Ted Aguilar of Death Angel at Milwaukee Metal Fest - PipemanRadio Interview

0:04 Hi, you love lunto censure for Wow, for you young. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures of Pipe Man W four c Y Radio. Here at Milwaukee Metal Fest. It's raining outside, but thank god this festival is inside and we won't get evacuated. Like what happened at Welcome to Rockville. And we're here with a band that played at Rockville that I just caught at the Culture Room in Fort Laurideo and now here they are at Milwaukee Metal Fest. Death Angel. How are you?

0:44 I'm doing all right? How are you doing? Man? Oh? How could I be bad? We're here at a metal festival? Man? Oh? Totally Milwaukee, the Rave, the good old rave man. You know, it is amazing, like the first time ever did a festival in Wisconsin. Like I'm a rig from Jersey in LA I'm like, what the fuck am I going to do in Wisconsin? Until I got here, and these metal fans here are fricking insane. I love it. Metal fans are diehards man wherever you go. You know, it's funny you should say that because I meet people and they're like, well, I used to like metal, and I'm like, then you never liked metal because there's nobody that is a metal head that used. To like well, I know a lot of people like that were metal was a phase and they get out of it. But the true ones, man, they carry it on forever. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Mean we all go.

1:31 Through phases in life regardless. Then there's people where, like, you know, there's a peak of metal where everyone, especially with when the Black Album came out, Metallica's by everyone's into metal. Then it dies down, you know because of the height. But true metal head stick with it. See I'm different with the Black Album. Oh no, we get amen. It's debatable, bro, Let's debate it. I like it. I like it now though, but's debate it. Dude. I'm a Metallica fan, true and truth was that Metallica's first show ever okay in La all right, and so I was one of those twenty five original die hard Metallica fans that when they came out with them like fucking posers sellouts. But it is a great fucking album, you.

2:13 Know what it's I understand from a hardcore fans perspective why people don't like the Black Album. I totally get it. But it had to be done. I mean even large even said it during the Justice tour, like man we tapped out, we tapped out. They had to do something different, and whether you like it or not, they it was their call. It wasn't a record label called. They knew they had to do something. And at that time, music changes every ten years, remember the seventies. Then you get into the eighties and they were writing the eighties and they knew, like, we got to do something different musically, and if they want to sustain, you have to.

2:53 It's just the nature of the game. But I do understand from a hardcore Metallica's fan perspective, you know, you know they're sell out. I get that. But if they would have done another Justice or whatever, I don't think they would be as big as they would be. A lot of like a lot of la thrash bands that didn't go to the Bay Area that you don't even know who they are today. I mean they were. They had good foresight and there were always like five steps ahead of everyone else. Well, it's funny you should say that too. And before I go on with that, I am going to say that the difference is I was a teenager when I felt that way, and as an adult I get it, yeah, And I get it that a musician can't play the same album over and over again. You need to expand, you need to you know, experiment and really get better at your craft. You do, I mean, no matter what.

3:44 As a musician, and when you're especially in metal, you're going to get crucified. And judge whether you're going to do that if you repeat yourself or you want to expand, So what are you gonna do? Exactly? You're gonna get crucified either way. So I'd rather get crucified and expand, and just so you feel happy creatively and musically. I think we wouldn't be here today if it weren't for the Black Album. I don't think so, because you wouldn't have the extreme metal going the direction it's gone. Yeah, you wouldn't have the people like you know who are like who anti Black Album? I get it, you know what I mean? And it went extreme and you know what, it's all good man. Music is subjective, and we're here today. You know, some people get it years later, some people don't. And it's okay, but you know, all roads lead to here exactly exactly.

4:34 Now, I'm going to show you something although I'm kind of embarrassed about one thing I'll tell you about. But this is my eighties battle vest. Wow, dude, well. I bring it out during certain interviews to check it out. The reason I'm embarrassed is as pretty much every band on there except that Angel, I don't know how that happens. That's okay, man, that's okay. You know we're one of those. Slayer didn't even have a patch yet, so I made that up. That's awesome, dude. That's like iron right, like an iron felt felt in l A. People thought it was gang Bagger and that was my gang maid. Oh totally, dude. It looked like it looked like you're from La Hood, right, And I drew all that ship on there. That's true.

