Sean Killian of VIO-LENCE at Milwaukee Metal Fest - PipemanRadio Interview

0:04 Hi, you have done to censure. Wow for you your. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio at Milwaukee Metal Fest and I'm here with. Sean Killian from Violence Nice. Oh my god, I gotta tell you first off before we talk about this festival. I saw you guys at the Culture Room just a few days ago in Lauderdale, and like so, I go on tour and I do coverage at music festivals all over US, UK and Europe.

0:45 I rarely do shows in my home area because I don't really like the South Florida venues, but I do love Culture Room and oh my god, that was one of the best shows ever. Like that was insane. Had you like playing? Because I heard from up their bands at that same show They're like that that was one of the best shows of the tour. How do you feel about being in Lauderdale? Well, I love the show is great, you know, I love the venue. For me, it's like every where. We play, it's like, you know, I don't go on stage and go roh ro run. I try to talk to the people and make a connection so that they all feel like we're one and the same.

1:25 Like the band and the crowd. Are one because you know, the bands need the fans and the fans like the music. So as when we all get together to do any show anywhere, it has that same feel. And I try to bring that vibe of connection, you know. Yeah, And and I think that's totally cool, especially after doing it for so many years. Yeah, because there's some bands that aren't like that. They're just like going through the motion. And when somebody like you doing what you're doing, that tells me that A you're a fan. First, yes, B you love what you're. Doing and you're not like just dialing it in anymore.

2:05 No, I never dial it in every night. Every night it's like a new night and a new crowd with new faces, a new experience, you know, we have you know, we have a forty minute set of forty five in a one hour set because some of the venues that the time's change. Yeah, it's always the same. It's just us having a good time on stage and trying to bring to the crowd the same feeling you know, of enjoying ourselves, you know, and not being up there just kind of playing music, but you know, providing you know, an emotional connection. So I'm always like looking in the crowd, trying to look people in the eyes and let them know, I. Know you're out there, you know, it's important.

2:46 I was watching you do that too, like, and you were talking to people directly like a lot of times. And I know what it's like because I'm also a speaker, so when you're up on stage sometimes it's hard to focus on specific people, especially you don't want to offend other people. But I watched you walking around and like you were directly pointing at whoever you were talking to. They knew you were talking to Hyeah. Yeah for sure. And that's why so and I don't have anything scripted, right because every night it's a new experience, so I just get the crowd feedback, you know. I feel out the room and it's like, yeah, okay, what's funny is we were I forget where we were, and I'm all, oh, you got this beautiful ladies here, you know, all the ladies raise your hand, and this dude raised his hand in the front and I'm all, I'm sorry, you're not a woman. Later on he came up to me, he's an old friend of mine.

3:41 Son. Oh my god, I know one who was like four years old. Like you just never knows who's out there, right, You. Just don't know, And that's part of the experience, you know, and. You don't know whose life you're going to change. Eyth that's it too, you know. I know for me back in the eighties, like, oh, was that slayers first show ever? Metallica's first show ever? That shit changed my life? Oh yeah. And then you know when they bailed on us and went up to the Bay Area and my bro would hitchhike up to the Bay Area and I'm like, oh, this is what a real show is, Like, yeah, this is a real show now. So my first experience with Slayer was at the Keystone Berkeley. I think that was their first trip up. They still had the black makeup and they I think they played Ruthie's the next week, and so they hung out at the Exodus House with Paul and carrying those guys, and they told me, you can't do that up here. So the very next weekend it Ruthie's in, no makeup, same guys, you know, same vibe, but no makeup, and Ruthi's in It's just a nuthouse.

4:41 That's so funny because that's the second Tom Mariah's story that has been verified in a week. Okay, all right? Meaning what I mean by that is, you know, me as a teenager, as a fan, you hear these things. Do you know if it really happened or is it just metal lore? No? You know, And I remember always knowing that I talked about on interviews before Slayer went up to a Bay area with their dark eyeliner and Exodus was like, Hey, that shit don't fly up here, and they're like, oh, it's it's it's not the glam stuff. It's for evil. We don't give a fuck. Take that shit off. Yeah, exactly.

