PipemanRadio Interviews BYZANTINE About New Album Harbingers

0:04 Hey, you have done to censure. Wow. For you young. Wake of America, It's time for the Adventures of Pipeman on W four c Y dot Com with pomp Beach is number one Internet radio station. Here's your host, the pipe Man. Your botta wins that long your drive like a world author.

0:55 This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man. W four c Y Radio. Really excited about our next guest because when I saw one of my favorite publicists send over an email, I'm like, yes, I will definitely interview them because we're just bad ass. And so let's welcome to this show. Oj from Byzantine. How are you? I'm great man. How are you Dean? Do I call you Dean or. The pipe Man? You call me Dean? Off the air, pipe Man on the air? Perfect? All right, pipe Man, I am doing fantastic. I love it. I love it, and I have to say too, it's funny. You know. I should probably shouldn't say this because I own radio stations, but man, I've been hearing Jose and then play your music on Serious XM so much lately, and believe it or not, that's kind of how I found out about you.

1:50 Was from Serious XM, which is kind of funny considering I own the radio station, but they were just playing you so much. And I love Jose anyway, we're friends, and yeah, you know, he's great up bringing great artists of metal into the world. Like I come from a time where if it played on the radio, I didn't want to listen to it type of thing, you know. But you guys have this new music. It's killer, it's it has what I love about. It has so many elements to it, like nowadays, I find metal. A lot of metal bands. They they have this formula and it was never like that back in the day. And you're like old school because I hear thrashing there, I hear progressive, I hear you know, death, I hear black belt, I hear all in the music. And so tell us a little bit about how that creativity has happened to create the sound that is Byzantine.

2:48 Well, we're definitely a blender of different types of heavy metal, you know. We're we've been doing this thing with Byzantine for twenty five years. And when we start we were in our late twenties early thirties, so we were already older seasoned cats at that point. But I when we formed Byzantine, that made sure that all the members were very eclectic and songwriters of their own right, So we always brought in different elements and mashed it together to form the Byzantine sound. I feel like today we might lose a lot of the one trick listeners who liked their metal either this or that, We're gonna lose them because we're coming from all different angles and we've always been that way. When we first started, everyone said we sounded like a mish, like a mash of Testament, Pantera, Musuga and Opeth mixed.

3:55 I could definitely see all that, and I'll even throw in there, I heard a little Lombardo in one of your songs. Yes, yes, So since you know, over the last twenty five years, we've just added and added more of our influences. Because then we got to a point where we were like, I don't give a fuck, you know, I want to have a section that sounds like White Snake. Let's do it. So yeah, so right now it could be you could hear Mastaedn, you could hear Pink Floyd. But the goal is to make that, make it not sound forced, to sound like just a creative mix of four or five guys and luckily that has turned into the Byzantine sound.

4:40 And I think that's cool about a lot of bands nowadays that do have Like you said, it's a blender, like when all the different band members bring something different to the table. Because again, to me, that goes to old school like Slayer. Okay, so Dave and Jeff were punks, yeah, and Carrie was a matter ahead and time didn't even know what metal was till Slayer, you know, So you're right, and then you just create this sound that nobody else can copy, you know. Right, right, And then all of a sudden, later on bands, you know, they just try to emulate that instead of being their own creative force. Every band that has really good musicians could come up with their own unique, organic sound.

5:29 But it's really fucking hard and sometimes it takes years. But if you've been writing that for like twenty five years, twenty five years. Yeah, we knew, you know, pipemin right from our debut. We knew we wanted to sound different and be eclectic, and we also knew it might take us a longer time to break through by doing that. But if we was like, let's just stick the course, the music is the most important part of this. The live show, the merch. Everything else comes secondary. You know, maybe it might take thirty years before we break through, but you know, we do have our own sound and it's fun. All our og fans they would get mad at us if we became started becoming formulaic. They would they would get mad.

