Metal Contraband’s Chelsea spoke with Myke Terry about the latest on Volumes and Fire From The Gods. Check it out below:
Chelsea here, joined by Myke Terry. How are you doing today?
I’m great. How are you?
Doing great, thanks. Thanks so much for joining me. We got a lot to talk about today, because you are somebody who is always busy between one band or another, so I’m excited. Okay, cool. Let’s get into it. Sure, well, I mean, of course, in the past few months, you have new releases from both Volumes and Fire from the Gods, but to start off, you actually just wrapped up a tour with Fire from the Gods, so how’d everything go with that?
It was incredible, the band’s first official headlining tour, we were out with, Divide the Fall, Varsity, and For the Fallen Dreams, and it was absolutely incredible, and shout out to all those bands, the crew, and everyone who came out and made it a special time, it was really, really incredible. Yeah, those guys are all awesome, couldn’t have asked for a better run ever. It was sick.
I’m glad for you guys. I actually didn’t realize it was the first ever headline for Fire from the Gods, that’s awesome. How’d that come about?
I mean, it just has to happen eventually, and you know, we have new music coming out later this year. Headlining is a great way for us to showcase, because we have more time to play and more songs to choose from, so we wanted to be able to play more songs and just see what was out there, and the results were awesome. It was great. All the shows were incredible, being able to connect with the fans, it was a very special experience, for sure. It was awesome.
Very exciting. And exciting for the fans, too, to get more time with you guys on stage, for sure.
Yeah, for sure, man, because normally, if you’re just supporting or opening, it’s like, 25 minutes or 30 minutes, so to be able to have an hour to play is awesome. You get way more time to express yourself and just to have more fun, so it’s always great.
For sure. And of course, you are used to headlining, though, when it comes to Volumes, which you’re also keeping busy with. The new album Mirror Touch is out now for a few months now. So, talk to me about first digging into this record and how the inspiration, and the spark, and the work really first came about.
Well, you know, after Happier, COVID was finally ending, so we were, in the position where we could actually record in the same room together again, so we just started working on music, and we weren’t touring. Where the band was at was just kind of up in the air, so it just gave us the time to really focus on the music, focus on ourselves, and kind of just put it all together, and we all went and lived different lives over the course of that four years. Being able to come back and write together, you know, we all had different experiences and cool things to talk about and different feelings that we could put into the hat to talk about and to explore. And I think that comes out in the record pretty heavy, it’s just a lot of different moods and different styles and different movements in the album. I think that it came out just as much as we wanted to – pretty close to perfectly.
Definitely. I love that you mentioned the importance of getting back in the same room together to record as well, because I feel like, especially with all the technology available, a lot of modern bands might go with remote recording, sending stuff back and forth. So it’s cool that you guys do value that face-to-face, in-person jamming time.
For sure. It’s definitely necessary, like, Volumes is very big on the vibe and being able to groove. And, like, it’s kind of hard to create that groove alone, so being able to get into a room and make the groove happen with your boys, it’s a pretty special experience, you know?
Yes, and you always have a great blend of styles with Volumes, and that comes through in this new album as well, from slight industrial vibes creeping in on “S.O.A.P.”, or the much more melodic “Bad Habit”. How do you guys first kind of begin to dig into the songwriting? Is it just a completely natural flow to see what happens, or do you have any kind of ideas or plans where you’re like, “alright, I wanna try something with this or that”?
Yeah, a lot of times it just happens, like, “what if we did…?” And then it’s like, “okay, let’s try it”. And then sometimes it works, and it comes out awesome, and then sometimes it doesn’t, and we gotta start over. Or we can hit it dead and be like, “mm, this doesn’t really match, or this doesn’t really fit where we’re taking it – too far off the track”, you know? It is cool to be able to explore, but we also want to kind of stay true to what feels right and what’s going to feel good to play on stage. Some things, they sound cool, but they don’t really translate live, I guess. And so, Volumes are very heavy on the live aspect of playing, we want to always be able to recreate that feeling or that sound almost verbatim, not just be like a studio-produced band that, when you get live, it doesn’t really match the same intensity or the same vibe, you know?
Right, no, that’s definitely true, and that’s also why that in-person, face-to-face, all-in-the-studio-together time matters – because you’re able to kind of figure out what’s going to work live. If you’re spending too much time putting plugins on things and figuring out different sounds, it’s going to kind of distort a little bit to the point where you might not be able to recreate that every time, so that’s a good point.
Yeah, definitely.
