ATX Metal Podcast

ATX Metal Podcast (00:00.6)
Ding ding ding. I forget if they had a countdown clock or it just says recordings. Yeah, it's just good. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the ATX Metal podcast. We are back in the pouch studios here at the Kollective. We are here with the headlining showcase artist, Reign Thanks for the applause. Go around the room, introduce yourselves, what you do and where you're from, and then we'll just go from there. Kick us off, Mike. I'm Mike.

What's up, I do the screaming around here Yeah Hey y'all, I'm Skylar. I play drums for Reign and It's been a great time for all of those those of you who do know us. Thanks for sticking with us If you don't come find out December 7th already on the promo this guy's good. I'm Colton. I play guitar I spin around occasionally not nearly as much as other guitarist Matt

I'm learning from the best. his heart. He couldn't be here today. man. Well, guys, thank you. Thank you very much. Obviously, you guys, you guys are like we have a connection that goes back as far as the podcast. So that's kind of why that's a one of the reasons why I wanted you guys to not only be a part of the show, but like to also headline it is because when this humble little thing started and Chris Crow's.

let's see, where was the first episode? It was at his house in the living room on a fold out table with like, yeah. All time. was good time. Man. It was steak and eggs every time. yeah. So that's where the stank and eggs came from. but since then, obviously, Chris has left the podcast and I've, I've carried the torch. it's really cool to like come into my own. I don't know if it's, this is like the version of like when a band member leaves and it's like,

What's next? think that's what it's like, Ryan. most, you know, that's most similarly, if you're not in a band, then that's probably the closest you're ever gonna get. I will say he must have been the one in charge of the steak and eggs and refreshments, because I can't help but point out, there's no food in here. These are not my rules. These are not my rules. But maybe we can go to IHOP and get a, I don't know. I don't know if you're an IHOP fan. Just my arm. and fruity, isn't that what it is? But for those...

ATX Metal Podcast (02:23.604)
For those that don't know about you guys, in terms of just the story of like where you guys have come from, what you guys have done, you guys are obviously like staples in the scene. That's the way that I see it. Everyone knows you guys, like everyone. And you know, when you walk into a room, you you guys obviously have like, the saying of like when someone walks in the room, you know, there's a different vibe, there's a different energy. And I feel that you guys actually do

you know, provide that for the scene. And so just, I would just say, let's start 10 years ago. Let's just go 10 years ago. What were you guys, I know what you were doing. Reign was not a band in 2014, 10 years ago. I don't think I was really in a particular band exactly 10 years ago. That was a very weird time in my life.

I've definitely known you for at least that long. think at 2014, I was just coming out of my previous band, Taking on Poseidon, which was the, you know, I thought was going to be the biggest thing I ever did. Yeah, there's a lot of OG homies in Austin, Texas that remember that name. You know, it was a good, it was a good thing to be a part of. Again, 10 years ago, I was 21 years old. So like from, from age 17 to 18 to 20,

21, 22, when I was in that band. It was the biggest thing in the world to me. And that's when I was finally starting to get the recognition in the scene as a prominent figure or somebody that was doing well, I guess. I thought it was cool. Yeah, mean, Taking On Poseidon was one of the first bands that I was not only saw for like,

Like name the bands you saw locally for the first time. It definitely was Taking on Poseidon. Like that was, you guys were gigging at Dirty Dog Bar just constantly. Man, yeah. I see like the memories on my Facebook of what I was doing, you know, 10 years ago. And it's always like, I would make a status update that has like the show schedule. And it's like every day I would play like 15 shows a month, just all around Texas, but.

ATX Metal Podcast (04:43.15)
But it seemed like every other week or so it was always like Dirty Dog Bar or Mohawk or Red 7 or something like that. Gap, Dance Red 7. That's where I first met you. No way. OK. Let's go there. I can't believe you even remember that. dude. Yeah, you crushed that show. That was where it was pouring down. And we all had to be piled in underneath the tarp. So the show was sold out. It had to crush us down into 2 thirds of the out.

It was cuz they played outdoor. Yeah. Yeah, we play it sold well dance Gavin dance sold out the outside stage I sold a few tickets sold a few I'm responsible for four people. I think we played with dance Gavin dance. They're more than once Do you remember who else was on that show? was Polyphia and hail the Sun. Yeah, you know, it's hilarious about Polyphia This super like tangent side note my dad like fairly recently probably last year Came up to me. He's like son. Have you ever heard of this?

Band Polyphia that's like really popular right now is like well well pops. Yes We used to actually know each other and they my day they went like this and I went like that I guess I don't know so no wait you'd like you knew the members of polyphia. Yeah at a time See what happened was yeah, what happened was they got famous and really good and and Yeah, some of us didn't but you know

So at the Dance Gav and Dance Show, you met, you were playing. Very briefly, it was just you guys were sick. Yeah. I was very much outside the scene at this point in time. I got you. I think I remember he just said, good game and slapped me on the butt. I that's what it was. A little sick set bro action. I could see that. I could see that. So how did you get into the musics here in Austin? Just hitting the show here and there. then I can't remember how I met this guy, Nick Wallace.

If you know him, I played a few shows with his band. This present darkness. We played a dirty dog. That was my first show ever played. Did I book that for you? Most likely. That's probably true. We opened for a band called Wolf and Bear who are very much in the dance, Gavin Dance. I definitely booked that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That show is sick. Yes, I did. I nervous as hell. Missed a bunch of my notes and stuff. It's OK. We crushed it. We'll forgive you. And I'm sure we talked more that show.

ATX Metal Podcast (07:02.734)
Dude, the way Colton and I are connected is let's talk about how I really got to know you. I didn't know you from Taking on Poseidon. I just got to talk to him at first. So my parents go to a church in Thrall, Texas. Thrall, Thrall. Thrall, Texas, where I went to high school. And metal. Yeah, nothing's more metal than Thrall, dude.