6:24 So I don't blame them. I would too, you know. And then you know, for the first time ever, you're a five piece. Tell me how that happened, because you know that takes like a change of philosophy sometimes. Yeah, completely, it changes every way you look at the band, all the way down to like lodging, how you're going to get the shows, managing more. You know, you add another wife into the fold. Yeah, so you know, for twenty you know, twenty five years, I have been the man the mustained the hatfield. I've played guitar and sang, but I've always felt like I've held the band back to some extent because I'm an okay singer and I'm an okay guitar player. But when I do them both together, i feel like I'm not even okay. And I've always thought if I could just sing or just play guitar.

7:25 Maybe we would, it would make the band better. So the opportunity arose to ask back in our original guitar player, Tony Roarbaw. He was on the first four albums and he was very instrumental in developing the Byzantine sound. A lot of it comes from him. So we asked him to come back, and we retained the guy who took his job. So now both of them are in the band, which is very unique. Normally you bring the old guy back, you kick the. New guy out right. Yeah, I'm a I'm like, I'm like married to my new wife but now banging my old wife at the same.

8:09 Time, so you're like polyamorous. Now, yes, I love it. So And the funny thing is is that hindo or guitar player now and Tony they're great friends. So it just it just made uh just made sense. And now I get to like connect with the crowd, point at people, drink a beer if I want. You know, right, we're gonna give it a whirl. June sixth in Brooklyn is our first show where we get to play as a five piece. So I'm excited. I'm excited to see what happens. So, and it's interesting you said Mustaan and Hatfield because like I was at you know, their first show ever, like Dave Mustaine came out out and handed me his business card. It said Metallica power Metal Dave Mustanine because there was no such chance thrash yet whoa. So they were considered power metal. But what's interesting is is that when Megadeth formed, and this comes from Dan Spitz, who's a really good friend of mine, he told me he's like, he's like, Mustaine was like, how do I sing? Yeah, And that's how he developed that sound because he Dan was like, you know, just talk like acting, and that's what Dave does. And then Heatfield he was he was the front man, but he wasn't the front man he is today. Like he was like really shy back in the day, so he wasn't that out front front man

9:42 at one point. Okay, I have a trivia question for you. Okay, at one point, what drastic change was James looking to do? That kind of correlates with what you were talking about singing and playing guitar at the same time. Uh, he wanted to bring in John but from Armored Saint. I am so impressed, Like that thank you that you gave right off the bat with that usually by trivia questions, a lot or so get it. And they love that because it's like, but how many people would really know about John Bush? Cheers, cheers, Oh my god. That's so great. And then you know, and and James wanted to focus on the guitar, and somebody too that I played drums, I played guitar, I sang thrash mellow, I sucked at all three. But I can ever imagine singing and playing guitar at the same time. To me, it's like rubbing your head and belly at the same or whatever. We used to Yeah we were kids, you know, Yeah, it would be so hard to me to focus on one or the other.

10:45 It's like it's it's extremely difficult. And you know, as you will know you've you've listened to our band. You know that our music isn't four on the four floor. There's different time changes, there's my sugar style poly rhythms, so there's a lot of times where I'm singing in a different time signature that I'm playing, and that it's extremely difficult. So I uh, sometimes I mess around with practice and I'll try to have conversations while we're playing with our other guys, and they'll they'll be like, don't talk to me, I'll mess up, you know. But uh, you know, I just think that maybe I could be a better front man and and have a better live show experience if I can just connect with the crowd.

11:31 So we're gonna give it the whirl. Uh. But that does not mean that I won't put the I won't ever put the guitar on. We might do a three guitar thing. I can see that too. Yeah, your latest single, I could see three guitars of that like that gave me, gave me like a dream theater vibe. Yeah, we always have harmonies and some cleans and ethereal stuff going on. So I might pull the guitar out and be able to play that stuff live. Four it would have been removed. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, we'll try it. So what was that one moment in time in your life where you it just hit you like a brick wall that this is what I need to do for the next twenty five years or however long.

