**Atheist destroying The Glasshouse in Pomona, California (12\20/19, Metalchondria)**

(The entire audio portion of the interview can be found on the bottom of the page)

Metalchondria: This is Jason Williams of Metalchondria, here with, Mr. Kelly Shaefer of Atheist. I’d like to say, thank you for your time, and a little watershed moment. Last time, I saw you guys here at the Scion Rock Fest in 2011. And for metalheads, they're not used to this, it was a free show yet RSVP online and it was just different especially back then. Also, one of the best lineups: Agalloch, Morbid Angel, Anaal Nathrakh played. It was Atheist’s first time playing—

Kelly Shaefer: Who else played? Somebody else played.

Agalloch played, Immolation played as well. Bonded by Blood, too.

No, it was an old band, super old. Shit, what were they called? I feel like we played two events for Scion.

I remember the one in 2011. March 2011.

I remember the Agalloch guys. First time I met Don (Anderson). Yeah, right on!

I believe, that was one of the first shows back in the US for Atheist, if I remember correctly?

Yeah, post Jupiter we did maybe 30 shows. We did a headline thing with The Faceless and The Agonist, and a couple of other bands. I don't know maybe that was like a two-week run, two and a half week run but not a lot of dates, no. We've never been a prolific touring band until now, looking to change that.

Yeah, a lot of people have not seen you know, the band, and a lot of fans older, even the newer fans, weren't around for those tours.

That’s one of the great things about this tour., that we’ve able to play for at least a couple hundred, of the eight hundred or so people come to the show, they’re all new fans that have never heard of us before, or maybe heard of us but haven't seen us or never thought they would see us. So, we all great deal of debt to Cattle for bringing us out and you know putting us in a position. It's cool, yeah.

To say this tour package is eclectic, you have Primitive Man who I haven’t seen yet, but they’re great and I know how good they are and I'm excited to see them, and you guys and Cattle's new album is incredible like their most mature record, and I think the best thing they've ever done. With that being said, I think there's one more day on San Diego Sunday, how's this tour been for Atheist and the whole? It's an amazing tour package!

I mean a hundred out of a hundred. I mean, we've absolutely had a brilliant time with everybody. All of the venues have been cool, really none of the shows have been stinkers. evolving really great and exciting. The great thing about the bill, is it's a template of five different bands, you know, and typically when you go to these kinds of shows, let's get pummeled by you know three out of the five or exactly the same and you know in the same formula and this I think should hopefully set a hopefully a new standard promoters will look at this bill and say, you know, it was a really interesting eclectic lineup because it was put together I think by Travis and the agent, you know? And with that in mind, you know being something interesting so, but for us the blessing. You know, it's a huge opportunity for us to come out and kind of re-emerge and reinject ourselves right into the thick of things and the crowd's been amazing for us, so I feel super blessed.

That's great! And for people who don't know much about the band or anything, you're one of the first bands to incorporate Jazz and progressive elements into a Death/Thrash style. It kind of sounds ham-fisted just to ask a question, like I asked (Chris Pervelis) lnternal Bleeding a while ago, the Slam Death Metal they helped made. And it’s kind of the same thing with Atheist, and I know that you pretty much made most of the music, if I'm not mistaken. How did you start that style, and how did it come about, Piece of Time and when it was created?

Well, Roger Patterson (guitarist) as well as Steve Flair (drummer), myself, were just really huge fans of Rush, and oddly Merciful Fate, and we liked the long, drawn out “Satan's Falls” long journey of a song, Maiden you know, big Iron Maiden fans, and early Metallica, you know, and really that was kind of rooted in that. And also, having Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and all that in our blood already just being raised in the 70s and 80s, so…But, just regular Metal, was just too primitive in a way, it was like really knuckle dragging, and we wanted it to be more musical. So just by default, we just started writing things that were when, we're also learning how to play our instruments together and so we were getting better and better and we're listening to the same things, you know seeking the same things out of you know, songwriting and you know, it's just like any collection a good chemistry of people, you know, get together and have and they're like-minded and want to write weird shit. But honestly, we you know, once we wrote something that somebody was like, “Wow, it's really weird!” we almost kind of prayed on that, you know, like well, “Let’s write something weirder.” Literally every time we would start, to just try to never have rules, you know. I could go from a full-blown Thrash part, to a Reggae part or something. There were no rules, and I liked you know, sort of writing songs like that and it was just a template.

