more of.

Ruben Zamora (29:40.781)
There's been some riffages I've had that have been kind of like, And then we just kind of just keep throwing more spices until we're like, all right, it needs to be spicier, spicier, spicier, too spicy. And that's kind of what we have now in the upcoming album. It was just a bunch of spices thrown into it until it just became hot.

Brien (30:01.704)
Yeah, it's like...

Ryan Rayle (30:01.896)
It's just it. All you do is just have a scale behind you and it's like jalapeno, serrano, habanero, you know, it's like Ruben riff riff more. Just dude, you just need a hot scale of like riffs. Yeah. Carolina Reaper that. Yeah. Fucking ghost pepper somewhere in there.

Brien (30:15.71)
Carolina Reaper.

Ruben Zamora (30:19.373)
Dude, in the right above the ghost pepper, a blaze.

Brien (30:22.312)
God, I-

God damn I I remember with hellbent like I pitched this demo and and I remember Robbie like deleted half of it and I remember just being like You know what? I'm okay with this and I think the same like One of the new songs I remember it was the newest one ribbon you had like this riff and me and Robbie were like dude This has like a sick groove and we just took like

first two notes made them as low as possible and then just added these like harmonized like like tapping things but it was following Ruben's rhythm. Same thing happened with Apocalypse actually like Ruben and Robbie had a rhythm and then I was like let's just choose a couple different notes and so we just kind of did this sort of like dogpile thing and then the riff came out to be the riff and sometimes they all get deleted.

Ruben Zamora (31:00.663)
Dude.

Ruben Zamora (31:20.685)
And it's okay because bro the stuff that's made there one of a kind

Ryan Rayle (31:21.098)
Yeah.

It's a- Mm-hmm.

Yeah, the stuff that you guys create and just catalog or just not cast aside, but the amount of probably riffs or, you know, notes into your phone, like, I mean, just, yeah. And the fact that you can like reach back and say, dude, this one thing

Brien (31:29.457)
Yeah, truly.

Ruben Zamora (31:45.453)
Good job.

Ryan Rayle (31:55.306)
I remember this one riff I was thinking of at Taco Bell when I was in the drive through 130 after that one show. Yeah, you remember that one show that just absolutely, yeah, that one. I thought of this riff and I, oh yeah, put it here. And then all of a sudden it's just like, it fucking works. Or they don't, you know, they could just be flat out just stinkers and you just, you know, forget about it for five years. And then it becomes nostalgia.

Ruben Zamora (32:16.791)
Dude.

Our last session where we did Surrealist, it's kind of what happened. We just worked on it at the hotel and I just kept hearing this clean lead with like beautiful arpeggios and then taps. I don't know, man. It was just beautiful.

I just kept hearing it, Brien. He finished tracking it. I'm like, hey, bros, I have this little section. It just glued everything together. Then Robbie started adding some really sick grooves behind it. Brien tracked some nice heavy riffage. It's a banger.

Brien (32:53.585)
Voila. It's crazy. Yeah. I remember you tracking that at like 2 a.m. in the hotel. And I was like, dude, my God, because we had just tracked like our heaviest song yet, which is to be released. It's called Brutalist. It's disgusting. Meshuggah, Animals as Leaders, just scissored. But yeah, Rubin comes up with like the softest thing we've ever had. And then I was like, let's just do like this really simple, like really easy, deftones-y sounding thing. And then that

It just became this whole different vibe. It's crazy.

Ryan Rayle (33:27.69)
I love you guys. This is why I do this. I swear to God, when it's crunch time, it's fucking crunch time. And, you know, we're recording this fuck. What's today? Wednesday, Wednesday at eight 30 at night. Normally I reserve all this shit for Sundays. But like I said, you know, you got to get the message across and you got to let the people know what's up, get out there, do the hard work, write the riffs, go to practice, do the podcast, put the socials out.

Brien (33:31.36)
Dude, we love you too.

Ryan Rayle (33:56.532)
But all we need you to do, listeners, viewers, is come to the show. That's it. That's all we need you to do. You can jam them on Spotify or Apple Music or Tidal or wherever, know, Bandcamp, Bandcamp, that's a good one, shout out Bandcamp. Support the local music scene no matter what you do. And then let them know that you're supporting them. think that's, people talk about like,

the old adage of friends, adding friends, and then just telling them to like their band on Facebook. I think that that's pretty much done and everything is, you know, algorithmic. you are fed, you know, interesting. I mean, God, I usually, when I go work out or when I go run, I'll just kind of pick a local band at random, like whatever mood I'm in, you know, maybe I'm in a riff phase or riff day and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna do bridges or maybe I'm in a hardcore day and I, you know, start with like,

you know, Virtue 512 or, and I'm like a sing song day and it's either Villa Mora or like Colorblind. It's great because then I'll just create a playlist based off of a local and brother, it takes me to bands that I am super fans of to bands that I've never heard of. And I really think that's neat that it puts local bands in that type of, you know,

lineup. And it really helps me kind of navigate the waters because whenever those bands, I'll also reach out to like, Hey, I was jamming this local band today and you guys were in the mix. You guys want to get a interview in and like nine times out of 10, they're like, fuck yeah, let's do it. And then that just expands, you know, the reach because when they come through and the venue hits me up and they're like, Hey, I've got this band coming through. It's like fun fact, just interviewed them and I listened to them via this band. So there's like, that's how I look at

what I do in terms of support outside of, you know, the PR and marketing side is really trying to connect. Like, fuck, dude, I met the band Half Me. My f**kers are from Germany. They played with Heavy Hitter like last month. And I actually have, wait, I want to show this. Here it is.