12:17 To be honest, when it came to metal, I was in junior high and I was I spent the night with a friend of mine who had a broken down bus in the back of his yard and he would go back there and smoke weed. And I went back there to smoke cigarettes with him, and he had a walkman and played me, uh, disposable Heroes. First time I'd ever heard Metallica, and I was like, I couldn't compute it. I didn't compute it because I had grown up in the musical family. I literally had Twist's sister and wasp uh and Ossie posters on my wall. But that is a world of difference from disposable.

13:06 He wrotes, Right, Well, you know it's funny you should say that. And by the way, I used to hang out with Chris Holmes at the mall. Oh my god. And but what's wild about that is it is so true. And you know, I had an interview with Carlina Peace and it got picked up by all the wirehouses because in my interview he said, I don't really think Black Sabbath was metal. I think who started metal was Metallica? Interesting, and he was describing. The metallic sound of it. Yeah, yeah, that that that that guitar, you know, that is the Metallica sound. And even you know, it's funny.

13:53 I listened to James nowadays. Aint talks about, like you said recently, how they play Seek and Destroy at the San Jose Sharks games. But they play he says, they played an old version, and I hate how I sound in that, Like I'm a much better singer now, but I loved his voice back then. That voice that was like what made the difference in metal, Like he had this voice that was just unreal, right, you know. Yeah, it was u to me, like when I first heard it. Like Master Puppets is well produced, it is executed absolutely precise in the studio, but when I first heard it, it was the first time I had heard anything that almost felt like it was falling off the rails right, just so hectic and so metallic. You know.

14:45 Wasp was heavy, Wasp was evil, but it wasn't like net breaking, right and exactly. Yeah, that that right there, I was like, I gotta get out of this bus and go find me a bass guitar or something. Yeah, And I'll tell you how I found out about bands like Metallica, Armored, Saint, waspon And I got a great story that you'll love because it does pertain to your band. So you know, my dad moved me to la in nineteen eighty and I used to go to this place, me and my friend Oz Records in the Valley, and there was this record store clerk there that when we would go in there, he would always like recommend here, get this album because it wasn't like today where you could actually listen to something. It was just oh, that looks cool, you know. And he handed us his first compilation album where you had hit the lights on. There was the Mega Force compilation. It was Metal Massacre. Oh one, okay, Well that store clerk was Brian Slagel. No way, yes, And that's when he first started Metal Blade. And I remember talking to him a few years ago. I'm like, man, that was like the most brilliant marketing plan ever and he's like, man, I was just a record store cork like and look here we are all these years later, Like I think I met him in nineteen eighty or

16:17 eighty one, something like that, and here we are and he's doing your ouse doing it. Yeah, and he brought us on, which was, you know, salvaged our musical career. Now, granted we're still trying to make up for lost time from you know because we broke up for five years. Yeah, which set us back probably ten to fifteen years. But had Brian Slagel not came knocking to us, I don't know if we'd be talking music at all with anybody. I think that's true of a lot a lot, a lot a lot of bands. Yeah, a lot of bands.

17:00 I and uh, you know. You know what's interesting is when he signed us. He told me because I told him as the Brown and we hardly ever tour, we got kids, businesses. I don't know what you're gonna get. And he said, all I want you to do is just give me Byzantine music. He said, you have a home forever as long as you don't start sucking. We got a problem. And I was like done. I love it. And then speaking of you know looking at albums and that's how you chose buying them. Your album are on this newest album, Harbinger, I mean, oh my god, I look at that album cover and that and that is the type of album I would buy without hearing any notes in the music whatsoever.

