Interview on Your Next Favorite Band
Watch our interview on Your Next Favorite Band! Hilary and Mike literally sit down with host Phillip and discuss musical backgrounds, Musikfest and what else is happening with the band.
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Transcript:
37:53going to be performing later today. This may be one of the most drastic transitions of genre in the history of
38:00my show for sure, but maybe in the human race. Yeah. Glad to be a part of it. We might be a Celtic punk or a Celtic
38:06band. That’s true. That’s true. Yeah. You never know. The Shamrock on our Instagram.
38:13Um and so, uh we’re going to play that in a second, but hi. How’s it going?
38:18Good. How are you both doing? Well, thank you for having us. Stoked to be here. Yeah, for sure. Um, and so uh if you
38:24don’t mind, do some intros and maybe even intro the rest of the band members who are not present. Oh, sure. My name is Mike. I uh play
38:31guitar and sing in the band. And uh this is Hillary. Uh Hillary, I play bass, sing backup
38:37vocals, and mia today are Steve, our lead guitarist, and Brenton, our uh
38:42drummer, producer extraordinaire. Extraordinaire. Um, so cool. Yeah. And
38:48then I figured that would be cool to do in the Bye Abigail. I’ll see you later. Thank you. Great job.
38:54Um, side note, side note. Do it. Can I just say that she won the name lottery with Abigail Fierce, right?
39:00Isn’t that cool? I mean, I know she has the acting name and everything, but I’m like Hillary Brown. Underwhelming. Now you
39:07need to like do some work now. Yeah. Just go to like, you know, find adjectives for that are like
39:12there’s got to be like some AI name generator. That probably is that, too. Yeah. Um, but no, I agree. I was like, that’s why
39:18I was like, Abigail, fear. Um, but yeah, here are the pics once again. Bell weather ritual is on there. Um, I also
39:24want to point out just in case people weather not spelled like the outside weather. Yes. Uh, and in my research learned that a
39:31weather is a castrated ram. Yes. Thank you for bringing that up.
39:37It’s also what they would hang the bell off of the front ra to lead the rest of the sheep. Yeah. And then the they would let them
39:43go like I guess all winter or something like that and then the shepherd would go find the flock or maybe if they just let them walk around for food or whatever.
39:50So yeah, the bell weather was this ram that was like amongst the sheep so that they could then find them.
39:56Yep. And it’s typically a leader. So you guys are leaders. Uh sure. We’ll we’ll go with that. And then we also have the ritual side which
40:02to me is like it’s a ritual when we get together and perform music and and play with each other and then take that in
40:08front of a stage and have that ritual with the rest of the audience. No, it’s awesome. It’s so cool. Uh, great name and and awesome music. I
40:14mean, again, it’s it’s something that is, you know, you don’t hear this sound very often. So, let’s bring it in so people can hear it. Here’s their track
40:21called The Fall by Bell Weather Ritual.
40:37Heat.
40:47Heat.
40:57Heat. Heat.
41:11me when I’m struggling with my enemy.
41:18It is one of my favorite things to watch the musician like kind of beep off to their own music.
41:25Yeah, it’s a catchy tune. It is. It’s fantastic. It’s really his handiwork, you know, at the the infancy stages of it, you know,
41:31he definitely was behind the behind the inspiration of the whole thing. Super cool. Yeah. Anything else you can
41:37tell us about the track or? Um, you were talking about mental health before with Abigail and uh I think it
41:43kind of came from a spot, you know, just being in a low spot. I usually say, “Oh, it’s about autumn and stuff like that.” But not really. It’s um
41:49See, this is the interesting part is a lot of musicians will tell you a story, but once you create the safe space,
41:54they’re like, “All right, I’m going to now tell you what the song is really about.” It’s so interesting that that just happened. Yeah. So, yeah. And you know, for us, I
42:00don’t know, I can’t speak for Hillary, but what I really love is to hear what other people think absolutely the song is
42:06about because that’s kind of the gift they can give back to us, just telling us what they think. But all that said,
42:11uh maybe realizing you’re your own worst enemy and um I don’t know, just being in a low spot
42:17and throwing out a Hail Mary prayer or that kind of thing, you know, just um to
42:23hopefully rise back up from that. Sure. Absolutely. Um,
42:28thank you for sharing that. Yeah, sure. And then the the the whole branding of the whole thing. So, not just the music,
42:34but the name, like we talked about, even these videos. This happens to be a lyric video because I loved this song and I
42:40was like wanted to play this one. Um, but like the font, everything is just so on brand, which is great. So, like um I
42:47think that’s also highly admirable from what you guys are putting out there. Oh, thank you. That that we do talk
42:52about that a lot. Um, Hillary is in marketing. Um, I do marketing as well.
