Welcome + Nico Cellz introduction [00:00:00]

Brian Pritchard: Celluloid. And we're turning it into music and podcast free

Nicky P: Welcome everyone to another episode of We Came From Celluloid podcast. I'm Nicky B, here as always with the illustrious, the inevitable-... Mr. Brian Prichard.

Brian Pritchard: Hello. Good to be here. Thank you, Nick.

Nicky P: We are sharing the stage today with our, our new friend, Niko Sells from Bag of Humans. How are you doing there, Niko?

Nico Cellz: You too, man. Thank you.

Nicky P: I'm excited you have the, the demeanor of someone that I expect from the part of country that you are from

No, no, no, I, here's why I can't, 'cause I'm, I'm Italian by nature and by birth, and so when I, when I did used to drink, I would put on the affectation of, like, that part of the country's accent even though, like, I grew up in the part of New York that doesn't have the accent

It's like I've watched way too many mob movies in my life that I feel like I, in some... I mean, I'm not gonna say I haven't had my touches with that part of the world, but I've, I've done well to stay away from that part of the world mostly

I don't talk to those cousins is what we're saying

I got plenty of gr- plenty of grit. I, I ain't got no problem there. So Bag of Humans, I'm excited to have you because we're gonna be sharing the stage with you here in, when does it go? A month and a week maybe, something like that. It is coming up quick, and I've been really excited. I think all of the bands have, like, opted into coming on the show so we could frankly make some content to share on the internet and try and build some buzz, blah, blah, blah, blah, marketing words

Well, that's, if, if nothing else, that is all we have in our band is the endless motivation from me and Pressure here.

Bag of Humans video drops tomorrow: Easter egg versions and happy accidents [00:01:30]

Nico Cellz: Well, you know, but, but, like, we're talking to like-minded people, not, not just from this, the fact that you showed up here tonight. But, I was, I was pleased in, in doing my homework to go like, "Oh, this is cool."

This, this aligns timing-wise with, like, the drop of a video, that from, from the looking at the, the other parts of your feed, it's, like, years in the making, right? As so many things are years in the making. You know what I'm saying? So number one, congratulations on, on, you know, being less than 24 hours from, the, the, debut of your, your new video and your new single, man.

That, that was really cool.

Dude, but you know what? You ju- just let that be an Easter egg, right? Like, we, we were just talking about, before you hopped on, the, the, the idea of, like, back in the day with physical CDs, you might get, a different v- version of a song or a bonus track kind of thing, right? And literally just over the weekend in my shuffle, I heard, uh...

I, I had my, my playlist on in alphabetical order, and, Fell on Black Days by Soundgarden came on, and I realized I had two slightly different versions of that song, and one of them was labeled the music video version, right? And, and just, like, subtle little changes in, in the delivery and the performance and, and just sort of remembering, like, yeah, that's not the only song that was like that, right?

Where, like, the music video take of it was, was actually its own beast. So even, even with it being an accident, it's like, fuck it. Let it be a happy accident, and go like, "No, no, no, that's, that's the music video version, bro."

MTV editing, Kim Thayil guitar solos, and the music video vs. album cut [00:04:34]

Nicky P: Well, they were notorious for, like, cutting out, like, halves of long solos and stuff back in the day, especially, like, in that, that particular era.

'Cause, like, so you, you let Kim Thayil go for a while, and, like, he'll go. But, like, they, they were never, like, playing the whole thing on there because, oh, we got four minutes to get this done, and MTV doesn't got that kind of time. What do you think this is?

Horror DNA: bag-head Jason, Romero, vampire mind-control, and Baron Samedi [00:05:25]

Nico Cellz: But it did, you know, it, it, it immediately conjured up, to your point, like when you say a zombie film, it's like, yeah, you've got the, the black and white, you know, woodsy sort of Romero Night of the Living Dead feel. The, the, the bag head creatures to me were immediately, you know, Jason 2 specifically, right?

Like, the bag head Jason, right down to the flannels, you know what I mean? And, and then like, you know, just that it was fun seeing the, the plot twist with like, got it, and then she's like a vampire, like, mind control beast and, and I'm not even sure if there's a specific reference there. It went over my head, other than to say I loved it.

