PipemanRadio Interviews HOWLING GIANT About Crucible & Ruin

0:04 Hi, you have done to your censure. Wow for you young. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures of Pipe Man W four C Y Radio. And I'm very excited because we have some new music we're going to talk about. And uh so, let's welcome to the show.

0:46 Halloween Giant, how are you? Well, you're not the only Hallween giant you're representing. I'm representing. I'm Sebastian. I'm the bass player and I am the all this person in the band, so literally I am the giant. Well there you got how tall? I'm six foot three? Oh yeah, well you tower over me for sure. And you know, it's funny to hear that too, because I don't think people realize, like so many of band members and I'm friends with that you see him up on stage and they look like bigger than life. M m. Most of them aren't that tall.

1:27 Yep. You go backstage and you meet him and they're like half the height, right, Its exactly. It's like you do imagine a giant in your head. Yeah, well the stage helps, you know, The stage helps for sure. Oh yeah, Just imagine imagine going to see Ronnie James Dio, seeing him up on stage like a giant and then going backstage and realize how tiny he is. So yeah, right, yeah. I used to sing with him in Tarzana at his house and I'm five 't seven and he made me look tall. Oh man, you know, oh man, yeah man, I'm used to being the tallest one on stage. The only problem is that I hit my head multiple times on things, so that's that's often not good.

2:19 See. You know, as short people we think about that too, like we think about the problems we don't have, and like, you know, like we don't have to worry about running into things because everything is above. Us, right, I could see everything except for what's right in front of me, so that, yeah, that's tough sometimes, but as it really happened lately on stage yet, so I'm crossing my fingers that I can keep it that way. I know. Right, It's almost better to be taller as a fan out in the crowd because then you can see everything. But then you make everybody piste off because they can't see asked you.

3:01 I can't help it, man, I was no my fault show late. And you know what, just move a little step to the left or step to the right, and you're good, right, and you guys just got done doing a few shows this month, and uh, so tell us why people should show up to your live shows, man. I feel like our live shows are just so fun and energetic. We always just try and bring this energy of of uh you know, like everybody is invited and everybody's accepted. The past few shows that we did with Castle Rat were really fun. Castle Rat is awesome, and to be able to go out with them and see their live show, you know, they take it to the next level where they're very theatrical, you know, with their their the costumes and the makeup and everything, and and it's really cool to see. I feel like we bring a different element whereas we kind of go up there as more of you know, we could rock the jeans and the T shirt and just go up there and just you know, bring as much energy as we can.

4:15 So yeah, that's why I think people. I think people just love coming out and just you know, rocking out. Yeah. And you know what, It's funny because I go and do radio coverage at festivals all over and then a couple of the last ones that I did that were at the same venue two weeks in a row, two different kinds of genres. What I love about your band is that you could have fit in both festivals. Like, there's certain bands that could fit in two different types of festivals and certain that can't. So one of them was Bourbon and Beyond, you know, which is got like that. It's got like the nineties rock, but it also has the jam bands, and it has country and it like has a little bit of a bluegrass blues everything. But I mean, like, so that's where I feel like, even though you're not a jam band, you could fit in that jam band like venue.

5:12 Well, we all, you know, we come from different backgrounds, you know, musically, you know, Tom was originally uh Tom. Tom studied classical guitar. You know, Zach was. In uh a marching band, and and so we all have this kind of large appreciation for music that's not just you know, metal or rock. So we kind of try to bring a lot of that to our style, if that makes sense. And we never really want to be like pigeonholed as just a metal band or just. A rock band. We kind of want to be, you know, whatever we want the Holland Giants sound to be.

5:54 So yeah, that's. Why it's it is always fun that we get to play these different types of festivals that some of them are just you know, rock festivals, some of them are more metal festivals. We're doing psych stuff now, and it's just it's been really fun to kind of explore that range. I love it too, because I mean, basically, I think an artist, the whole idea is to experiment, especially as you start learning your craft, So you shouldn't be pigeonholed into just one micro genre like they like to do nowadays. You know, I'm a total metal head, but I was also the type. I'm also the type that likes the psychedelic rock and the jam bands, and you know, I would go as a teenager to Slayer on Friday night, Grateful Dead on Saturday, and you know, you know, and it's like, I think everybody's that way. You don't just like one type of music. I think anybody says that they're lying and they're doing like we did in the eighties, you know, whereas like you weren't allowed to like this other stuff, so you really did like it, but you just never admitted it, you know. Yeah, yeah, you know, And then you know the fact of the matter is is I think for us to enjoy the music the artist has to enjoy, and how's ours gonna enjoy it if you're playing the same song over and over again.

