Skull Cultist

Skull Cultist, the industrial music beat engineer, Steve Saunders, joins with the Signal to discuss his music, his Warhammer 30k Podcast, what drives him, and thoughtful things. Steve is quite the articulate guy. Catch his performance at Mechanismus Festival 2025.


Featured Songs:
Skull Cultist - Crushing Invocation


Visit https://skullcultist.bandcamp.com/ for more Skull Cultist.
Visit https://www.mechanismus.net/ for more info about Mechanismus.

Void Signal intro courtesy of Processor. Visit https://processor2.bandcamp.com for more Processor.
Void Signal intro remix by Mortal Realm. Visit https://mortalrealm.bandcamp.com for more Mortal Realm.

Transcript

Hello again, and welcome to Void Signal, I am your host Brian Prime. This week features one of the headliners for Mechanismus Festival 2025 where you can catch Void Signal live. Come play trivia, win some prizes, and make some memories. You can also catch me performing opening night with this guest. Myself and Associate Hollingsworth will be getting on stage at el corazon to perform a very special song. I'll also be doing void signal live at dark force fest in beginning of may, we'll have a chat, do some trivia, have some laughs, and share some moments together. You can also catch me at Glomfest in San Francisco in September, or Wasteland Weekend end of September. Please say hello, I'll give you things.
This week's guest is Steve Saunders, Steve is a father, a partner, musician, artist, and the list goes on. He hosts his own podcast, Galaxy in Flames, about Warhammer30k, and I have to admire Steve's production. His own theme song and soundscapes really make it pop. Steve was nice enough to lend me his talent on my Halloween episode this year. He'll be kicking off Mechanismus festival this May under his recording moniker, Skull Cultist. But before we have a chat with Steve, I'm going to guilt trip you about void signal again.
void signal is ad-free, and you can help keep it that way and support independent media by joining the void signal patreon. visit voidsignal.net or patreon.com/voidsignal to sign up for as little as two dollars, that's 24 bucks a year to help me and the void gang keep doing this. Thanks for your consideration.

Okay, our time is at an end. Enjoy this discussion with Mr. Steve, and thanks to Mortal Realm for the intro song remix. You can catch Mortal Realm at Mechanismus Festival in May. Until next time, stay safe, stay loud.

Steve Saunders: [00:00:00] How am I, how's my distance on the mic? 

Brian Prime: you sound fine. I'm going to turn you up a little on my side. 

Steve Saunders: okay. Better, 

Brian Prime: better that me gaining it up. Yeah. 

Steve Saunders: Can always go up. Can't go down. Yes. 

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's, I was going to say, if you ever do lighting, in film, it's the opposite. You can always go down, but you can't go up. Oh, I see. So you ever, if you're ever in a, a situation like a terrorist situation where you are like, you must do lighting now or you destroy New York city.

You're like, okay, cool. 

Brian Prime: Okay, good to know. Excellent. 

Steve Saunders: Yeah, it's good. Excellent stuff. You know, random packs. 

Brian Prime: Yeah, no, 

Steve Saunders: I 

Brian Prime: love random packs. 

Steve Saunders: Yeah. How you doing though? I'm good. We talked to you. 

Brian Prime: Yeah, it's nice to finally, have a chat. we've been Facebook friends for a long time now. We can go ahead and start.

I mean, I'm already recording, but, I can do just like a quick intro if you're ready. 

Steve Saunders: Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. Whatever you want to 

Brian Prime: do. Yeah. I'm trying to do this thing where I like tell people who the guest is or whatever. 

Steve Saunders: like an introduction. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. It's supposed to be like professional or something.

[00:01:00] Apparently other podcasts do that, I guess. I don't know. Whatever. Okay. 

Steve Saunders: We do what we want. Oh, 

Brian Prime: now I'm following along. welcome to White Signal. I'm your host, Brian Prime. I'm joined by Steve Saunders. You record as Skull Cultist. You also host a Warhammer 40k podcast called Galaxy in Flames.

And you're a husband and a father and what else do you do? who, what else is there to Steve Saunders? 

Steve Saunders: Well, I, hello, it's great to be here, by the way. This is one of my favorite podcasts. This is awesome. Thank you so much. It's my birthday. This is like the coolest. Happy birthday. Thanks, buddy.

Like, it's been great. It's been great. Great day. it's a 30, 30 podcast. It's mostly focuses on the horse. But I mean, that heard. I'm also a cat dad. I do a project with my partner, Nicole, called Orthocharis, it's like dark ambient soundtracky stuff and other bands, which aren't quite [00:02:00] previous bands.

Cause I still do them once in a while. It's Mrs. Othman, where spiders and club evader and another thing called 40 watt range. I'm a lifelong nerd. I'm from the Seattle scene, lived in Victoria for 17 years. I've done a lot of shit. I do everything from work and film.

I work, I've worked at a vape store. I worked in the comic book industry, I do all kinds of stuff. So we are like, but mainly, I guess if anybody's tuning in, if they just don't know me Steve, skull cultist.

Yeah. 

Brian Prime: and hopefully anybody tuning in. and if they don't know you, I don't often recommend friending people on Facebook. most people aren't real friending. that's shitty. I don't mean that. but I sort of do. but you are a person worth having on my friends list.

I've seen you wound up on there somehow, years ago, it feels like. And, part of the reason that I, you know, I've been aware of Skull Cultist and what you're doing and everything for a while. but part of what, and to be candid with you, part of what made me go like, okay, now that I have [00:03:00] some actual time in my schedule, like the list of things I want to accomplish in my mind, now that that has been checked off and I have some space for other things, I.

Your Facebook posts are, thoughtful and articulate, and you usually offer some valuable insight or some sage wisdom, and in a way that's not, maybe as smarmy or condescending as I feel like I tend to come across as, so, you know, I do have to say that, like, just as a commentary on your character, it is what your brain is, what made me go like this.

Have this guy on like he's going to say some things that might be worth hearing. 

Steve Saunders: Are you fool? I know, you know. No, no, I fell for it. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate that. That's wow. That's that's awesome. I that's I guess you could say who I am on social media is who I am in person. And, wow, that's, [00:04:00] that's, that's, I almost don't know how to quite respond to that.

But, but thank you. That's, that's, that's, that's rad. Like I, I, I also don't think you're smarmy or condescending post. Like it's, I usually get a laugh and that's, that's good. I mean, all you can do is laugh, right? And we're all just going to the grave that we can't afford. So, we might, you know, like I, yeah.

So I always appreciate your post, dude. Thank you. Always funny. your meme game is strong, dig it. and your podcasts are fucking rad. So like, when you're still like, Hey, do you want to be on the show? I was like, Oh fuck. Yeah. that sounds awesome. 

Brian Prime: Well, I do want to touch upon the things that make you, you, so, let's start with, skull cultist, which is kind of your, would you say that's like your main baby? 

Steve Saunders: yeah, it's become my main baby. I didn't really expect it to be, it was supposed to be another dark ambience. Like a remix of one of my own tracks of Mr.

Soft track. and then I wanted to turn it into a rhythmic noise project. It really didn't know what the fuck I was doing with it. and then, sorry, it's gonna get a bit depressing here, but, My friend who [00:05:00] joined as of Terminus 2017, my best buddy, Ruby, Ruby Parker, who did like the Hardcore Rituals cover, very talented individual, joined my bands and mainly in a live capacity, but then also joined, Club Evader and Mr.

