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March 9, 2023
Episode 04 - Skittles and Spoonerisms - Danny Case of From Ashes To New
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In this episode of the Altwire podcast, we have the pleasure of hosting Danny Case, the frontman of From Ashes To New. Join us as we dive deep into the band's new music and the state of nu-metal in the modern music landscape. But that's not all. Danny Case reveals his love for Avenged Sevenfold, discussing the band's impact on him as a musician and how their music has influenced his creative process.
Additionally, the episode takes a lighthearted turn as we explore the world of spoonerisms, with Danny sharing some hilarious examples, his personal experiences with the wordplay technique, and his favorite funny moments from on the road. But be warned: after listening to this episode, you'll never look at Skittles the same way again!
Transcript
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Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Altwire Podcast.
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I'm your host Derek Osmold, and in today's episode, we are joined by Danny Case, frontman
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of the rock band From Ashes to New.
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From their explosive debut album Day One to their latest release, Nightmare, From Ashes to New
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has been delivering hard-hitting rock anthems that have been taking the world by storm.
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With their unmistakable blend of rap and rock, this band has been turning heads and winning
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hearts across the globe.
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So buckle up and get ready as we dive deep into the world of From Ashes to New with the
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one and only Danny Case.
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The Altwire Podcast starts now.
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So I wanted to start things off by talking about your new music.
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Over the past year, you've released a few songs, including the recently released new track
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Nightmare.
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When we first revealed we'd be doing this interview, many of your fans wanted to know
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the time frame for your next album.
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Where are you at in the recording process of the next record, and when can we expect
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the next record?
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Will these songs be a part of it?
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Yeah, so the whole album is done and has been done.
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It was recorded in summer of 2021.
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We went in late 2021 to make two more songs, and since March of 2022, it's been completely
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done.
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We've been done with this for a whole year.
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All three of those songs are going to be a part of the album.
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We wanted to kind of give fans a taste of the direction that we're going in and the
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vibe of the album and also just get them excited for new and upcoming stuff.
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Now you've been in the band for over five years now, and this will be your third release
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with them.
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Given that you've had a chance to grow and evolve with the band, how would you say this
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release differs from your two previous records?
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Oh, that's a phenomenal question.
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So the first record that I did with the guys, it was very much a, I'm the new guy.
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You tell me what to do.
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I'm going to do it.
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Like I'm just learning the process here.
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I'd been in my own band for a long time, but never on the level that they were doing it.
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So I was very much so trying to be a sponge and absorb everything, and it was like a process
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of me trying my best to execute on what everyone else wanted.
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So anyone who hates that record cannot blame me.
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So then we did Panic, and we worked with new producers that we hadn't worked with before.
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It was a really, honestly, a really cool experience.
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And I got to kind of spread my wings a little bit and try different things that I wanted
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to do.
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And it was during that recording process that I really figured out how I wanted to sound
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and what I felt was going to be best for my voice.
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And so, for this record, I did everything the way, pretty much the way I wanted to do it.
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I had taken everything I'd learned from our producers from the first and second record
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and from Matt, who had helped me with vowel shapings and tonalities.
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And I applied it in the way that I wanted to sing on this new record.
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And I'll tell you what, it has got some nuts on it.
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So it's going to be very intense, very heavy.
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Are there any songs that haven't been released yet that you're really excited for the fans
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to hear?
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I will say this.
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There are a couple of really, really mainstream songs, and those are kind of like the radio
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tracks.
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Yeah.
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And they definitely differ from the rest of the sound of the album, but they're really
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good songs.
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Those are two songs that I think that one, if not both of those, will be number ones.
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So we're excited about those.
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And then there are a couple other songs that are just super heavy, super intense, that
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just really bring the heat that I'm excited about as well.
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So there's more heaviness where, you know, like until we break and nightmare came from,
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there's definitely more of that.
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And we even have a song that's almost entirely, almost entirely a rap song.
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Nice.
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It's not rap in the traditional sense where it's like all software instruments.
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Like there's guitar, and there's drums in there, but it's just all Matt.
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What are your thoughts on the current nu-metal scene as it exists right now?
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I think it's phenomenal that more and more bands are embracing the sound because I feel
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like 2013 is when this band started and also when Falling In Reverse started.
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And no one else was doing it successfully.
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I think maybe there were a couple of bands that were at like a lower mid-level that were
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doing it that are since, I think disbanded.
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But now I feel like there are bands everywhere that are including rap or certain essences
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of hip hop.
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And then you have Falling In Reverse, which is on top of the world right now, just annihilating
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everything.
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And they are the epitome of what like the future of this style of music I think is going
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to sound like.
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You guys are no strangers to paying homage to the bands that you love.
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In fact, one of my favorite things you guys did over the quarantine was the quarantine
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EPs.
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And not only was it great to hear new music from you, but I also loved hearing your takes
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on some iconic songs in the genre.
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What was the story behind those EPs, and how did the idea for them come about?
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That was us trying to stay sane.
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So we were all just pretty much sitting in our homes watching the days pass by and knowing
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that it was going to be an indefinite amount of time before we got our lives back.
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And that was not fun to sit in day in and day out because we were - our industry realistically
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was the first to go, and it was the last to come back.
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And we knew that that's how it was going to be.
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Once the two weeks ended and then it kept going and going and going.
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We were like, okay, this is not going to be over for a while.
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And even when it is like, we're not coming back.
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So we had better do something for ourselves to keep ourselves sane and as well as for
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the fans.
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It's like we had an album that we did end up putting out, but at the time, we weren't
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sure what was going to happen with us.
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We're like, let's just do some covers that we love, and we'll like take requests.
