From Broadway to Metal: AXK Shares Their Story and Passion for Authentic Music

0:08 This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventures of Pipe Man W4CY radio, and I'm here with our next guest, who has some badass music. They just sent me an email, and I checked out the music, and I'm like, okay, cool, let's talk. So let's welcome to the show, Axe. How are you? We're doing great, thank you. Thank you so much for having us. Very flattered that you approve of music. Yeah, it's pretty badass. And I do always like, okay, the fact that women are such badasses in music, okay? So, like, you know... A lot of people still like to do that stupid fucking gatekeeping shit, but I think the gatekeeping is because they're just all scared that women are more badasses.

1:09 I have plenty of singers, vocalists that I respect across the board and in many varieties of music, but it always brings me joy to see anyone doing anything different. And there is definitely a lane for that with a higher voice. And I think different is very important nowadays because there's so many bands using like the same formulas to make music nowadays that uniqueness is something I treasure because that's what makes you stand out. Otherwise, you know, it's like, hey, this band sounds like this band sounds like this band and you don't know the difference. But. I think every band needs to have their own unique sound so that you know as soon, like there's so many songs that I can hear the first note and I know what band it is.

2:06 Awesome. Really amazing party game. The first person to figure out the note gets to figure out who's going to drink that. So how did this duo come about here and tell us the history of your band? I'm going to let Alexis take this one. She tells the story way better than I do. I get lost in trail a lot, you know. All those years of staying under the lights kind. Of fry your. So. The story of AXK asks. I mean, it's our meet-cute.

2:46 And once upon a time, I decided it was time to audition for a Broadway production, and Chris was... feeling like it was time to break a little bit of his mold as well. So we met on Broadway, you know, staging, learning each other, learning an entire cast and making very good friends. When he came up and introduced himself, which was one of my friends, she was cast as the queen, he was cast as the king, and she said, you have to meet this boy. I said, okay, sure. And he came up and he literally dumped his entire metal resume, like, in the first 30 seconds.

3:29 Like, hi, I'm Alexis. And he said, hi, I'm Chris, and I'm from the band Chainwax, and I've done this, and I've been open for this band, and we've been doing these productions for da-da-da-da-da. I'm like, whoa. And it was an instant. Flashback to my earlier days when I had been in a very progressive metal band in the 90s. President Weinstein. And I thought, okay, this is either going to be really great or really, really bad. Three or four weeks. And I came in one day and I had some band merch from Chainwax. And I walked up and I was like, listen, here's some merch for my band. It's a sweatshirt. You know, if it's too big, if it's too small, let me know.

4:09 You know, give somebody band merch and You're not asking for anything in return. It's a whole thing. That's how you get to another band person or a band lady or a band girl is you offer something that they know holds worth to you. So that's what got her caught. Nice. I love it. And you know what I do love about your band name? That's why in the beginning I asked you, because I never like to screw up a band name, but I'm a Yankee. one of my co-hosts on my show, she's from Louisiana and she always said, I'm always giving her shit. Cause I'm like, it's not acts it's ask.

4:55 When I was in first grade, I lived in Texas and they say, what's. The difference between a Yankee and a damn Yankee Yankee stays a damn Yankee goes. Back and comes home. I love it. Uh, But yeah, I mean, your music definitely has this kind of sound to it that is pretty hooky. It's empowerment. Alexis, you go ahead and talk about it. It's not my power. So I think we've both come to the table with a lot of talent in that arena. And I'm a piano player. I could play horrible punk guitar in a band.

5:37 But it's enough to make it my way through a couple of scales and kind of keep up on the front. Whereas Chris is very, very talented on the guitar. He's also a vocalist. So we started by being able to harmonize off of one another. And I was. Able to pull in some alternate melodies, which he was drawn to pretty quickly. And we found that some of these things would just kind of echo through our heads, our minds, our own ears. We thought, okay, well, there has to be potential here for something. And that started us talking about what something would maybe sound like when no one was in our way. And no one was telling us no.

6:19 The first single was literally the melody of her practicing her, because she's classically trained in opera. She was going. Like I do it terribly, but she does it amazingly. And it's called Innocent Almost. And the beginning notes is something that I've never heard before. And I'll be like walking down the street or I'll be, you know, going to the pond or whatever. And it'll stick in my head. And people have told me that it does because it's not something you hear all the time. Now, I know that I sent you out and I hooked you with Bite Marks. Bite Marks is an amazing tone. I don't know about it. But a lot of what people don't realize on the surface and what I think that you kind of caught on to really fast is that there's a lot of classical music and there's a lot of rudimentary things going on in the background. It's not just people standing out there pouring gasoline on each other. That's not a fun thing to do. But there's a lot of history. There's a lot of years of trial and error knowing what works and what doesn't and being able to tell your story authentically from the heart. And those are the words that you hear coming out of Alexis is authenticity.

