From Pop Punk to Metalcore: Waves in April Debut Album at Rocklahoma

0:04 Hey, you're listening to The Adventure of Pipe Man on W4CY Radio. This is Pipe Man here on The Adventure of Pipe Man, W4CY Radio, and I'm here with. Waves in April. Nice. I wish there were some waves here in Oklahoma, man. Me too, man. It is toasty. Oh, I'm telling you. I don't even know how people deal with this and have no water anywhere. Like, get me to the water. I live in Florida, but at least I got the beach. Yeah, right? That breeze, that beach breeze air? Yeah, I can go catch some waves and get away from it.

0:46 Catch some waves in, what is it, September? Yeah. Waves in September? Yeah, it's pretty much, it definitely isn't in summer. Not too much in April. No, it's not in April at all. So you're here at fucking Rock, Oklahoma. That's badass. Yes, sir. So have you guys been here before either to perform or attend? Yes, we played here last year, but we were at the Roadhouse stage. And did we play on a Friday? I think we played on the first day of the festival. Oh, I'm lying. We played on the second day. But, yeah, and we played after Van Halen last year. Oh, yeah, I remember Van Halen. And this year they had a band called Jump. And I'm like, what happened to Van Halen?

1:30 Did they change the name? I think it was a different band. Interesting. A different Eddie Van Halen cover band. I think maybe Jump was... No, that was probably a David Lee Roth band. Yeah. I didn't get to catch that one, but... I would have liked to compare, because... Van Halen. Was pretty good. They were pretty good. So, I'd like to find out which was better. I'm going to have to look up some Instagram stories or something. Make a playoff. Exactly. Who's the better Rock, Oklahoma cover, tribute, Van Halen band? Yeah. So, what's it like to play in this fucking heat? Like, I think this is the hottest day yet.

2:12 Yeah, there was a lot of layers to it. The main thing was. All of our equipment, it was just so hot on stage. And we were up there for an hour before we even played, so, you know, all that's just bacon in the sun. And then you're all worried about that. You're like, oh, my God, my equipment's baking. Let me make sure it's not. And then you're like, wait, I'm baking, too. So we had a couple people go down. I almost passed out. Luke actually did pass out after our set. Oh, shit. Well, at least you waited until after the set. But it was a sweaty, hot-ass, fun show, so. And shout out to the medics here on site because they saved our butts. They got me in quick. Nice. They got me with water. I had a cooling vest. It was real nice.

2:54 See, that's badass because there were a couple people yesterday that got taken away in helicopters. Really? And I heard there was all but. There were a bunch of ambulances took people away. I mean, this is brutal heat. It says on my phone, don't go outside. Yeah, that's what it says. But I don't think I'm better off in my tent. No, but those heat advisories are crazy. Not only is it hot, but just in this environment, people are drinking, people are smoking, they're having a good time, but it catches up with you even faster whenever you're in 100-degree-plus weather. I want to know how you even do the makeup in this heat, and it still looks perfect. Well, thank you. You know.

3:36 I was raised on the YouTube makeup artist, so I learned a trick or two in my younger years. To make the makeup last. Now I'm using FX makeup, so it's meant to stay through blood, sweat, tears. This? Well, all of it's, like, waterproof and stuff, so it's, like, it's going to stay. It's going to stay until I take it. Off pretty much. That's pretty badass because my hair is not cooperating with this. The only thing that ever moves is I usually have, like, a line across my forehead from my hat, but. I've already, like, had to clean off my forehead twice today from the red bleeding.

4:18 Yeah, it's, like, it doesn't run, but whenever I start to sweat, if I go to, like. dab the sweat off my fingers are white and I'm like oh yay. Yeah right and what were you gonna say before I so rudely interrupted with the makeup question. Say what oh uh I can't remember but I didn't think. I didn't think so but I thought it'd be funny to get back to it no it was hot. I had I had black neck paint on before this mine all ran off because I just used a little spray but I I was I I don't really like like we we like dressing up on stage and having like a theatrical presence and everything yeah and um This was the first show that I was like, I gotta take this shit off, man. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, we were eating before, and I was, like, saying to somebody, I'm like, yeah, if I was fucking war in this weather, I would not come out in costumes.