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We'll do them in our own homes, and we'll piece it all together and try to make it sound like
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a decent recording.
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What was your favorite cover to work on?
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And are there some songs out there that you'd love to do a cover on that you haven't done
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yet?
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The favorite that I can at least remember off the top of my head would probably be Nightmare
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because of Avenged Sevenfold is my favorite band of all time.
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Pretty much the reason that I even have a career.
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So I love that band.
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I've loved their music for a long time.
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Being able to put out a recording of one of their songs was super awesome.
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So that one is definitely near and dear to my heart.
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As far as like songs that I would like to do in the future, I haven't really put much
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of any thought into that.
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I think because we did it so much in the Quarantine Chronicles that we've pretty much just like,
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we've gotten that all out of our system.
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We're like; we can't do any more covers or people are going to start to think we're just
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some cover band.
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I'm really curious about your thoughts on something I've seen from a lot of artists
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lately.
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Now, granted, you guys are about to release a full-length album.
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What I've been noticing is that a lot of bands are starting to drift toward just releasing
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singles or even just doing EPs instead of a full length.
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Is that something you guys have ever considered, or are you still a fan of the traditional
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album format?
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That's something we talk about all the time, actually.
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The rap and pop world has shown how much that style works, releasing singles.
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And I think probably one of the first bands to adopt it was Bring Me the Horizon.
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That worked really well for them.
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They still do release albums as well.
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But releasing singles, I think, is really the future.
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It's like when a show comes out on Netflix, and everyone binges it for one week, and then
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it's over, and it's like you have to wait a year and a half before the next season of
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the show comes out or whatever.
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Unless they find out that it's wildly successful or whatever.
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And it's like that sucks on both ends because the fans want more right then and there and
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they know they can't get it.
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And on the other end, the people who are making that show or producing that show want to follow
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up that success as soon as they can and they can't.
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So it's like I think there's probably going to be a good balance of both moving forward
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in the industry between a band probably putting out four to five songs and then releasing
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the record.
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I feel like Falling in Reverse is doing that right now.
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I don't know that Popular Monster would be included with this recent batch of songs that
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they've put out or not.
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I haven't followed them too closely, but they have Popular Monster, Zombify, Voices in
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My Head, and then the newest one, Watch the World Burn.
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It's kind of like those all could be on an album and put out with six other songs and
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that would be another release.
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So constantly being in front of the fans and being at the front of their attention is a
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really great thing and constantly putting out songs that are successful sequentially
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is just...
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I don't see how it could go wrong there.
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I personally think that's realistically what we should do moving forward, and a lot of bands
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should do moving forward.
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I'm actually not a fan in many ways of the whole binge culture where a whole show is
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released all at once.
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As much as I absolutely love The Last of Us, I'm happy that HBO didn't decide just to drop
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everything all at once because it reminds me of the old days before streaming when there
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was all that hype, what's going to happen in the next episode when you're waiting for
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the next episode to come.
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The new binge culture or even just releasing the album all at once, you get everything
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done in that first listen, that first watch, and then there's nothing for several years.
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Yeah.
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It makes it hard to get attached to something, at least in the world of shows, I would say.
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I'm not sure how it would relate to music but it's just how human beings are, I think.
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You get it, and you just want to consume all of it right away.
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I think one of the reasons why TV shows in the past were so successful, like Lost, my
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favorite TV show of all time, was you had to wait an entire week to get another episode
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and then that spanned over eight years.
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You basically grew up with those characters.
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You became attached to them.
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You got to know all of them.
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When you go back, and you just watch the whole thing in a month, it's just not the same as
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the sitting and waiting and growing with the show or the music.
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So yeah, you just can't help it as a human being to get something and want to listen
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to the whole thing for three months straight and then be done with it.
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So I think that singles are going to help remedy that.
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Switching gears, you're about to go on tour with Three Days Grace and Shinedown.
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What are you looking forward to the most about the upcoming tour?
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Oh, you know, so we have certain levels of production on this tour that I don't want
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to give away.
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That is going to be just so next-level and so awesome that I'm super excited about that.
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Just playing shows with Shine Down, playing shows with Three Days Grace, those dudes are
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all awesome and bands that I listened to growing up.
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So between all those things, all the different areas that we're hitting, like I think honestly
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almost all of it is exciting.
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Are there any bands that you hope to tour with someday that you can think of off the
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top of your head?
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Avenged Sevenfold.
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That's like the only one that I can think of off the top of my head.
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That is my absolute dying wish.
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If I have any dying wish, it's like that is the one thing I need to do before my music
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career closes out whenever that is.
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That gets crazy because when I was in my early 20s, I looked at where I was, and I looked
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at where they were, and I was like, man, even if I make something of myself in this industry,
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by the time I get far long enough to even be able to be in the same realm as them, they
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will have probably retired.
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And I'm probably never going to be able to play a show with them.
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I actually almost accepted that early on.
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And then all this happened, and we played a couple of festivals.
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I was like, holy shit.
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Like, this is entirely possible that we could do a tour with them.
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And obviously, they've been out for a while because of Matt's vocal surgery, and then them
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making an album.
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But fingers crossed, man, I would do anything to tour with that band.
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I owe my entire career to them.
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I wanted to bring this up.
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Unfortunately, you weren't part of the band when this happened, but I actually interviewed
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From Ashes To New back in 2016 when they were on the Warped Tour.
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And I wish you could have been there because it was honestly one of the most off the rails
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and hilarious interviews I've ever had.
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To me, it kind of showed that the guys have an incredible sense of humor and don't always
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like to take themselves too seriously.