5:14 That's that's real deal, right, hey man, that's what we did back then, exactly. Like I look at some of these other battle vests, I'm like, I don't want to buy a pre made one because. This but that's today. But that's me. But yeah, that's that's sign of the times, right. I mean, but now you have, you know, options, which is good. You know, you just got to adjust to the times. I know that. I get it. People old school, this should do. But we're not living there. But I'm glad, but we're glad we lived it right. So, and I agree with you because would I buy one of those pre made battle vests if it was cool? Yeah, but this is the one that was me is type of thing. It even has blood on it from.

5:54 I'll tell you. If there were pre made back then people would buy it. But there wasn't. So you had to go. Exactly, exactly exactly. And so how did it happen that you ended up in Death Angel? Wow? Good question. Let me go back. I've been a fan of theirs for a very long time. My first time seeing Death Angel was on the Ultra Violence tour. It was a show in San Francisco. It was for the Voracious Soul's video shoot. They were shooting video for it and they were doing live footage at a show and it was ironically, it was with Violence before Eternal Nightmare came out. They were under Demo Nice. It was in July of eighty seven.

6:35 I just graduated from grade school eighth grade. Wow. Yeah, And I went to see him. I had the Ultra Violence incredible record and I saw him on all their tours. I saw him on ultra violence for Alic through the park in Act three, I saw him, and of course they broke up, and you know, Mark went and did his thing. He moved to New York the other guys from the organization, and I got to know the guys throughout the years. And was it. In late late nineties early two thousands, Mark came back to San Francisco, or he was already there, and him and Rob and Andy got back together and they formed a rock band called Swarm. And at the time, I was in a local band. I formed a local band with some friends called Sift, and we were doing like you know, Alice and Chains neurosis type music, and our band and Mark and Rob's band, Swarm would play together locally in the San Francisco Bay area at the time.

7:25 We did a lot of shows together. And when it was there was the Chuck Billy benefit Thrash of the Titans. Yeah, and dath Angel was the last band to confirm, and I remember. Holy shit thatthing was doing. I never thought they'd do it, because those guys said, we're done with it, you know, we left, you know, we ended it on the high. They went out and did all other musical projects and I respected him for that, and I remember Rob called me and goes, hey, dude, you know, did you hear that dath Angels doing this benefit for Chuck Billy? And I said, dude, I saw it. I heard about it, dude. And I actually to Rob, dude, if you need any help loading gear, I'll help you out with your guitars.

8:06 Excuse me, I'll tech for you whatever. I just want to see the show fucking Death Angels back together. And he actually goes, well, we talk. Everyone's in. But Gus Peppa, the original guitar player, he was living at the Philippines at the time. He goes, he gave us our blessing. He can't do it. Do you want to do it with us? Nice? Twenty five years later. That's kind of how it happens sometimes too, like back in the day again, going back to back in the day, like you always, I rode for like pretty much every band just to hang out, to hang. Out and just to get into the shows to for free and party or whatever exactly. But it's so many people I know that were like text and they got their break because somebody left the band or they were saying, and then they play and it's like, holy shit, Yeah, they're good. Yeah, you know, and you know, here we are, and I can tell that you're still a major fan of Death Angel told hus I watch your tiktoks, okay, and there they tell me that you're a total Death Angel fan.

9:02 Dude, I'm a fan, man, That's true. That's the difference I think between metal bands. And I'm not talking about commercial but metal like thrash bands, stuff like that. Is every musician pretty much is a fan first, fan first, man, exactly, fan first. I still get giddy. When we play certain songs. I go, oh shit, dude, it's pretty cool, you know, right. I remember when you guys played this on this show and this and that. You know, how does it feel doing the whole act three? It's great? Man, that's it's It's my favorite Death Angel record for the fact that, I mean, I love all. The records I've been on. Don't get me wrong. It's just being biased if I say that, I have to remove myself from the equation rights.