5:21 So it's like, you know, I saw Mega Death when they first came back up at Ruthie's Inn. I think there might have been one hundred and ten people maybe, but you know, it was like you're standing right in front of dam of dames. No, no, he's playing you know, killing is my business and all those And then when Suicidal would come up, it was like, man, these dudes are scary. Oh in La they were scary before they crossed over. I couldn't go into their pits. There were sueye boys would spit with switchblades, like fuck that yeah, but. They came up as like a gang, you know, yeah. Because that's what they were. That's what they were too. And I remember I stood writ in front of Rocky because I was just like, I gotta be right here because this dude shreds like there's nobody's business. And yeah, So that was one of the experiences. I also went to high school with Cliff Burton.

6:11 Wow. So anytime. On Ride the Lightning Massive Puppet they were in town, he'd call me, Hey, Sean, come on tech for me, you know. So I remember teching for him during the Ride the Lightning tour at the Sacramento Auditorium they were supporting Yan t Wow. So me and Jimmy Martin and Cliff jumped in his piece of shit dots close piece of shit dots in and rode up to Sacramento. Yeah. What on experience? Oh man, It's just like when I was talking to Dead and Ted from Death Angel were we were like, man, we could tell a lot of stories because there's so many stories from back then, like you mentioned men Mustaine and it just instantly took me back because that first Metallica show that I went to, there were like twenty five people twenty five of us and Mustaine gets off to stage after to say it, comes up to me.

7:01 He starts talking to me. I was like thirteen, and he hands me his business card and it said Metallica power Metal Dave Mustain because there was no word thrash yet. Yeah, okay, yeah, so Metallica was power metal for a minute. Yeah. Well and there was no social media. There was, you know, we would send out cassette tapes and uh the tape interviews and yeah it was. It was amazing. Well how I got into it, You'll love this is so in La there was this record store in the valley called OZ Records, and. There was this record store clerk. There anybody from that time, I tell this story too because it blows her mind. And there was this dude. He was a record store clerk and just.

7:43 Kept, you know, showing us different albums we needed to buy, and then. Show us shows we had to go to. It was Brian Slagel. Oh my gosh, he had he had just started Metal Blade. So, like I walked up to him a few years ago. I'm like, man, that was a pretty brilliant marketing idea. He goes, that was just a record store clerk like he didn't do it on purpose, but it was a brilliant marketing anything like, because me and all my friends we went to every show he recommended, bought every album he recommended. You know, it's like there was a story confirmed a few days ago while I was interviewing Dante from Venom and and I didn't bring it up. He brought up when you had the Slayer Exodus Venom show, there was a fight backstage, Yeah, and Cronos punched out Tom Riot and again could have been lower.

8:40 We all talked about it, but. Do we know, we didn't see it, but you can you can imagine that that could happen. It definitely could have exactly exactly. So it's like it is wild too to think of bands like you guys and everybody else from that year are still playing today because you think back to that time. Did you ever think in twenty twenty six you'd be playing a metal festival? I mean I was. I was twenty two when The Eternal Nightmare came out, and you know, Dean, I think was eighteen, and you know, we were just some punks writing a record. And the funny part is they had a singer, Jerry Burr and I worked with Dean and phil and Dean told me, well, Jerry quit the band and so we don't have a singer.

9:31 So I went up to film and said, hey, man, I heard your singer quit the band. He's all yeah, I says, well, I'll try that. It's all love it. He's all, have you ever sung in a band before? I'm well, no, but you know, what do I have to lose? You know, what do you have because you don't have a singer now exactly. It gave me the lyrics and it was they were atrocious. So that's I wrote Eternal Nightmare. It was the first lyrics I ever wrote. And went in there and tried out, and they're like, who the fuck this guy think he is? You know, it's like, coming in here, it doesn't sound like anything that we're hoping to sound like, you know. And and then then he's be writing our lyrics and so I never got a call. I never got a call back.

10:13 So I saw Philip Ruthie's and he's all, well, you know, we brought Jerry back. And then two weeks later I get a call, Hey, so Jerry left again and we have a show in five days. That Ruthey's in. Oh, I'll do that. So I wrote a few more songs. I can't even remember what songs were, but I didn't remember the lyrics. So I'm up there on the stage no no, no, no, in the microphone. I think there was. Probably seventy five people at the most, but the contos was right in front of me. Wow, smashing his skateboard on the stage. Yeah, fucking killer. Oh but listen, like that's real live music. I remember being at the US festival Van Halen headline heavy metal day.

10:56 I don't get that, but sure. That was then David Planning talking about love and David didn't start singing yet, and Eddie's looking over her like what the fuck, and Dave just in the microphone to three hundred thousand people, goes, I fucking forgot the words. The whole place cheered like it was the best thing that ever happened. Man, because he came. He became real at that moment, exactly. You know. There was one heckler though it's on videos, he's famous for it. The guy said something and David turned to me. He goes, I will fuck your girlfriend.

