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Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? Baby Huey out here. Day number one of Aftershock. Look at this. With my buddy, Jesse from Killswitch Engage. What's going on, man?
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Speaker 2: Everything.
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Speaker 1: I was going to say.
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Speaker 2: Good stuff. It's all good stuff, man.
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Speaker 1: Very busy day for you. So you and I had a video chat.
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Speaker 2: Let's see.
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Speaker 1: Coming up on about four months ago now, it was.
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Speaker 2: I'll take your word for it.
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Speaker 1: I was going to say, I know I'm sure it's been a busy year for you, but it was right before your show at the Warfield with Machine Head and Iron Reagan.
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Speaker 2: So good.
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Speaker 1: So good. So let's talk about that real quick. Incredible night. It was just super fun. I mean, how the tour was, though, for you? Let's talk about the tour. I mean, it's great.
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Speaker 2: We did three runs with Machine Head. We did Canada. We did two in the States. And, you know, Rob is just a legendary.
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Speaker 3: influential person for me and a friend as well and then you mentioned iron reagan talk about a fun band that and they hadn't toured for like seven a long time i want to say seven years yeah and to have a band like that on the bill it just it made you want to drink beer and just get in the in the pit you know that's the thing i.
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Speaker 1: Love it because i love iron ring i mean i'm a huge municipal waste yeah so i texted tony like dude coming tonight.
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Speaker 2: And tony's awesome Him and I became very fast friends.
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Speaker 1: Okay, I was going to say, did you guys know each other at all beforehand?
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Speaker 3: I mean, I've admired Municipal Waste, but we connected because he's a hardcore kid. We bonded over bands that, you know, I have t-shirts on.
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Speaker 2: He's like, I know that band. I'm like, you do? And like instant friends, you know, hardcore kids. So I love Tony. He's awesome. And he's hysterical on the microphone. He is. We would just like sit side stage and go, what's he going to say tonight?
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Love it.
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Speaker 1: Well, at the Warfield show, there was some kid in the crowd. And he was like, whose parents brought this kid out here? It was literally like an eight-year-old kid out there.
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Speaker 2: I love it.
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Speaker 1: Called it out. But no, every time I go to his shows, he always calls me out. So when Iron Reagan was on stage, he's like, Huey! And then they're playing the Regency Ballroom in municipal ways. He's like, Huey's here! And then in Berkeley, at the UC Theater, he threw a garbage can at me. I had the video somewhere. But, yeah, Tony always, like.
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Speaker 2: Isolates me in the crowd. Legendary, man.
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Speaker 1: But I'm big. I can stand out. But for you, though, I mean, you guys have played the Bay Area so many times. So, yeah, just your thoughts on playing the Bay Area scene.
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Speaker 2: I mean, the history of it. Yeah. Period. You know, thrash music, you know. We played with Exodus there. We played with Machine Head there. Like, thrash. It's the mecca of we wouldn't be here without it type music, you know.
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Speaker 3: The blending of the hardcore and the metal, like, That crossover stuff, there's nothing like it, man. I was born and bred on it, for sure. So that's always in the back of my mind when we play that area.
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Speaker 2: It's just an honor.
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Speaker 1: What about a lot of the punk bands, like the Gilman band, Lookout Record band?
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Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
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Speaker 3: Operation Ivy is one of my favorite bands of all time. I know every single word. I mean, early Green Day, I had that stuff on cassette tape.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Gilman. I mean, that's history right there, too. And Rancid. I love Rancid. Good stuff, man.
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Speaker 1: So you heard of Doom Regulator?
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Speaker 3: Yes.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so they're finally touring now.
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Speaker 2: I know, it's so cool.
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Speaker 1: Which I'm excited to see. So yeah, Tim Armstrong.
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Speaker 2: Operation Ivy all day.
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Speaker 3: I know every single word on that record.
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Speaker 2: It just makes me happy.
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Speaker 1: Isn't it crazy, though, how relevant their music still is to this day?
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Speaker 3: Ain't nothing wrong with another Unity song. If that's not one of the best lines and.
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Speaker 2: A truth, it's inspired me to continue to write songs about Unity.
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Speaker 1: I know. Well, it's such a crazy time right now.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: In this world, this country.
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Speaker 2: Very divided, unfortunately.
