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Brian Pritchard: We came from celluloid, and we're turning it into music and podcast for you

Nicky P: Welcome everyone to another episode of We Came From Celluloid. I'm here as always with my brother from another mother. Only today we're a tripod, and we have Cory, the vocalist from local band Imperil joining us. We played a gig with them a couple weeks ago.

Brian's been communicating. We're looking for things to happen with these gentlemen in the future. So, Corey, tell us a little about yourself, about your band.

Corey: Yeah, I don't even- I don't know what to say. I've never done one of these before, so-

Nicky P: Be interesting. That's all you have to do.

Corey: Be interesting.

Okay. All right. No, I don't know. We, we formed about, what? Like two years ago-ish. Dang, it's already been two years. And we've been gigging for about a year. Yeah, we spent like the first year literally just practicing and writing, the first record and, really just wanted to like not suck before we started gigging rather than just like getting straight out there and going for it.

Which, I mean, we did kinda suck at, at the first show, the first couple shows. I mean, we didn't suck, but you know, s- a learning experience. You know, you can get it perfect in the practice space, but then the first time you go out and play it in front of real people, it's definitely different. Um-

Nicky P: If it makes you feel better, I still only have lyrics for like three quarters of our material, so.

And I still- We still perform those songs live.

Corey: Nice.

Brian Pritchard: No, you make an interesting point as far as like li- live shows can be such an interesting, accelerant. You know what I mean? Like, y- you, you, you can learn so much from 30 minutes on stage that like you somehow missed in like hours and hours of practice.

It's fascinating.

Corey: Right. Yeah. That's definitely what I was, was, was getting at. And, yeah, I mean, it's actually, it's kind of interesting how I met these guys. They actually found me off of Facebook. Like, I was doing solo acoustic stuff, and I played this show, like three years ago in Elyria.

There's an event called Garfield Arts Fest. It was the first one, and yeah, I did an acoustic set there, and they just ended up like coming across videos of my performance from that show online, and they were like, "Oh, dude, this guy has like pretty cool voice. You know, seems like it might be a good fit."

So they reached out to me, sent me their demos, and I listened to them and I was like Okay, I can work with this. And, you know, just went out there and we did some covers, just to, like, you know, get used to playing with each other.

Nicky P: Kind of

Corey: Covers. And then... Which covers? What kind of covers? Yeah, what are you guys covering?

So one of the ones was FCP Remix by Fall of Troy, which we still do live. And then we did, Two Tabs of Mescaline by Glassjaw. I think that was the Glassjaw one that we did, which that was crazy. That was a bit of a interesting decision for, like, a first song to try jamming with someone. Like, the whole end section where he just screams sailor at, like, almost random intervals was- So I, yeah, I was like, "I'm not even gonna try to do it exactly how he does."

So I was just like, "All right, I've waited about 15 seconds. I'm just gonna scream sailor again."

Brian Pritchard: That song's got such a cool groove, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, no, I, I, I would assume almost with a cover that you'd have to, like, invent your own, like, alternate exit strategy. But like, yeah, that main A riff is so chill and so groovy, you know what I mean?

That's a cool song. It's a, it's a cool unique one. You know, it's funny with covers 'cause, like, there's songs that I love, and I love Nick's voice and, and so it's like I, I wanna hear a certain bit of material through the, the prism of, like, our unit, you know what I mean? But there's also this notion of, like, if you're gonna play a cover, Nick talks about the idea of connecting with, with your audience, like giving them a way to connect with you, right?

So it's like on, on the other hand, the more obscure it is, the more it, it almost, like, defeats... It might as well be ori- an, an original at that point. You know what I'm saying? Like, and that's okay. It's okay if you would cover, like, just because you love it as a band and wanna do something cool, but there's that other side of it too of, of I, I appreciate what Nick has been bringing up to me recently of, suggesting that, that we should also make room to, I don't know.

It, it's nothing- E- either way you're still playing songs you love, but ideally there's some middle ground where, where you can find something that a handful of people would plausibly go like, "Oh, I love that song too. I know that one." You know?

Nicky P: With us, I feel, with us I feel it's, it's especially important because I never know what the hell to tell people we sound like.

Like, we're just, we're a rock band. We're not a punk band. We're not a metal band. Like, but we're, we're, we're, even, like, when I say rock though, like, what, we don't even sound like older rock bands. It's not like we're a classic rock kind of band. We're not a '90s rock kind of... We just, we're just a rock band.

It's, it's just, it's, I don't think we're a generic band. I think we have our own style. But at the same time it's like, it's so Nondescript in the way of everything else, like around us. It's, as I just never... It's like let's play some covers so at least people can cement us in some way within the pantheon of music that's out there.

Personally, I'm more of a Head Automatica guy than a Glassjaw guy, but you know, to each their own.

Corey: Dude, I love, I love Head Automatica. That'd be so fun to do a Head Automatica cover. Like, literally all those songs are just so fun to sing that it would just feel good. But once again, that might be a little too different from what our original stuff sounds like.

