BiB: Waylon Reavis: From Mushroomhead to A Killer’s Confession: The Real Story, Rumors, & Redemption

0:00 What is going on? It is Adam. Welcome back to Bringing It Backwards, a podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to hang out with Waylon of the band A Killer's Confession over Zoom Video. Whelen was born and raised in North Carolina and talks about how he got to music. He grew up in a rural area and didn't even know being a musician. Or in a band or any of that was possible. It wasn't until he was 15 years old, his friends were jamming in a. In a garage of sort and he came in and he's like, wow, you. Guys can do this. This is cool.

0:41 So eventually he started to sing with these buddies and that's how Waylon formed his very first band. He talked about some of the early opportunities that band had, like opening up for Mushroomhead. Years later, he became the singer of Mushroomhead. He talked about his time in that band, leaving the band, forming A Killer's Confession. Waylon also squashes some rumors that are floating around about Mushroomhead and himself. So you'll get that piece in this interview. But he dives real deep into this brand new album. It's called Victim One. He said it was the hardest album he's ever had to write. He talks about some little Easter eggs in the album, how it actually ties back to the very, very first A Killer's confession record called Unbroken. And it's just an amazing conversation.

1:29 So you should definitely check out the video version of our conversation with Waylon on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it Backwards. It would be awesome if you subscribe to our YouTube channel, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and tiktok at Bringing Back Pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple Music, Google podcasts, it would be amazing if you follow us there as well and hook us up with a five star review. We'd appreciate your support if you follow and subscribe to our podcasts. Wherever you listen to podcasts, we're bringing. It backwards with a pillar's confession.

2:13 Bring it backwards. Bring it backwards. Bring it backwards. Bring it back. It back. Bringing it back. Bringing it back. How are you doing? Hey, how's it going? Another day in paradise. Just getting home from tour. Right on, man. Well, I appreciate you taking the time to to hang out and chat. Thank you. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm Adam. Very nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I'm Waylon. Are you in Cleveland now? Is that what I'M right below Cleveland. Yeah, we, we moved to Florida for a while and now I' Cleveland. That's amazing.

2:56 I'm. I was just up in Cleveland. I'm in Nashville now. I'm from San Diego, but I was in last week. Yeah, we're. We came back two years ago to Cleveland because Cleveland's like the real home base for AKC because Mushroomhead country and is kind of where I launched a band. So it's kind of just the home territory and it's just smart. Like being in the Ohio area, like, honestly is a great place to be if for any way to go start a tour, like, think about you right there in the Midwest so you can go. You know, if I want to go to New York, I'm just a few hours away. If I want to go to Nashville, I'm a few hours away. I like Chicago. Chicago? Yeah, yeah.

3:40 It's just kind of like a hub where it's like, you know, this is not really the bad place to be based out of. Right, right. Yeah. And my. I have family that live like east or west, I guess west of Cleveland in like Lorraine area. So they're like right by the lake. I mean you have Lake Erie and it's. The cost of living is way cheaper and. Oh dude, the cost of living is the whole reason to live here. Like the cost of living. Like we were in Florida and I just watched the prices of everything skyrocket throughout Covid because everybody kept coming to Florida throughout that whole time. And like our rent, we were, we planned, we moved down there and we planned on building, but we rented to see what we want wanted, you know, just like, okay, let's rent and start looking around, see what you like. Sure. And like if we see something we want to buy or do we want to build, you know, it's like we went down there and our. It started out, it was like fifteen hundred dollars a month for fifteen hundred square feet, which is like, you know, you look as a. It's a hundred dollar square foot. So.

4:39 Yeah, that's crazy. And when seriously, like that's what you're paying and then there's no basements. There's no. None of that. I didn't like that. I don't like Florida house plans. I don't like that. It's just like it's on a concrete slab. I just don't like that. I just never like that. But we, when we left, they had tried to take my rent from 1500amonth to 3000. And I was like, no, I'M trying to double it. That's crazy. It's still like that. And I'm like, no, we'll go to Ohio. And yeah, I'm paying less and I have more. Yeah. 100. Oh, my gosh. That's wild.

5:20 Yeah. Double your rent. Like, how? Yeah, I don't. I can't even. They could get it that they did it because they could do it. Like, like, everybody. It was just a hot spot, and it was like, you know, you can have this because I don't want to. This a is not worth this type of money. I don't know who's going to pay $3,000 a month to live here, because this is not that cool. That's wild. Well, I appreciate you taking the time today and doing this. Yeah. I always start off kind of with your. Your origin story. Are you originally from Cleveland area? No, I'm originally from North Carolina. Okay. From the mountains of North Carolina. Place called Wilkesboro, more known for, like, North Wilkesboro Speedway, nascar. Like, really the mountains of North Carolina. The Blue Ridge and the Smokies is where I'm from. And back in 2004, I joined the band Mushroomhead, and I came from North Carolina to Cleveland, and I stayed with mushroom head from 04 to 2015, and I took a year off. And then I created A Killer's Confession. And we're here today. We're here today.

6:34 I don't know if you mind talking a little bit about Mushroomhead, just because I'm curious, because you joined the band after they had. They were around for a little bit, right? Yeah, they had been around for. Already when I joined the band. They had been around for 11 years at that point because they started free and the band, like, that's the thing. The band already had a legacy, especially here in the Cleveland area. And it was a real hard thing to do. And I don't suggest this for people. Like, if you want to join a band joint, don't join a band that's already got famous and already has a legacy because, man, that you just made your job way harder because, like, you've really got to earn it. And I spent a lot of years in Mushroom just trying to earn the fans respect because, you know, I was the guy coming in. You know, it's like replacing a. A Cleveland legend. And it was.