42:58So, yeah, we do do a lot of shop talk about all things, branding. If we were your own client, I would
43:03recommend this. Yeah. Yeah. It is kind of strange to like have to do that for yourself, too, because
43:08you know, your your personal your feelings really get wrapped up in it becomes because actually people have
43:15said that to me. They’re like, you know, you should do this this and I’m just like, no. And it’s like too precious to me. But after a while, you let it sink
43:22in. You’re like, “Yeah, that’s probably good advice.” Yeah. It’s weird. You got to put kind of those feelings aside sometimes or, you know, hear feedback that you might
43:28not, you know, everyone’s got different perspectives, so you have to take all that into consideration. And I think that’s what’s so cool about
43:34this is at the end of the day, this really brings in a lot of the unique perspectives. I mean, we all we have
43:40some similar influences, but we also have some pretty disperate influences. And so to see that come to fruition, I
43:47think that was kind of the culmination of, you know, all of those big discussions and merging all of those
43:52things together because I mean, I think we just come from such interesting places musically and uh, you know, it’s
43:58interesting to see the intersection which is, you know, you can see it on that song where it lands. Absolutely. Yeah. And the sound I just think is so cool. Like
44:05it’s um, vocally and sonically there’s a little bit of for me at least Allison Chains in
44:10there. Um but harder like more like if the deaf tones and and Alice and Chains went together like
44:16Yeah. Yeah. Um and then Hillary joining was kind of like opened up a whole another um part of what we are because
44:23uh she has she’s very Doom influence like black heavy Black Sabbath influence. Our IP
44:30right. We’re going to be actually going to I don’t know if you want to spill the tea a little bit on the set tonight but we’ll be uh honoring that a little bit.
44:36Fantastic. Sweet tea. Yeah. So, spoiler alert. There you go. Yeah. So, she just came
44:44in. No, I think actually that’ll be like if anybody is into that, I think they would be more inclined to make sure they’re down there for us. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And we appreciate
44:51anyone. It’s, you know, like we were talking about before. I thought you spun it. Well, it’s it’s a end of the night
44:56kind of night cap. So, yeah, we appreciate anyone who comes down after hours, baby. And who doesn’t want to
45:02walk around with a giant 2L mug around their neck at 11 o’clock at night full
45:07of yang lang? Exactly. Exactly right. That’s what I do with my my Monday nights every every week. So
45:13Oh, but like Monday of MusicFest is such a a wonderful like little treat. Like it’s like it’s typically a little bit um
45:20less crowded like cuz the Fridays and the Saturdays and even the Sundays draw a lot of people who are not interested
45:26in the music. So they’re just clogging up the food tents and the and the pathways you can’t get around. And I
45:33said, you know, um I thought this was a great idea. We added sober plots this year. So that’s really great. What I
45:40have been long asking for is I’m not here for the music plots. It’s like give them something interesting to go over there and hang out and get out of my way
45:46because I’m I have some limited time to get from this plot to that plot and you’re just making it to anyway. Now I
45:52sound like a grumpy old man, but really it just has to do with like I love that you’re here and you’re enjoying this and and whatnot. But if you have no interest
45:58in the music, don’t be near the stages, you know, like just go like Anyway, the point is like I
46:05I I really wish that we had that because it’s got to be a railroad museum or something. Yeah.
46:10Um, but yeah, it’s it’s it’s just an interesting thing. But that 11:00 time slot, they often are putting such interesting music on there that I’m
46:16always like, can I pace myself enough to make it till 12:30. Um, I heard you talking about that before.
46:22It is really important to pace yourself. I used to work uh with for Arts Quest. Hillary’s on one of the boards there, so
46:29we kind of see both sides. And I’ve worked many in Musicfest. And you really that is a really important part of it.