Ryan Rayle (36:10.942)
So I collect these because they're typically one offs and it's just drum hats. And this one actually is damaged. So yeah. And then this part is actually hand drawn as well. These are I did. have probably 10 of them in the corner and then I've got probably six of them up top. It's not going to fit in the frame, but this is where it all started right here.

That's a kick drum.

Ruben Zamora (36:42.413)
That's sick!

Ryan Rayle (36:45.706)
I don't know if you can hear me through this, but...

Brien (36:45.776)
Dude.

Brien (36:49.569)
Hahaha

Ryan Rayle (36:52.83)
That's where it all started. Shout out. Shout out Josh Valdez. That dude gave this to us as a gift. Didn't even ask for it. Dude, I remember the day I fucking accepted this. It was great. Gave me a good feeling. And that's why I'm still here. And that's why I throw shows. So December 6th, come and take it live. You're going to see Bridges of Blaze. You're going to see Inside the Hollow. You're going to see Broken Time, Cultburner, Batlips, Future Ghost. Motherfucking

darkness divided boy. I can't wait. I can't wait.

Brien (37:24.122)
Dude, local legends, man. remember, I remember hearing about darkness divided in 2014, man, when I was still at UT. And yeah.

Ruben Zamora (37:25.581)
fun.

Ryan Rayle (37:34.539)
That's what I'm saying, man. It's that good good that like, hmm, it's like bacon that's cooking in the morning and you're upstairs and you get that waft. You're like, I want some of that. Sorry, if you're vegan, it's maybe some breakfast tofu. don't know. But anyway, that's the vibe I get. So, faking.

Brien (37:55.618)
Faken That's what it that's what they call it they called it faken it a bold and creep cafe they're like

Ryan Rayle (38:08.01)
man. All right. Perfect. Perfect ending. Guys, Brien Rubin, I love you. Thank you very much for donating some of the time of your life here with me. For everybody listening and watching, thank you as well. Again, December 6th, come and take it live. ATX Metal Podcast Showcase. Gonna really have a good time. Come out, support your local scene and just...

You know, be a part of the crowd, be a part of the fun. You don't have to go to every show, but when you go to one, you know, show up, show out. Any final words from you guys? Ruben, I'll let you go first. Any hashtags, at's, anything, and then Brien, you take it over and then we'll close out.

Ruben Zamora (38:52.535)
Go ahead and give us a follow on all social media platforms. BridgesBlaze, please. Spread the word. Hashtag ATXMPFestival. Let's make that happen.

Ryan Rayle (39:06.602)
Let's go.

Brien (39:08.331)
Yeah, come see us live. Give us a stream, give us a listen, check out our stuff, let us know what you think. If you don't like it, that's cool. Just be nice about it. And if you love us, send us a message, leave a comment, know, do something. We'd love to hear from you. Love to see you.

Ryan Rayle (39:27.082)
Yes, love to see you. That's it right there. Love to see you. Whenever I put wristbands on people, I get called out every now and again down to come and take it. And I'm at the front door putting wristbands on people and they get, and so we had a little policy change. you're going to, if you're over 21, you get a little shiny wristband on your right hand. And if you're under 21, you don't get one, but you still get one on your left. Everybody gets one on their left. And I'm usually the guy wrapping, wrapping wristbands and people are like, Oh, what's this?

And was like, this tells us that you bought a ticket and you belong here. And I can't count how many people kind of get, I don't know. It's like puts a smile on their face. They're like, I belong here. And it's like, yes, yes, yes, you do. We all do. We all belong here. And, you know, trying to come back together and, and just, you know, be in person and ask, ask them if they have any cats, what's their favorite color? Are they into anime? Just.

Brien (40:11.352)
Amen.

Ryan Rayle (40:23.252)
Pick their brains. Yeah, their set was great and their merch is fly, but get to know these people. That's why, you know, we'll do this again. Once you drop that EP, we'll do a full blown hour. and we'll, we'll really kind of dive into the, to the new stuff, but until then again, one more time, December 6th, come and take it live. If you go to the purchase link, just type in Bridges of Blaze. That gives them a little, a little shout out on the venue side and also kind of counts. I don't know if they do like points or some shit, but anyway, it counts.

And as long as you show up and have a good time, that's all that I care about. That's why I do this. So anyway, again, Brien Rubin, thank you very much. Just stick around for a little bit after I hit pause, let it finish uploading. And then, yeah, I will see you guys December 6th.

Brien (41:09.494)
Rock and roll. Thank you for having us, Brien.

Ruben Zamora (41:10.439)
Dude. Yes sir. Like what?

Ryan Rayle (41:11.786)
All right, bud.