Dreams of Consciousness

Here is the 28th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Full of Hell's Dylan Walker and David Bland. I met up with the band in the summer of 2015 when they played ABC No Rio with The Body; they were rushing from one venue to another, so we discussed the possibility of doing an interview during their upcoming South East Asian tour. Fast-forward to this past...

Here is the 27th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with French death metal band NecroWretch. I met the band when they played Embrace Hall in Johor Bahru, on the second date of their South East Asian tour. It was their first time to the region, and the band had been looking forward to the tour for months. I spoke to founder/guitarist/vocalist Vlad downstairs...

Here is the 26th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring a conversation with my friends Scott Colvin and "Metal Mike" Dabaie as we made our way to Maryland Deathfest. On the second day of Maryland Deathfest XIII, I recorded a conversation with my friends Scott and Mike as we drove down from Scott's home in Annapolis, Maryland (where Scott was kind enough to let us spend the n...

Here's the 25th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring a conversation from my ride down to Maryland Deathfest with Josh Landes (Limbs Bin/Infinite Distortion Radio), Jesse Bagels (Spite/Stygian Black Hand Records) and Henry Yuan (Electric Assault Records). I ran into Josh at ABC No Rio when Full of Hell and The Body played the week-end prior; he offered me a ride down to MDF...

Here is the 24th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Cremator of Creepsylvanian thrashers Ghoul. I contacted the band through one of their human intermediaries. The interview was conducted just before their set at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, in a van parked around the corner from the venue. I was lucky to leave with both the interview and my life [thoug...

Here is the 23rd installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Matt McGachy of Canadian death metal legends Cryptopsy. Matt spoke with me shortly before Cryptopsy's headlining show at the Nihil Gallery in Brooklyn. The interview took place upstairs from the performance space, with the owner's dog Wednesday sitting in with us (and occasionally contributing to the r...

Here is the 22nd installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with death metal godfather Paul Speckmann of Master, Death Strike, Krabathor, Abomination...the list goes on. The interview took place before Master played the Acheron in Brooklyn on May 7th. We talked just outside the venue; you can hear some of the other bands soundchecking in the background during the co...

Here is the 21st installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Swedish hardcore legends Mob 47. The interview was conducted outside Rumah Api, on the first date of the band's Asian/Australian tour. Jetlagged from their flight and having to cope with the Malaysian climate, they still took the time to talk with me until it was their turn to take the stage. The inter...

Here is the 20th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Dondi Bunye of Filipino death metal OGs (and DoC faves) Brimstone in Fire. This being the 20th installment of the podcast, I wanted something special to mark the occasion. As it happened, Brimstone In Fire were set to release their first full-length, Outside. I sat down with Don at Demiurge Digital Stu...

Here is the 19th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, focusing on sludge/doom metal bands from South East Asia, and featuring an interview with Malaysian sludge band Gaur. I sat down with the whole band at Rumah Api at the end of February to talk about their history, their upcoming release, and their thoughts on what separates "sludge punk" from "doom metal". TRACKLIST: Gaur (Malays...

Here is the 18th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Lochlan Watt of COLOSSVS, Nuclear Summer, and Monolith Records. I met Lochlan briefly back in 2012 when Nuclear Summer played Not-A-Fest. He was in KL again near the end of last year, and we ran into each other at Chaos in Rumah Api II. We made plans to do a podcast together, and so a few days after th...

Here is the 17th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview I did with Nenett of XRDM and "Djent" Jia of Naratu and Perimeter Breach. I conducted the interview at the end of 2014 while Chaos in Rumah Api 2 was going on, but the idea for this podcast has been germinating since I saw Exkoriator at my very first visit to Rumah Api. Since then I've seen more female-fron...

Here is the 16th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, focusing on the upcoming DIY punk and metalfest Chaos in Rumah Api 2. I sat down with the organizers Man Beranak (of Sarjan Hassan, xCrimescenex, WHHIRR, and Annihilation Turbo Kids) and Emi Norazalli (of Tools of the Trade and WHHIRR) to talk about last year's installment, the logistics of organizing an international DIY fest in...