Mean it's like it's I mean the sweet the Swedish have fall right we yeah, it's the same roll the same thing Yeah, and so you got a little draw draw thrall Well, it's been real So a Church from a round rock came in and like essentially bought out the place but the youth pastor of that church None other than Ren Harpole. My brother what? Yeah, so I got to I met Ren first

because of the whole church thing. No way. And then I think at some point, so what Colton hasn't mentioned yet is that he's a phenomenal guitarist and what he, what he is known for is a sight reading songs on a Rocksmith and playing, playing live streaming on Twitch. And so my brother who worked at the church that Colton's family went to learned about that and came to me and he's like, dude, you know, this guy Colton, he shreds.

And this is 10 years ago? This is about more. Seven years ago. long time ago, yeah. So like Colton and I are like, I've kind of always known of Colton as like being a shredder and being able to learn to play songs super quickly. And I every time it came to a show, we would joke, when am I playing with you? Dude, yeah, honestly, honestly. So like later on down the road, there's a lot of story to tell. We got to a point where like we just needed a guitarist and I was like, well, I mean, nobody's ever.

Thought about it more than colton. So let me call him up But yeah super weird connection that like he knew my brother through a church that like my family went to and or his family went to And and here we are seven eight years later Still kicking it. Yeah, hanging out Mikey j. Hi Hey, what's up? Where?

ATX Metal Podcast (09:14.766)
Besides you look having the best dressed award I want that to be on the record. I'm going to work He always looks like that He wakes up like that. He just and what you can't see is he smells delicious. Yes. yeah, this was smell-o-vision Should be smell-o-vision. What is that? What are you wearing right now? that that new Jake Paul, dude?

Paul wishes baby. man. I don't know something Italian. I can't pronounce there you go Martin That's a good one made out of straight whale blubber dude way too much, and I'm embarrassed I spent that much on a bottle of cologne, but hey that's the one man can't pronounce it. You can't afford it exactly It's like it's like drugs if there's an X in it. I'd take it I've never heard that rule in the name X in the name or Z, but the X obvious. yeah Different story. We're Yeah, that's right

You have also a colored journey here in the scene. I've obviously known you since Memories and Broken Glass. But what's the Mikey J story? How are you involved in the Austin music world? I met most of y'all through Dirty Dog playing with Memories. Memories is a band out of San Antonio for anyone who doesn't know. And after I parted ways with them, I moved to Austin.

To link up with Darryl who is the singer of Ansible and Nico who is now the guitar player of dogma They had reached out to me. They knew I played guitar. I had actually just known them for a little while Nico was like, I'm putting together a band. She sent me some files He's like you want to play guitar in this and I was like, yeah, man. I mean perfect timing I just got kicked out of another band. I'm to Austin. You're in Austin. Let's go. I'm in between gigs between gigs I'm feeling things out. So yeah, then never bloom was formed and then we got

Nigel and Greg and Mellon through a whole bunch of different members there we had Dom at one point playing drums and We actually were doing pretty good. We got to the point where we opened for the All-Stars tour in Dallas at one point We had won some kind of battle of the bands at dirty dog. I believe But yeah, I'd played at dirty dog countless times with memories and that's kind of how I met Skylar Just being in the same venue memories and Taking on Poseidon. I can't remember exactly what show

ATX Metal Podcast (11:31.566)
But I know we had played quite a few times before we ever even talked. Right. It was just like, knew Skylar, was like, that's that guy. He was the guy who always wore a jersey. Yes. Every time. Are you a jersey guy? I am. He was. I was. I still have some I feel like I was gonna say, I see you flash a jersey every now and again. Yeah, yeah. Was it the Celtics? It was the Celtics. Yeah. It was actually an Acacia-strain Boston Celtics jersey. And it says Doom 09 on the back. Yeah, yeah, dude. I don't know, that was just his look.

That was his look. I mean not that not that like I'm not known for my particular looks which is tall black skinny jeans Yeah, yeah, that's it. You know, all right are in the Taking on Poseidon days. It was my green stripe. you're green And you had something with your wallet, right? Everything did everything was green. You had a thing was like, dude. I'll explain the whole thing. Okay, so like when

In the very, very early days of Taking on Poseidon when we first started playing our first shows with very real touring bands, I noticed that they have a lot of identifying marks on their road cases and flight cases. Because obviously, if you're playing festivals or flying places, you need to be able to identify your guitar case from somebody else's. And I noticed what a lot of them did was use colored tape. So they just put maybe a piece of pink colored tape around the handle of a guitar case.

So I was like, guys, that's what we need to do. We need to identify all of our gear. So I just picked lime green as a color and started wrapping lime green tape around everything we owned. eventually, literally, my belt just broke and I was poor and 19 or whatever. So I was like, I'm going to fix my belt with green tape. And then I ended up.

making my entire belt out of green tape and then my wallet broke so I fixed it with green tape. That's what it was. I dyed my hair green and then just like suddenly everything I owned was lime green. I still see remnants of it. Like if you go through my garage you'll still find like lime green tape on some stuff that I've had forever. That was a story to that. That does make sense because you know when you go back in the back there's just cases everywhere. Yeah, how are you supposed to know who's who's? It was a simple thing but yeah that was at the time.

ATX Metal Podcast (13:47.298)
That was the time Mike and I first met. I don't even remember the first time I actually talked to you. We just kind of like had this mutual respect of knowing who each other were. Like I knew who he was, he knew who I was, and it was always one of those like, know, hit nod little things or something. I see you. don't remember the dude actually like fast forward many, many years when it came to Reign. I'm not even the one that talked to Mike. It was our vocalist at the time. He who must not be named. Yes. And Brian Watt.