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So what I was wondering is, what are some ways the guys like to keep things lighthearted
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between touring and recording?
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And what is one of your funniest memories so far with the band?
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Oh man, there are some stories I just can't share.
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I would say we struggled to have enough serious moments.
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So that's definitely part of it.
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We're constantly just goofing off and being idiots.
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One of the things that we like to do that just evolved into this insane game, there
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is this thing called spoonerisms.
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It's kind of like a dad joke thing to kind of do.
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And it's where you switch the front letter on two different words to make something else.
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So, for instance, you'd say like, oh my gosh, I can't stand that dumb bitch.
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Someone would turn that around and be like, oh, bum ditch.
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And we would make a game out of it where instead of just saying something that could be flipped
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around and into something funny, we would go to someone else and make them guess what
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it was that we were turning it into.
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And then they would have to reverse it.
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So it's almost like a riddle.
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So we were like, hey, what would you call like a homeless guy laying in a, like, a divot
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in the side of the road?
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You'd be like, oh, bum ditch.
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Oh, dumb bitch.
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I'm like, oh, okay, got it.
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It's like; it is hard to even talk to each other sometimes because it's become so automatic
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in our brains that we're just like switching things around and then trying to do it to
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each other.
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But someone else is already doing it, so they can like catch you before you even get your
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little riddle out.
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And, like, we've done so many that are just absolutely insane.
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That's a fun thing that we like to do.
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And it's really hard to explain without actually someone just witnessing it.
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Then we're always just like doing crazy stuff together.
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Sometimes our drummer, but we call him, I don't know if it's 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.
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Matty, he just turns into a gremlin, and he'll climb in people's bunks and try to touch people.
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And there's this one memory I have of several people, all climbed into Matt's bunk, and something
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happened where one of our guys' hats fell off.
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And he's kind of like a South Park character.
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I've never seen him with his hat off in my entire life.
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I've never seen him with his hat off.
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And he just has dreads hanging out.
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So like we're recording.
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It's funny.
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There's like five people like shoved into a bunk, and all of a sudden Matt is just cackling
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to the point where like it's concerning for his health because he like he is unable to
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breathe.
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Apparently, someone flipped the light on in his bunk because he couldn't see, and all these
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people were piled in there.
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And our guy's hat has fallen off.
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It turns out the guy has two haircuts.
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He's got these dreads.
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And then, on top, he's got like an Amish-like bull cut.
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And so Matt flicks on the light.
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First thing he sees, and he is just like near vomit laughing.
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And he's just like, I have this video on my phone of him like crawling out of the bunk.
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He's like; I gotta get out of here.
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I can't do it.
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I can't take this.
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He just literally leaves the bus.
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And he's like I've never laughed so hard in my entire life.
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So those are some of the more PG stories.
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It definitely gets weirder than that.
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I won't say who, but there was a time that someone we had a competition where someone
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was trying to throw a skittle into somebody else's butthole.
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That was that was interesting.
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It actually happened.
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Somebody did it, and it was probably one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed.
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Honestly doesn't surprise me because one of my favorite memories from that entire interview
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at Warped Tour.
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One of the band members was trying to be serious the whole time.
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They were just trying to, you know reign everybody in, which you know, when people aren't being
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serious that's the worst thing you do because they're just going to get sillier.
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Our group is a lot like our tour manager always says that getting us together and operating
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on the same page is like herding cats.
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So that's pretty much 100% accurate.
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Everybody's always somewhere else.
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Someone will come in.
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Someone else will come in and be like okay, we got two of the guys here.
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Like oh, I got to go do this thing.
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Then the other two come.
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They're like well, now we're missing one person, and we're all over the place and always doing
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something different.
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Now it seems like these hijinks like to follow you on tour.
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One of my contributors on Altwire actually told me that Santa gave you a very funny gift
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at the end of your last tour.
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Did you know this was going to happen, and what were your thoughts on the gift?
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Yeah, we had no idea it was going to happen.
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We knew something was going to happen.
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We kind of had to tell them like hey, if you guys are planning anything, just like don't
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do it during the set because this is like our sold-out hometown show.
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We want everyone to have fun but don't do anything to like sabotage the set.
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So after we finished, we go backstage, and we wait for the encore, and then we come back
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out and freaking Tony from Dragged Under is out there dressed as Santa, and I can't remember
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what he gave everyone, but he gave me lingerie.
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Did you put it on?
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And I tried to get it on.
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I couldn't get it on.
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I could not fit it on.
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This is a picture of me somewhere, like yanking up a get-up and that's a good photo.
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I wish I could find it.
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Everybody give it up for Santa.
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Who just so happens to be Tony from Dragged Under!
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Danny, are you?
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Alright, everybody, get your TikToks ready.
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Seriously last time he wore underwear, he was wearing it on
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TikTok, he went viral.
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The lace looks great on you, Danny.
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When it comes to writing new material, is there a typical writing process for the band?
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Do you all write demos and then develop them together, or do you prefer to create new material
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by jamming together in the moment?
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It's very free-form, so there's no specific way that it gets done.
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It depends on how something presents itself and where we go with it.
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So I would say generally, we have all of us in a room, and either somebody has a little
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piece of something that they already have that they can bring forth, and then we expand
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on that as a whole.
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Or sometimes we come to the table, and we go hey we really like this one particular song
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let's see if we can make something that kind of has that same level of energy.
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And then other times it's like, hey, let's come up with a riff or something like that or a
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lyrical idea, and then I would say that's like the general process.
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And then the kind of different outliers are like Lance writes an entire song by himself
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and then that's cool.