But also we do Fall of Troy live, and I feel like our original stuff doesn't sound like Fall of Troy either, so it's like-

Nicky P: The band that I'm curious about, 'cause the thing that I kept, I kept feeling in my head was, like, classic early Boys Night Out. That's what I was feeling watching you guys. I don't even know if any of you guys are old enough to remember Boys Night Out, but-

Corey: I'm not even...

No, I'm not hip. I'll have to add them to the list. I'm

Brian Pritchard: Older than you, so that's a weird comment. But no, I have no idea about that band.

Nicky P: Yeah, but y- that's 'cause you didn't listen to, like, punk and, like, that general genre of music at that point in time, Brian. Yep. They were, they're, they were on Ferret Records in, like, so I'll say circa 2008 maybe was their heyday.

But, like, they're, they're a Canadian band out of Toronto, and just, man, they did that, the whole screaming, singing, like, post-hardcore thing so damn good. And, like, as their career went on, it became more singing, less screaming, but their lyrics were always super, super dark. They have a, a concept album they put out that's literally, like, about a guy who kills his wife in his sleep and, like, has to deal with the aftermath of that, which is, like, in therapy in, like, in a group home I think.

I think he ends up, like, cutting off his own limbs trying to, like, kill himself and then doesn't die.

Corey: Spoiler alert, bro.

Nicky P: Yeah, it is.

Corey: That sounds crazy.

Nicky P: It, oh, it is, but, like, the songs are, like, super singable at the same time, and, like, the lyrics on them are super, super well thought out. Was it, it's all about the song in the head, the one where the audience is all dead He's just wild, wild shit he has to say

Brian Pritchard: Great.

So, like, it- the- so these guys all knew each other, it sounded like, to some degree, that they had a unit, formed and, and approached you with an instrumental unit that was somewhat established. You had this acoustic act. Have you otherwise been in a, a band, or is this some of your first time, like, performing with a, a unit at all?

Corey: I've been in other bands. Nothing really, you know, noteworthy. I mean, when I was, like, 12 or 13, I started playing bass guitar and, like, within six months of starting to learn how to play bass guitar, ended up joining my friend's metal band. And I, like, still basically didn't even know how to play, but they were like, "Eh, good enough."

And we were not very good, but it was crazy. I mean, we got to open up for, Mushroomhead. JMan from Mushroomhead has another band called 216, and we opened for them at Peabody's, and that was, like, our first time playing out and I was like, "Dude, what? Why do they want us? This is so weird." But yeah, that was a, that was a fun experience.

And then just, like, playing bass and, like, my parents' friend's daughter had a band with her guitar instructor where it was just like they did covers, and I played bass in that. Yeah. Other than those two really long time ago, yeah, mostly just been doing the, the solo acoustic thing, before this.

Brian Pritchard: Dude, Peabody's, was amazing. Like, how long has that been gone now? That was such a staple of my life for so long, and yet it feels like-

Nicky P: I think 10 years now.

Brian Pritchard: Oh, yeah.

Corey: Yeah, it sucks. Yeah, that's where I saw my first show, played my first show. Like, I loved that place.

Nicky P: So, so on the opener, I'm just curious, what kind of opener were you?

Were you on the same stage, or were you stuffed up in the rockstar room up in the third floor?

Corey: Not rockstar room. We w- we did play Pirates Cove, so it was like... Which that's what makes it make sense. Like, the existence

Brian Pritchard: In between main stage, go walk down the hallway and check out these dudes, you know? Yeah, yeah,

Corey: Yeah.

Yeah. Which just the existence of like the fact that they had three different stages, I think is the only reason we were able to play a show like that because there is the whole, you know, you have like the real openers on the main stage and then you've got like the sideshow and Pirate's Cove and then whatever the hell is going on in Rockstar Room, which often I feel like was like a whole different genre.

Brian Pritchard: Man, I loved, loved putting together shows there though. Like having the ability to do like a local band showcase at Peabody's back in the day where you could get fucking 10 bands between those two rooms and have music going the whole time. That even like you would stagger things a little bit. So yeah, there'd be some overlap.

You couldn't watch everybody's whole set just at the way at like a music festival. Like, you know what I mean? You, you end up, you know, having to pick your moments right. And, and prioritize, but, you could do like a free show there and, and still get paid out handsomely by, by Peabody's back in the day.

Like as far as just like filling that place to capacity, that's one of the things, honestly, man, that, that, that's so intriguing about like these Maple Grove shows where Jeremy who runs that place has sort of been playing matchmaker for us. You know what I mean? Like we ended up on a bill together, even though we didn't know each other and like some of the bands seem to, but not everybody does.

And I'm, I'm personally like really pumped about the idea of having a, a network of groups where you guys don't know us and our friends, we don't know you and your friends, but like, I liked your set the other night and like our people liked your set. You know what I mean? And so the idea to me becomes cool where like a Puma in peril being on the same poster together starts meaning something to your friends and my friends in a way that like increases the likelihood of any given event being one where somebody goes, you know, I, I absolutely, I can't make it to all of them, but like that one I'll be there for.

Cause like I get to see two bands that I love, you know, that time. And, I, I was at a point in my twenties at least of, of where, you know, you could, I don't know, it, it felt like being a sort of almost dream curator that to have 10, 15, 20 bands locally that you genuinely enjoy hanging out with and playing music with I, I feel like, we can make a scene.

