Radio Toilet ov Hell

Last month Eenzy caught up with Atlanta-based chaotic hardcore luminaries Apostle for a heartfelt hobnob after a show. The band gets into how they adapted to losing a member and becoming a trio, how they support each other creatively and emotionally in the band, and they land some solid burns at the expense of jazz and black metal (genres famous for their sense of humor). They’re currently supporting their latest release Liminal. Listen to the interview down at the bottom or on our Spoofy channel and read the edited transcription below. [Fan crashes interview to tell the band how great the show was] Eenz: Hey guys, Eenzy here outside 529 once again, this time with Apostle.  You guys wanna introduce yourselves? Michael: Hello my name is Michael and I play bass in the band. Murice: I’m Murice I do guitar and vocals. Evan: I’m Evan – I play drums. Eenz: I just sat through a pretty bitchin’ show with you guys, Malevich which is another local blackened grind band, Hexis –  a great band from Denmark, and.. I forget the last band actually.  But I have questions about your band so it doesn’t matter. My first question is about the name: where did the name Apostle come from? Is there a story behind it? Did you just pick a word out of the dictionary like Health? What’s up? Evan: It was kinda something I was sitting on in my early 20’s, I was going through my kind of angsty, atheist-phase. To be totally honest I was like ‘Yeah, it’d be cool to have a band in a chaotic and abrasive style kind of tongue-in-cheek named Apostle’. Honestly, I just thought it sounded kinda cool at the time, and it stuck. When we started playing with Cam when the band actually formed, I had that name in my back pocket from over the years and was like ‘what if we just named it Apostle?’ and it just kinda stuck. Eenz: Cool, I like it – the bible’s pretty metal in certain parts.  Other parts are pretty fucked up, but whatever [editorial note: dude, the metal parts are super fucked up too] Second question: You guys blend a lot of different metal genres. I hear like grindcore, maybe some crust, definitely blackgaze, maybe some mathy parts. How would you describe your style of music and the bands you’re influenced by in this project? Murice: I always just like put us in the category of like chaotic hardcore, just cause it’s an easy catch-all term. I’m sure all of our influences vary, but mine are stuff like Yaujta, Sumac, Infernal Coil, Iron Lung, Coke Bust, The Chariot. Just names like that – listening to them really pushed me to like try to do something more with the music I’m making. Michael: One of the cool things about this band is that we all have different influences and we listen to a lot of stuff.  For me, especially when I started playing bass instead of guitar, a lot of like Glassjaw – the Material Control record especially, and things like Botch and Russian Circles – just Brian Cook’s bass tone and how he uses a lot of chords, even like Jawbreaker, how their bass player would use a lot of chords to get a thicker sound. When we went down to a three-piece I just wanted to fill as much sound as possible, so for me it was more of a tonal thing, like this band with just a guitar and bass player were able to bring a thick sound I want to try to bring to this band. Evan: Not to sound cliché, but it really is just like expression. I myself am a huge jazz nerd to a certain extent, I mean Tony Williams is my favorite drummer and probably my biggest source of inspiration. But like Murice was saying, the more extreme forms of punk – grindcore and powerviolence-type bands. You mentioned blackgaze, like yeah the atmosphere is indicative of a little black metal in there, but I’m really just trying to push myself as a drummer and get faster at playing blast beats cleanly just hoping to support the songs and further create an atmosphere for the melting pot of shit we have, the stew we have going. Michael: Just to jump in there, Evan is a secret weapon in the sense that Tony Williams is his favorite drummer but then he loves black metal and grind and stuff. Especially on this new record, his drumming style really comes through and Liminal really lets what he’s capable of with his influences and ability shine a bit more and me and Murice follow a bit more – let him change the rhythm. Evan: These guys really give me the freedom to be able to do stuff like that. And it’s definitely an exercise in trust between all of us. We wrote Liminal largely in the rehearsal space, very organically, and so when we allow ourselves to totally immerse within each other creatively, I think some magic can definitely happen and hopefully happened with [the LP]. It’s just a testament to my love for these guys and how they push me and inspire me. Eenz: That’s awesome, you guys seem like you’re really emotionally intelligent as a band, and you care about each other not just musically, but also appreciate each other. And it’s cool that you are influenced by jazz and also like black metal, cause when I think of black metal the first think I think of is shitty drums. What was your approach to writing and recording the record – you answer a part of this already, and what are you hoping listeners will connect with on the album? Murice: Our approach was… weed! And just showing up. Just making sure we’re consistent and come to practice and really just invest in each other. What was the second half [of the question]?  