5:05 I don't even get the people outside that don't have to do it. They're in the bananas and this and that. Like, I'm cool with all that, but damn. I'm thinking back to Slipknot 1999, too. Like, when they were playing, like, Ozzfest at, like, 3 p.m. here, even in, like, uh, like south Texas where we're from like I remember I don't remember that because I wasn't born yet but like it was just just like I feel like we get to feel a little bit of their pain but nowhere near because they're in fucking masks rubber latex masks I'm worried about president on Sunday dude oh. Oh but the but the sun will be down when they play so that's the difference. It was still hot with the sun down never mind.

5:48 Why is president playing at four Yeah, that's crazy. That's another conversation. Because Slayer's playing. True. You know, Slayer trumps everybody here. Yeah. And it is wild that Slayer's playing. Like, that's my favorite all-time ever band. I was at their first show ever. Nice, man. And I was like, when I saw Slayer, I'm like, really? At Rock, Lahoma? Yeah. I was really excited about it, but I was like, wow, I would never expect Slayer at Rock, Oklahoma. Well, I mean, I saw a couple years ago Avenged Sevenfold was at Rock, Oklahoma. That I could see. Oh, my gosh. That I could see, but Slayer's a little different level than Avenged. Slayer's like getting Metallica. Like, that's pretty crazy. Well, I mean, even the type of music, you know? Like, you know, even Metallica would fit more in Rock, Oklahoma, I think, than Slayer.

6:39 Exactly. Is that the gen after Deep Purple? Oh, sorry. All right. They're having their own interview over here. But, yeah, no, Slayer rips. I'm excited to see him tomorrow. I've never seen him, which I'm really stoked. Don't try. Don't try. Do. Yeah. You must. I must. It will be incredible. Yeah, man. I don't think I could be in a mosh pit, though, in this heat, though. I asked for one, and I felt so bad immediately. It was just like instinct. I was like, y'all open the pit, and they did, man. Y'all's people here for Oklahoma, they are so dedicated and so loyal. To the craft. That is what's cool about Oklahoma. It was so sick. Like, we had a big crowd. I was like, man, if it was this type of heat and I was attending, I would be way back in the shade hanging out.

7:21 Right? They were awesome, man. Like, I was so happy seeing all their happy faces. It was so sick. I mosh at almost every festival. And the other day I was looking and I was like, not in this heat, not now. It was like the first day. I'm like, I'm not ruining myself for Slayer. I was just going to say, like, the energy that you get from the crowd is crazy, even on stage, because, like, we feed off of it. Yeah, of course. Like, we're a very high-energy band. But whenever they're going hard, it's still hot. It's crazy to see. It's like, no way. Right? Exactly. Especially these festivals are partying all night long in the campground. They're on those camps. We drove out on the golf cart and just, like, saw it all yesterday. It was so cool, dude.

8:04 It's wild, right? They have, like, little bars set up. It's dope. All over. It's so sick. All over. And you can get. Like $ 2 beer too? Like what? My favorite was the free popcorn if you show your boobs. Yeah, that was a thing. So yeah, that's a thing for everything. But popcorn, I can't believe people are doing for popcorn. Because they're like giving away shots for boobs. Yeah, right. And buttholes. And even beads. Like Mardi Gras beads. You'd be amazed how many people out. There will show their boobs or butthole just to get beads. Yeah. I can't say that I'm one of them. But, you know. Yeah, I mean. I thought it was pretty funny. It's just beads. I'll probably find one on the ground.