You know what I mean? Create a, a little, a little scene for ourselves. So anyway

Nicky P: And that is the important word. Like, when you look at, historically, like so many of the, the big bands, the big bands happened because of their scenes. You know, you have Coheed and Cambria and My Chemical Romance that came out of that New York, New Jersey thing with Glassjaw.

You know, you, you look back, what is, what is the '90s, the early '90s all about? It's all about what was happening specifically with the group of friends in Seattle. You know, '80s, the '80s hair metal thing is very specifically LA. You know, you, you know, if you look at the early '90s, so many of the bands come out of this one little college town in North Carolina, and a lot of what it is is you have these bands that are all kind of like friends, but in the same vein they're also kind of like friendly competition of, "Hey, let's all just see how great we can make each other, and like make this thing important."

And it's always been the one thing I think that's kind of... I'm not a, a native, Clevelander, but since I've moved here it's like there's been a scene sort of, but I, you know, there's so much shit talk in that scene too where like everybody hates everybody else, and like, "Oh yeah, we play with them, but they kind of suck," and, you know, it's, it's just a lot of unnecessary drama and like not, you know, hoisting people up I think.

So I, I mean, personally I would just love to see a change in that, you know.

Brian Pritchard: I never saw a shitty side to it, honestly. I, I just... Yeah. My, my, my friends just got, got, you know, the, the, this notion of people being too old to participate in shit, that's just a bummer in society in general, right? Like, I, I had kids when I was 21 and it made me more motivated to do stuff, but I've had great, great bands that I loved, and that's usually the reason why they've stopped is that, like, somebody had a baby, somebody got married, and they, they're like, "I guess now we can't play with our toys anymore."

And you're like, "Dude, I thought you loved this shit. I thought you were like a fucking lifer," you know what I mean? And it's, it's always weird when you, you sort of f- see people, fall off. Corey, do you feel like you're in it for the long haul, man? How old are you now?

Corey: I'm 32, and yeah, the other guys in the band are all, like, in their mid-20s, so I'm like the, the grandpa of the band.

But yeah, like it was, I mean, honestly, I've been wanting to be a vocalist for a band for so long. Like, doing the solo acoustic stuff, was cool and, like, obviously when it's just you, you have, like, full creative control and all that. You can, you know, really be a dictator 'cause it's only affecting you, you know?

But, you know, having to play all the music yourself and sing everything yourself, it's like having it all, like, riding on yourself. I don't know. At least just, like, vocally speaking, like, I wasn't able to do as much because I was busy playing at the same time. Like, doing, like, the screaming stuff that I do in Imperil, like, I've always wanted to do, like, harsh vocals in a project, and for, like, my whole adult life have been, like, refining and working on my voice and, like, trying to dial that in and not knowing, like, if I was ever gonna actually have a chance to, to use it.

Like, I was kinda just, like, practicing becoming a better vocalist just 'cause it feels really good to sing, and I love singing in the car and stuff. Love doing karaoke, you know? But, so yeah, it's been a true blessing to be able to, like, actually front a band and finally use the skills that I've been, like, working so long on.

And just like, yeah, super grateful to just, like, finally get to have these experiences of, you know, like, actually being in a band that I like. Like, the bands that I told you about in the past, it was just like, "Ah, yeah, we don't even wanna talk about those," but this is one that I'm actually, like, excited about what we're doing.

And- You write

Brian Pritchard: Lyrics-

Corey: So yeah, the-... For this project

Brian Pritchard: As well?

Corey: Yes. I write all the lyrics, all the, all the vocals. We basically, like... I don't know. So, like, this first record is a lot of Chess and Alex, they were, like, the first two guys, the guitarist and the bassist. And they came up with a lot of the song ideas.

Pretty much all of the riffs already existed before I even came in on it, and then it was just like, I took those demos and I would just listen to them over and over again and be like, "Do I have any old lyrics that I started that I can then... That I feel like these would go along with?" And then I can sort of expand upon those, and that's how some of them formed.

Some of them, like our single, Four Days Alone in Alaska, dude, literally the lyrics for that came out of a sudden burst of creativity. I was literally a DoorDash driver at the time, and, like, from the stoplight to the, like, Dash Mart where I was picking up the order, it was, like, a two-minute stretch, and I, like, I don't even know what happened or, like, where it came from.

But, like, I think, I think I was just listening to one of the demos, and then all of a sudden it was just like, I have an idea for a song. And as soon as I parked my car, I, like, had, like, the first, like, four lines or so, and I wrote those down, and then I was like, "Oh my God, I know exactly how to follow this up."

And it's very rarely does it work out that way, that the whole song writes itself in, like, an instant. A lot of times I have to go back and like revise and really like think about what else I could add to it to make it better but yeah so that's that's how that one happened is and it's pretty much unchanged

Brian Pritchard: Dude, I love it when it flows out effortlessly like that.

Like that's, that's the greatest gift when you feel like just a pure conduit of creativity, right? That it's like, it's already fully formed. You know what I mean? And now you've just got this responsibility to like, to chase that thing. You know what I mean? To chase it and pin the fucker down. But it's like, it's already there in the ether, like waiting to be captured.