9:42 It's an album. When it came out, it was different, very different, very diverse. They were that album. They here's how I look at it. Ultra Violence came out. It was all thrash, you know, I mean, great album Frolics through the Park came out and you could kind of tell the trying. To find themselves. They were really like pushing the boundaries and pushing the envelope per se, like what are we doing here? Then when the Act three came out, it was like this is our style, Like this is Death Angel. They were able to mix. You know, they still had the foundation of ultra violence, but they were able to mix like stuff like Room of the View, Veila Deception, and you had like hard rock songs like the Organization, you have this you know, epic tune of like Discontinued. It's a well written album, well produced and it just came out at a time where I totally relate to it. Yeah, I mean.

10:35 Totally, and I agree with everything you're saying, Like it goes again to expanding getting better at your craft. And like when I saw you guys at the Culture Room, because it's different than seeing a f festival. Now you're seeing your real show. Yes, and I was like, this is fucking killer because it was like doing Act three, it was like going to multiple concerts because it's so some of the songs are so different yeah. That's sort of like variety, you know sometimes, and you know there's bands out there who just you know, Exodus for example. I love the band. They're just straight brutal, you know, and that's their style and they're good at it and I love it, you know, and everyone has their thing.

11:16 I like variety. And you know, when I saw Death in July back in the day, they busted out the acoustics, they bust it out right, all this different stuff where you're like, fuck yeah, and I'm into that stuff. That's my you know. I love pop music, I love all that stuff. I love acoustic music. And these guys knew how to blend it well with and make it their own. And I love hearing that too, because most people think metal heads only listen to metal, No man. I mean we I mean, of course, it's our forte. You know, we love it because we grew up on it, we started playing it. But we you know, everyone in the band has an eclectic taste in music. You know, it ranges a lot and it does bleed in, you know what I mean. And that's what that's what I love about old school, especially thrash metal, compared to some of it today, where they kind of use like an algebraic equation to make metal, whereas back then it was just whatever whatever we feel like playing, And none of the thrash bands sounded the same exactly. I agree with you.

12:13 I mean, there's nothing against the metal bands of today, and the good thing about it is there's a lot of them. Maybe a little too much. Sometimes that's over that's probably why. And and they're keeping it alive, you know. I mean, they're carrying the torch. But I grew up in a time where you know, thrash metal. Anthrack sounded different from Overkill, that Angels sounded different from Testament. They have their own sound, but it was thrash, you know. Of course they were all influenced by the new wave of British heavy metal and punk rock, and of course Metallica. Everyone's influenced by Metallica and Exodus, right because they were like in the forefront. But everyone just says we want that aggression, but our style exact like for example, like Mark doesn't sound like Chuck Billy, Chuck Billy doesn't sound like Sean Killian, and no one sounds like Zetro, you know.

13:05 And my gripe about today's metal and this is just me and it's no dish to these bands. I can't tell who from who? Oh listen, I go through a lot of concerns. You got these sub microjnre exactly so specific. That's why I say like an algebraic equation or using a formula to make metal music. Yeah, to me, metal was always experimentation. Yeah, and I. Mean and I think metal nowadays there's some incredible players like oh my god, they could run circles around this and they're very talented. Where then it's just like you figured out your instrument together as a band, let's write song as I do covers, like you're figuring it out together.

13:46 Where in this day and age, and again there's no disc because there's amazing musicians out there, incredible like, oh man, I wish I could do it. But what's in the water today that you could run circles around everyone? But you know it's just the YouTubers and the influencers or whatnot. Where then it's just like you had to figure out you had to be a band together. You know, there's something about being in a room together with everyone learning from each other, bouncing ideas instead of you know, you're all by yourself. Then you finally join the band and you're so used to being by yourself you don't know how to click with another musician. You know what I mean. I love it. That's the organic way back then. It's just like you get in a room, let's play, and you go home and you keep playing, you write, you come back.

