David Benites wears two heavy-duty hats—he’s both the frontman of Renesans and the founder of Extreme Vocal Institute. Whether he’s on stage delivering punishing vocals or coaching the next generation of screamers, David’s passion for extreme music is undeniable. In this episode, we dive into the sound and spirit behind Born From the End, how massive guest features came together, and what it was like playing with bands like Escape the Fate. Plus, we talk about building a go-to destination for vocalists around the world, the biggest “holy shit” moments on stage, and how voice coaching isn’t all that different from physical therapy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, what's up.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's David from Renaissance, an Extreme Vocal Institute, and you're
listening to look Avico podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
All right, today's guest wears two hats. Both are absolutely
brutal in their own way possible. He's the vocal coach
for one of the most punishing voices in modern metal
and rock, working with bands like Motionless and White Not Loose,
so on and so forth. But he's also the front
man of his own band, and the band is called Renaissance.
(00:36):
Right now, we're talking to David Benitas from Renaissance. How
you doing, David doing great? Thank you so much for
having me today. Kevin, Yes, sir, Metal Hardcore Festival on
your hoodie? Do you see the line?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Indeed, loud and proud, very very cool lineup this year.
We're excited to be there. We're excited to catch up
with all the bands. It's going to be a great day.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
When you say we're going to be there, what do
you mean?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I mean?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
We always try to have representation with Extreme Vocal Institute there.
Renaissance isn't on the bill this year, but we're looking
forward to being there.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Okay, Well, I know, I mean it's a stacked lineup
and oh, this isn't even part of the questionnaire. I
had ready to go. See this is so cool, like
you to see someone wearing a hoodie or see someone
wearing a band T shirt and you talk about stuff. Yeah,
crazy lineup this year. If you're going, I'm trying to
go too. So maybe we'll see each other there. But
let's get into the actual interview. So Renaissance, I want
(01:30):
to start with that. So for someone discovering you guys
for the first time, how would you describe your sound
and kind of what makes the Born from the End
stand out more than modern metalcore releases.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I think the statement that we're really trying to put
out there and kind of the mission I went into
this with, especially with Born from the End. This first
release for us is something that we've been putting on
our own marchial like speaking of merchandise, which is the
phrase brutal metalcore. It's something we've kind of been coining
here and just bringing that original metal core FEELIX speaking
(02:08):
of metal and hardcore fest like I grew up in Massachusetts,
grew up with all of those like original metalcore bands
just coming out of nowhere and just really doing their
thing in such a spectacular way. I wanted to bring
a lot of truth to that kind of music while
also adding in the kind of edge and intensity and
ferocity that I'm able to do as vocalist, but also
(02:30):
that more modern music has been able to bring into
the fold.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And I'm really stoked.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
On how that whole ep came out with Born from
the End, and I feel really good about that kind
of really intense music that we've made to.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It sounds fantastic, I mean, great production. We're gonna get
into the production side of things in a little bit.
But you got like heavy hitters on here, like Ricky
Hoover Dave Stevens. How did those collaborations kind of come
together and what did they bring to the table creatively?
Like how anything at all?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So that with both of those people specifically, I've known
them for so many years now, and it started with
me being their vocal coach because that's primarily what I
do here. I'm a vocal coach and I own Extreme
Vocal Institute here and both Ricky and Dave were my
clients from their bands of Sulfur, and we came as
romans and as time went on, they've become some of
(03:23):
my very, very dear friends, and we've just had so
many different life experiences together at this point where when
it came to piecing together what we wanted the EP
to be and what kind of guests and features we
wanted to have on it, they are some of the
only names that really came up for us, and both
of them immediately said yes. And I had an incredible
(03:44):
experience flying all over the country during the making of
the EP to record those features, myself be there in
the room, bring people through it, walk people through what
my vision of this was, and they both absolutely smashed.
So I'm really glad to have both Ricky and Dave
on the record.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I'm glad I asked that question because you saying you
flew all over to get these features and you're in
the room. I mean, there's a total nine day difference
of just saying like, Hey, I want you on this,
here's the track, do whatever you want, compared to Hey,
I'm coming out, we're gonna hang out, we're gonna have
a fun time. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
It was. It was.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It was an amazing experience, and so much of what
I do here involves travel, but that was a very
wonderful and equal parts chaotic trip.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
So travel offshoot question best airline and why.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I feel like I'm gonna say that I've personally had
the best experiences with Delta, purely because I haven't had
anything go horrendously wrong.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Knock knock on everything, everything Okay? So, which hunt labor
of hate tracks from this release? I guess all woul response.
It's on Serious XM. I mean, it's on Spotify, it's everywhere.
When you were writing, recording doing these tracks, did you
think they were going to have that kind of response.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I always go into every kind of writing session and
with every song I make, I'm always trying to do
the biggest thing possible with everything I do, like going
going all the way every time. So I knew that
people were going to enjoy the songs, but the fact
that people latch onto things like the lyrics as quickly
(05:34):
as they did, the fact that we like, within this
first year of us being a touring band, we have
people coming out everywhere across the United States, knowing all
the words, knowing everything about us, like being so immersed
in the music and everything we're creating here.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's been really.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Really cool to see how this big. The response has
been from people, and I'm really happy that they're as
excited about this as I am.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
It's one of those things where like you look out
and you're like, wait, you knew my words that I wrote?
I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, which is funny because that's part of the expectancy
of like writing good songs and putting them out and
having people enjoy them. But when it actually happens, it's like, Oh.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You like me?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
What do you mean? You like me? That's cool. So
you guys made your live debut just over a year ago, right, yes,
So with that, you've already played with like Escape the Fate.
We're heading now with the Skyla drive here soon if
you haven't already. How's the live experience been so far?
And what's been the biggest holy shit moment so far?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's been crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Just over a year of playing shows with this band,
and we had a near sold out show in Boston
as our first real experience together as a unit.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Which was spectacular.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We had so many amazing friends and family come out.
We had a lot of different guest features like Dave
Stevens from We Came as Romans flew out while they
were doing stuff to come be a part of the
day with us and do his feature live. Hailey from
Gore came out, Rextremont Caird came out. We had my
now friend Tukar Rask come out and from the Boston
Bruins formerly and hang out with us and enjoy the night.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
That was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And since then, the amount of shows that we've played
all over the country and the outpouring of support all
over the place, whether it be like any headline shows
we've played, to our co headline tour with Deadlands that
we did at the end of last year, and now
with what we've done with bands like Escape the Fate
and how insane those shows were in Colorado, and what
we're looking forward to with this tour with the Skylet Drive.