Yeah, no, that's, that's, that's super cool, man. So, so that, that's an example of, of, of a particular moment of inspiration. Do you feel like broadly speaking, there is a lyrical vision, cohesive vision that you're aiming at, or has that not necessarily revealed itself yet?

Corey: Yeah, not really. I kind of just like let the ideas come as they, as they will.

Yeah, I don't know. Some of like the songs are about some like pretty random stuff. Like that song is about some like very personal, dark subject matter. But then one of our other songs is literally just basically the plot of the video game No Man's Sky. And, but it's like, it's a combination of the lore from No Man's Sky and an Isaac Asimov short story called Reason.

That's like about like questioning if God exists or not, because like the robot that the guys make like thinks he knows who his creator is and thinks he can like talk to God, but they're like, dude, but we built you. So like we're your creator. And he's like, yeah, but who's your creator? The person that created you is my creator.

So anyway, it's just like a very interesting story. So I kind of combined the themes of that with like the themes of this game that I was playing at the same time, because they were both sci-fi. And then kind of like weaved like some of my personal life stuff that I was going through at the time into that.

So a lot of times that's just like, I don't know, it's kind of like an ADHD thing. It's just like, whatever's interesting me at the time when I like need to have lyrics for a song, I'm just like, I'm going to take whatever is inspiring me right now and use that. So yeah. So yeah, no like real like greater like vision.

It's not like, I don't have like an established, like, I guess I have a sort of writing style, just like the way I write naturally, but I'm not like intentionally trying to like write a certain way or write about specific things. It's just whatever I think is cool at the time.

Brian Pritchard: No, one thing that gets exciting, you know, when, when you talk about some of those songs being already formed and, and part of what you're experimenting with is, like, are, are me and these guys on the same wavelength, right?

It's one thing for you to respond to what you're hearing in those demos and go like, "No, man," like, I, I can hear exactly what to do, right? But you don't know yet if they're gonna dig it or have, you know, criticism or opinions or whatever. Like, you don't know, right? So you guys are feeling each other out in terms of material that in some respects, it, it, it wasn't being birthed from the unit.

It was like these guys, you guys, and then, we're figuring out the marriage. Have you already, in the time that you've been a band, developed new stuff together as a unit kind of from scratch? H- has there been the opportunity to do some of that as well?

Corey: So we haven't really started writing the new material yet.

That's, like, the next thing on our agenda. We've been playing a lot of shows and have been working on just getting this record finished. We still have a little bit of tracking left to do. You

Nicky P: Know, getting me a good quality version of it.

Corey: Yeah, I mean, yeah, the new mix of the single, the single that we have out currently is just, you know, our bassist just kinda, like, threw together a mix for it.

'Cause at the start we were just like, "Whatever, we just wanna put something out there and we don't care if it sucks." But then once it was out there, we were like, "We wish this sounded better now that it's actually out there and we're playing gigs." So, we actually had, we have, Ryan, the one guitarist from Closedown, the band that, we were just talking about, Nick.

Eh, Bob, you met from-

Nicky P: I was gonna say, listening to their newest record has got to make you, like, go, "Wow, we really gotta up our game here on recordings." Theirs are fantastic.

Corey: Dude, for sure. I mean, but that's the thing. He's the one who mixed their stuff, and he's mixing our stuff, so I'm like, you know, I, I very much trust him to, to make, to make it sound good.

And, like, our recordings are not great. They're all home recordings. We just did it ourselves with SM58s, like, in our practice space and, like, bedrooms and stuff. 'Cause once again, at the time we were like, "Oh, we don't really care. We're just gonna put this first thing out and it's gonna suck, and then we're gonna get better from there."

But the fact that he's been able to take those shitty recordings and make it sound something, like, pretty good, I'm, like, very impressed that he's been able to, polish the turds that well, as, as they say.

Nicky P: My favorite drum tracking I've ever personally recording, or recorded was done with an SM57 over the snare and an SM58 in the kick drum That was it.

That's all I had to do deal with it. They- somehow, like, I managed to just capture the, the room in a way that worked out beautifully for the songs that we were recording at the time. It's not like there wasn't other drums, it's just, like, that's what I had to work with. I could- I panned- and those, those were panned mono.

I couldn't even, like, split them, 'cause I needed the other channel to get the keyboard into the, the reference.

So-

Brian Pritchard: Is there a track that's at, at a point now that you'd be comfortable with us, like, throwing it on the end of the episode, right? So that anybody who's ever listening to this can, like, end with hearing your band? Is there something that, that, you could shoot us over that would be a, everybody would feel good about in that respect?

Nicky P: We put it up on Spotify.

Corey: Yeah. Yeah, I'm down. I'll send you the, But that's the, the one that's on Spotify is still the shitty one that we did ourselves. I can send you the finished file.

Nicky P: I didn't say it was shitty. I just said I, I could see, see where you're going with it. That's

Corey: All. Yeah. It was, it wasn't horrible.

I still- I liked it... Kind of like it. I like- but I definitely like Ryan's mix more. But yeah, I can, I can send you the Ryan mix of the single, if you wanna put that on there. But yeah, so to, to circle back to your previous question about just, like, writing new stuff as a unit, that is our plan for the next one, 'cause yeah, basically Alex and Chess had all these riffs, right?

