Adam Gomez + Spike T. Smith
Ari Gold chats with Adam Gomez and Spike T. Smith
Transcript of INTERVIEW WITH Adam Gomez of The Dickies and Spike T. Smith on Hot Sticks Drum Show below. Plus, see more about Adam Gomez on the “Adventures of Power” Official Site.
Ari Gold
Antonio will be joining us in a second. So question. So we've got a cool set of punk drummers here like Adam, do you do no spike, like what is your friendship? How does? Is this a professional friendship or is this have you guys actually been on a stage together ever? Yeah. So spike and I and I'm sure spike remembers this. We met officially at rebellion. And this was what three years ago?
Spike T. Smith
Yeah, yeah, I see. posts come up. Actually. It was like an anniversary. Probably yesterday. Post came up. And it was the photo was all outside, you know, the back entrance to rebellion where everybody goes to, you know, smoke cigarettes and whatnots I suppose. Yeah, I guess.
Adam Gomez
So. Yeah. So we all hung out in the back. And we've seen each other a couple of times at rebellion and that's where we've really chatted in person hung out
Ari Gold
with and, and who were you playing with rebellions back at that
Spike T. Smith
time? Well, that year, let me think that year, and I don't think I was playing I just went to to spectate. So I've kind of got a long history with rebellion over the years. Are you know, so it's like, I've played there were many different acts. But that year, I wasn't playing. But often if I'm not playing, I'll still try and go for a day or two, you know?
Ari Gold
Okay, because I have to say, first
Spike T. Smith
one, so maybe Adam doesn't remember this. I actually got up and sang a song with the Dickies.
Ari Gold
Oh, really? Yeah. Did they were you? Were you trying to replace the singer? Officially? Was this a Trump a drummer getting too big for his britches too big for drum kit?
Spike T. Smith
When it wasn't that Yeah, it wasn't that far off. It was, it was probably more drama provide, though, because the kids were in a tricky situation where they were single less. And Adam will obviously be able to tell you more about it, but they were basically hunting for really singers to, you know, that might know a song or two so that they could still commit to playing, you know, and, and, you know, so they had people like, you know, different people, as you know, I don't remember. And I happen to be on the side of the stage. Well, well, they were pulling it together. And I said, you know, I know a song. And they suddenly turned to me and said, Well, what song you know, and I said wagon train, and they were like, Can you can you really sing it? And I was like, Yeah, I'll be able to do it. And so they put me down because I suppose it was a more unusual choice, you know, and it was, you know, part of the set rather than me saying, you know, thumbnail are one of the obvious ones where they probably have 10 people with wanting to sing it. And so they put me down and then not long before it came up. Before it was my turn to come on. I thought, What am I doing? I'm not a singer Why am I put my name up for the title, not what I'm doing. And then, you know, I had a couple more drinks and I thought I've seen enough of the CEOs, you know, for what they did. You know, I'll be able to do it. And I went on and it was it was a real, real buzz.
Ari Gold
I mean, that's how that's how Henry Rollins got into Black Flag, right? He like stumbled on in some gig and made it happen.
Adam Gomez
He was always at the gigs and one day they just call them up. You get up there.
Spike T. Smith
Well A story that that I see recently, and this is sort of the fact that last time I played in rebellion was with this was with this guy HR from Bad Brains. Apparently, apparently, he told Henry he was a singer. And he said, No, no, no, no, I've never sang and the HF ologists know, Henry, you're a singer, and gave him a mic to sing with Bad Brains that would be for Black Flag.
Ari Gold
Oh, wait, this is, oh, this is way back when you're talking about this is
Spike T. Smith
way before he even formed his own band. He was to sort of being at a bad brain show when this little thing happened. So and, yeah, and I've seen him, you know, like, retelling that story very recently, you know, on an interview, saying, you know, and I don't think it was even an interview about him singing it was one of his other things. But they happened to ask God, how did you get into singing? I said, Well, you know, you know, the funny story is I was never thinking I was going to be a singer. And you know, when he just told the story about how he kind of, you know, telling the viewers good telling him to be seeing it.
