Hey, guys. Thanks for having me. What’s up with you, during this pandemic?
Rich – The shut down in Texas happened about 6 weeks or so after Metonic formed. We had a show scheduled in April that was cancelled. I was furloughed from work for about 2 months. I took advantage of my down time to write new material. It’s a very strange time we are living in, kind of seems like the end of times.
Cabo – I am in the retail mattress business and I’ve been lucky in that my job was not lost and I continued to work. This was not the case with a lot of my coworkers….
Glenn – Thanks for having us as well. I have been doing a lot of rehearsing.
Gary – Well, just working on music.
Tell us how it all happened, while forming this band? How did you guys meet and were you familiarized with each other’s work?
Rich – News Year Day 2020, I got an IM from Gary asking if I needed a drummer. He said he could offer his services and Gary made the introductions. It was pretty cool of him to reach out. The timing was perfect. I hadn’t been able to get the right players for the new project, Metonic. The music was there, but the players were not.
Gary – Well, I had spoken to Rich on Facebook about the band. He stated he did not have a full band and was looking for members. I happened to be in a band with Glenn and Cabo . Asked them if they were down. They jump on it and here we are.
Cabo – Glenn and I played in another band (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) with Gary. Gary brought us a tape of Rich’s songs. After we listened to it, recognized it as something different than we were hearing (and it rocked) we decided to have a “play”date.
Glenn – I knew of Rich from another popular local band and Gary sent me some of the tracks to listen to and learn so when we did get in a room with Rich we wouldn’t be looking at each other wondering what to play and the day we were able to get together, it just felt right. It was hand in glove. We have been on a tear ever since.
You will be releasing an EP. What will be the name of it? Jeff Mount helped you to produce, mix and record it, isn’t that right? How did you know is work and how was working with him?
Rich – The EP is self-titled and will be released on July 10, 2020. Jeff Mount recorded, mixed, and mastered the project. He offered a few words of wisdom along the way too. He was able to get us a quality product in a relatively short period of time. I toured Sessionworks previously and liked what I saw. When samples of his work were played, I knew I would work with him in the future.
Cabo – For me, Jeff my first session with Jeff was with the band I mention previously (WTF). Jeff is really easy to work with and he is very good at getting the best out of the musicians. He also has great input on producing the songs to get the best product.
Session Works Studio is the studio, where the magic came true. Why did you choose it and what were the main criterion to choose it?
Rich – We chose Session Works for a couple of different reasons. As previously mentioned Gary, Cabo, and Glenn had recorded at Session Works before and felt comfortable there. The timing was good too because once some of the Covid 19 restrictions were lifted in Texas, Jeff was able to get us in right away.
Gary – For me I had recorded there before with Santa Mortem, Project Rogue, Crewl , WTF and Flatline Road so I had a history there and knew Jeff could do the job.
Glenn – When Metonic wanted to get this EP recorded, he was the first phone call when this COVID-19 thing let up and allowed us to really start moving around.
What can you tell us about the songs? Were they difficult to write? What was the more challenging? The music or the lyrics?
Rich – I write the songs, music and lyrics. I’ll start with Psychotic Break. It started with the intro riff and grew from there. It was just a natural progression. Once I laid down the demo of the music on my home recorder, I just started singing and the words just came out. I pictured a man who has lost his mind and is living in video game world where he’s Chosen One by the Gods to defend the world.
Serial Desire took some time. There are several different parts to that song. As it grew, I knew I had something. Once the music was done, I came up with the first line “I kill for freedom, I spill the blood, I get paid to do what I love.” At that point I knew I was writing about the birth of a serial killer.
Musically Second Sight came together rather quickly. I had it done in one sitting. I had an idea about a person with the gift of second sight and the ability to change the course of history. The chorus on Second Sight is more melodic than what I normally produce.
Forge the Metal. That was very much Judas Priest inspired. I had been sitting on those lyrics for a couple of years. One night a few months back, I was sitting around smoking and drinking and, as often is the case, the music started flowing. My wife must have liked what she heard in the other room because she snuck up on me and started recording with her phone. Good thing too or it would have been lost.
The End of Times is the oldest one on the EP. I started it in around July or August of last year. The reason I chose it to be the first single is because of the content. Even though I wrote it months before the pandemic, it seemed to fit the moment. One line in particular “Like a virus spread across the earth” seemed prophetic.