Zoth in a collaborator capacity. Anyway, their wife, sadly passed away due to cancer. and we were, I was also tight with Vicky and she was a wonderful human being and naturally Ruby was very, you know, it was a time like I didn't like, I just wanted to focus on, you know, I didn't want to like bring those other band stuff.

And so I have a solo project. And so I suppose it's like they were saying to me a while back, it's sort of fitting that I would focus on Skull Cultist because it's macabre, and grim and dark. And that was the catalyst of Skull Cultist actually became, that's how blood carvings came about.

and then so happy. And like, I just started doing these EPs and then. Strangely, people liked it. I don't know why. I like listening to it, but it's my music. So, you [00:06:00] know, and then it's just kind of took off from there and it's become my primary focus. and also Ruby is now in the live, like it's, you know, it's been a couple of years and there was a lot of like stuff, they went through and it was a process.

And they have a, project called Durant's Vial that's really good and, you know, it's like, yeah, so we're still tight and involves, but they, and they, they encouraged me to say, get her like, you know, you need to focus on like, should we do another Club Evader album? And they're like, no, we shouldn't, you should focus on Skull Cultist.

Let's go that direction. I'm like, okay, cool. So that's the convoluted story behind that. 

Brian Prime: I feel like a lot of art projects are bittersweet in some way or the other. Like, I feel they're either birthed from, pain or trauma or something, or they're being used to cope with in some way.

I feel like a lot of art is just sort of a representation of human emotion. And so pain is a big component of a lot of the things people make. some of [00:07:00] our most beloved, art is, born of that.

how much, does that still play into, your mindset when you go to make music for it now? 

Steve Saunders: Well, that's an excellent question. every aspect, like you were saying, I agree with everything you're saying. all art is a reflection of the human psyche, or soul. If you believe in that kind of thing, our character.

more of an existential nihilist. So I would say character, but soul just for lack of a better term, it's that reflection and, and, projection. and so every single, every iota of, of, of skull cultist is, is mean in my, my feelings. Like for instance, so happy that track became about my, cat. that we lost.

That was Luna a couple years ago. I mean, I'm sad right now thinking about it. It's devastating. And so, and everyone else that I, I've lost, you know, in that, like, my partner is lost and like people we've lost in our lives. and there's just a lot of stuff [00:08:00] going on. And that comes out, I know it's just like one line basically repeated over and over again.

Not exactly complex lyrically, but like the whole. it's, it's one of those, whether it's my dorkiness, like it's like say thirster, which is this Warhammer 40k samples, or, or like break that fucker that's, that's inspired by living in Spokane, Washington in the nineties. 

Brian Prime: I don't think something has to be complex to be. deep or profound or beautiful or magnificent. I think I agree. You know, simple, is some simple is more than enough. Sometimes it's just the, the manner in which it was used. I guess it's like knowing, you know, you can have a big canvas that's mostly one color.

but where you put a second color or any other thing on that canvas is what makes it art, right? Is like how you use it. so I think that I just wanted to like real quickly pause on that because it was a thing I tried to impart to students when I was tutoring at the University of Nevada.

[00:09:00] sometimes less is more. Like, you don't have to like, you know, anyway, go on, please. Oh, I agree. it's strange coming for me because more than one person, including Nicole, has been like, You don't shut the fuck up, Steve. And yet you have very few lyrics in your stuff.

Steve Saunders: But like, yeah, I I'm doing more with lyric stuff like that. But less is more. I do like minimal minimalism. Anybody that listens to Skull Cultist is. It's like, there's a baseline, there's a beat and samples and sometimes they get complex, but, it doesn't always have to be complex because then it could be mud and you don't really get the point across.

like Spokane was very violent when I grew up there or I grew up, live there. My ladder, my ladder years, younger years were in, Eastern Washington and it was a very violent place. Like when I go to like Detroit, people would tell me, you know.

You're from Spokane? That place is fucked up. Spokane was an extremely violent town in the 90s. And I got a big mouth. So, I can fight. Okay. every track has a story behind it. Like, like with any band, like that'd be good.

It's not special in that way, [00:10:00] but, every piece of me is in, the mixing, I really get lost in the weeds with delays, but every little bit, sound echo and grit that you hear in there is intentional and is exactly what I want in there.

And that allows a story, which is when I talk to other musicians and, especially, and also audio engineers, same thing, you know, So when you get an album from someone, you're getting a, usually, especially if they did everything themselves, you're getting a story. if they produce it themselves, they wrote it themselves, they mastered it themselves.

If they're that foolish, for my next one, I'm hiring a master. But like, so like, you know, it's, yeah, it's a. It is a tapestry of your soul, I guess is the best way to put it, yeah. 

Brian Prime: very well put, very eloquent, agreed. on that note real quick, the mastering it yourself. There are people I know that I like very much, that I, I love their music.

I think they're doing something awesome and fresh and cool. And there's a part of me that just wants to [00:11:00] very politely and very gently sort of, you know. Please have someone else master this, like what you have made is so cool and so awesome, but it just needs someone else to sort of pick up the highlights and, go over your brushstrokes for you, and just sort of, refresh what's there.

Steve Saunders: Yeah, one of my, many jobs I use to pay the bills is editing, right? I edit, words like I've done manuscripts, memoirs, et cetera. And I'm also a writer and a copywriter and I, I, you can't edit your own stuff. You can fry, but you're going to miss things because how it's reading in your head and what you're seeing on the page or the screen, as it were.

It's gonna be different. Same goes for music and stuff like that. And while I say I mastered My last album myself, I kind of didn't though. Cause I got a lot of advice from Colin, Colin Cameron, Mark from out, like these are mastering engineers.

I've gotten tips from like Martin from attrition and they've told me, some of the secret sauce of when you're exporting your [00:12:00] master bus, et cetera, and learning all that. But I still like. For the next one, I still would like to get Colin to do that.

so I can get another take on it because they understand, I've learned a lot. I, know, not to sound like, King shit or whatever, but I've learned a lot. I know a lot, but I still don't know like certain things that they. No inside and out. Like Colin, for instance, is a, is a, is a fucking genius level audio engineer because that's how he pays.

That's how he pays his bills. so I may never have a producer because I, no, no shade on anyone who has a producer. I got a friend that does producing for people and it's great stuff and I respect their music. But for me, I'm very DIY. I like to be in control of that and, I can't do it.

So the mastering I'm cool with like somebody else doing that just so it plays on all systems and blah, blah, blah. Cause they'll drive around in their car. It'll do all kinds of stuff, to make sure it sounds good and consistent. So yeah, I would recommend anybody, whether you're a writer or a musician you need an editor.

Brian Prime: Because you can't trust yourself with [00:13:00] it. because I, there was instances where, not that long ago I had an offer from, you know, speaking of brilliant audio engineers, shout out Phil Gonzo, who reached out to me and was like, Hey man, I do this shit all the time. Let me send you some presets and you know, on how to master your audio and bring up this and bring up that, and this is what this will do.