Ari Gold
Well, okay, so, talk a little bit about this thing of like being, you know, being a journeyman performer, whether it's drummer or singer as we talked about, I mean, you know, Adam, you in your life when you joined the Dickies. I mean, Spike segment is talking about New York because obviously it's like insane band to play with, but like, you know, I know your history you played with Morrissey, and you also played with Chinese pop star, which I want to hear about. I want to hear about the Chinese AppStore. But so how are you playing? When you're, you know, I assume both of you come from like a punk motivated background, but then you branch out into other things too. And so well, I guess, I'd love to hear from Adam like, about joining the Dickies what that looks like.
Adam Gomez
Okay, so long, I'll make a long story short. So I was I was just fresh out of EMI. So I got my percussion degree in music school, out in Hollywood. And as soon as I got out of there, I started teaching drums. But I wanted to tour right. So I found a band on Craigslist looking for. And we went out to Europe, paid nothing actually paid money to do the tour. Right. So I
Ari Gold
like got gotten tour Europe off of a Craigslist ad. That already Yeah, kind of Exilis ad, you know, give me pain, looking for someone.
Adam Gomez
Yeah, and that that's how I've got other gigs or just good things. We're going to Regulus and you end up finding as long as you're searching and searching. But yeah, I got that tour under my belt through Craigslist through a band called Blood hook in LA, hard workers, and they happen to know and already kind of be punched into the LA scene with punk bands. So even though they weren't an old band or historic classic punk band, they were always working, they were always playing, and they always jump on bills with other historic punk bands. So that creates kind of created a connection. So anyway, I played with them for a couple years. All of a sudden a band called di from SoCal. And older punk rock band needed a drummer, they knew the band I was in. They called them and said, Hey, we need drum for night, man, can we borrow your drummer? And they're like, Yeah, cool. So to me that was I was over the moon just being able to sub you know, play for di for one night. And a year later they the bass player Eddie called me back and said, Hey, man, it's been a while do you got a passport? And I said, Yeah, can you tour it? I'm like, yeah, he's like, Alright, I got you an audition for the Dickies because our terms on the way out. So that was kind of how I got the shoe in there. I had already grew up being a fan of the Dickies being a fan of stuff spikes been and even Antonio, you know, it's going to be joining us in a few minutes. I I've always been a fan of like TSL so I grew up with metal and punk. And then going to that school I kind of broaden my like technical skills just like the touch of r&b like having a certain type of r&b and different stuff like that
Ari Gold
it's the same thing to like, learn metal and Punk in school. I mean, I What did you learn in school that I guess you said technique, but like it's a it's a bizarre thing to me somehow, like I mean, maybe as a professional air drummer who I I never was. I feel like there's a There's maybe a stigma against, like studying the craft. But like,
Adam Gomez
there there kind of is. I mean, there kind of is. But there's a lot of us like, especially spike like spike does drum educational videos, and he teaches and I teach so like we're, we're well aware of, maybe within music fans are the punk scene of just purely fans, there is a stigma, there can be a stigma of, you know, Oh, dude, you go to that school or you go to music school, you're gonna come out a robot and blah, blah, blah. And I get that because some people do, and I'm sure spike would agree with that. But there's some people like, like me, and Spike and others where when you go into that game, you already know what you want to get out of it. So it doesn't completely transform, you just you just end up gaining an arsenal of skill rather than walking in there and being molded and formed and then being spat back out.
Ari Gold
Right, right. So then you can you can call on these different skills based on who you end up with. Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, that makes sense. I mean, I made my air drumming official by entering the Guinness Book of World Records. So some would say that was a sellout. But to actually teach people skills to win when I did the Guinness record set event, which has actually happened, I mean, this is so bizarre, but this is actually part of my life. I had to teach 2300 people, certain air drum moves in order to qualify, so they had to have an aerodrome expert. So I was the expert. And then I had to teach moves to you know, the plebeians the new aerodrome there. So I and they wanted me to combine a couple of different bands and there had to be an AC DC reference because the the house band at this casino where we did it was DC cover band. So I incorporated some Neal peered and some, you know, some Phil Rudd and Tommy Lee and few other things. But I hear, by the way, it's being a new period of spike that I know that Neil was a big influence. Do you ever get to work with him?