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Or I'll write like a musical bed, and I'll have a melody like I'll have everything up
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to the bridge, and I have a melody for the chorus, and I bring it forth to the band and
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I'll just be like, let's figure this out.
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Somebody write the verses that, and I will figure out the chorus or whatever.
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And then there are also some times where we'll have an outside writer set us something as
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inspiration, and then we take that and turn it into our own.
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But there's just there's so many different ways to go about it.
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It just depends on what the energy feels like and where it's flowing, and we just try to
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take it in that direction instead of like forcing us into specific way of doing things.
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Gotcha.
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Gotcha.
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Are there any writing that you do that is outside of the band maybe potentially to do
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a solo album someday?
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There are definitely some things that I've written that I just kind of keep to myself
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because it doesn't really fit the mold of what we want From Ashes To New to sound like.
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I think there are definitely pieces of my influence or of my preference of writing that
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just don't really make sense to be part of the band, and that's totally cool.
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I'm sure the other guys have things like that as well.
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So there are definitely some times where I wonder like maybe I should fully record this
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thing that I've made and put it out on the side.
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But for right now like we're just so focused on what we're doing, that can just kind of
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sit aside.
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If I ever decide to do something with it, then I can.
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I don't want to take any kind of focus away from the band for right now.
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It's like we're doing a bunch of tours, and we're going to release an album, and it's like
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maybe if there's like a dead space in between there, I could just go in and record it and
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put it out for people just to put out there and that would be cool.
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But that's probably a little ways off.
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At least six months off because we're really focused on everything we're doing right now.
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What are some issues or causes that you're passionate about that you'd like your fans
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to either look into or support?
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Like nonprofits?
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Like nonprofits or maybe just...
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Or just topics.
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Topics too, yeah.
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That too.
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Both actually.
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So there's something I've noticed, and I think it's just the way that the human beings work
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is that, like most people don't care too much about a cause until it personally affects
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them.
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It's a shame that that's the way we're wired, but it's hard to kind of have...
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Can't have empathy for everything.
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You'd just be a freaking basket case.
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I've been fortunate enough to not have too much pain and suffering in my family or in
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my personal life, and that's caused me to kind of look for things and to just choose to care
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about them before it personally affects me, if it ever does.
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And so I guess one of the ones that I have supported before, I did like a little cancer
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benefit.
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And I was looking for somebody that I could personally benefit rather than a foundation.
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Foundations that are upfront costs and operational costs and all that stuff.
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And I wanted to do something that could help affect a person's life specifically.
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So I kind of reached out to my fan base.
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I was like, Hey, does anybody know anyone that I could do a fundraiser for to help them?
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And there ended up being this little girl named Mars, which is such an awesome name.
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And she was like two or three years old and had cancer.
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So the idea was like, all right, I'm going to try to raise a certain amount of money
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and then I'm going to shave my head when that goal is met.
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So that was, I don't know, a couple of years ago, and it was really awesome.
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I enjoyed it.
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And it was nice being able to make a difference for another family.
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And it was a really fun experience.
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And I absolutely do not look good with a shaved head.
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So that's something I definitely care about.
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I mean, like, just trying to be mindful of all the different pains and sufferings that
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exist in the world and taking time to help every now and then and find different ways
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to help wherever there can be help.
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I don't really know that I'll ever have a foundation or anything like that, but it's
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always cool to be able to help, even if it's in a small way, even if it's just an individual
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family.
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As far as like topics for songs and stuff like that, I think one of the things that
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I care about a lot is loneliness.
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And it affects, I think more and more today, it affects younger people in our generation.
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We're moving towards a digital age.
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There's less person-to-person interaction every day.
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And if you don't have a strong tight-knit, like friend circle or family unit, loneliness
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is a crazy hard thing to deal with.
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I think it can lead to a lot of really bad things.
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So I think that's one of the things that I'm passionate about that I want to write more
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about in the future.
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It's interesting you brought up Mars because as soon as you said that it actually, it's
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Jim Louvau's daughter.
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He's a famous photographer, and I'm actually friends with him on Facebook, and I remember
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him posting about that.
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So I think that's really amazing that you helped raise money for her.
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I think that's really awesome.
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I just want to close the podcast by asking, what are you looking forward to in the year
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ahead?
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What are you most excited for?
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I'm excited for whatever happens, man.
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I don't have any expectations.
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I don't want to force anything in any direction.
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I just want to kind of sit back and observe and witness whatever life has in store for
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me to experience.
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So I'm definitely obviously excited to tour with Shinedown, and Three Days Grace and to
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eventually have our album come out.
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00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,720
Beyond that, I have no idea what's going to happen, and I'm cool with just watching it
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unfold.
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So that's just where I'm at.
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Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
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We really appreciate it.
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00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,400
Hey, thanks for having me.
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00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:48,400
Absolutely.
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And that brings us to the end of this episode.
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I want to thank Danny for joining us today and for being such a wonderful guest.
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00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:59,400
Please be sure to check out From Ashes to New's latest single, Nightmare, and get ready
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for their upcoming new album due for release later this year.
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If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our podcast for more interviews with your
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favorite artists.
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My name is Derek Oswald, and this has been another episode of the Altwire Podcast.
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Thanks for listening.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,640
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Altwire Podcast.
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I'm your host Derek Osmold, and in today's episode, we are joined by Danny Case, frontman
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of the rock band From Ashes to New.
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From their explosive debut album Day One to their latest release, Nightmare, From Ashes to New
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00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,520
has been delivering hard-hitting rock anthems that have been taking the world by storm.
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With their unmistakable blend of rap and rock, this band has been turning heads and winning
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hearts across the globe.
