#NICK 'NIX' SNYDER

[rockrevoltmagazine]

Interview: Dead Animal Assembly Plant

The Sweet Meats Slaughterhouse was founded in 1895 by Wilhelm Schröder. Internationally known for his advances in industrialized butchery…he produced 30% of the meats consumed in the United States. In 1915 tragedy struck the small town he called home when all the livestock took some unexplained fatal disease. The ever resourceful Schröder turned to the only available meat. The townsfolk. When they discovered the terrible truth – they enacted their own form of justice. Feeding the once prolific Schröder to his own machines. The Sweet Meats Slaughterhouse remained eerily quiet and vacant..until one night…horrible noises resembling music emanated from the dank hallways.

    Why did you pick your band name?

Z.Wager: That is definitely the 10,000 dollar question. Having a name like Dead Animal Assembly Plant – I’ve found people either love it or hate it. It does feel like a disjointed jumble of nonsense. Yet the origin story is actually pretty mundane. A number of years ago I was casually looking at a website relating to business licenses and I came across one that I found extremely bizarre. In the state of Oregon in order to transport or store animal carcasses you have to get what’s called a “Dead Animal Assembly Plant” license. The absurdity of it was too much. At that moment I thought it would make a great band name.

Once I started putting together the pieces of the theme. Backstory. Etc. Having such a name made it easier to come up with the mythology and just kind of build on it from there.

Anything you would like to share, from new merch to upcoming shows/tours or songs/albums?

Z.Wager: So March is a big month for us in terms of releasing new material. March 26th our new album “Bring Out The Dead” will be released via Armalyte Industries. It will be available via Bandcamp (www.deadanimalassemblyplant.bandcamp.com) in both physical and digital form. We are very excited to finally have the album it out. The initial release date was pushed due to COVID. We had finished the album just prior to our tour in 2019, but the world turned inside out as we all know, so the decision was made to delay the release. Which was completely understandable. There was just too much going on and people were far too distracted by way more important things. We can’t wait to finally be able to hit the road to play new music and promote the album.

We also recently did a collaboration with the Belgian surrealist artists – Mothmeister. They just released their 2nd art book and over the past few months have been working with them to create unique “sonic landscapes.” Each track represents a different chapter in their book. So we would get a collection of photos and from that compose a soundscape that would convey the overall emotion. Try to tell the story their vivid imagery conveys. It was an honor to work with them on that. The 9 tracks are included for free when you buy their latest book which is available on their etsy page (mothmeister.etsy.com.)

As far as shows we are currently gearing up to perform a live set in late May. It will be professionally recorded/edited then released on YouTube. Still working out the details on that but we cannot wait to play together again even though it will be in a closed studio.

How do you describe your music to people?

Z.Wager: It can be challenging describing your music to people because of preconceived ideas about what defines a genre. Plus you don’t really want to pigeon-hole yourself into a music corner. We basically say it’s a cauldron of rock, metal, industrial, electronica, but also a bit of rockabilly or dissonant noise. That even sounded silly listing out haha. I think one of the funnest things is to hear how people describe your music to you. It’s really insightful and rewarding.

Do you get nervous before a performance or a competition? What advice would you give to beginners who are nervous?

Z.WageR: Oh we all still get nervous before shows. Doesn’t matter how big or small the venue/crowd. There’s always this nervous halo kinda dangling over your head. It really doesn’t start sinking until after we get ready and there’s that calm before the storm as it were. When you’re loading in, getting ready, doing your make up, sound checking etc etc…there’s almost no time to really be nervous. After all that is done and you have time to process your emotions…yeah the nerves set in.

I’ve never seen nerves as a bad thing though. It’s exhilarating and it really keeps your head focused. Maybe it’s the adrenaline junky in me haha. But it makes you feel alive and present. If there gets a point when you’re so jaded that you don’t feel that then maybe you need to rethink where you’re at. Approach the show with confidence – of course – but let those waves of anxiety wash over you.

Let it drive your performance or keep you on your toes. Then when you hit the stage let it drop and roll away. Cuz now it’s show time and people deserve to see a great show. So my advice is not to try and avoid your nervousness but embrace it as part of the experience.