7:23 It was definitely difficult, you know, but it made me the man I am now because, like. Because, like, it wasn't just given to me if that. If that makes it. I had to earn anything I got. I had to earn oh, 100. That's what I was thinking. Like, it's not like, oh yeah, I got. I'm in Mushroomhead and they're already a famous band. Like, you know, easy, easy money. It's more like, no, now you have to gain the respect of everyone that liked the band prior because they're going to be like, guy, this is the guy that we're used to seeing. Who's this new guy? And. And their fan base is a very cult fan base. And I'm not saying that a bad way. It's just very like they are hardcore, right?

8:03 You love Mushroomhead. You love Mushroomhead and very hardcore. And it earn their respect. If you earn the mushroom fans respect, you have done something correctly and that. I'll just leave it there. Well, how did you get into music? Do you come from like a creative household or musical family at all? Hell no. Hell no. I don't know where the like nobody in my family, not one. I can't think of any musical influence. Farmers and hard working men. And just like my family was not musical at all. And just. I just. My buddies were in a garage playing music and I was like, hold up, you can do that? You know, I had no clue about being in the band or how bands were created or how the industry worked. I mean, I'm from the mountains of North Carolina. How would I know?

9:00 You know, it's like, it's not like we were tapped into any kind of musical scene other than bluegrass. And most of those guys plowed the farms all day and then picked a banjo up at night. So like really like that type of deal, you know, like we're. Is what you did. So my buddies were like playing music one day and I was just. I kind of walked up on it and I'm like, you can do this. And like, yeah, I'm like, cool, I want to do it. And that. Boy, when I started, I sucked. Like, I mean, like I took every bit of suck that was in the room and I took it all. Like it didn't matter how bad you were, if you went on after me, you were great.

9:42 So was that like the first band you play and what age were you when you started? I was 15, 14. 15 years old when I started. And you know, which I had. I'd never even been to a concert. Like, I, like, I was. November, May 5, 1995 was my first concert. I was 16 years old. Wow. What did you see? Are you playing it? Oh, no, no, I was. I went and seen Korn, Meryl Manson and Danzig Was my first concert ever. Ye. Damn, that's awesome. And it was. And Corn opened and this is when Self Titled came out and Manson was on the Portrait of American Family tour. Oh my God. And you talking about blowing my damn mind. But as soon as I left that show, I was like, yep, this is what I want to do. This is awesome. And like, totally got into that. And just like I, my buddies will tell you if you ever in North Carolina, like I told them, I was like, I'm going to make it. And they all made fun of me. They're like, yeah, right. And then I'll go back like, well, you didn't lie to us, right? You're like, years later I'm gonna be on a song and performing with, you know, Brian from.

10:52 From Core. And, and you know, I think that was a lot of. It is. I had a lot of drive. Like it was a lot of. I'll show you. Back then. It wasn't like I never cared about fame, like, if that, if that makes sense. I don't care about fame and I didn't really care about the money. I care about like the show and the, the reaction of people. Like. And you know, some people could say that that kind of goes in the thing, but it does. It's like, I know that you took your hard earned money and you spent it to watch me do something. I want you to be happy with that. And I get more enjoyment watching like, like, kind of like to put it in like wwe, like a crowd pop.

11:36 That right there is what I'm in it for. To just hear that pop and the rest of it just, you know, comes along with it. Like, I mean. Yeah, and I was gonna say like the, the way the, the bands you're in, it's. It's a performance piece in itself too. It's not like you go out looking the way you're, you know, you're not wearing that and like, so somebody's gonna see you. And you know, I'm more like this. Right, right. That's what I mean. Like, it's not like you're super recognizable when you walk outside and that's what you're going for. And I tell people that too. It's like, this is not. You don't want to see this dude on stage. This dude, I'm dad, I'm a nerd.

12:17 Like, I'm going to be playing a video game, reading a comic book, watching a movie or something. You don't want me on the stage. You want him. And he's definitely A different guy. Let him out an hour a day. You know, take him out for a walk, put him up, he's good. But like, I'm all about the entertainment value. I'm all about like you, you just spent your hard money to. Hard earned money to come see me. I'm going to make sure you leave with a smile. Doesn't matter what I've got to do. I'm going to make sure that happens and the rest of it, you know, it's like when I come home, I just want to go crawl. Like I said, I will crawl on a rock. I don't want to be seen. I'll go to Walmart. I'm good. You know, it's like I like that quiet life. Well, so you are in this band of 15ish. You know, you see your friends playing and do you what, start writing songs together and what playing around North Carolina.

13:08 Column that we write songs. Okay. We had no idea what we were doing and like really no, no clue at all. Like no formal training, nothing. And didn't really understand strong structures, anything. We just wrote what we thought was cool and just yelled into a mic and God, like now looking back on it, I feel bad for the parents of the houses. We just, you know, we took over their basements and they had to listen to us practice eight hours a day, out of tune. And just like I remember you, you've seen the jokes. Like, I think you guys are good enough for today. You guys are good, you know, just tell us you're good, you're good. That's when you can stop now. And we would practice five days a week. We practice Monday through Friday.

14:00 We'd take the weekends off and we'd practice for like six hours a day. Like, like serious. And we did that for like four years. And we ended up like getting better and like the, the older we got, the more we. And then we start playing shows and start watching other bands and being like, okay, well what are they doing? What are they? And it took time. But like where I really blossomed was when Mushroom had found me. And like that, like, I don't take any credit away from Skinny and what he taught me. He really did show me the ropes and like taught me things I didn't understand about music. And I took that and I've ran with it all these years. You know, it's like it's been a learning process for me. You know, this wasn't something I wasn't working. Born with the ability I had to earn it. I had to learn I had to struggle, I had to get booed. I, like, I had to go through like the reality check like every day was Simon Cowell.