Even though like the music is obviously really important, I really hope people check out the lyrics when we get them up and everything. It just feels like everyone is kind of feeling the same way as me, and I don’t know that until I talk to people, and some people don’t necessarily reach out or anything, and I’d just like them to know that somebody feels like you feel. A lot of those lyrics I wrote staring at a buck hoist on my break at work, hating my fucking life, and I didn’t really do much to ‘clean up’ the lyrics or anything, it just kind of is what it is. Michael:  I think with writing it we were just intentional about what we were doing. Like we came to practice with intention, but we also knew when we needed to not have practice and just like go grab dinner or just meet up and smoke a bowl or a joint. Because we’re friends, and we’re really big on an energy thing – when you go and record this, what the vibe is is what’s gonna be on that record.  So we wanted it to just feel really good and organic, and because there was a change in the dynamic of the band, [with them] losing a member… you know, what is it gonna sound like? Eenz: Actually that’s my next question, but I wanna say I really appreciate bands that try to be there for people to connect with. One of the things I like about going to shows is that it’s one of the only ways I can reach some emotions that I have and [grapple with] them if I’m seeing a band I really connect with. You guys had a lineup change, you lost I think a founding member, between your last release and this one. How has that affected your songwriting process and your live performances? Evan: It’s definitely brought us all closer as friends and creatives. In all the bands that Mike and I have been playing in, it seems like three is the magic number in all of them. Having a stripped down sound with just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, it’s kinda hard to mess that up, but also because we’re so honest with each other with how we’re feeling creatively, mentally, emotionally – I feel like that kind of honesty is reflected in the music as well. Because it’s just the three of us, it’s a lot more close-knit than it has been, really ever. Being the only other founding member of Apostle I can definitely say that. In terms of how it’s affected our writing style? I’m gonna have to pass it to Murice here. Murice: Damnit, I was gonna skip this one. I think that like Evan said, it’s just an exercise in trust. Having fewer people in the band, we kinda have to trust each other more. You can’t really hide behind anything else. I mean Mike used to play [guitar] and it was like a cushion. But if you’re going to do something, you really just have to commit to it and do it, and this has really taught me that I need to trust myself and the way I’m writing and that it will connect with someone. Michael:  Yeah you have to trust yourself, but also it’s trusting these other two people have my best interest at heart and the best interest for what we’re doing at heart. So it’s like I can fuck up or bring something to the table and if it doesn’t work, it’s ok and they’re not gonna make me feel stupid for it. Or bringing things to the table like, I literally did this on this record, but saying like ‘I have this riff Murice, do you have any other riffs you could put with it?’ And it’s really cool when Murice can, in the moment, be like ‘What if we just did this [with the riff]?’ and it’s just like sick. Eenz: Two of you are in another band called Ladybird, and I guess another two of you are in another band [FNTM]. I’ve seen Ladybird live too and you guys rocked. Is there any shared influence between Apostle and Ladybird? It sounds like there is at least a little… Murice: Yeah, I used to be the frontman of Ladybird, and don’t ever do that first of all that’s the dumbest shit you could do, but the guitarist is also my best friend. He moved to Connecticut and he started building cellos up there and now he does like massage therapy. But his playing style, the way he could just pull riffs out of his ass, and I was like ‘Let’s make a song out of that!’ and he was like ‘Oh I forgot it already’. I still use the tuning he uses because of how much he influenced me and pushed me creatively to try to say something on a mic that can measure up to that. I’m heavily influenced by Connor in Malevich and Christian, as well as both of these guys. Evan: They had maybe two, three… four other drummers before me, so it’s been a good exercise in learning how other people play and their approach. Now that I’m fairly comfortable with the songs – I still fuck up every once in a while – I try to bring what I’m doing to Apostle to [Ladybird] as well just to make them my own. But listening to Ladybird songs has inspired a lot of the drumming on Liminal. I can hear some guitar influence between Ladybird and Apostle, but that’s just cause it’s you Murice and what you’re bringing to the table. Murice: He was just looking in my eyes, and I just, I…. *laughs* Evan: We’re an intimate band. Eenz: It’s cool that you guys put so much of yourselves in your music, at least that’s what it sounds like to me. Do you guys plan on touring in support of Liminal? Evan:  That would be great yeah!  