Brian Watt brought him into McCormick where I was working and they sat down to a bowl of lobster bisque and Voldemort goes, MJ, I know I heard you played in a band before and we need a bass player and you want to play bass for us? And there started Mike's journey with Reign. I had nothing fucking better going on. Never Bloom was done because the Ansible took off and you know we just we weren't able to keep Never Bloom going.

And that also starts the story of how Mike has played every instrument in in a band in Austin except the drums Yeah, I started off as the bass player of Reign And then when we lost our guitar player other shall not be named I stepped into guitar right Jonathan took over bass And then progress is great. Yeah, I love him miss you Jonathan. I've seen that dude forever. There's a guy

Whipping up Q at slab and cedar park slang and meats. so he's still and he makes barbecue, which is the great bonus But yeah, then we lost the vocalist and having done that for a little bit before I just stepped in And here we are Yeah, y'all story. I still have that I still have one of your broken cymbals It's a part of my background from t.op or Reign Reign. yeah, it's shattered I was trying to think i've been known to do that

I was trying to think of a way, like I wanted to bring that in as like a back piece and I was like, nah, I can't bring this is too close to the chest. What if something happens? Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I remember I did Never Bloom. It's just so amazing how many projects you could be in in a in a city like Austin. I mean, you could have I mean, I can't count how many people I've talked to that are in about average three projects. Yeah.

ATX Metal Podcast (16:12.174)
Not like their main and then this one they like to have fun with and then like maybe like an experimental or this is another like I like or the country cover band that pays the bills. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, you found I mean, do you feel like you found a career or you you found a very, very stable job with a very, very well known band and through and I feel like just because of who you are, like you're a very genuine person.

I just like, can't explain enough to people like how like wholesome some of the people are in the scene, especially like you guys included, but like you're top of the list. You're like Ed Chavez, bro. I mean, like Ed from Tibet. I mean, that dude just, know, salt of the earth will do like, you've been responsible for the- an amazing dance fighter. Yes, he is. That, God, Capoeira, that's right.

We see you. Is he gonna be there? better be there. Yeah, he's playing. I hope he's there. I don't know who's playing the show. Ten bands on this thing. You expect me to remember them all? Nine now. We had a drop. no. Rest in peace. But you guys get five more minutes. You guys get however long you want to. we're playing till midnight, buddy. I can just west in the background like, let's wrap it up. Let's wrap it up. The entire discography. Yeah, everybody left 45 minutes ago. We still got one more. man. But yeah, I mean.

You've been responsible for booking thousands of bands collectively in your time. Yeah, that is very true. mean, aside from playing in and playing and a couple of bands, I think like quite honestly, the prominence of of like myself in the Austin music scene has been from booking. And that's kind of that's kind of like what helped make

reign an early success whenever we first started and continues to kind of make us more or less well known in the scene is that, like my job for almost 10 years was booking shows in Austin. And I focused on providing a platform for up and coming local artists who like otherwise were struggling to get shows of their own.

ATX Metal Podcast (18:30.246)
and gave them a chance to come play and open for Wolf and Bear and now they're hugely successful and famous, know? So you're welcome. That's a word for it. No, no, no. No, man, that was like a big part of my life for the longest time was just like trying to help other bands grow and everything, which I no longer do just because I've kind of found a better opportunity for myself. I spent a long time focusing on helping other people and making sure the scene was growing.

and that other people had opportunities and didn't spend very much time helping myself. So unfortunately, growing up and priorities shifting, now I kind of have to focus on me. But yeah, it was a good time, man. And it's definitely helped us out with our band a lot. You still help me with your new job. yeah, that's true. I mean, come out and sell merch for Co. I'll throw you a bone every once in a while. He's still helping people, right? Don't let them be too humble about the selfishness. And for those that don't know, who?

Like, I was one of those people. I did not know who Koe Wetzel was. Nobody does. But they sell tractor trailers loads of... richest man you've never heard of. He's a Bezos, but not Bezos. He's the most popular Texas country music singer that you've never heard of. The name is Koe Wetzel. Dang. Man, that looks good. Koe Wetzel, out of East Texas and...

He he kind of he's been playing a good while now. I want to say probably I think his first release was in 2016. So, eight nine years at this point But the last couple of years have just been he's he's been hugely successful and on a great rise in the underground country scene so like he's somebody who may not have heard of because He hadn't been getting the mainstream radio play and stuff like that that puts you as like a you know a top 40 mainstream artists, but

The underground scene that he's in is so much bigger than like the Austin metal community underground music scene, that it's hard for a lot of people to fathom. Like to put it into perspective, our damn near normal world tour that we just wrapped up for the year featured five tour buses and five semi trucks full of production and merchandise, all just for Koe Whetsell. That's not including our supporting acts.

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or anything else. Just Co. a crew of almost 50 people. And this is a, like you said, this is like a non-mainstream show that five fucking buses. Yeah, he's doing very well. for example- What are we doing wrong? Playing metal. Wrong genre, boys. I never learned the same.

Man, all I gotta do is just slip back in this hero North Carolina accent. mean, god damn, Yeah, you'd sell a record or two. But yeah, now he's to the point where, like, you he put out a new album in July, and a couple of singles just immediately go platinum. You know, that type of deal. How many is that? At least three that I know of off of the new record. No, no, what's the number count? I think that's... A million?

500,000's gold. Let's see. think it's a million. I think it's a million. that's sold, right? Because I remember that used to be such a huge part of a band's, I guess, resume. Or not resume. mean, God, if you get a blue checkmark. Exactly. If you hit platinum. it used to be for sales, like hard copy sales. Yeah, so it's very different now because you're not selling nearly as many hard copies.

