Interview to TWO-STEP GOODBYE (USA)

1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings. Hello and thank you. Good so far, slept in today, work later. I'm just in my room right now, notably surrounded by movie and band posters, some signed. As well as a handful of guitars!

2. Have you been a musician for several years now? What has changed in your mindset since the beginning of your musical path? Explain me, please the evolution process that made you become what are you now. I started playing guitar when I was 12 in 2017. Pretty much from there all I wanted to do was be in a band. I "formed" a metal band with my school friends, and for years I day-dreamed about us recording our highly professional album and playing huge gigs in no time. Of course that never happened, especially since I decided school wasn't important. I had a big ego as a teen, and that resulted in a lot of time wasted and no music made really. Some years later after re-finishing school, a music production class on how to use logic pro, and a new love for brutal death metal, "Retribution" eventually followed suit. I think it's very important for young musicians starting out to just make and release your music however you can. It doesn't need to professional, and it won't be a chart topper. But you will be glad you did, even if you don't like the songs later. That's how you grow to be a better musician.

3. Two-step Goodbye is a young project. Can you briefly describe any major incident in the musical career during this time? I actually considered scrapping the project and all of its songs. There were two instances where before I was done writing all of the songs, I saw that another artist had the exact same idea as me. "Fallout" (game series) themed brutal slam death metal. First it was the band Wasteland from Canada, then Orbital Gate from the US. I thought people would think I copied them, but after talking to them both they assured me we're cool. In hindsight I don't think anyone would've cared haha. What makes this funny is after releasing "Retribution", I learned that there are even more "Fallout" themed bands. We all thought we would be the first to do it haha. I've since become friends with some of the guys and we have a community together on DiscordDefinitely the most rewarding part of writing for me is when I put different ideas together, and I am shocked at how amazing it sounds. It could be a really cool riff that I put a lot of effort into, with a beat that I tapped on a table at work, along with another random riff I just came up with on the spot. When you hear it all together and it reminds you of your favorite artists and why you love music, that's the best part. It's a huge dopamine hit. I unfortunately haven't quite been able to play live yet, but hopefully soon with some old and new bandmates here we can play some local shows, and maybe even hit the road to play with the other "Fallout" bands.

5. How do you guy write such brutal yet memorable music? Is it tough to do? Aw thanks. When I try to write music I usually think of it like a story in my head. I love watching films and it's a pipe dream of mine to write screenplays. I love huge epic songs like "...And Justice For All" by Metallica, "Hangar 18" by Megadeth, "Alexander the Great'" by Iron Maiden. The artist who solidified my love for metal was Kevin Sherwood. He's the senior sound designer and songwriter for Treyarch, the game studio behind the "Call of Duty: Black Ops" series. Since 2008 he's written these super atmospheric, deep, rich, mysterious, and epic songs about the "Call of Duty: Zombies" mode. Not to mention his incredible soundtracks as well. No matter what I'm writing about, and even before I know what I want the song to be about, his craft completely rubbed off on my writing style. For Two-Step Goodbye I just apply this to the mood and cadence of brutal slam / technical death metal.

6. Debut EP is entitled "retribution”. In your own words, how would you explain how your sound on these tracks? With these tracks I wanted to encapsulate the bleak nature of the unforgiving and brutal post nuclear wasteland of "Fallout" with societies trying to rebuild. It's fight or die. People are only one step away from tapping into their animalistic primordial instincts. There's things just beyond your comprehension that can take your life.

7. It sounds like you guy had a lot of work making this EP – what was the writing process like for this one? Yeah honestly it took me about a year and a half more than I thought it would to release this EP. All of these songs started with a title or a working title, and one strong idea to work around. For example I started with the title "Render Unto Caesar", the name of a quest in the game, as I knew that was going to be a fun song to write. The first thing I came up with was the breakdown and the sample with: "The Caesar was marked you for death...". I then come up with other riffs and ideas that fit the mood of the song and try to tie them together. It starts really slow, but eventually enough ideas come together and the speed of the writing goes up exponentially.

8. What is the theme of “Retribution” you would say? What is your favorite song off the EP and why? "Retribution" and as of now Two-Step Goodbye is solely a tribute to my all time favorite video game "Fallout: New Vegas". The only reason this EP exists is because when I got into brutal death metal, I observed just how many bands would openly theme songs or entire albums about something they are fans of. The minute long samples and album covers that were just straight up fan art of a property was such a surprising but fun novelty to me. The thought of me doing that myself was really exciting, and Retribution is the product of that. My favorite example of this and probably my favorite brutal death metal album ever is Gortuary's "Divine Indigenous Sacrament" from 2018. The whole album is about the 2008 film "Apocalypto". Which is also an incredible movie might I add. One of the best uses of a sample in BDM ever is Abominable Putridity's "Remnants of the Tortured". Their first album "In the End of Human Existence" seems to be entirely inspired by "Silent Hill 2", also an incredible game. The track I am the proudest of on "Retribution" is "Render Unto Caesar". It is the most complex and epic track on the EP I would say, as there are so many rich moments of the song. My music theory knowledge is not that great to know what kind of chords or modes I use in the song, but I think that's what gives it more layers than I had even initially realized. I will fully admit that I get giddy listening to the breakdown and ending of this song every time, as it just makes me so happy that I was able to "paint the picture" I wanted to crystal clear.

