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RYAN RAYLE (00:01.142)
Ladies and gentlemen, wake up. It's your boy, Ryan, ATX Metal Podcast, here today with Cloud Anchor, and we are doing something a little special. And it is that time of year where your boy gets to throw a show. it is the ATX Metal Podcast Showcase. It is my annual culmination of all the music that I've been listening to for an entire year, plus whatever I've listened to in the previous years.
N8 and Brian (00:01.223)
We go.
RYAN RAYLE (00:29.806)
And I invite bands that I think deserve a little bit more light to be shown on them because they've been grinding for a long time, or maybe they're like a breakout band. And that's why I have Cloud Anchor today. They are one of my showcase artists. So boys, go ahead, introduce yourselves, who you are, where you're from, and what you do in the band, and then we'll go from there.
N8 and Brian (00:55.262)
Cool. What's up? I'm Nate. I'm from Kleen, Texas, and I play guitar and do backup vocals. I'm Brian. I'm from Round Arc, but I put I pretty much grew up in Kleen and I played just guitar.
RYAN RAYLE (01:10.21)
Just g just guitar. There's like just guitar. It's like I I just play bass. Well, who else is it it is, it is. I for those that actually do double duty vocals and an instrument, I don't even know how people do drums and and sing at the same time. That's just wild. There's just too much going on, right? But but who else is in the band that's not here and what did they do?
N8 and Brian (01:11.39)
Just just guitar. Yep.
Well, it's really hard to sing and play guitar.
N8 and Brian (01:40.591)
we got Justin, he's our vocalist. he lives out in San Angelo and he runs a detailing shop. and then we've got two painters in the band. Our bassist and our drummer are both auto painters. and Raul's the bass player and Kevin's our drummer.
RYAN RAYLE (01:48.76)
All right.
RYAN RAYLE (01:58.218)
okay.
RYAN RAYLE (02:03.455)
Nice. Nice. Well, today's objective is to obviously promote the show that's going down December 5th. come and take it live. It is going to be it's gonna be a fun one. We have No Suffer as our headliner all the way from El Paso, some of the OGs. And I actually what's interesting is they are a new band to me as of this year.
And they just impressed me with their music and when I interviewed them, just just the stories that they told and like, you know, the time and the grind that they've got in. really, really fortunate to have them headlining. We got Fervance, we got Slow Pulse, I mean, we got a whole list of fun going on and it spreads it spreads throughout the whole state. I mean, we've got Houston, we've got El Paso, we've got San Antonio, we've got Killeen, Austin, Round Rock. I mean, we've got
N8 and Brian (02:48.606)
Some headers.
RYAN RAYLE (02:59.169)
We got a good what do they call it? Good good schmorgis board of music. And I really and I chose you guys honestly as kind of like a like a palate cleanser. You know what I mean? Like it's it's because I feel in all of the shows that I've thrown, there's there's always one band that's not just in your face fucking heavy. And you know, I know that this is the ATX.
N8 and Brian (03:03.543)
yeah.
N8 and Brian (03:12.488)
That's yeah, spare. That's fair.
RYAN RAYLE (03:28.597)
Metal podcast. But I mean, if you don't have, you know, bands like yourself to to fill out the rest of of the genre, you know, side of metal, I I think, you know, you guys definitely have a space. So for those that don't know who Cloud Anchor is, just introduce the band. You can, you know, I know we're running on limited time, so you can kind of sum it up, but let's just go with who started, when did it when did Cloud Anchor
N8 and Brian (03:40.734)
For sure.
RYAN RAYLE (03:56.503)
officially become a thing and just kinda give us like a little bio.
N8 and Brian (04:00.552)
Take the floor. So pretty much like right before COVID started, I saw do you remember the old band Ever Since the Fire?
RYAN RAYLE (04:08.01)
That does ring a bell ever since the fire.
N8 and Brian (04:09.736)
There they had a guitar player who sang that Cloud Anchor was kind of a passion project and he posted on Facebook, like, Hey, I wanna start a band and Kevin had just moved back to town, our drummer. And I was like, I could play music again 'cause it was we had probably hadn't played music in a couple years. It was a hot minute, yeah. And then we started doing that. We were playing like I mean, we weren't doing anything 'cause it was COVID. So we were just like writing and stuff like that. And then when he decided to move away, we picked up Nate 'cause I knew him from like rebirth and just from growing up together.
And then we found Justin online.
RYAN RAYLE (04:44.066)
Like is a cra yeah, I was gonna say if if there's a Craigslist, yeah, miss see see? That's what I'm saying, man, a misconnection for the OG
N8 and Brian (04:44.124)
It was like a it was like a Craigslist thing, man. It was so strange. Misconnections.
N8 and Brian (04:54.14)
Really it's it's it's probably our connection with with Abram that got us together 'cause when when we were from Yeah, yeah, yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (05:02.062)
Hammer and Nail? Yeah, dude, he's like right down the street from me.
N8 and Brian (05:07.156)
yeah. Yeah, that's where we record at, dude.
RYAN RAYLE (05:09.344)
No sh okay. Guys. Yeah, it's it's I love this place. Well, I don't love it. I I'm slowly starting to not like all of the traffic. I'll just say that. But but yeah, next time you guys are in town, dude, hit me up. I'm I'm about five minutes from from the recording studio. And I've been meaning to go back over there. I I did an interview with some guy that was from Houston and I accidentally deleted the file.
N8 and Brian (05:11.956)
I like Lander.
N8 and Brian (05:29.62)
Nice. He's over on
RYAN RAYLE (05:39.181)
Like the whole interview gone. And I reached out to him and said, Hey, we gotta redo it. And he's like, That's okay. The a week after we recorded that interview, the band broke up. And I'm like, Well, okay. So there's that. It happens, you know, it happens. Bands come and go, members shift. speaking of like so for my connection to to you guys is rebirth. I actually I actually have that CD.