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So buckle up and get ready as we dive deep into the world of From Ashes to New with the
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one and only Danny Case.
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The Altwire Podcast starts now.
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So I wanted to start things off by talking about your new music.
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Over the past year, you've released a few songs, including the recently released new track
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Nightmare.
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When we first revealed we'd be doing this interview, many of your fans wanted to know
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the time frame for your next album.
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Where are you at in the recording process of the next record, and when can we expect
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the next record?
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Will these songs be a part of it?
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Yeah, so the whole album is done and has been done.
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It was recorded in summer of 2021.
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We went in late 2021 to make two more songs, and since March of 2022, it's been completely
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done.
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We've been done with this for a whole year.
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All three of those songs are going to be a part of the album.
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We wanted to kind of give fans a taste of the direction that we're going in and the
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vibe of the album and also just get them excited for new and upcoming stuff.
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Now you've been in the band for over five years now, and this will be your third release
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with them.
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Given that you've had a chance to grow and evolve with the band, how would you say this
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release differs from your two previous records?
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Oh, that's a phenomenal question.
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So the first record that I did with the guys, it was very much a, I'm the new guy.
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You tell me what to do.
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I'm going to do it.
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Like I'm just learning the process here.
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I'd been in my own band for a long time, but never on the level that they were doing it.
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So I was very much so trying to be a sponge and absorb everything, and it was like a process
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of me trying my best to execute on what everyone else wanted.
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So anyone who hates that record cannot blame me.
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So then we did Panic, and we worked with new producers that we hadn't worked with before.
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It was a really, honestly, a really cool experience.
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And I got to kind of spread my wings a little bit and try different things that I wanted
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to do.
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And it was during that recording process that I really figured out how I wanted to sound
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and what I felt was going to be best for my voice.
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And so, for this record, I did everything the way, pretty much the way I wanted to do it.
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I had taken everything I'd learned from our producers from the first and second record
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and from Matt, who had helped me with vowel shapings and tonalities.
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And I applied it in the way that I wanted to sing on this new record.
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And I'll tell you what, it has got some nuts on it.
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So it's going to be very intense, very heavy.
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Are there any songs that haven't been released yet that you're really excited for the fans
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to hear?
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I will say this.
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There are a couple of really, really mainstream songs, and those are kind of like the radio
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tracks.
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Yeah.
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And they definitely differ from the rest of the sound of the album, but they're really
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good songs.
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Those are two songs that I think that one, if not both of those, will be number ones.
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So we're excited about those.
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And then there are a couple other songs that are just super heavy, super intense, that
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just really bring the heat that I'm excited about as well.
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So there's more heaviness where, you know, like until we break and nightmare came from,
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there's definitely more of that.
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And we even have a song that's almost entirely, almost entirely a rap song.
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Nice.
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It's not rap in the traditional sense where it's like all software instruments.
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Like there's guitar, and there's drums in there, but it's just all Matt.
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What are your thoughts on the current nu-metal scene as it exists right now?
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I think it's phenomenal that more and more bands are embracing the sound because I feel
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like 2013 is when this band started and also when Falling In Reverse started.
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And no one else was doing it successfully.
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I think maybe there were a couple of bands that were at like a lower mid-level that were
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doing it that are since, I think disbanded.
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But now I feel like there are bands everywhere that are including rap or certain essences
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of hip hop.
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And then you have Falling In Reverse, which is on top of the world right now, just annihilating
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everything.
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And they are the epitome of what like the future of this style of music I think is going
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to sound like.
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You guys are no strangers to paying homage to the bands that you love.
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In fact, one of my favorite things you guys did over the quarantine was the quarantine
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EPs.
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And not only was it great to hear new music from you, but I also loved hearing your takes
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on some iconic songs in the genre.
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What was the story behind those EPs, and how did the idea for them come about?
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That was us trying to stay sane.
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So we were all just pretty much sitting in our homes watching the days pass by and knowing
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that it was going to be an indefinite amount of time before we got our lives back.
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And that was not fun to sit in day in and day out because we were - our industry realistically
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was the first to go, and it was the last to come back.
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And we knew that that's how it was going to be.
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Once the two weeks ended and then it kept going and going and going.
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We were like, okay, this is not going to be over for a while.
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And even when it is like, we're not coming back.
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So we had better do something for ourselves to keep ourselves sane and as well as for
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the fans.
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It's like we had an album that we did end up putting out, but at the time, we weren't
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sure what was going to happen with us.
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We're like, let's just do some covers that we love, and we'll like take requests.
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We'll do them in our own homes, and we'll piece it all together and try to make it sound like
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a decent recording.
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What was your favorite cover to work on?
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And are there some songs out there that you'd love to do a cover on that you haven't done
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yet?
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The favorite that I can at least remember off the top of my head would probably be Nightmare
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because of Avenged Sevenfold is my favorite band of all time.
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Pretty much the reason that I even have a career.
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So I love that band.
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I've loved their music for a long time.
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Being able to put out a recording of one of their songs was super awesome.
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So that one is definitely near and dear to my heart.
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As far as like songs that I would like to do in the future, I haven't really put much
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of any thought into that.
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I think because we did it so much in the Quarantine Chronicles that we've pretty much just like,
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we've gotten that all out of our system.
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We're like; we can't do any more covers or people are going to start to think we're just
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some cover band.
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I'm really curious about your thoughts on something I've seen from a lot of artists
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lately.
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Now, granted, you guys are about to release a full-length album.
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What I've been noticing is that a lot of bands are starting to drift toward just releasing
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singles or even just doing EPs instead of a full length.
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Is that something you guys have ever considered, or are you still a fan of the traditional
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album format?