And then they're like, "All right, you can just do whatever you want on it vocally and lyrically." And then, but, and then, like, Reid, our drummer, like, he's playing the drums, like, the drum parts he's playing are, like, his interpretation of... 'Cause they had programmed drums on the original demos. So he kinda took that as a jumping-off point and then added his own style to it.

But it's gonna be really interesting to see, like, when he's just starting from scratch and they're fully just his own drum parts and his original ideas and then, like... Like, I play guitar too and, and bass and stuff, and like, me and Chess have talked about, he's like, "Dude, yeah, if you have any like, you know, cool riff ideas that you think would work for the band, like, I'm definitely down to, like, use those for songs and, you know, you could just show me how to play them and stuff."

And I mean, I've even thought about, like, maybe it could be cool for me to, like, play guitar for some of the new ones live. But then once again, that comes back to, like, restricting what I'm able to do vocally. Like, literally, like-

Brian Pritchard: But, you know, it, it, it could be a thing too. You could, you could put something on the record that doesn't necessarily Become a live track.

I, I've always thought about stuff in terms of w- having that desire to, to perform it. If we're gonna write it and record it, w- I wanna be able to perform it. But the reality is that you don't have to, right? Like, that, that from a, a recording perspective, the idea of you having, like, a solo acoustic, you know, track like that, you know what I mean?

Even if you're going like, "No, I don't wanna disrupt the flow of the show necessarily," but, like, yeah, you could still certainly, Sky's the limit in terms of the albums, right?

Corey: I mean, we do actually have one song that's solo acoustic, where it's just me singing and playing guitar, and we are planning on starting to do that live.

My acoustics are both kind of messed up, and I actually have, Ryan once again, he offered to help fix them, 'cause he used to do guitar tech stuff and, yeah. Anyways, so once my guitars are fixed, I'm gonna start practicing that song and we're gonna start doing it live. Not every time. It just depends, like, on how, how long of a set we need to fill out.

It's just one extra thing we could add, so probably, like, if we end up headlining again, playing last, you know, we've talked about just, like, ending the set with that, 'cause it's also... Like, the way the record, the way the record goes is, like, it starts off, the first track on the record is the one that we play last live normally, so we, like, end with the album's intro, and then the acoustic track that ends the album, it, like, the lyrics mirror each other and the vocal melodies mirror each other and it's, they, they tie into each other.

I, I describe it as like they're the bookends of the album. And the, yeah, like lyrically, when I said the lyrics tie in together, not so much thematically as it is just, like, the rhyme schemes and, like, the cadence, the rhythm of it, and the melody. If you listen to them back to back, you'll see how they mirror each other in that way.

But the lyrics on the in- the album intro are very dark, and just basically it's just a song describing a state of just, like, complete, like, despair and, like, having given up. And then the acoustic song that ends the album is, like, the polar opposite. It's actually a love song that I wrote for my girlfriend, because she actually, like, helped me through that dark time that I was describing in the album intro track.

And so it's like the flip side of that coin. The album starts off with, like, this very dark, hopeless feeling, and then it ends with, like, the thing that saved me from that. And then hopefully in between those two tracks, the, the rest of the album will kind of tell the story of how you get there. But once again, that wasn't, like, the intention.

It wasn't, like, a concept album, but

Brian Pritchard: No, you don't need to be slavish to the, the, the notion of like, you know what I mean, l- restricting the vision based on the concept album. But, it, it, it's still fun to, to approach an album as an album rather than a collection of singles and say, "I do wanna take people on a journey that has an arc to it, a rise and fall, a, a, a, a story."

It is still a communication tool. And as much as any individual song, both lyrically and musically, is a communication tool, the piece as a whole, right? When you, when you make an album, a collection of tunes, e- e- even when you're crafting a set list, do you write the set lists for the band at all, or do you, does somebody else do that?

Corey: Nah, dude, I literally don't even know what we're playing in what order until I get there usually. I'm like, "Can someone write down the list of the order of the songs that we're doing?" And, yeah.

Brian Pritchard: I, I love writing set lists and, and, and I think, I'll do it quickly and decisively, you, you know what I mean?

It's not something that I, like, really stew about, like, a ton, but I, I also put in a fair amount of thought into the flow of the thing, you know what I mean? And, and, I don't know. I, I, I, I do like chewing on that stuff. Hey, you know, two, two things I wanna touch on before we, we, we wrap up, and obviously anything else you guys wanna say.

One, one is to just plant the seed and say, I love your voice. I love your band, Corey, but I love your voice, right, inside that band. And I always get excited any time that I'm meeting, I'll put it in a strange way, a new instrument, okay? So beyond who you are as a human being, I get excited when I go, "A new fucking instrument.

Oh my God," right? So, I like the idea-

Nicky P: Trying to start a band with you, Corey.

Brian Pritchard: No, I'm saying at some point, like, and I told him this at the show, too, I'm like, "Yeah, no, it would be cool to, like, throw you on a song," to ha- to, to have, you know... It, it, music that I listen to, that's always an exciting thing. It's exciting to me when Chino, you know, brings Maynard from Tool in for Passenger, you're sort of going like, "This is fucking epic," you know what I mean?