N8 and Brian (05:52.148)
It happens.
RYAN RAYLE (06:09.194)
Still down here somewhere where you guys signed it, if I'm not mistaken.
N8 and Brian (06:12.532)
Horiz. Hell yeah, dude. You mean the C D's that I stayed up until like four in the morning burning the night before the show?
RYAN RAYLE (06:14.454)
Yeah.
Birth.
It's it's it yeah, I mean I've got I've got y'all, I've got I've got an army at dawn C D. I've got taking on Poseidon signed, I've got my god, what's the other one? There's I mean there I'm just looking at trying to figure out. Anyway, anyway. We've got so basically we've got history here. There's a lot of there's a lot of history between all of us. Nate, I th I think your microphone died, honestly.
N8 and Brian (06:30.43)
Ooh.
N8 and Brian (06:35.366)
yeah.
N8 and Brian (06:45.311)
twenty.
N8 and Brian (06:51.284)
no. You actually had an Army of Dawn song like the second or third episode, if I'm not mistaken. Cause somebody was asking for Ryan and I heard Brian and I was like, What the fuck? I'm right here.
RYAN RAYLE (06:59.797)
It yeah, 'cause I had to
I had to pull it out of the I had to pull it out of the out of the chamber. But but yeah, so what year I know you said COVID, in case I missed it, what year did you guys officially like become like a thing and start putting together music?
N8 and Brian (07:06.516)
Yeah, sure.
N8 and Brian (07:16.156)
Twenty nineteen, right?
to my knowledge it was twenty nineteen and they had just started they they had a set list together and then the pandemic hit and it just killed the momentum there for a little bit. So
RYAN RAYLE (07:22.062)
twenty nineteen.
RYAN RAYLE (07:30.156)
Yeah. What if for those that don't that aren't familiar, describe your music?
N8 and Brian (07:36.5)
we're we're like heavy pop punk, with guitar solos and and breakdowns and plenty of riffage.
RYAN RAYLE (07:44.441)
Hell yeah. We love the riffage. We love the noodles. And yeah, I I I I've I've been following you guys for I don't know how long. I'd when people ask me like how long you like I don't know. Just I clicked follow at some point in time. And I've been there ever since. do you guys have any any plans outside of the showcase? Like do you guys have anything planned for next year?
N8 and Brian (07:49.062)
Absolutely.
N8 and Brian (08:12.83)
Yeah, you don't.
RYAN RAYLE (08:13.164)
Show wise, music wise, music video.
N8 and Brian (08:17.308)
so we just recorded two songs. We're actually meeting with a dude to talk about shooting a video tonight. And then I do a t I like to do a toy drive in December. And that'll be probably the week after your show. But that'll be local for us.
RYAN RAYLE (08:26.544)
nice.
Okay. Yeah. What just like a like a hmm to Toys for Tots kind of vibe? Just bring your toys in, donation stuff.
N8 and Brian (08:38.12)
We call it a toys, tunes, and tats 'cause we do like the first day like tattooing for the same kind of thing.
RYAN RAYLE (08:44.491)
I woof. So wait.
N8 and Brian (08:45.608)
We donate all the profits to women's shelters and then we just donate the toys.
RYAN RAYLE (08:50.518)
So I can come get a tattoo and donate a toy and catch a show?
N8 and Brian (08:55.656)
That's right. Yeah, dude. I've I've got a pretty cool lineup too this year.
RYAN RAYLE (09:01.13)
Okay. That dude gonna have to come check that out and get a tattoo.
N8 and Brian (09:05.19)
Also if you enter if you enter you there's like raffles for gonna do tattoos. There's really cool paintings and stuff, raffle too.
RYAN RAYLE (09:11.882)
I am glad that you mentioned raffles because we are raffling off. We got all kinds of fun stuff going on at the showcase. I'm going to raffle off a pair of my acoustic panels valued at $200. they Yeah, yeah, I mean if you yeah, basically so here I'll give I'll give everybody the rub. So in an effort to get people out to the show early, we're trying to incentivize
N8 and Brian (09:25.352)
Ooh. Nice. Two hundred dollars. That's a good deal.
RYAN RAYLE (09:41.313)
And one of those things that we're doing is if you show up between the hours of five and six, so doors are at five, and the show's black hat kicks us off at six o'clock. If you show up between five and five fifty-nine, you get ten raffle tickets. To include the one that comes with your ticket, so it's eleven. Then you show up between the hours of six and seven, it goes down to five. And then between seven and eight, it goes down to three, and then everything after
N8 and Brian (10:02.172)
Nice, nice.
RYAN RAYLE (10:10.784)
eight o'clock, it's just your ticket plus one. So to get people out earlier, you know, giving out them raffle tickets, you can also buy the raffle tickets. You I I think it's like like five dollars gets you ten or I can't remember what the math was, but just to give yourself more chances and and everybody all the bands are gonna give away one merch item or some type of something. that way everybody gets, you know,
gets to kinda it it just there's more. Instead of like one massive drawing and you just give away like two things. It's like everybody gets to kinda join in on the fun. So
N8 and Brian (10:48.454)
Right. And it'll keep people excited about it too. That's good.
RYAN RAYLE (10:52.204)
Yeah, and we'll and we'll start announcing we'll start announcing I think I think after crude goes on. So somewhere like halfway, right? Also something that we're doing that I've never seen done at Come and Take It is we are going to actually broadcast these interviews on the projector during the set changes. So that way it's more of
N8 and Brian (11:16.628)
That's smart.