And it helped me understand a lot better. At first I had that moment of like, well, how does this sound better than what I was doing until I go back and I've listened to it in earnest and, you know, really like, okay, this is much warmer or this is crisper or sounds more clear or whatever. but I mean, like you said, and I do agree with, very much so, you editing yourself is, it's difficult to do and I'm terrible at it.

Like it inhibits so much of my writing because I'm doing it as I go and that's so that by the time I'm done, I have three sentences that [00:14:00] I'm happy with, but I've edited out in my brain a dozen others or whatever. and that's so time consuming. 

Steve Saunders: it is like, and I do understand budgets.

Like I am a shoestringer. I am like my father, a. frugal motherfucker. and moving to Canada was perfect cause they're all frugal up here too. so I do get it. Like if people have budgetary restrictions and stuff, but if you can get mastering done, don't do auto mastering, get a human being to do it.

if they're offering like 10 a track or 20 a track that is like bottom of the barrel, but like totally do it. My friend Tess does good mastering as well. and, yeah, so I think it's worth it. 

Brian Prime: just real quick, all the names we've mentioned, Colin from Slider.

I interviewed him not that long ago and, Phil Gonzo, reach out to people, ask them like they will, you know, ask like people are usually like, you know, you never know what answer you'll get. 

Steve Saunders: Yeah, and most people are totally cool and I mean, people got to make a living, but like, you know, it doesn't mean they're going to like say they might refer you to someone [00:15:00] else or give you tips or whatever, you know, be cool.

Don't go in demanding it it's not pay people for their time 

Brian Prime: and their expertise. 

Steve Saunders: Yeah. Yeah. And be cool as fuck when you do it. Like, don't be demanding or whatever.

just treat them how you want to be treated and It'll come out millhouse. It's all good. It is 

Brian Prime: strange how demanding people can be with a thing that is not theirs. Yes. Yes. Amazing. but, anyway, okay, great. That's sort of, that's a lot.

We covered a lot of ground. 

Steve Saunders: That's right. Interview is over. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. All done. okay. So, how long have you been doing galaxy in flames? Your podcast? 

Steve Saunders: Oh gosh. about a year actually. Simon Berman is, a good buddy of mine from Seattle and they work in the role playing game, tabletop role playing game industry.

he was part of Puppeteer, Puppeteer Press, with like War Machine. He was like their main PR guy. the guy that created War Machine for the guys that created the, the tabletop game.

The guy that created the miniatures game, Jason Soles, is a, [00:16:00] is how me and Simon know each other. Because Jason's a very old friend of mine. Anyway, so Simon, and Simon does Strix Publishing. And I've done like soundtrack work for him, for some of his Kickstarter projects. And then He was just saying like, I want to do a horse heresy podcast.

He already does one, called brush wielders union. If somebody wants to do the production, and I'm like, well, I can produce podcasts cause I was the guy that did all the work for, podcast that, was with somebody who was, rightfully yeeted out of the scene. and we, we did like a nerd, like an industrial and nerd type podcast.

And so I learned a lot on that. And then, I just told Simon, yeah, I'll do it, man. And, so Galaxy in Flames is born. I mean, Simon named it, his wife did a logo. I did like the music for it. And then, yeah, we, just talk about Horus Heresy stuff with a little bit of like 40k and some like fantasy thrown in there because we get off.

It's me. So we get off topic. but yeah, I mean, maybe let's talk about miniatures and what's going on in the Horus Heresy community. [00:17:00] Novels and all that stuff. It's, it's pretty deep nerd shit, but yeah. why just 

Brian Prime: the Horace Heresy? 

Steve Saunders: Well, there is a lot like that's what's I mean, there's a lot. 

Brian Prime: It's a fucking most of it. Like it's a huge portion of this universe. But I just was curious why that in particular. 

Steve Saunders: Well, Simon wanted to focus on the Horus Heresy because he's very passionate about the Horus Heresy, like, because they have their own miniatures rules and miniatures. cause it takes 10, 000, it takes place 10, 000 years before the current Warhammer 40k timeline.

So, there's a lot of books. There's like 68 novels or some shit with, Horace Heresy, whole, and you just thought like a focus would be good and there's, there's not a lot of Horace Heresy podcasts. I mean, there's some good ones out there from what I understand. 

But there's a fuckload of 40k stuff. Like you throw a fucking power armor boot, mark seven power armor boot out the window. You're going to hit a 40k podcast. and I can talk about 40k and fantasy. I mean, I really love [00:18:00] Warhammer fantasy, not an age of Sigmar guy, but no shade.

If you like age of Sigmar, good for you. It's not really gotten into it myself. I've been into Warhammer since 1987, so since 40k launched and yeah, I started with Warhammer fantasy roleplay, but then I went right into 40k. So yeah, old school 

Brian Prime: nerd. 

Steve Saunders: Oh yeah, I'm old dude. Like I'm 49 today. I'm an old man.

Yeah. And, yeah, so, and I agree with Simon because having a focus is good and there's a lot of material for like, there's always releases and stuff for heresy. So, and also it's, you know, taught space Marine on space Marine action. It's very focused as a setting and, there's a lot of drama and I got the prime arcs and all that jazz.

Yes. I did tune 

Brian Prime: in, to a recent episode, because, my question was answered and, my gain was too 

Steve Saunders: high. 

Brian Prime: asking which Primark you're going on a date with and why, I was very impressed by the technical assembly of the whole podcast, like the sort of ambient [00:19:00] noise in the background and ambient soundtrack, components going on.

It just, did you like, 

Steve Saunders: did you hear the part where I, I. Played a very slow down, version of cruel, cruel summer at the beginning because it's like it's a cool, it's a cool summer. Anyway, I, I, I don't, I don't notice. I don't know if I recall noticing. Oh, it's a long podcast.

Yeah. 

Brian Prime: Totally. Okay. It is a long podcast. I'm not saying that, disparagingly, Voight Signal started off quite long, with like two hour episodes or three hours. I did a three hour episode or something once. And I was like, shit, editing that. I was like, I don't want to do this again. but the key is not 

Steve Saunders: to edit 

Brian Prime: it.

I tell myself that, but. You know, man, like that is the shittiest part of doing a podcast is sitting and editing that motherfucker. Like, you can put filters on your microphone and you can sound dampen your space as much as you wish, but there's still going to be stuff that comes through or you're still going to say a stupid thing or whatever [00:20:00] that you want to quickly cut out.

And it just takes ages. And yeah, it's the worst part of doing this. Like, yeah, it sucks, but. You know, but it 

Steve Saunders: sounds good. I mean, the, the end result is always, always nice. mm-hmm . I don't do a ton of, sometimes I cut pops out, like in the, in tongue clicking, if I see it in the waveform.

Mm-hmm . But I edit fast. So, luckily Simon is an excellent co host. He's better than I am. I'll look at my mug. I'll go through and, you know, just edit it like, but mainly it's laying in like the backing track, which is even more ambient now because we've got a couple of people, rightfully, complaining that the background music was too distracting and it was.

still ambient, but apparently it was too exciting. So I created a very, very mellow soundtrack for the back and then stick that in there and then put in the brush wheel or zine ad. And then yeah, maybe some little things here and there, but like going [00:21:00] through and like editing, like when people like cut, like pauses out and everything like that, I'm like, Ooh, that takes a long time.