So, I, I like that stuff as a listener, so when I'm creating albums and materials, and we know other instruments like yourself, I, I'm just putting that out there into the world. It would be cool to collaborate on something. And, and then yeah, on the movie side, the other theme that we really didn't touch on, you'd mentioned, you know, leading up to this, you're like, "Yeah, I listened to some episodes and I'm going to see a new movie tonight."

What did you end up going to, to check out, dude?

Corey: Well, first of all, yes, I would love to, do a feature on a Puma Thurman song. You guys are fucking awesome, and I was so stoked on, on you guys the other night, and I've been listening to your stuff and I'm like, "Man- The fact that you would even ask me that, I'm like, "Psh, I don't even have to think about it.

That'd be sick." but yeah, the movie For

Nicky P: The record, my last release with a band, I put out a quarter of the tracks had guest people on it, so I love doing it too.

Corey: Yeah, I've never done that before, so I think it'd be fun. But yeah, so the movie that we saw was the New Faces of Death. Have you guys heard of this?

Have you heard about this?

Brian Pritchard: Faces of Death, I saw something about it, like there being a new Faces of Death, and I go, "Isn't that a collection of snuff films?" You know what I mean? Like, was the origin of it, right? So yeah, what's the new one?

Corey: Yeah. So, so the, the premise is it's just, like, it's like a serial killer movie where the serial killer is recreating scenes from the original Faces of Death snuff film shit.

And yeah, it was pretty interesting. I, I thought it was pretty good. I could have u- I could have... I would have liked to have seen more scene recreations. I feel like they kind of mostly just, like, did, like, three super memorable ones. Like, I don't know if you guys remember the, the monkey brains scene from the original Faces of Death where the, you know, they have, like, this

Brian Pritchard: No, it wasn't something that I, I went to seek out, you know?

I knew it existed, but I didn't see the old one, to be honest. But please continue. I didn't mean to

Corey: Yeah, I mean, I'm never gonna, like, r- I'm never gonna, like, recommend that someone goes and watches Faces of Death because it's just, like, horrible and traumatic. I... In your one episode, you were talking about, I forget which movie you guys were talking about, but you were mentioning how, like, you just don't like to see certain kinds of suffering.

Like, it just, like, skeeves you out and makes you super uncomfortable. Faces of Death, I'm confident, would do that, and it's the type of shit where, like, you'll get it im- it's gonna imprint itself on your brain, and you're never gonna be able to unsee it. So

Nicky P: The, the thing with Faces of Death is that we used to do it as a challenge back in the day.

It's how far f- can you make it into the movie before, like, chucking or having to shut it off? 'Cause yeah, it's, it's rough.

Brian Pritchard: And there was rotten.com for a minute back in the day that was sort of, like, another version of that, right? Where I remember a, a, a few days of going down rabbit holes where I, I s- I was looking at, like, photos of, like, the aftermath of, like, bear attacks and, like, you know what I'm saying?

Stuff like that. What's that? Oh, yeah, Chris Farley's, my wife's reminding me, Chris Farley's, like, corpse with this weird fucking bubble coming out of his face. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's one thing to have morbid curiosity, but y- what, what, what you talked about, the idea of something imprinting, it's like a, a self-protection thing, yeah, that I sit there and go, "Eh, how, how much fucking heinous shit do I, I need to- intentionally, intentionally seek out.

But I love horror movies still, you know what I mean?

Nicky P: As the resident, like, horror movie freak, I, I know there is a limit. Like, that, I did 105 films in 105 days a couple years ago, and by the end of it, like, I wouldn't say I was necessarily depressed, but my general outlook on life was, It took a few, took a few slings and arrows.

Corey: Yeah, we were just, we were talking about that after the movie, just like where does the, where is the line and, like, what is it that make, like, that makes it different? Like, so for instance, like Terrifier, right? Like, yes, dude is sawing a chick in half, but there's almost, like, a level of, like, camp and humor to Terrifier that makes it feel a little bit less, like, horrible.

I mean, it's still horrible, but it's like, I feel like it's not the same as just, like, you know, we were talking about, like Human Centipede. Like, that's one I've never seen, 'cause I'm just like, "All right, I know what I'm gonna-"

Nicky P: No, you don't. That's the... Human Centipede is the most boring movie ever.

It's all innuendo.

Corey: Yeah, and like I know what that's gonna look like. It's just gonna be people shitting in each other's mouths. Like, I, I can imagine what that would look like. I don't even feel like I need to see that to know what that looks like.

Nicky P: It, you, it isn't that. They make you imagine it. The sec- the second one is, is what you...

The second one is the movie that you think the first one is supposed to be. Like, most, most of the first movie's like all clinical and white. Like, you ne- like, it, it, you don't ever see anything gross. You just, you're kind of-

Brian Pritchard: Not brown in the way that you're expecting. Yeah. Oh, what a shame.

Nicky P: Yeah, exactly.

It's like you just kind of let to kind of assume that things are going to happen. They, nothing ever happens on screen. Meanwhile, like in the second one, the idea is they're having a mentally challenged man recreate the idea of the first one, and he's doing it with, like, rusty blades and, like, conking people over the head in the stairwell and dragging them back to his, like, place where he's got, like...