I, I, I love that it's all in, in the stew, and that it's obvious that like, at the very least the, the, the dude that made that one... And there was another video where I'm like, "Oh, th- this guy's doing a oner." You know what I mean? Like, you know, as, as, filmmakers do, where you're, a oner, like an all in one shot with no cuts, where it was following you, you, the guy down the sidewalk- Yeah, yeah.

And, and, and Yeah, where like you, you know,

You, you end up like playing with the band, but it follows you as you like move through the street and have interactions with people and stuff. Yeah

Totally. No, it's, it's, it's incredible

Oh, sure. No, ano- another classic, for sure

Yeah, well, and, and, and again, like something like that Goodfellas shot, like I've, I've, I feel like I, you know, I'm a film connoisseur, but I'm not a filmmaker, so I'm, I'm co-opting the jargon terms that I hear in commentary. Where, where those all-in-one shots, the, the all-in-one shot, something like that Goodfellas thing I feel like is a, a way that, filmmakers have been competing with each other up to and including something like that 1917 movie, that Sam Mendes made a couple years ago where he was just like, "Oh yeah?

How about the entire movie's one shot?" You know what I mean? Like

Goodfellas oner vs. 1917 — how filmmakers compete with each other [00:08:55]

Nicky P: Yeah, so if you weren't aware, Nico, we are mostly like we're a band that has a podcast that just tends to talk about movies a lot because we both like movies.

So I, I've always loved how fortuitous it is when we find other musician friends that are like people that like apparently care and like have ideas about film and stuff. I, tickles me pink

Bordello of Blood and the tragedy of owning a Blu-ray of something you hate [00:09:36]

Nico Cellz: Dude, I've talked about on here, like, the, the, there's this notion where I've found myself only in the last few years really starting to be that much more mindful about it. Like, well, I, I remember when I, when I had a, a, started a family and had kids, that was the first change as far as going like, you know, if I'm not really loving something after like something new that I've never watched after, you know, it's more than halfway over, if I'm sort of feeling like I'm never coming back to this thing, I'm not afraid to bail on it.

Whereas like I would never do that. The thing that I'm finding myself doing now though is like I, I keep using Bordello of Blood as my example for some reason, where it's, it's a movie where, I remember really loving Demon Knight and, and, and so I saw Bordello of Blood in theaters and like I didn't really like it.

And, and, and yet like I wanted to like it so much

Nicky P: It's what happens when you get rid of Billy Zane...

Takashi Miike, Audition, and Asian Sleepless in Seattle [00:10:35]

Nico Cellz: That I, I keep coming back to it, like wanting it to be good. And, and I, and, and like the last time I watched it again, and it's a movie that I own in my collection. I own the fucking, you know, Blu-ray from Shout!

Factory, and I watched the commentary track and all this, and I'm going, "Fuck, I, I don't even like this movie." You know what I mean? Like, why am I watching the commentary track again? You know? Like, what the fuck?

Like the comic book character?

Why am I friends with you?

Takashi Miike is the dude's name, right? It's M-I-I-K-E. The, the director is Takashi Miike and, and I haven't seen Visitor Q, but I saw Audition and I saw something else of his, right? Where I saw enough of his m-

I, I, I just know the dude's work really turned me off, right? Like, like that it doesn't surprise me that

Audition's a movie where a guy like falls in love, and, and it, and it initially presents itself almost like the first 30 minutes is like Asian Sleepless in Seattle, and it's a, and it's like a single father falling in love with like a new woman that he starts dating. And then the next hour is her torturing him

Like cutting his dick off, like, you know, with a razor kind of shit. And you're just sort of like, "Ah, terrific. I'm glad I came," you know?

Well, and, and some of it I, I've found genuinely moving. You know, the, the, there's a... I remember as a kid I, I read a lot of movie magazines, right? That, I think I, I had an aunt who saw that I was interested in movies, and so, like, one year for Christmas my gift was a subscription to Premiere Magazine, okay?

And then wh- when you're reading a, a, a, a thing like that from cover to cover, you know, th- there's this, a sort of list building going on as a result, 'cause people would talk about, like, the things that inspired them and the things that they loved and all of that stuff. So the, the recommendations were kinda coming in hot and heavy.