Spike T. Smith
I never did you know, that, you know, shame on my part, I got quite close once because I went to one of the shows that I got, I got invited to go into the show by the sound man. And he did get me a pass, but not to actually go to dressing rooms or whatever. But, you know, to go to see him, you know, at the desk. And I knew the venue is that it was a place. Well, it's Birmingham in the UK, there's got to be, you know, arena. And they were playing that and this they were playing I thought I'd been there before. And I've got a story that's to do with Eric Clapton with the same venue but a different time. And I thought, Well, I knew the venue. So I thought I'm gonna see if this pass will get me you know, behind you know, where can I get to the backstage area anyway, I went and I got on and and you know, Rush were playing you know, the how they used to do two sets, for a number of you know, that not final year for probably the past 15 years, or somebody they did too. So there must have been in that first set. Anyway, I went and I thought, if I walk this way and do here and go down that I'm sure I'll end up behind the stage. And I literally did this and went through some curtains and just not what I was about seven or eight feet in front of me, you know, with Neil, I was so close. I could see Stan shaking with the hair symbol. Well, that was you know, like, you know, that's as close as I got to him. I mean, it was an amazingly you know, probably got closer to what I wanted to see watching them play them that never met him
Ari Gold
standing behind him. You're close to his set. Did you start air drumming?
Spike T. Smith
No, do you know why because I was hiding because I wasn't supposed to be there.
Ari Gold
And your fingers, your fingers and my toes?
Unknown Speaker
I'll tell you what was going my foot because there was a pattern that I loved in the song Levina strange Yeto and I never quite figured out I could so I could do this funny little ghost note on the higher which sounds a bit odd. But you know, I think I think I can use it but when I played it it never sounded right. And I happened to be behind the planet and I seen that he played the note with his hand and then with his foot so I immediately was probably taught a lug nut so did it and then I got spotted and you know
Ari Gold
I'm one of the crew. Right, okay.
Spike T. Smith
And he came to me and he said to because what the hell are you doing? I don't think that he could believe that somebody was there, you know, that wasn't part of the answer. And I sent them. I said, I'm here with brides that that's the soundman, that we brought brands, you know, like, I'm just here with Brian. Yeah. And then they said, You better go because you shoot a towel. I'm not supposed to be here. Yeah. So that's my little Neopian story.
Ari Gold
Well, when I when I did my drum off with him, promoting our movie Adventures of power, I got to be right next to his kit, but he Boyer and I play air drum, Tom Sawyer right next to him and then laughs and I collapsed from my head right against the kick drum. So I feel like there are weirdos all over the world who resented me for having that privilege. That one day, they would eardrum next to Neil period. And he would say, nice job. You know? He said to me, but yeah, he was a big influence on on me as a sort of wannabe drummer as an air drummer. And obviously, if you've seen Adventures of power, he's, you know, central to the movie. You know, he's like, the, the religious figure in the
Spike T. Smith
way, I think in the way I read, you know, he has started any kind of air drumming phenomenon, because although people have always done it, it seems to come to the forefront about him on his part, because they were so recognizable and more so because there was so composed and clear, you know, you don't have to be a drummer, you kind of got the idea. You know, you know, I mean, other drummers have it too. Like maybe Phil Collins, and you know, and whatnot. And, you know, I'm probably even Dave Grohl when, you know, now. That was all been built. Yeah. Okay. So as you know, Neil, pay a team to have like, lots of them. That's the thing. So it always became a rite of passage didn't go to a rush concert. And EDrum you know?
Ari Gold
Yeah. I don't know if you've heard this question before it was gone by so I would just change the subject is that I find it so fascinating. That you play for a Chinese pop star. I really want to hear what that was like how that happened. Maybe compare working with a Chinese pop star to working with Morrissey?
Spike T. Smith
Yeah, well. Yeah, that was I checked. And I was never really aware of a popularity because the popularity really was, you know, like in China. But I was I was in I was working in London with a band. And it was just one of those things where one of the members of the band Do you know the band Gang of Four? Yeah, of course, you know, yeah. I mean, I guess you know, that, you know, well, it was one of the members of Gang of Four was managing. And it was to do with him that he somehow sort of hooked us up. And sorry,
Ari Gold
he was managing the Chinese popstar.