(07:39):
It's just been unbelievable and everything's just been bigger than
the next. That's what I'm really excited about. People have
been stoked about the show, people have been stoked about
our energy in person, people have been hanging out with
us all night at the merch table. People have been
really really awesome. So I can't even like pinpoint like
(07:59):
one specific show where I'm like, yeah, that's the one
where I'm the most excited because the whole thing has
been great.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I will say you mentioned dead Lands. I met them
at Louder than Life last year. Those guys are awesome.
They're just genuine people, like maybe you've seen this, maybe
you haven't, but I've ran into some people that like
puff out their chest and they're like, I'm better than
everybody around here. It's like, okay, well good for you.
These guys down to earth real Casey was awesome. Everyone
(08:26):
in that band's awesome, and you could just feel the
excitement from them. They didn't play just yet. They were
about to play, so that I just go off the stage.
High wasn't It wasn't there, but I'm about to hit
the stage. High was getting there. And I just can't
(08:47):
say enough great things about Deadlands. So I just want
to give a quick show out the dead Lands.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, they were really great touring man to. All the
shows we did with them were awesome. I'd love to
do it again sometime. The new music they've been putting
out since is great, and those again, those shows were
just spectacular, And even in terms of just people being
able to like hang out as people, that's one of
the biggest things I try to really make sure to
(09:11):
like uphold myself to and that we do as a
band too, because at the end of the day, we're
all just people in a room that love this weird,
ridiculous thing that is really heavy music, and we're all
having a great time with it together.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Exactly right now, I'm talking to David Benita's from Renaissance,
but you might also know him from the Extreme Vocal Institute.
I followed him since I don't want to say day one,
but like week two or so on TikTok or social media,
and yeah, you've probably seen him there going over all
kinds of different vocal warm ups and this and that
and how to sound like this favorite vocalist. So you've
(09:47):
built this into like a go to destination for screamers
singers across the world. What originally sparked the idea for this.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was a really bizarre thing, and I never even
necessarily anticipated what I was doing with vocal coaching to grow.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
To the extent that it has.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
And when I first started that, like I was just
like a kid in local bands, like in high school,
doing the same thing.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
As everybody else.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I had figured out a lot very quickly, and I
was helping a lot of people out in the local scene,
and that started to branch into helping other people in
more national touring acts as I started to break into
that world of things, and the thing I started to
notice across the board, whether it was people on tours
like in some of my favorite bands, or people at
home just starting out within my own community, I was
(10:35):
noticing that everybody had a lot of built up kind
of anxiety around trying to figure out what screaming is
and even what they themselves were doing, not even to
try to explain it to others, but just to feel
like a sense of security within themselves. And there's a
lot of concern and fear around vocal damage and a
(10:57):
lot of kind of restriction around feeling like they could
ask for help across the board. And I hit a
certain point where I said to myself, if no one
else is going to step forward to really try to
make a difference with how people are feeling, then I'm
going to plant my foot down and make this happen.
And that's really where Extreme Vocal Institute was born, and
(11:18):
I've really been pushing that ever since, and what we've
been able to turn that into and the kind of
worldwide acceptance that there's been of this is awesome and
I'm glad to have been able to help as many
people as I can from all walks of life, end
all over the spectrum too.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I mean, I've seen you've worked with like Motionless of
white Knocked, loose, Dodgery. It's kind of all over the place,
but huge names, you know. It's that's crazy when you're
coaching somebody, rather be local, starting out, pro level, anything
like that. What's the first thing you look for when
(11:54):
assessing a vocalist, let's say, hidden potential.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I think that's the first time I've been asked that.
That's a really good question.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And when it comes to like having someone in front
of me for the first time, regardless of who they are,
I start with very kind of basic questions. I'm getting
to know each other kind of things and making sure
first and foremost that whoever I'm working with is always
feeling very comfortable. Because vocals are such a personal and
(12:23):
very like deep seated kind of art form and it's
so unique to every person, So it's a big deal
for anybody to be willing to let someone else in,
like me, to be a part of that with them.
So a lot of it is like just kind of
outlining respect from the beginning for that, and within those
(12:43):
first conversations, I start to kind of notice things like
things about how people will physically carry themselves, like things
about the way they're talking, things about how I'm seeing
muscles move. Once we get into the point where they're
making different sounds, I'll like notice things about the way
someone maybe move their shoulders are something they do with
their hands, and just kind of noticing patterns.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Like this is really what it comes down to for me.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And then all of that kind of piles up into
how I then turn it around and create whatever this
new pathway is for them to do their thing and
do it well and do it proudly, but without having
to be super worried or concerned about like that injury
and risk factor there, and it allows them to just
(13:29):
purely be the artist and be the performer.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
You're probably picking up on things that you know you
point out to them, They're like, what do I do?
I do what now? I've never noticed that? What are
you talking about? Right?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
That does happen a lot and it's really cool watching
kind of the look on people's faces as we unlock
things or as they start to understand things about themselves.
I've in my head, I've kind of gotten into the habit.
It's like the Christmas Morning kind of effect. It's really
wholesome and really exciting. I live or that kind of
excitement and being able to help people get there and
(14:03):
then seeing what they can do with it when I
kind of send them off into.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
The world, that's awesome. This is an offshoot question, I guess,
have you ever been like injured and how to get
a physical therapy? Ever?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Not myself personally, Like I've had different kind of I
guess scary moments on the voice level, where like in
my younger days as I was still figuring myself out
and how to kind of balance out how much.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Energy I was using versus what I wanted out of it.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I definitely have moments where my voice was kind of weakening,
moments where I was like, oh, why is this part
of my range just missing? And thankfully I haven't like
sustained ever any real like lasting injury or anything like
that or anything to be concerned about. And I've been
able to take all my experiences here as a vocalist
myself on top of all the research I've done, the
(14:51):
many conversations I've had with artists all over the musical spectrum,
and then even like different specialists within like athletics or
physical therapy or like yoga instructors, people that practice a
lot more things in terms of like mental health and
stuff like that, other types of therapy to be able
to bring it all together into what we're doing here.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So I asked that question because I'm currently going through
physical therapy on something with my bicep, and what you
explained a little bit ago of you know, recognizing things
that they do that they might not know or they
do subconsciously, or you're looking at muscle muscles in the
face and neck and whatever, and you're literally just evowing
people like they evowed me for physical therapy. So that's
(15:37):
that's pretty cool that you're like making that exact connection there.