Do you have a band website? Do you have a Facebook or Twitter? Do you use Bandcamp, Spotify, or SoundCloud to share your music?

Z.Wager: Yes we are all over the place on the internet. Bandcamp is by far our preferred place for selling music online. Sure, it’s a business but they don’t rake artists across the coals unlike all the streaming services. It is hilariously sad when you register your music and get the occasional “check” for the stream payouts. It would be easy to get angry if it wasn’t so funny how ridiculous the thing is. At that point you really do have to think of it in terms of getting it out to more ears than expecting a payout. All of our links can be found below. 

How Does music affect you and the world around you?

Z.Wager: At one point in our lives – up to today – we can all say that music saved us in some way. I know it’s a cliche’ we say or hear a million times, but we know it to be true. Music is visceral. It vibrates us down to our core. It gives a voice to the voiceless. Understanding to the hopeless. This is something we all feel and for us – if we’re able to put something back into the ether and help one person get through a tough time – then it’s all worth it. Because it’s something that no matter who we are…our backgrounds…beliefs…we can find something in common.

One of the best things anyone has ever said to me at a show that really stuck with me was,” You know there’s a lot going wrong in my life right now, but I know when I come to one of your shows…I can forget all that and just have fun.” That really meant the world to me because that is a huge part of why we do what we do.

How would you define the word “success?”

Z.Wager: That’s such a loaded subjective word. To me it really comes down to …fun. Are you having fun? If so – then you are successful. It isn’t always a happy positive situation…like any other facet of life it is wrought with negativity, dangerous thoughts, and dramatic complications but I can say..still…I’m having fun. So no matter how big or small your band is…your following is..how big your shows are…if you are having fun then you are successful. People can tell and respond to that energy when a band is in a positive state of mind. But it’s that realization that can get you through the darkest times.

How did you form?

Z.Wager: So back in 2007 I was in a friend’s band called Bound in Oblivion. He was taught me a lot about various DAWs and gear to the point where I started tinkering around more with my own songs. I had ideas for songs that didn’t really jive with what he wanted so I initially formed DAAP as a solo side project. A place where I could experiment with themes and compositions. After a few years and a few small – VERY – rough releases I wanted to do a live show, but I didn’t want it to be only me. I didn’t want Industrial karaoke. So through my friend Case (whose band I was in prior) I met Eric “aka Zero” and my friend Vex (of Particle Son) joined. Viola the 4 of us clunked our way through a show that was supposed to be a one off. Here we are 10 yrs later (almost to the day) still trudging through. Granted, we have changed members up quite a bit but that comes with the territory. Why have kids when you can have a band? Haha

Who writes the songs, what are they about?

Z.wager: We all , in some respect, work on the songs. I generally will write the lyrics, but the compositions/instrumentation is a collective effort. There are stronger personality imprints on certain songs which i love because it makes it dynamic yet cohesive. The themes of our songs are generally all over the place. There’s no one thing we tend to focus on other then we follow the basic idea that real life is far more horrorific than make believe. So whilst we call ourselves a horror band – the horror we generally write about is every day life. The depths in which humans stoop. We’re also not very religious and tend to view religion through the lens of critical skepticism. So, that definitely makes easy fodder for lyrics. Predictable? Absolutely. But they make it so very easy.

What’s your outlook on the record industry today?

Z.Wager: In one word: shambles. The pandemic has really shown how shark infested those waters are. It’s a vicious voracious hungry monster that is solely designed to eat away every bit of creativity. It very much is an industry and a business. It’s always been cruel but it the cruelty has gotten more calculated over the years. Yet there is the other side to it. It’s the golden age of the independent artist. All those outlets and resources that were afforded only to major labels are now available to everyone. That’s a wonderful thing. i know people can feel pretty divisive about it but that’s a load of gate keeping nonsense.

Sure, it’s still a business so everything takes money but now you can have your own studio, pay for your own production, hire a PR person, have your music online, and stay connected to your fan base. People can be their own bosses. Own managers. Keep control of their art. That strips a lot of power away from the big business side of it. Sure, it’s still a rat race…people claw at each other for a piece..that’s in our nature. But now you have far more control over what you do with your art. Empowering the creator which is paramount.