It's ironic you say that one of your influences was Rush, because the average Atheist song is about three to four minutes, but the band crams in, there's so much going on in that time period. And if you slow it down for another genre that can be a seven, eight-minute song but there's just so much going on in there. It's funny you mentioned that it references the songs are so short, but there's just a bombastic amount of progression, transitions and everything as well.

One of the hardest things about people reviewing our records when they first come out, is you can't just listen to it one time and review it, you know, work for a magazine you have a deadline you have 10, 10 CD reviews you gotta fucking get done by the end of the week, and ours is one then we're gonna get a shit review. I mean, we've almost always gotten reviews that are like, “Oh yeah, this band is you know, so technical they’re up their own ass.” And you know, have their shit like that and it's like really just gotta listen to it, and the more you listen to it, the more you go, “Ohh!“ You know, you hear things differently each time, that's what a record should be. You don’t want to hear something one time and be like, “There it is, you know, I mean, I've adjusted it, I spit it out and I'm done.” And you move on to something else and we're just not that kind of band, you know? I think and it's still playing out 30 years later, people are still finding things about our band that they dig, you know, and or influence them, you know, so to also make weird music which is my favorite part about our place in history is, being the ones that jumped off the cliff first, you know? It's okay to learn how to play your instruments you know; you can still be fucking Metal.

That’s definitely something I want to ask you all about that as well, in terms that kind of style but and for you talked about doing something different like, you know out there, even like Elements, was that even a shift for the band that like--I'll tell you right now, a lot of people, friends of mine that's their favorite record. With “Water” and “Green”, you have these just, atmospherical elements and transitions, and they people I know love that album!

**Atheist’s 3rd record, Elements. Their most progressive record so far, and their most underrated. (Music for Nations)**

Oddly not favored in America as much as it is in Eastern Europe and South America, we would play all that kind of music there and they'd get it and they understand it, somehow the American audiences are a little—we’re playing “Water”, we might bust it out tonight, I don't know, depends on time but uh, you know these kind of look at it because it's it's almost kind of “dancy”, not dancing, but it's just it makes you kind of have a “Metal shimmer”, you know like a and uh, it's still something (laughs), that American audiences are like at least in the context of this, in this bill because everything's super happy, so we're really playing a lot of old stuff a lot of faster stuff and a couple songs that we haven’t played, “I Deny”, in America for a long time, 25 years, so we're having fun. It would be nice to be able to play some more of the Elements stuff because that was, I mean, a record was just like in a bottle. I mean, I told the story a million times, you know with a very short amount of time we had to write and record that record, 40 days. It was just this moment when they're like, you're supposed to have a record and I was already starting another band we broken up and so I just gathered these badass musicians, and we went to Gainesville, rented a house and just literally day after day.

I wrote that record and then spent the last 10, 12 days recording, the mixing and it's still, you know, hanging in there today. But yeah that's super weird, but listen, when it first came out people did not like that record, they were like, “What the fuck is that?” and I don't blame them. I mean, at the time when I look back on the context of that but again, we don't second guess anything, we just write. We spontaneously “combust” and there's no extra songs you know, and there's no extra riffs. Everything that happens sort of goes into our soup (chuckles), and the result is Atheist.

And tell me as well, what is your musical background in terms of either what you grew up with, I mean more of, what you learned guitar wise? Was there any school, any kind of degree, anything particular, where you musically started with?

No, I can’t even tell you what key I'm playing it most of the time, to be honest with you. Yeah, it's all just by ear and yeah, just from listening to my favorite bands and trying to learn how to play it. I've learned as I've gotten older, I've learned some things about even some chordage, I may know some chords, but I mean ideally, I couldn't tell you what mode things are in or, but the guys that are playing my band they're all Berkeley grads and they're all so they read and write music and they're fucking amazing so they kind of tell me what it is, you know? (laughs)

It's an interesting contrast you get.

From a third, you know, with a fifth major, all that shit doesn't mean anything to me. I don't understand it, but it's interesting to hear them, sort of break it down when they were learning it you know. But I can't say enough about this new band, that's my most favorite thing about this tour is this fucking band is amazing they're just yeah, you know, Chris Martin's (guitarist) been with me for eight years and you know Steve Flynn doesn't like to tour a lot. He wants to make a record, to keep the integrity of Atheist alive, but you know, he'll do some marquee shows and stuff like that, but so the new plan for moving forward to be able to play and tour and get out and play songs is to have Anthony Medaglia, who's chosen by being Steve. Berkley kid, with Yoav (Ruiz-Feingold, bassist) and those two guys play a band together called Graviton, so I was like, you know and Daniel (Martinez) went to South America and he's the other guitar player, and he was in a band called The Offering, from Century Media, and so we're fortunate enough to have him and he's just, all these guys are just so, so, good. And so, it's my favorite lineup so if I mean they're playing the material so well and people are responding to and in a way, you know, it sounds really close to the album, so it's fun.