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That's something we talk about all the time, actually.
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The rap and pop world has shown how much that style works, releasing singles.
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And I think probably one of the first bands to adopt it was Bring Me the Horizon.
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That worked really well for them.
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They still do release albums as well.
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But releasing singles, I think, is really the future.
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It's like when a show comes out on Netflix, and everyone binges it for one week, and then
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it's over, and it's like you have to wait a year and a half before the next season of
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the show comes out or whatever.
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Unless they find out that it's wildly successful or whatever.
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And it's like that sucks on both ends because the fans want more right then and there and
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they know they can't get it.
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And on the other end, the people who are making that show or producing that show want to follow
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up that success as soon as they can and they can't.
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So it's like I think there's probably going to be a good balance of both moving forward
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in the industry between a band probably putting out four to five songs and then releasing
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the record.
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I feel like Falling in Reverse is doing that right now.
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I don't know that Popular Monster would be included with this recent batch of songs that
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they've put out or not.
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I haven't followed them too closely, but they have Popular Monster, Zombify, Voices in
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My Head, and then the newest one, Watch the World Burn.
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It's kind of like those all could be on an album and put out with six other songs and
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that would be another release.
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So constantly being in front of the fans and being at the front of their attention is a
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really great thing and constantly putting out songs that are successful sequentially
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is just...
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I don't see how it could go wrong there.
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I personally think that's realistically what we should do moving forward, and a lot of bands
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should do moving forward.
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I'm actually not a fan in many ways of the whole binge culture where a whole show is
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released all at once.
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As much as I absolutely love The Last of Us, I'm happy that HBO didn't decide just to drop
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everything all at once because it reminds me of the old days before streaming when there
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was all that hype, what's going to happen in the next episode when you're waiting for
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the next episode to come.
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The new binge culture or even just releasing the album all at once, you get everything
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done in that first listen, that first watch, and then there's nothing for several years.
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Yeah.
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It makes it hard to get attached to something, at least in the world of shows, I would say.
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I'm not sure how it would relate to music but it's just how human beings are, I think.
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You get it, and you just want to consume all of it right away.
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I think one of the reasons why TV shows in the past were so successful, like Lost, my
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favorite TV show of all time, was you had to wait an entire week to get another episode
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and then that spanned over eight years.
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You basically grew up with those characters.
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You became attached to them.
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You got to know all of them.
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When you go back, and you just watch the whole thing in a month, it's just not the same as
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the sitting and waiting and growing with the show or the music.
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So yeah, you just can't help it as a human being to get something and want to listen
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to the whole thing for three months straight and then be done with it.
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So I think that singles are going to help remedy that.
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Switching gears, you're about to go on tour with Three Days Grace and Shinedown.
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What are you looking forward to the most about the upcoming tour?
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Oh, you know, so we have certain levels of production on this tour that I don't want
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to give away.
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That is going to be just so next-level and so awesome that I'm super excited about that.
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Just playing shows with Shine Down, playing shows with Three Days Grace, those dudes are
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all awesome and bands that I listened to growing up.
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So between all those things, all the different areas that we're hitting, like I think honestly
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almost all of it is exciting.
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Are there any bands that you hope to tour with someday that you can think of off the
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top of your head?
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Avenged Sevenfold.
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That's like the only one that I can think of off the top of my head.
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That is my absolute dying wish.
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If I have any dying wish, it's like that is the one thing I need to do before my music
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career closes out whenever that is.
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That gets crazy because when I was in my early 20s, I looked at where I was, and I looked
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at where they were, and I was like, man, even if I make something of myself in this industry,
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by the time I get far long enough to even be able to be in the same realm as them, they
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will have probably retired.
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And I'm probably never going to be able to play a show with them.
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I actually almost accepted that early on.
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And then all this happened, and we played a couple of festivals.
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I was like, holy shit.
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Like, this is entirely possible that we could do a tour with them.
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And obviously, they've been out for a while because of Matt's vocal surgery, and then them
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making an album.
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But fingers crossed, man, I would do anything to tour with that band.
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I owe my entire career to them.
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I wanted to bring this up.
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Unfortunately, you weren't part of the band when this happened, but I actually interviewed
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From Ashes To New back in 2016 when they were on the Warped Tour.
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And I wish you could have been there because it was honestly one of the most off the rails
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and hilarious interviews I've ever had.
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To me, it kind of showed that the guys have an incredible sense of humor and don't always
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like to take themselves too seriously.
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So what I was wondering is, what are some ways the guys like to keep things lighthearted
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between touring and recording?
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And what is one of your funniest memories so far with the band?
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Oh man, there are some stories I just can't share.
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I would say we struggled to have enough serious moments.
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So that's definitely part of it.
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We're constantly just goofing off and being idiots.
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One of the things that we like to do that just evolved into this insane game, there
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is this thing called spoonerisms.
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It's kind of like a dad joke thing to kind of do.
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And it's where you switch the front letter on two different words to make something else.
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So, for instance, you'd say like, oh my gosh, I can't stand that dumb bitch.
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Someone would turn that around and be like, oh, bum ditch.
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And we would make a game out of it where instead of just saying something that could be flipped
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around and into something funny, we would go to someone else and make them guess what
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it was that we were turning it into.
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And then they would have to reverse it.
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So it's almost like a riddle.
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So we were like, hey, what would you call like a homeless guy laying in a, like, a divot
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in the side of the road?
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You'd be like, oh, bum ditch.
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Oh, dumb bitch.
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I'm like, oh, okay, got it.
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It's like; it is hard to even talk to each other sometimes because it's become so automatic
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in our brains that we're just like switching things around and then trying to do it to
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each other.