Our plan for 2024 is to play some weekenders, but if we can get like a week long tour worked in there somewhere – if anyone has any recommendations send them our way please. @apostlesucks is our handle on IG. But we definitely want to take it on the road and share it with people, we will literally drive to you! Eenz:  So this is one question for each of you: what is your favorite shared experience as a band? Murice:  My favorite experience is when we just did our little weekender last month [November 2023]. We kept seeing really cool areas travelling [from Nashville to Richmond] and just nerding out, like just being nature boys. I dunno what the hell was happening, maybe it was the altitude, I gotta blame it on something… Michael: It was the weed… Murice: Yeah the weed or something. We just kept like taking pictures and really appreciating the time we were getting to spend together. We’d love to hang out more, but most of the time we just fuck around at practice, so it was like damn, we’re finally getting to hang out plus we’re on the road plus we’re playing music. It was just awesome. Michael: All of what you said, but the first night when we drove to Knoxville for our AirBnB at like four in the morning and Evan doesn’t have the code to get into the AirBnB, so we have to like just go and knock on the front door of the main house. Murice: And it is cooooooooooooooold. Michael: And luckily the dude was super chill and came out in his robe at 4:30 in the morning to let us in so we could get to bed. At the time I was like ‘you gotta be kidding me’, but of course they let us in, but it was hilarious. Only Evan Price – that’s an Evan Price [move]. A Tony Williams right there. Murice: Evan has this face when he starts getting frustrated and I know some shit’s about to get done. Eenz: I should point out that he’s like maybe one of the friendliest people I’ve met. So like, that scares me a bit. Evan: That definitely was hilarious. Lucky for us they ran a yoga studio so they were just naturally chilled out. Verbatim the guy was like ‘you know, we all make mistakes’. Michael: I would’ve told us to go fuck ourselves at 4:30 in the morning. Eenz: [Evan] what’s your answer? Evan:  Ah man.  Honestly there’s just been so many of them. I know that’s so fucking lame, but just being able to do this with these guys is more than enough. I think probably when we started to see a lot of the rough drafts from some of the artwork around Liminal come in – that sort of solidified the direction that we’re going in, just seeing it all in a physical format was really good personally. Eenz: Yeah I think you guys have great album artwork generally. Evan: Shoutout to Fabio Rincones, he’s an incredibly talented person, check his artwork out. Eenz: Ok, I got one question left.  This is a question that I started asking and thought was dumb but people like it cause I get weird answers. Atlanta recently just got some new Michelin starred restaurants, but fuck them cause they’re expensive (probably), so what’s your favorite place to eat around town? Murice: I can give you my top three for sure. Nam Phuong which is this really good Vietnamese spot off Buford Highway [editorial note: Eenzy seconds this pick]. E Ramen which is a cool, kinda different ramen place in Midtown. And I wanna say La Cubana in Marietta square, those people are super nice every time. Just get the Media Noche and the Guava juice ok? Evan: La Calavera, it’s a pizza place in this very unassuming house. My girlfriend has a gluten intolerance and they have sourdough crust she can eat – they’re just great people and they make a delicious pie. Can’t go wrong with them. Michael: For me, I’m gonna say Prison Tacos, or El Progreso over by the prison, it’s a little stand in the back of the bodega. Fucking, so good. Also elmyriachi where I love to get a chicken burrito with just lettuce and chicken, you heard that right. And a bit more north of the city, Hearth Pizza, they do wood-fired pizza – it’s fucking great and it’s a good hang. And then The Earl [down the street] has a great burger in my opinion, every time we play there I eat, and usually I don’t eat when we play. Stream Apostle’s latest release Liminal on Spoofy or via BC embed below and peep their cool shit on IG And if you’re really fucking cool, and in the Atlanta area, come rage at Liminal’s release show at Star Bar on Feb 1st Liminal by Apostle