15:04 You need to quit where you're head. You know, there was like for me. So like when it did, when I did finally figure it out and then my voice had matured to where like I could do this and I trained my voice to sound the way I wanted it to sound. That's when it got good. But by that point it's, you know, I had earned that. It wasn't like it was a God given talent. Sure. Like with, with meeting Mushroom, like how does that happen? Like, how do you eventually, you know, meet these guys and then move to Cleveland? Right. I mean, it wasn't like they were in the same town as you or anything. No, we, we opened form a place called in at Ziggy's in Winston Salem, N.C.

15:44 and I had a manager at the time who pretty much ran Ziggy's Crow and Crow's. Like, you want to go and tour with these guys? You can buy on. I'm like, what's that? And he goes, you give them this much money, you can go out and open for them for, for a week or so. And I'm like, okay. And I've never heard of it. You know, it's like I had the money and I was like, let's go. Like, like, we want this. Let's go. You know, it's like it was us, a Ben Sevenfold and Mushroomhead. Dang. This is before Avenge blew up. I mean, like, and I met M Shadows all like, no, met the guys before. They were huge artists and they were opening for Mushroomhead. So we bought on the tour, got to know the guys.

16:29 They were really good to us. They really were. Went out there and did our, did our thing. You know, we, like I said we went in and took all the suck out of the room so everybody else sounded great. And we, we did that and it was a fun experience. But we, we came back home from the tour and it was a great experience. And then like a couple months later, Mushroomhead was with Soil and Dope and they were coming to Tremont Music hall in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I called up Trent, their manager at the time, and I was like, hey, can we get on the bill? And they're like, sure, yeah, we miss you guys. Like, then they put us on the bill to open up the show. We come down and we open for Mush Bed. And Skinny sent word and he's like, tell Waylon I will talk to him on the bus.

17:20 And that had not happened. I was like, okay. And I went. Went up and I talked to Skinny and. And Skinny's like, hey, I got a studio in Cleveland. Let me record your new album. You guys got something. But we gotta. We gotta set you down. Like, we gotta teach you what you're doing, you know, we gotta teach you guys something. I was like, sure, man. So we came up and Skinny about us up to the studio, and we came up to the studio and we're recording and we're doing the album. J Man comes in one night and I'm doing a part, and he is, man, if I ever get sick, I'm going to call you. I'm like, sure, you know, like, I'll do it. Let's go. But I mean, no one in back of my head is like, this is never going to happen. That's a great compliment. I appreciate that. Sure. We leave that. That session, we went back home to North Carolina. I think it was like two weeks later.

18:14 Skinny called my guitarist at the time and he called me, said, hey, Skinny wants you to call him. I said, all right. Call. Skinny goes, hey, J, man just quit. You want the job like that, like. And I'm like, let me think about it. Yeah, get me out of here. And I took off and joined Mushroomhead, and the rest is history. You know, it's like a lot of good, a lot of bad, but I mean, that comes with anything, you know, it's like, could I handle things differently when I was there? Yeah. But at the same time, I wasn't quite ready as a person to be thrown into that, if that makes sense. I wasn't mature enough as an individual to. No, don't do that. Don't be stupid. You know, it's like I was like, let's. You know, it was go. You know, I was afraid I was going to miss something.

19:10 I had to be awake at all times. You know, it's like I had just done what I told everybody I was going to do. And a lot of. Lot of learning curve. And I learned so much from that, especially from the bad stuff. I learned so much, and I'm thankful for it. And people are like, would you change it? I'm like, no, I kind of can't. Because it made me who I am now. It had happened the way it happened for me to be here today as the person I am, which is, you know, it's like, to realize that. That, you know, you can wish something never happened and you could take it back. And it's like, no, you. We can't. We have to let that happen so that we can be who we are. And, you know, a lot of fans want me to come back to Mushroom, but my time there is over. You know, it's like, you know, I wish nothing, nothing but the best. They got the new album called. Called the Devil, I think it'. And, you know, I wish them nothing but, you know, luck. And he's like, keep it going. Go, go, go. But, you know, for me, being there ain't happening.

20:12 And I want to put a thing to rest real quick to. People were talking about the Jeffrey Nothings, Mushroomhead. I have nothing to do with that. Like, I seen an interview the other day is like, hey, there's another version of Mushroomhead coming and Waylon's going to be a part of it. No, I'm not. I'm going to be a part of a killer's confession. I'm like. I was like. I was like, well, that's interesting. When were they going to tell me? Like, wow. Oh, so there's already. There's a rumor started that you're going to get another version of the band. That'S going to be another version of the band. I'm like, I had heard nothing about this and I'm like, yeah, that's not happening. I'm here. You know, it's like, I've got too much invested here now. And it's like, there's no way that I would leave AKC for anything. Yeah. I was gonna say you have a great band. You've been, you know, you have an album coming out. Like, I know. By the way, I'm starting other band. Yeah. I'm like reading it. Like, where did you get your info? Because I know this never came out of my mouth. Like, I love that too, though. Like. Because I'll see stuff and like. And I know people are talking, they're. They're clickbaiting or they're just trying to make a.