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But someone else is already doing it, so they can like catch you before you even get your
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little riddle out.
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And, like, we've done so many that are just absolutely insane.
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That's a fun thing that we like to do.
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And it's really hard to explain without actually someone just witnessing it.
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Then we're always just like doing crazy stuff together.
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Sometimes our drummer, but we call him, I don't know if it's 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.
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Matty, he just turns into a gremlin, and he'll climb in people's bunks and try to touch people.
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And there's this one memory I have of several people, all climbed into Matt's bunk, and something
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happened where one of our guys' hats fell off.
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And he's kind of like a South Park character.
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I've never seen him with his hat off in my entire life.
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I've never seen him with his hat off.
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And he just has dreads hanging out.
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So like we're recording.
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It's funny.
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There's like five people like shoved into a bunk, and all of a sudden Matt is just cackling
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to the point where like it's concerning for his health because he like he is unable to
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breathe.
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Apparently, someone flipped the light on in his bunk because he couldn't see, and all these
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people were piled in there.
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And our guy's hat has fallen off.
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It turns out the guy has two haircuts.
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He's got these dreads.
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And then, on top, he's got like an Amish-like bull cut.
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And so Matt flicks on the light.
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First thing he sees, and he is just like near vomit laughing.
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And he's just like, I have this video on my phone of him like crawling out of the bunk.
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He's like; I gotta get out of here.
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I can't do it.
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I can't take this.
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He just literally leaves the bus.
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And he's like I've never laughed so hard in my entire life.
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So those are some of the more PG stories.
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It definitely gets weirder than that.
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I won't say who, but there was a time that someone we had a competition where someone
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00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,320
was trying to throw a skittle into somebody else's butthole.
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That was that was interesting.
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It actually happened.
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Somebody did it, and it was probably one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed.
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Honestly doesn't surprise me because one of my favorite memories from that entire interview
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at Warped Tour.
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One of the band members was trying to be serious the whole time.
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They were just trying to, you know reign everybody in, which you know, when people aren't being
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serious that's the worst thing you do because they're just going to get sillier.
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Our group is a lot like our tour manager always says that getting us together and operating
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on the same page is like herding cats.
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So that's pretty much 100% accurate.
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Everybody's always somewhere else.
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Someone will come in.
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Someone else will come in and be like okay, we got two of the guys here.
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Like oh, I got to go do this thing.
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Then the other two come.
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They're like well, now we're missing one person, and we're all over the place and always doing
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something different.
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Now it seems like these hijinks like to follow you on tour.
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One of my contributors on Altwire actually told me that Santa gave you a very funny gift
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at the end of your last tour.
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Did you know this was going to happen, and what were your thoughts on the gift?
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Yeah, we had no idea it was going to happen.
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We knew something was going to happen.
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We kind of had to tell them like hey, if you guys are planning anything, just like don't
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do it during the set because this is like our sold-out hometown show.
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We want everyone to have fun but don't do anything to like sabotage the set.
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So after we finished, we go backstage, and we wait for the encore, and then we come back
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out and freaking Tony from Dragged Under is out there dressed as Santa, and I can't remember
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00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:08,440
what he gave everyone, but he gave me lingerie.
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Did you put it on?
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And I tried to get it on.
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I couldn't get it on.
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I could not fit it on.
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This is a picture of me somewhere, like yanking up a get-up and that's a good photo.
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I wish I could find it.
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Everybody give it up for Santa.
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Who just so happens to be Tony from Dragged Under!
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Danny, are you?
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Alright, everybody, get your TikToks ready.
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Seriously last time he wore underwear, he was wearing it on
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TikTok, he went viral.
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The lace looks great on you, Danny.
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00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,460
When it comes to writing new material, is there a typical writing process for the band?
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Do you all write demos and then develop them together, or do you prefer to create new material
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by jamming together in the moment?
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00:19:00,940 --> 00:19:06,320
It's very free-form, so there's no specific way that it gets done.
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00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:11,520
It depends on how something presents itself and where we go with it.
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So I would say generally, we have all of us in a room, and either somebody has a little
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piece of something that they already have that they can bring forth, and then we expand
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on that as a whole.
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00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:31,400
Or sometimes we come to the table, and we go hey we really like this one particular song
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00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:36,920
let's see if we can make something that kind of has that same level of energy.
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00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:42,200
And then other times it's like, hey, let's come up with a riff or something like that or a
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00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:46,600
lyrical idea, and then I would say that's like the general process.
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00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:51,780
And then the kind of different outliers are like Lance writes an entire song by himself
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00:19:51,780 --> 00:19:53,000
and then that's cool.
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00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:58,160
Or I'll write like a musical bed, and I'll have a melody like I'll have everything up
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00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:02,760
to the bridge, and I have a melody for the chorus, and I bring it forth to the band and
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00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,440
I'll just be like, let's figure this out.
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00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,240
Somebody write the verses that, and I will figure out the chorus or whatever.
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00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,960
And then there are also some times where we'll have an outside writer set us something as
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inspiration, and then we take that and turn it into our own.
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00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,100
But there's just there's so many different ways to go about it.
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It just depends on what the energy feels like and where it's flowing, and we just try to
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00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:32,960
take it in that direction instead of like forcing us into specific way of doing things.
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Gotcha.
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00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:34,960
Gotcha.
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00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,360
Are there any writing that you do that is outside of the band maybe potentially to do
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00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:40,200
a solo album someday?
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00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:44,480
There are definitely some things that I've written that I just kind of keep to myself
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00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:50,560
because it doesn't really fit the mold of what we want From Ashes To New to sound like.