11:36 Now. That may or may not have happened. That he actually fucked his girlfriend. But that could be. It could have happened after that too. You know, she probably was like, oh shit, help fuck me. She was like, hey, wait a minute, I got to go to the restroom. Yeah right, Oh my god. So fun times, you know. Yeah, don't try to keep that alive with you know what we do. It's not about uh, you know, it's it's not an act, right, It's like, it is what it is, and it's real. And when you come see the band, you get you know, I hope you leave with that sense of holy. Shit, you know. And that's the way it sh enturing. With Death Angel. Though we were both from the Brea thrash metal scene, we have very different crowds and so it's great for us to be out there with them because then a lot of people that never heard of us or never seen us before get to experience that. And so I get a lot of people come up to me after the show man, I never heard of you guys ever.

12:31 You fucking just blew my mind, you know, so. Well, the first time I ever heard you guys was like even kind of after I was in the scene and I saw that album cover. Awesome ed Repka and I was like. I gotta buy that album because that's how we bought out exactly. You looked at the album. Cover like, fuck can go on Spotify, right. I remember Brian Sagel. The first album he showed me was Welcome the Hell. I'm like, oh my god, because there was nothing like that. Yeah, you know, that was like it was even scary. I said to Dante. I was like, like I was reading the lyrics when I'm listening. I was like, this is fucking scary shit. Yeah, but still some of my favorite shit ever.

13:14 Yeah. And Possessed, Oh, I gotta tell you a story about Possessed first though. Check this out. That's my eighties battle. Well that's awesome. And you just met me. You drew that. I drew everything on here. Slayer didn't even have a patch yet, so I just got this vinyl letter or this felt lettering and put it on. People in LA thought it was a gang and that was my gang names. So like, yeah, that's incredible. And speaking of venom, look at those venom patches. Oh yeah wow, Oh they've they've worn out. Yeah, they were in the pit. They were in the pit.

13:54 There's blood on this thing. Everything. So you mentioned Possessed. Funny because I was the first crossover show ever in LA was at Elks Lodge. The metal side was Possessed, Dark Angel and Savage Grace, and the punk side was The Descendants Suicide before they crossed over? Sure? And who else was it on the punk? Oh and Coco Who's playing here? Wasn't that like turning into fights? And it was interesting because it was a lodge, it wasn't a venue. There was no security and in those times, as you know, if you're a long hair went to a punk show, you got your ass beat. You were a punk and went to a metal show, you got your ass beat, which was I always thought.

14:42 Was stupid sid. Like we were both getting our asses kicked by the jocks in school. Shouldn't we banded togethers of kicking each other's asses? But this show, I've I have such a visual in my mind because there's like it was one of those albums I forget which one, and I think it was like a Dark Angel album or something where the people are flying through. The air, because it was literally people. Were climbing up on the rafters and diving and like I saw people flying throughout There was no safe place side if you want a safe place from the pit, there was none. No, maybe the next town, but not there, you know. And it's funny because I interviewed both Mike and Woody from COC and I just brought up I'm like, hey, I was at this show.

15:31 It's the first crossover show. And they immediately said it was an Elks lodge, wasn't it. And they both said that was the most epic show ever because it was insane like that. There was no rules and that's perfect, no Olds barn. But that's what brought us to where we are today because now there's really no distinction between the two. And you know, my influences were punk rock. You know, I was listening to Fair and GBH and you know all these bands, and you know, of course I listened to Black Sabbath and then I started listening Bonded by. Blood and all that. You know, me and Paul were good friends, we hung out a lot, and uh, but it was my influences. We're mostly punk rock because you know, like GBH, you see him up there singing and he's just in the crowd's face, and I was like, yeah, you know.

16:18 What it should be like that. That's how this shit should be always one hundred percent and then leavings just tormenting anyone. It was just the he was the baddest about Darby. Yeah, and he was the baddest ass like, just fuck you, you fucking asshole. I know it's great, and you know it's funny because I was always bummed out because I loved GBH, I loved Discharge, I loved to exploited Dead Kennedy's all that I couldn't go to their shows because I was a long hair. Yeah. I remember even one time at my punk friends bring me to Posers on Melroads, which was the place you should get your spikes, but it. Was a punk place. Yeah. We walk in and I brought my friends because they were friends with the owners and they were punks. I thought it was cool there. For thirty seconds, my friend comes up to me. He's like, we need to leave, and I'm like, what do you mean?