Brian Prime: I go easy on cutting pauses because if you do it too much, it becomes unnatural this is a thing I'm crafting. I'm the audio you hearing of the guests answer. I want to remove gaps where they're excessive, but not so much that people don't understand that like this person is taking a moment to think or like, Okay.

Pauses and the things that occur between words are part of communication. So I think it's important to leave them where they occur. So even if somebody says, I might cut an but I will leave a small space because I still want to denote, to a listener. That thinking is taking place here and it's maybe being filled with a filler word or what is sometimes called a social stutter.

And that is how people talk. myself included, this podcast is [00:22:00] filled with hours and hours of my ums and ahs and sounds. I'm not going to cut them all because it's part of what I sound like. but. Yeah. I agree. 

Steve Saunders: And well, Yeah. And also like I would say to anybody out there who's wants to start a podcast, people tend to prefer just like they're just like a fly on a wall listening to a conversation, right?

So all the social stuttering, as you pointed out, and all the idiosyncrasies of human speech are actually. A bonus as opposed to a flaw, like they're, a pro, not a con. and that's how I feel like it should work. That's what I would prefer to listen to. I mean, some people just want to hear somebody speaking professionally the entire time.

And if you want to do that, cool, cool, cool. But if you want to do that as a podcaster, I really hope you have extreme amounts of patience. because editing is going to be. Difficult. So Yeah. Agree. 

Brian Prime: Okay. Great. Well, aside from those things and what is the best birthday gift you've gotten this year?

Steve Saunders: Oh boy. [00:23:00] I don't ask for a lot of birthday presents. I mean I get to the point where I barely like, I don't even think my stepson knows it's my birthday today. I didn't say anything. That's what he left for work. but my best birthday presents. Well, my two bio sons got me Space Marine two.

It's just showed up. I've installed it. I'm very excited about Space Marine two. I want to play it so bad. But also, Nicole got me a death whistle. And so I have a physical death whistle, which is fucking cool. And then what is that death whistle? Oh, check this out. I'm a see if it is an Aztec ritualistic device.

That's I I'm still learning how to play this thing, but it's a, it's like a, it's an instrument. I heard nothing. Really? Yeah. Maybe discord filtered it because discord has like an auto filter that will pick up like typing or something like that. It's very, it sounds like a high pitch, like a shriek.

and that maybe that's why it did that. Cause it sounds like static or something like that, but sure. But sorry, sorry, dear listener. But like, yeah, it's, but [00:24:00] it is a, it's a high pitch shrieking, noise. I am fascinated by death whistles. So, and, and, and Mesoamerican cultures. I mean, went to school for history.

I love history. I especially love other cultures and And so, in fact, the first track off my last album is the, I'm going to say it should one Morrow left is, Welsh for death whistle and as like samples of death whistles and stuff in there. So it sounds like someone's shrieking. And, I was, that was really awesome.

very sick present, from my wife and also, fried chicken today and new boots. So I've, you know, the boots don't really get, but like the, the fried chicken was, and that was. Really, really good. Excellent. 

Brian Prime: I'm glad that fried chicken got an honorable mention in amongst the other presents. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Making mention of something that is, impermanent. yes. You know, that's okay. 

Steve Saunders: the memory remains. 

Brian Prime: you were enriched by it. Literally. literally. great. splendid. I was going to ask a follow up question. Oh yeah. So, into history. And runs a podcast, [00:25:00] have you listened to the, so you mentioned podcasts earlier and how you don't listen to them.

Admittedly, I do not either. I literally started making Void Signal almost in the absence of ever hearing almost any other podcast. And I didn't bother researching who else was out there and what they were doing before I started, because I didn't want to, I wanted to make my own thing. And color, you know, go my own way, whatever, figure it out on my own.

And if it sucks, okay, that's my fault. I don't care. Dan Carlin's hardcore history is like one of the only podcasts I listened to. And I feel like as a history guy, it is a thing that I should urge you to check out because it is less of a podcast and more of not quite an audio book, but like.

A pleasant history lecture, being given to you by somebody who is not a history professor, but this guy did all the readings for class? And he's going to tell you the highlights, the best parts, and he's going to do it all with this [00:26:00] great podcasty Heath Ledger Joker, sort of a grizzled voice. it's great.

It's fantastic. And he'll make, he has got great jokes. Anyway, if you like history and you like, interesting lectures, Dan Garland, Hardcore 

Steve Saunders: History. I have heard, I have checked out hardcore history. it's really good. the reason why I don't listen to a lot of podcasts is because I watch YouTube and I watch things on YouTube and I'm engaged fully with that, but I can't like if I'm writing something or working on something like that or music, I can't listen to a podcast.

So, but sometimes, you know, sometimes I will like a couple of times a year, check out something. Hardcore history is one of those things. I remember it's a 30 years war thing. I'm trying to remember the last thing I heard. It's been a while. and it is really good if you're in the podcast or if I'm, if I'm going on like a road trip, definitely podcasts, right?

Like, 

Brian Prime: yes, definitely. If you're going on a road trip, because it is long hours and hours of this shit, but it is worth listening to. Like it's, riveting, captivating. I could only endeavor to make void signals. [00:27:00] Good. Awesome. 

Steve Saunders: That's a professional podcast. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. It's a professional. I'm a fucking amateur.

So 

Steve Saunders: yeah. Amateur hour. That's right. 

Brian Prime: You're good. Your stuff is good. Don't worry. Thanks man. I do what I can. and I'm happy with it. It's fine. okay. What is coming up on the horizon for Steve Saunders and skull cultist and what, what are your next steps, next projects and sort of on the. On to that question.

Steve Saunders: I am currently, working well, I got shows. I'll get that in a second. But Album wise, I have a follow up to Hardcore Rituals called Crushing Invocations, and that will have remixes of Rivet Hammer and maybe a couple other tracks on it, but there's some bands doing remixes.

there's an excellent one that my buddy and Tachyon Crisis Talon out of, the UK did. It's like a 10 minute drum and bass version of Rivet Hammer. It's fucking amazing, man. It is so good. My friend Tess did a remix. It's like a sort of like a Euro EBM dance. I should probably talk to [00:28:00] Matt.

He was going to remix something like Caustic. he got the kid a while back. He asked to do it and I'm like, yeah, man. lovely human being and there's some other remixes coming out for it. there'll also be new tracks. I got my buddy Caleb from lost masters, which is a really excellent project out of Spokane.

He's a very old friend of mine. and he's going to be laying down vocals for JV death squad or whatever that turns into. And I heard this is the first vocal takes and they're awesome. I'm also working on me and Nicole were just talking today about working on the next Orthocharis album.

got some other stuff on the go with music, but that's pretty much it. I got to probably finish scoring a film. I was a producer on, and that is, something I'm noodling around with. There's apparently another project. a nights or Ebby project. I've been, noodling around with, which I'm going to send some stuff soon.

Somebody, somebody very handsome. And then so also I got live shows coming up. I'm preparing for, we've got one on the 20th here in Victoria with, Eva X, Normoria landscape body [00:29:00] machine. And my buddy DJs with me on the goth nights here. and Skullcultist, of course.

