THE LOCKDOWN LOWDOWN ~ A BURDEN TO BEAR

While live music and touring were on lockdown, fans as well as artists were going through some major withdrawals. We came up with something fun to help bridge that distance between fans and artists. What we came up with is something called The Lockdown Lowdown and it’s a Q&A session with fun questions for artists to answer. We cover artists from all around the globe and these are not your typical interview questions, so this gives you a peek inside of the artists themselves. We’re big music nerds here at I’m Music Magazine and we love learning things like this about the artists that we love. We’re pretty sure that you’ll get a kick out of these, so we hope you’ll take the time to read them. In this installment, we sat down for a fun Q&A session with A Burden To Bear.

How were you doing during the pandemic and how were you spending your time?

Wyatt: We’ve been doing pretty well during the pandemic. We had a lot of free time to finish up the recording of our upcoming EP and get some new songs started.

Nick: It was fine, I had started college during the pandemic so it was a little extra stressful.

Austin: I’ve been doing pretty well. I’ve been working at Sweetwater, practicing, writing, playing with ABTB, and hanging out with my friends and family.

Matt: I had just gotten a job as a delivery driver when the pandemic started, so I’ve basically been working and playing with the band. Other than that, I have gone to my fair share of concerts since venues started playing again.

Have you been working on new music?

Wyatt: We are always working on new music, almost unintentionally sometimes. Inspiration for riffs and lyrics will hit randomly and before you know it, it turns into a multi-hour writing session.

Nick: Yeah, I try to write as much as I can. Even on my down time I like to have demos and tabs playing just to see if my ear will grab something that should be added or changed.

Joe: Yes. Both A Burden to Bear and my own solo rap project.

Austin: Yes, there will be much more music from us down the road.

Matt: Yes, with some help from my bandmates. They have been pushing me to learn how to use computer programs proficiently. I help write the drums and some of the lyrics.

Name five albums that changed your life:

Wyatt:

1. Bullet For My Valentine – The Poison

2. All That Remains – The Fall of Ideals

3. Beartooth – Disgusting

4. Limp Bizkit – Chocolate Starfish

5. Bleed from Within – Fracture

Nick:

1. Trivium – Shogun

2. In Flames – The Jester Race

3. Bullet For My Valentine – The Poison

4. Mercyful Fate – Time

5. Death – Scream Bloody Gore

Joe:

1. Hybrid Theory – Linkin Park

2. Limp Bizkit – The Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

3. Slipknot – Self-Titled

4. Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle

5. Whitechapel – This is Exile

Austin:

1. Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory

2. Eminem – Slim Shady LP

3. Korn – Self Titled

4. Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power

5. Mr. Bungle – Self Titled

Matt:

1. Travis Scott – Rodeo

2. Freddie Gibbs – Pinata

3.Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

4. Death – Leprosy

5. Fleet Foxes – Hopelessness Blues

Name five artists that influenced you as a musician:

Wyatt:

1. Avenged Sevenfold

2. Bullet For My Valentine

3. Atreyu

4. Miss May I

5. As I Lay Dying

Nick:

1. Zac Brown Band

2. Trivium

3. In Flames

4. The Black Dahlia Murder

5. Avenged Sevenfold

Joe:

1. Motionless in White

2. Whitechapel

3. The Black Dahlia Murder

4. Chimaira

5. Killswitch Engage

Austin:

1. Linkin Park

2. Dimebag Darrell

3. Victor Wooten

4. Ryan Martini

5. Mikael Åkerfeldt

Matt:

1. Slipknot

2. Mastodon

3. Kendrick Lamar

4. Steely Dan

5. Queens of the Stone Age

What are your five favorite live albums?