This week on Toilet Radio: We explore some common conspiracy theories in metal. No, we’re not talking about the Silencer guy replacing his hands with hooves again. Instead, we’re looking at common conspiracy theory fodder that bands use for song inspiration. We’ve got all your favorite wild and wacky conspiracy types here: 9/11 truthers, Illuminati, reptilians, the new world order, fake moon landings, and chemtrails. Join us as we discuss Megadeth, Wino, Matt Pike, The Faceless, Job for a Cowboy, Abnormality, Skull and Bones, and much more. Folks, it’s a good one. Like this show? Want more? Get hundreds of hours of exclusive content over at the Toilet ov Hell Patreon. Music featured on this ‘sode:  Heavy Sentence – You’ll Never Take Us Alive This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

This week on Toilet Radio: A final Kottak Attack! Machine Gun Kelly has the worst signature guitar of all time and it somehow caused Sanguisugabogg and Ronnie Radke to send each other death threats. Fronz of Attila has released a brand of gum meant for giving you an ultra manly man chad jaw. Finally, a magical warehouse that sends you literally any other record on earth when you attempt to buy a Danzig album. It’s good as hell. Like this show? Want more? Get hundreds of hours of exclusive content over at the Toilet ov Hell Patreon. Music featured on this ‘sode:  Outer Gods – Flesh Prison This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

This week on Toilet Radio we watched 1989 Christian documentary Hell’s Bells: The Dangers of Rock N’ Roll. Jordan and I sat down and watched all three hours of this thing so we could bring you the choicest nugs of a film that, quite honestly, has a firmer grasp on obscure kvlt heavy metal history than your average Metal Archives dipshit. Hosted by Eric Holmberg of Reel to Reel Ministries, Hell’s Bells present a 5-part warning of the battle for your teen’s soul as the foul forces of Satan infect the music of Celtic Frost, King Diamond, Diamanda Galas, Current 93, and George Michael. Join us as we backmask messages, flip through the Satanic Bible, get confirmation of demonic influence from “respected law enforcement officers” and get in on a lil’ Satanic panic. It’s a good one. Want to watch the documentary yourself? It’s available here! Like this show? Want more? Get hundreds of hours of exclusive content over at the Toilet ov Hell Patreon. Music featured on this ‘sode: Resin Tomb – Dysphoria This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

This week on Toilet Radio: We’re prematurely celebrating 10 years of Toilet / Blue Ridge Rock Fest patrons may or may not ever get a refund on their tix, depending on how the insurance companies feel about acts of god vs employee walkouts. / The government gave KoRn millions of dollars and that’s fuckin’ tight. / Slipknot is falling apart / Greg Ginn is trying to milk some cream off the corpse of Black Flag. / Alex Terrible of Slaughter to Prevail kinda half-way acknowledges that he hangs out with fascists and gets fascist tattoos. And, thanks to Ash from Sumerian, he can now tour in Europe. Folks, it’s a good one. Like this show? Want more? Get hundreds of hours of exclusive content over at the Toilet ov Hell Patreon. Music featured on this ‘sode: Narzissus – Empor zum Ideal (Pre-order Akt III: Erlösung here) This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