Great. And then you also have a track called “California,” and since you guys are a California-based band, what was behind that track?
Basically, it’s a love letter to where the band is from. We wanted to try and recreate the feeling of being in California and just living, whether it be in the beach or the mountains, just that kind of vibe, and even in L.A., like the dark side, and then the yin and the yang of being out here, you know? It is a very beautiful place, but it also can be very ugly at the same time.
Honestly, metal is the perfect genre to express that kind of range of emotions and feelings.
Exactly. Perfect. This is the perfect place for this.
You also have a pretty wide background as a vocalist as well, because you have the ability for the harsh vocals, the clean vocals; you can do a lot of different styles and everything. So I’m curious more about your origins as a vocalist, and how you kind of found your way into the metal genre. Was that right off the bat what you wanted to do, or was it something you kind of found your way into?
Oh, yeah, definitely. When I heard it, I was like, “What in the – what am I listening to? This is insane”. And then, you know, out of necessity, having to learn how to do it, but upon first listening to some of the first metal bands, I was taken, blown away, because I had only ever heard, you know, melodic singing or clean singing or whatever it is you want to call it. I had never really heard screaming before, so when I was hit with that, I was like, “Whoa, man, this is definitely pretty extreme. I want to learn how to do this”.
Very cool. Who were some of your earliest inspirations?
Oh man, a lot of older, like, this is kind of crazy, but I grew up in a pretty religious family, so a lot of older Christian bands, like Zao, Strong Arm, Living Sacrifice, Overcome, and then when I got out, exposed to more music, like Slipknot, you know, Meshuggah, Cradle of Filth – that’s one that was, like, one of the extremes. I was like, “Yo, this is out of control, never heard anything like this. How do you make that -” still, to this day, I think that’s the most unique scream I’ve ever heard for a vocalist. Then just into black metal and the extremes of that just kind of snowballs and, you know, out of control until here we are right now.
Well, that’s how it should go, honestly. As a vocalist, of course, there is a certain amount of control needed, obviously. You’ve got keep your voice in shape. Do you do any kind of specific techniques or training or anything for that, or you just kind of let it flow?
For the longest time, I definitely would just let it rip, and I made a lot of mistakes, did some damage, and some damage that I haven’t been able to repair, and just some that I’ve had to learn to work with, but, I took lessons for a couple years pretty heavily, like, four or five days a week, couple hours a day – it was pretty intense, so. I learned a lot of techniques, and I learned a lot of tricks, and preservation, and, so now, it’s like, because it was just drilled into me so heavy, it’s just, like, second nature, I don’t really even think about it, but there is a lot of stuff that I do to keep it, so that I’m able to tour and not burn my voice out within the first few weeks, you know?
Yeah, like, first night done, that’s it.
I’ve done that too, and, man, it’s really rough after the first night, and you only played 30 minutes, and it’s just like, “oh, man, I got six more weeks of this”, so yeah, to avoid those kind of things, I rely heavily on proper upkeep of my instrument.
For sure. It’s honestly probably the hardest instrument to have and to learn to play. I know a lot of people talk about, you know, guitar is tricky and everything like that, but when it comes to vocals, you are the instrument, your entire body. It’s like, this is what you’ve got, so you have to deal with it, and it’s probably the hardest one, and definitely a challenging career, to choose metal of all genres.
Yeah, I don’t know. I didn’t really think this one through.
But it’s a good one.
No, I’m joking. I’m joking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s been an amazing experience to be a metal vocalist, or just a vocalist in general. And just to be able to express myself in that light, yeah. It’s life-changing, for sure.
For sure, and I’m sorry to hear about the, damage that can’t be fixed at this point, but in a way that transforms your voice. You find ways to work around things, and then you discover new areas of your voice that maybe you haven’t used before. So there’s always challenges to overcome, I think.
For sure. That’s one of the things we were taught in class is, even if it is some damage, now that’s your signature, and that’s your touch on how you sound. And, you know, I’ll take it. I’m cool with it. It’s all right. I can still pull it off, the job still gets done, and I’m able to still express myself, so it’s okay, it’s all right. For sure.
You’re doing a great job with it. And, you know, talking about expressing yourself, when it comes to songwriting and lyric writing and everything, when you are in two very substantial bands right now, Volumes and Fire from the Gods, do you kind of approach anything – when you come up with an idea, does it feel like, “Oh, that’s definitely going to be a Volumes song,” or, “Oh, we’re going to put that over to Fire from the Gods,” or is there any specific direction that you kind of take with it?