And then, that's going to be a fun like underground DIY show. Cause I'm setting everything up. That'd be fun. And then there are plans to play in Calgary, Edmonton later in the year. I got booked for a festival in not the summer. I probably shouldn't say anything too much detailed on this, but like I got booked for a festival I wanted to play, and then I'm supposed to play another They, that other festival wanted me to play this year.

I had film commitments, so I couldn't do it, which I kind of teared up because that is the festival I've wanted to play for a decade. And the fact that the guy that runs the festival, likes my shit and wants me to come play there. I about died. So, but I was also shocked at this other festival was like, Hey, can you come do like a first second slot?

And I'm like, yeah. And, I am interested. Can I get prayer for all that can be like the year for skull cultist, I guess. And then [00:30:00] after that, I have another album called groveling worship machine that I'm also working on. And that's a full album, like not a follow up companion piece, like hardcore rituals with crushing invocations.

groveling worship machine is another thing I'm working on. And that's probably due out, I would say May of next year's my, it's hard to, I hate telling people when stuff's coming out because it's always going to be late. So, he'll fiddle with it and fiddle with it. And then, and other stuff, but like, I, I, I'm working on a D and D third party, D and D adventure for a friend, hired me to do this adventure module, which is cool.

writing that. yeah. With or co writing it's a better way to put it. And then, yeah. Just stuff. Lots of stuff. Like, I mean, music stuff, like the, the Skull Cult and stuff is what I was talking about. And like, yeah, that's, it'd be fun. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Steve Saunders: For 

Brian Prime: sure. just to chime in real quick on one of those things, cause I, I'm so excited.

I, the Nitzer edged, the band [00:31:00] is, kind of an idea that began as a joke and you are the most recent recruit, the bulk of the talent, honestly. but like the ratios are way off, but anyway, there's three of us and it began as a joke between myself and the beautiful, handsome, wonderful Ryan Hollingsworth.

so handsome. So fashionable. Like, yeah, man, his fashion game is just out of control. Good height. Yes. Excellent. wonderful human being. Very funny. he at dark force fast this year. After catching Nitzareb, we were joking about shouting instructions at each other, and I discovered he does the fucking most amazing Nitzareb.

And, NitzerEdged was born. So, Steve Saunders has agreed to join us in this adventure, to make at least A song, if nothing else comes from it, at least one will I 

Steve Saunders: mean, I'm honored to be a part of it. I murderous is one of my favorite songs of all time. I like nights. Reb is a huge [00:32:00] influence and amazing.

speaking of collaborative projects. I'm also a part of gutter press corpse, which is, Craig from Bixley and Scott from, beta virus. And we have a track on the industrial workouts thing called more weight. And, we're going to be working more on that.

So I'm also part of another super group, if you will. and, that's the other thing that's going on. I don't want to leave those guys out because I don't know if you've heard the new Dixley album, computer club, it is now my vote for best album of the year. It's not my own. it's mortal realms album, but stab in the dark.

but I would say computer club by Vixley is a close runner up. And, that's not a bad kind of compliment. It is a fucking awesome satire song that everyone should hear. So Craig and Scott are the main talents on that one. I can't compete with those guys or there's just so much better than I am at what they do.

I'm super stoked to be a part of it because I want to do kind of like, You know, a Knights or ebb wolf bandy site like projects. So like that's that's been on my back burner for a very long time. So it was so fortuitous that it worked out because I neither [00:33:00] Hollingsworth nor I have the fucking talent to make music and I, I asked somebody else who was interested but too busy.

Brian Prime: you were looking and, we found you and, yeah, I'm super excited to make a thing that's going to be fun. 

Steve Saunders: Will it sound like Knights Ereb? I don't know. Like I can try to emulate that, but then I'll start like fucking around and you'll be like, no, Steve, no.

And now it sounds like scooter. Everything sounds like scooter. 

Brian Prime: Close enough. I mean, you just got to get it close. Like close, but close, but a little darker, sexier maybe cause we're, you know, we're about edging. Yeah. You 

Steve Saunders: know, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I think it's awesome. I love like that kind of shit.

Like that's where I, I mean, I, I will say it's what I miss about it. One certain person who I had to sever ties with and that's why I love that whole. Maybe one day, maybe one day I can get you guys to collab with me on finally doing a cover of Stigmata, but Gymkata. [00:34:00] Gymkata? Oh, it's a shitty ninja movie from the 80s that you have to see.

Garbage, but it's one of my favorite shit movies and, it's gymnastics and, it's got this gymnast as a star and he fights people and it's like a death race, sort of a, last man standing kind of competition that this fictional country has. I would maybe participate 

Brian Prime: and be interested if we could get an actor who looks like young Jergensen to do some maybe imitation, like martial arts moves.

That we could film. 

Steve Saunders: Oh, I could get Ruby. I don't think, I don't know if Ruby looks like Al, but. See, it needs to look like a young Al Jergensen. 

Brian Prime: I'm like, I'm thinking that like the Mine is a Terrible Thing to Taste Tour era Jergensen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're looking for that one. But doing martial arts.

If we could find an Ogre lookalike to do martial arts with them even better. And then I would a hundred percent be on board to 

Steve Saunders: hell. Yeah, that would be so much fun. Yeah. Cause it's like, it's a dream of mine. And [00:35:00] that person said they didn't want to be the weird owl of industrial music. And they kind of became the Richard Spencer of industrial music.

I just like parody shit and I'm a big dork, so yeah, 

Brian Prime: parody stuff is fun, I think the execution needs to be right because a lot of parody stuff will sort of rub me the wrong way because I'm like, you run the risk of being too silly and just sort of being like, you know, the whole thing's a joke.

Whereas I what I'm hoping to accomplish with knits are edged And I'm not trying to turn your interview into a thing about me or a thing I'm involved in or anything That's what I would like to sort of accomplish with it And in those regards, is that like it is not a parody and but a it's a tribute It's a joke in her and we're making a joke of a thing.

We'd like because, and we're, doing our own version of it, so that people can laugh and like, you know, I have a good time because like you were saying, yeah, there is a, that was a thing that I did appreciate and, and, [00:36:00] and love about, a particular person that used to be in the scene was, here's a fun thing.

We're going to just like have fun for a minute and like, it's going to be about, you know, chill stuff like it's okay because this music is for everybody because it's so like low, low stakes. You know what I mean? Like, it's not trying to be high art, it's not trying to be the number one dance hit of the year, or it's not trying to be on a soundtrack to a film, it's not trying to be some wonderful, magnificent expression of art.

It's just trying to be a thing that people laugh about and have a good time listening to for a minute. 

Steve Saunders: That's right. That's why, that's why Shrimp Glockenspiel is one of the best songs ever made. I'm also thinking like, yeah, we should just recruit Matt. Be like, Hey Matt, you should be in our, in our parody of, of ministry.

he'll, I think he knows what Jim Codd is. He's, he's old. Like I am. Yes, he is. Quite. I've observed him in person, so I can [00:37:00] attest. When he gets his walker out, you know? Yes. Looks like an at at, yeah. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Yeah. You're old, 

Steve Saunders: Matt. 

Brian Prime: I saw him at Mechanismo, so he just came stumbling outside, like, Ah, the man looks like a fucking mess.