7:34 And I'm here for it. And I'll play guitar till my fingers bleed. I'll play drums. I'll play bass. I mean, I did pretty. Much a lot of the music on the five songs we have on Spotify. Your voice, it just grabs onto the stories. Imagine actually loving and liking your bandmate and spending 24 hours a day with them. seven days a week and having all that time to actually talk and come up with a plan. And then one day, out of nowhere, Mark Adelman comes along. And he says, make sure, let Pipeman know that. We're working on U.S. dates and U.K. dates and international and global. He wanted me to tell you that. Also, Mark says hello.

8:19 Nice. Well, I have to say, too, that to your points, a lot of people don't even realize that metal is a derivative of classical music. People think it's just noise, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, bullshit. No, they're probably better musicians than anybody you know, for the people that say that. I would concur. To become a classically trained anything, it takes such diligence and such time. And some of the skills, some of the harmonies that are utilized within classical music are being now echoed. I have noticed them. They're being echoed within some of the metal music that's coming out now. It's really wonderful because it's not just a hook. It's not just something you can go... and bob your head to back and forth and it's not I describe it as it's not box this is music that has an intensity it has it has an ending it has a rise in the middle but you're waiting for the crescendos you're waiting for that structure to um elapse into something that's going to bring a closure that is in essence how every classical piece is written every single one.

9:38 Of them totally And so I have a trivia question for you guys too. I love trivia. Let's do it. Who, what other metal singer is, is trained in opera before metal? Just Jennifer. They may be. I think that'd be the most likely. But the answer I was thinking is a male. And he's a metal god. There's your hint. Okay, I'm going to say, I'm going to listen from the top down. Phil Anselmo.

10:22 I'm going to say James Hetfield. I'm going to go down. Let's see. Definitely not Hetfield. Okay. Well, it's not Gavin Rossdale. Okay. I've been inside this man's head a little bit. Let's see. Think before Hetfield. Think before Anselmo. Anthrax. Before that. Before Anthrax. Getting close. Getting closer. Not Anthrax, not Iron Maiden, I would say. Hold on.

11:07 Rob Halford. I was going to say Judas Priest. I was going to say it. I'm sorry. Why are you worried about Rob Halford? It was 2004. We were playing with Soulfly at the Rave in Milwaukee. No, I'm kidding. I had to leave during the fifth song because there was so much bass I couldn't breathe. It was like skydiving, I swear. Really? I love that venue. I love that venue to rave. It was amazing. The first time I seen a band there was... It was Astadon, Soil, and The Haunted. And then three weeks later, my band Chainwax opened up for Damage Fund, who at the time was Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Daryl. I actually got some time with Dimebag afterwards.

11:54 I didn't have anything to sign. He signed my ID. So Dimebag Daryl legitimately from November 3rd, 2003 is my donor. Nice. You were in a lot of good company there, that's for sure. You know, you mentioned Hetfield. I was at Metallica's first show ever. The year was 1974. Huh? It was the year 1974? No, they were just babies then. It was 1981. 81? Yeah, Metallica didn't start until 81.

12:37 That's the year this scene was planted. I don't even care. I don't even remember where it was at this point. It was somewhere in L.A. That's all I know. That's all I remember. It was the 80s in L.A. If you remember that, you weren't there. The only reference I have of L.A. is back in 2011. Flown out on the Shine Down tour, the Avalanche tour, opening up Soul Acoustic at the Whiskey and Go-Go. That's my only time. Nice. That was cool. So I was 13 years old, 12 years old. My dad came up to me, said, meet your new mother and we're moving to California in three days. And that was in 1980. So what a time to move to LA.

13:28 I was pissed. Except I wouldn't be talking to you now if that didn't happen. And I have a lot of, A lot of stories and experiences that there's no proof of. And thank God, no social media, no internet, no proof of the shenanigans. There was no YouTube. We got away with stuff. No doubt. Like at 13, I was going into the rainbow. Like proof of that. Right in Hollywood Boulevard. Yeah. Yep. Yep. All right. And then I look back now and I'm like, how the fuck did I get in there at 13 years old? Oh, yeah, I was walking in with Motley Crue. Oh, wow. Yeah.