21:21 They're just trying to, like, get something started. And man, some of the craziest you ever seen. I'm like, are you. Are you kidding me? Oh, you. Wow. You didn't even say my name right. Damn. Right, right, right. The dumbest stuff. But I mean, anybody tries to get a like anymore, I guess that's how that works. Yeah. It's all about the headline. It is. It's so funny. Just because you'll see a headline. It's. I used to work on terrestrial radio for a long time. I remember having A conversation with like the, the social media person. This was, I don't know, maybe even 10 years ago now. And they're like trying to talk. They're. They're wondering about like, how to get people to click on stuff. They're talking about like headlines. I'm like, the headline is exactly what. Somebody's going to go transfer, like translate to the next person. You could go on your thing. You see, you know, Waylon starting Mushroomhead. And this never happened. And then you see the, you see the ad and then you go to your friend at the, at the break room, dude, did you see, you know, there's another mushroom heads coming out? And then it just starts spreading and it's like there's nothing behind it except. For just nothing at all. It's all clickbait. And it's. Honestly, right now is the worst time to try to get anything off the ground because like, there's so much out there. And like, like, I hate to say it, but I want like Headbangers Ball and MTV to come back. We. We need like a place where

22:54 they're controlling. Not really controlling, but like to help people find stuff. Because if you try to go find new things on YouTube, you're going to be lost for hours or you're going to find them two years too late. You know, like, I really feel like the, the Headbangers Ball and, and like the whole music. MTV back in the day when it was actually music videos, because I mean, you had VH1 for pop, you had MTV for rap and metal and rock. And it's like we don't have that anymore. That's gone. And it's like that was actually a very, very important thing back in the day because like you. That it told you what the up and coming bands were. But at the same time, if it launched people into megastars. Yeah. Which is like now you have to have a viral Tick Tock video. Exactly. And I refuse.

23:44 Someone cares. The Tick Tock. I'm so over TikTok. Like, I'm sorry. It's like this band, I'm not going to drop names, but they put their best 30 seconds on their TikTok. You go listen to the other minute and a half of that song. It's garbage. And then they get viral off of this one cool spot and it's cool. I'm glad you got a cool part in your song. Make the rest of it cool as that part. You know, it's like. Because that's why you put it there and they blow up and it's like. But also at the same time, I watch Tick Tock, I watch my attention span go to. Right.

24:27 Like, I can't watch a movie after watching Tick Tock. I'm like, that's. I can't do it. I was like, man. So I've, like, limited myself on how much Tick Tock I can watch. Yeah. And I mean, there's no longevity either, Right. If somebody. If you have 30 seconds, that's good. And it goes viral, then somebody goes to their Spotify or whatever, and it's like, oh, well, the rest of this is very good. Like, you have to kind of pull it. You know what I mean? Like, you have to back it up with. So we had a video that had. Be my Witness. It got so many millions of views on Tick Tock and Instagram, and it had my song in it, and it was like, two minutes long. And it got. I think on Instagram, it got like, 74 million views.

25:11 They paid me 14 bucks. Oh, my God. $14? That's crazy, right? I mean, there's just no. They could just straight up just. Yeah, there's no money. I just straight up got. I just straight up got ganked. Here's 14 bucks. What? Yeah, man. How much? Because I was like, oh, my God, we're gonna make some money. No, we did not. That's so funny. Oh, my God, it's hilarious, man. I thought that. And that's when I just realized it's like, I don't give a. For any of the social medias. I was like. Like, they. They're constantly with us too.

25:52 Like, they'll demonetize us, and then they'll monetize us. And, like, they're always. But we're a killer's confession. So we have. In our name. You know, we got words that are also already bad in the algorithm. I was gonna say you've probably already demonetized no matter what. They're like, well, they demonetized us because of our T shirts. Okay? So we have. We have a very, very, very bold statement. And most people, 99.9 of people, don't disagree with it. Just put it that way. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna say it because I don't want to get you in trouble. But we can't get me in trouble. Oh, yes.

26:33 Kill a pedophile. Oh, there you go. Oh, dude, straight up. Like, we. We have been demonetized over that statement. No way. Yeah, dude. We got a letter said we were. We were promoting hate speech. Interesting. But for protecting Your children? Yeah, we have small children show up at our shows. And, you know, I'm wearing. The costumes were scary. And those kids love us because I'll. I play with them. I'm like, you know, and show them that I'm not to be afraid of. You know, I'm the boogeyman's boogeyman. I'm here. Like, you can sit right here on this stage and you will be watched the whole time. I'll be up here taking care of you. And these small children show up and love us, absolutely love. But their parents know what our message is. And it's like, they're like, these are good people. That's the thing. But like, we got a lot of grief for it. And it's like, there's no grief. It's like we're just like. We've seen a lot. We, we, we.

27:32 I've worked within it and it's like, somebody needs to make a statement about this stuff. You know, it's like. And. And everybody said, well, you don't have to say it the way you said. It's like, no, we do. Because it's the only way you pay attention. We have to be ugly for you to understand that this is super serious and it works. And we, we totally, we. Every year we give. We give to children homes. We. We do towards, like, we're that band and so cool. And we, we really have a message about it. We care. You know, it's like our. A killer's Confession is more than just, you know, a masked band lyrically. We, we. We. We strive for you to dig deeper into your psyche and to who you really are as a person. And. And a lot of people are like, oh, you're just getting political. And I'm like, no, I'm not political at all. I don't give a whole. You vote for. This is moral. This is a moral compass. And that's what we.