I, I... Did you guys ever see, the, the, the Three Colors trilogy from France, the Blue, White and Red in the early '90s? Yeah, just as far as, you know, like some, some foreign films that manage to, like, make their way over. And I mean, El Mariachi is just, you know, a fucking action movie, but, like, because it's, it's got subtitles you're like, "No, I'm cultured.

Look at me." You know? Like, that's the one that, Robert Rodriguez made that, that... Right before El Mar- Like, Desperado is, essentially a remake of El Mariachi

Three Colors trilogy, El Mariachi, and foreign films for people pretending to be cultured [00:13:00]

Nicky P: But El Mariachi is why he gets all the acclaim he gets because he, he managed to do that with- '

Nico Cellz: Cause he made it for, like, $13,000, yeah

Nicky P: Come on, you don't know about Spy Kids?

My, my kid's a little too young and I'm a little too old. Just missed it. I know they made a ton of money

The Faculty: correct parenting, Kevin Williamson, and a great '90s soundtrack [00:15:47]

Nico Cellz: He, he's done those franchise runs with Spy Kids and with the Mexico trilogy, right? But, but I gotta shout out The Faculty, whi- which was Kevin Williamson who did all the, like, the Scream movies, wrote, wrote, uh...

So it's another, like, high school... It's like an Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie in a high school.

Nicky P: It's got one of my favorite soundtracks to it, is what it's got.

Nico Cellz: But, but that one landed with both of my kids that, that, like, as they were going into, like, their freshman years, like, I remember the summer before freshman year being like, "All right, we're gonna watch the fucking Faculty and, just to, you know, fuck with them a little bit."

Nicky P: Yeah, dude, if you haven't seen The Faculty, it's a lot of fun, and it is, it ex- it has a gem of '90s, like, alternative soundtracks to it. Super fun

Probably. While we have you here, we might as well talk a little bit about the band, I feel like. So, so why don't you j- I wanna know what d- what is Bag of Humans from your perspective?

What is Bag of Humans and why does Nico make music [00:17:19]

Nico Cellz: It's, it's instead of, "I take value so I don't kill you, motherfucker," it's "I make music so I don't kill you, motherfucker."

I was noticing too just, you know, like, like finding a video of you, of, of you guys playing. It looked like a show with, VOD like 10 th- like 13 years ago, something like that, that you guys had, you know? And, and so that hits me too of just going like, "Oh, you've managed to keep a group together for a while."

Has it been, pretty much the same lineup or, or entirely the same lineup or?

That's cool, man. And, and was Bag Of Humans your first project, ba- band at all? Or, you know, w- h- how, when did that journey start just for you in general?

Nu-metal's legacy: the Beastie Boys, Korn, Deftones, and Limp Bizkit's jump-the-shark [00:19:21]

Nicky P: What is it about that part of the country? I'm sorry. Like, well, it's, it's, it's the Bloodhound Gang. It's fricking all, all of that shit from that, like, rap rock, like, white boys from the suburbs rapping

Nico Cellz: Chaos Driver is awesome. It w- it was probably, it was my favorite of, of personally of, of the batch of songs. Like, like, I liked everything I heard, but that, that one. And I'm so glad to hear you mention Beastie Boys, 'cause I was going like, "I don't know people's influences." I, I find all the time that, like, you know, you, you could rattle off probably, like, be like, "These are my five favorite bands," and I, maybe I know, like, two or three of them, right?

But, like, that was the specific thing I was thinking of listening to that song is like, "Oh, this is what it feels like when the Beastie Boys pick up their instruments," dude. Like, and so I, I'm, I'm reassured to know that, like, maybe I wasn't totally crazy picking up on a bit of that energy. It's a really cool song, and the whole series of videos, again, very cinematic.

Like, the dude you had as the feature, you know, was, it, it was like Live and Let Die, right? The Baron Samedi hat and stuff like that from, the old Bond movie. Whether that was intentional or coincidence, you know what I'm saying, that's, that's where my mind went was, Baron Samedi from Live and Let Die.

Nicky P: S- so one of the other things I wanna know about it is, and it's because, like, I feel, I feel like it's the, the, the struggle that we always have, or at least I do, with our band is it's like you don't fall cleanly into any type of, like, specific genre. Like, yeah, it's pretty heavy, but, like, it's, it's also weird, like un- unassailably weird.