RYAN RAYLE (11:20.426)
and entertainment. It's more of a show. It's not I mean, cause you know, whene whenever whenever whenever one band's done, they're like, Thank you, good night, we'll be in the back. And then the house lights come up and the house music comes on. And everybody kind of just goes to their corners, right? You got the smokers.
N8 and Brian (11:37.064)
And it'll it'll keep him engaged too though. That's that's awesome. That's a good idea.
RYAN RAYLE (11:40.599)
Yeah, I just I wanted to because there's so many there's so much there's so many things that you guys could talk about to fans. And you know, whenever you get off stage and you're at the merch booth and that's where a lot of the real conversations happen, or maybe you're standing at the bar and hey man, we buy you a drink and absolutely. but I feel like if we could if we could just kinda, you know, kind of liven up the
N8 and Brian (11:49.012)
Mm-hmm.
N8 and Brian (12:02.394)
And then please.
RYAN RAYLE (12:07.692)
the in-between the set change and and kind of and kind of introduce you guys before you even go on the sh on the stage, right? so I'm asking two questions to every band. The first one is what is the craziest story that you can think of as a band that you think everyone should know about?
N8 and Brian (12:34.728)
As a band. I don't know. I feel like I feel like the older we've gotten, we have our shit together a lot more now than the previous bands than we've been in. So we haven't really run into anything crazy as cloud anchor per se. The most I can think of is in El Paso, they said get gas at these areas. And I remember being in the back of the van and Nate going, How much longer until Civilization? It's like soft launching that we were running out of fucking gas.
RYAN RAYLE (12:36.459)
As a band.
RYAN RAYLE (12:44.315)
Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (12:59.928)
Ha ha ha ha.
N8 and Brian (13:02.834)
And I was like, don't do that in the fucking desert, dude. Please for the love of God, don't say that. It's like, man, we got a we got a quarter of a tank and we still got an hour and a half to drive, boys. What are we doing? I was so car sick in the back of the van and I was like, don't say those things.
RYAN RAYLE (13:13.644)
Yeah.
That is that is not the place to run I mean, between El Paso and and what's what's to the east of that? Lubbock? No. it doesn't matter. It's all dirt and no gas. It's just
N8 and Brian (13:28.654)
Yeah, literally. It it was it was a nine and a half hour drive to get out there to speaking rock, man. It was it was nuts. It was nuts. we got to open up for fly leaf. yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (13:35.34)
What'd you guys do at Speaking Rock?
RYAN RAYLE (13:40.099)
you don't say you don't say how did how did that go? two things. I want to know how did it go? Second question, first question, how did that even come about? How does a how does a how does a little local band called Cloud Anchor end up opening for Flyleaf? Who by the way also is a Texas native? Denton, if I'm not mistaken, right? Belton. Belton, that's right.
N8 and Brian (13:52.251)
you can explain that.
N8 and Brian (14:02.932)
Belton. They're from Belton, which is a which is a town or two over from us. That's that's where I live. I live in Belton.
RYAN RAYLE (14:08.098)
That's that's like right over there. I mean, that's what, twenty minutes, thirty minutes for me?
N8 and Brian (14:13.064)
Well Nate lives in Belton. Yeah. No? Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (14:15.99)
I used to go up there to the salvage yard off ninety five, so pick it yeah, thank you. That was my jam for was a jam for a hot minute.
N8 and Brian (14:19.508)
Dude, fucking pick and pull? Yeah, dude. Yeah. I drive an old truck.
There's two. Give the give the lowdown on it. No, we have kind of friends of friends who knew them. And I think like a year and a half, maybe two years ago, they threw like an acoustic show at Sheps, which is like a barbecue restaurant that has a big stage in the back of it. So we did that and then they it was kind of like a we'd like to work with you again sort of thing.
RYAN RAYLE (14:28.834)
So yeah, how did we how did we arrive?
N8 and Brian (14:53.254)
And like tears went by and nothing, and then we got invited to play the Bayou Event Center with them.
RYAN RAYLE (14:59.362)
With just like a random email just in your like poof, hello, this is Flyleaf.
N8 and Brian (15:04.594)
It was a text. It was part of part of their crew. the guys the guys are ch Kevin and Brian are childhood friends with this guy, Andy, and his dad is part of their crew. He runs security and stuff. He just gave the fate too. And he also did security for Escape the Fate at the last show that they played. so he just after we did that acoustic show, we didn't hear anything for
RYAN RAYLE (15:06.8)
RYAN RAYLE (15:27.341)
Mm.
N8 and Brian (15:32.99)
Probably about a year and a half, and then he just randomly texted us, was like, Hey, are you guys free this weekend? And it was just it was like four or five days' notice, and we're like, Why? What's going on? And he's like, I need you to be available this date. I'll give you more details when they're available. And we he sent us the flyer and we about lost our minds for that show. And then two weeks after that, he hits us up four days before the El Paso show.
RYAN RAYLE (15:55.832)
You're just
N8 and Brian (16:01.973)
Hey, you guys want to play Speaking Rock? And we're like, yeah, what Speaking Rock is awesome for the record. They throw free shows. They have like all sorts of big bands. And they treated us good out there. They were so kind and so generous. They were awesome, man. I I I love that venue and all all the staff was super hospitable, super respectful. It was awesome, man.
RYAN RAYLE (16:08.312)
That would yep, that would be a bucket list item. Yes.
RYAN RAYLE (16:28.856)
Did you gu I was I I was I remember looking at the picture or maybe it was the video that you guys took with like all that ocean of bodies out there and you guys turned around to take that classic like group photo on stage. How did how did that feel?