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Speaker 1: I know. I'm with you. It's unfortunate. So with that being said, though, do you feel like during kind of this chaotic period, it helps motivate or give you inspiration of what you can maybe write for future albums?
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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. I think it's important to address the darkness. But, you know, I got that PMA. I got to keep it positive.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, on this last record, for example, there's a couple of songs that are just dark. They don't have that positive flip.
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Speaker 3: And then you have a song like I Believe, which that whole thing is about positivity and unity.
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Speaker 2: So I think as an artist, it's our jobs to sort of critique and talk about what's going on. And I don't do it specifically. I'm not super political in your face.
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Speaker 3: But to me, it's more about like awakening people to the divisiveness and wanting people to come together to focus on the real issues. instead of bickering with each other on the other smaller issues. You know, it's that tactic of divide, rule, and conquer. As an artist, I try to point to that and go,
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00:04:36
Speaker 1: Well, okay, let me ask you this, because when you're writing, or I guess when you're going through something or you have something on your mind, how do you document your emotions or what you're feeling so maybe you don't forget about it? Like, let's say, you know, Writing albums, it could be like two years in between writing periods. But is there a way you kind of keep track or document maybe how you felt at a certain point.
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Speaker 2: In your life? Yeah, I have probably about 50 poems in my phone.
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Speaker 1: Really? Okay.
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Speaker 2: When the motivation hits.
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Speaker 3: Even if it's just a sentence, I'll write it down.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 3: And then maybe revisit it. And then other times I might just have a stream of consciousness.
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Speaker 2: Okay. And that'll eventually become a song, hopefully.
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Speaker 1: Okay.
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Speaker 2: So I write poetry all the time. That's how I get it out. That's my therapy.
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Speaker 1: That's really cool. Yeah. So, and then... is that what, cause I think, what was it? This last album where you kind of, or maybe it was your vocal performance. If I remember correctly, like you recorded one way, but then they guys were like.
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Speaker 2: It was everything.
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Speaker 1: Had the hard talk. Yeah. Go do it again.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 3: They had me punching up on this record for sure. Quality control was very high. Um, and it was difficult, but it made me a better singer and it made me a better writer, you know, expanded my vocabulary, how I wanted to say things. Uh, I'm very grateful for that. It was a, necessary growing pain for me.
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Speaker 1: How would that be? I'm sure for your own ego, you're like, how are you able to have that conversation and be civil, be professional, and evolve from that?
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Speaker 3: Well, it's about the song and the band, not the individual. So you have to separate the ego of like, this is my precious baby I'm presenting to you and you guys are tearing it apart. And they're doing it because they want the song to be better. It's not that they don't like me. So as an artist, you can be a sensitive artist and empath or whatever, but when it comes time to putting out something as.
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Speaker 2: A collective, it's about the collective, not the individual.
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Speaker 3: So that's really what the process I had to go through is letting my art die and just creating more and trying to level up really for the sake of my boys who were like, you can do better. So grateful for that, but it ain't easy, but necessary. I think every artist needs to have that quality control.
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Speaker 1: But then you look on the flip side, congrats on all the success of this consequence. So now in hindsight, you're like, I'm glad we had that conversation.
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Speaker 3: And moving forward, I'm going to have that in the back of my mind, like challenge myself to continue to grow as a vocalist and a lyricist.
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Speaker 1: That's crazy. I mean, it's great to hear as well. I mean, I respect you for that. And I mean, Last time we talked, we talked a lot about mental health, which I've always respect you being so honest and open about it. And I feel like more and more people are talking more about mental health. Like Matt from Trivium, he's been very vocal about mental health. Do you think... Is it still taboo, though? I feel like we're evolving. More men in the metal world are talking about punk, hardcore. Do you think it's still... very important to talk about mental.
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Speaker 3: Health yeah I know the conversation needs to continue and as I tell people being vulnerable is actually strength it's not a weakness yeah so this whole like macho masculinity suck it up Nancy boy thing yeah that's weakness yeah so if you want to be real about it if you're a tough guy you're gonna say what you mean be honest if you're gonna be honest with yourself that's bravery so I think it's important to continue to show people that That being vulnerable is normal. Normalize it. And honestly, because of these things, we can save people. People can come from the depths of depression when they finally get help.