And I'll touch upon that as well, you said what their degrees and their music knowledge even though you said there's some things that you can't really relate to, what in terms of that level of musicianship in their theory, what's the most you've learned as a musician? What's the most important thing that just clicked like, “I just never knew that!” Anyone one little thing that was kind of important that you just didn't even think about?

Not really, I’m pretty set in my ways. I liked not knowing, to be honest. I don’t like the mathematics of it all, it doesn’t mean anything to me, and I think that sometimes newer bands get really caught up in the way things are supposed to be the way theory is, and I don't like theory. I believe you can you know, there's the in between notes, sometimes the silence is the best part.

It's not a part of theory though?

Perhaps, maybe, I don't know, because I'm not that very guy, so maybe that is accounted for in theory and if it isn't, it should be because the silence, you know, sometimes the missing notes, are really important.

Trey (Azagthoth) of Morbid Angel does that with his solos, the pause in between them and that would resonate with me more than the rest of it, just the little instance there.

It’s really important. Other than that, I would probably be that guy that's like, “Ah, I don't need to know!”

And I was talking about earlier that you said, about bands that do something different, and go against the grain. At least for me, it’s a little theory that I’ve had for quite a while, I think as good as Metal has been in the 80’s and 90’s, I think the early, mid 2000’s and on, these group of bands: Augury from Canada, for example, Anata from Sweden, Beyond Creation as well, those bands have this kind of style, it’s Gorguts-esque in a way, but the musicianship and the songwriting, you just hear the notes that are just very different of that level. I think it's like an elite level of song writing and everything.

Songwriting or musicianship?

Both! In terms of structure; you shorten a chorus here; you bring it back and you speed it up. It’s these little things that you don't hear.

**Jupiter, Atheist’s 4th record from 2010, their latest record. (Season of Mist)**

I feel like one of the missing things, in extreme Metal anyway, you know, sort of virtuoso based, where everybody's just a fucking ridiculous musician, is the songwriting the lack of catchiness. It's something that we liked, and I feel like we start touching on Jupiter, writing where the arrangements are very crazy underneath but the vocals are sitting on top which you can hang on to, you know what I mean? And at least from a vocal standpoint minus clean singing, there's people not fans of clean singing a lot of times. I mean, it depends on how it's placed really, but I hate that formula. I hate, where it's just screaming and yelling and then you know, what can you tell when it's gonna happen. At least, I would like to hear some really, really, extreme Metal with straight singing. just a fucking straight singer. Nobody's done that in a while you know.

When you say a straight singer, just like growling, for example?

No, like an actual singer, you know, like imagining Layne Staley singing in an extreme Metal band, you know, it’d be fucking amazing.

Have you heard anything close to that?

I mean, maybe they're out there. If you're out there somewhere, send me your shit, email it. But, I would think that that would be really cool the contrast I think certainly, it's really hard for anybody to get any more brutal or even more ferocious or deep, or “gurgley” or whatever so what now, you know songwriting and in different textures, could still be fucking heavy as shit and still maintain the integrity, but you know people just get afraid of going too far out inside of the lines, and it’s not something we're gonna do vocally or not. I mean, I'm a singer as well as saying, you know in Neurotica, and so not just to scream but I would never sing in Atheist. I don't think it'll be appropriate.

It just wouldn't work, wouldn't collaborate well?

No, it's kind of like, you know, I could if I really wanted brown, I could take mud and rub it on the canvas, but it's not, I'd rather use brown paint (laughs). An odd analogy, so I don't think it would fit, it would be weird, but I love what Travis does with Cattle resonates fucking perfect.

And on the new record, it's so profound. He took that to a level. For that band I'm proud of--I've heard the band for so long., I'm proud of them, to make something that mature, different and use their strains to create this emotional atmosphere.

It’s cinematic.

It is! And for as long as you’ve been around the scene, I get really mixed answers in terms of the way technology is now in the way that you can reach someone, you can reach someone from another continent, in a second, through Facebook, emai,l etc, and a lot of bands now have transportation easier. Psycroptic for example, their drummer leaves, they'll have their equipment in New Jersey, it's a lot easier for travel reasons and practice. Do you do like the way now we are in terms of tech in terms of music wise any good, bad?