N8 and Brian (16:45.977)
Surreal is the word I would use. and just and it w it I feel like the coolest thing was just the the energy that we got from that crowd too. Because it's like no nobody knew who we were. Nobody in that crowd knew who we were. So the fact that they
RYAN RAYLE (16:47.734)
Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (16:59.502)
Like one person looked you guys up like in the parking lot and they're like, what's their what 'cause I cause I've done that before. I think we've all done that, where it's like you don't know the the entire lineup. I'm a I'm a big fan of if I don't know the entire lineup, at least I want to know one of the most popular songs. So that way I can at least be kind of engaged. And so I could I could only imagine just you know
N8 and Brian (17:05.993)
Yeah.
N8 and Brian (17:10.695)
yeah.
N8 and Brian (17:23.711)
For sure, yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (17:27.332)
Sarah, she's like, I've never heard of Cloud Anchor, but if they're with Flyleaf, they've gotta be good. Let me look up. And all of a sudden, you know, they're they gotta be
N8 and Brian (17:32.063)
They've they've gotta be all right. We did before the show had started, we we were chilling at the merch table and this guy walked up. He was like, Hey man, that song Seasons is sick. And I was like, you check this out. He was like, Yeah, I j I didn't even know there was another band on the show until I checked the website this morning and gave y'all a listen and really liked it. I'm stoked to see y'all.
RYAN RAYLE (17:58.485)
so so this guy was before you even had gone on.
N8 and Brian (18:02.185)
Yeah, it was we were literally just hanging out at the merch table. Which for record was across the street f or across like the aisle from a bunch of slots 'cause we were in a fucking casino.
RYAN RAYLE (18:05.474)
Nice.
RYAN RAYLE (18:12.077)
Wait. That's I'm just I'm trying to picture just the merch table and then like slot machines and just people just tapping on the slot machine, just pulling a thing.
N8 and Brian (18:13.439)
Speaking rocks is a casino. It's a casino, dude.
N8 and Brian (18:23.037)
Like like ten feet away from us, there's just like a whole room of slots. It's a it's a big casino, dude.
RYAN RAYLE (18:30.391)
I've personally never been out there. So I mean it sounds I I've been I've been to El Paso but I haven't been out to there. I mean, is it describe describe describe the place to people that have never been there. I mean, so you said it's a big venue, big or a casino with a venue in the back. You said open air?
N8 and Brian (18:44.595)
I wanna say it's like a seventeen thousand cap or something. I think they said it was eighteen five. It's something like that. Yeah, it was it was like eighteen five was the cap. It was it was really big. So like it's kinda got like the the warp tour style stage setup where it's just like the big metal and it's like fifteen feet up off the ground and just a big open area. And a big ol' like LED board behind us. Yeah, that was sick.
RYAN RAYLE (18:49.763)
Holy cow.
RYAN RAYLE (18:55.8)
Wow.
N8 and Brian (19:13.625)
this guy a little I gotta I gotta give this guy props because they were like, Do you have any visuals you wanna project during your set? This guy literally whipped out his iPad and just came up with like the coolest thing and slapped our logo over like an old Godzilla movie still. That's King that's King Kong. King Kong. It was King Kong. It was King Kong. But it was he whipped it up in like two minutes and emailed it over to him. It coolest thing ever, dude.
RYAN RAYLE (19:31.074)
What?
RYAN RAYLE (19:39.619)
So was it a visualizer or just a projected image, like a still?
N8 and Brian (19:43.562)
I actually learned how to do the visualizer stuff a couple days after. I was kind of on the fly. My idea was Jack and Rose on the fucking the piece of wood. That would have been good too. We had like five or six old movie ideas because I had the vector of our logo and I was like, I could do something. Let's figure it out.
RYAN RAYLE (19:53.165)
Yeah, and the Titanic, yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (20:01.955)
And so and so King Kong with your cloud anchor was behind you guys the whole time?
N8 and Brian (20:07.444)
Yeah, it was King Kong on the the Empire State Building. That's cool. shout out to Luis at Speaking Rock. he voted on which which movie w we were gonna use and he was like definitely King Kong. It was a good call. He was also fond of Scarface with the gun.
RYAN RAYLE (20:11.011)
That's pretty rad, she said.
Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (20:20.888)
Nice.
I mean, that's that's a toughie. That'd be pretty hard though. So after after it was all over, what was the I mean was was the merch table flooded? Was it I mean like how did how did it go? Brian's like, no, no, everyone left.
N8 and Brian (20:26.294)
That would have been that would have been sick. I got up.
N8 and Brian (20:39.316)
It was it was Mayhem. No, it was Mayhem. Flight Leaf had a line. We had like a mob cause reasons that I will never understand. We were like signing stuff over each other, which is weird 'cause I have a terrible signature.
RYAN RAYLE (20:53.407)
That most most doctors do.
N8 and Brian (20:56.048)
He is he is the rift doctor. I don't know if anybody knew that. Yeah, it was it wa it it was just crazy because we had maybe two people approach us before the show had started and there was a line already for Flyleaf's merch table, like hundreds of people waiting. And then as soon as we we get our stuff off stage immediately to the merch table and it's just for the next like hour and a half we're just swarmed with people.
RYAN RAYLE (20:57.955)
That's what I'm saying. Yeah. You're a ref doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. So how
RYAN RAYLE (21:13.827)
Of course.
N8 and Brian (21:25.588)
It was crazy, man.
RYAN RAYLE (21:26.327)
Isn't it isn't it crazy? I it is crazy that you can take a big band, pair them with a little band, and then the little band more or less becomes a big band that night. You know what I mean? I mean, not like overnight success, but for that brief moment in time, you guys get to get to feel that. You get to experience, like you said, like we're signing stuff over each other. Like we've never done that.
N8 and Brian (21:44.96)
Right.
N8 and Brian (21:56.171)
N never. Never. But
RYAN RAYLE (21:56.707)
Like what was the I guess what was the biggest takeaway? What do you guys think? any lessons learned or, you know, biggest highlight?