Unknown Speaker
Well, or somebody had got in touch, you know, with him what she was looking for. She wanted to come election, she wanted to come over to the UK. She wanted to come over to the UK and work with British musicians that seemed to be you know, what, what she was looking for. So she, you know, she came over, we were booked into a pretty nice lavish studio in London, you know, one of the, you know, real pro ones. And she just came with like, she's really he's like a, like a kind of an acoustic as I certainly that's how she started with the songs, you know, like a lot too. But she really seemed to be pushing that she wanted this. You know, like, British feel and vibe. I'm probably when you mentioned in the Morrissey thing, that probably would have been something that she would have are people around the with the like, you know, because he is a was so you know, quintessentially British. You know? It wasn't that different actually, because I've not long been working with Morrissey. I took a lot of the fields from my point that I thought, you know, were inherent to his songs, and put them as suggestions to the songs I worked on with her. But I want him to leave on the costume. It's a whole band that was working with trying to shape the songs up, you know. And then I didn't hear anything. I didn't hear anything of that. Ah, for a good 15 years and then recently, I found a video of it on YouTube as you do
Ari Gold
when you found a video with you in it or or just
Unknown Speaker
No, no, no, just yourself, you know that, you know, one of the songs that we did that she obviously put out as a single I guess, you know she's you know, she was she's obviously this big Chinese that is that have come to work with British musicians and the song we did was called New York. So,
Ari Gold
you know, it's all part of England in her in her mind. Yeah,
Spike T. Smith
that's right. You know, so.
Ari Gold
So yeah, so So old York, New York. You're like, yeah, yeah. Okay, well, that's cool. That's go strange turn of events in life. So, Adam, I'd love to talk with you like, you know, you've played with like the adolescence as well too, right. Is that Is that right?
Adam Gomez
Yeah, correct.
Unknown Speaker
And are you like now exclusively with with Dickies? Are you like still do journeyman stuff? Like Chinese pops?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, well, I actually still do. So yeah, I'm exclusively with the Dickies. And it's been almost a decade now. So I joined in 2013. So it's almost been a decade, and I still do journeyman stuff here and there. I played with DRI, like a couple of weeks ago,
Unknown Speaker
tell us a weird job you've had as a drummer, you know, along the lines of what, like, what's the weirdest job you've had?
Unknown Speaker
And we're just drum jobs. I think I've got a couple a couple of offers that were not weird, but they were just kind of seemed too weird for me. Because I don't think I've really gotten a weird drum job to be honest, we I've never had anything to it's like, right. I'm doing what
Unknown Speaker
where the spike spikes kind of outclassing you with this Chinese pop star stuff? Yeah, absolutely. Morrissey tiny pumps, our connection is kind of pretty rad. But more legit, like I will.
Unknown Speaker
I do have one that's super cool. I wouldn't consider it weird. But maybe we're to other people. Or unique I guess. The Dickies a few years ago, we actually teamed up with the composer to killer clowns from outer space that that wrote the score and everything. John was sorry. And what we did was we actually did a live score to film showing of the movie. So what that was was literally people came to the theater out and out in LA it was called the Montell bond theater, I think it was they came out to see the movie. And underneath the screen was the entire orchestra, the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra that played along to the movie played the whole score and the Dickies were there for the beginning because if if you know the movie or if you've watched the movie, The Dickies have that song killer clowns from outer space. And it plays in the opening credits of that movie, and also plays at the end. So we were also there as special guests, and we played along to the screen to the movie at the same time. So that was unique. Maybe not weird, but super fun. That was really cool.
Ari Gold
Okay, I think that's, that's a legit answer.
Spike T. Smith
That's a good story with an orchestra.
Ari Gold
What was that spike?
Unknown Speaker
I've got an interesting story, I'll tell you quickly with an orchestra and I got to, they needed like, you know, well, you know, as a, you know, a drummer, well, with an orchestra, they don't really want drummers, they want percussion players. So it's covering anything that's within it, you know, there was a composer that, you know, somewhere, local, somewhat local to the region that I live in, and they needed to make sure percussion is so that, you know, somebody got in touch we can you do it. I was like, Yeah, you know, send me the score. But of course, you know, I can read a bit, but not to that again, you say yes, first,
Adam Gomez
then you figure it out later. That's how
Unknown Speaker
I'm you know, this thing I'd like, you know, like, however many but like, you know, 1000 bars or something, it was quite a long piece. And so, I went for the afternoon and we didn't rehearse everything because, you know, there was like a, like an ATP squire that went there. So, but the conductor wanted to go through a few you know, like sort of segments. Anyway, we went to it and he told us, we're gonna start this from you know, power 322. So, you know, you're looking through your, your pages anyway, so I did it. And I figured those bits out. Anyway, I thought, Jesus, I've really got my work cut out and I went home and I looked at some of these parts. It's like, there was one part I remembered like, which was a Triangle paths. Now everybody always makes the joke about the triangle, though they Oh, I can't play with that I'll play the triangle. So, you know, anyway, so I looked at it, I thought, yeah, okay, this part doesn't come up to like, you know, five 750 or something. So I've done that a little bit, a little bit of snare drum in here. You know, like a little bit of sound effects stuff there, some cymbal washes here. And, you know, you have to count all the way through, you don't have to know where you are, nobody's telling you, you know, right, you're on to am to bury and, and for your whatever, you got to know where you are, you're counting all the way through following the notes. And I came up to the triangles bit. And the triangle bit, you know, should have been on the off B. So you know, so it's kind of like, you know, that the B is kind of, I should have gone with a triangle, then then then then then thank, you know, you know, the offbeat, but when I came up to it, I just went I remember, I've got the triangle bit wrong. I was telling people about it after, and they were, you know, they said that there was no edge and I thought the Cabal would generally say the audience with a no. And this performance was for him. You know, I mean, there was a hole in the ground performance service fees. So
Ari Gold
instrument of the hole, and you messed it up.