46:34It’s like uh and I love that you went through the schedules too cuz I think there’s a lot of things. The app is
46:40great. You can kind of build your own schedule. Absolutely. The app was a game changer. The year that that came out I was like my god that is just brilliant. Um and I
46:47love that actually if you turn it so that it’s landscape instead of portrait. It actually gives you like all the
46:54stages left to right. And it like it’s almost looks like it’s your Outlook calendar. So you can actually see what I
47:00was talking about. Where do I have either overlap or a small window of time to go from? If it’s important for me to
47:06see both, how do I navigate? I was going to say it just it it makes things it’s so much to digest. Having
47:13just moved here a few years ago and seeing my first music fest before I joined the board and like looking at the
47:19list, I was like, “Oh my god, I don’t even know what to make of this.” I meant to bring this up. I was but uh
47:24this is my buddy who’s coming in. He’s from uh he’s from uh Dallas and he’s
47:30coming into town Thursday. He planned for 4 days this year which I just love. Um but uh he has like the printed sheets
47:40with highlighted I I won’t be able to show it on there. I need to bring it up into the thing. You
47:46got to like Exactly. He’s like basically handicapping which ones we’re going to get to and then uh like also pulling up
47:52like a Spotify playlist to listen to the bands and so on. So, it’s just really funny to me that he’s taking it as seriously as I hoped he would.
47:58I’m like a consumate wanderer, though. I don’t even like to make an agenda. I just kind of like to So, here I tell the story a lot, so
48:04forgive me. But um the uh the thing that happened was the first year I ever went like all 10 more than like two days. I
48:12was um just really embracing the festival and saying, “I’m going to probably go down all 10 days.” And I
48:19meandered to this one stage and there’s this dude with a piano like on fire. The
48:25band is all doing some big extended solo. He goes out into the crowd back up in. He’s surfing on top this amazing
48:30thing. I’m like, “Oh, this is awesome.” And he goes boom. Thank you. Good night. And I’m like, “No.” And so like I just
48:38swore at that point I was like, “I need to at least have at least a a minimal understanding of what’s out there so
48:43that I don’t let that happen every day.” Yeah. Yeah. So if there’s somebody who is a can’t miss, I want to know about it.
48:49Um now I then went way overboard and turned it into a whole show. But um
48:56but uh but anyway, that’s that was it. It was like I just don’t want to miss the 60 to 90 minutes of just absolute
49:02fever dream of whatever that was. Turned out it was low cut Connie. Exactly. Awesome.
49:07So had I known it, I would have definitely been there for the whole thing. He’s a logo. He I’ve since seen him
49:13probably five times, but in that moment it would have been the first time cuz this was probably like 2015. I think he was just added to like the
49:21Barack Obama playlist. Like he was starting to just absolutely take off. Um
49:26and uh yeah, it’s a wonderful show, so people definitely need to see it. But yeah, what’s great about the Arts Quest
49:31Center, too, is you know, the the those bands come back. They do come back often. Yeah. especially if they’re regional like he’s
49:38Philly and people from New York or or New England or whatever can come back through even more easily than somebody
49:43who’s got to be on somewhat of a of a national tour. Um but yeah, I mean um let’s have a a
49:49moment here to just learn about both of your backstories. Like where did uh let’s start with you Hillary. Where did
49:55where did you start with music and then maybe navigated into this more Doom uh
50:01bass type uh angle of things? Um I grew up in a family of musicians. Um, my dad’s a musician. Definitely my
50:07number one musical inspiration. My brother’s a working musician in New Orleans. I just went down to visit him. Had never been to New Orleans, by the
50:13way. Shameless plug for New Orleans. Just badass. Um, and uh, self-taught musician. Kind
50:20of I started on the piano and like my roots are very much in all things I would say 60s, which you can pick up in
50:27some of the vocal arrangements that we work on. Like I’m just a Pet Sounds girl through and through and just like layers
50:33on layers and layers of vocals. So, I’m obsessed with that. Um, I I I think just
50:40as I started getting into heavier music, you know, I I like I said, started with like mid60s stuff and then I kind of
50:46found Deep Purple and lo and behold, I found Black Sabbath, which is my favorite band. Um, and I think that just
50:52kind of opened up all the different sections unlocked of metal. I like fell into um like big punk and metal scene
50:59when I eventually moved to Chicago. Um, but in terms of the bass, um, you know, I dabbled a little bit in guitar and I
51:06saw on Craigslist they were hiring this bass player. Hadn’t played like a bass in my life and I was like, let me try this. And so that was
51:1225 years ago. And uh, I think, you know, I was talk we were talking to somebody about bass before, but it’s like when
51:18you find your instrument, when you find the bass, you really, you know, it’s your groove. It’s a r a rare breed of
51:24person that becomes a bass player. No, you’re right. So from there, you know, dabbled a little bit in a bunch of
51:30different genres, but my heart is very much in drums. Seems to be the similar thing where like most people who were these
51:35killer drummers, they’re like, “Yeah, I was like four years old and I was obsessed with it. Just the aesthetic of the drum kit was what drew them to it.”