N8 and Brian (22:04.238)
What I think what I gathered from that experience, and to me personally, it kind of vindicated my belief in our music itself. Because if we were able to get the response that we did from a crowd who has no idea who we are, that that kind of validated that that our music's good. We just need to I I think what we need to work on is just marketing and social media presence. And we've been
RYAN RAYLE (22:18.339)
Right.
N8 and Brian (22:36.064)
We've been trying to be more consistent with that because that's the age that we're in now. you kinda have to be a content creator of some sort to find any kind of success nowadays. So But yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (22:40.717)
Right.
RYAN RAYLE (22:45.955)
Yeah. God, I've I'm I it it's all the bands that I talk to, that's one of the biggest like kinda headaches is is they're just like like I was talking to band Serotonin, new metal band out of here out of central Texas, and he's just like
He's a marketing one of the guys made he's a marketing major and he's just like, I am so tired of social media. Like it's just it's this grind that you halfway signed up for, you know, because like back in the day, we were just handing out demos, right? At 4 a.m., burning discs and you know, going to the shows that we're not even playing. But after the show is over, we're outside handing out discs. Like, hey, hey, check us out, check us out, check us out. And
N8 and Brian (23:17.706)
Right.
N8 and Brian (23:33.398)
Absolutely.
RYAN RAYLE (23:34.679)
And that was a real that was a real easy way to, you know, to get your music into into someone's life. These days, it is a literal ocean of sound. And with all of the fucking AI chatbots creating I think I read an article that said like over 70,000 songs were uploaded to Spotify every day for
N8 and Brian (23:42.102)
Mm.
RYAN RAYLE (24:01.919)
like for a with to include AI and it's just it's it's gr it's gross in my opinion. I think it's I I don't I yeah, I don't Yeah, the AI slop. I don't AI is good as a tool, in my opinion. I mean I use it. It it transcribes, it helps me edit, but at the end of the day, I'm the one fully, you know, combing through everything and making sure everything's right and but I'm not out there
N8 and Brian (24:08.758)
Gross. No, I I fully agree. It is slop.
N8 and Brian (24:18.134)
Mm-hmm.
RYAN RAYLE (24:31.267)
you know, creating my own my own AI band and hoping that the algorithm hits and all of a sudden you know what I mean? Like it it really and I think it kinda discredits, you know, folks like yourselves who've been grinding for what now? almost ten years? Eight years? No, I mean yeah, 'cause you guys have been grinding for longer than that. Yeah. So
N8 and Brian (24:49.024)
Long as that. I've been at it for about fifteen. We were in like rival bands in high school. We've been going at it for a while. This was yeah, this guy this guy was my moral enemy at one point.
RYAN RAYLE (24:58.317)
Wait, hold on. Hold on. Yeah. There we go. There we go. There's this is this is what we're gonna show on the projector. I need to hear this story. I need to hear from from rivals to bros? Okay.
N8 and Brian (25:08.374)
dude, an army at dawn. An an army at dawn, Amelia's missing, two bands. Yeah, dude, yeah. You remembered an army at dawn though, didn't you? Well, they were the first episode of the pod, right? It was one of the first ones.
RYAN RAYLE (25:14.455)
Okay. A mil Amelia's missing. There it is. There's another one.
Yeah.
It was one of the yeah, one of the first. One of the first. I I I I wouldn't I do know that I I do know that I filmed at Dirty Dog, I filmed what's god, what song did I film? Rebirth? I th or no, that's the album, right? Is Rebirth the album?
N8 and Brian (25:38.282)
Yep. R.I.P.
N8 and Brian (25:47.626)
No, so so when you filmed us, it was it was the Wage War show. It was Roadside. And it was it was still Grizzly Hall at the time. It wasn't even come and take it. Yeah. It was still Grizzly Hall at the time. So it was Wage War and Backwards and that shit. Interesting. And Chernobyl the Secret, dude. That was a sick show.
RYAN RAYLE (25:58.063)
that's
RYAN RAYLE (26:08.717)
Man, I haven't seen wage war in a minute. In a minute. But so man.
N8 and Brian (26:13.163)
They rip dude. That EP, that new EP though.
RYAN RAYLE (26:17.16)
I'd I'd God there's so much music. There is so much music to try and like just pay attention to. And now with like me running the Texas Takeover, Shameless Plug Sundays, eight PM on No Control Radio, HD three, iHeartRadio, tune in, the KLBJ app. I Who?
N8 and Brian (26:33.089)
So sick.
N8 and Brian (26:37.825)
Heard that Xhale was on that once, no?
Our our latest single Exhale was featured on that and we appreciate you for it.
RYAN RAYLE (26:44.655)
I'll put it in next week. We'll put it in. I will tell you this. I will tell you this. This week's playlist, I was listening to it last night. I rarely, I rarely have moments alone with myself. And I even I even did like this cry for help after I'd posted it. basically I was saying to all of the artists like yourself and anybody that is in the music creation business. I was just like,
N8 and Brian (26:50.291)
My
RYAN RAYLE (27:11.479)
I was just feeling myself and I was like, you what? I need to tell everybody that I love them in one shot. And so I just recorded like a 60 second reel of me like in my house by myself. Mind you, I was about I wasn't three sheets to the wind, but I was like one and a half. I was on my way. But I was like, okay, I need to get it out now before it's real sloppy. And dude, I had my i I had my earbuds in because I like to listen to songs and and you can
N8 and Brian (27:16.289)
Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (27:39.834)
I want to know your secret too, or not secret, but your style. Whenever I get done recording and I and I, cool, it's done, ready, ready for the shop. I'll listen to it on my phone. I'll listen to it in my ear, like in ears, not over ear, but in earbuds, and the in-car test. It's gotta pass all three. And I remember that I did the in-car and the speaker phone, and then last night I was like, you know what?