Adam Gomez
That was the apex of the performance was the triangle and you fucked up, buddy.
Spike T. Smith
I messed it up. I messed it up royally. Yes. We might say. Yeah. Well, I couldn't be more wrong.
Ari Gold
Wait, so wait, why did you play? What you didn't see that it was an offbeat or you figured it out? At the moment? It was happening? No, I
Spike T. Smith
did. But it was yeah, it was just kind of you know, like with with with all the reading and you know, that just the pressure of it all and and everything. I probably missed me when I was trying to follow a conductor which I wasn't used to you know, and it was just you know, I was a fish out of water you know, so
Ari Gold
yeah, well, admirable to go into triangle. Golf. You start with alternative attack, and then you end up playing the triangle. And
Ari Gold
if when you formed alternative attacked, you knew that later on, you would be playing triangle in orchestra, how would you felt
Spike T. Smith
was sad to start to think back with that young lad in alternative attack with Mako the triangle? Probably locked it across the room? And probably the conductor. That's what I'd probably done.
Ari Gold
Yeah. All right. So yeah, I mean, messing up the messing up is a wonderful hearing lifelike as a drummer. And also, I mean, it's harder when it's scripted, you know, orchestral orchestral music, but I know whether it well, when I played music, when you make a mistake, and then you do it again, in the next bar to make the listener thing. Yeah. So directing, directing a scene for a movie, like, you know, you can embarrass yourself in front of an audience later, or you can embarrass yourself and from the actors, or when I was doing when I was playing power in the movie and air drumming, I had excited my air drumming was pretty spot on, but I would sometimes like I fell over a few times I broke my arm on set, while I laugh was messed up. I mean, then we had to like delay the rest of the shoot for six months because my it's wow, I get air drum with a broken arm. But you can use mistakes. I mean, mistakes can be great tools to make more, actually, when I did a few scenes with the broken arm and one of them one of the funniest little movie I think it's I don't know if you guys have seen Adventures of power. Yeah, but there's a scene where i i My character has just had a heart to heart with Michael McKean with my dad and he's encouraging me to keep going. And I'm inspired to tear off my sweatpants. And I wanted to do this like glorious thing where like, I tear them off and they just tear it like they just fly off of my at the payphone, right at the payphone. Yeah, but it was written that I would that it would tear them off. Oh, but my you know, my arm was had was broke 48 hours before we shot that scene because we postpone good. But there were a few locations that were like we locked down this location by this ship. And we're like we have. So I went with a cast and look who we am wearing, wearing a sweater. And you can see the cast section. Yeah. And I hang up the phone. I still wanted to have this moment of my couldn't. Like we're on set, and I tried to grab them and my, my arm was in such pain, because the braid was really fast. I couldn't close my hands to tear the sweatpants off so quickly, I was like, alright, let's, let's strap this short, the strap this sweatpants to the the payphone with a wire, and then cut them on the side and put Velcro on it now run away from the phone, and they'll just magic. Much better job because like I start running away from the phone, and then it's just kind of like, they just like stop and like, what the hell just happened? And I keep running? And it was yeah, you know, it was a great. It's kind of like, okay, what do you do with a mistake? What do you do with Prop? Yeah,
Adam Gomez
well, that that moment in the movie is it's, it's really, it's funny at the same time. It's one of the scenes where it's like, it's funny, and it didn't make sense in that moment. But then it makes sense. Because it actually you have this serious moving moving scene, and then all of a sudden that kind of breaks it back. Right to Yeah, yeah. So it was, it didn't make sense to the viewer. But it was still funny. And it's still like, emotionally, it worked.