Because people just don't really do that anymore, right? So it's based on streams So if for whatever I don't know what the formula is, but it's like for every certain number of streams equals one sale Maybe it's like a thousand streams equals one sale or holy cow So he's even he's cranking out even more numbers just just by simple streams. Yeah. Yeah, it's wild but yeah to Stop beating around the bush. The job that I got for him is just selling merchandise It's just

Yeah, it kind of is kind of isn't A quick google says to go platinum an album must sell at least one million units. Okay? And he has quite a few i've seen him i've seen the actual platinum plaques in the office in round rock texas but yeah, so he's got an office here locally. Yeah, what's what is the office? What's the address? You can't tell you can't tell you yeah, they've had some issues With with that being two common knowledge

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But yeah, just was very fortunate to find myself in a position to go on tour and help facilitate the sale of merchandise for Co. And that's what I do now. It has me on the road like half the year. And again, like I'm quite fortunate in this situation where they pay very well. They take very good care of me. And I'm able to just kind of work half the year doing that and take half the year off and just sit at home and do things that I want to do.

Fish. Yeah, you are you're an outdoorsy type guy. Yeah, I probably spent I don't know like at least six hours just sitting on the water yesterday That's all I do. I was I was sitting somewhere for about three of those six different story though but yeah, I mean i've been out to i've been out to your place and just enjoy it, know, like got to see the different like the non working Skylar, yeah, actual human

And it's so crazy how, you know, there's this, and I've said it countless times and everybody knows, like there's this certain personification on stage, in the venue, and then there's, you know, the other side. Who you really are. Yeah, who you really are. And I love the fact that we've been able to hang out over the years just outside of the fact, barbecuing, you know, volleyball, I think.

Andy just working on Kia's yeah. Yeah, I remember when Andy from Koningsor would remember when we were out there and brought my kid out and yeah Yeah, and he just like took over your owning your child. He was was like Ryan. Where's your kid? I'm like, I don't know

Good time, except for Colton. He's the same in every situation. He's just a big old goofy teddy bear. I remember catching some of your Twitch streams. I personally never got into Twitch just because I wasn't a gamer or that just wasn't my medium. It's like one of those things, if you don't know, then you don't know. People were trying to tell me, dude, you gotta get a Twitch for the podcast.

ATX Metal Podcast (25:22.914)
So like we signed up for one and then I would check out, you know, different streams. Like you walk in there like, dude, you see your last Twitch? And I'm like, I feel bad because I didn't know, I don't know. And it's like almost like you released a new song and I forgot to listen to it. You need a Twitch lifestyle coach to help you through. Please explain your Twitch universe that you exist in because I think this is like Twitch-iverse. The Twitch-iverse. It's a lot.

It's a lot of networking. It's a lot of... You got five minutes there. Wrap it up. In about 30 seconds of my It's honestly not that dissimilar to what you do as a local band, too, where you kind of network with the people around your size and then, you know, you all help each other and grow a little bit. I got lucky. I started before the COVID craziness when all the musicians came over to Twitch. So I kind of had my foot in the door as...

kind of a leading metal musician on Twitch. And when all the bands came over, like Silverstein, Atreyu, Devil Wears Prada, Underoath, I got to meet and be part of their Twitch circles for a long time. Still am with Atreyu, Silverstein. Really? yeah, I I flew out to Cali for Avenge Sevenfold show that just happened. They played Awakened the Fallen and City of Evil. What?

Yeah, that's a whole other it's a whole other deal Colton's famous and that's why I asked him to be in the band I'm the online face of reenie we need your value in stock. Do you remember America online instant messaging Ryan? It was like chat roulette or something where you just like chatted with random people Anyway, just like imagine those concepts where you just have these random online internet friends But you become attached to them and they're your homies

And that's like the way the Twitch community is, except a lot of them are like well-known and prominent figures because it's a popular website. So yeah, you've got like the singer of Oceano on Twitch streaming and Colton streaming and they kind of have similar content and a similar fan base. So they end up talking and become friends. And now it's like, that's somebody you have this internet relationship with, but is also.

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We're in a digital age where like that's a friend in real life. So yeah, yeah, I was gonna say that that that's one Adam that has definitely translated to a real-life friendship that I see pretty regularly But when I flew out to California, there's just Brandon hanging out in the bar day before the show So I go up and sup, dude. Yeah, and then we just we just wound up, you know drinking and talking for half an hour with him and his wife Ash both very good friends of mine. So yeah, it's just it's it's very much a

Dream if high school me knew I was doing this people that I get to call my friends now like it'd be You know, yeah overwhelmed to say the least that's cool. Yeah, it's all that to say, know, I just kind of Show up turn on my stream load up this game called Rocksmith where I just Notes come at me. I play this I play the songs just recently got a quad cortex that I

get to run through my computer and upgraded everything. Yeah. Perceives to shred and melt things. So when you clock in to Twitch, you're playing a game? Think of it like Guitar Hero with a real guitar. Right, that sounds like an old man. So it's a video game is what you're telling me. What in the hell? No, I just want to make sure I understood what he was saying. So you log in to a game.

Basically, it's I don't want to say basically guitar hero. I didn't want to like I didn't want to minimize I'm happy to call it that yeah, but And you're just but as the notes are flying at you. You're learning the song. Yeah, basically Okay, I would say 70 % of the requests I get are songs. I've never played before no should I play them to about 95 %? You know accuracy depending on how hard the song so you're somebody I'll throw like some Michelangelo video I mean, I'm just like like really

so it's any song literally any like as long as long right now as long as people have made a what's called a chart for it right in the game There's there's you know, would say a hundred thousand songs that are available to me a lot of it's a bunch of bullshit Yeah, but most of it's you know free bird. Yeah. god, of course. Has anybody done that?