Yeah. That one is actually about as disgusting as you think the first one's gonna be. I was so underwhelmed with the original Human Centipede because it's like conceptually it's disgusting and you want it to be one of the most depraved movies you've ever seen. But I'll tell you right now, Hostel is way worse than anything Human Centipede hoped to be, by margins.

Corey: That was the one that I said, like, I remembered seeing when I was younger and just being like, "I don't like this. This is just, like, just suffering." Like, it's just watching people suffer. There didn't even really seem to be much of a plot from what I remember. Or if there was, it was just overshadowed by just how hard it was to watch

Brian Pritchard: Oh, I r- I remember having to watch the extras afterwards just to, like, be like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

This was just pretend. This was just pretend." And, and, and I was not a child when that movie came out. You know what I mean? But, like, that, that, The one girl who, like, had her eye pulled out and stuff like that, like, yeah, no, I, it's... I, I'm, I'm grateful for the fact that I can still be, affected by, by, by, by film and, and television and music and all that stuff.

I hope that that never goes away, you know what I mean? I, I, I, I wanna stay sensitive. I don't wanna become numb to that shit, you know what I mean? I, I, I like the idea of, of being able to be swept up in a world and get pulled in enough so that when things happen even to fictional characters, I find it moving in one way or another.

That's, that's fucking magic, man. I love it. I love it. If

Nicky P: You wanna watch something that's over the top and pretty intense, I recommend checking out the movie Martyrs sometime.

Corey: Nice. I, yeah, I actually have a list. I've been looking up and then screenshotting on my phone all of the movies that you guys have been mentioning in the episodes I've listened to, 'cause I wanna check them out, or at least the ones I haven't seen.

Martyrs, 2008 film or 2015 film?

Nicky P: It's the one with two women on the cover.

Corey: Okay. Yeah, the 2008 one.

Nicky P: And this one will give, this one will give Hostel a run for its money, and, like, also have an ending that is, like, super thought-provoking, and, like, you're gonna go- you're gonna think about it for days. It's wild.

But in, like, the darkest way imaginable.

Corey: Yeah, no, I think there was, like, a, a timing, a timing thing with the video. But anyways, fricking yeah, that was what I liked about the New Faces of Death was it kind of, like... And this almost seems I, I have seen this done, but, like, they tied in, like, the whole, like, people being addicted to social media and to their phones, and, like, tied that into the theme of, like, why would you ever wanna watch something like Faces of Death, and, like, people watching just, like, horrible shit, and kind of, like, weaving that into the whole, like, not war on attention, but, you know, obviously you got all these companies that are just, like, competing for our attention, and how, like, like they kept saying in the, in the movie, you gotta give the people what they want.

And apparently the message is that what people want is just the most shocking stuff. And so, I don't know, just, like, the, those themes that they were playing with, I thought it was kind of cool the way that they did it and it had me thinking about the implications after the movie because like the killer guy he's at first he's like targeting people who he feels like he's targeting like influencers and stuff but then he as like the word spreads about what he's been doing it's it gives him a little bit of fame and he gets a taste of it and then he starts like falling victim to the same shit that he was like criticizing and wanting to kill people over so i thought that was kind of funny Oh, I

Nicky P: Have to watch

Corey: This now.

This sounds great. You see him like turn into a Yeah, he like turns into an influencer himself by doing the killings. And then he's like, my fans, like I have to give my fans what they want. And it's like, oh my God, dude.

Nicky P: I was going to wonder if there was going to be some weird Gen Z angle on this movie.

Because when you initially mentioned it, I'm like, are they just going to like do types of deaths that would terrify Gen Z kids? Is that the idea behind this one? You know, like, oh my God, the internet ran out. I can't order DoorDash. I'm going to die here. And like there's a convenience store just down the street, but they don't know to go to the convenience store.

Brian Pritchard: Something like, you know, making a phone call, public speaking, deeply terrifying things. Yeah.

Corey: Yeah, I mean, so yeah, they definitely did like it wasn't in that way that they did it, but there definitely was that like Gen Z spin on it. But it didn't really seem so much like it was like, hey, this is Faces of Death for Gen Z.

It was like Gen Z or Gen Alpha or whatever. And just like, you know, the kids are like born with social media in their hands already. What are the implications of that long term? It feels like it was adults wrote the plot of the movie about that, not like for that demographic, but inspired by that demographic.

Brian Pritchard: They're a little the old man shaking his fist on the lawn kind of stuff in a way a little bit

Corey: A little bit. But in the end, in the end, it didn't end up seeming like the message of it was like internet bad or phones bad or social media bad. It did just seem like by the end of it, they're really I don't even know if there was a message by the end of it.

It's just kind of like it was just kind of like a roller coaster and just like it ends in kind of a crazy way. And I think at the end of it, it's just kind of like the point of it was just, well, that was fun. Like.

Nicky P: There's a certain amount of it that sounds like it parallels Bo Burnham's song The Internet in a lot of ways.