Not really. I think it’s just whatever for either, because they are definitely two different, very different styles or dynamics. But it’s still under the umbrella of rock for me, aggressive music or heavy music or whatever you want to call it. There’s a lot going on in my head, so I don’t compartmentalize: “Oh, this is going to go for Fire,” or “This is going to go for this,” unless it’s the song, you know? Like, if I’m writing, I’m just writing. They’re just thoughts, you know? They’re going to get put somewhere, so if it goes with this song, if it fits with that, then that’s where it’s going to go. And if it goes with a Volumes song, it’s going to fit there better, and then we’re writing for that. I guess it’s more whenever we’re working on music, I think I’m working on specifically this, versus not working on music at the same time, kind of thing. So I don’t really run into that problem too much.
Exactly – at the end of the day, it’s all rock music, and it’s all just music, period. So whatever flows out of you naturally.
Yeah, just feelings, man. Just gotta let it rip.
So, a random fun fact about Volumes that I saw is that Mark Okubo went on tour with you guys a couple times, and we’ve actually interviewed him before, and he was so chill, and he was so great. So, I’m curious about you guys’ experience working with him.
Oh, man. Mark is one of the best people on planet Earth. I love Mark Okubo, that’s my little big brother. Yeah, we’ve been friends for a really long time, he’s just an amazing guitar player, an amazing musician. The way he thinks about music and his approach is just – it’s mind-blowing. So, you know, being able to be around him and have some of that greatness rub off on us is just awesome, man. And he’s one of the best-best dudes and best-best people I could call a friend, man. I love him to death. Marco Okubo, you’re the man. I love you, brother. Shout out, Mark Akubo.
Now, coming back to Fire From The Gods, of course, you’re actually a fairly recent addition to the band just in the past year, but we’ve already heard you with such killer tracks. I mean, “Incinerate”, “Human” you’ve just been, like you said before, to use your term, “letting it rip” since you got together with this band. So, talk to me about what’s going on. You said you have some new music coming out later this year as well. So what’s currently happening with that band?
Yeah, we’re working on a new album, almost done with it. I’ve got a little bit more work to do to finish the vocals, you know, we were trying to get it done on this last tour, but it just turned out to be so cold, and we were fighting for our lives out there, then we couldn’t really focus on getting the music done. So once we do have some time coming up that, I have locked off, we’re going to try and get that knocked out, so that we can get it out hopefully later on this year. We have a tour coming up. We’re supporting Sevendust and Atreyu in April and May, and going to Australia later on in the year in August. So, the year’s going to be pretty busy for Fire, and then, you know, Volumes has some stuff coming, too, so it’s just going to be a busy year all the way around.
And that’s great, and very exciting to hear that there’s still continuous new music and projects and tours coming from you guys. But before we wrap up, let’s not forget to talk about Winston, because he’s a whole social media personality – he’s got his own account. When did Winston first come into your life?
He was a product of COVID, I was really bored – well, not even bored – I was just really sad and lonely, and my neighbor, the mom and the dad had a litter, and he had an extra, and Winston was waiting for me, and the universe said, “Winston, MT.” And then the rest is history. And, yeah, he’s the best. Honestly, I never really thought I was going to have a dog, but I am so very happy that I got him. He’s the best thing ever.
It’s funny, that does tend to be a story for a lot of pet owners. It’s like, when you least expect it, when you weren’t even necessarily looking for it.
Yeah, definitely. It’s crazy. It’s been an amazing experience just having him here. Like, he’s just chilling right here on the floor. He just hangs with me at all times. It’s pretty awesome.
Does he come in studio with you, too?
Oh, yeah, he’s been there, he’s seen it happen, and I bring him on tour with me a lot of times, too, I don’t know if he’s going to come with me now, because he’s gotten kind of fat, so I don’t know, he’ll be taking up the bunk, so we’ll have to see.
That’s very funny. Well, it’s great, though. It’s a great little story about getting him, and I’m glad you have him with you, and he’s, I guess, assistant producer on all your recordings there. He’s always there to help you out, so that’s sweet.
Yeah, he’s getting points. He’s getting his royalties.
So back to your bands, it sounds like there’s a lot coming up this year, thank you so much for your time, it’s been awesome getting to know more about you, about your background, about your music, and all the exciting stuff you have coming up.
Oh, thank you so much, I appreciate you, and to all the people watching and listening and supporting, thank you all so very much, I love you, and look forward to bringing you guys more music later on this year.
Awesome. Thank you so much.