Yeah yeah! I mean, I’ve used the available technology in terms of you know, having an idea and being able to send it to somebody and do music. Somebody sends me music, I can do vocals send it back, I like the idea, that's kind of cool. I mean, it's an advanced way of the way we used to do things with cassettes and stuff like that, but I mean we're using four tracks, but I don't know there's also this instant, I don't know, that it's too easy. I think for people to and there's just everybody's like, everybody's making fake music, you know what I mean like the ability for people to go on and recording the way it is today, you can literally…I'm going up under tangent but I don't want to go off on--

I know what you're talking about.

I do embrace the technology, but I don't—

The quality is not there for some, right?

**Kelly Shaefer of Atheist, soaking up this magical evening at The Glasshouse (Metalchondria)**

I just don't think that if you play drums that you should, if you made mistakes that you should go back in and replace everything. Nobody wants to hear everything perfect like that live no one has ever perfect, you know, and I think that your ears want to hear that imperfection, a little bit sometimes and so bands need to just pull back on the Pro-Tools shit a little bit and let there be mistakes. The bass drums today on recordings are so “clicky” and they almost sound like (makes fingers snap constantly), it's just too much for me, you know? I’m going to get tons of fucking hate mail saying, “Old dog!” I like the warmth of bass drums. I don't want to lose that.

Doc (RIP) from Vader, with that bass drum sound for me is still powerful, and Alex (Hernandez) from Immolation previously as well, you can make great sound.

Without articulation, but it doesn't have to be so “clicky” and so thin, but I mean these kids aren't really playing super fucking fast, so they're really concerned about that definition. Vitriol’s been, checking them out, just fucking unbelievable.

The opening band, right? I've heard rather good things about every band. A few people coming for Author & Punisher and just for that industrial sound. I haven't heard the first two bands; I'm really looking for that.

Absolutely, one of the best drummers I’ve seen in a long time. But no, I do enjoy the technology. I like, I love the social aspect of it. I'm a really social person, so they're like being able to literally stay in contact with you within, you know, everybody that I meet to build up, that's how I got here, you know maintaining relationships, friendships, people that have supported me over the years and said, “Don't worry, eventually everybody will get it.” So it's a lot of really important people that were behind our music and the weirdness of us and it's played out now, and finally, it's a nice relaxing time to know, “Okay, you don't have to explain this music anymore.”

It'll just explain itself.

Yeah! It is what it is, and we should feel it now.

Also, I know these days; Erik Lindmark (RIP), formed Deeds of Flesh, stop playing guitar live because of Carpal (Tunnel Syndrome), I know you suffered with that. Is it kind of the same these days, is it a little better now, or but with less time practicing?

No, I mean, I'm playing. I play all the time, sitting down, I just can't stand and play. My hand just falls asleep in the standard place, but I'm cool with that. Since 93, I haven't played on stage, recording and writing, and let somebody else play it live.

Since you still pretty much plsy the music, what's it like in terms of the studio, how much you can actually do time wise, what you're allotted to play even just sitting down, how does that work?

We get into room together, old school. I’ll write the riffs in 6/8 or 4/4 or whatever and I'll put them together. The thing I do like about technology, I can take these riffs, these little 20-second clips and move them around, so I can arrange a song, a composite. Like I said, Steve, he can kind of listen to it and it's a very primitive, basic form of an arrangement and idea, but by the time I fly to Atlanta, everybody goes to Atlanta, then we get in the room together and just hash it out. That's where most of the ideas come from, just literally just sitting there going; I'm gonna have this thing, and then as soon as it gets going it's this chain of combustion, you know? Nobody knows what it was gonna be, there was no preconceived notion of, “All right, we're gonna sit down and write this kind of song!” it's just like yeah, I got this thing and Steve make, “Oh my god, we should play that twice as fast.” He starts playing drums, I'd have an idea for his drums and it just you know, that's kind of how it works for us.

I see. and Jupiter’s been around since 2010, I believe, what's next for the band for 2020? Is there going to be an album made, no tentative plans?

Oh yeah yeah yeah. We have every intention of making a new record. We have some big plans coming up, some big news, and looking forward to…a really important chapter in this band's history. Because, we're gonna take a huge swing at touring and making it a really important record, I think. Because on Jupiter, you get people were upset it was Bass heavy.

I liked the production elements, it's okay to evolve and change.