8:45 Yeah. So one thing that's really special we're doing, we're dropping an album tonight. Whoa. Celebrating that we're at Rocklahoma. I love that. Yeah. Tell me more about that. Yeah, it's our very first full length. Oh my God, sorry. It's our very first full-length album. It's called As Above, So Below. We recorded it about a year ago with some really cool people. Do you know Disturbed, right? Of course. Yeah, John Moyer, their bass player. He produced the record. So did Matt from Blue October and Ethan Wade from a band called Left 4 Dead who fucking ripped. Nice. Yeah, man. How'd that all happen? How'd you get all those collabs? Well, we're... Oh, shit. Sorry. You're not hot anymore.

9:27 So, for anybody that didn't know, I just, like, knocked over my glass of water. Yeah. Squirted it right on Elton. You know what happens. She looked very hot, so. But, yeah. Back to the record. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's it. So, you asked, like, how that collaboration came about. So, we've known Matt Noveske for a minute because he's, like, He's recorded close to everything with the boys. And uh he works in a studio out of Austin called The Orb which is a great place and so we've known him for a minute and so he was obviously one of the ones that we were going to go with because he gives such great feedback in real time when you're recording and it he pushes me as a vocalist to do what I didn't know I was possible of in the moment, so it's great.

10:18 But a couple... When was this? I can't remember. At some point, either. Was it that show at Sam's? When was that? Yeah, that was at Sam's. I know, but when was it? December. It was like in December of 2024. Yeah, so in December of 2024, we played a show in San Antonio, and it was being hosted by John Moyer. He was. introducing everybody as they got on stage, and he talked to us after and was like, man, y'all are killer. I'd love to help you out and be a part of whatever you're doing in the future. And so we asked him when it came time for us to record if he would be one of the producers, and he said yes.

11:01 So that's him. Nice. And then Ethan Wade, he's just one of our homies. Like, we've played with his band Left 4 Dead before, and... He had recorded a few things for us before we went in to record the full-length album. And so he's our riff master. Whenever we're having a brain farty day where we can't come up with anything, he's like, let me try. And he comes up with some crazy stuff. Shout out to the Breakdown King. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, he also just knows. It's like a comfortable space that we can be like, hey, I actually don't like that. Can we do that instead?

11:41 He's like, okay. And we do it and it's fun. And yeah, we annoy him a little bit with it because, you know, we got to just like test the waters and everything. But he loves us and he just is there for the whole ride. And no one knows what we want better than his brain. Like he understands what we want. See, that's cool. Yeah. You need people like that. It was a very, very fun experience. I am genuinely stoked for this record to come out. There's so many songs that we have just Like, we've had for so long, we've either had them for years or we've had them for fucking two months. Like, we wrote, what is it, As Above and The Gallows, these last two songs on the record, about, say, in the studio, about, like, how long ago was that?

12:26 For As Above, So Below. I know my part on the song, I literally wrote it in real time as we were recording it. Because I was like, okay. So we just went line by line, figured it out. I love that. Yeah. Then, like he said, there are other songs that have been written for four years. And we've just made edits to over time. But it really varies per song. We've just been wanting to have this collection of songs out for so long. And we're so excited that the world gets to hear it. And we're so stoked that we get to basically release it here at Rock, Oklahoma. We get to, like, launch it at them. That's pretty cool. That's all I was talking about on stage today. I was like, we have a new record coming out tonight.

13:06 That's so great. I've been excited for this day for a while. Just to be able to chill at Rock, Oklahoma, watch, we get to watch Black Veil Brides in a bit. Nice. And then just smoke and listen to the new album. Or, like, just have the album out now. There it is. Well, Rock, Oklahoma is a great place for all that. I love how Rock, Oklahoma also promotes, like, A lot of up-and-comer bands, emerging bands, local bands. You know, it's not just the big bands. There was a band last year that played, I think, a day after us. They were called Chain Saints. They were really cool. Oh, yeah, I know. And they're blowing up now. They are. I've interviewed them a few times. I just interviewed them overseas.