14:09 So you, Vince Neal, Tommy Lee, you're just walking into this place. Were you like, did you like pick up a bag and start walking? How'd you do it? I'm getting like Eddie Murphy back, you know, part two, like you had a spiel. Did you have a hat on? We were like. It's really simple. It was L.A. and Sunset Strip in the 80s. You went to a gig, and then you just went wherever the band went afterwards. Either it was up to the Rainbow or back to somebody's house to party all night long, something. Any of that shit. I even hung out with Mick Mars and Chris Holmes at the mall. Well, I'd like to buy you a steak and a beer sometime, my friend.

14:52 I know, right? For sure, yeah. I got to actually see Dave Mustaine play with Alcoholica. I always laugh. It is kind of funny that Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica for alcohol when their nickname was Alcoholica. Really? That's ridiculously awesome. Right? The manager for Megadeth for over 20 years is our manager, Adelman. I don't know if you knew that. Our manager was their. Manager that went full circle So, I mean, we're really, really excited about the opportunity to work with Mark. Some really loving uncles.

15:33 That's all pretty cool, too. And, like, yeah, I just saw Megadeth recently at one of the festivals I was doing because I go on tour and I do coverage at festivals. And it was pretty funny because I was standing with David Elfson watching the set. I actually opened up for David Elfson at a mid-level bar in Chicago a few years ago. or whatever it is would happen. And him and I were on stage together. He brought me up for a, for a duet. It was, it was called the WC social club in Chicago. A good friend of mine was running the door and he just let us in. And a band I was in at the time went the fight and actually opened up the show, which was, we didn't deserve it, but I mean, it was my hometown and it was twice for tots.

16:14 And we did all these beautiful things for all these kids. And I mean, it was really amazing. Metalheads have the sweetest, largest hearts. I know that. I'll put up against any genre of music. Oh, I talk about that all the time. People think we're just scary and devil worshippers and such bullshit. Absolutely not. These are people that know how to emote, that understand other people's struggles. Imagine punishing yourself on stage so someone that's in the audience can feel more included, like it's not something only they're going through and having to carry that across the country and getting the joy out of what it is that you relieve those people of because they're in good company that's about it.

17:01 And like listen i feel that if we want to solve all the world's problems right now just have one big mosh pit because we'll all just mosh it out and then hug afterwards and it'll be all good I. Went to stay in a few weeks ago at the first big amphitheater, and there was a whole bunch of 19-year-olds just standing there with their hands in their pockets, and one shovel came out. And I started to give them a little of this and a little of that, and they knew I was OG because, you know, there's a certain affectation when you get a little silver in your chin where people are like, okay. And they really felt that they trusted me enough to start that mosh pit. The people that worked there were just standing there like this. Right. So, I mean, yeah, mosh pits are a beautiful thing.

17:43 People are like, oh, it's violent. It's this, it's that. No, it's people connecting. It saved me from being violent. Yeah, it saved me from being violent. Like there's a lot of people that should be praying, you know, like positive thoughts that I was in mosh pit that they didn't get their ass beat because I got it out in the mosh pit, you know? Someone falls down, you pick them up. Someone's having a hard time. Bring them out to the side and when someone's having a good time and they're being excited you're not your attention's not to hurt the person just to feel something and that's metal is metal people they just want to feel something because a lot of what happens in the world just makes you not do a whole bunch of things that's a big part of our music is getting people to feel something you.

18:31 Know it doesn't matter exactly it's such a great feeling the adrenaline from all that And we're one big family. There are no outsiders. You know, I'll tell you a funny story. And, you know, I had this girl working for me. She was a total redneck country girl. And I had to cover two festivals in one weekend. And she I said, you're going to cover this metal festival. And she was really scared because she had never been to a rock show before. Like, listen, you know what? you go to these country shows where a bunch of rednecks are drinking whiskey and kicking the shit out of each other in the crowd. That's a little scarier than a metal show. You're going to go there. You're going to make all these new friends. You're going to find out we're one big family. You'll probably get a new boyfriend and you'll see what it's really like. So she comes back after the weekend. She's like, Oh my God, you were so right. I met all these cool people and I have all these new friends and, I teabagged some guy, and he's now my boyfriend. Nice. Right? And I have this new favorite band. I don't know if you know them. They're called Bring Me the Horizon. Yeah, I think I might know who they are. Great. That's what we need to do. Start recruiting all the assholes in the world into metal and then we can convert them into being good human beings.