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There's probably like a bot that as they're typing and it comes through it's like their account just gets blacklisted Never sign up for twitch again. I don't play stairway. No stairway. yeah, no stairway. Can't you read the sign? Yeah, seriously like think of the think of a metal song right now He'll do it on his next stream and shout you out. I promise. He's real cool. Like okay I don't pretty give it make it pretty prominent, you know

Like somebody has to have put it into the video game. Okay, let me do that. Somebody else has heard of it. So don't go too niche. I will definitely, I'm not gonna go niche. I'm not gonna be like, what was your first band's name? I still have that CD by Taking on Poseidon. No, it was one before that one. wasn't in a band before that. A project? A demo? I mean, I performed as a solo act for a long time under my have a CD. Maybe it's like after Taking on Poseidon. Was it called Brightside City? That sounds very familiar. It's a solo act of mine. Okay.

No one cares about that. Yeah, who does? know, he was singing. I used to be real cute and be able to sing really well. Dude, you're you're I can't even begin to explain to you like watching you play on Taking off Poseidon. You were one of the first like local drummers that also was singer like had double duty. Yeah. And I just remember you back there. And I was just like, man, that dude is killing it because I could never like not only do you have to have like

Weird brain to do a lot to do anything musical, right? You got all these notes and all these licks and but you've got four Appendages that you need to do something with and you're like fuck it. I'll sing on top of that. Yeah. Yeah, dude. That's funny I never really thought about it like that cuz I've been playing my entire life But what I what I do think about a lot is when like when Colton plays on Twitch You'll you'll have somebody request a song that he's probably never played before

He might know the song or something and have heard it on the radio, but never tried to play it. So somebody will request something and he'll be reading across the screen, like what notes to play, accurately playing them. And then also like reading the comments in the chat and responding to people like talking, be like, what's up, big guy 423, you like that? You like that riff I just laid down? And that blows my mind, dude.

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That's one of those like I can play drums and sing at the same time It's kind like a pat your head rub your tummy thing, right? It's it's it's like either have it or you don't it's kind of it's really natural for me. But like that's ridiculous So you're you're sight reading a new song while looking at the chat and responding in real time But also still playing the song that you've never played. I kind of You got a pretty chameleon eyes. Yes, call it like the note highway, right where it's coming down at you So I'll like look at it see everything coming at me

Picture that in my head for the next 10 seconds, look over, get everything I can from chat, and then flip He has a photographic memory. Holy shit. He can look at a page on a book, close it, and then tell you what it says. That's bullshit. Dude, that'd be so sick. You just look at every page in a book, and you're like, wow, that was a great story. There's people out there that can speed read like a motherfucker, just get through a book that thick in no time. can't.

I can't read so I don't know. Yeah, I'm what you call a slow reader. I like have to go over it like three times before I before I actually retain what I just read. Yeah, I can't I can't read. I can read. I can read Austin Texas Metal Podcast Ryan Rayle cannot read cannot read PSA more you know, be successful and not read.

I can still fight old dudes in the ring. There we go. Dang! Yeah. There is a future, guys. My favorite meme, though, that I saw real quick was that someone was like, I've seen better fights in a mosh pit. I know. I love that one. That You know what the real fight of the night was? Was whatever Tyson was wearing during the interview holding on for dear life. Just... Dude, you bet. Yeah. That was... man. Shout out to Netflix. Yeah. Yeah.

up your streaming game. Jesus Christ. was so bad. That was so bad. It reminded me of live streaming struggles during COVID. But it definitely, as it was buffering, I'm just sitting here with the highest level anxiety. It was great. We had a Discord call up with five people streaming so that when one went down, everybody go to the next one.

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Didn't lose. Yeah, I like vaguely understood what you just said and that was that's real cool Discord is thing. I don't know what that is. We'll get together. You have a channel of like ten people all in a call together Yeah, so like you can stream whatever's on your screen to other people like I am for the future a lot of people like you wouldn't probably make this assessment just off a visual indication but but I'm like the one in the band that has absolutely no idea what technology is it's like I was born in the in the

1900s or something showing him twitch for the first time just blew his mind dude, and it's hilarious cuz cuz I genuinely don't understand what's going on most of the time and or what the hell he's talking about It's like it's it's like I'm a boomer and he's Jen alpha or something. Yeah, like my son with the way He talks and about stuff. I'm like, dude, I don't know what you're saying to me right now. You're like, I'm just gonna have to take your word for it Yeah, it's the best thing whenever whenever he's yeah, are you winning? You beating him?

It's it's Twitch, Dad. You don't win. But yeah, I'll get on Twitch and it's the best thing when he's streaming and I just start talking to the Twitchers as I like to call them. They love him. like, yes, dumb redneck. It's so funny. They love him. I got it. So when's, I guess, when do you stream? Every day about two o'clock. Really? Yeah. That's your he wakes up. Your job job. My job job. Man. See?

Your dreams can come true, It's definitely, I mean, for a bit of transparency, it's not been as good since COVID has kind of gone away. Bring COVID back, guys, so Colton can be successful. Yeah, he needs money. That was not, I'm sorry. Yeah. Was that cattle decap song, bring back the pig? You're fired. You can't say that. Be quiet. People died. I know, it was rough. I'm having a Tony Hinchcliffe moment right now. He's fine, dude. He's done. Yeah, he's good.

I think he'll be okay. He'll be fine. I hired a roast comment. I know right a political a blunder all around as I walk as I was watching that I was like this is gonna go really well Really really well but anyway Man, every day two o'clock twitch and so when do you join in just whenever you're around never only was

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Yeah, we're like when we're together in person and he'll he'll stream like just from his phone and that's what I'm able to like get in there and be like, Mobile mic all attached to my phone bring it out to the shows and I'll just set up a little tripod on stage or if some of my friends are there to show I'll hand them the phone and they'll you know get the notion. Are you gonna stream the seventh? Absolutely. yeah, I'll grab

Yeah, yeah, I won't I won't quite say run the stream take over your hand I will hold I will hold the stream in my hand. He's gonna hold your device You gotta look into their eyes when you say that he's gonna hold your device and stream yes, Was told I was told I have one question to ask how many arfs are too many in one song?