That is an absolute joke, Matt. I love you so much. Yeah. but, yeah. I mean, I don't. He's okay. he's OK. He has enough people that love him. It's OK. Yeah, 

Steve Saunders: yeah, yeah. We can hate him. We got a Matt Matt finale hat. Hey, club, 

Brian Prime: he doesn't need 

Steve Saunders: me. Yeah, yeah, that's fine. He doesn't need me either. Fuck you, Matt.

Brian Prime: I don't want to keep you too long. So I will put the last question of the podcast to you, which is. What is something that you've been enjoying recently? And your answer can be anything book, TV show, movie. Just what's something that you're jazzed about? Oh, man, I'm glad you asked this last question because we'll be here for a while.

Steve Saunders: So let's see, what have I been into? House of the Dragon, I was really into that truncated season till they stopped it. And I was sad. I am a [00:38:00] massive like nerd. Like I play a lot of Banner Lord and like a. Game of Thrones mod and, really into that whole, that whole universe and reading that stuff. what else am I really into?

oh, I just saw, Terminator Zero. I'm also a giant Terminator fan and really enjoyed it. it's an anime Terminator series I highly recommend. It's on Netflix. they really play with the, it's one of the best takes on how time travel works.

I'm going to get into the weeds on that. like the last three episodes, it's only like eight episodes. So in half hour episodes, so it's only four hours of your life. And I recommend it. It's still not a huge anime fans, like the usual anime tropes, but I didn't really mind them.

And I really enjoyed it. I still need to play ballers gate three, so I'll probably be in that soon. I'm really into spoiling our cats. As always, good answer. Yes, as well. And lots of 

Brian Prime: animals should be spoiled. 

Steve Saunders: And I'll probably be diving.

Another thing I'll probably doing soon is people have been asking when this next [00:39:00] charity compilation that we're going to put out. And because I've worked with my friend Brian Noel on two insulin shocks and guts and glory, which is an excellent double. like a big double compilation that came out.

they were like band camp comps. And then the first one was the Ternus Memoria that we did for the BC, cancer foundation because of Vicky and that that's, that's kind of started this. So I got three compilations under my belt. everyone involved is always awesome. Like we had leather strip on the last one and that was cool.

a lot of great people, like every, track is just solid. So but I kind of want to do those like once every six months or a year, because it's just time consuming and I really enjoy doing it, but I only have so many hours in the day. Sure. do you look real 

Brian Prime: quick, would you need help or do you need help with like recruiting people to do that?

Steve Saunders: Always could use the help. I'll drop you a line, man. yeah, 

Brian Prime: let me know because I know a ton of people. 

Steve Saunders: who would love to contribute to a thing that's for a good cause. absolutely. That'd be awesome. Thank you. The [00:40:00] main, problem with the first two comps, if there's any problem, is just too many people that say yes.

And then there's so many, and I don't want to say no, to anyone. Cause everything that's being contributed is amazing. And I'm like, you know, like, so like the first one, I like 106 tracks, something insane like that. And then insulin shocks and like. 67 tracks. Like it was crazy.

And that's how we split guts and glory into two volumes and guts volume and glory volume. And that's still like, Jesus, 60 tracks total. Like it's a lot. And, and, but still like, I don't, I, but I also don't care because it's for a good cause. if you're dropping five bucks on a comp, just whatever you can, 

And you get like 70 tracks out of the deal. I don't see the other, the downside is stuff gets buried in the mix because. Yeah, that's a lot of stuff to listen to. but like everyone, you know, I donated, a thousand us each to. The Martha's Washington foundation and the Trevor project and then insulin shocks was the, diabetes research foundation.

So it's been great. Like people like [00:41:00] them and support them. So that's cool. I want to do another one. I don't know what the next cause is going to be. you know, guts and glory is pretty personal, because that was the result of the person we're alluding to throughout the podcast. and thanks to them because people came together for, a lot of trans artists and queer artists.

That was great. I just want 

Brian Prime: to chime in there really quick, that, you know, that is a thing that I have discovered that, betrayal is a very strong glue. In bonding people, if I even 

Steve Saunders: have a track called that, 

Brian Prime: it is amazing how close and how allied and on the same side you can suddenly feel with someone when you are betrayed by the same person.

And this scene has shitty Brian's in it and, good riddance to him. 

Steve Saunders: it was super funny too. And I mean, anyone's going to figure this out and that's okay. I don't mind talking about it, but like, I was telling Nicole, like, Oh, I got to talk to Brian soon.

She's like, okay, which one? Brian Noel or Brian from that podcast? I'm like, Oh, Brian from the podcast. Cause Brian Noel is rad, by [00:42:00] the way. Brian Noel is like a mensch and so there are non shitty Brian's out there. I 

Brian Prime: have learned that my nickname on the East coast is good Brian.

Steve Saunders: Good, Brian. See, I like that. That's great. Like I call you void, Brian, but yeah, you're right about how betrayal and a lot of people will shuffle off as drama. And there is a lot of drama. Don't get me wrong. And people canceling each other and doing things.

But like, in that particular situation, I wrote a track called a betrayal, which is on my last album, which you can find on band camp and all streaming services. it was very personal. And, because I felt like Not that, the guy didn't betray me. I will say that in terms of, like, if there's money and all that stuff, that Brian was cool about it.

Like, I'm not gonna lie and say that they're an utter piece of shit. in those regards, that Brian was supportive, cool, gave everybody that was on comps their cut. So in that case, totally fine. Not a problem. And we'll never denigrate them over that. So, got to give credit where credit is due, but like, it was more like a betrayal of like, I just didn't [00:43:00] understand.

And then how they acted about everything just really rubbed me the wrong way. I've been friends with this, that guy since like 2016. I was in their band live a few times. They're, you know, did a podcast together. I was pretty, you know, attached, you know, like, and then, but then he realized, like, are we really good friends?

Like, I don't know, man. Like we never really had deep, super deep conversations and they always avoided politics. Like all the flags were there, but you know, how you don't want to see that or whatever. So I don't hate the person. Well, when they released their dis album, I was like, Huh? That's, weirdly unnecessary, but okay.

And, that's how guts and glory came about. 

Brian Prime: I try to be, I'm a very empathetic person. I try to meet people where they're at and I try to understand their reasonings for the things that they do. But when someone does something heinous, Admits to it and is unrepentant, even in the face of like, Hey, you hurt these people with your stupid actions, your selfish actions, or you [00:44:00] hurt me with your actions, or you stole from me, or you did these things that you are guilty of that you admit, and there is no apology given like that is the point for me when it becomes like this, this might've been a thing I would have let go.

Of like, ah, he's a shitty person and I'll let it go. But that when you remain unrepentant and you don't offer an apology to anyone, that's when I want to hold you extra accountable. And that's why I will not let it go. Not anytime 

Steve Saunders: soon. I do agree. Like, it's, and especially if it affects you personally, I get people, if it's not affects personally, like the situation you were talking about, about a different Brian, I did not experience that, right?

So. I, I do empathize with your situation. Of course. You know, like, and I, I'm like, but like, maybe somebody doesn't know the other Brian. Right. Like, and they go mm-hmm . I don't get it. That's cool. That's fine. I felt personally betrayed or hurt, and I'm not gonna force out on anyone else.