17:47 That is, uh, that is uplifting and great to hear. Because I felt the same way when when when the local artist actually gave us that it was beautiful. Isn't that great? How that works sometimes, Like when somebody gets your vision, you know, it's very hard. Like I'm also a published author, and I remember I gave a vision to the person illustrating my book cover and I only had to tell them once and they showed me. I'm like, that's it. That's exactly what I was thinking. And that's so rare when that happens, it's very rare. It's very rare to have your mind read when you're paying someone to do something. But with her, you know, I've been friends with Ashley for years and she is a mixed media artist, Like she only draws the female figures, and she only draws in pencil, And we knew we wanted to have Irene of Athens, who was the first female Buzinantine ruler, on the cover, so I was like, I gotta get Ashley to do it because she's great at drawing the female form. What makes it so over the top beautiful is that she adds actual clothing to her art to give that the three dimensional aspect. So what you're seeing, the red and the all that that's actual real clothing that she sews onto her her pencil art so cool. The headdress is all real jewels, and then we had to get a photographer to take a

19:18 photograph and not lose the three D aspect. So I love it. Yeah. When I saw it on the CD, I was like, this is this is exactly what would draw some kid to pick it up because they don't know what it sounds like. I'm glad you said that. So tell me. Tell everybody how they can reach out to you guys on socials, on the web, how they can check out your live shows, get the new music, by your merch all that good stuff. Sure. The easiest way would be go to Metal Blade Records dot com and search under b for Byzantine. They have a lot of links there for our music. You can also go to our state and the loan website which is Byzantine WUV, which stands for West Virginia, so BYZANTINEWV dot com. That is our website. You can see our merchandise page, you can see our show page, you can see all our socials, Patreon, Instagram, Facebook, They're all linked right there. That's the easiest way to follow us.

20:22 If you want to become an instant hardcore Byzantine fan. I love it and your newest single, I feel like that. I feel like it pertains to be today the unobtainable sleep. Yeah, you may, you may need to take some meliton and so you can obtain. That, right, Yeah, before I go out again and don't sleep again. Yeah? Yeah, Well, do you have any final words you want to leave our listeners with that we haven't covered yet? No other than I really am grateful for all of you guys interested in speaking to me about the band, and for anyone out there who's never heard us. Please give this new album a listen. All our albums I am happy with, but this one I am particularly enamored with because it's been eight years since we've released an album, and a lot of times eight years removed you write something that's you know, not good, or you lose it.

21:31 I feel like we still have a lot of gas left in our tank twenty five years in. I love it. Give it a dance. I always wonder about artists that are around for a long time, like I'm like, man, how they keep coming up with new music? But I think I think for you, it's kind of like you had said something about you've you've ridden the struggle bus to finally get to the sound that you really wanted it always to be. Yeah, we you know, I ever would have thought we'd be together twenty five years and especially still kind of struggling to break through. I feel like we're the West Virginia version of anvil that you know, at any day maybe something great's gonna come. We just can't quit. And as long as we still produce top shelf heavy metal, I think there's still a chance that we can maybe break through and start gaining the fan base and exposure that we would love to have.

22:30 So I think you definitely will because not only is it, you know, in my opinion, great metal, but it's great musicianship. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate it. And that comes even more. You know, anybody can play metal, but to play great musicianship metal whole different story. Yeah, that puts you in the whole different echelon, like a five or ten percent of those that the Gogiras and the Opaths of the world where you're like, whoa, you know, right, that's what we st But it's a very you know, it's a very hard and difficult thing to get there. It's sure, as I don't think anybody knows really how hard musicians have to work to give us the entertainment that they do and the therapy because meddle some of the best therapy.

23:14 Yes, yeah, absolutely. A lot of people around here think, you know, the stuff you write, wouldn't you be more angry? I was like, if I didn't write it, I'd be angry. It's exactly. People don't doubt that. It's like even with the pit. It's like, no, the pit is where you can get all that healthy aggression out instead of beating the shit out as I may on the streets. Yeah, yeah, I know. Well. I implore all my listeners to make sure to check out your new album. It is badass. And thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man. Thank you, Popman. I appreciate the exposure and hope we see each other and maybe get a beer together.

23:56 Let's do it. Thanks brother. Thanks you for listening to the Adventures of Pipemen on w for c u I Radio.