Ari Gold
Good. It was one of those things like I need to film.
Ari Gold
Michael McKean is so good in a scene, he's in the hospital. And like, we shot that a few months before, and then my scene and I'm like, I'm on painkillers, I'm stressed out. But uh, shoot quickly before we got to leave this location. And I felt like, totally bring the emotion as well as I wanted to for that scene. But at least the guy works.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, and spike. Yeah, you got to see that movie, man. It's hilarious. It's great. It's really, it's really funny. But there's these few moments that are just really just, like, hit you. They're real. You know what I mean. But the most of it's just,
Unknown Speaker
I think, I know, it's on Amazon in the States, but I'm pretty sure it's on Amazon Prime also in the UK? For free.
Unknown Speaker
Check it out. Definitely check it out. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm keen to see it.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, it's adventures to power. And if you can't get on Amazon Go to air drummer.com. And there's, I think different links to different countries. Hopefully, one of them will work. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
We talked with a drummers that you invited to take part in it with any kind of supportive, you know, did they enjoy it?
Unknown Speaker
Well, the the first, you know, the only drummer who's in the movie, he appeared, and he was amazing. And he was such a gentleman and had such a great sense of humor about it. And, you know, I mean, I didn't know when I wrote a fan letter saying, Hey, I'd love you to be in this movie where I play an air drum. I mean, it's like, no idea if that letter is going to get to him. And no circle, like it went from my music supervisor to take a good shoni who's is you know, kind of Anthem, day to day met with the main manager and armed by the letter and pass it to him? And he said, Yes. So I was completely shocked that he agreed to be in the movie. And he did say, I mean, you mentioned, you know, saying, you know, onstage excellent ladies. And the thing of like playing when you join another band temporarily or trying to collaborate with someone, they want you to do the obscurities, and he was like, do you have to use Tom Sawyer in the movie? You know, he was like, how about using something a little more? Like, I was? No, I understand. And I but I'm sorry. Is is the song that when I was whatever I was, you know, eight years old. Like, I suddenly my brain exploded when I heard the song and I was like, I know it's a cliche, but it is kind of the the air drum song that people think of. Collins in the air tonight and that songs in the movie although Phil
Unknown Speaker
did Neil make a suggestion for another song?
Unknown Speaker
He I don't think he did. He just wanted me to like think about maybe doing I mean, I did later perform, not obscure but I performed YYC at a air drum concert in Germany.
Ari Gold
Like, obviously, there's tons. There's tons of songs to choose from, I just chose like the most, the most obvious of obvious, but he went with it, and then like, ended up supporting the movie from often. So he was amazing. And then, you know, promoting the movie. At the time, I met some other drummers at Thompson, who then came on this show. In March, I think it was. And then there's just been a lot of drummers that I've met through, you know, I didn't have the rights to the movie for a long time, it got bought for almost no money by this like, company that went bankrupt. And it was like classic, just, I mean, you know, same thing with like, you know, the masters of your recordings, like you get a fight to get them back. And yeah, I didn't get the rights back to the movie. And I finally got the rights back last year. So, you know, did a little rereleased with a new company, where we've decided to give the money to music care. So anyone who watches the movie on Amazon, get a few pennies, pay money to buy it on Vimeo, we get a little more money and send it to music, great organization that supports musicians in need, helps with the addiction issues for some musicians.
Unknown Speaker
It's a good cause and but the pre release happening around the you know it while I was planning it, and then when Neil died, really change the way I felt about the release, and I recut the credits misspelled in the credits, and I wasn't able to like on my laptop, figure out how to like fix the spelling, which is embarrassing, but I you know, he, you know, he, he never He never liked give me shit for that. So I've kind of felt all right about it. But anyway, I fixed it in
Ari Gold
which I was able to superimpose on it. And so I put a little dedicated and in the credits out, but anyway, all of that and like the interviews I did with him, me over these. So people spend whatever it is 10 bucks on Vimeo they got all these bonuses with Neil and I think I lost what your other COVID Guys
Unknown Speaker
I Sorry to interrupt, but I think I lost the audio. So I'm going to I'm going to skip out and jump right back in. I don't know if you guys can hear me. We can hear you. Yeah, yeah, I can't hear you guys whatsoever. I just it just skipped out. But let me I'm going to jump out and come right back and see what happens.