But like, one of the things though that like, it's how [00:45:00] people, like you were saying, like about accountability, how you deal with it. Like, for instance, with the Brian I was speaking about, like, I saw some posts like once in a great while I'll just, just check in to see, but like, not really that much because it's just, I just don't want to, I just want to ruin my day like that, but I see this person open up to them in a comment, right?

They open up about like how they're queer and how what they did really hurt them. And they really hope that they can realize what they've done. And honestly, it was a heartfelt, it was a heartfelt comment, man. It was like, I felt it. And I was like, it wasn't mean that was the other thing. It wasn't mean.

And I'm like, I immediately felt like, like, if I see this guy, I'm going to beat the fucking shit out of him. Like, how dare you say that to somebody who's opened up to you like that, man? I'm like, at least you can just do is ignore it.

I mean, just ignore it. If they're like, but just saying barf and like, I don't know, I know I'm speaking figuratively. I'm not threatening anybody, but the feelings were there and I'm like, what a motherfucker. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. And it's like, it's like some of my closest friends in the world are, [00:46:00] are trans.

Brian Prime: And I, yeah, fuck that guy. Like, yeah, yeah. fall in front of a bus. I don't care. 

Steve Saunders: like it, it, it's like, Hey, you know what? Like I have friends that like up here in Canada that are conservatives, right? Like, and we're, we're friends, you know, like, it's okay. They're not like, Like these particular people I'm speaking of, they're not bad.

They're, they're, they're, you know, like, well, to be fair, Canadian conservatives are not nearly as bad, but usually, but, but like, you know, we, we'll, we'll discuss politics and it's, it's a good, it's a good, I know where they stand, right? Like it's a, the discussion is spirited sometimes, but it's a, it's a good back and forth.

And at the end of the day, we respect each other. And they know I'm like a leftist freak and I'm like a, basically a tanky communist, you know, but that's okay. Cause we can still be friends because we have other interests that we can talk about. It's very similar to being friends with Republicans in the early two thousands, I guess, 

That's cool. I just like discussing things and talking to people. And that's cool. But like, you know, some people like some of the stuff out there is like very toxic and like, it just seems like, [00:47:00] why, why, why do you feel that way? I don't understand, but I'm also not going to stand in the way of their life because, you know, life is just.

if they want to sit around and look at cat pictures and jerk off to like Milo Yiannopoulos or whatever then cool, I guess 

Brian Prime: I think that hearing perspectives that are not your own, there's value in that.

Not only because you might hear something interesting, but you're hearing how someone else sees the world and how they have experienced it. Sometimes the value of that information is that, in order to make your own opinions and positions unassailable, you should know what people have to say against you and against it.

Like, what are their arguments you should know what they have to say and why they're saying it so that you can defend yourself discourse is the method by which we win hearts and minds. there's value in hearing what people have to say, providing that they're, giving it to you in a manner that's right.

Call me or something, you know, a [00:48:00] dialogue, 

Steve Saunders: but yeah, I know if somebody like listens to my music and says, yeah, but you know, a rivet hammer, you're telling people to go burn it the fuck down. I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know, also I'm, I'm very much a dialogue person and I can talk to literally anyone.

and I will give them the respect. That all human beings deserve initially in conversation. If I don't know someone, I immediately respect them. The whole earning respect thing I always never understood because how, how does that happen? but like give everyone the credence to give everyone their due respect when you meet and talk to them and you let them, people earn my disrespect.

That is usually how that occurs as opposed to you have to earn my respect. That's not necessary. I respect you anyway. 

Brian Prime: And that kind of speaks to the other point. I wanted to make there really quick. Is that like, well, there's value in here in perspective. don't be a spectator to unfairness or stupidity, like, speak up, like be the person in the crowd.

Even if you were the only one, be the person who speaks up and says, Hey, this isn't right. Like, that is a goal we should all endeavor to have. So [00:49:00] yes, listen to what people have to say. But if you, you know, coerce them with your words, but don't sit by and just let a person say, like, whatever, because if you do that, then sooner or later you might find yourself sitting at a table with like, Oh, that's my racist uncle.

And Oh, that's my, Oh, my aunt's also kind of racist and all my brother is. And then you're the person sitting there quiet that doesn't say anything. That's an example, but I mean, you take my point. Yeah, 

Steve Saunders: I do. And I will also add, I agree with you, and I also add like, not everyone can speak up the way everyone else speaks up.

Like, you know, like, whether it's anxiety, or you don't know what to say, and that's okay. There are many ways that you can speak up, support organizations with your money. vote, right? Like that's, that's your voice, right? Like you can vote. And yeah, the system's broken and shit, but still voting, especially locally, is super important.

And then, otherwise your children, if you have kids, right? Like, you know, I was very, very, with my sons. [00:50:00] Especially, but also my stepchildren. I came in their life and they're like 11. we all three of us, like me, my ex wife and my partner. Our homes are open places for them to discuss and weirdly all four of our kids turn out to be progressive, not religious kids, you know, but they are, we didn't force it on them.

We want them to make their own decisions. And sure. I'm sad when Vance, my youngest does not want to listen to wolf band or leather strip, but he's. He's an icebreaker and, you know, and some other cool stuff. So, okay, cool. He in live lock. Okay, cool. but like, you know, but the, but the thing is like, we want to make sure there's an open dialogue and that they can speak to us.

I was talking to somebody recently and they can't talk about their parents to their parents about anything. And I'm like, I can talk to my parents about anything and, my, our kids can talk and I just feel bad for folks that just can't talk about anything with their parents. because I never got the open dialogue.

So that starts at home. And if you don't have kids, great, they are a massive money sink. I'm kidding. I love my children. But, [00:51:00] but the point is, there are many ways for people to speak up, and, and to be involved. You don't have to like, you know, Raise your fist in the air and start screaming at people and jump in because your uncle might 

Brian Prime: deserve to have a sweet potato thrown at his face, but you don't have to 

Steve Saunders: win.

so like, I, I, I really also appreciate my quiet friends who are contemplative and and observed because they also fight in their own way. And that's, that's great.

Like, and also talk to your friends and, you know, there's a guy recently I talked to and he had some real interesting 4chan spawned opinions, but they're young. And I'm like, You know, why do you feel that way? I'm like, oh, okay. And then, and talked about facts and stuff like that. It was, you know, we made progress because he'll listen to me because I'm not telling him to go fuck himself.

I'm actually going to listen to him as a human being and you know, they're young and I can, I can speak to them. And then perhaps maybe they'll listen to me, but no one's going to listen to you. If you're telling people to go fuck themselves, you can scream that there's a [00:52:00] fire. No one's leaving because they don't like you.

And that's how that works. So try to, you know, do what you can try to try to be respectful with people. I know it can be hard, super hard with certain people and. And this avoid them, shun them if all else fails and, and call them out on their shit or, or, you know, like someone's doing something really, really bad calling, there's no problem, no problem calling them out.

yeah, I'm a fan of that one. 

Me too. Like I don't want to call someone out like. But there are, there are reasons why you wouldn't want to call someone out, right? Like it could affect you professionally. It could affect your friendships. 

Brian Prime: It could be a public service announcement to prevent the abuse occurring to others.

Steve Saunders: Absolutely. It could be any number of things. And it's. Yeah. I mean, it's a minefield. I can see why some people like just hole up at home and play banner Lord all day or crusader Kings. I get it, man. Like I get it. Cause I don't always want to deal with it. And the older I get, the less I want to deal with shit.