And while I, I love that, it's like how do you, how do you deal with, how do you deal with that? Like, when you're tr- what kind of band are you? You know, like wh- what are we in for tonight? What do we tell our people? What are they in for when they come and see us?

Nico Cellz: No, that's fair. I forget sometimes how intimidating metal can be, right?

That's like three days before my 18th birthday.

Yeah. Oh wait, I make no qualms about this is a dad band thing here

That particular era in music just gets a lot of shit that it doesn't deserve

Tool, Rage Against the Machine, and the decline of nu-metal sincerity [00:24:16]

Nicky P: Oh, you'll never get me to defend Tool in that res- particular way. I think Tool's boring as hell for, like, 90% of their material. But, but I'm think- I'm thinking, like, w- in more of, like, the Korn, Deftones. I'll go as far as, like, the Limp Bizkit era. Like, I mean, y- you talk a lot of shit on it, but, dude, there's a lot of fun songs there.

And I think a lot of the issue is because i- i- i- it's maybe the beginning of the decline of the white male in society coincides with those particular acts, and it's, like, that first, the first taste of the rage to come out of that sector. And so it's just historically looked at as being bullshit. Like, fuck you guys.

Well, I mean, I will, I will definitely stand by the rage is, is all bullshit. Like they're raging, they're raging for the machine as far as I can tell these days, but

Well, it's a weird transitory period, I mean, 'cause you, y- even when you're talking Rage, like, look at the contemporaries of Rage. Like, that's all was legitimately... Well, I, I, I mean, I like, as far as like, I'm, I'm thinking like as far as time goes, like what, look what, that is the era of like Soundgarden's peak and shit like that.

You know, even like some of the best, like when Bush was making decent records it was during that era.

It was pretty bad.

The tipping point: when movements go from interesting to overdone [00:27:24]

Nico Cellz: No, you know, I w- I was thinking of, like the, there's a tipping point, right? With, with, like a, a cultural movement in a given direction where a thing moves from being interesting to being overdone. Oversaturated and overdone, right? And, and that tipping point takes place. The jump the shark moment, whatever you wanna call it.

And, and, and so indeed, in- inside the arc of the entire nu metal movement, let alone a single band, like, like Limp Bizkit for me, you know, to your point, at the moment that the, the chocolate starfish and the hot dog flavored w- it's like, boy, this is a fucking new low not just for you, but for all of music, right?

And Cypress Hill, a band I love, you're right. Like their, their nu metal album fucking sucks, right? And, and, and it's like how can this be? Like the, this, this has all the reason like to be something excellent, but it just, it, it doesn't work. You know what I mean? And, and, even, again, not to make it all about, you know, movies or whatever, but, but I think of, the way like reboots and remakes also then have become, a thing where, you know, th- there can be one or two kinda cool or interesting versions of a thing that's revisiting.

Like I, I, I think that Season 3 of Twin Peaks coming back 25 years later is one of the great, great works of art that's ever, you know, managed to make it to, to, you know, the big screen. Well, it didn't even. It's on Showtime. But, but, but then, you know, it also leads to like Fuller House and like you know what I mean?

A bunch of bullshit popping up around it. So yeah

Why dad bands go on tour: the lesson we'd be teaching our kids if we quit [00:29:14]

Nicky P: It was, was weird about Arrested Development is I never watched the show to begin with. Like, I binged the whole thing and then watched the last season. You could still tell, oh, this is not quite, quite the same thing. It's, it was just

Well, no, I think you have to do it. You, you said you've got a kid, man. You've, you've got to now because what... If you stop, what lesson are you teaching your kid, man? Like, that's, that's why we have to do this. We, we have to be old men going on tour because if, if not, then my kids can learn it's okay to quit shit, and it's not okay

Bag of Humans confidence and what 20 years of playing sounds like [00:30:25]

Nico Cellz: Well, and I, I, I love the, the, the, the confidence, feels, it feels... The fact that you've been in act for a long time, I think reveals itself in the way that you, that I want it to as a listener when I hear those new songs, right? You know what I mean? Like, you, you do f- feel like a band that, that has the confidence of 20 years, you know what I mean?