7:20 Exactly, you know, we like to switch it up to And that's one of the reasons why I'm so excited for this new record to come out, because you know, there's so many new songs that we get to to. Play on there and really showcase the people. And it is tough too when you have such a you know, I don't want to I'm not trying to make this seem like I'm bragging whatever, but you know, we have a fairly good catalog of songs to pick from when we're doing live shows, right, and so there's always going to be songs that we just like kind of miss or you know, have it played in a while.

8:01 So yeah, being able to like freshen that up a little bit is kind of nice. And also, yeah, again just doing you know, we have we're doing stuff that has you know, metal in it has rock, and then we have you know, part of our show that's really just kind of chilling, psychedelic, and so it's really fun to be able to play all of those different things. Yeah, and so like the next week was Louder than Life. So oh nice, that's where you fit in metal wise. Yeah, I'll tell you a funny story too that you would appreciate, you know. So I was at Bourbon Beyond in the audience. I was joking my friends who are jam band friends, and I was like, what do you think if I started a mosh bit? And it was during Fish Fish was playing okay, oh man, And then it was rather interesting because, like a couple hours into their set, because you know, they do the whole three hour set thing. Yeah, a lot of people were in a very different state of mind in the beginning of the set and if you catch my drift as you do. And it was so funny to me because I'm watching people and it looked to me like a mosh pit without anybody touching any but anybody.

9:25 So I was somebody was trying to be super careful, right. Right, They're all like moving around like they're in ash pit, but not touching anybody. I'm like, well, see, you could do. That would be the cool washpit to do at a fish show. Yep, an appropriate mosh pit for a fish show, I'd say, exactly. And you know you mentioned about classically trained. Like I think a lot of people don't even realize. I've been saying this for years that metal is a derivative of classical music, and most people don't know that. It one hundred percent? Is it one hundred percent? Is there's so much classical I mean, just listen to you know, artists like Ingvey. Yes, you know, he's one of the probably most popular metal guitarists in the world, and and uh, he's.

10:17 Just a ton of classical stuff. So yeah, it's it's always it's always been there, and I think for Tom to have that classical training but then transition that into something that could you know, he could also play that the meathead riffs and the stoner riffs and you know, the progue and psych stuff. That's why he's always one of my favorites to watch. He's just awesome, nice and like, Okay, So, as everybody knows in the world right now, Rush is gonna be coming back to do shows. And I have always viewed Rush as like prog metal, Like a lot of people may not view it that way, but like twenty one to twelve is pretty fricking metal, and so it's everything before that, Like you take like the first Rush album.

11:04 To me, that's kind of hard rock metal, you know, like, so it does go hand in hand. And yeah, sure speaking of a band like that. Okay, and transition. You guys have transitioned from a three piece to a four piece. Tell us how that happened? How did that happen? So we we've done most of the stuff, you know, most of our past releases have been as a three piece. I joined in twenty eighteen. The guys started Zach and Tom started this and I think twenty fourteen. But yeah, so we were just jamming for you know, for forever.

11:53 We did have our good buddy James. He filled in on guitar for about a year and he's helped us in the songwriting front too. So there was a portion of you know, hawling Giant history before where we were a four piece and we went back to being a three piece, and when we were looking for a new guitar player, there was only kind of one, uh, you know, one idea in mind. That was Adrian and he's just super awesome and we played with him, you know, multiple times on on tour with his other bands, and we've stayed at his house before and so we know that he is. He was the one guy to you know, fit and he joined towards the end of our recording process for Cruci Bowl and Ruin, and uh yeah, the stuff that he was able to add in on that process was just absolutely awesome and he's just been a perfect fit ever since. So it's been It's also been really nice for me too, because you know, when you're a three piece as the bass player, uh sometimes you're kind of picking up that rhythm guitar role a little biteah, And so it's been nice for me for us to actually have those two guitar players where I can really just focus on being Hey, I'm just being the bass player.