51:43And it’s like, well, there’s very clearly a like a old soul who was a former drummer in you. Like because
51:49otherwise, why would a four-year-old care? I mean, it’s a big commitment and it does make a lot of noise. Yeah, it sure does. It sure does. But I
51:56think same thing bass or just any instrument whatever like you are so drawn to it. It’s like it was just what you were born to do.
52:01Yeah. And I’d say on the other side of that too I um I have a journalism background and so I started my career in
52:07the music career but started as a music journalist and so I really just um enjoyed hearing and sharing stories with
52:13the musicians themselves just as you’re doing. So it’s interesting to be on the other side of microphone.
52:19Oh that is cool. Um, and we’re going to come back to another question, but uh, let’s hear uh, how how you your your
52:24journey went. I was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Um, yeah. And I was lucky enough to my first real concert was
52:33Nirvana up at Stabler Arena. Wow. Yeah. Which is totally mind-blowing to a young kid. So,
52:39um, yeah, that kind of really changed my trajectory. I was a sports I I still like sports, but I was, you know, came
52:45up playing baseball and that sort of thing. and then instantly was like this is what I want to do, right? So, um actually started off on bass
52:53because I mistook the beginning of a of one of their songs to be bass when it was actually guitar. I forget what song
52:59it was, but I was like, I want to do that. So, I started on bass, moved down to Philadelphia for seven years, played
53:04in bands, all sorts of bands down there, like um post rock bands, country bands,
53:09all that sort of thing. and then kind of got tired of dealing with lead singers
53:14and guitar players, waiting for them to show up and all that kind of stuff. I’ve always played guitar as well. So, I just
53:20kind of migrated into more of the songwriting aspect of it. And that to me that came more naturally on guitar. So,
53:26switched to that. Had to come back to the valley for some family issues and that’s when I um got started at Arts
53:33Quest. So, it was just kind of like, oh, maybe I should just stick around. And Musicfest has always been such a great
53:38Yeah. I mean growing up it was it was amazing. I lived right down the street um on 15th Avenue. So I was able to walk
53:45down I would fall asleep at night to you know bands. Yeah. So it’s always been a part of my life and uh had the
53:52opportunity to you know do work uh for them and be on that side too. So it was really interesting. Saw like met random
53:59musicians and people got to stand in the pit for some really interesting bands. Yeah. Good stuff.
54:04Yeah. Absolutely. and then navigating to this performing this genre of music. How did that happen? Okay, so yeah, um this band has uh been
54:14already been through a lot of eras. I would say this is probably our thirdish era. So it did start off like if you go
54:19back and listen to our earlier EPs, you’re like, “Wow, that’s a that’s a pretty big jump.” So I would say I I
54:25kind of quit music for five or six years because I was just kind of burned out on it. I was like, “I’m gonna actually have
54:31a career and move that forward.” And that was didn’t get a lot of um
54:36um nothing I didn’t get a good feelings out of that. So I went back when when COVID hit and all that kind of stuff and
54:42picked up the guitar again and uh found some people started off on more of like
54:47maybe a grungier side of things and then as new people came into the band they bring in all these great new influences
54:53and ideas and you know just to try to keep up with everything and and not get in the way of
54:59it just let it happen. and Hillary came in two years ago. And then Steve came in last year and
55:05they uh brought she brought more of the Doom, slow everything down, a lot of the
55:10harmonies and stuff like that. And then Steve brings maybe a little bit more of a metal edge um with uh guitar harmonies
55:17and things like that. So yeah, just kind of following the muse at this point. That’s so cool. Well, and that was
55:22actually going to be my other question is you moved to the area and then you find this band like how did that like
55:29did you like your ears go like yes that’s perfect or like how did that all navigate? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, we the good
55:36oldfashioned way. We found it on Craigslist, but but I think um I mean, suffice it to say, I I work in the music
55:42industry still, and it’s interesting because it’s harder to find a band in a sea of musicians than you think. And so, I was
55:49just um Wait, they’re in like three different projects already. Right. Right. Right. Um and so, you
55:55know, I was just I was really seeking a creative outlet. definitely trying to find some friends around here and like
56:01just find that camaraderie and and lo and behold, you know, just stumbled on it. I was just like, I guess I’ll go on
56:07the community page like I did back when I was 18. And uh they were holding auditions. I was pretty nervous, but uh
56:15but I don’t know, just had a good feeling. And I think Mike and I share a lot of influences and having looked at the the um the ad, it was things like
56:23Allison Chains. Um there’s a band called Uncle Acid and the Dead Beats. um sleep,
56:28mastadon. So very um very similar and I think that’s definitely where we we
56:33share a lot of the same uh kind of cut from the same cloth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um that’s so cool. And then uh so we
56:40have talked about that tonight is at 11 p.m. Um anything else we can help promote after the festival or you know
56:47whether it’s music or performances or anything like that? I’m going to bring up your Let me do just double check that
56:52I have this up here. Yes. So, let’s bring up the website or anything else you want me to do.