28:31 I will ride by that before I choose red or blue. I'll ride forwardly. Correct. I love that. Yeah, because it's funny because you go on your Instagram and there's, I mean, the band's photos, right? And. But then you have like a pic. I think it's your daughter, right? And one of your. No, no, that's my niece. Yeah, yeah, it's you and your niece. And it's like, you're so happy and like, yeah. Oh, she came up on stage. She was my princess. I'm like, come on. Like, she come out on St Age and she is just, you know, it's like my kids are all grown, so like. Like, My youngest is 16. He's downstairs in the basement right now. He's starting his first band. Oh, that's so cool. He's like, dad produces. I'm like, oh, you really want me to go through this again? They're. They're working right now, and God bless them, I love them, but, you know, they're just getting started, but I'm teaching them the stuff nobody taught me.

29:25 Hey, Phoenix, do me a favor. Give me my zins that are over there, please. He's, you know, God bless him, but I'm teaching them the stuff nobody taught me. This is him. This is. This. Oh, hey, what's up? What do you play? What instrument do you play? Vocals. Oh, vocals. Just like dad. Then go get back to work. This interview. I love you. Love you too, baby. He's not a baby. He's a big boy. That's my baby. That's so. Yeah, my oldest is 16 too, but he's not. He's not in a band yet. Oh, yeah, he. But, you know, it's like we're, you know, like my wife and I. Come here, Julie. Oh, I.

30:10 This. This is the brains behind the whole operation. This is. This, this is the brave. Hi. This is Julie. Julie. Not. You know, we look at AKC as a complete, more family business. We really are. Our son used to play drums for us and he. He's going home, decided he wanted to start a family and stuff and. Right. That's just fine. But we run out there like this one. This one is the baby of the family. This is. This is Tank. But, you know, it's like we are a family business. Like, we go out there as a. As a family and do our job and that's, you know, I love it because, like, when Julie and I got married, it's like I wanted to share everything with her and now she has to share touring with me. No.

31:01 Sound excited about that part. We've been out there for five months, so it's just like, wow. Yeah, I could get. I. I understand for sure. A bunch of smelly dudes. I do not smell. Well, you don't? Oh, I don't smell. Thank you, honey. I appreciate Missing World. I don't smell. Actually, I have a phobia of. Of smells. Like, don't put off that for some reason. No, I don't smell like onions. Like every day when I put on the jumpsuit and everything, I'll take and put deodorant on. I'm like, I'm so scared, like, after this show, taking, like, you lift your arm up phobia. So, like, I'm constantly with deodorant or some kind of cologne.

31:50 I'm like, no, yeah, we're not doing this. We. You know, we got vinyls on this one. They did all those multicolored vinyls. The album's actually concept album. I know. I wanted to ask you about that because I was reading just a little bit about it. I've heard it, which is awesome. I am. Sent it over to me, so it's a great record. Thank you so much. I honestly feel like this is my. This is the best thing I've ever done. Like, I think I've took everything I've Learned over my 25 years of doing it and finally did it. I finally did it. Actually. It's 30 years. I. I'm 45. I started when I was 15. Wow. Three years. Oh, my God. 30 years in this industry, man.

32:40 That's crazy. I took everything that I learned. And Andrew, good friend, my. My agent from tko who books me, he refused to allow me to go on tour. He said, you're going to sit down and you're going to focus and you're going to write this album. And he did that. And it was the best thing that ever happened to me was I sat down, was like, well, I. I got to do this. You know, I have to have to do it and it. Write a concept album. And the way I did it, I didn't do it like chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, like 10 songs, 10 chapters. I didn't do it like that. This is more like a Tarantino meets Hitchcock. Like, we're gonna bounce everywhere, Start in the middle, go back to the beginning, all tie back into the end type deal. But at the same time, it's all Hitchcock. When I say that psychological. It's all going on up here. There's a lot of conversations and split personality. Like, I dive into that because sometimes, like, if you listen to a couple songs, I'll bring up One Son is one. I'm having a conversation with myself. Yeah, it's like.

33:58 Because I keep saying in the song, it's like, there is no me without. There's no you without me. Like, it's. And that song takes up off with the seven deadly sins. Envy, being envious and being jealous. Jealousy and. And how one side of my. One side of my personality is jealous of the other and how they're. They're arguing and. And another song that does that is also voices that I did with Aaron Nordstrom from. Oh, that's a great song. Oh, dude. We shot the video, and Aaron and I just like, you gotta understand, he is as close as I can get to having a brother that. That's not my brother. You know what I'm saying? Like, we're sitting there yelling at each other, trying not to laugh, you know, just like. You know, it's like you're trying to be mean to him, and, like, you're just like, he's, like, trying not to laugh at you in your face. And we shot the video so quickly because it just came together.

34:58 Aaron was such a professional, and just, like, his acting and just, like, he's been there. He knows what's needed when that camera's rolling. He knew what needed to be done, and we knocked it. I think it took me longer to put the makeup on than it did to shoot the video. Like, it took me longer to paint my face than it did to shoot the video. Wow. Aaron came in, I called him sometime last year, and I was like, hey, Aaron, you want to be on the album? He's like, yeah, what else am I doing? You know, it's like. And we totally. We. I remember we kind of fleshed out the original idea. We did a zoom call, and we fleshed out the idea. And then I took it down to Evan and we produced it. And then I sent it back to Aaron. And Aaron redid all his vocals, got it back. And just the beauty of that song, just real throwbacks to, like, old school vocals, like Alison chains, a lot of harmonies and stuff, and you don't hear that anymore where, like, people are singing in harmony, and Aaron is such a talented individual that when I got to sing those harmonies, it's like, wow, this is really cool, you know, because when you have somebody that's that good that you could sing anything, and he's like, ah, here, your harmonies here. And he's singing so with you, and it's like, man, dude, you're something else.