N8 and Brian (27:57.782)
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. It's the podcast.
RYAN RAYLE (28:07.789)
I'm just gonna throw on some nature on the TV. I'm gonna play some music in my ear. And I was in my fucking living room, guys, like headbanging, mosh two stepping. Tonight's playlist. Well, when this airs, it'll already have passed. But the playlist that I built for tonight's show w is my God. It's it it fucks. Like that's that's the only way I can put it out. Like it it gets it. And I'm really honored to be able to put these together because they're
N8 and Brian (28:30.899)
yeah. yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (28:37.399)
New songs, they're old songs, deep cuts from like Never Bloom, bands that probably people have never heard of. but you guys, I'll put you on next week. I promise. I just need the file. I just need I just need the file. but what do you guys do? What what do you guys do whenever you finish tracking? What's the first what's the first test? Do you do you send it to friends and say what do you think? Or do you go straight to the car?
N8 and Brian (28:49.148)
yeah.
Like too easy.
N8 and Brian (29:04.785)
so normally the way Abram at Hammer Nail works, we'll track if we ask for it, he'll give us like a rough mix, but we gotta be like, Hey man, send me like a reference track, you know what I mean? Like 'cause he doesn't wanna show us anything until he's like, All right, it's ready, you know? Or like what do you guys think we'll give him we hardly ever give him any notes 'cause he's just rock solid as a producer and especially since he started
RYAN RAYLE (29:17.751)
Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (29:23.031)
Yeah. Just
RYAN RAYLE (29:30.509)
He's great. He's got some good stuff.
N8 and Brian (29:32.707)
He started outsourcing his his mastering to Chris Crummet. it's immaculate, dude. It's so good. I kinda just listen to it until I hate it.
RYAN RAYLE (29:37.895)
okay.
RYAN RAYLE (29:42.67)
Yeah, 'cause I mean I that's about the time that I'll get the text message like, dude, I've listened to this a hundred times. I f can hate the middle section. Please let me know what you think. And I'll listen to it. Yeah, I I'll I'll listen.
N8 and Brian (29:55.356)
no, I never sent any notes. It's just I listen to him like I never want to hear this shit again. He just internalizes everything that he hates until he can't stand the song anymore. Like, man, I got fucking cut off in track traffic this week. This is a it's terrible.
RYAN RAYLE (30:05.559)
Mm.
RYAN RAYLE (30:09.187)
Yeah. Exactly. But I think yeah, I think that y'all's music, just because like when I listen to it like it does it does sound like very well produced. I didn't even know that you guys worked with with Abram. So that I mean, now it like makes sense why it sounds as good as it does. So Yeah. Hell yeah, right down the right down the street from the podcast studio. That's what I'm talking about. We need to team up. I should just
N8 and Brian (30:27.617)
Hammer and El Studios, Leander, Texas. I don't think he goes by that anymore. I think it's just his name, dude.
We gotta get we gotta get dinner next time, dude.
RYAN RAYLE (30:38.637)
Yes. Yeah. Dude, come over to like I said, whenever all this is done, we're gonna go back to the old way that we used to do the podcast where it was invite people over. Because we used to like we used to do steak, steak, green beans, and croissants. because we were literally trying to like bribe people to come over to the podcast and like, you know, like no one knew who we were, so
We were just like, well, I guess we'll just, you know, liter like the whole like break bread theory. Like, come down, sit, have a meal, talk about it, you know, kind of become dinner table friends, and then we would take it upstairs and and record an episode. And it just kinda stuck. And then we were like, Well, you know, this is fucked this dude is like twenty fifteen. So, you know, meat prices were not what they are now. And I could afford a nah, hell no, it's from Argentina.
N8 and Brian (31:29.767)
Yeah. And you don't know what you're getting in that meat now. You don't know what you're getting. It's a surprise.
RYAN RAYLE (31:36.352)
might be horse, who knows. But but it's it's it's interesting to kind of see like you know to talk to you guys now and you know how we met ten plus years ago to where we're at now and you guys are playing with Fly Leaf and I'm on the radio and it's just it's really cool. It's really cool to keep this connection. but
N8 and Brian (31:38.169)
Yeah, we eat in a horse dog.
N8 and Brian (31:58.689)
For sure, for sure. You've also always just been very like good to us. You've just been a cool dude from the moment we met.
RYAN RAYLE (32:03.631)
Well I I try, man. You know, it's there's a lot of shitty people in the world. So I gotta make up for all of those people. And but no man, I just I just try to the it it's it's kinda like how the person that you see online is not the person you meet in real life. But when it comes when it comes to like us, I r I I also think that when it comes to musicians as a whole, like the person that you see on stage, that is that person. But that may be a personification or it may be, you know
N8 and Brian (32:19.608)
Not in the slightest.
RYAN RAYLE (32:32.589)
the internalized anger from the cutoff in traffic guy. But then you get to the merch table and you guys are talking about tattoos and anime and, you know, all kinds of other fun stuff. And I think that's where that's where that's where the the the the bond is made, right? Like if I see a band if I see a band live and I and I'm into it, like I'm coming to the merch table. Cause that's I mean, that's the easiest way to support a band. If you do nothing
N8 and Brian (32:36.52)
Yeah.
N8 and Brian (32:49.78)
Mm. Absolutely.
RYAN RAYLE (33:01.753)
For anybody, just fucking buy a t shirt. Buy a t-shirt. Become a walking billboard for these for these people.
N8 and Brian (33:03.02)
Buy a T shirt. That's it, dude.
N8 and Brian (33:09.196)
Right. We're just we're just an apparel company that makes music. We we print our own merch. We do make our own merch. It's it's like a it's a thing.