14:29 Hey, guys, I got this idea, and you work on it together. Now, I mean pros and cons. There's pros and cons to everything, like anything, Like anything in life. You have the technology where you could write riffs and show send it to somebody, they learn it, and you can record, but you still got to get in a room about that. There's a synergy there. Yeah, there's a synergy where a human contact. You get to see someone's face, how they feel about it, what they contribute, and maybe the disagreements or whatever. You know. I agree totally. Well, you got a badass. I'm so happy I got to see you, like three weeks. In a row. Thank you, thank you, and thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. No, thank you, man. I can love having chit chats and you know, conversations. I think all interviews should just be a conversation and.

15:15 The scripted you know what I mean, agreed on. I mean, so it just makes it more comfortable, you know exactly, and it takes a life of its own, it does. You don't even go anywhere exactly. I could go anywhere, you know. And we're stoked to you know that we have people like you who are into it that we do want to interview us. It's like, and are into the music. And you know, I love hearing stories. We love hearing stories. Like you said, like you're from back in the day. Yeah, and I'm from back in the day as well. We could exchange stories. I know. We could sit here all day. Probably we can do another ten minutes if you want. I got time, bro, you know we can. I got Sean waiting for me. Now that Sean k yes here, you can bring this up to Sean.

15:58 We have a history. Not only does he have a history with you know, Death Angel. Then because me and Will Carroll are band. We had a band in the eighties, late eighties early nineties called Warfare DC, and Sean Killian produced one of our demos, Nice, so we have that. You know. This is when Oppressing the Masses came out and We're huge Violence fans too. Man. We're like, dude, Sean's producing our demo. And the story is like, Sean produced our demo and we were young kids. Man, we didn't have equipment. Phil Demo lent me his guitar wo. Rob Flynn lent me his half stack wow. And Sean was guiding us. We were just teenagers in a like, Dude, we're in a real studio with Sean Killian like producing, and there's a long story to cut the you know, make a long story short. Like after the recording sessions, Sean goes, you could stay at our you could stay at my place, and he made a spaghetti and.

16:49 You know, we were just kids going, fuck, dude, this is cool. And you know, and now we're touring with Seawn and I go a long way with Sean, and I love Sean and I'm glad he's still doing it. Lens is a great band totally. You know. My favorite album is Oppressing the Masses, and I always teach them, Hey, man, when you're gonna play mentally Afflicted, dude, that's my favorite song. Like again, dude, I'm a fan first, dude. That's the way it should be fanned first. And that's why I love bands like you, because that's what it's about. Dude. I still you know when we go tour Europe in the festivals, when we you know, we did some shows with Creator and I talked to Milla. I'm like, I bought Pleasures to Kill at the Record Vault in San Francisco when it came out. Dude, I bought Flag of Hate.

17:30 I fucking you know, we saw you at the shone with Corner. You know what I mean, we were there, we were. In the pit. He was like, ohh so I still geek out. Same with like Sepultura. Like when I talked to Andreas and Paulo separately from Max and Igor, he goes, hey, do you remember that show when you guys played with Ministry and Helmet. It was like close to New Year's even San Francisco. Bill grahams, if you go, yeah, we remember, I go do? I was there. I was there when you fucking came, you know with Fudge Tunnel. I mentioned all the shows I was in there, Like whoa, I'm a fan first, dude, I get gear, especially now that I know these people as peers and friends. Yeah, that fan people still comes out you know you're man. And that's what makes you great. I love it. Yeah, when when when the fan thing is overstopped? Right, If you're not having fun in this business, it's the wrong business, you know.

18:18 And you know, as we get older, and you know, with long tours and you know whatnot you know, with of course a lot of people passing, as we know, Phil Campbell, who else, you know, the list goes on. Yeah, there's a lot of people passing. I look at us. Every day above ground is a good day, yeah, you know, and don't waste those days. Don't waste those days. And of course you're away from your loved ones, but try to enjoy yourself, you know. I embrace everything. Yeah, it could be hard on the tour, but it's hard no matter what job you're not lack of a better word, job, no matter what you're doing in any industry, it's gonna be hard. But we we have a great job to do. We love playing music, We love playing the people who come and all the fans.