Corey: I just got my girl hip to that Bo Burnham inside thing. We haven't watched it together yet. I watched it when it first came out, but I sent her some songs. I specifically sent her the sex thing song. I don't know if you're familiar with that one. That's kind of a, that's kind of a fun song to send to your girlfriend or wife.

That song's hilarious

Nicky P: I, what's funny is I was never, never a Bo Burnham guy. He ne- he's... His comedy never, never did it for me. But that Inside was particularly, though. And, and the one thing that you can say about the guy is whether or not you like what he does, he is way, way super smart about how he does it and, like, what he does.

Like, that's, that's certifiable genius in my opinion. Like, just too intelligent.

Brian Pritchard: Dude, oddly enough, I've yet... I don't think I've seen any, of his specials, but I love him as an actor in the movie Promising Young Woman, which I've watched probably three or four times. And, he's outstanding in that film.

And I love that movie, I love him in that movie. And, yeah. So I, I, I know Bo Burnham more just as a dramatic actor, oddly enough, than, than ev- I knew that he has... I, I know that that's what he's famous for is his specials, but I actually haven't seen any of them yet.

Corey: Just watch Inside. That's the, that's the important one.

The other ones are more just, like, kind of standard stand-up with some music in- incorporated. Inside was just, like, genius work of art. Like-

Nicky P: Well, I don't think he's doing stand-up anymore even, is he? Like, I think that was kind of, like, his farewell to, like, this, the world of stand-up

Corey: Yeah, it was, like, his swan song maybe.

I don't know. I don't-

Nicky P: He, I mean, he's just got a lot of opinions on, like, the way the world is going and whether he wants to be doing what he does in that world

Corey: Well, that's what was so good about it, too, was, like, he was, like, questioning all of that in the material of Inside. It's like he was almost like, you know, not making a...

I, I can't think of the word I'm trying to think of. Not, like, making a mockery of his own work, but, like, parodying himself. He was almost, like, parodying himself and, like, talking in some of the songs about, like, "Does the world even need to hear my message? Like, I'm just another, you know, one of the many million people out here just being like, 'Listen to me.

Hear me. E- everything that I have to say and think is important.'" And he's like, "Maybe I should just shut the fuck up." And I was like, "Oh, yeah, that's an interesting take." But it's, like, meta because at the same time, like, this is a special on Netflix that I'm watching. So, like, to get that message out, you, you still are putting it out there.

I don't know. It was really, it was a really thought-provoking thing. It happened at the time of COVID.

Brian Pritchard: Well, you, you may have heard, us reference that, that i- that idea of delusional self-belief, right? And, and maybe that's, that's a nice capper, too, is to sit there and say, "Not here, folks. Every, every word that spills out of our mouths is fucking precious gold, precious pearls."

No, I'm kidding. But, like, no, the, uh- It sounds like even, even inside the, the, the self-referential, right, nature of, of that special. I talk about delusional self-belief, right? That ev- everything we're doing... The MGM Latin logo underneath that lion, every time one of those movies starts, it, it, it translates to art for art's sake, right?

And the idea of saying even something ephemeral and temporary, like a conversation, like a fucking drawing in the sand before the tide comes in, you know what I mean? Even, even in, in a thing that doesn't have permanence, the act of creating is always, worthwhile, right? It is a worthwhile endeavor even when no one's watching, even when it doesn't last.

But there's something really appealing about trying to, to make things that do last that, that I think it's nice to... A term like legacy hit- hits a lot of people's ears where they're like, "I want that. I wanna be remembered. I want things that I did to matter." I, you know what I mean? So, so we keep trying.

We keep trying to, to birth things into the world that, that maybe matter. But yeah, I, I, I think just the act of creating any of it, is a beautiful and worthy act, so. Whether it's Faces of Death or a new, New Imperil track or, like I said, footprints in the sand, you know, so to speak, um- Three cheers to creating, I say

Corey: Yes.

Hip, hip, hooray. Way to, way to tie it back in and make it, feel like it was structured and we didn't just totally go off on a, on a separate tangent.

Nicky P: Nick- Oh, no, tangents is all we do here, boys, so... Did I land the

Brian Pritchard: Plane? Did we do okay?

Corey: Oh, yeah. I've... Yeah, there you

Nicky P: Go. I think we landed just fine, boys. To all you people out there in internet land, thank you for hanging around this long Keep listening because I think we're gonna try and play Frack after this.

Take it easy.

Corey: A cracked facade, the lack thereof Displaced mistake, my body's at insurrection When you're not at home, I'm wearing your clothes and my clothing wears I'm too feminine, I've grown with the maggots I've borne my debts Weightless, timeless, familiar skin A tragic masquerade, embarrassed past I need a fix to scratch this itch Make me perfect and leave at home again A cracked facade, the lack thereof Displaced mistake, my body's at insurrection All bones and skin, this maimed mess I'm in Original sin, I bear my poor complexion Pay me no mind, not suicide I take my time, not trying, not tonight My adult soul, loss of control Shaking and cold, burning, I'm sick again A cracked

Facade, the lack thereof Displaced mistake, my body's at insurrection All bones and skin, this

Brian Pritchard: Maimed mess I'm in Original sin, like them, I bore complexion We came from celluloid, and we're turning it into music and podcasts for you