RYAN RAYLE (33:13.672)
Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (33:19.009)
I mean do you really? You do you you got a you got a screen printer or or a directed garment?
N8 and Brian (33:27.08)
no, it's it's like a like a old school screen printer. Yeah. Yeah, and you just take the little paddle, press press the ink through onto the shirt. Yeah. Me and Nate are on like making sure the shirt is straight duty. It's not
RYAN RAYLE (33:29.945)
What like the octopus eight screen?
RYAN RAYLE (33:34.915)
Fucking man.
Yeah, dude, that's the that is I have gotten I've gotten plenty of shirts where I'm like, that's fucking crooked. man. Well guys, I appreciate your time. I I really real quick, what do I see behind me? Is this like your s like tattoo studio? Like what's going on? Where are you guys at?
N8 and Brian (33:45.172)
It's a team building exercise, man.
N8 and Brian (33:59.511)
Yeah. This is this is my station. Yeah, we're we're in his room right now.
RYAN RAYLE (34:05.672)
that like your actual tattoo room. no shit. Well where okay, well w tell the people where to find you. What is
N8 and Brian (34:07.906)
Yeah.
N8 and Brian (34:11.949)
Yeah.
I'm at Kingpin Tattoo. I'm in Harker Heights.
RYAN RAYLE (34:20.176)
Kingpin Tattoo and Harker Heights. Are you there like all the time or like what's your hours?
N8 and Brian (34:26.112)
My shift is Thursday through Monday, but if I have shows it's pretty easy just to take off.
RYAN RAYLE (34:31.694)
Okay, so more like a weekend vibe if you want to get some ink. What do you what do you I gotcha. What do you specialize in?
N8 and Brian (34:34.888)
I it's five days. I just have like the middle of the week off. Don't show up. Don't show up Tuesday or Wednesday and you will not get tattooed by Brian. No, it's a big shop. It's been here for twenty four, twenty three years, something like that.
RYAN RAYLE (34:41.932)
Yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (34:50.158)
What do you what's your what's your style? What do you like to do most of?
N8 and Brian (34:54.017)
I do American traditional.
RYAN RAYLE (34:55.696)
American traditional? Nice. Okay. I might cut I might come get us get a fucking eagle somewhere on me. You know. Everybody loves freed there you go, right there. Titty's out. Eagles are rad, you know. Whenever whenever I see an eagle, I cry, you know, 'cause that's
N8 and Brian (34:57.506)
Come get a tattoo. I got you, bro.
Yeah.
Eagles are cool, dude.
RYAN RAYLE (35:17.348)
the guy. It's my ego. America. All right. we gotta cut we gotta chop this one up real quick. give everybody your socials where they can follow you and support you.
N8 and Brian (35:31.116)
At Cloud Anchor TX will pull us up pretty much everywhere. I think we're just at Cloud Anchor twenty nineteen on Facebook. That's we're we're on TikTok too, just at Cloud Anchor TX you'll be able to find us. Spotify, YouTube, all that good stuff. We're on everything.
RYAN RAYLE (35:41.496)
Wow.
RYAN RAYLE (35:46.17)
Gotcha.
RYAN RAYLE (35:50.233)
Nice. And then w the second question, we already answered the first one. The second question is what do you think is going to happen at the end of the showcase?
RYAN RAYLE (36:08.57)
Good, no one knows but me. Bam No, I've got I've got a I've I'm tr I'm trying to work on something cool for the end of the show. Last year I did a I did a D not last year, two years before that I did like a DJ set where like the whole show was over, took like a 30 minute breather, and then we had a DJ like actual mixing house and eat all kinds of fun stuff. Britney, Britney Arc, yeah.
N8 and Brian (36:09.272)
Is this I was about to say, is this a is this a trick question? What's going on right now? You got Pyro? That building made of wood, dude.
N8 and Brian (36:35.106)
Bro, you had Brittany do it, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's cool. Yeah, she's sick, dude.
RYAN RAYLE (36:39.374)
Yeah. Yeah, as whenever yeah, I was look I'm looking over. I the flyer up here, as whenever the Browning headlines that's one, two, three years ago. Damn, that long ago?
N8 and Brian (36:46.486)
Yeah, so s so sick. That was like four years ago, wasn't it? The Browning or was it three?
RYAN RAYLE (36:51.152)
my eyes are bad. Yeah. Is the Browning Left to Suffer, Tala, Chamber, Mouth Breather, Living Hollow, Stoneside, Lament, Mirror Mirror Lake?
N8 and Brian (37:02.136)
I think that was three years ago, yeah.
RYAN RAYLE (37:04.322)
Sesora and familiar failure. One, two, three. It's the lat it's the third one. So yeah, three years ago. Yeah, 2023. 2023. Thir 13d. That thing was that was a long day. That was a long day. But December 5th, we got eight this time. So doors are at five. Black hat kicks off at six. I think you guys are third in line, if I'm not mistaken.
N8 and Brian (37:09.804)
Yeah, that lineup was nuts. That lineup's that lineup was nuts, dude.
N8 and Brian (37:30.492)
fun fact our bassist is also the bassist in Black Hat.
RYAN RAYLE (37:33.017)
I should know.
RYAN RAYLE (37:37.273)
really? there's a little lore. Okay, well I'm getting ready to talk to them, so maybe I'll bring that up. Maybe we'll start a fight on stage or something. No, he's our bassist. Seth and maybe? I don't know. I'll find out whenever I tur turn this off and turn the other one back on. About Cloud Acre. You're beefing with Brandon? Okay, I'll be like, Brian's got beef with Brandon. What's the who's who's up right now?
N8 and Brian (37:38.168)
Yeah. Yeah, they're they're local here too.
N8 and Brian (37:46.296)
Who are you who are you interviewing? Who are you interviewing?