Yeah, because you need an arf arf. Yeah, you got arf arf. Three is the threshold? I think three is the most I ever do in one song though. Yeah, yeah. do more than two arfs in one song. Very consecutive back to back. Dude, it's like how many... How many blegh per song? Blaaauuuh, man. don't do too many blegh Wage war? Not a big wage war fan? I mean, I do like them, but I don't do a lot of blegh How many... What's the most in an It's almost comical. I know, right? Grave Digger, right? Grave Digger's got three, I think? Grave Digger! Yeah.

How many spites can spite spite now? dude, there's the real spite spite could spite a spite how many spice spice bite You know I mean? That's a real question come up with something It's you know funny that you mentioned spite spite was the band that I saw live that really I guess sold the the Harder core side of music to me funny story. We played with them in Sacramento before they kind of like

They were already better than us like blowing up, but yeah, then they super blew up But we got to play with them in this tiny little hole in the wall in Sacramento And I don't know if the video still on YouTube in the first 30 seconds of our set Some guy runs into the middle of the the pit and grabs this dude and punches him in the face what yeah Yeah, I was solid times and the lights had to come on and Jacob's like hey quit that You have to edit that out. We gotta keep playing this show. I gotta say

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In regards to he who must not be named I've never met him the only impression you never really I know about him is what I get from these two Yeah, tell you it's pretty it's pretty odd paw Yeah, yeah, basically it's it's the lady that answers the door when spongebob's going door-to-door silly chocolate What they're chocolates ma

I remember when they invented chocolate. I've always hated it. man. So knowing that... So question two. So we've got the... I feel like two arfs in one song. I that's... they have to follow each other. Right. They have to. Blegh you get two, three if it has the right...

Right man, that's a one per song for me man. It's like you got to have the one big moment the one big breakdown And if you're doing if you're doing two, you're a gimmick dude, ooh Maybe the second one's longer like the first one's a short blegh Yeah, second one's a long blegh I don't know man I don't know that's a little diversity in your blegh pretty important. That's risky. This is kinda you pronounce the G Yeah, blegh blegh blegh

Yeah, that's was a comfortable. mean, we're being very analytical about it. a comfortable pronunciation there. And there's a man who's discussed this time or two. Very, very common discussion on Twitch. One of the other questions was, see, I didn't know that. there are there any happy songs in the discography? No, depends on your version of happy. So that was exactly that was the rebuttal. was like what define happiness like.

Obviously you can define it but in like well, I think I find it in 2001 I have no idea what you're that was hilarious. There's like a happy song there's Angry songs towards individuals. Yep. Sometimes being angry at a person can make you happy me. there you go person like me and you like hating people get it out I would say like not not all our songs necessarily convey like any

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prominent emotion like that either like we we have a song we have a song called the devil's swing That's just a story. It's not like from any any one person's perspective Or anything like that. It's not a very emotional song. It's just a story. Yeah, we actually what texas folklore folklore

I was gonna say we haven't really talked much about your guys music and we got a bow. And I appreciate that Ryan because I've been busy enough that I haven't thought about it in at least four months. We don't we haven't even practiced. I haven't show up. There's no practicing. Check this out Austin. I haven't seen a drum kit in six months probably. he's seen one but he hasn't sat. I haven't actually touched a drum. You haven't hit the lately? Easily six months I'd say but...

Okay. Bet your ass I'm gonna go tear it up on December 7th. yeah, are you like, what's the game plan with, cause have you guys played, you guys have headlined before obviously, right? whole tour. This ain't my first road trip. All over the United States, Ryan. But yeah. What's that, how does that feel for a local band to be at the top of the list in their hometown?

It's comforting and nervous. Nervous-ing. know. Nervacking. Nervacking. I like nervous. Nervassing. Nervassing. You know, it's definitely a great honor. He's a true lyricist. Yeah, a true lyricalist. I come up with them all. got the... I'm excited, but definitely, you know, it definitely makes you kind of jittery. You everyone's gonna be watching you and like, why the hell is this band out there? They're fucking sick. Right. But, you know, it's material that we're really comfortable with and, you know, we've played for a while.

So we'll get we'll get our little practice in Thankfully, we're all we're all pretty good at it. Skylar can pick it up pretty quick I practice in my truck most days anyways, right as one vocalist should yeah I scream every day scream all kinds of stuff and Colton plays guitar every day of his life, too So it won't take us more than a practice or two to get it get it 100 % way to sell me out there man Everybody's practice. I practice all the time. I practice all the time. I was the only one slack and never does anything

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You know, he's got all the time in the world. He's sitting six hours on the water. Hey, man, these fish ain't gonna catch themselves, buddy. 30 minutes ago, you said you only worked half the year. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Nah, man, like, at the risk of sounding douchey, I think that, kind of comes with...

The headliner veteran status, you know that we have been doing this a very long time I've been playing drums for forever and quite honestly Reign's music is not that hard man. Yeah, it's very We're very like straight to the point like beat down heavy band and and I've been playing a lot of the songs in our in our set list for years now. Yeah Yeah, however long that is math mud hole

Right? No. No. That hole's 21. Man, really? Yeah. Separation. Yeah, some of these songs came out like a while ago. And we used to actually just tour heavily playing these songs. So we've played them in, I think, like 42 different US states, something like that. Playing, I think, what was our longest stretch? did like, it was like 16 days straight, like shows back to back to back at one point. Yeah. We had a day off. I've played these songs a time or two. So.

And being able to play drums just in general for literally as long as I can remember I learned to play drums at such a young age that like I genuinely don't remember being taught I just have always kind of known how I got you. So yeah, it's like second nature, Yeah, we'll get up there and crush it. Let's let's I want that is a good question is how? We'll just touch on it briefly how how and when you said so you said at a young age we're talking five six seven eight Yeah, no younger than that. like

So my, my parents are musicians and I'm the youngest of two brothers who are also fairly musically inclined. And so I've always had a drum kit in my house since I was born. I was born into a household with drums, guitars and keyboards and various instruments. and my dad was like actively playing, when I, when I was a kid, my mom's still like more or less tours. She travels as a performing artist, singing, is kind of Except she's old now.