Ari Gold
Oh, watch. Okay. Okay. So yeah, and then recently, I've had you know, we had Dave Lombardo on the show. We've had amazing, amazing people truly benign Tei which is a big, big list of people who have joined recently, so
Spike T. Smith
yeah, well, I'm really pleased to be here.
Ari Gold
Hold on. He's coming back. Okay, by the way. Work. Are we talking about promoting your music? I'm just reading some of the questions now. Adam, did you get that at work?
Adam Gomez
Yeah, I think I can hear you guys.
Unknown Speaker
You guys put. Yeah. Okay. So I see a question. Are you talking about promoting your music? I would assume that's for you guys. Since I'm not doing music anymore. Except thing. Singing in the shower. You want to talk about what you've got coming up? I mean, Adams since you just got back and now your voice is with us. What's the Dickies? Have any releases coming up?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, we're actually working on what are singer Leonard calls the last album. So we're working on we're working on
Ari Gold
getting technique.
Adam Gomez
Yeah, I guess so. I mean, they've been around for what 44 years about now. And you know, the original guys are getting older and I don't know if it's the touring or anything.
Spike T. Smith
Oh, he's done. He's gone. And it's gone. Okay, well, so. You is frozen. Yeah. What do you have coming up?
Unknown Speaker
Well, I've got my first shows coming up. I'm actually playing my first show, you know, in 18 months tomorrow. That's a warm up show because I am playing a big you know, like, heavy metal festival called bloodstock over here that's happening next week. Like son with. Yeah. And I'm currently playing in the death metal band called memoriam over here, which, you know, a bunch of musicians kind of you know, we're on a similar age, we've all got histories playing with various people. And I used to play with a bass player in the band in the 80s, called sacrilege. And, you know, he's formed this band with a singer from another death metal band called bolt thrower. So they're all about that. Well, I just recorded that fourth album with him. You know, they've done three albums, and I recorded the fourth one. Last what you called fall autumn. And we've been, you know, we've been sheduled to play probably like Adam, throughout the whole thing, but it's obviously been just getting that won't be happening. No, you won't be doing it December, nothing in January looked at to match nothing, then bah, bah, bah. And the first show is happening for me is this Saturday. But we've got a little warm up show that I wanted to put in because I've never played live with them. So you know, it was like, Well, I don't find you really made debut being you know, at a bigger festival. I'd like to do something, at least in front of some people somewhere, you know, smaller before we do that. So that's happening this week. That'd be nice. So the band's called memoriam? Yeah, the band's calm memoriam. And the album I've recorded with them is called to the end.
Unknown Speaker
Okay, so they're definitely death. Death Metal. memoriam?
Unknown Speaker
That to the end. Yeah. And what they call it they call themselves old school death metal.
Ari Gold
What does that mean?
Unknown Speaker
Well, I guess I guess it means it's rooted in kind of what, you know, must have been the sort of the beginning of that metal was in? I don't know, maybe it means that it's, you know, there's not so many blastbeats or maybe it's not meant to be, you know, to me, it sounds more like good quality thrash metal, but with a more extreme vocal approach, you know, right. Okay. So, you know, if you're like Slayer or like, you know, you know, like the bands you mentioned, I am tried Slayer, you know, Metallica, along with Sepultura you know, create a Celtic Frost. To me, it's kind of rooted in that it's not in some ridiculously extreme form of it, you know, so, so maybe that's what the old school is referring to. Okay, I don't actually know because I'm not very knowledgeable on death metal. It's a new younger for me, you know.
Unknown Speaker
So when when you're playing death metal, I mean, are you kind of like connecting it all with the lyrics and thinking about death?