Brandon?
N8 and Brian (37:57.709)
Give give them our love. We're in the same fantasy football league. I'm beefing with Brandon right now.
N8 and Brian (38:08.568)
I th I'm like fourth or fifth in the league. I think I'm beating him right now.
RYAN RAYLE (38:11.63)
Okay. Okay. I'll I'll talk I'll talk some shit on the other side of this. Yeah. I'll be like, how's how's your stats, Brandon? Yeah. All right. We'll end it there. last but not least, I wanna say thank you to you guys for joining in. I wanna say also thank you for creating the art that you do. Cause without you guys, I would probably be talking about car parts or something. It's kinda boring. Yeah, man.
N8 and Brian (38:14.454)
Him no feed. Yeah, rub rub that in a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jags are going all the way this year.
N8 and Brian (38:38.674)
Thanks for having us, man. Always an honor. Yeah, we love you.
RYAN RAYLE (38:41.878)
We'll do we'll do like an official official one next year. maybe when some new music comes out, new music video, maybe a new tour coming up, right?
N8 and Brian (38:51.212)
We will be dropping a couple of songs here shortly, so that would be sick.
RYAN RAYLE (38:54.754)
Okay. All right. Cool, man. last but lot last but not least, I always give the floor to you guys to say thank you or shout outs to anybody that you want to give a shout out to.
N8 and Brian (39:06.56)
I think I've already given the shout out, but shout out to Abram for helping us bring our art to life. shout out to Rob, our manager. Shout out to Power Line Management for helping us out with getting those sick shows with Fly Leaf. and everybody who's ever supported us with streams, a follow, you buy a t shirt. we wouldn't be able to continue doing this without the people that support us.
RYAN RAYLE (39:14.031)
Yeah, buddy.
RYAN RAYLE (39:35.12)
That's it, man. Brian, what about you, bud?
N8 and Brian (39:37.912)
Just wanna shout you out, man. You're awesome.
RYAN RAYLE (39:39.665)
Well, thank you very much. I'd I'd I I I sometimes I sometimes have that that imposter syndrome going on where you know and and it it just sometimes it doesn't click, right? I was and I'll just say this, I was at my local watering hole right across right down the street from my house and I had walked in there and just literally just threw on some clothes, right? Didn't I was just going out just to have some food.
N8 and Brian (39:42.028)
You're like a you're a pillar in the scene, dude. You've been around forever. You're awesome. Absolutely. Thanks. Thanks for having us, man.
N8 and Brian (39:51.672)
Mm-hmm.
N8 and Brian (39:57.624)
Mm-hmm.
RYAN RAYLE (40:09.186)
And this lady walked past me and she just like touched me on the arm. She's like, You look famous. And I was just like, I am. And then she just like laughed and walked away. And like that was the whole interaction. That was all she didn't ask there. Yeah, there were no more questions. It was just no, it's just you look famous. I was like, I am.
N8 and Brian (40:24.28)
Yeah.
N8 and Brian (40:28.384)
That's amazing. Let it simmer.
I am. Congrats, your eyes work. You're blessed by it.
RYAN RAYLE (40:38.096)
But no. It it it it it's it it is it is interesting to get noticed. but again, I'm not I don't do this for me, I do this for y'all. I mean, yeah, there is some selfishness to this. I think with with everything, there's always a little bit of, you know, me you know, the me factor. Like, you know, you guys make your music for you and people obviously, you know, are drawn to it. but no, I I appreciate that, Brian. It's
It's cool. It's cool. I'm glad I'm glad to still have gas in the tank to still do this. You know what mean? So as long as you guys keep ripping out music and playing with Fly Leaf, I'll be here to help spread the word. So that's that's it, man. Till the wheels fall off. Mm-hmm. Womb to the to I you know what? That'll be the name of this one, Cloud Anchor. Womb to the Tomb. Perfect. Perfect. Well, boys,
N8 and Brian (41:12.917)
yeah.
N8 and Brian (41:21.446)
I'm riffin' till I die, brother. That's all I know. Womb to the tomb. From the womb to the tomb.
N8 and Brian (41:31.793)
It's a tattooing thing.
RYAN RAYLE (41:37.359)
I'm gonna I'm gonna hit stop and we'll just let everything kind of finish uploading in the background. but until then, everybody, this is Cloud Anchor. Come see them December 5th at Come and Take It Live. Like I said, doors are at five, shows at six. We are going to have eight-band lineup. We've got raffles, we've got drink specials called Happy Meals. You need and they're only seven bucks. They're seven dollar drink specials. gonna try to tr gonna try to work out some stuff with
N8 and Brian (42:00.204)
Can't beat it. Good deal.
RYAN RAYLE (42:03.95)
maybe the Sims Foundation and get them out there just as a supporting team and we'll have all the all the fucking you know ride shares out there because need to keep everybody safe. But until then, go stream cloud anchor. Get familiar because they've got some songs that that require crowd participation. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So we need to we need to get
N8 and Brian (42:14.956)
Awesome new.
N8 and Brian (42:26.402)
That's right. That's right.
RYAN RAYLE (42:30.67)
We need to get schooled up. We I want everybody to have a good time and and just, you know, have fun. But it's it's it's gonna be fun. What am I talking about? It's gonna be great.
N8 and Brian (42:39.928)
It's gonna be awesome, man. I've been looking forward to it. It's always fun.
RYAN RAYLE (42:43.609)
If you're not gonna be there, you're lame. Well, you probably you're missing out. You're not lame. You're just missing out. But until then, guys, I'm Ryan. This is Cloud Anchor, this is ATX Metal Podcast. We'll see you next time. My mouse died. Now it's alive. There we go.
N8 and Brian (42:45.922)
You're missing out. You're you're missing out.