56:58Yep. Yeah, that’s belowverirtual.com. Uh, we have a show in Staten Island on August 22nd at Mother Pugs and we just
57:05started recording our first full length. So, um, that’s super exciting. That is exciting.
57:10Oh, yeah. And, um, what I’m most excited about is, uh, Hillary’s influence is
57:17really stepping to the forefront. She’s um I don’t want to say lead vocals on
57:22some of the songs now too, which is great. Um a little bit smattering.
57:27Yeah, that was always something I was really interested in too. Like like that B uh she mentioned before, Macedon, they
57:32don’t really have a quote unquote lead singer. It’s kind of shared amongst the guys. So yeah, we definitely have I think like
57:38kind of a a Baroness vibe. I don’t know. That’s a good one, too. Probably even better. Yeah, they uh but but totally agree. So
57:44we’re really excited about that. It’s going to be a concept album. We’re working through it right now. It’s definitely a labor of love. So, looking
57:51forward to getting out on the other side of that doom wap. I love that.
57:56You’ll hear it tonight. There you go. Drink your coffee and get there at 11, folks.
58:02Um, but yeah, bell bellweather ritual.com. Um, and then we always like you can see
58:08there, not only get the information, but you can also uh visit the shop. Always the best way to support the musicians is
58:14merch, ticket sales. Obviously, this is a free festival, so support it with the merch. Um the
58:19all the socials, too. Just following on the socials and then uh you know, just showing up the other events, especially when there’s tickets.
58:26So, um thank you so much for both coming on the show. Hey, thank you. We also did a live
58:31stream for two years. We did about 80 or so episodes, and we know how hard it is. So, we really appreciate you having us
58:37on. That was Mike’s baby. I mean, so much easier to be on this. Right. Right. Oh, yeah. No, I I totally
58:42get it. But I do love doing it. It’s something that I really get a kick out of. Like, in fact, some friends of mine were like, “Do you regret setting up
58:49this show during the week?” Because now you’re cutting and I’m like, “No, actually, I look forward to this part
58:55even if not more so than the rest.” Obviously, it’s it’s awesome to go down and get to see the live music every day
59:00and, you know, eat awesome food and stuff like the whole vibe obviously, but like there’s an element to this that I really love, especially like for moments
59:06like this to get to meet the two of you and Abigail and then everything like the whole Gdan thing tomorrow. Like I can’t
59:12believe if that actually does all come together cuz I’ll I probably have an email to either let me know one way or the other.
59:17Yeah, that’s going to be an interesting one. I just can’t wait. Yeah. And then to get this. So, um the reason why I wanted to separate them is I already had scheduled
59:25um uh Jenny FS from Ruby Dear, Mike Roy from Roy and the Secret People, and then
59:30Bo Colultell from our news station WFMZ was like, “Hey, we want to come down and shoot some of it and I’ll pop in on the
59:37show.” So, I was like, I already had three guests when I normally only can do two. And then I got this a like this
59:42insane opportunity to basically interview the five dudes from Gdan. And I was like, we got to make this happen.
59:48And I couldn’t try and shoehorn it into the hour that was going to be this other episode. And I was just like, let’s just
59:54do a whole second hour just dedicated to them or 45, whatever it is. But um point is like that’s the insanity of this
1:00:00week. And it’s just such a magical week. It’s like Shangrila or you know, Brigadeun or something like that where
1:00:06it’s just uh a fever dream. Anyway, thank you so much for doing this. Can’t wait to see the live performance and
1:00:12I’ll see y’all down at the Plazas. Appreciate you. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. All right, Phil. Let’s say goodbye to