9. Can you tell me a little bit about the album cover, and do you think art work is important to public perception and branding for a band? The album cover you see for "Retribution" was actually the second piece of artwork I commissioned for it. You can see the first piece as various headers, backgrounds, and profile pictures I have on social media at the moment. While it is almost exactly what I wanted at the time, about halfway through writing the EP I had to realization that I wish I had done it differently. The the name Two-Step Goodbye is a direct reference to a weapon you can use in the game. I thought for this first release it should be the focal point of the cover. I wanted to ensure that any fans of "Fallout: New Vegas" would irrefutably recognize everything about the project and the EP. That is also why I asked Tony to make the cover particularly yellow, the fans would understand that haha. I was fortunate enough to have the funds for a second cover, as a quality piece of artwork like that is not cheap at all. I've said before that artwork is like half the genre when it comes to BDM. The obscene nature of them is so intertwined with the culture it's just bread and butter at this point. Of course there are thousands of incredible and ultra brutal albums that don't have crazy or gross artwork. I encourage small artists like myself that don't have the money to commission artists for artwork to make your own. It isn't hard to make some really cool looking stuff.

10. What do you consider the strengths of Two -STEP Googbye as far as your death metal craft? I think the biggest strength and characteristic of Two-Step Goodbye above my best attempt at genuine composition and musicianship is these moments I think I can classify as "fight riffs". I forget the context where I heard this term, but it's like how hardcore songs have dedicated two-stepping (the pit dance move) monents. There is three very intentional instances of it in "Render Unto Caesar", as well as one in "One Step Too Close" which was the very first riff I wrote for Two-Step Goodbye. I picked this up from Flesh Consumed's quite underrated tech death album "Mutilate, Eviscerate, Decapitate". The album is filled with these kind of riffs, and the first time I heard one was in the song the "Disinterment". It's so simple being that it's just rhythmic power cords with 16th note double kick at like 220+ BPM, but it genuinely blew my mind when I first heard it. That was my true gateway into brutal slam / technical death metal. Without that album there would be no Two-Step Goodbye. It was practically the sole inspiration. I'm very happy that I was able to get Corey Athos (the vocalist of Flesh Consumed) to feature on the track "Mauled By Murderous Man-Eaters".

11. What kind of respect do you get from your local scene? How massive is it to get response from places you have never heard of? I'm not really known by the local scene, hopefully some gigs soon will shed some visibility. Just the handful of friends and mutuals I've made recently in the area. But I have only gotten praise so far which is really awesome. I know hate is inevitable and doesn't matter, but it warms my heart when someone tells me in person how they enjoyed the songs or I receive a message in the same nature. It's so amazing and makes me proud to see there are listeners all around the globe from every continent, and I've talked to some fans from Europe. This release has been a much higher caliber than the one single I officially released with my other band. The amount of people from different places is massive in comparison. I just want to contribute to the world of independent music as much as I can. I'd like to shout out some of my favorite bands from the local Minneapolis scene: Rakuyo, Spinal Fluid (612), xSeraphx, Dread, Grotesque Abdication, I Owe This Land A Body, Awaiting Eschiel, Collective Fate, and Evernorth.

12. How is the mood in your country these days concerning cooperation between musicians and the relationship between musicians and audience?

I would say the metal world in the United States is overall in a good place. Usual amount of drama, but there has notably been a lot of deaths. Just an unfortunate but inevitable thing. The political divide the US is known for permeates though metal too of course. Many bad actors try to pretend that metal is a unifying surface for all ideologies, or even try to hide their true selfs until it comes out they are horrible people. I always tell those people you will never be accepted in the metal community. Metal has always been an accepting community to me. I'm not sure I have a general statement for the relationship between artists and fans, but I think we all appreciate a bands transparency when it comes to most things.

13. Is USA a great place to be an extreme metal band? What kind of response do you get from the American metal fans? I haven't perceived any issue with being an extreme artist or band in the United States. All metal is loved here. Of course not everyone enjoys all of it, and most of the population doesn't listen to it at all. But I hear often that metal is bigger than ever and I think I feel that to be true. It's funny because in intermediate school I got made fun of for listening to bands like Metallica and Slipknot, but when I got into brutal death metal at and older age I've never once gotten a negative comment about it. People always respect the music I love now. The brutal death metal scene has been a great tight knit community to explore.

14. So, what’s coming out next? Anything you want to divulge from the vault of your future plans?

I'm currently working on a two track single right now! It will be a little bit before it releases as I have to go on a short personal hiatus, but these tracks are also planned to be on a big split that my "Fallout" slam friends are brainstorming. I'm hoping next year is very fruitful for this project, I'm surprised but so happy with how well it's going. I do have additional ideas for the future as well.

Thank you for having me on Rotten Pages magazine! This was a lot of fun. -TSG

https://two-stepgoodbye.bandcamp.com/album/retribution