13:14 You know. Nice. It does make a difference too, I think because it's it's a very different vibe. And I think being a bass player or a guitar player, you follow a different person in the band, like you know, like the bassis and the drummer are always usually in line with each other, and you know, so it would be very difficult to try to play both roles exactly. Yeah, and and just tonally, it's just you know, tough to kind of get that like perfect tone that that we want it as far as guitar and bass is concerned. But yeah, once Adrian joined, man, it was just it click like that. And so he's been awesome.

13:58 On the road. Been a pleasure having him, and yeah, we're stoked to do this next tour. With him nice And so do you think that's made a huge difference in your music for this new album? For sure? For sure, because on our previous releases, we had a friend of ours do keys and synth and organ, a friend who lives down in Texas and he's known us for a while and so we've always kind of collaborated with him. But for this record, we took a different direction, and Adrian has kind of taken the role of doing not only the extra guitar layers, but he also does synth, and so he added his own flavor of synth and guitar on the record and the guitar, I'd say that this record is a little bit more guitar focused rather than our past release. It's kind of more like rift driven songs, and yeah, he's just enhanced that.

15:06 To like the next degree. It's crazy that and that's way cool because I think that also goes in line from where you guys are from, because I think guitar music from there, from Nashville is like, right, that's what it's all about, right there. Yeah, man, Yeah, Nashville is a great town for us. You know, they guys actually started this band up in Boston because they were Berkeley students, but they moved down and I was able to find them in twenty eighteen, and you know, we would we've just been rocking. But it's this town is so full of all different types of music. I mean, you can go out every single night and see a different band somewhere, and so that has really put an influence on us. And you know, going out and seeing the people doing the chicken picking and everything. You know, say what you want about that.

16:03 It's it's awesome to see. And so. Yeah, it's just been it's just been a great experience being down here, man, and so many opportunities to play and meet, you know people and going to row with them. So I love Nashville. You know. They they say that Austin is the live music capital of the country, and I say, Nope, Nashville. That's my viewpoint. Like I've been to both. In Nashville, You're right, no matter where you walk, there's a live band playing, like you could just walk down the street and take your pick of like fifty different live music shows and within a few blocks.

16:43 And also no matter where you walk, there's usually a drunk tourist somewhere. But that's kind of fun sometimes too. Yeah. Yeah, it just adds to the culture of Nashville. It definitely does. But there's you know, there's a ton of different like underground venues and and uh you know, up and coming places around here that are really supporting the rock and metal scene, which is kind of cool. You know, a lot of people do think just when you're coming to Nashville, it's i mean, it's the country music capital, it's you know, country music. Hall of Fame and all that sort of stuff. So I get that.

17:24 But there is definitely like an underground heavy music and heavy metal scene here which is really cool. And I've found a love artists have been gravitating to Nashville. Like even look at Steven Tyler, like, you know, man, it's it's the place to be. Well, it's the place to be because they can Also they usually live right outside of Nashville and these huge farms that you know, nobody can ever find them, so it's a very it's a very relaxing and and peaceful place for you know, uh, the stars to come and hang out because it's kind of there, you know, where they get their their relaxation.

18:05 I guess see. I love places like that though, because like I'm born in New York, grew up in Jersey, and I love New York City. But I also love game out of New York City, So it would be like it was cool to live in Jersey out you know, in the middle of nowhere, but like being ten to fifteen minutes from the city. Right, Yeah, yeah, that's I think that's the allure for Nashville for sure. You know. At granted, there's there's been so many musicians coming to Nashville that has just been like blowing up here. But yeah, every now and then you'll just see it at a random show. I went to a show. This was years and years ago. Actually went to a show and it was it was Steven Tyler's like backing band, I think, and maybe one hundred people in the audience, and Steven Tyler got up and sane nice. You know, you know, you see you see all the rock stars walking around here that are just trying to keep their hat down and like just just chill out a little bit.

19:13 That's cool. And I love when stuff like that happens, when there's just this impromptu thing at a club and nobody expects it, right, I think that's an artist artist probably love that too, because sometimes when you get to that level, you might miss those old days, not not the bad parts of it, but the cool parts of the intimacy with the crowd exactly exactly. Yeah, yeah, And it's just always so fun to see, you know, you never know in Nashville who's gonna pop up, and it's it's for all different genres too. Like I work at a U when I'm off the road, I work at a venue in town here and one night we just randomly had Vince Gill come up and wow, play a couple of songs, you know. So it's just it's a truly special place to.