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It's called the singing women of Texas, look it up. Yeah, so, mean, yeah, easily two, three years old, I could probably hold down a beat and by like four or five, I was like pretty decent. And I recall being in like kindergarten, I would bring my drum kit to class for show and tell and like, lay down some sick beats for the kids. How old were you in kindergarten? that like five or six? yeah. For me, it was five.

Some of us are smarter than others. I'm just saying. Some people don't hit in kindergarten. Never mind. North Carolina rules. What about you, Mikey? You're like, like you said, you've almost played every instrument. Can you play the drums? I can play the drums. Not very good. OK. So like Skylar? same stuff, but no. I'm not that good, honestly. It's the hand coordination. I start trying to play the damn ride like I'm playing a guitar. Right. And then it just throws everything off. So I would say I can't play the drums, but I can.

Think about when I do like you have a concept of what you could program the drums program some there you go But yeah, I started playing piano at eight. My mother's also very musically inclined. My dad is too. Hmm So I started playing piano at eight guitar at 11 And then I did go to recording school. So I went to school for all that and had to take classical piano and guitars some electives Along with learning all the mixing mastering what school South Plains College in level and it's outside of Lubbock, Texas

Actually a really really nice school our main producer used to work for Martina McBride and her husband main professor. Sorry It was a really good school. I learned a lot there one of our sound engineers that graduated there Worked for Prince at one point another guy worked for Pat O'Brien. Okay, the waves on waves guy. You know, I'm talking about That's an old song. I'm surprised you don't

That was a whole cool experience the funny thing about the recording industry is how fast it switches and I was right there kind of the switch between analog and the digital and now you see things today I'm like I have no idea what the hell is going on. yeah, dude big analog guy over here, man Yeah, yeah as soon as they came out with those digital boards. I was like I'm out of here But yeah, no and then I did get to work with a few bands actually running sound I worked with a pond a burning body a few tours

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Shattered those guys shout out the boys. Yeah Shattered son are the boys. Mm-hmm. That's my my musical cool Colton man He's gonna make a lot of sense for me. I should play guitar hero before I play guitar Dude, that's crazy to me learn start playing guitars a lot of 16. that's so weird How order you know 31? Wow, okay, you've been playing guitar half your life now. Yeah enough to rack up some experience and be able to twitch fall rip on her end and

Rip on Reign rip on Reign Yeah, that's that goes like I said earlier. It's not that hard to play That's the question. How long did it take you to get the set now? man. That was a struggle for me because Reign Reign songs are very What's the good word for it? It's irregular. okay. Yeah. Yeah regularly simple

They are so there's can that be the next shirt, please just Reign irregularly simple It's not verse chorus verse chorus and just riff after riff. Correct. Each riff has like a variation to it too. Yeah, it goes like head head tail head tail But it's head tail a head tail. Yeah, Jonathan was very good about making little meticulous changes and I never learned songs in that kind of style before Reign so

It took me, and I thought you got a little frustrated with me at the start. think we all did Colton. We were questioning our decision heavily. It was Taking me forever to get these songs, but once I've got them. Call me out. Well, I think it's funny at this point. a straight shooter, man. I'll tell you how it is. And I've got them now, obviously. It me a while. December 7th. Find out.

Next episode of Reign. Will Reign be able to play their set? Yeah, I've actually, it's funny you say it like that. He's nervous now. I've been kind of like saying it. No, no, I know you Maybe we should have put somebody else on the top of this show. Can we just like switch Godhand? Just go to the flyer, just delete? I don't know what You should have, to be honest with you, but it's too late now.

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Well, they're a phenomenal those guys are phenomenal musicians Yeah, and do do super well and practice way more than us and probably deserve it a lot more but very nice homies, but Don't think they have very much history playing in Austin. I know I've tried to book him in Austin a couple of times and It just I can think of one time in particular that it didn't work out which really broke my heart it sucked for them too and they probably still hate me for it, but not really but

Yeah, man, they've done super well for themselves and they know a lot of people in the Austin scene and lot of Austin scene know them. so we're stoked that they're coming. Did they play right before us? can't remember in the... dude, I couldn't have asked for a better band to warm up the crowd for us than them, dude. I know. was... So for those that don't know, every year I throw a showcase, a literal showcase about just the talent that I've personally seen.

throughout the year, the people that have, you know, like so Godhand, right? Like you just said, like amazing band, amazing sound. I was talking to a band called Backbiter, they're out of Ohio and I told them like, you've heard every hardcore song. You just haven't heard this hardcore song, right? Like in the one song that I absolutely, one of the reasons why I chose Godhand, not simply because

I know that they have a really good following here and they're amazingly good, but that song Worst Case Scenario was like anthemic this year for like, remember when I saw it on TikTok and I was just like, dude, this song is absolutely on the nose. know what I yeah. Pretty sick seeing something like that on TikTok with like a million views and you're like, I know that guy. Yeah, I mean, I get very...

I get very caught off guard sometimes with how popular local music is outside of Austin. Obviously, I'm not going to fill 750 cap venue. I can. We can do it if we push right. But my expectation is just a very lively crowd for you guys and turning out.

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trying to convert online fans to actual paying customers at $10 a ticket. Even when I talk to my wife, she's like, how much are tickets? I'm like, $10, 15, 20. She's like, $20? was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Get rid of that face, $20. Is it high? Yeah, to her, 20 was high for a local show. Knocked Loose playing?