13:46 Really? They've already made it. Where were they at? I'm trying to think. I think it was Bloodstock. That's cool. That they were at. Bloodstock's sick. Yeah. That's a really cool one. Yeah, I love that festival. I want to talk about his tattoo. Because I can only see half of it, the whole interview, but I was thinking it was a heavy metal Spider-Man. Oh, well, it's Spider-Man kind of like emerging from a spider. Yeah, it's pretty badass. But you know why I call it the heavy metal Spider-Man? Because he's got the horns. Oh, he is, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. See, it wasn't Gene Simmons that made it up. It was Spider-Man. Willie just got his first tattoo now that he's an adult.

14:30 Yeah, he hasn't even had the hair grow back yet. Wow, look at that. He's still bald. You're no longer a virgin. But why'd they shave both sides? So it looked even? I'm just busting your chops. We're shaving all of Willie. Right? All of him. So tell me about this new album as far as how it's... How come you're so excited about how is the music different than what you've been doing up till now? Well, that's a complicated question with a complicated answer. So, in terms of how is it different, this band has been through a lot of change since it started.

15:14 It started as a pop-punk band, pop-punk cover band. Whoa, how do you go from pop-punk to metalcore? Well. Yeah, it's crazy. Pretty crazy. That's why I'm saying it's a complicated answer. Yes. We all grew up and found each other and found that we enjoyed the same kind of music. And it's where our passion was. And so as we came together and started writing these songs, they kind of... I feel like they wrote themselves, honestly. Like, it would start with a riff and then everything else would just fall into place. Or it would start with lyrics and it would all fall into place. But I feel like it's definitely a cross between, like, classic metalcore... Early 2000s metalcore. There's also some grunge elements in some songs.

15:57 There's some pop elements in some songs. I feel like it's kind of a hodgepodge of. All the different stuff we listen to. I think it's cool, though, because... I love that. A lot of bands now are having these blended genres, because fucking I hate genres. Okay? There's so many stupid sub-genres, micro-genres. And then, like, even with metalcore, what I find, and I love metalcore, but there's so many bands that sound exactly the same because they're using this formula. Oh, yeah. Like, I call it an algebraic equation to make metal. No, for sure. I'm very, very stoked on this record, too, because I feel like we break norms. And we... I love that type of stuff, but I don't want to put that type of stuff out. I want, I want to like kind of break the norm a little.

16:48 Bit and just mess with things. And you want to have some variety. Bring in some other genres that we listen to. Cause I don't just listen to metal. I listen to like Aurora and Fleetwood Mac and all that type of stuff. Like, but at the same time, the next song will be Slaughtered Super Veil. Like it's like, exactly. Kind of everything. We can just kind of put it in those one, one nice platter for people. And I think almost everybody is like that. Like, Especially, like, I'm an old school metal head. We didn't have metal ahead of time. And so basically, you know, we had all those old school influences and everything is built on top of it. And it was always metal was always something different, unique. Like the Big Four or Thrash. Slayer doesn't sound like Metallica. There is one thing that's like incredibly different about our album besides the music is we have a spoken.

17:34 Word track on there. Which I feel like isn't done often, just in general, regardless of the genre, but I definitely don't know that I've heard very many metalcore spoken word. Right? Like Devil Wears Prada? Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there have been a few, but. But it's not the formula. No, but we've got a spoken word track on there, which I'm really excited for, and it kind of ties in to a couple of the other songs, so it's very. Methodical, you know. I like it. I think this album has a really cool sound, and I also think that the next album that we put out in a year's time is going to be a lot different. We're just going to keep evolving.

18:21 It should be that way. Because I will say, I still love pop punk. I still love the old genres we used to do, but we just grew to play what we wanted to play, what felt natural, and that's what metalcore is for us. That's normal, I think, for any artist as you grow, you know, you emerge, evolve, and It's kind of like, I think Ali from Bring Me to Rise and said it best because they gave him all kinds of shit. It's like, why do I want to write the same song over and over again? And why would you? Exactly. He's always kind of our best. We pray to Ali every day. Dude, can you guess what my favorite lyric of any band of any song ever is? Ever?