19:07 We just did a meet and greet. I enjoy it. I love seeing I look at them like man, if I was able to do a meet and greet like that with you know, like with all these bands. If they did it, oh man, I would so totally do it, you know. Nice, And it's it's cool to see the people their. Smiles on their faces. I get a kick off it. Man. It's I'm grateful, I'm blessed, we're appreciative, we're just so stoked to be here. Like it can be taken away at any time. Yeah, So enjoy the moment, and you know, you take the bad with the good, like you know, I'll quote a few things like, you can't enjoy the sunshine without. The rain, man, that's so true, right. I love that you. Can't enjoy the sunshine without the rain. But if you want the rain, you got to deal with the mud.

19:48 Too, That's right, you know what I mean. So it's raining out. It sucks rain, But hey, we're playing a metal fest, man, and there's inside and there's people here who not only come but all these bands, yeah, who have traveled a long way. So go out there and treat it with respect. Man. Yeah, on the best show. You can know that people come a long way, paid money and they're stoked to see it. Let's go out there and enjoy it. And I'd like to say that to everyone not only in music, sports acting. You know, if you're a color away, no matter what you do, man, you know, because the world's crazy nowadays, no matter what side you're on. So the best thing we could do to make it better is through music exactly.

20:31 That's where we stand united. That's where we stand united. And we just keep it that way, you know what I mean. Leave all your problems out the door when you're in this room at the Rave, at the Eagles Ballroom, leave everything out the door. Let's have a good time, Let's enjoy music, Let's enjoy each other. When the night's over, take your problems, go home with it and whatever. But today is the time to enjoy music and unity. Those are great words, and I love it and it's what I'm all about. And that's why we're here. That's why. That's why guys are bad. Thank you, man, thank you. No, thank you for this interview. Man. Like I said, I you know, not only me and I speak for the rest of the band. We love meeting people, we love meeting fans, we love meeting the press. Because you know, you took your time out of everyone, you picked us one of many to interview, and we just love sitting down and talking like this. Man, nothing is scripted, nothing like you know, I could exactly exactly.

21:30 Man. Damn Spitz is one of my best friends, and he's like, I wish when we were on tour that people would have asked me what skin condition I use on tour because I'm so sick of all the other questions. You know, and because I'm because I'm a fan of like podcasts where people just Joe Rogan off the cuff. That's what makes it, you know, and then people go, man, but it's not edited, it's not scripted, and that's where I go real, where I go for real when it's scripted and editing you can tell. I don't know, but yeah, interview like this, I have a great time, man, So thank you for having us. Man, hope you enjoy the show today. I will, and we'll have to do this again on a remote where we will have time to change. Oh, dude, trade stories because I got lots of them too.

22:12 I got a lot of them too, and we can debate and taco all you want. Dude, there it is. I'm still There's still one of my favorite bands. So it was just that small blipping time. Now. I was like, fuck, them. I get it. But but here's the thing. They evolved much faster than we did. Yeah, and we were still stuck on that thrashboard. They were ahead the forward thinkers. Yes, and they're still thrash. I mean you take their latest albums and they're thrash. That's old school Metallica too, but with better production, musicianship production, everything. Even James says he hates the way he's sang back then. I love the way he. Said, love it, but I see it from his standpoint, right, I do standpoint, But I'm looking at it as like, man, come on, dude, it's it's not nineteen eighty six no more. Dude, can't recreate them that moment in time, exactly, that moment in time. And I tell people, if you want that moment in time, go listen to the records or.

23:07 Go watch a bootleg. And that's true. And you know what, all these bands, there's there's no there's not going to be an Iron Maiden Metallica. Do you just appreciate anymore? These headliners, the Aerosmiths and the whatever. So enjoy them now, man, appreciate them now, and just because they're not going to be around forever man true. Well, you guys kill it here at Milwaukee Metal Fast and we'll talk again soon. Totally thank you for listening to the adventures of plate Man. I'm W for c u I Radio.