I know, I do get that on three albums. I mean, it wasn't our fault they weren’t bass heavy, we didn't want to be Bass heavy, just to be Bass heavy, it was going to be a guitar heavy album anyway, but when Tony Choy bailed out of that project, we didn't have a lot of opportunity, you know sort of figured it out. We didn't really focus on the Bass much as we would normally, but it is really important. What I've noticed about having Yoav playing in the band, play these old songs compared to even Tony Choy and everybody else, he plays with a different power, plays with this similar power to Roger and it really, you know, immediately makes the songs feel like he used to feel and just a really strong bass player and powerful, and that was kind of necessary. And in addition to all the notes, to fucking hit it, you know, and some guys, you know, played very softly. So yeah, I think that riding with him is gonna be great. I want to feature him in it.

**Atheist in 2019, with the most powerful and sensational lineup the band’s ever had. (Photo from Metal-Archives)**

Has there been any music written so far? Some ideas, or any actual songs already written?

No, it just doesn’t work like that. We're spontaneous buffs we get in the room. I mean, I have ideas in my head, Steve has ideas in his head, it's literally that simple. I mean, if you set up his drums right now and my guitar, and we had two hours, we would leave with 3/4 of an Atheist song. We would gather Thursday through Sunday, usually write a song and a half or two songs at that time, and then come home for a couple weeks. They rehearse it, and then I come back, and it also develops. We were like a skeleton first, Steve more than anyone. My riffs, the riffs, but he would add harmonies and stuff like that too, but his drums start off very skeletal and then he completely adds shit in, and by the time we get to the album when we record I'm just like, “Wow, holy fuck! I didn't even hear any of that shit we were practicing.” I couldn't hear all of the different things that he's doing. so yeah, he's a strange player.

And in terms with Stevie said, he doesn't want to tour, so will he be only being maybe doing hometown shows or just a couple dates here and there, is that kind of how it's going to be?

Yeah, otherwise we don't get to tour. So we wanted to find a way to you know, to be able to support a new record, get out and play all the places we never got to play, and play this music for people that never got to hear it back in the day. And so far, this has been a great sort of testing ground for the idea of it. People seem to really dig it.

So just a few more questions as you mentioned touring like 2020, a lot of bands that you've been around for so long that these days with the band like coming back is it better to take a co-headline spot or a main support like this? Would that be the way if you get toward 2020 the next say, two tours, is that probably the best way for the band to go?

Absolutely! This is a blessing; it's a sweet place to be. Headlining is a lot of pressure and a lot of things that I could do without you know, I mean, I'm very humbled and grateful for a direct support slot. A lot of people are like, “Oh, because we've been around longer, why aren't you guys headlining?” Because we don't deserve to headline, Cattle deserves to headline. They’ve been in the trenches for 10, 20 years, you know 10, and in the last 10 really made some ground, and around for 20, they fucking deserve it, you know? I'm proud to direct support them. And it doesn't work like that, just because we've been around longer it doesn't mean that we should be, you know, the ones headlining right? I think it's a great spot to be and everybody's ready to go. I mean, when we go on forth, it's like, “Let's go!” We love going out, and just pulling the rug out from the place (laughs), and because, it's a very eclectic night. Vitriol, and you have Author & Punisher, which is super unique, and then you have Primitive Man is just like, “Whoa!” And then when we come out, “Whoa, it's like Van Halen!” And then Cattle just goes (makes boom sound).

It’s funny you mention about Cattle, being around the Anaheim/Fullerton area, for so long in that time period, a 4-5-year span, Cattle would tour so much people were like, “Is Cattle touring next week?” To your point, they toured a lot, they toured and played show, after show, after show, getting better, honing their craft, getting their name out there. For so long, people don't realize how long they've been around for.

20 years man, that’s a long time. It's really hard, to stick around that long, and so credit to them and with this new record, it's a huge progression and a huge step forward for all of Metal really, it's a production level, and a cinematic level of an apologetic fucking growth in extreme Metal you know, I think was super necessary and they're owed a lot of credit, and I'm definitely super humbled to be out with them. And, or anybody else that you know that has done that kind of work, you know. When we dip out of the scene for 17 years and come back for a few, then we dip out for 10, so you don't just get to come back and headline, you know what I mean? I'm okay with it, I'm cool with it.

That's a very humbling response. Hopefully later you know, can be on these kinds of tours, and more opportunities like that.