20:02 Be in totally. And man, your music is badass. And I love how the new album, how you have all these different types of vinyl and even cassette, Like, yeah, I dig how cassette kind of made a comeback after COVID, especially with the vinyl like being so hard to get, and even like Metallica on their newest album. They released it on cassette, and I'm like that, Yeah, that's pretty cool. I think it's the next thing that's making the comeback. Right The vinyl is still vinyl is still popular, and I think vinyl is always going to be popular no matter what. But the cassette is definitely making a comeback.

20:42 We did it first when we for our first record, The Space Between Worlds. We had a friend of ours who did he basically did custom artwork for like, he gave. Us like fifteen cassettes. It was all very limited stuff, but custom artwork on each and every one of them, and it was all numbered, and you know, it was our first record, so we were like, Okay, this is this is super cool to have. And I think we're doing it again for this one. I'm pretty sure. I know. We just got the vinyls and CDs in and we're sending those out. I gotta, I got to take a look at them, and they're just like, man, so so freaking.

21:23 Cool, right cause I love artwork that comes along with the music. Like to me, it's a package deal. I think that's why a lot of people are missing nowadays, is that package deal and the experience of I say it all the time, like I Remember again album, put my headphones on and just immerse myself in everything in the album while I'm listening, and all the artwork and the lyrics and everything. Yep, it's an immersive experience for sure. And we we've really lucked out because Tom Tom's mom has the artwork for the majority of our releases, including this one, and so we've really been able to keep everything.

22:08 In house. And not have to, you know, resort to like an artist who's crazy expensive or you know, or doesn't see that. Yeah, that's that's. Really the main thing is, uh, you know, we want people to be able to see our vision, and usually we could just Uh what happens is Tom will just draw a little like tiny sketch on a napkin or something and give it to his mom, and his mom will come back with this amazing piece of artwork that's really really cool. Yeah, she's been doing most of our stuff, man, and it's been nice to have an actual artist again rather than you know, I know that some bands or some some artists have been doing.

22:58 AI and all that sort of stuff, and it's just doesn't seem doesn't seem right to us. I agree, man, I think making music. They do it with podcasts too. Like now the big thing is, oh, you can make a whole podcast with Ai. Well, why would I want to do that? Like, the whole idea of music and art and podcast is expression human expression. So when you take that out of the equation, and you take the passion and the emotion out of the equation, what are you left with? Right? Right, it's you're not really left with much. And then at the same time, too, there's these you know, uh, there's these artists that are out there that are you know, have been doing this and making this their living, you know, and all of a sudden AI.

23:50 Comes around and can do the you know. Same exact thing anyway. You know, we just love to support Tom's you know, and her art is. Just so cool. She has a really specific way of doing it with this alcohol paint that is it's almost like watercolor. It just looks really awesome. That's wild. I love that, man. So tell everybody how they can reach out to you guys on socials, on the web, how they can get the new album, buy your merch all that good stuff. Yeah, man, So we are on We're on all the socials, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube x and then TikTok as well. You can get our stuff on band camp. You can pre order the record now, it's just bandcamp dot com slash haling Giant and yeah, just check us out on there. We got our new The new album comes out on Halloween, so October thirty first, keep an eye out, and then we'll be jumping on the road after that with Ancients in November. Yeah, we're gonna be hitting North America and a little bit of Canada as well, So yeah, keep an eye out for those dates. We got them posted on all of our social media, so check it out.

25:15 Yeah, and you know, I was gonna even ask you too, was it on purpose that you picked Halloween? Since you're howling Giant and kind. Of goes together it kind of it does fit a theme a little bit, you know. Really did kind. Of just end up that this was the specific period of time that our record label had to, you know, release this, But yeah, we were as soon as we figured out that like this was the available time. We're like, man, yeah we'll do a Halloween record. Why it's perfect. Yeah, make it a little spooky. There you go. I love it and I love the new music, so everybody has to go check it out.

25:58 And I would strongly suggest checking all the different options you have because you have all these different color albums and it's really cool. Yeah, And we just saw them come in the other day and they look awesome. I love it. Well. Thanks a lot for giving us great music for a long time now, but giving us new music too, And thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipemin. I'm w for CUI Radio.