So keep it up, good job, I love it, Thank.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You very much.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And it really is about trying to look at something
from every angle, like really a lot like physical therapy too,
because very often, as I'm sure you're experiencing, any problem
isn't just affecting where that thing is, but it's how
everything else around it then reacts to that or the
way the body tries to compensate in other ways, and
(16:06):
it's being able to figure out how to best manage that.
And then even when I've worked with people that do
have vocal injuries, not like how to just accept that
and just do something else, but how to always find
clever workarounds for things to be able to still get
all the kind of vocal effects you want out of yourself.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Perfect answer. So, yeah, if you're considering vocal coaching, this
is the guy because the professionalism from this conversation already
top notch.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
This is Levi from finn Hurt and you are listening
to the Kevin Powell podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
So we're talking about injuries and whatnot, and it actually
kind of goes right into my next question. So hopefully
the answer is yes here. But if it's not, you know,
you'd be the guy.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I would know.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
You know, there's there's been a shift, I would say, and.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Vocal health.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Are people taking better care of their vocal health now
compared to say, ten fifteen years ago?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Wow? Great question and overall an all resounding yes. And
for myself for me to have played any part in
that shift, in terms of people wanting to take care
of themselves. I'm very very proud of because even like
kind of like you were mentioning, like a lot of
are kind of claim to fame being different stuff on
(17:25):
TikTok and then things that we made during COVID, even
then when we were really trying to push ourselves out, there,
a lot of I'm going to loosely call the scene
at the time was really resistant to us and really
wanted to push us out. And the reason for that
is because there had been this stigma for so long
of it being really taboo to ask for help and
(17:48):
this big kind of self implemented kind of feeling like, oh,
you just have to tough it out and do it
on your own and not get help because that's the
only way to do it, like authentically.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Listen I show with strip Throat and you're throwing up
blood after you ain't doing it right, brother.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Exactly like the super tough guy thing.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
And I came in and basically just said, no, you
don't have to live like that, but that doesn't have
to mean you have to do everything within super crazy
like limitations or put yourself in a box either. And
I'm glad that I and then people like me have
helped to kind of make getting help for vocals cool.
(18:29):
And with that in mind, I'd have seen a really
big shift, not even just within like the touring community,
but within people just starting out too, Like people will
look up like my video specifically to start to learn
how to scream, or they'll do things like join my
online program called ev I Now to do that too,
(18:49):
which takes really everything I've learned from all of these
years of touring and everything as a vocal coach, and
this puts it into one big place for people to
be able to utilize how however they see fit. Like
people will seek things like that out immediately from day one,
or people will even see our videos and that will
be the thing that inspires them to start to be
(19:09):
a vocalist in the first place, which I never even
anticipated that being a thing. And I'm really excited to
have helped create like a new wave of not even
like doing the job, but like a new wave of
what being a vocalist means.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
And that's perfect because I mean, hey, we've all been there,
you know, we just kind of tough it out for
a while. But man, I wish I was just starting
out now knowing, oh you should warm up first, Oh
there's ways to go about doing things without damaging my
voice year's later or anything like that. So you've built
(19:47):
EVII and you have Renaissance. How are you balancing the
two worlds here?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
It is a work in progress, my friend, such as everything,
such as life, And we're definitely pioneering a very unique
thing here, being a vocal coach responsible for the amount
of people I am and with how high the stakes
are in some categories with that, because we do work
(20:16):
with a lot of different varying levels of artists and
than people at home too. But then being in Renaissance
and having this band and not only having the band
be as busy as it is and having it be
moving as fast as it is, but thus far us
being entirely responsible for everything and operating independently right now
has been definitely an interesting new challenge to kind of
(20:39):
really balance both things.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
But the thing that I love to push more than anything.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Is that just because I'm a vocal coach doesn't mean
that the band is any less. And just because I'm
in a touring band doesn't mean that I take.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
My foot off the gas as a vocal coach.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
It's really doing both things simultaneously in tandem.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And that's why on.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Different tours like this tour with a Skylet Drive, I'm
going to be teaching lessons on that tour, just as
I do every other tour I've done, because it gives
lots of people at home the opportunity to finally get
out and meet me in person and work with me
like one on one and not have it only be
like on a video chat type thing, because I do
(21:22):
teach plenty of lessons on a daily basis to people
like via video chat, kind of like this right now,
especially for people in like many other countries that I
work with. But if they have the opportunity to get
out to a Renaissance show, come see what it's all about,
get a vocal lesson from me. I'm so stoked to
be able to do both things and then even use
my own show as a leading example of what I'm
(21:45):
talking about. So I love being able to do both things,
and we're definitely still figuring it out. It definitely comes
with its challenges, but we're getting there, and I'm really
stoked to be in a place where I even have
to think about that balancing at at all, because it's
it's good problems to have.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
It exactly, it's great problems to have. There are worse
problems to have, so this is a good one. I mean,
you've toured with artists where you're going to be on
stage with artists that you've actually coached, and I'll never
be able to ask this question to anybody else. So
what's it like standing beside them on stage or hearing
them use a technique that you help them discover.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I constantly like use it, like when I'm with like
friends or family people around me, when those moments are happening,
I very frequently turn and say, I am a very
proud dad.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I am a very very proud dad.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
And I see stuff like that constantly, And it will
even get to the point where sometimes people will like
kind of find me, like either side stage or if
I'm on stage with them for that particular moment, like
they'll kind of point out different moments.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I'm like, you're doing the thing that we talked about.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
That's so nice that you're letting me know that you're
doing the thing that we talked about.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
And it's really wholesome.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And I love being able to have the kind of
relationship that I do with the different touring artists that
I work with, and then people just starting out too
all over the spectrum because again, just like for bands
on tour and when we're all doing that thing, it's
all of us just being equally passionate about this art
form together and that's just the best part of the
(23:18):
whole thing.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
It's like that Spider Man meme where you're both pointing
at each other.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I mean, yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
So Milwaukee Metalfest that's coming up. What can fans expect
from your set and do you have any maybe surprises
in store that you're allowed to share.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
There are some surprises that we are talking I don't know,
caught red handed. There's some things we're working on for
that for sure, to make that really, really special. It's
renaissance first festival that we're playing, and for it to
be something of the magnitude of Milwaukee Metalfest, I'm really
excited about that. And then to be able to even
after that, after the Skilet Drive tour that we go
(24:00):
to like two days after then only two.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Weeks after that, we have the.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Road to Warp tour in Pennsylvania and we're back with
Escape the Fate and it Dies Today and Scary Kids.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Scaring Kids.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's gonna be unbelievable too. Like for anything any kind
of show that we play, I always try to think
of ways to keep people engaged in a different way,
keep people excited in ways that I haven't really seen before,
and create a really unique show experience that's I think
equal parts fun, equal parts terrifying is the m O.