19:01 Ever. Hold on. If we're talking about Ali right now, it has to be on theme. Is it? I can't drown my demons. They know how to swim. Bingo. No way. That is the fucking most brilliant fucking lyric ever. Wait, did I get it? You got it. That's fucking crazy. What the hell? Nice. Nice. Cause like, and he wrote that in fucking rehab, but I'm like thinking that is, that is like genius, you know? And his lyrics, I find him to be my favorite lyricist, you know? And I came in late in the game and then I went to the back catalog. So I'm not like the gatekeeper bring me at one. You know, I'm more of a Slayer gatekeeper. I have one more thing to say about the record.

19:45 Sorry. Yes, say it. One thing you're going back to, like the difference in the genres and stuff. We have one song on there. Let's say you know who you are. That's like Elle's big ballad and it's so good and it comes crashing down at the end with a big, big ending. But you go from that and then you go to the gallows, which the gallows is borderline deathcore. Like, I wouldn't say it's quite deathcore, but it's borderline. It's very heavy. Like, there's no singing on it. It's all screaming. And then the next song is a combination of everybody, and it's a six-minute-long title track. I'm just stoked, dude. I'll even say, like you said, the deathcore, like, I'm excited when the new song for Bring Me a Rise and Came Out.

20:26 Was old school. Dehumanized? Oh, my God. Yeah, that was old school deathcore. I don't. I don't think a song has gone platinum in my car faster than that one. Well, here's the thing, too. I think that's why I like it so much, because they didn't do it every album. So now you've gone a few albums without any deathcore, and then you bring that in? We have all these ideas now. We've got 20 years' worth of ideas. Let's put them in this song. Exactly. Yeah, so good, dude. Oh, my gosh. I tried to learn that song on guitar, and I just had to put it down and walk away for a little bit, because it is so hard and so cool. Nice. So what else do you want to let the people know that we haven't discussed already? Tell them your socials also.

21:06 Yeah. How they buy your merch. You got cool fucking merch. Yeah, man. And they can't listen to my show unless they buy your merch. Hell yeah. So wavesinapril.net is our website. It has everything you need to know about us. It has our merch. It has our tour dates. It has the link to the album pre-save. And then. All of our socials are just waves in April. You can find us. And if you want to find each of us individually, it's our names followed by in April. So Dirk's in April, L in April, Lucas in April, Willis in April. Nice. And you'll really impress me if in one of your videos you play one of your heavy songs while you're surfing in April. Oh, dude.

21:51 Fire. We should do that. Fire. Exactly. Exactly. That's what you need. Like, sometimes I do the punk festivals in, like, Huntington Beach, and I'm like, fuck, man, they should, like, you should be surfing watching the bands. Like, because I am a surfer, so I'm like, I'm like. But I think instead of, like, being in the ocean, we should do it on one of those artificial waves. You know what I'm talking about? That would be cool. That would be kind of cool. A shop outside of Port A or something. Yeah. But, like, also imagine if it was in the ocean and you had a mosh pit with the sharks. Oh, dude. Mosh pit? Fish pit. Right? We're shooting for Shiprocked, so stay tuned.

22:32 Oh, there you go. Stay tuned. I've done Shiprocked. It's badass. Yeah. We've been trying for a bit now, and I think we got waitlisted. Yeah, we're on the waitlist. Oh, you're getting close. You're getting close. Hopefully. Well, I hope to see you at Shiprock. Hey, thank you, brother. And I'm glad you were here at Rock, Lahoma, and now you can go have a lot of fun now that you've played. Yeah, dude. Got our press out of the way, too. We can go. And really enjoy Rock, Lahoma, because this is one of the most badass festivals for sure. Yeah, man, it's pretty sick. And it's even more badass that you're here, so thanks for that, and thanks for being on the Adventures of Pikeman. Hey, thank you for doing this, man. Thank you for giving the album the press. You got it.

23:13 Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pikeman. On W4CUI Radio.