Unknown Speaker
Well, the thing is, is that the lyrics cowed and delirious. You know, the singer and lyricist is kind of very much rooted in punk. So you know, one of the things that we've connected with is that you know, two of his favorite but well is one of his favorite band is killing joke. Another favorite band to visit is crass. Now, you know, they're both very politicized lyrically and I've played for both in well, I played for killing joke and I didn't play for class but I played for Steve ignorant of cross through the crust set of songs, you know, on the two or so. So his lyrics you know, that they're not kind of all Dungeons and Dragons or you know, anti religion or anything that that they're more of like, you know, politicize punk, it's just a phone call delivery. And the musical sale is death metal, you know, so, so it's funny, because even I'll do this death metal thing. It's very, you know, it feels very familiar with what I'm used to, you know, like a singer that's got something to say, you know?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, so, yeah, I mean, I, I've, I get a little lost sometimes with the different distinctions of like, yeah, oh, dark metal, black metal, mathematical. You know,
Unknown Speaker
I'm the same. I'm the same. So whatever. Yeah,
Adam Gomez
some of that's hard to distinguish.
Spike T. Smith
So when they when you look like, I got, you know, I start invited to, you know, to do this album form, which is what I was first asked, I was like, well, you're just gonna have to send me it because you explain it to me, you know, I don't know. Do you know? So I was like, right, send me some, you know, just send me a couple of tunes. And the first year and I thought, oh, okay, this kind of reminds me of, you know, what I like and sort of, you know, a thrash metal you know, that there was no singing on the at that point. It was just demos of the tunes. And as So okay, you know, the, you know, there's a meeting point here, do you know, I, you know, it's not like some weird extreme thing like, you know, we're all talking about here I thought, yeah, you know, you know, I've loved my thrash metal from, you know, back in the early days and I still do and I thought if I mix a little bit of Dave Lombardo and Neil pitch, which is what I did, I've got a nice little connect.
Ari Gold
So, so we're keeping it all in the family. So go series.
Spike T. Smith
And if you and if you hear the record and listen to it, you will hear those two drummers prominently straight away. So so it's my interpretation of death metal, you know, but you're right, there's so many it's a bit like punk isn't it? Now, you know, you've got so many, you know, so different genres. It's like, sometimes it's a little bit odd to keep up with it, you know? Yeah. I
Ari Gold
mean, I have a relationship with a lot of the modern punk stuff that people call punk. Where it sounds like someone complaining about not getting allowance, go like, borrow their dad's car or whatever. And I'm like, come on. Yeah. There has to be has to be some real aggression and fighting society. Otherwise, I call it punk. But that's my own prejudice, I guess. But, yeah. By the way, Adam, are you there? You look frozen to me, but I don't know if Yeah, me. Okay.
Adam Gomez
I had to jump back in in and out a couple times. But I'm here.
Ari Gold
Yeah, you're you're on my engineering. It's a good freeze frame. You look good.
Ari Gold
Okay, good. Okay, well, so maybe we'll we'll sign off and you know, and I want to encourage and we're going to, we're going to keep this recording posted and we'll give it to you guys to post but yeah, you know, please watch adventures Empower anyone who's watching this and, you know, let's wait with bated breath for the new last Dickies record. I don't believe it.
Adam Gomez
I think we should probably believe that state we should, I believe. I think so. I believe it.
Spike T. Smith
I haven't. I haven't shown the UK SERPs gone down this road as well where they said they were on their last I believe so. I believe you album
Adam Gomez
I think I suggested to Leonard that we we named this we should name this last record death taxes and the Dickey's. And, I mean I don't know if he'll I don't think he'll bite but I mean that's kind of how I see it and I even though it seems like it's the last record I don't know. I mean I'm sure we'll keep touring as far as the record I can't believe it I'm just glad I'm on it
Ari Gold
yeah
Ari Gold
good way thing it is so well so nice to meet you guys in person I look forward to having a drink or a hello in the future we will send you this you guys to repost as for Antonia he's, you know, from TSL TS O L to a wall so we'll change him wall
Adam Gomez
Yeah, that works.
Ari Gold
That's the new name for the band. But yeah, so if he wants to do this again sometimes it's easy enough we can we can do another another chat and then stitch them together so I'm sure he's really nice. Guys. Keep keep rocking. And you know, see you out there in the land of drums, punk metal, and Chinese. And AirDrop, AirDrop all you have remember to add drum. Air drumming is where it all starts. I know this. Yeah, man talk to started. Before they before they started as air drummers before
Adam Gomez
us even were real drummers. And when we're not drumming, guess what we're doing? We're air drum and man. Yeah.
Ari Gold
All right, well, form of expression.
Ari Gold
Yeah, it is. And if you've got a spare change, anyone send it to musicares.org. It's a really great organization, or just by the movie a bunch of times on Vimeo, which why that's right. Okay. All right. Well.
Ari Gold
Nice to meet you guys.