O- of weight behind it. So no, th- tho- those tracks and singles land really well. When, when does the new album drop? Are you... Okay Do, do you have more, more material, coming out or was that video the last, like, single ahead

Of the full piece?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I would think. No, I was curious if, I guess in, in terms of the, the, the build to that, was this, was last night's video the last sort of, teaser that, that, that, that exists? Or do you have, anything else that, that's still a teaser?

I just more admire and see the tenacity, right? Whe- whether that's in a decades-long run, with this act or inside... There was at least one of the videos that I encountered on Instagram had the instrumental of last night's video was the base of it, and you were teasing new music, but it was from 2023.

I'm not, I'm not bringing that up to give you shit, dude. Like, I'm, I'm bringing that up as a compliment, right? Because-

Yeah, and that's just the way it goes, and that's what I admire and I'm, I'm giving, I'm trying to pay you a compliment and say I, I, I really respect the, the tenacity of just putting one foot in front of the other at whatever pace you can, dude. You know what I mean? Like

Nick's real motive: Brian takes too long to record vocals [00:33:56]

Nicky P: He's absolutely full of it. What he's actually doing is he's backhanding me because I take too long to write lyrics for him and record vocals.

I have how many tracks stuck in Nick needs to record vocals over this limbo? Yeah, that's all this really is.

Nico Cellz: So I'm, I'm gonna ask the question, what is, what is the scene like out there? You guys are in Baltimore, right?

I've got a bunch of friends out in Baltimore, so I, I hear enough.

It's hard to have a good opinion of the city when you guys gave us turnstiles

So the art sc- art school kid kind of thing?

Nicky P: Well, I'm just gonna sound dismissive be- because I can You

Nico Cellz: Know, a funny, a funny side note, you guys, Baltimore was a surrogate, a surrogate for, Harvard in, if you've ever seen The Social Network. Did you ever watch that, David Fincher movie, The Social Network? The Facebook movie

It's, it's set in Harvard in Boston, but it was filmed there in Baltimore. So it might just amuse you to watch it sometime, just e- even in terms of going like, "Holy shit, I know that spot." You know what I mean? Yeah

Oh, wow. Okay. Got it. Filmed locally Yeah, of course, the liar.

Well, you know, I was asking in part about, about the promo leading to the album release 'cause, thi- we always like to end these, interviews, with other bands with playing, playing it out with a song, right? So, so of, of the, the releases that you have, do you have one that you would like us to, feature so that, you know, as people are listening to this, this, episode when it drops, you know, what, what song of yours can we play at the end?

I love that na- that title, by the way, so much

And so that's not even one of the singles from a video perspective. I haven't heard that song, I don't think then

Well, shit man. So we got an exclusive after all. Hot damn.

Baltimore venue recommendations for when Puma Thurman comes to town [00:38:25]

Nicky P: So, so, Brian, I'm gonna throw this out there. Brian, I wanna be really selfish here. So Niko, when we do eventually make our way out to the Baltimore area, what venue do we need to be looking into? What is the, the hot place that we wanna try and get into?

Joe Petrich connection, scene dynamics, and good hospitality [00:38:59]

Nico Cellz: I don't care if the, the venue you think is a, is a, is like we used to do it in the old AMVETS Hall or whatever, V- VFW

It's Baltimore after all

I know we're, we're, we're excited to be good hosts for you, right? That, that, it's cool working with, with... Well, and working with Joe, right? And Joe gets it. Joe, Joe's the best, right? And, and, and so we've got two different bands between IREWYRM and Puma Thurman where we both have our respective crowds and fans and supporters.

You know what I'm saying? And, and the idea, of trying to position you guys as visitors to be in the best spot to, like, to take the time to come all the way out here, you know, we just wanna do our part to make sure that you're playing for fucking people, right? Like, whether they love it or not, like, let's at least give you a

Yeah, that's really classy, man. It's really classy

No, that's, that's super cool, man

Wrap up + where to find Bag of Humans [00:41:01]

Brian Pritchard: Right on. Well, thank

Nico Cellz: You so much for coming on, Nico. You got a website we can send people to?

Well, thank you so much for coming on, boss