(24:36):
And with that in mind, the one thing I can
say and people that have seen us live recently will
be able to attest to this. We have been playing
an unreleased song on tour recently and I think we're
gonna keep playing that. People are having a lot of
fun with that.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
I will say, you know, just watching the social clips
that you guys playing live a lot of energy. So
if you haven't seen these guys yet, well get ready
because and they kill it. A couple last questions for
you that we have time for. Do you have a
favorite vocal technique you like to teach?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Huh?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Really interesting question, like one that I enjoy teaching.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
You know what it is.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
It's not even necessarily that there's one specific vocal technique
that I like teaching. Most it's more that I like
being faced with new challenges and people like learning to scream,
like from like.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Various different perspectives, or if.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
They're like recovering from an injury and they feel like
they haven't been able to do something, or if someone
has been made to feel like they've been put in
a box and they feel like they can't achieve something
because they've been told by so many others that they can't.
Being able to unlock something in someone that they never
thought was possible, and kind of, like I said earlier,
getting to like experience the look on their face and
(25:51):
like that joy factor and like once they're able to
do it, and how much fun they start to have
with it. That's really my favorite thing, regardless of what
the vocal stuff is.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It's being able to.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Effectively make someone's dreams come true a little bit in
that moment, even in a small dose, to like give
them the satisfaction of knowing that what they really want
to be doing is possible.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Perfect answer. How about the most underrated metal vocalist today?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Oh my goodness, we're leaving it on the table here today.
I'm not going to say necessarily underrated because a lot
of people are very familiar with her and her voice
at this point. But with that in mind, a band
(26:44):
that everyone definitely needs to look out for is Gore
and our friend Haley, who's the vocalist of that band,
is phenomenal. The work we've done together I'm so proud
of and where she's been able to take that and
what that band is doing is amazing. They're going to
be all over the place real soon. So definitely like
keep an eye out for that band. Not underrated by
(27:05):
any means, but definitely starting to really pick up steam.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Okay, how about one artist you would love to collab with,
whether they be dead or alive.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Oh, man, because we are working on things in the
background here that I can't necessarily talk about. To avoid that,
I'm going to kind of go backwards and with some
people that aren't necessarily with us. Someone with as unique
a voice as say like Chester Bennington is way up
(27:39):
there for me. And then one of the top ones
for me and one of the reasons that I one
of the main reasons I got into screaming in the
first place, was Mitch Lucker suicide silence.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Oh yeah, okay, yeah, so maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I would have been one of the top for me
for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Maybe you can do some stuff with Eddie here soon.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Very very stoked for them, and they're definitely still doing
their thing.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
They're still out here.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Perfect last question I got for you that I ask
it end of all my interviews. Every band, artist, anything
like that has a different approach to this answer. So
get ready, what kind of advice would you give to
a band that's either just starting out or they're looking
to break through to the next level.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
The thing I'm going to preface this with that what
I or anyone says about how to really get a
band off the ground for the first time, you need
to change the perspective you look at that answer with
every few weeks because the whole landscape of everything about
this world of music and everything about this industry, especially
(28:50):
now in twenty twenty five, change is almost faster than
you can think. So it's being I think, if I
can narrow it down to three things, it's being at
is really important, Being resilient is really important, and then
above all, just being relentless with it. And I know
I am here with renaissance and that's one of the
(29:11):
biggest reasons we've been able to really do anything at
all is just like that, very much like never giving
up no matter what, push forward, figure it out kind
of mentality and really put yourself out there and really
give people no choice other than to love what you're
doing and get really into it. And I'm really proud
and happy to have been able to do that with Renaissance,
(29:34):
and I'm really stoked to have been able to help
many others out there, like from like just starting to
Scream and then building their first bands and then getting
out there touring kind of giving them that same advice
and seeing them follow through with.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That perfect answer again, as you can imagine all kinds
of different answers I've received over the years. And yeah,
you can't go off of someone's answer that they gave
me six years ago. Exactly does change, but there are
core fundamentals that are prevalent every single time no matter what.
So thank you for that. Any final words you want
(30:07):
to say to fans.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
For anyone watching, I mean, thank you for giving us
this platform, for trusting me with your voices, for being
excited about the things I'm doing with my own music
and my own lyrics, and for all of the support,
especially like how much has been coming out recently, but.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
All of it over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Too, And thank you Kevin here for having me on
the podcast today. I'm really excited to be here talking
about all this today, and I'm really excited to start
to roll out the things that are coming to And
with that in mind, I guess for everyone here in
the US at least we're about to be on tour
with a Skylet Drive. We've got Milwaukee Metalfest coming up,
We've got the Road to Warp Tour with Escape the
(30:49):
Fate in Pennsylvania in the summer, and so many other
things along the way. And as always I'm always happy
to help all of you with your voices.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
David, It's been an absolutely pleasure talking to me you today.
I love seeing the excitement come out of you. This
is the main reason why I do this, is just
letting people talk about the things I'd love to talk about.
So again, thank you. Hopefully we get the dow this
again in the future. Hopefully we can see each other
here soon at another festival or something coming up. We'll
cross hopes out, yeah for one day. So again, thank you, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You so much for having me. This was great.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I'd love to come back and really really great questions too.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
On wind to say, if you.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Haven't checked out his band Renaissance yet, well go do it.
EP Born from the End is out right now and
guest vocalists like Ricky Hoover and Dave Stevens on this
absolutely rips. As always, thanks for checking out the episode.