36:20 So, like, having Aaron on the album, because I tried to do a guest every album. First album was Brian Welch from Corn. Second album was Justin from Tallahassee. Third album was Chad Gray from Mud Vein, and this album was Aaron from Gemini. So like, every album, I try to have a guest that come out. That's awesome. One of my friends come out and do something with me. And this album, you. You address. You mentioned the seven deadly sins. You address all of them, correct, right? In the. In the. In the course of the album. Yeah. Agreed. Start off that greed. Greed is just. Greed was just a warning because everybody's guilty of that at some point in your life. Not like greed will get to you. And greed is just like the. Greed's only the corruption of corruption. It'll take the most humble individual and ruin them. And I was sitting back when we created greed and we're talking about TikTok again and I was like for some reason my entire live feed just turn these people in lives. We're begging for money.

37:21 Begging for money, begging for likes. It got disgusting. So like, like it's really turned me off of like going on Twitch. And I won't do it anymore because I really just seen how ugly it was. It's like you're sitting here just begging people for money and you won't do something for yourself. You think this is a job and yet you're influencer. Well, I don't respect influencers. I respect teachers. You know, educate me, don't influence me. Influencing is like tricking in a way. You know, it's like you're influencing them to do this. Well, that don't sound like good a good thing to be, you know, like you can educate me, but don't influence me. I don't need to be influenced. I need to be educated. And these people are making it jobs now. And then I seen this young lady pop up and it was. And it disgusted me in a way. She goes every time I get a galaxy or in this galaxy pops up on her thing and I guess you have to pay for it or whatever to have it happen on her screen.

38:27 She'll turn around and look out the window. This woman had nothing on. And every time she get one, she'd moon the whole place. Oh God. Okay. And I'm like, really? You know, isn't that only fans or some shit? I don't want to see this. I'll like my thing with Tick Tock. I want to see some conspiracy theories and a town and a bull named Rufus. I have a book I love that's. So good that that's pretty much would be my. I don't tiktok. But I, I like, I, I'll do Instagram and stuff. But yeah, like conspiracy theory. That is. Probably that and probably true crime stuff which would lead me into your band and everything. Well then, then I follow animals and stuff. Like I like Rufus is the in Arkansas and I absolutely love him. He's mean as hell.

39:18 And I'm like, I like, I want to pet Rufus, you know, Like, I will totally do that. But like, I try to. Like, now I've figured out how to. Like, I don't. Like, I don't want to see the creator. I don't. It just turned me off of it so bad. It's like it kind of disgust me. It's like you're begging. It's like you're not making a product. You're just sitting there showing your butt and you're being lewd or you're doing something and I'm not going to support this. And you think this is a job. It's not a job. You're sitting there on your phone ordering doordash. You know. You know what I'm talking about. It's like, go up. And I've said it for years, and I stick behind this. Get up and go do something. And you will find some meaning in your life if you get up.

40:07 And if you're really not happy, get up, stop where you're at, look around, find where the problem is and turn the other direction and start a new path. I love that. And I've lived by this. And now it's just like, I don't want to be addicted to this thing. This thing is, like, meaningless to me. My wife thinks it's funny because my phone will be under the couch for two days, lost. I will care less. Where's your phone? I don't know. You got things. I don't care. You know, I. I want to be addicted to it. And I have found that people have become. This has become your master in life. Like, people are constantly. Don't matter. If you're walking down the street, you're on it. What's wrong with that picture?

40:58 So I heard somebody say that your phone knows more about you than any human being would ever know about you. Like, in a way of, like, just because it. It'll predict. It knows what you like by the. It has an everything in real time. How long you'll sit on one thing, how long you. You know, what you do, your. Your, like, where you go. Everything. It knows everything about you, no matter what. And it will know more than anyone. Will ever know about. Yeah, it knows you're so crazy. Knows everything. Everything. And that is so scary. I, like, I. I had wished this, that these would just die and we could go back to the dial up. Like, you get a phone at the table, you have a. You have a cordless. That's all good. But when I leave this house, there's no. Can't get a hold of me.

41:47 Yep, I know it's Weird, man. I mean, with kids and stuff now it's like, I think about that, like, I would just leave. You just leave. There's no way your parents get a hold of you. I'll be back later. Like, now, like, people. Like, I'd have like a. You know, you have like a panic attack if you don't know you can't get a hold of your kid every three seconds forever. Think about it. Back in the day, when in the 80s, where did you find all your friends? Outside where the box were. Yeah, the parents were the same thing. Where the board of bikes. Okay. Oh, they're the part. They went down to the creek. You know that. That was what we did and. But that was real social networking.

42:27 Like, we learned how to communicate with each other. They call us latchkey, latchkey kids because, like, we were like a very odd generation of people coming up. But the thing about it is, it made us tough. We didn't, you know, we didn't sit there and clamor over, you know, video games. We played video games and stuff, but we didn't stay inside all day. And your parents wouldn't. I mean, my parents wouldn't let me stay inside. Like, it's 9:00am what are you. You in here? Still. Go swimming? You know, I would get up, like, during. In the morning and I would mow the yard first thing because I knew that was what I had to do. I'd clean up my room and I mow the yard. And then I'd call my buddy who lived like two miles down the street and he was part of the country club, and he would take me as his guest to go swimming.