There will always be that power struggle between both sides of it and you just have to figure out what’s best for you. Full steam ahead. Damn the torpedoes!

  DAAP combine elements of rock, metal, industrial, and bring a strong post-apocalyptic / horror influence to our characters and stage show. Shows include: Knotfest 2015, Wasteland Weekend 2018/2019, multiple successful independent tours including a national tour in 2019, Twitch.tv appearances, collaborations with international artists Mothmeister, and direct local support for numerous national touring acts from metal, to horror punk, to industrial.

The fanatical cannibals of Dead Animal Assembly Plant have whipped up their own recipe for the horrors of the modern age: with a touch of rock, dash of metal, pinch of industrial, sprinkle in some electronics and heaping helping of madness. Welcome to the slaughterhouse.”

    DEAD ANIMAL ASSEMBLY PLANT: Z.WAGER REBECCA ‘BUZZ’ WAGER ERIC ‘ZERO’ BERGEN JASON ‘SKORN’ MOORE NICK ‘NIX’ SNYDER

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Interview: Dead Animal Assembly Plant was originally published on RockRevolt Mag

[junker-town]

The many twists and turns of Tennessee’s bananas coaching search, which ended with the Vols hiring Jeremy Pruitt after 25 days

Take a ride through the Vols’ roller coaster search.

I’m not sure how to really reconcile this, but Tennessee’s coaching search that was so wild for so long ended up coming to an end in the most normal way possible. Or, sort of. The Vols went and hired a Nick Saban assistant, in the form of Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. Their 25-day hunt for a coach has ended.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane.

Our journey began on Nov. 12.

The inevitable finally happened, after months of fan calls like this one:

The fire Butch Jones sign made it to Monday Night Football. http://pic.twitter.com/kjAz09Drfl

— RockyTopTalk (@RockyTopTalk) October 17, 2017

That’s when Tennessee coach Butch Jones was mercifully fired by Tennessee. The end was ugly, with threats of a fan boycott among the more overt showings of discontent. Jones made his share PR faux pas and rarely won a game worth writing home about, but to his credit he did re-tool Tennessee’s roster and left it better than he found it.

That was not near enough to overcome a 34-17 record during his tenure, and a 50-17 loss to Missouri was the straw that officially broke the camel’s back. In Jones’ last game, Tennessee’s marching band played “Rocky Top” to celebrate a blocked extra point in the fourth quarter, while the Vols trailed 50-17.

Like always, Tennessee fans’ white whale was Jon Gruden.

From there, it was GRUMOR time. A near-decade long fever dream to bring Gruden to Knoxville kicked up into a whole new gear with reports of a $10 million offer to Gruden to unseat him from his Monday Night Football perch. There was also a Periscoped stake out of a Knoxville airport in which a Tennessee fan waited and hoped that Gruden would step off of a plane that 4,500 people watched at once.

The GRUMORS culminated with an erroneous report that the former Tampa Bay Bucs coach was dining across the street from Neyland Stadium on the night of a Vols game with Peyton Manning.

@VolRumorMill @Jon__Reed Is this Gruden with Peyton at Calhoun’s? http://pic.twitter.com/KECq8K48tc

— Brandon Darnell (@bdarnell) November 18, 2017

It wasn’t.

We’d like to take a moment to clear things up as well as apologize. We got excited- like everyone. Please read: http://pic.twitter.com/AIyVvmppKC

— Calhoun's (@calhouns) November 19, 2017

But don’t tell this guy who chased the athletic director (more on him shortly) through Neyland Stadium during a game that.

Look at his reaction to this. We got Gruden boys. http://pic.twitter.com/bOP563ESA3

— Titan Up (@RollTitanz) November 19, 2017

By the end, Gruden thought the search was taking forever, just like we all did.

“Hopefully will be a matter of time,” Gruden said during a Dec. 4 Monday Night Football broadcast he was working. “It’s been a long while since they solved that.”

So many other coaches were linked to this job at one time or another.

Below is a non-chronological list of just about every coach I could find even tangentially linked to the Vols job once Jones was canned (bear in mind that all of this was happening while Brady Hoke was Tennessee’s interim head coach).

Greg Schiano (we’ll come back to him, too)

Now-Florida coach Dan Mullen (who actually seemed pretty plausible)

Jets defensive coordinator Kasey Rogers (ok?)

Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker (at least he got a trip to New York out of it)

Washington coach Chris Petersen (not a cultural fit at all)

Purdue coach Jeff Brohm (aight, maybe)

Now-UCLA coach Chip Kelly (lol)

FAU coach Lane Kiffin (who viciously owned UT on social media throughout the whole process)

Tennessee legend and USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin (when mama calls, as they say)

Duke coach David Cutcliffe (who would rather see things out in Durham)

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy (whom the Vols made a run at in 2012)

Former LSU coach Les Miles (have a nice day)

Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele (he was bad at Baylor)

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables (I just needed an excuse to share this email I got from some random person that wasn’t remotely true but, whatever, it’s funny.)

Kevin Sumlin (seemed much better off unemployed than in Knoxville anyway)

NC State coach Dave Doeren (decided he’d rather stay in Raleigh)

Mike Leach (almost happened, reportedly, but did not)

The Rock, a Tennessee icon where students can write messages, became a hub for pro-Lane Kiffin messaging.

The Rock on campus today, prodigal son returning home? @Lane_Kiffin http://pic.twitter.com/kqMfeKZx37

— Joey Wallace (@JoeyWallace03) November 28, 2017

Vols fans had come a long way from this a few years earlier:

UT fans now begging Lane Kiffin to take the HC job... here was "The Rock" on campus when he left... Consistant bunch, ain't they... http://pic.twitter.com/q7ej9EHMvP

— SkyDog59 (@SkyDog_59) November 27, 2017

(Kiffin would’ve been a defensible hire, though an odd one given his UT past.)

The Rock was a popular spot throughout the search, actually.

Some other points made on it:

The Rock this morning ... http://pic.twitter.com/MOUgp3LguW

— Lauren Cash (@WVLTCash) November 27, 2017

What’s on the rock today? This. http://pic.twitter.com/AWDXsB7GiA

— Donovan Long (@WVLTDonovan) December 1, 2017

Schiano’s failed courting signaled the truly rarified air that this search was operating in.

Plenty of schools get turned down for their first choice and their second and their third. Plenty of schools get tantalizingly close to getting their man only to have things fall apart. Plenty of schools have fans unhappy with the new coach. Plenty of schools have people within the athletic department choosing sides during the search.

But what happened at Tennessee was on a different level.

First, there’s Greg Schiano. Schiano wasn’t just close to being Tennessee’s head coach. He’d signed a memorandum of understanding, arguably making him the coach.

That’s before a social media firestorm and public protest outside of school facilities forced Tennessee to go back on the deal to save face with its fanbase:

https://t.co/OpziFKo6Wn

— Jon Reed (@Jon__Reed) November 26, 2017

Former players:

I’m just going to say this if we hire Greg Schiano as our next head coach my options will be open to which college program I will Be donating my TIME and MONEY to. (No disrespect to GS) but if UT leaders don’t take football serious then I will find the program that will!!!

— Albert Haynesworth (@haynesworthiii) November 26, 2017

And state politicians:

I have reached out to @John_Currie and others in administration at UT expressing that WE as a TN Community do not approve of Schiano. #higherstandards

— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) November 26, 2017

Tennessee did not save face.

This was the start of a bad week for athletic director John Currie.

There were multiple sporting events in which dozens, if not hundreds, of people chanted for him to be fired. (It might’ve been even more than that. Who knows?)

Days later, Currie was pretty close to hiring Mike Leach ... until he wasn’t.

Sources: John Currie was prepared to hire Mike Leach but university officials wouldn’t allow him to do so. Phillip Fulmer has been sabotaging search process in hopes to become Tennessee’s AD

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2017

Currie’s failure to hire Leach was at least his third bungled hire in the last year. Add it to Schiano and the time Currie, at K-State, tried to hire respected defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt as coach-in-waiting behind Bill Snyder. The legendary Snyder reportedly nixed that hire because he preferred his son, Sean, to succeed him.

Professional wrestler Kane offered Currie one obvious solution.