We're playing for new people man; you know what I mean? I love meeting new people every night there's like, “Who the hell are you?” And saying, “How old are you?” “20.” Then it's like, “So we got four albums man, I hope you got about five years to adjust to them.”. You know, because I that's what I look forward to hearing too, is the mail from people that are just, that are gonna now, after seeing the show go and buy a couple of the albums or they bought them in merch, and then go home and listen to them and go, “Holy shit, where was that? I never heard that.” you know, I mean they started with their version of extreme Technical Metal right, not knowing where it came from, then I remember doing that with bands. I remember you know, hearing Deep Purple and thinking, “Oh well that's you know, that's where so and so, got all this shit from you know, Ritchie Blackmore, and then (Frank) Zappa all those things that were so important to fundamental music, that a lot of Metal I think it went so fast, that a lot of kids don't start from Sabbath, go to Maiden and Priest, Rainbow, you know, go through all that shit and to see why, how we got here. I think it’s important.

It’s incredible.

Do your homework, young bucks.

I think Metal’s the most evolving genre, with sub genres, musicianship, collectivity with people, individuals, I don’t think there's anything in the world like it.

There’re not enough books written about it, either. After almost 40 years of history now, I'd like to see some historians, you know, start putting this shit down and then, you know, in the correct pecking order and properly tell the story of Metal, and how we got here. There's a lot of branches on this tree of Metal, you know, I mean in each one of them has an interesting story, and I thought you see somebody--I mean, there are some good books. Jeff Wagner wrote a book, a bunch of different people have written books, but I think I don't know maybe a documentary or something real because, it's a fascinating world of music since 1985, you know, now, you know with Slayer retiring and you know, you've seen the beginning and the end, of these amazing careers. It’d be nice to hear some of the, you know, how everything got here, just to educate the young bucks.

**The Conductor’s Departure, Anata’s 4th record from 2006. Absolutely one of the greatest Death Metal albums ever (Wicked World Records)**

Somebody, they do need that education. And my last question, is actually a recommendation. You talked about bands that do things differently. I was mentioned before, because I'm really high on them, Anata, from Sweden, they're a Death Metal band, but their last album was released in 2006, called The Conductor’s Departure. It's a very like, subtle, sinister, it has this like happy sinister vibe, with the changes the riffs and the song structures and what they deal with, how they progressively go. it's one of those albums you can't hear just once. I’ve been listening to Metal for so long, my ears have, and still figuring out things about how they do that, it's something I think you would like.

Yeah cool, I’ll check them out.

And again, it's not like you know they’re always all over the place, but they’re capable if they want to, but it's the subtleties in terms of--

They’re spelled A N A T A?

A N A T A, yeah, they’ve been around since 1996, ’95 (actually 1993, because they’re remarkably great) their last album in particular, the artwork alone is, you just hear it, it's very different, very abstract at least for me, and something that you know, I think from what you're looking for like, as old as that is, it's still profound something to recommend.

I’m always down with new music.

Well, with this the second to last day of the tour, and then hopefully big plans for the band in 2020, anything you’d like to say for the fans tonight and all around the world?

We’re also going to be at 70,000 Tons of Metal, that's gonna be killer. I mean, Suffocation, Cattle, Origin, Emperor, a bunch of different people because that's a really great thing, we're doing that on January 7th through 11th so invites going on in boat, we'll see there, but you're saying, I'm sorry.

No no, it's okay, just in terms of the rest of this amazing tour, for next year, to let everyone know to be in store for.

An incredible, unquestionable presence of this band, will be laid on the next three years and in one that'll make the old school people proud and will introduce us to a lot of new people, and we look forward to you know, it's just a blessing and my age, to be able to get out and do this. The best part is having it with a bunch of guys that are young and firing that want to be here, and want to make a record, and want to tour. That revives me, so I feel 25 and alive man, I'm ready to go and play. There's so much of our music we never got to play out live, these guys are so good, so I can pick some songs we never ever played, I can't wait. “Tortoise the Titan” off Jupiter is a song, we would love to play, we never could get anybody to play and so would be nice to put together a you know, a different setlist, we can put together a lot of different kinds of shows, especially like an Elements orientated show, you know?

That’d be amazing!

You could almost do a tour just based around that, you know, and that kind of music, so yeah a lot of fun, everyone’s having fun.

**Kelly Shaefer of Atheist and myself, after the show. He took pictures with every fan that asked. A genuine, wonderful individual! (Metalchondria)**

A PIECE OF TIME TO EXPLORE AND DISCOVER: COMPELLING TALK AND INTERVIEW WITH KELLY SHAEFER OF ATHEIST