The Choice is Made came out about the same time as Forge the Metal. It simply started out as an Iron Maiden type gallop and developed from there. I like to change things up in the lead passages and even though I wrote this, it was hard for me get down. When I presented it to the guys, I warned them it would be difficult, it wasn’t. Not for them anyway, lol.
To be quite honest, none of it is very difficult for me. Every time I pick up the guitar something new comes out. And once I have a subject, the lyrics just flow. It’s all very natural.
Why did you chosse these six songs for this EP? Are all songs related? What is the story behind them? How long did it take for you to write them?
Rich – It was supposed to be just 4 songs. We are a very new band, so we were going with the 4 we were most comfortable with. In fact, I just met these guys personally towards the end of January of this year. We’ve only been jamming for 5 months. Forge the Metal was not in the original 4, but everyone likes it, so it was added. Then a week before our studio time, I sprung The Choice is Made on the guys, lol. We pulled it off nicely. This EP, like the band, is just about heavy metal music. This entire project was written in less than a year.
Despite the songs, did you write more songs, for a next album? How many?
Rich – I have written several more songs, some of them we perform in our live sets, but none of those will be recorded in the studio. I am also working a new material for a future release that should be heavier and more intricate. I won’t be under any time constraints so hopefully the product is even better. I’m hoping for 8 to 10 new songs.
“The End of Times” is the first single. How did the video shot go? Where did you film it and what is the story behind it? What will be the next single?
Rich- I had an epiphany. We had some downtime due to the pandemic and I thought it would cool to shoot a video. I watch a ton of metal music videos on YouTube. I wanted more than just some performance pieces in the video. I had my wife, Carrie, record me on a cell phone singing to a backing track on a Bluetooth speaker at Pioneer Park Cemetery in Downtown Dallas. The people watching must of thought we were crazy, lol. The whole video was shot using iPads and cell phones. The backing track we used was from demos we recorded before hitting the studio. One we were done in the studio, the music was snapped in. I had my daughter, Brittany, edit the video and add some flavor. All in all, I think it turned out well for a DIY video in the middle of a pandemic.
Cabo – The video shoot occurred at out practice studio. We scattered iPads and iPhones all around our practice room and ran the song several times. Then out to the roof of the facility we go. Same exercise with the Iphones/Ipads. We also before the shoot did individual shots on our iPhones . With the cities empty at the time it was not hard to find shots without any people…it was the end of times….I also did not survive unfortunately as I fell victim to the plague…..
Gary – Due to the lyrics of the song I thought it would be best if we used a semi generic environment to do the video… So the roof of the building we practice at seemed to be the best choice for the video. Lori, my wife, helped out with cameras and so on to get the shots seen in the video.
You will presente the EP, with a show at the historic Haltonm Theatre in Haltom City, TX. When will it take place? Why did you choose this place? What surprises did you prepare?
Rich – We played that show already. It was very cool, hot, and fun. The only surprises would have been the audience seeing and hearing us for the first time. Especially since in Texas I’m known as a singer, not a guitar player. We all have played in different bands in the area, and no one was expecting this. No one else is doing what we are doing around here. We must have pulled too much power and threw a breaker at the end of our 4th song. The venue had to reset it and we were back in business. Overall, it was a good first show, we were well received. Next we will be playing at the Rail Club Live in For Worth, TX in support of Smile Empty Soul. We have several shows booked for the rest of year and so long as the pandemic doesn’t shut anything down, we are off and running.
What are you favourite bands, that inspired to make this masterpiece come true?
Rich – Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Accept, Rigor Mortis, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Saxon, Motorhead, Lost Society, and Death Angel to name a few.
Cabo – Im an old school metal guy… Big 4 and then some….Priest, Maiden, and more…. I just wanted to do a metal project with vocals with singing and lyrics you can understand.
Glenn – My tops are Dio, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Pantera, and a handful of not so mainstream artists like Death Angel and Monster Truck.
Thanks so much for the interview. Any final words for the metal community out there?
Rich – Pandemic or not, nothing will kill the metal!
Cabo – Whether you are comfortable going out to the clubs or not , find away to support the local scene or it will be gone. The club owners in particular need or support if we want to continue to enjoy the live music.
Glenn – Thank you for the interview as well, my final words for the Metal community is, “lookout cuz Metonic is on the loose and coming for ya.“
Gary – Horns up! See you at the show!!