On this, the last regular show of the year we’re talking about some of our favorite moments of the prior 365 days and a few stories we missed. Topics include: fondly remembering Joe Lynn Turner’s theories and PHIL LABONTE getting shut down on Tinder, various right wing media people getting quietly written out of existence, and Jason Newsted deciding to resurrect himself. Also: Liquid Death didn’t bother to get the rights to use Arnold Palmer’s name so they named their latest can of piss “DEAD BILLIONAIRE” and complained that a bigger corporation was being mean to them. Eat shit, losers. Metallica and Cryptopsy decided to take a lil blood money to play shows in Saudi Arabia. Manowar are too busy to play more than one show in the United States and the guy who designed Sleep Token’s Mushroomhead masks offers up possibly the worst defense of plagiarism we’ve ever seen. Like this show? Want more? Get hundreds of hours of exclusive content over at the Toilet ov Hell Patreon. Music featured on this ‘sode: Walking Corpse – The Wheel This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

This week on Toilet Radio: It’s a very special holiday edition as we give each other very nice presents. Hear the joy in our voices as we open up strange UPS boxes to be delighted with bizarre junk foods and exotic ephemera. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL. We’re also talking about THE SHREDDERZ latest single, a Christmas song, that now has a grand total of 37 views. Someone is getting fired! We’re also talking about the Van Canto guy’s stupid AI band, Frostbite Orckings, and their hamfisted attempts to boost social media engagement. Pathetic! File under: WE CALLED IT – Dillinger Escape Plan are back! And we take a look at the leaked customer files from Midgard – a Swedish NSBM distro that done fucked up protecting their buyer’s data! Whoops! It’s a good one. REMINDER: TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ORDER A TOVH SHIRT Like this show? Want more? Get hundreds of hours of exclusive content over at the Toilet ov Hell Patreon. Music featured on this ‘sode: Kankar – Morgensonne II This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

The hosts analyze the 20 most popular metal songs of 2023, expressing disappointment with bands like Foo Fighters and Staind. They discuss their lack of interest in the current state of popular music, criticize music videos for lack of originality, and express confusion about Tom Morello's involvement in a popular song. They explore the layers behind Bad Omens' album '72 Seasons' and discuss a vintage nu-metal track by Lincoln Park. The hosts wrap up by announcing their holiday show and future episodes.

We’re winding down the year on Toilet Radio. This week we’re playing you our favorite jammy jams of the fiscal year ending 2k23. That’s right, we’re talking about music that we actually like. Quelle horreur. To make up for this error in judgement, next week we’re playing you the top 20 most streamed “rock” and/or “metal” songs of the year as decided by the unwashed public. This week we’re also talking about the unexpected Power Trip reunion that happened at a Fugitive show in Austin and holiday horror stories in the ER. Folks, it’s a good one. Music featured on this ‘sode: Wazzarra – Visiûn Dead Heat – Eyes of the Real  Vintersea – Unveiling Light Crossed Hearts – Ruminating  Industrial Puke – Hell is in Hello  Agriculture – Look, Pt. 1 This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

This week on Toilet Radio: We explore some of the most excruciating “metal” covers of Christmas songs we could find. We’ve got AI Ozzy screaming about snowmen, Tarja (ex-Nightwish) doing some evil Disney princess shit with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, a ton of extremely crappy All I Want for Christmas is You covers thanks to Ripper Owens and the idiot from Slaughter to Prevail, plus much, much more. You are guaranteed to experience pain with this week’s show. Want more? Part two of this diabolical two-part series is live over at the Toilet ov Hell Patreon. You masochist. Music featured on this ‘sode: A ton of awful songs  This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.