Here is the 15th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Tom Banks of the Vietnamese death metal band Disgusted. I met Tom in 2012 when Disgusted played Kuala Lumpur; having been in a band and lived in South East Asia for roughly the same period I've been writing about it for this blog, I wanted to get his perspective on the scene, and what it means to be a...

Here is the 14th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Al Dimalanta of Filipino punk pioneers Dead Ends and Throw. We delve into the early days of the Filipino punk and hardcore, as well as Al's thoughts on the present scene. The interview was coordinated by my buddy Ian from Brimstone in Fire. We recorded it at his studio in Makati while I was visiting th...

Here is the thirteenth installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring part two of an interview with Kevin Hufnagel, the guitarist for Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, and Vaura (among others). In this second part of the interview, we discuss Kevin's work with Gorguts and Vaura. Once again, my thanks to Kevin for making the time to talk with me. Gorguts - Obscura (live) Dysrhythmia - Room of Ve...

Here is the twelfth installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring part one of an interview with Kevin Hufnagel, the guitarist for Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, and Vaura (among others). I ran into Kevin while leaving the Red Bull Hardcore Activity in Progress event, when we were both waiting for the shuttle to take us from the venue back to the subway station. I've been listening to Gorgut...

Here is the 11th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring Noisem. My buddy Lucas is friends with the band, and was responsible for organizing the interview after their set at the Acheron. Our talk took place in the cozy confines of their van, with all the members present, plus Lucas, and members of Jarhead Fertilizer dropping in as well. It was pretty chaotic, to say the least...

Here is the tenth installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring a few interviews I did with bands I saw at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn this past May. First up is Death Toll 80K from Finland, who I talked to the day after their very awesome (and very last minute) set at Saint Vitus. They took me through the circumstances that led to them subbing in for Hooded Menace. Dan from Archag...

Here is the 9th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with New York's own Grey Skies Fallen. The band was playing a show at Saint Vitus Bar while I was in town, so I used the opportunity to interview guitarist/vocalist Rick Habeeb before their set. We talked about the band's newest album, The Many Sides of Truth, their history, their influences, and their plans...

Here is the 8th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast. While Kylesa were in town on the Malaysian leg of their South East Asian tour, I was able to snag guitarist/vocalist Phillip Cope for an interview. Of particular note is an extended discussion about his days in Damad. One of the best interviews I've done, except the parts where you can hear the 3 cups of coffee I had right before....

Here it is, the seventh Dreams of Consciousness podcast, focusing on bands from the Eastern Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. The podcast features an interview I did on New Year's Eve with Kota Kinabalu's Maskburn, who were in KL to play Chaos in Rumah Api as well as a one-off show with Seattle's Endorphins Lost and Scotland's xSaxonx. Our talk took us from the state of the metal and hardcore...

This is the sixth Dreams of Consciousness Mixtape, focusing on the hardcore/punk scene in the Philippines. While we were working on the last podcast about the Filipino scene, my buddy Ian [from Brimstone in Fire and Demiurge Digital Studios] sent me a few songs from local hardcore bands. That episode was pretty packed and those songs didn't fit in with the rest of the (mostly death metal) line-up,...

Here's the fifth Dreams of Consciousness "mixtape", featuring our friends from across the causeway in Singapore. This podcast features an interview with my buddies Bloodstone, which I recorded in March when I saw them play the Home Club in Singapore with Wormrot, Hell and Hell, and Demisor. Bloodstone are all really smart and funny guys, and the interview was one of the most fun I've ever done. I...

This is the Thai metal podcast, which was supposed to come out way back in December of last year (I don't know what to say about that, except my apologies to all the bands who sent me music and were wondering what happened with this. But it's out now, only 8 months later). This is the culmination of my Bangkok trip last year, when I met "M" (the mysterious man I know only as "M") at his Heaven and...