Sure. I just want to hang out my cats. [00:53:00] and my kids, I guess. Yeah. 

Brian Prime: Well, to wrap, we got way off topic, but to wrap things we're enjoying, was the original fucking question. just to answer it myself. and you know, just real quick, like Steve and I don't exactly enjoy shitting on people.

Like just, it came up, what's relevant. but, things I'm enjoying right now, for myself, I've been answering like the Wasteland Weekend thing and I want to pick something else. you're a 40k enjoying person. a thing I've been enjoying recently is the, it is free to play, on Steam, Warhammer 40k Speed Freaks.

It is a, sort of a twisted metal kind of a style. Of a game with orcs and you race around and, and there's like a football sort of a mode that's a blast, where you're like rushing a bomb to the other team's convoy and you got to blow it up. It's a blast and it's so fun to play. And I grew up like what playing twisted metal and, car combat vehicular games like rogue trip and critical depth.

[00:54:00] And, there was another one on Xbox with planes that I was really good at like, aces or. Something, if you'd like those kinds of games, but try this out. It's free. Like it is a excellent toy of like, I'm going to pick this up and play it for 20 minutes or 40 minutes or whatever, and I'm going to put it down.

it's low stakes. I'm going to pick this up and play with it and put it down like a video game toy, it's low investment. 

Steve Saunders: It's fun. I need to play more of it. I love orcs. They're just ridiculous. you mentioned Twisted Metal.

did you watch the TV show? I have not. It's actually pretty good. It surprised me. It was pretty good. I've heard that. Like, 

Brian Prime: I still have, like, lifelong friends from, my teenage years, like, meeting up on, message boards for the Twisted Metal franchise. one of them, my Canadian friend, opposite side of Canada from you, also makes music, as a synther and, yeah, but we met because of Twisted Metal. I still have a signed copy of Twisted Metal Black online. that was, released with the, [00:55:00] you had to get a special little, it was like a router thing that went in the back of your PlayStation 2 so that you could play online.

I got a signed copy of Twisted Metal Black Online signed by Dave Jaffe, who created Twisted Metal and God of War. he's, and one of the producers, Tim something, I forget. But yeah, I still have that, like, framed and like, it's like yeah, I was so into those games, man. Like, so when this, when I saw the trailer for this, I was immediately like, yes, please.

Steve Saunders: Oh yeah. If you don't know anything about Warhammer 40k, that's okay. Like the orcs are fine. They're a bunch of like they're, they're space hooligans. They're they're, they grow from fungus.

You can't get rid of them. They're like athletes foot on the galaxy and they can turn anything. Yeah. 

Brian Prime: It's 

Steve Saunders: like, 

Brian Prime: I love that aspect of it. It's so like, ah, they're like, I just, I don't know why. I just, I love it. It's so absurd.

And fun fact, that whole, like it works because they believe it will is sort of true. It's never been fully confirmed in a 40 K canon. It's sort of like fanon meets canon. But yeah, [00:56:00] ultimately the orcs, like they just put junk together and if shit works and they go on a wall, like they go on the wall and it's like, it's like this almost like psychic energy thing.

Steve Saunders: And they, they can just make shit work, man. And, yeah, their vehicles are insane. Like their helicopters are insane. Oh my God. The cop cop does, and everything's like, you know, chopper. Copter like great, 

Brian Prime: absurd accents. Like there's space chaps. Yeah. So good. and even if you know nothing about 40 K or just the metal or anything, but you want to play a game online where you drive a car and blow up other people while doing objectives and shit, try it out.

It's fucking free. Like you have nothing to lose, but an hour of your time. 

Steve Saunders: Yeah, I have no, I, I, I fully concur like you got to play it. It's, it's so much fun. yeah, yeah. We turn into an ad for the game, but you know, it's, it's, it's, it really is good. Yeah, it really is good. 

Brian Prime: yeah. yeah, they can send, tips to me direct.

Steve Saunders: Your sponsor now. Yeah. Yeah. I do have a sponsor now. Oh, do you? [00:57:00] I did. Yeah. For, this most recent, episode this past, not this past Friday, but the Friday before that, sponsored by dark force vest. Nice. 

And, kind of made it sort of a joke and I was hoping they would understand it was a joke, but like, I don't know. Sure. I did the same thing for other festivals and one of them did book me, so Hey. maybe it Worked out.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I'm like, you can pay me in bottle caps. Like, yeah, I was, it's hard taking shit seriously, but like, yeah, 

Brian Prime: it is hard taking shit seriously. 

Steve Saunders: that's the best advice to give anybody that's in a band Try not to take it too seriously because if you're looking to be a rock star, well, first of all, you're doing industrial music, so that's not going to happen, but like, you like, yeah, just, just, just take it as it comes.

Don't sweat it. Don't sweat the numbers too much. just be yourself and let it happen. But easy for me to say, it's a, yeah, not everybody can be like, a hardworking motherfucker, like aesthetic perfection. that guy works hard and it's difficult to, just keep doing it and then, you know, have fun with it.

Just have fun. Just have fun. Just have fun. That's great. You had him as a sponsor, dude. That's awesome. 

Brian Prime: Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. 

Steve Saunders: a real, an [00:58:00] actual reason to go to New Jersey. 

Brian Prime: Yes. speaking of which, I will. be at the next dark force test. so if, anybody listening is also there say hello, I will be giving out stuff probably, 

Steve Saunders: that 

Brian Prime: was what I was doing at mechanisms this year.

And I wish you had been there. it would have been nice to see you, but I was, I am. I was just going to say that at this mechanism assist here, I was like giving out shit the whole time, like buttons and stickers and, glow in the dark bracelets and stuff. So yeah, if you see me at dark for us, come say hello.

Steve Saunders: are you planning on attending mechanismus next year? I have not decided yet. It is very close to dark for us and I'm a poor person. So keeping that in mind, maybe. Like I know enough people in Seattle now that I feel like, and I'm pretty likable, I probably know enough people now that I could convince them to be like, Hey, let me sleep on your couch.

Brian Prime: so with that very big obstacle out of the way, I feel like it's a little bit more accessible because I don't have to pay for lodging. I can [00:59:00] crash on a couch and that's fine. 

Steve Saunders: Hey, if you have any problems with that, let me know. Like I know. A metric fuck ton of people there. I mean, that's where I moved here from.

And I used to be part of that. I worked at music works and all the nightclubs. I also have like a background as like a crew chief and a whole bunch of shit, like nightclubs So like, I used to work like at the catwalk in the Vogue, did a little bit at the Mercury, not too much, mainly just DJ'd, worked like the Radiohead after party, that kind of shit.

But like, we're really nice guys, might I add. Yeah, like, I will be, taking the clipper, a catamaran ferry over there to be there next year in attendance, you know, so I will 

Brian Prime: endeavor to make it up that way. since I know more people in Seattle now, I could definitely make it happen.

So, 

Steve Saunders: yeah, like if you have any troubles, let me know. Yeah, 

Brian Prime: we'll do. Yeah. Much appreciated. okay. Well, I believe that is it. Thanks for having me, man. for coming on and having a chat. it has been a pleasure. Yes, this has been rad. So I will, I'm hitting stop on the recording right now.