I do super duper appreciate it. If you enjoyed it,
feel free to like, follow, share, share it with your
friend group who is into heavy metal music or anything
(31:49):
like that. I'll catch you next time on the Kevin
Pewel Podcast.
Hey, what's up.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's David from Renaissance, an Extreme Vocal Institute, and you're
listening to look Avico podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
All right, today's guest wears two hats. Both are absolutely
brutal in their own way possible. He's the vocal coach
for one of the most punishing voices in modern metal
and rock, working with bands like Motionless and White Not Loose,
so on and so forth. But he's also the front
man of his own band, and the band is called Renaissance.
(00:36):
Right now, we're talking to David Benitas from Renaissance. How
you doing, David doing great? Thank you so much for
having me today. Kevin, Yes, sir, Metal Hardcore Festival on
your hoodie? Do you see the line?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Indeed, loud and proud, very very cool lineup this year.
We're excited to be there. We're excited to catch up
with all the bands. It's going to be a great day.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
When you say we're going to be there, what do
you mean?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I mean?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
We always try to have representation with Extreme Vocal Institute there.
Renaissance isn't on the bill this year, but we're looking
forward to being there.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Okay, Well, I know, I mean it's a stacked lineup
and oh, this isn't even part of the questionnaire. I
had ready to go. See this is so cool, like
you to see someone wearing a hoodie or see someone
wearing a band T shirt and you talk about stuff. Yeah,
crazy lineup this year. If you're going, I'm trying to
go too. So maybe we'll see each other there. But
let's get into the actual interview. So Renaissance, I want
(01:30):
to start with that. So for someone discovering you guys
for the first time, how would you describe your sound
and kind of what makes the Born from the End
stand out more than modern metalcore releases.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I think the statement that we're really trying to put
out there and kind of the mission I went into
this with, especially with Born from the End. This first
release for us is something that we've been putting on
our own marchial like speaking of merchandise, which is the
phrase brutal metalcore. It's something we've kind of been coining
here and just bringing that original metal core FEELIX speaking
(02:08):
of metal and hardcore fest like I grew up in Massachusetts,
grew up with all of those like original metalcore bands
just coming out of nowhere and just really doing their
thing in such a spectacular way. I wanted to bring
a lot of truth to that kind of music while
also adding in the kind of edge and intensity and
ferocity that I'm able to do as vocalist, but also
(02:30):
that more modern music has been able to bring into
the fold.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And I'm really stoked.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
On how that whole ep came out with Born from
the End, and I feel really good about that kind
of really intense music that we've made to.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It sounds fantastic, I mean, great production. We're gonna get
into the production side of things in a little bit.
But you got like heavy hitters on here, like Ricky
Hoover Dave Stevens. How did those collaborations kind of come
together and what did they bring to the table creatively?
Like how anything at all?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So that with both of those people specifically, I've known
them for so many years now, and it started with
me being their vocal coach because that's primarily what I
do here. I'm a vocal coach and I own Extreme
Vocal Institute here and both Ricky and Dave were my
clients from their bands of Sulfur, and we came as
romans and as time went on, they've become some of
(03:23):
my very, very dear friends, and we've just had so
many different life experiences together at this point where when
it came to piecing together what we wanted the EP
to be and what kind of guests and features we
wanted to have on it, they are some of the
only names that really came up for us, and both
of them immediately said yes. And I had an incredible
(03:44):
experience flying all over the country during the making of
the EP to record those features, myself be there in
the room, bring people through it, walk people through what
my vision of this was, and they both absolutely smashed.
So I'm really glad to have both Ricky and Dave
on the record.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I'm glad I asked that question because you saying you
flew all over to get these features and you're in
the room. I mean, there's a total nine day difference
of just saying like, Hey, I want you on this,
here's the track, do whatever you want, compared to Hey,
I'm coming out, we're gonna hang out, we're gonna have
a fun time. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
It was. It was.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It was an amazing experience, and so much of what
I do here involves travel, but that was a very
wonderful and equal parts chaotic trip.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
So travel offshoot question best airline and why.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I feel like I'm gonna say that I've personally had
the best experiences with Delta, purely because I haven't had
anything go horrendously wrong.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Knock knock on everything, everything Okay? So, which hunt labor
of hate tracks from this release? I guess all woul response.
It's on Serious XM. I mean, it's on Spotify, it's everywhere.
When you were writing, recording doing these tracks, did you
think they were going to have that kind of response.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I always go into every kind of writing session and
with every song I make, I'm always trying to do
the biggest thing possible with everything I do, like going
going all the way every time. So I knew that
people were going to enjoy the songs, but the fact
that people latch onto things like the lyrics as quickly
(05:34):
as they did, the fact that we like, within this
first year of us being a touring band, we have
people coming out everywhere across the United States, knowing all
the words, knowing everything about us, like being so immersed
in the music and everything we're creating here.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's been really.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Really cool to see how this big. The response has
been from people, and I'm really happy that they're as
excited about this as I am.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
It's one of those things where like you look out
and you're like, wait, you knew my words that I wrote?
I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, which is funny because that's part of the expectancy
of like writing good songs and putting them out and
having people enjoy them. But when it actually happens, it's like, Oh.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You like me?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
What do you mean? You like me? That's cool. So
you guys made your live debut just over a year ago, right, yes,
So with that, you've already played with like Escape the Fate.
We're heading now with the Skyla drive here soon if
you haven't already. How's the live experience been so far?
And what's been the biggest holy shit moment so far?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's been crazy.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Just over a year of playing shows with this band,
and we had a near sold out show in Boston
as our first real experience together as a unit.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Which was spectacular.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We had so many amazing friends and family come out.
We had a lot of different guest features like Dave
Stevens from We Came as Romans flew out while they
were doing stuff to come be a part of the
day with us and do his feature live. Hailey from
Gore came out, Rextremont Caird came out. We had my
now friend Tukar Rask come out and from the Boston
Bruins formerly and hang out with us and enjoy the night.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
That was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And since then, the amount of shows that we've played
all over the country and the outpouring of support all
over the place, whether it be like any headline shows
we've played, to our co headline tour with Deadlands that
we did at the end of last year, and now
with what we've done with bands like Escape the Fate
and how insane those shows were in Colorado, and what
we're looking forward to with this tour with the Skylet Drive.