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Speaker 2: It's so important.
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Speaker 1: Do you have tips for anyone who maybe... I think for some guys and gals, they hesitate to look for help. Do you have any recommendations on maybe how they can take that first step and overcome their, you know, or deal with their mental health issues?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a matter of finding the bravery to speak up.
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Speaker 3: And if you're not comfortable doing it with, you know, friends or family, you've got organizations like Heart Support off the top of my head.
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Speaker 2: You can text them. They'll text you back. You can text a stranger.
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Speaker 3: Not worry about the judgment of or opinion of a friend or a family member.
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Speaker 2: That type of thing is great. Therapy.
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Speaker 3: Getting a point of view of somebody who doesn't know you. I think that actually might really open your mind up and give you a.
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Speaker 2: Different route to take that.
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Speaker 3: And I'd also say, um, what I think is super important for mental health is movement, getting out and going for long walks, hiking, biking, whatever you can do to sweat and get your brain going.
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Speaker 2: You get high in your own supply. The endorphins start kicking in.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: That's huge for me as well. That's something I do on a regular basis to like stay sane.
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Speaker 1: That's very cool. Well, so today I know you guys are playing later in the day. So, um, Is today the very last show for the year for you guys?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the very last show for us for a long time in the States.
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Speaker 1: Really?
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Speaker 2: Yeah. We're heading over to New Zealand, Australia.
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Speaker 3: And then the only thing we're looking at now is doing some festivals next year in Europe. But other than that, there's no solid plan. So the talk has begun of like, should we start writing again?
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Speaker 2: So we'll see. We'll see what happens.
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Speaker 1: I don't know okay well so hypothetically when it comes to writing you know the next album is the goal like how do you find that balance of like okay a lot of fans know Kill Switch Engage for a genre that you guys are the kings of like metalcore and stuff but you guys are always pushing the boundaries as well kind of like more hard rock and like maybe reaching a bigger audience right expansion of your sound evolution what can you what can fans maybe expect what's next for kill switch.
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Speaker 3: Engage um i'm pushing for faster and heavier and harder okay for fun yeah yeah but you can't really force that with this band you know i can have my opinion what i'd like yeah but there's a natural magic that happens when those guys start writing music okay so i can have an idea in mind but When I hear sonically what they're giving me, I'm usually so inspired by that sound that I'll write according to what it makes me feel, regardless of my mindset walking into a writing process. So that natural stuff just happens. But in the back of my mind, I'm like, let's go hard and heavy.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that's awesome. one last thing I want to ask you real quick CM Punk did a house show for WWE last week in Chicago very cool came out to this fire burns which he hasn't done in a long time so and then I know in AEW there's a wrestler Roderick Strong comes out to kill switch engage as well so just I mean your thought on CM Punk using the song for gave me chills I love it okay so you saw the video online okay.
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Speaker 3: Yeah I think it's great and just to have recognition in that world you know Mike our bass player is a massive wrestling fan so He couldn't be more happy, but you know, it's just, it's a good look for us. It's like, keep spreading the word CM Punk, you know, I love it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: That's very cool. All right. Listen, I know you got a busy day. It's hot. We always enter interviews with the almost famous question, which is the last question in the movie. What do you love about music? So Jesse, what do you love about music?
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Speaker 2: Connection with people.
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Speaker 3: That feeling you get when the message is reciprocated in the eyes and the singalongs and, physically connecting with the audience coming off the crowd barrier and doing sing-alongs and looking into people's eyes.
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Speaker 2: That connection and reciprocation is beautiful. I live for it.
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Speaker 1: That's awesome. Jesse, I love talking with you, man. You keep it real. We love all the same bands, punk rock and everything. Looking forward to the next time you come to the Bay Area. Last time was so much fun. Rob Flynn, I went downstairs... He made sure I had a beer in my hand all night long. I love Rob Flynn for that. Yeah, he's awesome. Super fun. But no, can't wait to see Killswitch Engage back in the Bay Area.
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Speaker 2: Thank you.
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Speaker 1: Hopefully sometime next year or whatever the schedule is.
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Speaker 2: We'll see what happens.
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Speaker 1: So good luck with everything.
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Speaker 2: Thanks, brother. Appreciate you.