Wyatt:

1. Avenged Sevenfold – Live in the LBC

2. Ice Nine Kills – I Heard They KILL Live

3. Bleed From Within – Viral Hysteria

4. Beartooth – Live from the Journey Below

5. John 5 & The Creatures – It’s Alive

Nick:

1. Avenged Sevenfold – Live in LBC

2. Allison Krauss – Live (2002)

3. The Black Dahlia Murder – Fool ‘em All Live

4. In Flames – The Tokyo Showdown

5. Pantera – 101 proof

Joe:

1.Metallica – S&M

2. Linkin Park – Live in Texas

3. Rebelution – Live at Redrock

4. Ra – Raw (live)

5. Slipknot – 9.0

Austin:

1. Bloodbath- Waken Open Air Festival 2005

2. Pantera- Live 101 Proof

3. Alice in Chains- MTV Unplugged

4. Korn- MTV Unplugged

5. The Black Dahlia Murder- US Vans Warped Tour & European Tour 2013

Matt:

1. Emperor – Live at Wacken 2006

2. Eagles – Hell Freezes Over

3. King Crimson – Deja Vroom

4. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Live in San Francisco 2016

5. Kenny Loggins – Live in the Redwoods

Life on the road; what are five of your craziest/funniest/scariest tour stories?

Wyatt: Scary: When we played at Emerson Theater and there was a shooting at McDonald’s across the street.

Nick: While we were playing a show with Phinehas at The Citadel, I thought someone had spiked my water with really potent LSD. After our set we were watching Phinehas play and I was getting a lot of visual distortion and fractal patterns. I felt really sick and feverish, and I was seeing things. I didn’t really know where I was and what was going on. It stopped after about two hours and then I just felt really fucked up and I couldn’t stop shaking. When we eventually got home I went to a doctor and they told me that a blood vessel in my brain had pinched and I had a small aneurism.

Joe: I once took a nasty spill down a really steep staircase at a venue in Cleveland, Ohio. Busted my face open on some concrete and still continued to party (with a little encouragement)

Austin: We witnessed a bumfight in Dayton, OH

Matt: Really more of a sad story than anything, but my first show that I played with ABTB my backpack was stolen sometime during the show. It contained my laptop, my good headphones, and sadly my Game Boy Advance that my parents got for me on Christmas in 2004. Which is something that truly cannot be replaced!!

What are your five favorite movies?

Wyatt:

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home

2. Dragon Ball Super: Broly

3. Logan

4. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

5. Hot Rod

Nick:

1. The Outlaw Josey Wales

2. Full Metal Jacket

3. Pulp Fiction

4. The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

5. Slumdog Millionaire

Joe:

1. House of 1000 Corpses

2. American Me

3. Phantasm

4. Training Day

5. Freddy vs Jason

Austin:

1. Us

2. Annihilation

3. Joker

4. There’s Something About Mary

5. Team America

Matt:

1. The Departed

2. Goodfellas

3. Reservoir Dogs

4. Full Metal Jacket

5. Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo Bay

What’s the best and worst advice you ever heard?

Wyatt: Best: Indecision is the enemy of progress. Worst: Get a real job and don’t pursue music.

Nick: Regarding music, anything Ken Jehle ever taught me was golden. He really instilled in me the idea that overplaying is just as bad as underplaying and mediocre writing; playing in the pocket is the most important part of writing music. The worst advice that I ever received was to relax and be content. Being content leads to stagnation.

Joe: Best advice: Don’t care what others think

Austin: As a musician, never try to sound like anyone but the best version of yourself. Worst: I’ve been told by elders I should be playing classic rock.

Matt: The best advice I was ever given was from my dad. Every little thing in life contains a particle of risk, and you should be aware of it no matter what it is you’re getting into. Some of the worst advice I’ve ever heard, someone once told me I should smoke a lot more weed. Luckily I did not take that advice.

What’s the strangest thing you ever autographed?

Wyatt: A broken in half guitar body

Nick: I stick to autographing normal objects.

Joe: An elderly woman’s chest

Austin: An Autograph.

Matt: To tell the truth I’ve never autographed anything other than some of my drumsticks!

If music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?

Wyatt: The Warlock. I’ve always been super into magic in various fictional mediums, so I would draw a lot of inspiration from that.

Nick: Cole “The Skoal” Holliday.

Joe: The Spanish Jackhammer

Austin: Mr. Burgers. I’d be in a tag team with “Mr. Ass” Billy Gunn.

Matt: Everybody loves a good heel! I would call myself the redcoat. My gimmick will be that I dress like a 1700s british soldier, talk in a funny British accent, and taunt all the American audiences only to get my ass beat!