(07:39):
It's just been unbelievable and everything's just been bigger than
the next. That's what I'm really excited about. People have
been stoked about the show, people have been stoked about
our energy in person, people have been hanging out with
us all night at the merch table. People have been
really really awesome. So I can't even like pinpoint like
(07:59):
one specific show where I'm like, yeah, that's the one
where I'm the most excited because the whole thing has
been great.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I will say you mentioned dead Lands. I met them
at Louder than Life last year. Those guys are awesome.
They're just genuine people, like maybe you've seen this, maybe
you haven't, but I've ran into some people that like
puff out their chest and they're like, I'm better than
everybody around here. It's like, okay, well good for you.
These guys down to earth real Casey was awesome. Everyone
(08:26):
in that band's awesome, and you could just feel the
excitement from them. They didn't play just yet. They were
about to play, so that I just go off the stage.
High wasn't It wasn't there, but I'm about to hit
the stage. High was getting there. And I just can't
(08:47):
say enough great things about Deadlands. So I just want
to give a quick show out the dead Lands.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, they were really great touring man to. All the
shows we did with them were awesome. I'd love to
do it again sometime. The new music they've been putting
out since is great, and those again, those shows were
just spectacular, And even in terms of just people being
able to like hang out as people, that's one of
the biggest things I try to really make sure to
(09:11):
like uphold myself to and that we do as a
band too, because at the end of the day, we're
all just people in a room that love this weird,
ridiculous thing that is really heavy music, and we're all
having a great time with it together.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Exactly right now, I'm talking to David Benita's from Renaissance,
but you might also know him from the Extreme Vocal Institute.
I followed him since I don't want to say day one,
but like week two or so on TikTok or social media,
and yeah, you've probably seen him there going over all
kinds of different vocal warm ups and this and that
and how to sound like this favorite vocalist. So you've
(09:47):
built this into like a go to destination for screamers
singers across the world. What originally sparked the idea for this.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was a really bizarre thing, and I never even
necessarily anticipated what I was doing with vocal coaching to grow.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
To the extent that it has.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
And when I first started that, like I was just
like a kid in local bands, like in high school,
doing the same thing.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
As everybody else.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I had figured out a lot very quickly, and I
was helping a lot of people out in the local scene,
and that started to branch into helping other people in
more national touring acts as I started to break into
that world of things, and the thing I started to
notice across the board, whether it was people on tours
like in some of my favorite bands, or people at
home just starting out within my own community, I was
(10:35):
noticing that everybody had a lot of built up kind
of anxiety around trying to figure out what screaming is
and even what they themselves were doing, not even to
try to explain it to others, but just to feel
like a sense of security within themselves. And there's a
lot of concern and fear around vocal damage and a
(10:57):
lot of kind of restriction around feeling like they could
ask for help across the board. And I hit a
certain point where I said to myself, if no one
else is going to step forward to really try to
make a difference with how people are feeling, then I'm
going to plant my foot down and make this happen.
And that's really where Extreme Vocal Institute was born, and
(11:18):
I've really been pushing that ever since, and what we've
been able to turn that into and the kind of
worldwide acceptance that there's been of this is awesome and
I'm glad to have been able to help as many
people as I can from all walks of life, end
all over the spectrum too.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I mean, I've seen you've worked with like Motionless of
white Knocked, loose, Dodgery. It's kind of all over the place,
but huge names, you know. It's that's crazy when you're
coaching somebody, rather be local, starting out, pro level, anything
like that. What's the first thing you look for when
(11:54):
assessing a vocalist, let's say, hidden potential.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I think that's the first time I've been asked that.
That's a really good question.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And when it comes to like having someone in front
of me for the first time, regardless of who they are,
I start with very kind of basic questions. I'm getting
to know each other kind of things and making sure
first and foremost that whoever I'm working with is always
feeling very comfortable. Because vocals are such a personal and
(12:23):
very like deep seated kind of art form and it's
so unique to every person, So it's a big deal
for anybody to be willing to let someone else in,
like me, to be a part of that with them.
So a lot of it is like just kind of
outlining respect from the beginning for that, and within those
(12:43):
first conversations, I start to kind of notice things like
things about how people will physically carry themselves, like things
about the way they're talking, things about how I'm seeing
muscles move. Once we get into the point where they're
making different sounds, I'll like notice things about the way
someone maybe move their shoulders are something they do with
their hands, and just kind of noticing patterns.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Like this is really what it comes down to for me.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And then all of that kind of piles up into
how I then turn it around and create whatever this
new pathway is for them to do their thing and
do it well and do it proudly, but without having
to be super worried or concerned about like that injury
and risk factor there, and it allows them to just
(13:29):
purely be the artist and be the performer.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
You're probably picking up on things that you know you
point out to them, They're like, what do I do?
I do what now? I've never noticed that? What are
you talking about? Right?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
That does happen a lot and it's really cool watching
kind of the look on people's faces as we unlock
things or as they start to understand things about themselves.
I've in my head, I've kind of gotten into the habit.
It's like the Christmas Morning kind of effect. It's really
wholesome and really exciting. I live or that kind of
excitement and being able to help people get there and
(14:03):
then seeing what they can do with it when I
kind of send them off into.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
The world, that's awesome. This is an offshoot question, I guess,
have you ever been like injured and how to get
a physical therapy? Ever?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Not myself personally, Like I've had different kind of I
guess scary moments on the voice level, where like in
my younger days as I was still figuring myself out
and how to kind of balance out how much.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Energy I was using versus what I wanted out of it.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I definitely have moments where my voice was kind of weakening,
moments where I was like, oh, why is this part
of my range just missing? And thankfully I haven't like
sustained ever any real like lasting injury or anything like
that or anything to be concerned about. And I've been
able to take all my experiences here as a vocalist
myself on top of all the research I've done, the
(14:51):
many conversations I've had with artists all over the musical spectrum,
and then even like different specialists within like athletics or
physical therapy or like yoga instructors, people that practice a
lot more things in terms of like mental health and
stuff like that, other types of therapy to be able
to bring it all together into what we're doing here.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So I asked that question because I'm currently going through
physical therapy on something with my bicep, and what you
explained a little bit ago of you know, recognizing things
that they do that they might not know or they
do subconsciously, or you're looking at muscle muscles in the
face and neck and whatever, and you're literally just evowing
people like they evowed me for physical therapy. So that's
(15:37):
that's pretty cool that you're like making that exact connection there.