43:19 Oh, there you go. Call him. And then I'd call my dad at work and, like, and leave a message. Like, call me. When I got on my chores done. Call me. And he's like, call me. What do you want? And I'm like, can I go Jonathan's go swimming? Okay. Is yard mode this done? And that would be my day. You know, I'll get up and I would go swimming and then, you know, go. Go just hang out and play. But, like, I look at my kids, I don't think I've seen my kids in two days. And I know they've been in the room. You know, at least one of them. Is downstairs doing music. Oh, yeah, Phoenix. That kid doesn't like video games. He likes video games. He likes to play. But, like, he likes to go walk the streets. He, like, he wants to walk the train track. He is a Stand by Me kid. Like, totally. Like, I'm like, look for dead body. Like, playing in the sewer and stuff. Like, he's. And I'm like, good for you. You know, it's like, at least I know it's not dead, you know, in you. Yeah. He could care less about that. He. He wants to have a social life outside of being on Facebook.

44:28 And the kid is like, I'm proud of him. I Like, that's awesome. Be more proud. My other two. Well, my other. Well, we have seven between us. Julie and I have seven children. Oh, my goodness. She has four. I have three. We're the Brady Bunch. And we got three boys that go to Kent State right now. No way. My cousin went to Kent State. So proud of. But you do not want three tuitions. Three boys at Kent State. Other kids are grown, and, you know, Morgan's 20. He'll be 29 this year. Our oldest and our youngest is 16. So, like, awesome, man. So, like, you can understand my. My take on children.

45:08 Like, I'm like, I've raised enough children to where I actually have a moral compass of, like, yeah, touch one of my kids, and I will take my three hots in a cot. I love my kids. I should make that a lyric. You should. That was really good. Write that down. I'll take my three hots in a cot. My brother said that to me one time. I'm like. And I'm like, what? Because my three hots in a cot. And I'm like, he get my three hot meals in the bed. Okay. Yeah. That's so good. Okay, well. Okay. So just to get back to your album, I. You said Greed. There's seven. But you only list as far as song titles go, right? You don't. It's not like. And it doesn't. Like, the album goes in order of the seven.

45:59 Like, Tongue is wrath. I'll read right out from your mouth. Like, if. If you. When you get the back of the album, it's Each song. If there's. If it's associated with the sin, it'll be scratched out. So you'll be cool. On the back of the album. So that goes back to the old school ways of listing things. When you pull the album out, start looking. There's your. And I'll give you another little Easter egg about the album. This album is the. The victim sitting in the chair. You've seen the front of the COVID Yeah. Sit in the chair. Well, if you take the first album unbroken, it's the killer standing on the other side of the room. So if you put the albums looking at each other. It's them looking at each other. Oh, no way. Yeah, okay, I'll have to look at that. I'll have to look, and you'll see the killer. And then if you get it, take victim one. You'll see the. You'll see what he's looking at. Oh, wow. Okay. I'm looking at it right now. That's awesome.

47:05 I always tie back into things, man, but that's just being an artist, you know, it's like, how can I make this tie in and, you know, be cool and just get just a little depth in there, like, for. For people. Yeah, I'm looking at it right now. That's so amazing. But if you look at it and. Then you look at victim one, you're like, oh, okay. So, well, that will lead me to my question about the victim one. And how is. Is the killer on the COVID of Unbroken a serial killer? And are we. Are we talking multiple victim albums here? Well, that's the thing. It says Victim one, right. So I'm assuming there's two.

47:49 Yes. Victim one is where he starts. And it. The. The. It's not really a serial killer. This guy has a problem. He just woke up one day and didn't recognize the world he lived in. He didn't recognize how certain things could be let go anymore. And more or less, it drove him crazy of how it's like, are you crazy or am I crazy? This is not right. So he got to the point to where it's like, nah, I can't do this anymore. You know, and finally took the stance to do something about being about. About the problems. He doesn't go after anybody innocent, like, and. But the thing about is he knows himself.

48:34 He's not innocent because he's committing this stuff. So a lot of the album, like I said, is Hitchcock is in here. You know, he's fighting with himself about the things he's had to do. He puts warnings out about greed, like, don't be this way. But when it comes to lust, which has to do with. To save a kid, which is. That song's under the song title Purpose. He's been given purpose. But the rest of it, he's fighting with himself about what he has to do. Like, it's like he understands by doing this, he is just as guilty of these sins. So he's having a very, very hard time with it.

49:21 So when you wrote this album out. Did you have the whole storyline kind of in your mind? Like, how do you then put it out? Into when we. I think 10 songs. I think, yeah, 10 songs. When I started it, it was a serial killer. And I realized real quick, Beck said it best. You can't write if you can't relate, you know? And I can't relate to a serial killer. I can't really. I can't relate to somebody that doesn't have empathy, you know, that doesn't have a moral. I can't. So, like, it would come off hokey. So, like, I sat back, I was like, well, I could write about going into a bedroom, ripping off a sheet and stabbing a dude. I could do that. But how corny is that going to be? How long is that going to really last? You know, it's just a immediate, this gratification, and then out the door. It's just like, okay, you could have done better than that. So I sat back and I was like, well, I don't want to do it that way. I don't want it to be about killing. I want it to be about psychologically. The damage is doing like, like, this is a good person that may have went like, you know, just went a little bit too far one day, just didn't step back. Split into two personalities and how these two personalities are clashing because one is a good person. The other one's like, no, we got to do this. So they're fighting within here the whole time. So it's a very. So he's a victim himself to himself. So it's victim

50:53 one. Kind of like, it's like, is there more than one victim? You know, I'm saying, are you the victim? There's a lot in there. So I did this more in depth. I made it deeper than just that, you know. Yeah, just this is the first, first kill and we'll move on. Maybe the next album, it'll be a story about the next one. Yeah, it's going to continue. I, I, I, I have decided I am going to continue it. Like, there, there's, there's different, but it's going to be, it's not gonna be like, you think we're gonna move on to, like, how, like, acceptance and, and, you know, how to find forgiveness and stuff like that of what we've done.