17:08 Trust me? We just need to leave right now? Sure, And it basically said when we went outside, he goes, Yeah, the owners, because we're friends with him, they gave us a cursey. They pulled us aside and said we need to take you out of there or else. They were gonna kick the shit out of you. Yeah, you know, it's amazing. Huh right now, it's like now it doesn't even matter, no, not at all. So that's what I love, and that's what I love about this festival here because it does combine all of us together. It's not just one micro genre type of thing, you know, and bands like you can play and all these other bands are playing and we're just all here escaping the bullshit of the world. Yeah, and one united family, Oh my god, Like I have a solution to all the world's problems. You want to hear it. One music festival. There's a metal music festival that everybody in the world that's required to go to, and we could just work all our shit out in the pit there you go, you know exactly, because that's where you're work it out.

18:12 Like I've I've saved myself from killing people by going in the pit. Yeah. You know, people don't realize it's not about hurting people. It's therapy. It is therapy for a lot of people, Yeah, a lot of especially as young kids. It's like, and that's what I'll say too about this music. It's it's generational. Yeah, it's not a fad, like all this crappy here on the radio. You know, the kids today that I meet at the show, some fourteen, some some younger with their parents, but they're you know, it's like they hurt us because of the social or the algorithms of Spotify and all these other music sources. And then we pop up and they're like, yeah, and then I thought I'd never see you, and here you are, you know, and.

18:58 They're so there's the positive Spotify right there. A lot of ours complain, there's the positive. It spreads the music to the different generations of kids. Well in proof of that is like I when I do these festivals sometimes I take my grandson who's fifteen, and like, I've taken three of my grandkids in their first pit ever. My dad would have never gotten to a show with me. No, Like, I love being at these festivals and seeing multi generations there. Even remember back then, we wouldn't have gotten to see a sixty year old Metallica. No, you know, it's just goldn't happen. But nowadays you go to these shows, it's like, oh my god, how these kids even know about these bands exactly?

19:45 And you just gave the answer. The answer yeah, I love it. And I love it too. It's just great to see him. And you know, on this tour, which is thirty six shows with Death, Angel and Insight, you know, uh, there's a lot of spots where I see parents, like, yes, last night, this kid or the other night this kid was like he probably was six and his dad had him there, right, But I make it a point to go over and acknowledge. Him, Yeah, because they are life. You do it. Then he's like wow, I mean and he looks at his dad and he's looking at me. He's looking at his dad, and I'm. Like yeah, and then it's you know, it's just it's a it's a cool thing. But you know, this this music, like I said, it's multi generational.

20:27 It'll never die. As much as you know, Normy's wanted to be dead. They can want what they want, but it's never gonna die. All you gotta do is good at these festivals and realize that like people say, it's dead, it's far from it, like you would never have you know. And I also I just did Welcome to Rockville. I'm going to download I do hell Fest. Yeah, hundreds of thousands of people that's not dead. Yeah, you know, and we're just one big family, and that's what people don't understand, like this is where all the outsiders or on the inside. Yeah, you know, we. Played this festival and geez, I think it was ninety four. Wow. Yeah, and uh uh Adam Deuce because Dean couldn't make it, he played bass with us, and the original guitar player, Troy Fua played guitar.

21:17 Because I can't remember. I can't Rob might have already started Machine at at the time, and we didn't have somebody to fill in, so, you know, we called Troy a man, come on, let's go do this Milwaukee metal pest. Dude. It was so humid and hot here and that's when the Ambassador was still red velvet, right, and all kinds of prostitutes in the bar. Yeah, you know, I think Jeffrey was probably hanging out in the hotel at the time. We were the area. Dahmer, Oh my god, that's wild. And now here we are back again, here you are. Wow. That's a lot of years later, a lot of years wow. So you to Jamie Jostph for how that happened. We had to bring this back.

21:58 Yeah, and how'd that happened? Jamie had you guys come play. Well, we were on tour Death Angel and Insights, so my manager, you know, she weaseled this in here just. Made sense because you're all together anyway. Yeah, exactly. Well wait, great grouping for a tour, for sure. Great show. I'm so glad you're here at Milwaukee Metal Fest. And thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Oh thank you for having me. I appreciate it, my pleasure. Cheers, cheers. This is Sean Killing from Violence on the Pipe Man's radio show on W four cy Metal. Thank you for Listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man on W for CUI Radio.