So keep it up, good job, I love it, Thank.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You very much.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And it really is about trying to look at something
from every angle, like really a lot like physical therapy too,
because very often, as I'm sure you're experiencing, any problem
isn't just affecting where that thing is, but it's how
everything else around it then reacts to that or the
way the body tries to compensate in other ways, and
(16:06):
it's being able to figure out how to best manage that.
And then even when I've worked with people that do
have vocal injuries, not like how to just accept that
and just do something else, but how to always find
clever workarounds for things to be able to still get
all the kind of vocal effects you want out of yourself.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Perfect answer. So, yeah, if you're considering vocal coaching, this
is the guy because the professionalism from this conversation already
top notch.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
This is Levi from finn Hurt and you are listening
to the Kevin Powell podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
So we're talking about injuries and whatnot, and it actually
kind of goes right into my next question. So hopefully
the answer is yes here. But if it's not, you know,
you'd be the guy.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I would know.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
You know, there's there's been a shift, I would say, and.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Vocal health.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Are people taking better care of their vocal health now
compared to say, ten fifteen years ago?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Wow? Great question and overall an all resounding yes. And
for myself for me to have played any part in
that shift, in terms of people wanting to take care
of themselves. I'm very very proud of because even like
kind of like you were mentioning, like a lot of
are kind of claim to fame being different stuff on
(17:25):
TikTok and then things that we made during COVID, even
then when we were really trying to push ourselves out, there,
a lot of I'm going to loosely call the scene
at the time was really resistant to us and really
wanted to push us out. And the reason for that
is because there had been this stigma for so long
of it being really taboo to ask for help and
(17:48):
this big kind of self implemented kind of feeling like, oh,
you just have to tough it out and do it
on your own and not get help because that's the
only way to do it, like authentically.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Listen I show with strip Throat and you're throwing up
blood after you ain't doing it right, brother.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Exactly like the super tough guy thing.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
And I came in and basically just said, no, you
don't have to live like that, but that doesn't have
to mean you have to do everything within super crazy
like limitations or put yourself in a box either. And
I'm glad that I and then people like me have
helped to kind of make getting help for vocals cool.
(18:29):
And with that in mind, I'd have seen a really
big shift, not even just within like the touring community,
but within people just starting out too, Like people will
look up like my video specifically to start to learn
how to scream, or they'll do things like join my
online program called ev I Now to do that too,
(18:49):
which takes really everything I've learned from all of these
years of touring and everything as a vocal coach, and
this puts it into one big place for people to
be able to utilize how however they see fit. Like
people will seek things like that out immediately from day one,
or people will even see our videos and that will
be the thing that inspires them to start to be
(19:09):
a vocalist in the first place, which I never even
anticipated that being a thing. And I'm really excited to
have helped create like a new wave of not even
like doing the job, but like a new wave of
what being a vocalist means.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
And that's perfect because I mean, hey, we've all been there,
you know, we just kind of tough it out for
a while. But man, I wish I was just starting
out now knowing, oh you should warm up first, Oh
there's ways to go about doing things without damaging my
voice year's later or anything like that. So you've built
(19:47):
EVII and you have Renaissance. How are you balancing the
two worlds here?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
It is a work in progress, my friend, such as everything,
such as life, And we're definitely pioneering a very unique
thing here, being a vocal coach responsible for the amount
of people I am and with how high the stakes
are in some categories with that, because we do work
(20:16):
with a lot of different varying levels of artists and
than people at home too. But then being in Renaissance
and having this band and not only having the band
be as busy as it is and having it be
moving as fast as it is, but thus far us
being entirely responsible for everything and operating independently right now
has been definitely an interesting new challenge to kind of
(20:39):
really balance both things.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
But the thing that I love to push more than anything.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Is that just because I'm a vocal coach doesn't mean
that the band is any less. And just because I'm
in a touring band doesn't mean that I take.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
My foot off the gas as a vocal coach.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
It's really doing both things simultaneously in tandem.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And that's why on.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Different tours like this tour with a Skylet Drive, I'm
going to be teaching lessons on that tour, just as
I do every other tour I've done, because it gives
lots of people at home the opportunity to finally get
out and meet me in person and work with me
like one on one and not have it only be
like on a video chat type thing, because I do
(21:22):
teach plenty of lessons on a daily basis to people
like via video chat, kind of like this right now,
especially for people in like many other countries that I
work with. But if they have the opportunity to get
out to a Renaissance show, come see what it's all about,
get a vocal lesson from me. I'm so stoked to
be able to do both things and then even use
my own show as a leading example of what I'm
(21:45):
talking about. So I love being able to do both things,
and we're definitely still figuring it out. It definitely comes
with its challenges, but we're getting there, and I'm really
stoked to be in a place where I even have
to think about that balancing at at all, because it's
it's good problems to have.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
It exactly, it's great problems to have. There are worse
problems to have, so this is a good one. I mean,
you've toured with artists where you're going to be on
stage with artists that you've actually coached, and I'll never
be able to ask this question to anybody else. So
what's it like standing beside them on stage or hearing
them use a technique that you help them discover.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I constantly like use it, like when I'm with like
friends or family people around me, when those moments are happening,
I very frequently turn and say, I am a very
proud dad.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I am a very very proud dad.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
And I see stuff like that constantly, And it will
even get to the point where sometimes people will like
kind of find me, like either side stage or if
I'm on stage with them for that particular moment, like
they'll kind of point out different moments.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I'm like, you're doing the thing that we talked about.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
That's so nice that you're letting me know that you're
doing the thing that we talked about.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
And it's really wholesome.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And I love being able to have the kind of
relationship that I do with the different touring artists that
I work with, and then people just starting out too
all over the spectrum because again, just like for bands
on tour and when we're all doing that thing, it's
all of us just being equally passionate about this art
form together and that's just the best part of the
(23:18):
whole thing.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
It's like that Spider Man meme where you're both pointing
at each other.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I mean, yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
So Milwaukee Metalfest that's coming up. What can fans expect
from your set and do you have any maybe surprises
in store that you're allowed to share.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
There are some surprises that we are talking I don't know,
caught red handed. There's some things we're working on for
that for sure, to make that really, really special. It's
renaissance first festival that we're playing, and for it to
be something of the magnitude of Milwaukee Metalfest, I'm really
excited about that. And then to be able to even
after that, after the Skilet Drive tour that we go
(24:00):
to like two days after then only two.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Weeks after that, we have the.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Road to Warp tour in Pennsylvania and we're back with
Escape the Fate and it Dies Today and Scary Kids.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Scaring Kids.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's gonna be unbelievable too. Like for anything any kind
of show that we play, I always try to think
of ways to keep people engaged in a different way,
keep people excited in ways that I haven't really seen before,
and create a really unique show experience that's I think
equal parts fun, equal parts terrifying is the m O.