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00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:57,400
I think there are definitely pieces of my influence or of my preference of writing that
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just don't really make sense to be part of the band, and that's totally cool.
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00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,060
I'm sure the other guys have things like that as well.
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00:21:05,060 --> 00:21:11,600
So there are definitely some times where I wonder like maybe I should fully record this
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thing that I've made and put it out on the side.
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00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,560
But for right now like we're just so focused on what we're doing, that can just kind of
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sit aside.
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If I ever decide to do something with it, then I can.
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I don't want to take any kind of focus away from the band for right now.
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It's like we're doing a bunch of tours, and we're going to release an album, and it's like
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00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:35,760
maybe if there's like a dead space in between there, I could just go in and record it and
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00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,640
put it out for people just to put out there and that would be cool.
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But that's probably a little ways off.
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At least six months off because we're really focused on everything we're doing right now.
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00:21:48,540 --> 00:21:54,480
What are some issues or causes that you're passionate about that you'd like your fans
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to either look into or support?
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00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:57,720
Like nonprofits?
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00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,120
Like nonprofits or maybe just...
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00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:01,120
Or just topics.
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00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:02,120
Topics too, yeah.
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00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:03,120
That too.
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00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:04,120
Both actually.
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So there's something I've noticed, and I think it's just the way that the human beings work
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is that, like most people don't care too much about a cause until it personally affects
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them.
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00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:19,080
It's a shame that that's the way we're wired, but it's hard to kind of have...
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00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:20,500
Can't have empathy for everything.
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00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:22,680
You'd just be a freaking basket case.
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00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:28,280
I've been fortunate enough to not have too much pain and suffering in my family or in
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00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:34,500
my personal life, and that's caused me to kind of look for things and to just choose to care
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00:22:34,500 --> 00:22:39,800
about them before it personally affects me, if it ever does.
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00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:46,040
And so I guess one of the ones that I have supported before, I did like a little cancer
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benefit.
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And I was looking for somebody that I could personally benefit rather than a foundation.
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Foundations that are upfront costs and operational costs and all that stuff.
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00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:03,200
And I wanted to do something that could help affect a person's life specifically.
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00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,960
So I kind of reached out to my fan base.
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I was like, Hey, does anybody know anyone that I could do a fundraiser for to help them?
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00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:18,400
And there ended up being this little girl named Mars, which is such an awesome name.
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00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:23,360
And she was like two or three years old and had cancer.
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00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:27,240
So the idea was like, all right, I'm going to try to raise a certain amount of money
392
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,760
and then I'm going to shave my head when that goal is met.
393
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,600
So that was, I don't know, a couple of years ago, and it was really awesome.
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I enjoyed it.
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00:23:35,700 --> 00:23:40,580
And it was nice being able to make a difference for another family.
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00:23:40,580 --> 00:23:42,360
And it was a really fun experience.
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00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:47,080
And I absolutely do not look good with a shaved head.
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So that's something I definitely care about.
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I mean, like, just trying to be mindful of all the different pains and sufferings that
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00:23:54,680 --> 00:24:00,860
exist in the world and taking time to help every now and then and find different ways
401
00:24:00,860 --> 00:24:03,080
to help wherever there can be help.
402
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:08,520
I don't really know that I'll ever have a foundation or anything like that, but it's
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00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:13,320
always cool to be able to help, even if it's in a small way, even if it's just an individual
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00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:14,320
family.
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00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,040
As far as like topics for songs and stuff like that, I think one of the things that
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I care about a lot is loneliness.
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And it affects, I think more and more today, it affects younger people in our generation.
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We're moving towards a digital age.
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There's less person-to-person interaction every day.
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00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:40,200
And if you don't have a strong tight-knit, like friend circle or family unit, loneliness
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00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:44,040
is a crazy hard thing to deal with.
412
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,640
I think it can lead to a lot of really bad things.
413
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,920
So I think that's one of the things that I'm passionate about that I want to write more
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00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,880
about in the future.
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00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:57,040
It's interesting you brought up Mars because as soon as you said that it actually, it's
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00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:58,800
Jim Louvau's daughter.
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00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:03,160
He's a famous photographer, and I'm actually friends with him on Facebook, and I remember
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00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:04,280
him posting about that.
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00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,360
So I think that's really amazing that you helped raise money for her.
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00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:08,360
I think that's really awesome.
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00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:13,000
I just want to close the podcast by asking, what are you looking forward to in the year
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00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,000
ahead?
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00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,000
What are you most excited for?
424
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,800
I'm excited for whatever happens, man.
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00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:18,600
I don't have any expectations.
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I don't want to force anything in any direction.
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I just want to kind of sit back and observe and witness whatever life has in store for
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00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:27,920
me to experience.
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00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:33,080
So I'm definitely obviously excited to tour with Shinedown, and Three Days Grace and to
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00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,080
eventually have our album come out.
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00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,720
Beyond that, I have no idea what's going to happen, and I'm cool with just watching it
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00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:39,720
unfold.
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00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,560
So that's just where I'm at.
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00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:43,400
Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
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00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:44,400
We really appreciate it.
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00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,400
Hey, thanks for having me.
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00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:48,400
Absolutely.
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00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,320
And that brings us to the end of this episode.
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00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,120
I want to thank Danny for joining us today and for being such a wonderful guest.
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Please be sure to check out From Ashes to New's latest single, Nightmare, and get ready
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for their upcoming new album due for release later this year.
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00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:08,320
If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our podcast for more interviews with your
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00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,240
favorite artists.
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My name is Derek Oswald, and this has been another episode of the Altwire Podcast.
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00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:30,040
Thanks for listening.
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