This is him:

Good friend who works with @CoachLesMiles just told me that Les is extremely interested in UT position. He'd look great in Orange. #CallLes

— Glenn Jacobs (@GlennJacobsTN) November 30, 2017

Kane is is also a candidate for Knox County mayor. He’s one of a handful of elected officials and political candidates to have weighed in while the search was ongoing.

Former coach Phillip Fulmer took Currie’s job after reported sabotage.

Following Currie’s attempted Leach hire, the Vols did fire their AD. They replaced him with former coach Phillip Fulmer, which was interesting for two reasons:

1. Fulmer was a reported candidate for the job last winter, before Tennessee decided to hire Kansas State AD (and former Tennessee administrator) Currie to the job.

2. Fulmer staged a kind of palace coup to get Currie out:

Sources: John Currie was prepared to hire Mike Leach but university officials wouldn’t allow him to do so. Phillip Fulmer has been sabotaging search process in hopes to become Tennessee’s AD

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2017

Tennessee is on the hook for a combined $13 million-plus in buyout money to Jones and Currie, the AD who fired the coach and was supposed to replace him. Tennessee reportedly wants to fire Currie with cause and save on its $5.5 million buyout to him, but we’ll see how that goes. That’s on top of any potential dollars Tennessee might owe Schiano for backing out of his deal, plus a bunch of logistical costs.

To Fulmer’s credit, once he took control, things were fairly normal.

The Vols got some candidates, vetted them and interviewed them in a fairly timely and low-key manner. No fireworks, just a normal hiring process. Fulmer took the helm on Dec. 2, and Tennessee announced the Pruitt hire on Dec. 7.

This now ends one of two ways. Either Pruitt leads the Vols to the promised land, and Fulmer & Co. have the last laugh, or he’s unable to engineer success and we’ve got another Tennessee coaching search on our hands in a few years.

Relatively speaking, even hiring a Saban assistant was made weird.

For one thing, Pruitt did not know what asparagus was until 2005. We know this because Pruitt was an assistant at Hoover (Ala.) then, when the school was featured on MTV’s Two-A-Days. Pruitt clearly had no clue what this vegetable was at the time.

Also, there’s this point about Fulmer and Alabama:

Who would have ever thought that Phillip Fulmer, who reveled in beating Alabama and is despised by Alabama fans to this day, would turn to an Alabama native, Alabama grad and Alabama assistant coach to lead the Vols' program? Not sure this search could have a more fitting ending.

— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 7, 2017

Still, Pruitt’s the fourth Saban assistant with a current SEC head job.

He joins Kirby Smart at Georgia, Will Muschamp at South Carolina, and Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M. Hiring ex-Saban hands is something teams do.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Things were supposed to continue to hit the fan, and athletic director Phillip Fulmer was supposed to pull some wild rabbit out of a hat. But perhaps Tennessee just exhausted itself on all the wildness of the last month.

These nine FBS teams that completed an entire coaching change cycle between Tennessee’s official Jones firing and Pruitt hiring:

Arizona State (Todd Graham out, Herm Edwards in)

Arkansas (Bret Bielema out, Chad Morris in. And the Hogs carried out an entire athletic director search in this span, with an interim AD handling most of the Morris hiring process, despite having their own wild booster culture.)

Florida State (Jimbo Fisher out, Willie Taggart in)

Mississippi State (Dan Mullen out, Joe Moorhead in)

Nebraska (Mike Riley out, Scott Frost in)

Rice (David Baliff out, Mike Bloomgren in)

Texas A&M (Kevin Sumlin out, Jimbo Fisher in)

UCF (Scott Frost out, Josh Heupel in)

UCLA (Jim Mora out, Chip Kelly in)

UTEP parted with its coach on Oct. 1 and still doesn’t have a replacement, so Tennessee isn’t all the way at the bottom here.

Still, the Vols’ search was approximately 100 in coaching search years.

[rockrevoltmagazine]

Interview: Dead Animal Assembly Plant

Interview: Dead Animal Assembly Plant

The Sweet Meats Slaughterhouse was founded in 1895 by Wilhelm Schröder. Internationally known for his advances in industrialized butchery…he produced 30% of the meats consumed in the United States. In 1915 tragedy struck the small town he called home when all the livestock took some unexplained fatal disease. The ever resourceful Schröder turned to the only available meat. The townsfolk. When…