(24:36):
And with that in mind, the one thing I can
say and people that have seen us live recently will
be able to attest to this. We have been playing
an unreleased song on tour recently and I think we're
gonna keep playing that. People are having a lot of
fun with that.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
I will say, you know, just watching the social clips
that you guys playing live a lot of energy. So
if you haven't seen these guys yet, well get ready
because and they kill it. A couple last questions for
you that we have time for. Do you have a
favorite vocal technique you like to teach?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Huh?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Really interesting question, like one that I enjoy teaching.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
You know what it is.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
It's not even necessarily that there's one specific vocal technique
that I like teaching. Most it's more that I like
being faced with new challenges and people like learning to scream,
like from like.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Various different perspectives, or if.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
They're like recovering from an injury and they feel like
they haven't been able to do something, or if someone
has been made to feel like they've been put in
a box and they feel like they can't achieve something
because they've been told by so many others that they can't.
Being able to unlock something in someone that they never
thought was possible, and kind of, like I said earlier,
getting to like experience the look on their face and
(25:51):
like that joy factor and like once they're able to
do it, and how much fun they start to have
with it. That's really my favorite thing, regardless of what
the vocal stuff is.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It's being able to.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Effectively make someone's dreams come true a little bit in
that moment, even in a small dose, to like give
them the satisfaction of knowing that what they really want
to be doing is possible.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Perfect answer. How about the most underrated metal vocalist today?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Oh my goodness, we're leaving it on the table here today.
I'm not going to say necessarily underrated because a lot
of people are very familiar with her and her voice
at this point. But with that in mind, a band
(26:44):
that everyone definitely needs to look out for is Gore
and our friend Haley, who's the vocalist of that band,
is phenomenal. The work we've done together I'm so proud
of and where she's been able to take that and
what that band is doing is amazing. They're going to
be all over the place real soon. So definitely like
keep an eye out for that band. Not underrated by
(27:05):
any means, but definitely starting to really pick up steam.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Okay, how about one artist you would love to collab with,
whether they be dead or alive.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Oh, man, because we are working on things in the
background here that I can't necessarily talk about. To avoid that,
I'm going to kind of go backwards and with some
people that aren't necessarily with us. Someone with as unique
a voice as say like Chester Bennington is way up
(27:39):
there for me. And then one of the top ones
for me and one of the reasons that I one
of the main reasons I got into screaming in the
first place, was Mitch Lucker suicide silence.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Oh yeah, okay, yeah, so maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I would have been one of the top for me
for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Maybe you can do some stuff with Eddie here soon.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Very very stoked for them, and they're definitely still doing
their thing.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
They're still out here.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Perfect last question I got for you that I ask
it end of all my interviews. Every band, artist, anything
like that has a different approach to this answer. So
get ready, what kind of advice would you give to
a band that's either just starting out or they're looking
to break through to the next level.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
The thing I'm going to preface this with that what
I or anyone says about how to really get a
band off the ground for the first time, you need
to change the perspective you look at that answer with
every few weeks because the whole landscape of everything about
this world of music and everything about this industry, especially
(28:50):
now in twenty twenty five, change is almost faster than
you can think. So it's being I think, if I
can narrow it down to three things, it's being at
is really important, Being resilient is really important, and then
above all, just being relentless with it. And I know
I am here with renaissance and that's one of the
(29:11):
biggest reasons we've been able to really do anything at
all is just like that, very much like never giving
up no matter what, push forward, figure it out kind
of mentality and really put yourself out there and really
give people no choice other than to love what you're
doing and get really into it. And I'm really proud
and happy to have been able to do that with Renaissance,
(29:34):
and I'm really stoked to have been able to help
many others out there, like from like just starting to
Scream and then building their first bands and then getting
out there touring kind of giving them that same advice
and seeing them follow through with.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That perfect answer again, as you can imagine all kinds
of different answers I've received over the years. And yeah,
you can't go off of someone's answer that they gave
me six years ago. Exactly does change, but there are
core fundamentals that are prevalent every single time no matter what.
So thank you for that. Any final words you want
(30:07):
to say to fans.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
For anyone watching, I mean, thank you for giving us
this platform, for trusting me with your voices, for being
excited about the things I'm doing with my own music
and my own lyrics, and for all of the support,
especially like how much has been coming out recently, but.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
All of it over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Too, And thank you Kevin here for having me on
the podcast today. I'm really excited to be here talking
about all this today, and I'm really excited to start
to roll out the things that are coming to And
with that in mind, I guess for everyone here in
the US at least we're about to be on tour
with a Skylet Drive. We've got Milwaukee Metalfest coming up,
We've got the Road to Warp Tour with Escape the
(30:49):
Fate in Pennsylvania in the summer, and so many other
things along the way. And as always I'm always happy
to help all of you with your voices.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
David, It's been an absolutely pleasure talking to me you today.
I love seeing the excitement come out of you. This
is the main reason why I do this, is just
letting people talk about the things I'd love to talk about.
So again, thank you. Hopefully we get the dow this
again in the future. Hopefully we can see each other
here soon at another festival or something coming up. We'll
cross hopes out, yeah for one day. So again, thank you, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You so much for having me. This was great.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I'd love to come back and really really great questions too.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
On wind to say, if you.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Haven't checked out his band Renaissance yet, well go do it.
EP Born from the End is out right now and
guest vocalists like Ricky Hoover and Dave Stevens on this
absolutely rips. As always, thanks for checking out the episode.
I do super duper appreciate it. If you enjoyed it,
feel free to like, follow, share, share it with your
friend group who is into heavy metal music or anything
(31:49):
like that. I'll catch you next time on the Kevin
Pewel Podcast.
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