20:03 You know what? Because it's at the darkest point where you realize that there's so much light. And that's the thing about metal is people look down on it. Some of them where it's like, Oh, they're like, uh, you're so angry all the time. It's like, no, you don't understand it. The aggression that's released is no longer inside of us. You know what I mean? And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing. It's the same thing as looking at someone else and finding that they speak the same language. They know the same words. They know the same safe terms of, you know, how to express, how to stand. Where to be. It's, you will never see a larger, a larger level of consent, both, physically, emotionally than at a metal show because everybody wants to feel, they just want to feel, you know what I mean? And we all protect each other.

20:45 And if you look at the pits, okay. So if it was what people think it was, you'd see a bunch of angry people looking angry. Like people have grins from ear to ear after they're banging into each other. Okay. Like, you know, I. Do every song is it's the smile is just, erupting of our faces and then hands throw. Up in the air. The lights go up real bright at the end of every song in a metal show just so everybody in the pit can eyeball, like if you ever paid attention, so we could all make sure that everybody's okay. Yeah, no doubt. 100%. So, what else do you want to tell the listeners we haven't covered about your music and tell them how they can check you guys out on socials, on the web, and all that good stuff?

21:31 You can find it us at axkmusic.com. You can find us at axkmusic on Facebook. We have a YouTube channel, axkmusicofficial. We have a special link that's on a QR code on a business card that if you go to, now this is a little silly, but follow me, axkmusic.com backslash connect.html. You can download all five songs that we have, all the videos. You can see all of the artwork. And you can get merch on our website. You can check us out on TikTok. We're on TikTok.com backslash ampersand AXK music.

22:13 You can find. Us at every large arena all across the country in the next six to eight months. That's the goal. And in the UK and Europe and globally and maybe below ours. Better than greatest. I don't know if you put out a point here, though. Alexis. Well, Chris is absolutely correct, and you are correct, that this is a new project. We are absolutely veterans and have years of expertise doing this, doing this for bands, doing this for multiple productions. This isn't something that was easily just thrown together. These are skills. I've been doing this since I was 17, first in the band Smackdown and then the Boyin scene.

22:54 He's been doing this since the early 2000s. We have literally earned every single connection and earned every single stripe. At the same point, it never gets old to hear that you've connected with someone new and it's still humbling every single time when someone turns around and says, oh my gosh, I love this song or I love this lyric or what was that riff? Because that's so intense. It's just There are people that are born to do these things, I believe. And I think that's Chris, and I. Happen to be one of them. So the fact that you turned your head to us. And you were born to meet each other. I think so. The next time around, I told her she's got to meet me sooner so we could have more babies.

23:36 Together that have all the pretty eyes and lips and the things. And just the fact that I sent you an email blindly, not knowing exactly what it would land to, the song Fight Marks. And you responded in a way that everybody's responding. I don't know if it's this because how authentic the lyrics are or how driven my guitar parts are, or the fact that Alexis is the most beautiful musician that's ever came out of Kanawha, Iowa. She has a jacket, 9,000 medals for music on it. And she's earned every one of them. Um, I would rather not sit next.

24:18 To anybody else. That's a whole other story, and that day was hilarious. I would rather not. Spend another minute next to anybody other than her. My entire life, we could be on a stranded island with a guitar and a piano, and it's going to be amazing. But the thing is, is that Alexis, she's got a lot of heart. I can't deal without you turning knobs and making me do things over again and hearing the things. You're so kind. Wait till you see us live. It's amazing. Check out our videos. Everybody definitely has to check you guys out live. Check the videos out. I can't wait to get to see you two. There is gasoline involved in the videos, but it's just water in the. Tank, okay? It's just water. Yes, we'll definitely have to get together.

24:59 I'll definitely have to be at one of your shows. You guys rock. I love the mad respect that you have for each other. And that's why you make great music is because you're you totally respect each other and you brought something to the table together that made, that finally made sense to both of you after all your years in the business. I'm glad you understand. Make each other better. If all bands made each other better and got onto a certain level, oh man, can you imagine? No doubt. I get all excited about it. You get me all, I'll tear you guys up. I want to spend the rest of my life on stages with this person. And I don't care if anybody else is out there with us.

25:40 They may be, they may not be. We could do it ourselves, but we're going to do it. That's all that counts. And you guys rock. So thank you for reaching out. And thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you so much. I will let Mark know that you said hello. And he also sends his salutations in regards. You got it. And anytime you need anything, you just reach out. Thank you. I appreciate you, brother. You're amazing. Thank you. Appreciate you for making great music and being here. Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pikeman on W4CY Radio.