51:35 And he's constantly, he's nuts. And the whole thing about it is the guy's nuts. So at the end of the day, it's like, did this even happen? Does he have looney band where? Oh, yeah, I like that. Like, I really went in depth with this. And this was hard, like, because I honestly did not want to be hokey. I didn't want it to come off corny or just cheesy. And because anybody can talk about blood and guts and ass anyway, you know, it's not a real hard thing to do, but to talk about it psychologically, you know, like. Like I said, Hitchcock, like, just that, you know, it's like, did this happen? Is he nuts? It's like, is this all in his head? You know, that type of deal, like Psycho or American Psycho, right?

52:24 By the end of it, it was just all in his head, right? He was just crazy. So, like, this is gonna, like, it's a real big subject, but the way I've laid it out is just, you know, this guy, like, especially if you really listen, you're going to hear a lot of conversations. He's talking to himself. Because I. I love son. Because I say it. So there's no you without me. You know, Just like. It's like, dude, you hate getting up without me. So it was. It was. It was the hardest album I've ever wrote. I bet, man. I mean, it's. I about quit. Really, dude. I took the advance. I'm done. I'm done. I'm like, I can't do this. This is too much. This is too much.

53:10 Because, like, I wanted it in such a way where, like. And I'd write something and I'll just throw it away. I mean, so many things hit the floor. Like, no, no, no, this is corny. What the hell was I thinking? You know? And I just kind. And then finally, when it started to come together, and that's when the psychological things, like, stop trying to paint a picture. And this. This go to his mind. Let's go into his mind. Let's. Let's go here. Like, you, I can understand, you know, when you fight with yourself over guilt, and that's really what it is. And the moral of the whole thing is, like, everybody's guilty of one of these sins, right? But have you gone so far you can't come back? That's where the real thing. It's like the message is. It's like, you can save yourself. Don't. Don't let this define you. Yes, you've been greedy. Yes, you've been vain. You know, you've been selfish. You know, hopefully you haven't committed a murder. Hopefully, you haven't succumbed to wrath or anything like that. But at the end of the day, can you notice that you've done something wrong? Song.

54:21 Yeah. And. And come back from that. That's the whole Moral of the album. I love it, man. Well, that in. I love everything that you, you. It's so creative, the, the concept behind it and then even tying it back to the first album. I mean just everything you guys have going on right now, I think it's so cool, man. And I love it. I'm glad that you've heard the album too. Like, it's like so, like you can actually go back and listen now. I'm gonna go back. Yeah. Now that I've had the conversation with you about. I'm going to go back and hear it. I want to hear the. Him talking to himself, you know, even all these things. So. Yeah, you will. And, and, and the thing about is, is it's just, you know, it's deeper than just laid out for you. Chapters one through ten. You know, you've got to understand this part of it to fall into the rest of it. And you know, and as an artist, we usually don't like to tell people this, but a lot of people are going to get lost if you don't know that this is going on in somebody's head.

55:18 Right? You'll be like, it was like walking into Pulp Fiction halfway through the movie. Being like, what's going on? It's like that. But I'm also like, I love leaving Easter eggs and I love leaving tie ins. Like where one song, I'll say one thing and then I'll answer it four songs later. That's so cool. Like, just like, I think like that. So like I'm totally into riddles and, and like, and I'm blunt about what I say, but sometimes I just won't finish it until another song. So you gotta, gotta. You gotta keep going. You gotta. Yeah. Follow. You follow the album all the way through. Well, and I tell people too. It's like, this is that album. I want people to put their earbuds in and lay up at night and just like go to bed to it.

56:05 Just. And just listen to what I'm saying. Because, you know, it's like with the, with the name of Killer's Confession, you know, certain things come to mind off the bat. Not that at all. We wear the stuff. We are the monster's monster. But the fact is we're. It's just, there's. It's a message and everybody skips over the one thing that. That's a part of the, the name of the band. Confession. Are you willing to admit that you've done something wrong? Are you willing to admit and learn that's what it's about, like. And for me, musically as an artist, I've been given a platform. I want to write songs about hope and about, like, I've really effed up, but I'm not lost. And I can correct. I can. I can. I can do everything in my. Some things you can't correct. Like, and we know this. Some things you can never take back, but you can learn from it. You can always learn from your mistakes. I always say that second place is not always losing. Sometimes it's a winning situation because you can learn from your losses. It can make you a better person. Like. Like, you lose the super bowl and you figure out why you lost the super bowl, and you come back the next year and with a better game plan, and you learn from defeat. And that's what a killer's confession really is, is about learning from defeat and learning how to be a better person for tomorrow. Amazing, man. Well, I love it. I appreciate your time, Waylon. Thank you so much, man, for. For hanging out this long, dude. Thank you for having me, brother. Man, I appreciate it. I know I'm a little long winded about. No, I just don't want to cut into your time,

57:38 and this has been great. I appreciate you, man. And I do have one more question for you. I want to know if you have. I mean, you've been dropping amazing advice throughout this entire interview, but I want to know if you have any advice for aspiring artists. A, don't do it for fame. Don't things fickle. Like, do it because you love it. Do it because you have the. The. You want to entertain. You want to. You want to help somebody lift off the burden of their week and the issues they're dealing with because of, like, when they. When they go to our music, that's what they're doing. Like, do it for that money. Money's nothing.

58:20 Fame's nothing. But if you can help somebody ease their work week, that's it. Bringing it back. You. Bring it backward, bring it backward, bring it backward, bring it back, bring it backward.