Yeah, I look at the times though. mean, what's a what's a grocery trip cost you? is right? does gas cause you? To put that in perspective I remember when we first started like when I first started selling merch for my bands You know, we were doing like $10 t-shirts and turning profit, you And and I was like, wow, this is crazy And then and then like we might have sold a tank top or something that was a little more expensive at 15 bucks

And I remember the first time, I think Reign was the first band that I pushed a t-shirt to 20 bucks. And that was crazy. You're like, I don't know about this, much. I don't know this. But now, like, dude, you can't make any money at 20 bucks. Yeah. And the same goes for concert tickets, man. I mean, that was a relevant industry of mine for a long time, selling tickets to what I did for a living for a long time. And $10 shows was standard. But that was standard 10 years ago.

We've just we've gone through crazy inflation and everything else where the dollar just doesn't go as far. So 20 bucks for show is a is a Even a local show is still it's two dollars a band. Yeah, when you really break it down you're paying two dollars to see a band play live live That they've been honing their craft for decades

all the gear, all the hards earned, you know what mean? all the- not only that, like it's even worse than that. You if you want to complain about 20 bucks for 10 bands, $2 per band, think about the, instead of thinking about the bands, think about the people. You got five people per band. you've got the promoter, you've got the club, you've got the staff, the insurance, the rent and everything else that you have to pay for off of that $2. So the band isn't even getting that $2. No, that's going straight to the house. They're getting-

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They're getting ten cents out of that two dollars. So if you don't have two dollars per band stay home I don't want you at the show He just had his Elon moment. Just don't fucking advertise. Okay I'm serious, man It's not a lot of money and if if you think it is then stay home because you know, this is your this is your Texas music scene These are people that grind and work hard to hone their craft and people that deserve it a lot of people in bands that are

that are trying to make something of themselves and they're not gonna get there without the support. So come out and support it, you know? Yeah, or bands coming up. You know, the younger bands that this is maybe their first show or, you know, the 16-year-olds, we were all there at that one point where we were playing our first show and it's a cool opportunity for some of these younger bands too to come out and, you know, for the scene to support them and see them and... Man, we haven't even gone over the rosters. So speaking of young, we got Kate and the Krushers.

which I think is really cool. Apparently they're gonna play never before heard music that's original. Then we got a band, Estraya which is post hardcore. Spanish for star. They've got a sky burial. Then we got...

Lift the curse left for dead. dude, we got so many hugs, dude. I know this is like there's going to be more people just like hugging and high-fiving which is like super homie fest. Yeah, and and I really look forward to doing something like this a little bit next year. Maybe a little bit more just I think because that the community that I was introduced to when I first met you guys at

at the Dirty Dog Bar when Anthony was standing at the door selling tickets for the show that he was promoting. now he's, know, Big Pants. in a condo somewhere in Cozumel, sipping lye ties. he should. With his toes in the sand. Exactly. But it's like, you know, that's the... I'm happy that I've made it 10 years. I'm happy that you guys are still around, even though you're not in the same, you know...

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band or project or friend group or job or headspace, you we're all still here doing this thing. And, you know, that's why everything is just on my side of the house. Like everything is tense, right? Like 10 out of 10 do recommend this band, right? Come down after 10 years of hanging out with these idiots and just going to shows and buying merch and, and God, that one time, man, nevermind. That's another story.

There's so much history in this room that it's crazy that we only get to spend 60 minutes talking about it. But December 7th, doors are at four. Reign goes on at 1030. Something like that. Just show up at five o'clock and we'll call it good. show up, hang out, party with everybody. Yeah, dude, it's going to be so much Some tacos, drink some bruskies or Topo Chico. Yep.

whatever your flavor is. Any final shout outs? are all the at's where people can support you as a band and individually, obviously. So we'll do that and then I guess we'll get out of here. Yeah. Reign ATX, R-E-I-G-N, as in to rule. Reign ATX, Austin, Texas, on all socials. We're gonna be...

We're going to be practicing soon. So look forward to some content. Unfortunately, our other guitarist, Matt, could not be here today. So shout out to him for sure. He is going to be playing with us on December 7th. He will be there. I think. I don't think so. He's on the fence right now because of timing for his stuff. Right. He plays in another fantastic band called Houses We Die In. to them. That's doing very well right now. They're staying very busy. So shout out to Houses We Die In.

props to them and sorry Matt couldn't be here but we're still gonna throw down whether it's just the three of us or if Matt's there make sure you guys check it out December 7th. Just do like MTV unplug style you guys up there with bongos and acoustic guitar. Shout out to you man thank you for having us we've wanted to do this for a long time. I know of all the people that I would have expected to interview like more would be like

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You guys yeah, and like we've done it once. Yeah, right. That's why the first one just and i'm glad we got to do it in this great studio Shout out to the very nice studio for having us. Yeah, this is this has been a this has been a godsend for me I mean just being able to come in here and hit record and hit stop and then have everything dumped into a google drive and then They even line it up for you. So shout out shout out to you guys. Thank you very much Kollective Kollective But yeah, thank you so much. We love you brother. I think you know, we're gonna bring the heat. I just guys gonna be so

I cannot I cannot wait cannot wait. about you brother? Yeah, you can find me at young gun on twitch just as you'd spell it. Why are you in G? G you in? With an eye in front for all my Instagram and Twitter stuff cuz some other jackass I actually stole the name young gun on twitch too. That's a good story When I got when I got my partnership with twitch they let you take a name that's been inactive for so long.

So I just yoinked Young Gun. That was previously I Young Gun. I got you. Because that was a whole naming trend back in the Halo day. That's another long story. But yeah, I Young Gun on everything but Twitch, just Young Gun on Twitch. Cool. Cool. Well, thank you guys very much. Obviously, my handles are at ATX Metal Podcasts everywhere. Just here kicking it with the homies on a Sunday. So I appreciate it, Thank you for coming. Of course, man. Thank you.